Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Are These Money Fears Rational?

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app!   Today we’re setting the chrometophobes who haven’t been on a vacation since 2004 free! In this episode, Rachel and George are calling out the irrational money fears keeping you stuck—plus how you can overcome them.   Next Steps: 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off at Cozy Earth with code SMART MONEY. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍺 Butterbeer Old Fashioned Recipe: The G&M Kitchen Ingredients: 1 12-ounce bottle cream soda 1/4 cup butterscotch topping 1 1/2 ounces bourbon 1 dash black walnut bitters 1 ounce heavy whipping cream Ice Instructions: Heat the cream soda in a small pot for 5–10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butterscotch topping. Let cool. Add the bourbon, 1 ounce of the cream soda mixture, and a dash of walnut bitters to a rocks glass with ice. Stir to combine. Add whipping cream to a cocktail shaker and shake until thickened. Pour the cream on top of the cocktail and enjoy! Listen to More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 The EntreLeadership Podcast   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, it's Rachel. And George. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers. Butter me timbers. Wow, that is Christmas and fall all together in a cup. Well, this is the show where two friends who have to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

And today we're getting a little spooky, Rachel, because we're talking about money fears. But before you click away, because that sounds dramatic and stressful and stuff, well, it might be. But we're also going to make it fun. It is. It's going to be fun and exciting. And we're actually going to talk about what you should be worried about when it comes to your money. But there's some crazy things out there, and we're going to chat about it. And while we chat about it, we're going to be sipping on a butter beer old-fashioned, which explains the buttery nature. That makes sense.

It's kind of like a butter scotch, if you will. I will. Okay. Thank you very much. So stick around to the end. We're going to give you our rating, reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode, and as always, the recipes and the show notes. Okay, Rachel, I think you should come clean and tell the people why they're going to be. this is your idea.

Oh. You wanted to do this episode. This is a catalyst that came from you. Okay. Well, one night we are having a conversation with some friends, and I have friends in my life. I believe that. Oh, sorry, continue.

We do have friends. That may or may not go to somewhat, some would say extreme measures. Others would say wise measures about our world today, meaning maybe a little conspiracy theorist, but like if everything, you know, if cell phones go down, batteries go down, like

what the next, what they claim would be the next terrorist attack. So we started this conversation and I left that dinner being like, Winston, we are so behind. And he's like, babe, oh my God. Like if that's really the world, like, we should just be taken and like just be done

and, you know, go to heaven. I'm with Winston on that. Are you? You are. Because I'm like, how much could you survive it? So that's where this episode came where I just said, you know, there is an interesting fact that people spend their money. a lot of money on prepping for something that could happen.

And there's a level of a fear in that of like, hey, what's the future going to be? Like, how long could you and Whitney survive if something like that really happened? Oh, I get an hour back. Even in the normal society, I'm like, I don't know that I could make it very long. I'm lucky to be here today. I'm not a, I have no real skills. I was never a Boy Scout. I was in a Wana.

which is like the Baptist version of Boy Scouts where they teach you no life skills, just Bible drills. Turns out very unhelpful skill to have. You can whip out Galatians 5. Yeah. But I can't tie a knot. Yeah.

Okay, do you get scared about this stuff though? Like, do you think about it? Because it really gets, I mean, for about two weeks, I'm like full on. I mean, I will say, you know what? You know people that have a type of old car that is like whatever, run,

whatever, that if it starts on a hill, it can actually like go into drive. Oh, like you want to have a manual clutch. Yeah, it's like this whole thing, you know. I mean, they have like, I mean, it's like who I would go to and mooch off of if something really did happen. Oh, yeah.

I want to be friends with some of those people. I don't want to live like that, if that makes sense. Yeah, but then it's unfair because what are you going to contribute to the society that will be born? He's going to entertain you down in the bunker. Winston? Yeah, right. But I watched the movie Leave the World Behind on Netflix.

Decaprio was in it. It was a big thing. Oh, no. I saw the one where the family goes to the house. What was that one? I'm mixing my movies. Leave the World Behind was with Ethan Hawke. Yes, I watched that one.

And then DiCaprio was in the other one. Crazy. This is the end or something. But I love the, I'm going to spoil it. They're having dinner as the world is ending. And they're just having a great time as the whole thing comes crashing down. And they're like, you know, the meteor or whatever. And I thought, that's how I want to be.

Yeah, do we go to 30A and just go on? the beach. Pour a cocktail, pour a butter, beer, scotch, whatever it is. I don't want to be hunkered down, like, staring up at it. I just want to be like oblivious. I'm like, oh, all right. And I'm a heaven. Boom. Here we are. Here we are. But I did watch Left Behind growing up and that left some trauma on me. Oh, trauma. Can I be honest? Can I be honest? Yes, please. Go first. Oh, my gosh. I will still in the middle of the night, every now and then, just touch Winston's foot. Just make sure that the rapture hasn't happened. Because when I was a kid, every morning I thought, I'm going to wake up.

I mean, it was scoring. And then you theologically go into it. I mean, do we even know really? Kirk Cameron, really straight us away. Kirk really. And really scared all of us. My parents bought us the children's series left behind. They had a children's version.

That's so cute. How terrible. I mean, just scared to death. Yeah, I would say this. I am scared of like legitimate end time stuff, like biblically speaking. There's some theories about did it already happen and all this. Sure, yeah, yeah. But if I see clothes neatly laid out on a bed, I'm like, oh, crap, it's happening.

I'm still here. George, I know. That's, I talk about, 12-year-old Rachel was scored. So I do have a rational fear that the rapture happened and I didn't get taken for some reason. That is the real fear, not the like doomsday. Just scared us. So that's it. Do you think fear can be contagious?

Yes. Like your environment, the people you hang with. 100%. I'm scared. Just hanging out with you. You're not helping me right now. Oh my gosh. No, I'm fun.

I'm fun. No, I think fear is. Yeah, because you get ideas in your head that you may not even know existed. And then there you are, ruminating and thinking about it. We've got more honest as a culture. And so now if you have a phobia, it's like cool to like label yourself. Like my personality is based on this phobia.

Yeah, that's fair. It's like, well, I have a thing. I have this phobia. So can we go through some of these common trendy phobias? Okay, yeah. I'm not going to look. look because I want to try to guess what they are. Okay.

You ready for it? Yep. Tripophobia. T-R-Y-P-O. T-R-Y-P? Yep. T-R-Y-P-O. I thought I was like you're scared to go on a trip.

Nope. Triphobia. You'll never guess it a thousand years. I have no idea. A fear of tiny holes. Okay. Why not tiny holophobia? Wouldn't that have been more scientific?

I thought you're like fall in one? I'm surprised you don't know because Kendall Jenner famously suffers from this phobia. Wait, seriously, that you're going to fall in one or get trapped in like a claustrophobic? I think it's like on a scrub daddy sponge. There's a tiny hole. People just don't like tiny holes. Wait, stop it. Are you serious?

I can't make this up, but that's a real one. Because small spaces, I've gotten more claustrophobic, claustrophobia as I've gotten older. Of like, oh man, like yeah. Like the ride at Disney, the Avatar ride, it like locks you in. You can't move, like your legs or your body. And there's a little bit of you that's like, what's the medical device? Is it MRIs where they put you in a very tight too?

Yeah, I've never done one of those. That one sounds scary too. It does. Okay, what's the next one? Next one is Thalasophobia. Phalasophobia. Thalachia. Thalachia.

Scareative. Think deep. Scared of. Think water. Dying. Drowning. Nope, just fear of deep water. You can lead a horse to the deep water.

You can't get them to drink. Oh, I could see that. This was an internet fascination last year when hashtag North Sea Talk was going viral with that creepy version of the Yoho Sailor song playing in the background. Oh, I don't even know what that is. I would say deep water can be understandably scary.

The Megatons, the shark movies. Have you seen these? They're great. My friend Annie. I haven't even seen Jaws. Okay, so these, are you ready for this? the ocean floor is actually just a layer and there's like a whole other ocean down below.

There's a secret ocean? Yeah. Like in the Earth's core? Are we getting into like magma or something? It's going like way deep. Yeah, that we think that like, oh, that's the ocean floor but it's not. It's just a layer.

But you could actually go through it and there's a whole other ocean with these like sharks that are as big as this room that are in there. So it's a great movie. It's actually kind of funny. Like there's like good humor.

It sounds hilarious. There's some good humor in it. Yeah, I've heard. Jurassic Park was originally a comedy. I can see. Thank you for that. Last one. Arachnophobia.

Oh, spiders. That one's a pretty common one. I feel like a lot of humans have this fear. Is Winston a spider killer in the house, or is it you? There's always one person in the house. Both of us. You know what I don't do in Tennessee has these, this happened the other night? There's some crazy, it's not a mayfly, but it looks like one.

I mean, it's just this nasty bug. I mean, it's huge, with big legs and all. I mean, it's just crazy and it's big, and I won't do those. I would rather do like a small spider and get it. You're a spider killer. But the flying, big, long, lanky things, don't do those. I don't like when people say, this happened with snakes. We had a snake in the garage.

And the guy was like, no, it's a good snake. I'm like, if it's in my house, it's not a good snake. Yes. So I feel the same way about spiders. They go, no, those are the ones that eat the bugs. Yeah, yeah, no. And I go, well, I'll deal with the bugs when they show up too. That's right.

And I'll murder them too. I would rather kill bugs than the spider kill them. No trespassing on the camel property. That is fair. That is fair. All right, let's get to money phobias. All right. Ready for these?

Yeah, I want to guess. Cromatophobia or chromatophobia. Scared of coins. Fear of spending money or money itself. Just the fear of the idea of money, I guess. People experience panic or anxiety at the sight, smell, touch, or thought of spending money. Oh, right? There's got to be trauma behind that, right?

Yeah, that's deep. Like, no child is born being scared of a dollar bill. Yeah, that's an environment. Environmental. situation there that they saw. So these people, they avoid activities that require spending money, vacation, social outings. I imagine you become like a permit, like a recluse.

And severe cases make it difficult to pay bills or just purchase the four walls expenses, just covering the basics. So like truly not being able to survive. If you do online transactions, I guess that's not scary. But I guess if you're still hitting like the payment button, does that still trigger something? You know that money's leaving?

Yeah. Yeah. We've had some of those calls, not to this extent, but people call into the Ramsey show and they have this fear of spending money. They've saved, save, save, save, saved, and they have no debt whatsoever. They have over a million dollars,

and they can't let go and spend $500. Yep. It's like they don't know how. That's why I always talk about money is like a muscle, right? Giving, saving, and spending, all three. It kind of takes to a degree. They're all important. Yeah, and a level of practice and doing it over and over again

where you're like, oh, yeah, this is normal. This feels right, right? Both of all of those, giving, saving, and spending. But when you don't spend for a long time, getting that built back up to know, like you're okay you're okay you're okay you can do this it's a scarcity mindset for sure yep it could all come crashing down right here's another money phobia a ticky phobia a ticky phobia scared to pay parking tickets that is actually a decent guess but it's a fear of failure so this prevents people from

taking calculated risks with their money like investing purchasing home there's a fear that like what if i just lose this all okay so it's good to have like a gut check yeah yeah yeah the risk here the Yeah, the risk you're the investment, the more you need to be aware of. But life, love is risk. You know what I mean? Like at some point, you got to just get over and take the calculated risk. Okay, so out of both of those, spending money or the investment, which one would you lean towards? I am pretty risk averse.

It's why I don't own any crypto, even with fund money. I'm just like, I don't want, the idea that I could lose it all scares the heck out of me. Yeah, totally. So I'm just not a fan. I'm going to do that, too, George. We have the same fear. If we had a fear of spending money. I've seen you spend money.

You're really good at it. I just love it. You know, I was on the Target app last night. Spiritual gift of yours. I just thought, man, I went to old... Just for fun? Is this what you do it now? Well, no, we went to Old Navy with the kids

because my kids... You physically went to an Old Navy? I did, which I've not done in a long time. Was anyone in there? Two people. And me and the kids because Carolina had a soccer game, so we were like, we...

Because in Tennessee right now, the weather's just turned. And it's like, they're freezing. And my kids... It's getting crispy? They just don't have anything. Charles, I really didn't buy a ton last year. So, like, everything is just, like, they just don't have a lot of clothes for wintertime.

Because they've grown since last year. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not because you don't clothe them. Like, they have no clothing in the house. It's because of last year, yeah. So we went, and I'm such a fun mom. I believe it. I was like, y'all are so lucky you have me because I'm like.

How many moms out there took your kids to Old Navy last night? I'm like, yes, yes, yes. And there's a sale, so you're like, get to there. So just shopping spree at Old Navy. getting fall and winter clothes. Like this is her time to do it. Do they know how to pick out clothes? And I'm throwing everything out Winston.

So Winston's carrying around all the clothes through Old Navy. And it took a while to check out because we bought a good bunch. But again, what we spent versus what we got was a great deal. So thanks Old Navy. But yes, I did all of that for my kids. I didn't buy myself one thing. Not only you're the fun mom, you're a sacrificial mom. So then we get home and put the kids to bed.

I don't know. And I saw, it was classic Rachel scrolling through Instagram, I see a cute Target sweater and I was like, I don't want that. So I went on the Target app, George, and I bought three things, picked them up today. It is great, but it was all in the budget. Mommy had her own little shopping screen.

But I do, I enjoy spending money. Yes, I do not have any fear of that. That's, I'm proud of it. You're so brave. People really underestimate your bravery. Wow. Do you not enjoy that at all? Is any part of you?

Spending money? Yes. The thrill of a deal gets me. So if I'm spending, but I know I'm getting a deal that very few people could get. All right. Like when I went the extra mile to save, I'm like, yeah, it feels so much better than just spending. Yeah. Here's another one.

Guess what this one is. Pina phobia. Fear of pinia colottas. That's close. Buying drinks. Very close. Fear of poverty. Okay.

So this triggers extreme anxiety of people who will scare. again, they could lose it all and be impoverished and have nothing. So that's, you know, again, there's a scarcity trauma thing happening there. And it's the extremes here, right? Yes. Yeah. Last one, generalized anxiety related to finances. So a constant fear or worry about not having enough money to meet your basic needs

or securely plan for the future. And this can lead to extreme stress and even paralysis over financial decisions around saving in debt. Yeah, we see this a lot, though. I mean, money can bring on so much. anxiety and worry because I think for a lot of people it is it's really difficult right I mean the paycheck to paycheck living is very real and it's like golly do we have enough just to cover even the basics like that is that's a real thing yeah even once you get out of debt there's

still a fear of like what if things get crazy what if I don't keep this income what if I lose my job what if it's not enough what if and so there's always the what ifs and so we're going to help you overcome some of those fears today especially the irrational ones yes there are some legitimate ones and people can take this too far so we want to offer these people some insight yes um and again let's go through some of the irrational money fears that people have that's a good one just kind of debunking like yeah these are the ones you don't need to worry about this you don't need to worry about it okay okay um so let's go with the first one investing like what if it all crashes and we lose it all overnight people have that fear that the market will completely crash and go to zero exactly and

everything that we've worked for and if you went through 2008 like that was a one of That was a weird time, like it was. So if you've experienced a big dip or a recession in the market, it's the closest we could feel like a great depression, right? It's probably 08, I would say. In a modern era. Yeah. But statistically speaking, history-wise, the American economy, right?

It has stayed afloat. It has grown. That's really what you have to hang your hat on is that this is what history has told us, and that's what I have to lean on, not that. this emotion of like, oh my gosh, what if it all crashes? Because let's be honest, if the market crashed, truly. Well, think about what you're actually saying there. Every company in America goes to nothing.

Bankrupts shuts down. Every single company. That's what would have to happen for the stock market to go to zero. That's right. That's right. The best top companies in the world all shutting their doors and having $0 in revenue or profit. Yeah.

That's an insane thing. It's never happened in human history. Yeah. So on that side, it's never going to go to zero. Could there be another crisis like we saw where the market drops by 40%? Maybe. But even then, if you hang on

and you don't let go of that money and cash out of fear, what we also saw was the market come back up higher than ever, and then the next few years, higher than ever. So we keep seeing record highs every year if you just hang on and don't get off the roller coaster early. Yep, that's right. We had a caller, Rachel,

who had thousands, hundreds of thousands, buried in their backyard. Because of fear. There's a good old boy in Texas, and he was just scared and he's like, I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the stock market, so he had it in tin cans in his backyard. I asked for his address.

He did not find that funny. And he clearly has a lot of weapons. George shows up with a shovel that he's borrowed from someone. But it hurts my heart because I'm like, I mean, he's losing money every day just to inflation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have to beat inflation, and that means investing, you know, wisely

in the overall stock market with mutual funds and index funds. That's right. All right. Next is that the dollar goes to zero. Oh, this one I've seen a lot lately. especially among the crypto bros and the gold lovers. Yes. They say it's all the dollar's going to crumble.

It's going to get devalued. The other countries are coming for it. And so you better get out from the dollar. And I may say this and it's like some people may correct me on it because I don't know my world economic status with every country. But there have been fears of certain currencies around the world going to zero. And then another currency taking over. Like I've heard that throughout the year.

So if you buy into this, because this currency is going to go down, then it's going to, you know, it's going to be 18 times which you bought it for all this. So the dinari was one of these. Do you remember this? And I had a friend and he bought into it because he was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to buy, you know, $300 worth of dinari. Because...

As a hedge against... Yeah, because the government's going to shut down. That's right. And the government there is going to shut down and they're going to replace it with, like, you know, Iraq's going to come... It was this whole, like, you know, thing. And he's told...

swore he was going to make 300 grand. Never happens. So they mixed fear with get rich quick. Yes, yeah. And I feel like that can happen a lot with currencies. Oh, absolutely. Well, there's one called a Forex trading. This is what it is, when you're trading for different currency and trying to make the spread.

And there's a lot of spam accounts that are under my name. And they DM people going like, hey, I have great investment opportunity. Are you interested in Forex trading and crypto investment? Very good. And people are messaging me like, you know you got hacked, right? I'm like, no, it's a fake account. It says George Camel with two L's and a, you know, two, three, after it. But this is a big thing out there that people are going, hey, not only should you be scared

of the dollar going down, but you should also realize you're missing out on incredible gains. Right, somewhere else with other currencies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So is the dollar losing some value because of inflation? Sure. But it's still a global standard. Oh, yeah. America's still got that Riz, whether you like it or not.

We're still top dog. It's still there. I'm not worried about the dollar going to zero. Okay, how about this one? The fear of buying a used car because it's going to break down. That is a big one. We hear this a lot because... I need to buy a new car because the used cars are just scary, Rachel.

They're not safe. They're not safe. It's going to crash. Burn. Yep. Now, if you're buying a 30-year-old car, are you going to have more risk of that? Sure, right? I mean, I think there's obvious stats that you could see in that.

But buying a use... car you guys does not mean that it's a crappy car. Because we know people that buy, you know, six-year-old cars and they're great. They're fine. So this whole idea that it's not safe or it's going to break down is simply not true because even new cars break, right? You buy a new car? Within the first year, stuff could happen and maybe still in their warranty, but the idea that like, no car is going to be perfect regardless of year. Yeah, and modern cars within the last, you know, 15, 20 years, they have great safety features? Yes. And so have there been fancier, like the lane departure monitoring and I need that for my

a lot of times we justify the purchase based on well it's I did it for safety that's why we have a $600 car payment because I needed the family to be safe well guess what your new car is a day after you drive it it's a used car so get a pre-purchase inspection of course make sure you're not buying a lemon but also understand that there's no such thing as a 100% safe car all right next is throwing all of your savings towards debts

because we talk about when you're doing the debt snowball you get $1,000 which a lot of people We're like, that's not enough. So that's a fear. That's a fear. And then throw everything you have at the debt and get out of debt as quickly as possible. So if you have $20,000 in a savings account,

we're saying, hey, go down to $1,000, use the other 19 to begin to pay off debt to accelerate the process. That's right. That is a legitimate fear. A lot of people have. Yeah, in the $1,000 emergency funds. Yeah, and the $1,000 emergency fund, I get. But people are like, oh, my gosh.

You know, a fun fact, I even tried to convince Dave like 10 years ago. The change is tune? to change baby step one to one month's worth of expenses versus $1,000. And he's like, nope, nope, stood his ground. Because his point, which I get is, number one, you want people to get quick wins, right? And getting $1,000 fast, it's a motivator to know, okay, I can change my money habits and I can actually do something that's on this list really quickly, right? So that's key.

And then majority of emergencies that come up, you can pay with $1,000. And if not, you pause that at Snowball, save up throughout the month, and then you pay, right? Like if stuff happens with your roof and it's more expensive, you'll get a bill later. It's not like you have to have all the money right there, right? So the idea that you can, you know, cash flow things as they come up. And we know that, what, four in ten Americans have nothing in savings? So this is not the majority of people that have 20 grand sitting around. Yeah, 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency in cash.

That's sad. It is, yeah. It's better than where some people are. You kind of need that fire lit under you because I think a lot of us have gotten a little comfortable. Obviously, we're not doing great with money, but a lot of people are going, yeah, but I have some savings here. So I kind of have a little pad. I have my credit card as my little safety net. When you go down to $1,000 and no credit cards, you realize the state you're really in.

Yeah. And you're like, let's get this paid off quickly. And then when you get a jumpstart, what you're making on that savings, how you can and build that back faster without payments every single month. When you get out of debt, you're going to get it back in no time. I mean, you really are. You'll be able to save up so much faster when you don't have a $600 payment here or a $400 payment there, right?

Like, it all adds up so much. And once you're out of debt, you can get that savings back faster. And most people get out of this debt in 18 to 24 months if they follow our plan with intensity. So it's not like you're going with $1,000 for years. That's right. That's a good one. Okay.

Fear of losing money through investing and instead just trying to save your way. to wealth. Because investing has risk, saving money, virtually no risk. If you're just putting money in a savings account, it's not going to go to zero somehow. But investing, it potentially, theoretically, has more risk. The problem is your savings account earns anywhere from zero percent all the way up to what, four percent right now, maybe a little more. Yeah. Whereas investing, we've seen over the last 30, 40 years in the stock market, we're talking 10 to 12 percent returns. Yes. Yep. You're able to make so much money. You need to outpace inflation, not just keep up with it. That's right. Next is just you grew up with financial uncertainty and so now you're extremely

frugal. So that's a big one. We never had money growing up and I feel like it could all, we could get back there if we're not crazy frugal for the rest of our life. Yep. And I under, I mean, to a degree, when you live through something, that's going to determine so much of your habits, right? I mean, like, that, that is very true. So I totally understand that. But I think that's where Dr. John the Lonez talks about facts are your friends. So if you have the money and you have a savings, you have retirement, like you can enjoy some of your money, right? Like you're not factually going to go back to where you were because you're still making an income. You're still able to budget and spend what you want and being responsible with it. But that doesn't mean because you're spending money that

you're going to go back to where you came from. That's good. And that takes time to sort of rebuild the new file in your brain. Yes. That's a good one. This is a legitimate. This is a legitimate. one that I have found myself struggling with, Rachel. Yeah. Spoiled kids. As a new dad, the question, will I ruin my kids if they have more financial opportunity than I did? Because I want to give my kids the best, and I want to not see them struggle, but I also want

to make sure they have work ethic and that they're not entitled. So this is a real one, you know, as I think through, well, what am I going to do for Mia's first car in her house and a wedding? Do I want to just pay for it all outright, or how do I get her to have the right amount of skin in the game? Yeah. How would you handle this? someone who has a bunch of kids who are older.

It's determined upon those three things you just listed. You're probably screwed already. But if it determines of like a car or a wedding, and that determines how she is in life. Yes. It's more about the character that you've raised her with. Yeah, I think it's the everyday stuff. And then George, not to correct you.

But it was great. We're like, I don't want her to struggle. That is good. It's good for them. I want her to struggle in the right ways. To be frustrated. Yeah. Right.

But I read this book and they said, when we were growing up, We had helicopter parents where they just like hovered. And now there's snowplow parents where they pave the way. So there's no bumps, no obstacles. Perfectly smooth. Yep. And they just get to walk.

And how terrible that is for kids? And that's what I'm asking. How do you create the right amount of friction? That's difficult. Oh, you make them do stuff they don't want to do. My nine-year-old, you asked her to unload the dishwasher. Love her. But it is like I am asking her to walk two miles to get us water from a well and bring it back

for the family. You should ask her to do that, and then she'll feel like unloading the dishwasher. What a treat. So they're going to feel like, oh, my gosh, I don't want you. Throw a tantrum. Oh, yeah. And it's just like, mom, you know, get that they have to pack their water bottle. Like, they have things that they're responsible for in the mornings for school.

And you would think that I am absolutely asking them to run a marathon and like take word to the British for the war. I mean, like, thank you. Like, it is, it is so unbelievable. So, again, that responsibility. the work, the the actives, the tasks that they have to do that they don't want to do, they got to do it.

And you call yourself the fun mom. Yeah. Or then we go shopping. Then we shop to forget that we had to unload the dishwasher. I know. Because I think that's what's hard for parents is like, you know,

and then in school, like I've heard so many stories of parents that like call the teacher and try to like fix the thing. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, I'm sorry, that's the grade you got. So like, let's figure out how we can deal with that. Yeah. So I think it's, I think those are the, those, those day-to-day situations is what shapes our kids. It's not, I don't believe. It's not like, oh, you have a car. Suddenly you're a spoiled kid, right?

Like, we're going to have you work. You know, my parents, we had to save up for half of our car. We'll probably do that for our kids. That's the 401-Dave plan. Is that what you guys call it? I love that. So, like, there's elements to that that I think are really intentional, really good because it forces them then to save and to work, right? Like those daily activities they have to do. do, to lead to a big goal. Like, all of that is so good. But I don't think just because, like, you pay for a wedding automatically your kids ruined, right? They're ruins by the day-to-day things that happen in your home. That's true.

In my opinion. But who knows, I just have a nine-year-old as the oldest. So we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. If they get a brand-new car. I don't trust 16-year-olds with brand-new cars. No.

I don't think that should be a thing. Oh, my gosh. If you're driving a nicer car than me as 16, I just have problems with that. Well, Ann, when you, I don't know if you feel like this. I feel old, but when I see kids in cars, I'm literally like, are you 12? Are you 12 years old driving that car right now? It frightens me. They look like babies.

I wonder if people think that about me when I'm driving. Just a little guy. Just there he is. You got a beard, George. That's why I wear a beard. Just to look a little bit older. So I don't look 12. Yeah.

All right, here's one that's tangentially related. Do you like the use of tangentially there? I don't get it, but sure. What? Say it again. Well, if you didn't get it the first two times I said it, I don't think the third one's going to be the charm here,

tangentially. Like tangent? Oh, okay, gotcha. Okay. The fear of getting your information stolen online. Oh, that's real. And actually, that's pretty legit. Okay, so George, all of those that we talked about

kind of irrational fears, right? The market's going to crash, all of that. But there are some rational fears about money that we should chat about. Yeah, there's some that people aren't scared of that maybe they should be more scared of. Yeah, you need to be afraid. You guys be very afraid.

Here's one. Uh-huh, go. Student loan debt. Oh, so scary. Ah! I'm scared people are going to have student loan debt and pass it on generationally like an inheritance. Now, it doesn't work like that, luckily.

I was like they can't do that, right? No, the great news is, Rachel, you die with your student loans. Isn't that a wonderful tidbit? No, listen, they, yes, get out ASAP. It is the one type of debt that stays with people so long because they kind of just put up with it. And what's hard is a lot of these interest rates are getting higher and higher. And people barely can even just make the principal payment, right?

They can just afford the interest. Well, the problem is politicians dangle the carrot of, well, I know. I'll forgive it if you let me. I'm like, y'all, the U.S. is $35 trillion in debt. They don't exactly have deep pockets to go ahead and forgive the loans. Yes. Without making the American people very angry with more taxes. So true.

It's so true. Okay, next is to eliminate all debt. So, again, if you're scared to, to take the leap, I think it is scarier to continue to be in debt for the rest of your life than just to say, you know what, I'm going to do it. I'm going to pay it off. I'm going to try this plan. And here's my thing always with getting out of debt. Like, do it for a year. Like, start the process and just say for the calendar year, we're going to try this. And if you get to the end of the year and you hate the progress that you've made, you can always get back in. It's so easy to get more

debt and so much harder to get out. Yes. But if you actually start seeing, these results, it's going to be more encouraging. And you're going to be like, oh, my gosh, I don't have that payment and that payment. And like, it's so nice to be able to keep my paycheck that I work so hard for and use it for me and my family. Yeah. And there's a thread, Rachel. There's a lot of people that have been calling in the Ramsey show lately or I talk to on social media. And they make really good money. And they take on debt because they go, well, the payment's not that bad. I can afford it. Yes. And then life happens. And they lose a job or one spouse wants to stay at home, whatever it is. and all of a sudden that payment now is a much bigger deal.

So we all think starry-eyed when it comes to going into debt. We need to think about the what-ifs. And that's probably our like interesting perspective is that we talk to people every single day that get the short end of the stick of life, right? They lose the job or they get the diagnosis. Like whatever happens, seeing life play out. You guys, it happens.

Life happens. So why risk your financial situation and your peace of mind for like crap? Like, I mean, seriously, at the end of the day, Most of it's just stuff. We go, what did you spend $30,000 on the credit card? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, that's right.

That's right. And you're just like, man. So it's not worth the risk. Absolutely. Next up, have an emergency fund saved. Most people aren't scared enough about their lack of savings. And what that does to them when an emergency does come up. Yeah.

Because they have to go into debt for it at 22% APR, which is very frightening to me. Very. Ooh. Listen, you want to scare me. 22% APR will do it. That in spiders in tiny holes. And tiny holes. I got to throw away my sponge daddy tonight.

I can't look at the holes. I love scrub daddy. That's what we use at our house. Good for you. Yeah. It's great. On the cold water, it gets like... I do have an irrational fear now of normal sponges.

Because they're just gross. They're just freaked me out. Do you put them in the dishwasher, though? Whitney started doing that. Oh, I did that all the time. I forgot you could do that, to be honest. Oh, no, it's the best. It feels so good.

I just kept replacing them when they got nasty. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. I just saved two. money, George. Oh my gosh. Wow, look at you. Are we changing seats? You are the fun mom. Are we changing seats? This is a good one. Okay, last one, investing in retirement. I think more people should be scared that they don't have enough in retirement because the stats say they don't. Gen X said they need a miracle to retire. They say they need $1.56 million to retire comfortably.

The average 401k balance for Gen X, 56 grand. Oh, yeah. There's a giant gap between what we know and think we'll need and how we're actually doing. And the good news is you can do something about this. For sure. And it's a math formula. Like figure out, hey, what are you living on today? Is it somewhat going to look the same, right? And then calculate inflation and just say, okay, out of these years, what do I need? So there's a formula to get there to at least get your answer. And if you follow the Ramsey plan, you get out of debt, get an emergency fund, then begin investing 15% of your income. Over the course of a decade or two or three or four, even, you will become a millionaire and you will retire with dignity if you do just that.

And then, of course, paying off your home early, increasing investing, you can do this stuff. Even if you start at $40 with $0.00, I did the math on this. If you invest, you know, 15% of the average household income, 40 to 62, you can become a millionaire. There you go. So let that encourage you. That's great. The tortoise always wins, George. That's right. Slow and steady wins the race. It's not exciting. It's not flashy. So stay out of debt. Don't owe people money. Have money in the bank. on a written budget. Our favorite tool is every dollar. We'll link it in the show notes if you want to go check that out. And that truly gets all the fear out of my life because I'm focusing on the facts,

on reality, how I'm actually doing not the headlines, not what could be. How are we doing as a house? Yes, that's right. What can we control? And that usually helps dispel a lot of the fears. Yes, for sure. All right, George, it's almost the end of the episode and we close out every episode with Guilty as charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new guilty charge question every week and if we're guilty we take a sip kelly all right have you ever snooped in someone's house oh like their medicine cabinets they're just around any part of their house question i'm not going to try to be the hero here and say that i didn't because i have you have not regularly not recently but i am curious like what's in a you know if i'm looking through a medicine

cabinet for something a band-aid per se at someone's house you're looking at medication yeah i don't go too deep i'm not looking in their drawers that i feel like that For some reason, drawers feel like not okay. Medicine cabinet, like this is a public space. We're all here. Guess we'll use the bathroom. And just to see. Just be curious.

Yeah. What's here? So you're not the type to snoop. No, I'm not a snooper on Inside Out too. Have you seen it? No. Oh, man, so good. Do they snoop?

Riley does and her conscience. It's a whole part of the story line. The guilt. Oh, and the whole time I was just a nervous wreck thinking that she was going to be caught. And I was like, Riley. So, yeah. I did snoop. I wouldn't call snooping, but I was at Dave Ramsey's house.

He was not there, which makes the story weirder. We were filming a video where we were recreating Home Alone. Oh, yes. It's for a Ramsey Christmas party video, so I'm, you know. I'm a collie Colkin or whatever, and I'm home alone in Dave's house. Yeah. And as part of the scene, we opened the fridge to be like, whoa. Oh.

And I was way too into snooping as to what was in Dave Ramsey's fridge. So much. Can I tell you what I saw in the freezer that changed my life? It's probably a Sharon thing, but go. I feel like a Dave thing. There was three pints of Jenny's ice cream. And if you know, Jenny's ice cream is like a premium ice cream brand. It's my favorite ice cream.

And it's like $12 a pint at Jennings, if you go. I don't pay full price. I'm not that kind of guy. But I saw the three pints of Jenny's ice cream. And my first thought was, he really is living like no one else. I was like, this is true wealth. Like there is $30 worth of ice cream just sitting there. He really made it.

And I thought, this is who I want to be when I was. grow up. And can I tell you what's in my freezer right now? Three pints of cheese? Three pints of Jenny's ice cream. Dave's just changed his life. It's a wealth cheat code, y'all. See, I did snoop. There was a lot of food in there, though. I was surprised. Sharon? Because Sharon is a, she loves to cook. She cooks a lot. So there's a lot, always lots of food. Wow. She'll send you home with food. It was inspiring. I did not eat any of the things in the fridge. It's good. Well, I'm going to say I'm innocent on this one, y'all. I don't think I think I'm too scared. For whatever reason.

Would I do it again in a heartbeat? Not in the way that, again, is nasty. I'm not going through people's drawers. But if I'm in your bathroom, I'm curious. I'm going to see what you got. I'm going to peek. Yeah. Also, who even has medicine cabinets anymore?

It's got to be an older house to even have like the... The mirrored medicine cabinets. The mirrored medicine cabinets. Yeah. That's so funny. All right, George, who finished her drink first? You're closer. I think I did.

I enjoyed this. It was thick. It was a thick, buttery, rich drink. What's your rating? I'm going to go 10 out of 10. Wow. I know. I would order this as an after-dinner drink.

It does feel like dessert. Yeah. Like if I'm like out with friends and we go out, you know, after dinner somewhere, I think I would order it. Okay. 10 out of time for the butter beer old-fashioned. I'm going to go 7 out of 10. Okay. As you know, I'm not a huge fan of dairy.

Dairy cocktails. And this one has heavy cream in it. Okay. It's got bourbon, butter beer syrup. So the butter beer syrup is made with cream soda and a butterscotch topping. Very interesting. Along with the bourbon, black walnut bitters, plus the heavy cream. Yeah.

So not bad. And it only comes out to $2.3.3 per glass, which is one of the more cost-effective cocktails we've had. So if you want the recipe, go check it out in the show notes. And hopefully you'll enjoy it. All right, it's closing time. So if you guys enjoyed it this episode, make sure to subscribe, comment. We love to hear from you guys. And if you did love this topic, make sure to check out our episode on surprising money facts that everyone should know.

That's coming up next. All right, we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.