Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Money Myths From the TV Shows That Raised Us

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Rachel Cruze, Rachel Green, George Kamel and George Costanza—the gang’s all here! We’re covering the unrealistic paychecks of everybody’s favorite TV show characters. How did NYC’s unemployed population hold down high-dollar real estate, and where did they find such generous friends? We need answers! In This Episode: ·      Danny Tanner’s excellent taste in historical real estate on a sportscaster salary ·      What is rent control, and why did it have a choke hold on every ’90s sitcom? ·      The concept of Seinfeld finally clicks for Rachel live on the air, and George gets mildly harassed Helpful Resources:   ·      Get your finances organized, make a plan, build up your confidence, and kick money stress out of your life for good with the EveryDollar budgeting app. Go to www.everydollar.com/smart to get started today. ·      Do you have 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. ·      Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy     This Week’s Happy Hour Special: The Sundowner Mocktail Ingredients: 1/2 cup white grape juice 1/3 cup sparkling water 1 mint sprig (for garnish) Instructions: In a chilled wine glass filled with ice, add white grape juice and sparkling water. Stir, garnish with mint, and enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Cheers. Very refreshing. All right, this is the podcast where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about.

Everything from pop culture, current events, and of course, money. And today we're talking about unrealistic money expectations and TV shows. There's a lot of them. This is a lot. We're not even going to touch movies on this episode, so get right. ready for maybe another episode, just TV. And as we started diving into this, George, there's a lot of unrealistic lifestyle compared to what these, the jobs, these characters have, what they do.

That's what makes TV great. What would house hunters be without like a guy who's like, I'm a dog walker? And she's like, I'm a freelance poet. Our budget, $2.2 million. How? What are they doing? How does that happen? I know.

And it's everywhere. But before we dive in, George, today we're sipping on a mock tail. It's a good one. Yes, it is. It is called the sundowner, and we'll tell you what's in it. But I'll tell you what's not in it, alcohol. That's right. But it's very refreshing.

So stick around. Stick around. We'll give you the rating. We'll give you the cost of what it takes to make it at home. And maybe the recipe, if you're lucky. Yeah, we'll throw that in there. You know, we're generous, people. So generous.

I know. Okay, George, if there was a TV character in the world that you're like, I just am a little bit jealous of. Like, I could be that character. of like everything from like it could be their job it could be their style their clothes their life their life I don't know is there like a character that you're like yeah I would say Chandler from friends I always was like you want to be Chandler he's kind of like above it all he's the wittiest of the bunch for sure you know his life's not all there but you know who's was in that show yeah that's true we're break that down but he was just the quickest he would to me he was the funniest okay that's good

he had the snarkiest lines in there how about you you went more personality than like but then like their life their job. I think women are, there's way more of that in the women side. Is there a character for you where you're like, I wanted to be her growing up? It's not that I wanted to be here, but I'm like the, like the lifestyle of gossip girl, like really over wealthy and Manhattan. I just think it's fabulous. Like even House of Cards on Netflix. Just their style. It's like that DC kind of like a little bit old school but yet contemporary style. Livia Pope. Oh, yeah.

Skin, I like her wardrobe alone. I like her wardrobe. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of characters. I was like, I see you. I could, I could do that. I will say Tom Haverford from Parks and Reckeye deeply connected with. Shoot, I never saw Parks and Rec. It's time.

Guys, tell Rachel she needs to watch it. I know. I'm so sorry. Everyone's laughing, so everyone knows who you are. You stop watching that fake TV and start watching fake sitcoms. Big sitcoms and do it all. Yikes. Oh, man, but it is, you know, we talk about comparison a lot.

can be really easy to compare your life, obviously, on social media and all this. But then, yeah, you throw in some fancy TV shows, and you're like, oh, man, they just always, like, look put together for the most part and have a very cool life, a very cool apartment, a very cool, whatever, fill in the blank. It's normal to be jealous of those things. You're like, I wish I could not work and still have a great life, have an awesome friend group, which is like most TV shows. I know, and just live that life.

What's that life? Because you never see them working. That would be the lamest TV show ever, except for the office. Which, again, you rarely see them actually working. That's so true. I know. So anyways, the comparison thing is very real. But we don't want to let, you know, Hollywood interfere with our goals.

No, we're not. Not today. We're not going to compare our life to them with those people. We're going to reframe all of this in a healthy way. Yes, that's right. By looking at what's not realistic and then showing you what is realistic. Yes. It's going to be fun.

So quick disclaimer, Rachel, for all the listeners out there, we found a lot of conflicting numbers. You could say when we were researching all of these. fictional stories and living situations. So we did our best to fact check all of this and adjust the numbers accurately based on 30 years ago. And we found that it was all about location, location, location. Most of these shows take place in big, high cost of living cities. Yes. And so you've got to take that into account that, you know, 1990s New York City, you know, they would have been making more money than people in Boise, for example. That's right. Absolutely. Yep. So we again tried to kind of find that middle ground from

all the numbers we saw. So here's a realistic picture of what the real world would look like for these characters. So can we start off, George? Your favorite. Friends. What is it about friends that you love so much?

I think it's just funny. I mean, I've seen every episode, like, multiple times, and it still makes me life. Like, I have some of them memorized, and it still makes me laugh. That's impressive. Did he grow up watching it, or was it later in life?

It was, like, high school, like late middle school, high school. And then even at like Sam's Club, they had the DVD box sets with every season, like back when I was in like a sophomore or like a freshman or something. And I remember going and they had it in this massive pack. But we couldn't buy the massive pack because it was so expensive. So we bought like individual seasons and you get a season for Christmas and all that. But we ended, I have all 10 friends seasons on DVD at my house right now. That's impressive.

Do you even still own a DVD player? We do actually. Kids, I know. We have a lot of DVDs. I can't tell you the last time we. pop the DVD player open. Well, that may be my baby gift to you, George. Get you a DVD player because you're going to be watching some baby Einstein and some other things.

It's going to be great. Don't they have that on demand now? Why do I got to pop in this? George, because you can get used DVDs on Amazon. That's what we do. Listen, it's got to be on demand. What's Netflix doing? Hey, if you get a minivan with a DVD player, you have to have some DVDs for it.

I'm not ready for the mini van. So this is a lot at once, one step at a time. One step at a time. Okay, let's talk about friends, George. So let's hit each character. Okay. Starting with Rachel. Yeah, we'll start with her because she's so great.

Her or Monica. Well, because your name's Rachel. Were you like, I'm a Rachel or no? I probably have more of a personality than Monica, I think. Really? I don't know. Rachel likes to. Well, because Rachel's, you know, she's the spender.

Yes, she is. Monica's very OCD. Are we talking about life or money habits? I'm just thinking more of their personality traits. Do you think I'm a high-strung person? No, and I think Monica is. I do. Okay.

So maybe I am more chill. Yeah. Wouldn't you say Rachel's chill? Yeah, Rachel is very chill. Okay, maybe I am more Rachel. I don't know. Monica's just kind of hyper and she talks fast a lot and I don't know. Has her systems in place and I kind of feel like I can be that way.

You love a system. I love a system. Give me a list all day long. Okay. Okay. So Rachel, again, Jennifer Annison plays her. Rachel Green. We love her.

So she got hired as a waitress at Central Perk, which was the coffee shop that they hung out at all day every day. didn't work. They just sipped coffee all day for most of it. And so she started there as a waitress, and then she climbed the fashion ladder with doing like Ralph Lauren. She ended up having an interview with Gucci at one point toward the end of the series. So yeah, so she moved her way up in the fashion industry. Good for her. Yeah, good for Rachel. Is that realistic? Like that quick, consistent success? Did she earn it? I don't know the plot line there. Yeah. Like how did she go from waitress to like I'm in the fashion ministry.

Yeah, she got like kind of an entry-level job at Ralph Lauren was her first big career job. She kind of worked her way up there. Yeah, kind of like she did it realistically. I'm going to give it to her. I didn't know if she like stepped into a high-level role there. Because I started here as an intern, so I connect with Rachel and, you know? Do you feel, you feel like one with her? Me and Rachel.

So a fun scene, though, was that she actually cut up her dad's credit card in season one. Wow. I'm like, does she know about Ramsey? and all Marta Kaufman were it secretly Ramsey fans back then? The creators of it. Maybe? Maybe so. We never know.

But is that realistic? Like, if I cut up my dad's credit card, that? Well, for her, it was a big deal because she came from her dad paying for everything, came from a wealthier family. It was a symbolic. Yes, symbolic of her being on her own. And they all cheered her on. Oh, got it.

See? See? There's some great morals there. So, again, waitress, minimum wage. And then she could have ended up making as much as $100,000 or $1,000. Lauren is what we predict. I believe it. She had her own office, her own assistant by the end of the series, so she's doing great. That was quite the episode. Good job, Rach. Good job.

Proud of you. Let's move on to Monica. Monica would have earned about 35 to 70K as a chef or caterer throughout the 10 years of the show aired, and miraculously, her apartment was rent controlled because she inherited it from her grandmother, so apparently she only had to pay 200 bucks a month for rent. Yeah. Can you imagine? No, not that.

And their apartment was huge. Gigantic. Compared to like other. It's unheard of in New York City. So well. Which explains how Rachel was able to move in with her on a waitressing salary. Yes. Even split the rent.

That's $100 each. Okay, so explain rent control because this is going to be a hot button term that we use throughout this episode because a lot of the characters claim this. I feel like writers got lazy or like, oh, just make a rent control. It's right control. It's fine. I mean, it was pretty common. New York City is, I think, the one that it's most known for. But in big cities, you'll hear terms like rent controlled or rent stabilized.

So rent control is a stricter policy and more severe. So they fix the rent to a specific price, which often happens with older properties. So people who have lived there for 30 years, long-term tenants, they will keep the rent at a certain rate so that they don't get putered out. Rent stabilization is a little bit different to where it limits the price increase to a certain percentage annually so that renters aren't blindsided. Because otherwise, nobody could afford to live. anywhere. And so these systems exist to maintain affordable housing. Yep. So sorry if that doesn't exist in your city.

Yes, but it's there. So that's how Monica and Rachel have their big apartment. So I guess, I mean, they never said about Joey in Chandler's apartment that it wasn't under control because Joey was a struggling actor, not making a lot. He was making it. Yeah, anywhere from 45,000 to 80,000 with his guest appearances and some movies and shows. but he was Dr. Drake Romare on a consistent basis on the days of our lives. Great character. He crushed that role. He did so good.

So his income, I don't know what, you know, an actor would have made back. There's so many factors that go into how actors get paid. But between 45 and 80K, plus more for roles if he did commercials, guest appearances and movies, brief stint as a game show host. Yes, he did. He did do that. That was fun. So Ross was a paleontologist at a museum, so on average would have made about $50,000. but then became a professor at NYU.

Yes. Suspected University. Yeah. So he could have made $75,000 at that point in the show. That's legit. Yeah. So these are all like, you know, for the 90s in New York City. Yeah.

Yes. Realistic salaries. Yeah, but so for their apartment. Because Ross lived on his own and he always had nice apartments. So I don't know. Yeah. Rent control. I feel like they had some family money though, the Gellers, you know?

You think? Kind of like the old family next door. Some old money happened on there. Who knows? Maybe so. Okay. Phoebe, one of my favorite characters, worked as a masseuse, approximately 45,000 a year plus tips, probably under the table, you know. She was probably doing some illegal stuff.

Shady deals happening. At some point in Phoebe's life, she was. And of course, on top of the masseuse career, a freelance musician, occasional caterer. Mellycat. The greatest hit of all time. So good. Can you sing it for us? No, you're not going to trick me, George.

Dang it. I'm so close. I will say the lyric. Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat, but I will not Go into tune. You got to pay extra for that. That's right. Okay, and then last but not least, we got Chandler, your favorite. And the running joke is no one really know what he did for a living.

They did it on purpose. Sponsor was what Rachel guessed. Oh, that's right. And Monica was like, that's not even a word. That's not a word or a job. So he works some kind of desk job that he hated. Yes, we're going to say, like, apparently made good money. 65 to 100 would be our guest.

Yeah, why not? And left that job and cut his pay in half to start over an advertising towards the end of the series. That's right, when they're going to move to Oklahoma. And even with his wife's Monica Income, I mean, it feels kind of unrealistic, but I'll go with it. Yeah, it's still that man, Manhattan life. And I don't know. But we love it. And we love a good pivot.

Pivot. Pivot. One of Ross's greatest moments. It's just so good. So again. I love that they were all chasing a dream. and they have this tight-knit friend group, no matter what happened,

they were there for each other. It was like, I'll be there for you. It's in the theme song. When the rain starts to fall. I almost got Rachel to sing. You see, that's as close as we're going to get today's episode. All right, let's pivot to another show, George.

One of your faves. New girl. New girl. Have you seen new girl? Yeah, I have. Yeah, it's funny. I'm not as like a dedicated fan as I am to friends, but I can hang with the combo.

I think they've got a good cult following going. I started watching it because when I started dating Whitney, she liked it. And so what do you do when a person you're dating likes a show? You watch New Girl. And then I became obsessed. So in New Girl, the main character Jess starts out as an unemployed former teacher living in an L.A. loft with three dude roommates. Four small bedrooms, one bathroom.

Yes. Chaotic. Chaotic. Chaos everywhere. But it's fun. Yeah, but there's some conflicting views on the internet with the likelihood of the scenario that some... People on the internet have opinions about a fake show. Isn't that crazy?

There's a lot. There's a lot we found, and it was great. So something that the situation was very realistic is you pull four people's income together. You could do it. Some people say absolutely not. Well, estimated rent would be between $700 to $1,000 per person, which tracks. Winston and Schmidt, they had full-time jobs and law enforcement, corporate marketing. So they both probably made about $60,000 a year in the L.A. market.

Yep. And Nick and Jess, not with Shane Simpson. You would get confused. Correct yourselves. Yeah, yep. Different characters. The other Nick and Jess. probably could, you know, they probably struggled a little bit to pay the rents because they had just off and on careers with bartending, unemployed statuses, like all the things.

Why is everyone unemployed in TV shows? I guess that makes it more exciting. Yeah, because there's a struggle. You got to figure it out. Problems off. You want to feel like you're better than them. You're like, well, I have a job at least. I have a job. Well, if you were single, Rachel, would it be worth it for you to pay a thousand bucks or more to share a bathroom with three other people? I don't know that I could do that. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. I have trust issues. I think the older I get, the less likely I am to do it. I feel like right out of college and stuff. When's the last time you had to like share a bathroom with roommates?

My senior year of college. Wow. Was that chaotic with a bunch of girls? You know what? There were three of us that shared a bathroom. Wow. Any tips on saving money with housing? Because this is something that we get pushed back on.

It's like, well, Rachel, I can't have a roommate. What do you want me to do? Oh, I know. You can have a roommate. We're not saying not have a roommate, but also five people sharing a bathroom is maybe not what you have to do. So I think location is big. We talk about that. Location, location, location. So the closer you are usually to a bigger city, the more rent you're going to pay. Further out, the less. Yeah, I mean, I'd say a roommate is a great option to split

some level of the rent. I mean, like, yeah, if you... It's huge. I think that's great. And most of my roommates were friends or, you know, newly made friends, not like strangers on Craigslist. So that's a good cat. You're mutual friends. And I had roommates up until I was married pretty much. Yeah. So I think that it's a great, I think that is a great way. But again, we're not saying you have to go and live with like 18 people and share two bathrooms. Like we're not saying that. And when I moved to Nashville, I did not live in the city proper. Yes. I lived on the outskirts in a different town and rent was way cheaper. I want to say when I moved here, rent was like $800 or something for like a two bedroom. It was insane. Oh, no way. That's great. I know. Then it jumped like $1,200. And last I paid when I had a roommate was $1,600. So we split it, 800 bucks each. Yep, yep. Which is normal.

Totally, yeah. So again, it's a great way. And then think about like your bills and stuff. I'm like, just be smart about utilities and that kind of thing because that's a way to save too. Absolutely. Okay. So Nick in the show, New Girl, often complains about shared bills like Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi, as some call it, and tries to fix things around the loft instead of having to pay his portion of the utilities and things go awry, as you can imagine. And we've all had a roommate who thought they were exempt from the electricity bill. Jess is somehow able to afford all the latest clothing, constantly shopping, while being an underpaid educator. How she did it? I have no idea. Credit cards. Figured it out, probably. I'm going to say debt was probably a part of that. But she ends up getting a VP vice principal position, so that's good. She was probably making about 60K, a little more wiggle room there. But the style choices of the TV characters are one of the most misleading aspects, because it's not even the job or the living situation that makes it feel out of reach. it's the picture perfect aesthetics of the apartment.

They have this beautiful loft and the furniture is amazing. It's great. The hair, the makeup, the wardrobe. And most of the people you see in a New York or L.A. on TikTok, they don't have their lives perfectly together with beautiful spaces. No, no. It's on a set, which this is. That's a great call out. It is not real.

They do a great job of that. Let's move on to another great show, full house. But another show full of very confusing unrealistic money expectations. of this. So Danny Tanner is the dad, Bob Sagitt, and he was a sports broadcaster. And at the time of the show in 1987, it would have been around $33,000. So he eventually got promoted to the morning show host, which that would have been closer to $53,000. That still feels wild considering all of these people lived in this amazing Victorian San Francisco home. Yeah, they were in like one of the painted ladies. houses. Have you been over there? Do I have? No, you know, I haven't. Is it so fun?

Well, everyone is just playing the full house song on Instagram while like doing the pan of the house. But it's fun. It's fun. So good. So that's what funny is that house at the time would have cost $444,000. And today it's almost priced around $3 million. Wow. And other painted lady houses are going for, you ready for this? $6 million. I'm going to throw up. It's an expensive little row right there. There, call those houses. Well, hey, that's a heck of a deal at 444 to appreciate all those years later. Yeah, it's pretty nice.

So you had Joey, Uncle Jesse, DJ, Stephanie, Michelle, eventually Aunt Becky, and their twin boys. They're all living in this house. Yes, and this beautiful. Who was paying for this? Did Jesse and Joey ever even pay rent? That's a good question, because Joey was a comedian, right? Struggling comedian at that. Yes.

Uncle Jesse was a songwriter? Musician, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. played some tunes with the Beach Boys. That's right. Remember those episodes? I love those episodes. I had definitely looked up to uncle.

Like I was like, I want to be Uncle Jesse. I wish I was that rock and roll. Yeah, yeah, pretty cool. And Aunt Becky, I guess, would have definitely contributed from her news anchor position that she was with. She had a real job. Yes. A bona fide career. All the things, Aunt Becky.

So I'm going to say that she contributed too. Well, and they lived in the attic. So hopefully that was cheaper. That's true. Maybe they all did split some rents or some more. a mortgage. I hope so. Again, not an exciting part of the show. They are all just sitting down going, all right, here's your share rent, you know, pay up. That's right. That's right. Absolutely. Okay. Next up, this is one that I'm embarrassed to say. I think I've only seen a few episodes.

No. I know. I'm sorry. It's time, Rachel. Seinfeld. Seinfeld. They just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the finale. Good for them. Listen. That's great. I, Whitney and I just wrapped watching the entire thing all the way through. It was a big moment for us. Is it just so great, though? It really is. I mean, Jerry, he's great.

I get it. Like, I just haven't. So, it's the show about nothing, if that helps at all. It's really, there's no real plot. Kramer, which makes it great. You know Kramer. Yeah. So it features four singles living in New York City, Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer.

George. And the biggest plot hole is Kramer's financial situation. He's kind of like the Chandler of the group, except he doesn't even have the desk job. Oh, yeah. He's just kind of like grifting and mootting. and mooching and just doing like oddball entrepreneurial stuff getting into trouble. But Jerry's got this West 81st Bachelor pad in New York City as like a kind of an inconsistent comedian.

Like he's doing okay. Yeah. He's got some, he had some ups. But it still feels like how do they pay for this thing? So I wonder if there was some rent control going on there. And it was New York? Because his salary was 45,000 to 75,000? New York?

Yeah. Would they have been friends with the friends? I don't know if they were friends with the friends. No, not if they, it's a hypothetical George. This isn't real life. I go, I don't think Jerry Seinfeld would ever associate with their kind. Why? I think he's too judgmental.

Oh, was he a judgmental character? Everyone on that show, like they're super judgey. Oh, funny. They think they're better than everyone. Oh, really? So I think they would have been too uppity. Is that part of the comedy is like? Yes.

Okay. He's like they're kind of terrible people who don't grow. Oh my gosh. I mean, that's a fair summary of the show. We're getting nods. We're getting nods. But I like, that's why I like them. They're unashamedly who they are.

And I think they would have made fun of Ross and Rachel and Chandler and Joey. Wow. I don't know if I like that show or not. You'll love it. What did George do? George had just a ton of different jobs. Did you say what Jerry did, the main character? Jerry's the comedian.

Oh, that's his character on the show too. Well, that worked out well for Jerry Seinfeld to be Jerry Seinfeld. Is he playing himself? Yes. Is that not amazing? And in the show, they're trying to pitch a show to NBC called Jerry. Stop it, really. That is basically the show that they're actually in.

It's so meta. So is he, he has a little confusing. So he's playing himself. Yeah. Okay. Shouldn't that be all of our goals to just play ourselves in life? I think so. I think it's a beautiful picture of what life should be.

Yeah. Jerry Seinfeld. Yeah. sense. Go home and watch an episode. So Jerry's apartment could have easily been $2,500 a month. And he's making $45 to $75. So easily, 40% of his income could have been going towards that rent.

Uh-oh. Which is a lot for living alone. That's a shame, shame here on Ramsey Solutions. What's the number? Because we talk about 25% is ideal. But we know that's a pretty conservative number. People do kind of freak out. We get it.

But we want your income to go other places. You want to be able to invest and give and spend and do other things with your income, then just pay a mortgage. That's true. So when it ups to that 40, 50, 60%, it's a little out of balance. Well, considering their lifestyles, too, they're just constantly spending. Jerry's dating life was insane. Nine seasons, he dated 66 women.

Oh, my gosh. How did he afford all those coffee? Is Jerry Seinfeld married in life? Real life, he is. So not on the show. Yeah, not on the show. There's also a spot where he loans Elaine $5,000, and he hides 1,500 in a laundry bag and forgets about it.

Oh, no. And somehow he consistently feeds Kramer. Kramer's constantly coming in, open to the fridge, grabbing whatever he wants, and then leaving. It's kind of like Joey on Friends. There's always the moocher on any TV show. Yeah, for sure, for sure. So it's kind of out of whack.

He also buys his parents a Cadillac at one point, as his comedy career kind of picks up, which is very nice. That is generous. He makes a large commission from a show, so outrageous generosity. Love to see it. Okay. But then Kramer, always unemployed, chasing after some get-rich-quick scheme.

Yeah. He makes a coffee table book about coffee tables. That's funny. He tries to use the recycled cans and run a scam where he goes to Michigan to get more per can and then drive him back. It's out of control. You've got to watch. You love him. And then George is constantly losing his job.

He gets all these- He seems angry every time I see it on TV. Well, his tagline is like, George is getting upset. That's kind of his thing. Okay. So. Not happy. There's a lot going on there, but they're a great group of friends.

And anyways, it's very unrealistic, but also they're not the kind of people that you envy their lives when it comes to money. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, ones that you probably would envy a little bit, their lives when it comes to money and lifestyle, sex in the city. Carrie Bradshaw, for instance, she's the main character. Main character, energy, for sure. So apparently she only pays $700 for her brownstone near century. Park on the Upper East side. Rent control. We're going to have to say that for sure. So before all her book deal, she made approximately $300 a week from her column. And then she is constantly buying

expensive shoes. So like $400 pair of shoes on the reg. The math ain't math in Rachel. I know, I know. So again, her going out expenses, her lifestyle, all of it doesn't really match quite quite her career. You look at Miranda. Now she works for a successful New York City law firm. So she could have made anywhere from $200 to $350,000. So she's actually making a lot. That'll give you a nice life. Charlotte could have made around $45,000 to $100,000 as a fine art dealer. And then Samantha, PR guru, celebrity publicist, all of that.

Could have made $150 to $300. So these were some high power, highfalutin women. Yeah, yeah. And then it came with all the cosmos and all the fancy. Did they like invent the Cosmo? I think they popularized it. I feel like. I feel like when you think of Sex of the City, think of Cosmos.

I don't remember that show. Did they use a lot of credit cards on that show? I wonder if they're ranking up there. I'll be honest. I'm not like a loyal fan to this show. I've seen it, but I'm not like friends out of all of these we talked about is where I'm diehard. So all the other ones, I'm a little bit more sparsen. But Carrie Bradshaw's great.

Now the movies are great. Sex and the movies like their fashion and their trips and everything is pretty fun. So all right, George. So we've covered a lot. So what are some like key takeaways from this? Well, number one, what you see? on TV or Instagram or TikTok, for that matter, is never the full picture. So think about all the behind-the-scenes details.

Next time you might be tempted to compare your circumstances to fictional characters, which I'll include, like, influencer lifestyle on Instagram to fictional characters. Yeah, that's fair. And all these brand deals. And all this stylish fashion that you're talking about, spending all this money on furniture and clothes, it's not as accessible in the real world as it is in the prop closet on a Hollywood set. So you have to constantly remind yourself, this is not real.

Yes. Let me just enjoy this for what it is. And then, of course, rent control is apparently the go-to explanation for every writer for every show. It's like, well, how do they afford it? Rent control. But not as realistic, always. Most people listening will never get to experience that. That's, yes.

Another one I'd say is just having, you know, there's ways to be generous. And a lot of, you know, the characters we talked about, whether it's Kramer or Joey, you know, go into their friends, refrigerators and eat their food and use their stuff. Find friends you can mooch off of. Which is, yeah, I mean, it's not terrible, but also it's okay to set some boundaries. So it'd be okay to say, hey, I've got to pay for that stuff, right? I think that's a fair. I would be having those conversations.

Yes, I wouldn't be having. I think that would be fair. And, of course, real estate and things like San Francisco and New York City is going to be inflated, some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. So even though it looks fun to go and hang out with your friends at a coffee shop all day in New York City, may not be a realistic life, so just remember that. Yeah, people that want to move to New York, and they're just like, I just want to live in New York,

and I'm just going to get any job, and then they're angry that they can't afford it. Like, no one's entitled to just live wherever they want. I know. Without being able to afford it. You know, it would be fun, so you've got to get your income up. That's a big part of you want to live this life. You've got to get your income up and keep your expenses down.

Live on less than you make. Yes, to enjoy, enjoy the big city living. Okay, so do you think that there's a show at all, George, that actually portrays. life and salary and I don't know like we're life just very normal I feel like the office is the most like norm core lifestyle so true like they live in scrant pennsylvania it's not a big flashy city yes they they work at sad cubicles they probably all make very normal salaries a lot like america I mean like I feel like that's a lot of people's job I think that's why people love the show though it's so all the

characters oh my gosh that's a funny show now that is when I've watched thank you that is funny But everything's just kind of mediocre. You know, they're going to chilies. It's fine. Yes. It's middle class fancy. Middle class fancy. But I like that.

Oh, man. That's good, George. Gosh, we could have picked, there are hundreds of shows to pick from. Maybe we'll do this again. Yeah, I know. But this was great. Because it's good. I think it's so interesting of what reality would have been for these characters.

So we're almost at the end of the episode, and we like to close out every episode with Guilty As Charge. And this is where our producer, Lindsay, gives us a new guilty-charged question. every week and if we are guilty we have to take a sip. So, Lindsay, what is it this week? Let's stay on brand of this episode. Oh, wow. Are you guilty of having a unrealistic expectation about life because of a show? So, like, for me, like, high school musical or like, say by the hell, like, they, like, these, they've the ocean outside of there.

And I was like, oh, my high school's going to be so cool and everyone's going to be, like, dancing and it's going to be so fun. No. none of our high schools look like that none of it's that cool that's so true I think yes I think on a social aspect a lot of these shows make it look like you just hang out with friends 24-7

and when you're done with work sometimes you're just tired and you're going to go home and like you just don't the social aspect makes it feel like you're like maybe we should have more communal type living where we're across the hall in apartments and we're just in and out of people's places but realistically that doesn't happen

or at least in my I'll say in my life if that didn't happen. It takes way more effort to see people and all that. Oh, for sure. I think what I'm realizing is the shows that I actually love are very realistic in terms of people, you know, not living on lesson they make and having to deal with the ramifications.

So shows like Parks and Rec in the office are my favorites because they're just normal people doing stupid stuff and I see myself in that. I'm like, that's me. So you had a realistic view of life? You never saw a movie and thought like that's what I think blank will be like. like.

Oh my gosh. You know what? I will say, Lala Land with Ryan Gosling, I was like, I want to be Ryan Gosling so bad in this movie. He can just like play jazz. It's not her question. No. You said it's unrealistic.

No, I'm talking like, like an area or work. Why are you guys angry? All of a sudden, I'm being attacked. We are getting up on it. No, did like, did you see a movie and think, ooh, an office job sounds really cool. That's what that looks like. Like, like how to lose a guy in 10 days. Like I saw that.

I was like, ooh, I want to work. at an office in New York City. But it's probably not that... And my life would look like this. It's probably not that fun and glamorous and beautiful. Do you know, that's what I said about the high school. Like, I thought literally, when I got to high school, it was going to look like that. No, it's not.

Oh, and then it was a jarring realization there's nothing like that. Like anything, like any movie. Welcome to the guiltiest charge. Oh, my God. I want to be Ryan Gosling. High school musical? Yeah, no. Lindsay, I get it.

I get it. I mean, thank you. College is another one. You see a college campus in a movie. Yes. You're like the wrong conference. You're like, oh my gosh, everything's going to look like that and be so glamorous. My nightmare is life being pitch perfect, and everyone around me is breaking out into

Acapella groups into like gang standoffs with Acapellas. It's a funny movie. It's a great movie. That's a funny movie. That's why I can't enjoy things like that. I guess I'm like hyper-realistic. Oh, yeah, I think so. I can't enjoy anything in life. Wow, you're fun.

I think you're enjoying a lot of things in life. But if you have to tell someone they're fun, they're not fun. That's what, that's it. I know. No, this just went. This backfire. Guys, I'm sorry. I got it, Lindsay.

It's okay. George. You did great. George, why don't you do what you do best and go back to the podcast? Oh! Wow. We sipped on today. Shots fine.

No, for there not being any alcohol in this drink, y'all are spicy. We did gang up on you a little bit. Okay, this is a sundowner and real downer of an episode at that. Here's what's in it. White grape juice, sparkling water, and a little sprig of mint. That's it. It's delicious. I mean, I took my down.

It's kind of a take on a sparkling white wine, I would say. Yeah. Yeah. It's very light, very refreshing. It's really good. Put it in a wine glass. Oh, yeah. And you'll feel very fancy.

That would be really fun. That's good. What would you rate this drink? I mean, I'm going to go a nine out of ten, ten out of ten? Wow. I thought it was really great. I would make it again. Okay.

I thought it was delicious. I'm going to go, I'm going to go five out of ten. I just need something a little more with a little more punch and flavor. You just need alcohol? No, I mean, just like a lemonade. Just something that has a little more bite to it, tart. It was very light. More of like a juice.

You know, white grape juice is pretty light. I hear you. I hear you. I'm being honest. I didn't know it wasn't allowed. It was great. I'm learning a lot today about honesty. And when it's appropriate and not appropriate.

So the cost breakdown per glass is $1.6. Oh, that's great. So you can make a giant picture of this and serve it at your next party. And it's delicious. So good. So great. Well, you guys, the recipe will be in the show notes. So make sure to check that out. And it's closing time, George. So you guys, thanks for watching and listening. And make sure to review. Please type in a little review because it does help with the algorithm, with our self-esteem, all of it.

That's the more important part. Let me remind you. We love to read it. We love to hear from you guys that reach out. Have you loved the podcast? There's about a thousand from the coffee episode, and people are just commenting, Expresso. I told him to. We told him to. Expresso. Expresso. Just trying to rile me up. So good.

Oh, my gosh. I do enjoy reading them. So fun. So fun. And make sure to subscribe to so you don't miss any episodes because next Thursday, there's going to be a new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.