Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Is Gen Z Financially Doomed? Let’s Talk About It

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Is it harder for Gen Z to get ahead with money compared to other generations? In this episode, Rachel and George break down what’s working for and against them—plus answer Gen Z’s biggest questions about how to win financially. Next Steps:  🎥 Watch our video Dave Ramsey Answers Your Most-Asked Questions. 🍸 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.  💵 The simplest way to budget. Download the EveryDollar app for free!   Connect With Our Sponsors: Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth.   Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Strawberry Mint Mojito Mocktail Recipe: Soda Sense  3 strawberries 16 mint leaves 0.75 ounce lime juice  2 ounces sparkling water   Instructions: Grab a rocks glass and fill it with strawberries and mint. Begin lightly muddling your two ingredients together until fully incorporated. Next, add lime juice, fill the glass with ice, and top your drink off with sparkling water. To incorporate the ingredients more, lightly mix in an upward direction. Garnish with lime wheels and strawberries.   Explore More From Ramsey Network:   💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're taking Gen Z under our millennial wings. It is going to be so adorable and so financially practical. Because some of those negative things for Gen Z, housing markets, student loan debts, all that. There are some perks they have, though. My first thought is like, I'm sorry for how insecure you are. That's my true first thought. My second thought is, ew. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz.

I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Well, this is the show where two friends who have to be money experts talk about, which are talking about, everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And before we get to the hot goss among the youth, I think that's what they say still. Hot goss? Yeah. Goss up?

Yeah, I think after Ryan Gossling, I think it's a gossling reference. Oh, funny. I don't think it is. Gossip, that's the term. Gossip, yeah. Let's talk about what we're sipping on. It is a strawberry mojito moktail. I'm going to just let the cat out of the bag.

Pretty good. Yeah, this is a good one. This is a good one. So stick around until the end. We'll give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. Yep. Okay.

Well, Gen Z gets a lot of heat, and rightfully so. You think? They ate Tidepods at one point, so I'm like, you got to, can't let them off the hook for that one. But one thing I love about them is that they are real.

Do you at least agree with that? Yeah, for sure. I mean, they can be aggressive about it too, right? I mean, they're not scared. They're not scared of anyone. They grew up getting bullied on the internet. So they're very tough. They're the first generation to experience social media at 12.

God bless you all. The fact that you're still here, that's a miracle. Yes. Could you imagine if we had that? We couldn't handle that. If our boomer parents had the internet and it got all of that mean stuff on social media when they were little, they wouldn't survive all that? They're strong.

Gen Z is strong. Very resilient. Have you seen these videos on social media where it's just someone posting a selfie with suspenseful music and that a prompt says, I'm bored, comment your craziest first date story? or I'm bored, comment your most unhinged financial advice. I don't know why I love those. Those are funny.

And then I love the ones that are like, okay, how did millennials, millennials, please tell us, like, how did you survive the 2008 recession? Or like, millennials, how did you all have weddings without the internet and being able to book everything on the internet? Like, it was so, like, they always want to know our advice and how we lived in the world when we did George. And then we give them the advice and go, ew. Ew.

How would you ask? Ew. Well, we've lived through a lot. us millennials, me and you, and we're here to shoot you straight about your financial future and offer some tools to help you achieve some money goals

despite how easy or difficult you have it compared to other generations. Yep, so Gen Z, this episode's for you. And even if you're not in, Gen Z, you'll probably appreciate it. Yeah, I think the boomers are sitting up above it all judging, and the Gen Xers are like, don't forget about us again.

They are kind of the lost. We exist too. Yeah, those are the lost generation. Go listen to some pearl jam, bud. You'll be all right. All right. If producer Kelly would, was here. She would not appreciate that. She'd be very upset.

Well, let's get real about the factors that may make it more difficult for Gen Z to get ahead financially. Yeah, because there's some real talk here. Yeah. I'm going to start off with student loans. That's a big one. I think it's, it has increased so much. Like, I remember being in school, I was there in 2006. And student loans were there, but it was like a, it kind of felt so, like, few and far between. It wasn't like a automatic student loan. And it wasn't like talked about. Yeah, it just was, yeah. But now I feel like if you, like, went to school in, like, 2020. 12 or 13 or 14 or 15, everyone had loans. And like a lot of loans, because tuition was so high.

It started to creep up a lot. I don't know. I just like the student loan part. And the industry was so much more aggressive towards Gen Z. And all of it. I don't know. I just think they got the bad end of the student loan stick, if you will. Yeah.

I mean, they're more prevalent. They're more normalized and they're more available. Yes, that's a good way of money. So let's cover a few stats here. Okay, so the total amount of student loan debt in America right now is $1.77 trillion dollars. The average student loan borrower borrows $38,883. Which I want to say,

that's a little lower than I would have thought. Maybe because we host the Ramsey Show and we get people that have like 120, 120, 140. Like six figures has become more common, I feel like. So, you know, if you're under 40 grand, not doing too shabby. Good for you. Doing good.

The average interest rate is 6.53%. And the average student loan payment is over $200 a month. Oh, yeah. I mean, I had 36,000, which was probably a little above average back then when I graduated in 2012. For sure. I don't remember all the interest rates, but I do think the interest rates have been creeping up and up and up. So this one bothers me because there's a victim mentality around student loans, understandably so. The student loan companies are predatory, and everyone just said, this is the path, go to school at all costs, don't worry about it.

So I do think there's a piece of it where I go, not all of this is your fault. but you also signed on the dotted line, just like you would with any other day. But at 18 years old, when your frontal cortex isn't even completely formed. Like, do you know what I mean? And you're like, well, you told me I needed this. So I guess I don't have an option. I know, right, right.

So I do feel bad. So I think the parents are guilty here, the guidance counselors, the student loan companies, society at large. Society at large. At large. I like that. So this one does bother me. Did you see the recent White House update?

Maybe. I don't know. They said, student loan repayments back, baby. Oh, I did. Pay up. I know. So we went from like, forgiveness could happen to it's not happening to and pay up. And now you're paying.

So I understand there's a lot of fear right now around student loans and paying it back. And so if you are a Gen Zier who has not yet taken out student loans, please don't. Yeah. Don't be a part of these stats. Yeah. You know, do whatever it takes. Take a gap year if you need to try to see if you could work without a degree. I don't know for a hot second.

Maybe you can. Who knows, right? And don't be like, I need to move across. the country to do this. I was dumb enough to do that because I thought, who needs an in-state school that's super cheap and affordable

when I could travel across the country and find myself? I had a call on the Ramsey show. I was wondering if you hosted with me and she was like, I don't like the state she was in, was Georgia. She had another parent that lives

in like North Carolina so she could get tuition. Yes, I was on that show. I don't like that state either. Like all this stuff and I'm like, you can't like not like a whole state. Like there's a part of it's like, I mean, and for four years of your life

to get half of, half of, half off. I remember. And I said, I looked it up on the internet while I was on the call. I said, there's Appalachian State for seven grand a year. Yeah. Why not that?

I don't like, I can't really, yeah. I don't, yes, I know. I was like, girlfriend. She wanted to go to SCAD, which is a very expensive, very fancy, schmancy name brand school, go into crippling debt

so that she could have an experience. I know, I know. So it breaks my heart to hear that. All right, next. over protective parenting. So, man, they did, Gen Z. We had parents, we had the boomers. Yeah.

Which, we were 90s kids. I feel like 80s kids were feral. 90s kids, we were kind of feral. We were caged with minor supervision. Yeah, I feel like all the, like, kidnapping stuff started happening in the 90s, like face on the milk carton, like that movie came. I feel like my parents were scared of kidnapped. Stranger dangers started to become a thing.

Yes, that was a big thing. But we could still ride by. I mean, we would be gone. Obviously, no cell phones and any of that. Do you ever think, like, they probably should have been more involved or more, like, chaperoni? With it? I feel that way.

Like, I don't know how they just let me. You know, it's funny to me is things like sleepovers. Like, mom and dad, like, they... Oh, yeah, it's a big deal now. It's like there's a big anti-sleepover movement. Yes, yes. A lot of people don't do sleepovers anymore. But mom and dad, yeah, they're only, go, whatever.

I'm like, do you even know these parents? Like, do you have been... Yeah, he'll be fine. Do you know anything? Yeah, but there was never, yeah, so the freedom. But you know what? But it was great. Yeah, there wasn't a lot of, like, anxiety.

I think part of that made us more capable human beings because we were more independent? You had to figure things out. Yes, I would agree with that. Like, I was 13 years old, and I would walk to the train station, take a train into Boston by myself and go skateboard until 10 o'clock at night. And they would, like, check in on me. I'd let them know what time I'd be home. So there was guardrails, but I was still just skating in the streets. Right, right.

Where now I read this line in the book, Anxist Generation. I was like, that's so good. Now we are over-parenting in the real world and under-parenting in the technology world. So you'll like hand your kid an iPad, but you're like, you're going to be on a leash if we're at an airport. Like I can't, you know what I mean?

Like it's like, oh my gosh, it's the opposite. It should be the opposite. Like in the real world, you're going to be fine. Go climb a tree. Go figure it out. Go climb a tree. Here's an iPhone 10-year-old with the world on it. Do you know what I'm saying?

I'm like, it's wild. I'm going to do everything for it. you. Yes, that's a big thing. If every obstacle is removed, the kids never get the chance to grow. Yes, so that was another thing. It was like instead of a helicopter parents. It's kind of the comfort crisis. Yeah. Instead of a helicopter parent where they're like watching everything,

now it's snow plow parents. So they smooth out the path for the kid. So there's no bumps, no hurt, like nothing. They just have a very smooth walk. And yeah, that does not create resilience and all of it. But parents will call teachers. I've heard this. If the kid like is failing a class, we'll call the teacher and like figure out how to up the grade.

and then now some school systems, George, won't even fail kids. Isn't that crazy? Because it'll hurt their self-esteem? I guess. And they just go ahead and pass it? Like, I mean, it's wild. Don't you think at some point we need to go, hey, if you didn't do the work, you shouldn't get a B or a C. Right.

So anyways, it's wild. Oh, yeah, y'all. I don't know what I am, though. What do you think you're going to be? Probably not good. Okay. I think probably leaning towards overprotective. Yeah.

But I don't know if that's because I have a little girl right now. I think I'll be less that way with a boy. He bumped his head, he's okay. But when it's my little girl, I'm like, you see a cry. Just protect her. So I hope not. But my wife is very much,

she's a better parent. So she's like done the research. We're going to limit the screen time, you know, all of that stuff. Right, right. So she's going to be much more involved in a healthy way of making sure that we, I don't know, don't raise the worst kid ever.

I think that's always the fear as a modern parent. Just don't be the worst of everyone. Yeah, because now it's like, your kid's going to survive, most likely. Right. But how do you help them thrive on their own and feel a sense of independence and as little trauma as possible?

Right. I remember asking Dr. Les Perr at that. I said, as a parent, is there a way? Because, like, most trauma comes from childhood. Yeah. Which stems from the parent. Is there a way you can just avoid that and just be a good parent

and don't cause your kid any trauma? He said, no, that's impossible. Okay. There's just a spectrum of trauma. Of what it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to happen, George.

Cause as little trauma as possible. Oh, man. Well, you know, it's not traumatic. It's going to cozy earth.com. Because, man. It's the opposite of trauma. I think it's joy. I don't know what the opposite of trauma is.

Absolute joy in celebration in life. Yeah, Cozy Earth, you guys, they're incredible. Like, everything from their pants, I have their joggers, I have capris, I have lounge pants. I have t-shirts. I have a jacket. I have a robe. I have sheets. Head to toe.

Y'all, I keep going back to Cozy Earth.com. I really do. Partly because our discount is so amazing. Up to 40% off. Yeah. Yeah, most things are 40% off with the code smart money or you go to cozy earth.com slash smart money to get the deal. And I'll be honest, I've been browsing.

They have some clogs that I like. Like house shoes, you know what I mean? George and a clog. But I'm kind of into them. Yeah. I never thought I'd be a clog guy until I went, ooh, those are elegant. Oh, I like it.

I haven't checked out their shoes yet. Because I refuse to be a crocs guy. And so I need a house shoe that's not a crock. Yeah, yeah. And this is it. I'll report back when I get them. Okay, Cozy Earth, clogs. I love it.

Well, Cozy Earth, it is amazing. Again, whether it's clothes or bedding, blankets, all of it. It's fantastic. So make sure check it out. Go to cozy earth.com slash smart money and check it out. All right. Here we go. This is the big one.

Housing. We had to do it to them. This is a big one with inflation, rent, mortgages, interest rates. It's out of control. That is sad. If you're trying to buy your first house these days, it's, it is hard. And it is depressing versus even like five years. ago, which you could have gotten.

And this is reality. I mean, the numbers are preaching here. In 2023, rates reach a 20-year high, which is the highest Gen Z has seen in their lifetime. Yeah. Yeah, this is hard. As of late 2024, the inflation rate was sitting at around 2.5 percent, which means goods and services, costs about 2.5 percent more than they did the previous year.

So you put all that together. And it is. It was a tough economy. It's insult to injury because you got the housing prices skyrocketing, interest rates being at a 20-year high. everything else being high to. And they're struggling with other types of debt, trying to get their career off the ground. Student loan debt we just talked about?

All of it. And the job market hasn't been easy. So there's some legitimate things happening here that I have a lot of empathy for Gen Z. Yeah, it is hard. And what's hard about it to, George, is that math doesn't change. So the formula to be wise of buying a home is still the formula, which means expectations do have to change. It means it probably is going to take longer to save for a down payment than previous years in the past. You have to compromise?

Yeah, maybe going out further than what you would have initially. Like, all of that changes. But the math doesn't. So the formula of really sticking to that 15-year fixed-rate mortgage and the payment being no more than 25% of your take-home pay, it's a conservative formula that we use, but it's one that sets you up well for the long term. And again, home ownership should be a goal for sure.

But don't feel like you to rush into it. So be patient with it, be debt-free, have an emergency fund in place, save up at least 5% for a down payment. and begin the journey of homeownership. You don't I realize, though, with Gen Z, they are so aesthetically minded versus the boomers who didn't care. You know, like, if you look back at, like, the 90s homes,

they weren't pretty. Yeah, yeah. Gen Z wants a pretty home to live in, which is a very reasonable expectation. The problem is those homes cost a lot more than the ones that could use some TLC. Yeah, that's a good point, George. So that's also adding to all this,

because they grew up with Instagram and HGTV and, you know, flipping homes, and you want the night. or countertops, the open floor plan, and that's going to cost you. So it just adds more insult to injury here. So I feel you guys. I feel you.

It's tough. All right. Increased convenience culture. So Gen Z grew up with more convenience spending options than any other generation. So this is like rideshare apps, food delivery, even a vacation. Like if you don't want to stay at hotel,

you can do an Airbnb. Like that didn't ever existed. Like there's so many convenient ways to do things in life now, but they always come out of cost, right? You're going to be paying more for those things, but they are convenient. And it's easy to overspend, though, because of it. Yeah.

In subscription culture, I mean, it is much more prevalent now than it used to be. So they're monthly bills. I mean, they just keeps going up. All the streaming services, they want access to immediate information, and we get used to luxuries that now feel like necessities so that when they're taken away, you're like, I can't live. What am I doing? That's a hard one.

That is. You know, technology and culture just keeps progressing. Yep, for sure. Okay, so some of those negative things for Gen Z, housing markets, student loan debts, all that. There are some perks they have, though, in life, George. Got to talk about the good. Yeah, the good. I'll say this, more access to financial education.

If you want to learn something, you can do it. You don't have to go to the library and open up an encyclopedia, the old Britannica. It's so true. I mean, you don't have to have a textbook. You don't even really, I mean, need a degree to win with money. Like back in today, it was like, oh, if you had a finance degree, you're going to be like really smart with money. Now you can search the internet. You got to make sure it's wise financial information. That's the other thing. There's a lot of noise and trash and confusion out there. So making sure

it's good. But you can learn a lot. And I would say that's true with anything. Think about parenting. My parents always say this to us. Like, we had no clue what we were doing. Like maybe you talked to friends, but like they weren't reading parenting books or thinking about counseling for their kids. Like all of this access that we have to that. Like they didn't have that. Or recipes. Like you don't have a recipe book. Oh, yeah. You can just Google lasagna and you get 30,000 lasagna recipes. Plus some great picks of lasagna. And some lasagna picks.

Yeah, so they do. They have access to a lot of information, which can be a blessing of first. And shows like this are free. Yeah. Smart Money Happy Hour. How are we not charging for this? You're welcome. That's amazing.

And we have a great budgeting app. Our parents back in the day. It was just a yellow pad and prayers. That's right. You can Google, YouTube. There's so many off chat GPT. I love chat GPT now. I'm so glad you finally made it.

I did. I downloaded it. We were worried about you. We thought Rachel's not going to make the corner here with, she's not going to get there. I love it. I was like Googling something like theological the other day, and they're like,

would you like me to have a chart to break down Protestant Catholicism and orthodoxy? I was like, yes, yes, thank you? And it like gave me a full on chart, all this stuff. And I was like, oh, my gosh. I'm glad you found someone who wants to talk about this with you because nobody in your actual life is interested. So you chat, GBT, you're like, isn't that crazy? And it's like, yes, Rachel.

Yes, Rachel, absolutely. That is mildly interesting. I will say, I got very confused at one point, and it was like giving me years of things. Okay, and this is where I'm slow. It was a, no, it was the BCE. Oh. But it's like 10 years off of the, like I was very,

I was getting, and my, it was messing me up. The incongruency of B.C. and B.C. So I just finally was like, please, going forward, will you just do A.D. and B.C. Like, can I just have it? And it said, yes, confirmed, will show now in all other searches. or results or something.

Oh, wow. Thank you. You've trained it. Chat GPT. Isn't that crazy? Nothing says I'm relatable and relevant. Like, please only show me AD and B-C. Because I was getting very confused.

I wanted to do math in my head, trying to think of these years. That makes me happy. You know? I'm glad you made it. Thank you. But it is amazing how much time we save when we're trying to find information. Yes, for sure, for sure. That's a great blessing.

Another one? More ways to earn money. Yes. Back in our parents, I mean, what do they do for side hustles? Lawn mowing and pizza delivery? That's it. For real. I don't know what else you did.

Newspapers? Throwing newspapers. That's right. Waking up at 4 a.m. Man, newspapers. Remember those? Yeah, go to the newspaper to see what was in the theater. Do you remember like opening up a newspaper?

It smelled so good. Mom and dad would have newspapers every day. They would be reading them. Like I have memories of my parents like on the couch and stuff, reading a newspaper. Yeah. Man. I love it.

Me too. Just when you had one wide open? Yeah. I mean, you were like in a tent. Who's behind you? You know, who's behind that thing? It was like a little fort. Who is that?

A little inky fort you were in. Oh, man. I loved it. But yeah, lots of ways to earn money. So you're welcome to Z. Lots of ways. Yeah, you can drive for ride chair or delivery service. You can advertise your dog sitting abilities on social media,

sell handmade goods on Etsy. You can do a closet purge on Facebook marketplace or ship stuff off to thread up these days. Social media management. Everyone wants to hire a young whippersnapper who knows how to post to promote their business. true though. And so people are willing to pay you for just about any service and talent you have. And so you got to put yourself out there. It's still a lot of work, but there's just so much more opportunity.

And more options for it. Like I downloaded the Instacart Driver app and that night I was out driving, making money. It's wild. Yeah. You can do it. That's pretty cool. Now one subscription that is worth it for Gen Z in all generations, if you will, is delete me. Delete me is a fantastic subscription that you can go in. It's like this incredible service that goes and removes your data so that you're not set up for harassment, fishing, scams, all of that. Because if you don't take your information off the internet, it's like this billboard. I mean, your name, your address, your kids' names, your email address,

your phone number, like all this is out there. And what happens is data brokers go in and collect your data from these websites and then go and sell your data to other companies and they get your phone number and they're texting you. And you're like, is it real? Is this a scam? I don't know. It's crazy.

And especially for Gen Z. I mean, this generation grew up on the Internet. Yes. So everything's out there. It's a good point. Post, every piece of information. So especially important for the younger generations who live on the Internet and freely give their data to every website that asks, always accepting the cookies.

They're tracking you. So Delete Me helps with all of that. They'll send you a report. That's easy to see how much time they've saved you, where they removed you from, and it gives me a lot of peace of mind. So if you want 20% off, go to this link. join deleteme.com slash smart money or click the link in the description. It'll take you there. Very affordable. And again, worth it. This is not a frivolous streaming subscription. This is a necessity to protect yourself. Yep, absolutely. All right. Next is able to make smart financial decisions

earlier. So when you know better, you can do better. Yeah, we got a lot of calls from people who are older saying, I wish I knew this stuff earlier. I wish I found you guys. Well, now kids are 14, 15, and a TikTok video of Rachel shows up. And they start. start to engage and learn this stuff. And they call on the Ramsey show and they're like, I'm 16, I have $100,000 saved and I'm just wondering what to do with it. We're like, this is insane. Like, there's a lot of really sharp young kids out there that are crushing it financially. I don't know if that's because they saw their parents struggle with money or their parents taught them early on through maybe our curriculum that's in half of high schools across

America. Or their parents went through financial peace. And so they taught the same principles to their kids. But all of that makes a huge difference. See, earlier, you start, the better off you're going to be, the less you're going to struggle, and the more wealth you're going to build. Yep, it's beautiful. Next, variety of career options. So I mentioned that you can make some money with some creative side hustles, career options as well.

I mean, you know, if it isn't college, you have trade school, cosmetology school, community college, real estate license, work in the food or retail industry in a cool city. Like, there's a lot you can do there. Gap years, those are in. Those are in. If you got the money, that's a good way to live. But that is a big deal because a lot of, I think, Gen Ziers especially are realizing

they saw their older siblings going to crippling student loan debt to maybe get a job, maybe regret the degree path, maybe not use the degree. So they're going, ah, is there a better way to do this? So they're getting creative and with the internet, and they can just learn on YouTube. Yeah, probably more than they can in some classrooms.

That's wild. And so it's a really cool thing to watch. Now there's some jobs that I'm like, you can play video games and then just stream that and make money. Isn't that crazy? People making Buku bucks doing this. So the fallacy is, well, I'll just do that.

I'll just become a YouTuber and I'll be fun. Or like little girls want to be influencers. Like that's what they say now when they want to grow up. Like the number one and two career paths now for kids. It's like they want to be YouTubers and influencers. We need people who also, I'm not going to say we don't contribute to society as fellow YouTubers. But we need people who can like turn a wrench

and do things versus just influence and be on social media. Well, and I think the problem with some of that can be that world. It can be so like me focused where you start early on and your whole life becomes about you. And that's not a fun way to live. Like if you're not doing those outlets to serve and give back people, like that needs to be the heart, right? And the posture of it all.

Because that's the danger with them. That's the danger with, you know, I mean, I think every generation's been self-absorbed to a degree. but man I mean I still think back to like when the selfies came out when the camera on the front came out and that you can like take pictures

you know what I'm saying it used to be like taking pictures of other things or other people or you with people but now it's like just pictures of me like even that small of a change I wonder what that did to us George can I tell you that is a major red flag if I go to someone's Instagram

and it's mostly selfies oh okay yeah my first thought is like I'm sorry for how insecure you are. That's my true first thought. My second thought is ill. Ew. Judgmental George. We love it. But I will, there is some truth to the career part because they saw their parents work jobs that they probably hated, that they kind of felt like they had to do to survive and provide

a better life for their kids. And so they're kind of pushing away from that going, I don't want to do this for 40 years and then maybe retire. Right, right. In poor health one day. I want to live now. And so I respect that about them, but I do think we were made to contribute. And so the sooner you find that thing, the better. And our friend Ken Coleman has a great resource on this. Find the work you are wired to do. It has a get clear career assessment.

I think that earlier we can be teaching kids this stuff, the better off they'll be and the less resentful. I think he says that though, right? Contributing is like part of your human dignity or something. Yeah, we are created to contribute. Like we're wired in our bodies to want to add something. It's good for us. It's good to the world. To society.

I love that. All right, Rachel, we've talked a lot about the things around it. But I want to address the actual questions Gen Z is asking. So our team pulled the three most ask money questions from Gen Z. Let's do a little rapid fire and give them our best advice. All right. Question number one. Did you go to college?

And if so, do you regret it? I did go to college, University of Tennessee, go falls. And got a communications major. I'm actually using it. You are communicating. I am communicating. Do I regret it? No. No. I don't regret it.

Any reason why? Or do you want to just leave it there? Well, number one, I'll say this. I don't regret it because mom and dad paid for it. That helps. Do you know what do you mean? So, like, there was an element of that. What were the stipulations around them paying for school? We had to stay in state, go to a public university and graduate in four years. That's a great rule. So if you went longer than four years, you had to pay for that semester. If you wanted to go out of state, you had to pay for the difference. Love that.

Yeah. I met Winston there. My husband was there. That's big. And I had fun. Like, college was fun. And it wasn't like crazy college. But like I like, I enjoyed it.

Like I had great friendships, like that I still talked to to this day. Great friendships. I did young life and sorority. That's the funny thing that was like the education part. That's what I'm getting at. Did you learn anything? Okay. Maybe subconsciously.

Like maybe like I learned and I'm like using. things that I learned and didn't realize that I learned them, but they're like part of me now. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think that's an honest answer. I appreciate that. Oh, that one class that I... My small group communication theory class, I learned this new.

I know. So that's not like a dig on UT. You all are great. So great. Happy to be on an alum. But I think, I think interning in an actual company, way more beneficial.

You learn so much more doing that than like taking a test about something In theory Because there's no real experience in just textbooks And releasing a test Okay, what about you? This was different because you went out of state I did a year at UMass Boston

They didn't have, I was going to go to Emerson Which is a big film in media school Realized I don't want to be the next film school drop out It's 200 grand for four years Oh my gosh And I know we don't have that kind of money So I went to UMass Boston They only had English, did a year there

took a gap year, was working at the Apple Store, started an indie rock band, had a good time, ended up finishing at University of Mobile in Alabama with a communication degree. And I famously went 36 grand into student loan debt total for all of this. Do I regret it? I regret the debt part. Do I regret the education?

I'm going to be honest, I'm with Rachel on this. The education did almost nothing for me. Yeah. What really helped me was the real-life experience of running for SGA president having to run my own marketing campaign and create merchant buttons and market myself and come up with my principles.

That stuff really helped. And forming a band on campus with some kids and making gigs happen. It's kind of the life lessons you're having in decisions you're having to make in real time. Exactly. That help kind of shape that like 18, 19, 20-year-old self. And then the networking there.

The connections I made were more important than the education I got. So that's the one thing I would say college is worth it for. I'd say that's us. Now, if you're a doctor, you're going to have a great education that you're actually going to use. It's not like, I know how to do surgery. Yes. Right?

And no shade to communication professors. Yeah, we love y'all too. But it's like, it was like a 75-year-old man trying to teach us about the power of social media. I'm like, bro, we got that. See, I don't even think we did. I don't think we even had a social media class when I was in college. Oh, that's good. We had, um...

We learned how to use, like, Microsoft Word. Like, that was a whole class I took. Yeah, totally. I know. No. So, okay, that's it. All right, question number two. If you could do one thing differently with money in your teens and 20s, what would it be? Ooh. That's a good one. I would probably not spend as much as I did. I think I spent all. I mean, I just, and I, and I can't still do it sometimes still don't know George.

So nothing's changed. You haven't learned from your mistake. I mean, I spent on just like stupid stuff. Like, like, I don't even know. I couldn't even tell you. It was like, I went to Clare's a lot. I went to Abercrombie and Hollister. And you just buy these like $7 T-shirts or like $15 T-shirts. Like you're just shopping to fill time. Yeah, just to like, just to do it. You know what you mean?

And I'm like, I wish I had probably worked on like myself more than just buying stuff, you know. I wish I did that. Yeah, that's probably the big. I wish I got in the habit more of like contentment than I did in my 20s. It's a good lesson. And as my teens. How are you? No, mine's similar because when I was working, I was working and living at home.

But because I was living at home and didn't have real bills, I was just spending everything I made. Yep. So I think I would have done better to live on my own working because I would have taken it more seriously. Yes. Instead of just using the money I got to buy stuff from the stores I worked at at a discount, thinking I'm really winning. So I wish I just spent less and saved more so that when I got into adulthood, I had a pile of money saved and no debt instead of the opposite.

Yeah, that's good. no money saved. Yep, yep. That's a good one. All right, last one. What's the number one decision or habit that was the biggest game changer for building wealth? Oh, gosh.

Don't you love those questions? I don't have to say the budget for me, honestly. The budget has helped so much. And as a spender, I think it's like given me the ability to spend in times that I can. And it's free. And it's freedom. It's not free.

The stuff isn't free. I'm still spending money on it. But like the freedom and the... The guilt-free spending. Yeah, it's not like the mental cloud. that you have of like trying to figure out like if it's okay or not just like that permission to spend I love and then it does help us a lot when we're saving for things coming up like if we have a trip and it's like we got to like book a hotel so like you'll spend some money doing that this month

so we budget that in we plan ahead like it just kind of gives everything a level of control when I feel like we have like 30,000 expenses all the time I feel like just stuff is going out all the time so it's like this just gives us a good baseline but like here's what's happening and here's where we have to cut back here's where we're we're good to go forward, all of it. So we use every dollar, the budgeting app, and it's fantastic, you guys. I'll put a link down below,

and you can check it out if you've not yet, but download every dollar. So I would say for me, the biggest habit, because that is a habit I'm in on like a daily basis as the budget. So that's been very helpful. That's a good one. I'll go with a decision.

This one's going to feel hokey, but it's true. Marry the right person. That's the greatest wealth-building hack I can give you. If you're aligned, when it comes to the money principles, you're aligned on the vision and the goals of where you guys want to go. You're both willing to have skin on the game

and do whatever it takes. You're going to build wealth exponentially faster than someone who's not on the same page, poor communication, they're dragging you down while you're trying to achieve a goal. And so get that out ahead, get ahead of it instead of trying to reverse engineer it

after the fact. That's good, I love that. But I do think to your point, automating the healthy habits and putting friction to the bad ones, I think overall is the habit. So automating is doing that budget every month, setting the money aside and savings before you spend.

And then adding friction to, like, removing your card info and not going to the places you know you're going to be tempted to spend money. Yes. All of that's going to help you as well. It's great. Love it, George. I feel like an old... Man.

Old wise. I'm just talking to Gen Z. Old wise millennial. Yeah, we're just teaching you all the time, aren't we? Yeah, we covered a lot. What's the major takeaway you have for our Gen Z friends? are they screwed financially? Is there still hope?

Yes, I think there's a lot of hope. And I think they can actually do a whole lot better than the generations above them. Millennials and baby boomers, all of it. I think Gen Z's got this. I really do. I think they have enough, like, tenacity in them, enough, like, they can have that level of aggression,

and it's good. They're like, don't conform me into all of that. I'm going to do something different. I think it's a great thing. Yes. I would say use your resourcefulness to your benefit financially. You are so smart, you have access to so much,

so much opportunity, so don't squander it, don't fall for the traps, don't fall for the trends, go against the grain of what society is telling you, and even sometimes what your parents are telling you to do, because our parents, a lot of them are broken. So we want to go the other way and change our family tree, as we like to say. And I think Gen Z's going to be the generation that we go,

holy crap, look what's possible. Look what they're doing. This is amazing. I like all their phrases. I mean, we look to them for all the trends. They have cool phrases. Like goss. Is that one?

No, you said? Yeah, I don't think any of them are using that. I meant that to be offensive to show how out of touch I truly am. Here's what I realized. By the time we get to their phrases, they've long moved on. I know. I learned about Chugi, and then I said it. And one of them was like, and then it.

Okay, okay. I was like, oh, no, did I say it wrong? 2013 called. They want their phrases back. And then they were like, I think that's kind of out now. I was like, shoot, I just learned that. I love that word. Like, it's great.

Well, just don't tell anyone that you like Katie Perry, okay? Because that's out, too. Apparently. We are done liking Katie Perry. I know. Sweet astronaut, Katie. Do we like the Pope? I don't know.

I asked Gen Z. They tell me if I should like the Pope. Oh, yeah. I think so. An American. That's pretty fun from Chicago. Like, we have friends from Chicago that, like, literally went to his college and, like, it's pretty wild. There we go.

Gen Z gets an American Pope. Yeah, that's right. Good for you, guys. for y'all. You know what I did? Can I give you the Gen Z life hack? Real quick before we end. I turned my action button into a voice to chat GPT function that talks back to me. Shut the front door. So I hold this button. No, no. No. Instead of Siri, it's chat GPT. Instead of Siri. You're going to be so amazed by this. You ready? Yeah, can I say? Hello. Where were all the popes from?

Pope's throughout history have been from Italy. In fact, for many centuries, the papacy was dominated by Italians. However, in more recent times, popes have come from various countries, including Poland, Germany, Argentina, and more. America. In America. Ah, gotcha. So far, there hasn't been a Pope from the United States or anywhere in the Americas until Pope Francis, who is from Argentina. Hey, I got to stop you there.

get with the time, sis. The new pope is from Chicago. Don't, don't laugh. Oh, wow. That's a big development. My mistake for not being up to date on that one, thanks for letting me know. I gotta say,

this is my only friend. Owns up when they're wrong. Always gives me mostly accurate information. And you know what? Takes the criticism of like, oh, laughs. Yeah. That's fine.

Laughs at all my jokes. Thanks, George. for telling me. Okay, I can't believe she didn't know, but that's a, that's a, that's a slam on chat GBT. Big slam. Right? That's not good. Yeah. Well, they're having a hard time keeping up. There's so much news. Yeah, but, I mean, it's kind of worldwide news. Okay. Anyways, here we go. Anyways, tell us what we're sipping on, George. We have been sipping on a strawberry mojito moktail. The cost comes out to $2.41. It's got strawberries, mint leaves,

lime juice, and sparkling water. And it looks like it's all kind of muddled in there. Is that correct? It's a muddled drink, which we like. If you like to chew on your drinks, you'll like this one. So fancy. I like it. That really made it.

I'm going to give this one a 8 out of 10. Kausen go 9 out of 10. I liked it. I think the sourness needs to be tempered with a little bit more sweet. I'm noticing on this list there's nothing sweet. Oh, like no, like simple syrup or something. And they just need something to balance out.

lime juice, but other than that, great marks from me. So good. If you want to try it at home, get the recipe in the show notes. Have the kids make it. They can have this one too. All right, now it's time for

Guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a guilty church question every week, and if we're guilty, we take a sip. George, have you ever judged someone from another generation for their money decisions? Yeah, probably in the last five minutes. I know.

I got to think of a specific situation. and what generation. I know. I could probably have one for every generation if I wanted to, so I don't want a single one out, but I will. Yeah, I think one of the funniest ones, and I love him so much, my pap ball, who's 96 years old, wonderful man,

we learn that he has money buried in his backyard. Like all of it? I don't know. I don't know. But I don't judge it completely because I'm like he came out of like, you know, Great Depression era and like all the things. Literally. Curious of banks, you know, maybe a little bit like,

like, cautious. Who knows, yep, and it's just safer out there. But we, uh, us grandkids, we always laughed because we would like find random like jars of money places in his house too. Oh, inside of the house. Like you're playing hide and seek and you're just finding a jar with like 500 bucks. Yes, yeah. In the ceilings.

Yeah, he had like ceiling tiles in his basement. Wow. And we were like jumping on the beds one time as kids. and like hitting them, and one of our cousins could jump so high and like, I see something in the corner anyways. We found it. I know if I'm supposed to tell that if that's a family secret or not, but that's a generational thing.

My guess is a guy like that, I don't want to be darkening the door of that house because he's probably fully armed. You know what I mean? I take someone down, sweet pap all. My worry is what if he starts to forget where he stored it all? We wonder about that. It's going to be the great scavenger hunt.

I know. But that does give me an idea. Instead of leaving money in my will and like, hey, each of you get a quarter, I kind of like the idea of a scavenger hunt when it takes all. Finders keepers. Have you heard about this book?

There's like a treasure. Have you all heard about this? People are traveling all across America to find this treasure. Have you heard this? No. Okay. Anyways, you could be that for people.

I want to read it now. I just like kind of not trolling after I die, but just having a little bit of fun with it. Like, oh, my, I can't believe you. That's classic pop. Pop-b-b-pop, George. Pop-pop, George. I don't know what they'll call me.

Man. Okay, how about you? What gets me is the... I'll go after Gen Z because we had some fun with them. Okay. But the aesthetic posting on Instagram, like they go places to take the photo to say they went there

so they can feel like something happened. Okay. You know what I mean? Like they're chasing after the aesthetic more than they are a true experience. Okay, I hear you. I'm living through the phone. That might be food.

That might be the $12 latte at the trendy place that they stood in line for an hour and a half. But they're just sort of masking the reality of the bad parts and only trying to highlight the good parts which only makes the whole social media facade worse. Yeah. It makes it. While overspending on brunch because it was cute.

You know what I mean? So that part... Bottomless mimosa. I do wish... I hope that changes. Okay, I like that. That's good. To where like the Instagramming is less

and you just go places and you don't have to tell people about it. It's about it. Yeah. You just enjoy. Exactly. Good for you, George. Just be present with your friends instead of trying to get the perfect photo.

I think that's good. Well, if you guys enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. And here are hot takes from someone in the industry who's been doing it for 40 years. So catch our episode with Dave Ramsey. He answers your most asked questions. That was a fun one. Coming up next. And if you're listening on podcast, click the link down in the description.

All right, you guys. We'll see you next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.