Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Our Unfiltered Takes on Your Real-Life Money Dilemmas

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

💰 Which side hustle is right for you? Get personalized recommendations from our Side Hustle Quiz. https://ter.li/8u8nzi 📈 Are you on track with the Baby Steps? Get a free personalized plan. Today we’re answering your real-life money questions! In this episode, Rachel and George listen to your voicemails and share their hot takes on everything from wedding expenses to kids’ braces. Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Responding to Your Complicated Money Situations (Our Two Cents). 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour    📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Leave us a voicemail with your question at 877-306-1517.[JR1]  💵 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: ☘️ Irish Maid Recipe: @anatomyofadrink  2 ounces Irish whiskey 1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur 3/4 ounce lemon juice 1/2 ounce simple syrup 2 cucumber slices Instructions: Add all ingredients to shaker tin, add ice and shake until chilled. Fine strain into a glass over fresh ice and garnish with a cucumber slice. 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

Here's our number, so call us maybe. Actually, you already did because today we're cleaning out the old voicemail box to answer your honest financial questions. Their reliability percentage is probably about 50%. Oh, boy. Oh, no. What is the dumbest stupid tech you have paid? I had a recent one. Have I dogged Dick's sporting goods yet? 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 happen to be money experts talk about, what you're talking about everything from pop culture, current events, and money. But first, I know you're curious about what we're sipping on here. This is The Irish Made.

And can I say, love it so far. Already a fan. Stick around until the end. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the very end of the episode. Love it. Okay, Rachel. So when people ask you, what's the best part of your job, immediately what comes to mind? Be honest.

I like, I like the fact that we get to interact with people. like in their real life, things that are happening, especially when we host the Ramsey show, they call in or on social. You know, I'll get Instagram DMs, and they're like, hey, this is what's happening. Like it's celebratory or questions. I don't know.

I'm like, oh, yeah, we get to be with the people, and I love it. That is true. I like that people give us their little riddles and puzzles, and they trust us to help them solve it. Yeah. And then I'm like, oh, they're actually going to go, like, go do this stuff if I tell them to do it.

So there's a weight there, but it's such an honor and privilege. Yeah, it is. It's super, super fun. That's why I'm really excited about today's episode because we set this up, we set up the voicemail. We had this idea. This has probably been, I'm going to say, about a year ago. Feels like a decade ago.

Yeah, it's been a while. And we're like, it'd be so cool to do this. And we've utilized it some, but we're like, you know what? I kind of want to dedicate a whole episode to people and their questions. I'm like, what do they have? We just open it up and said, hey, call us, leave a voicemail, and maybe we'll answer it in this episode. And here we are.

Here we are. Are you nervous? You just did three hours of the Ramble. So I feel like you're primed. I'm ready to take some calls. But I like that they're smart money happy hour listeners, though. That's true. There's something special about you guys.

I know. So yeah, I think we should dig in. And unfiltered responses. And the great thing about this show is we don't have to, we're not on a clock. If you do, when you're doing the Ramsey show, you have segments and so you only get, you know, so many minutes with a caller. That makes sense. I thought you were going to like cuss or something.

You're like unfiltered. Okay, sure. What if I did? What if I was just like, beep, beep, beep, and they had to beat me right now, but I didn't really say anything. My mom would be upset with you. No, but like, what if imposed? Oh, they just faked it? What if in post?

They just put, like, censor me. Try it out. The editors can do it. Just censor me because you think I am cussing that I'm not. That would be funny. I really hope. Okay, here's my honest prayer. I hope the editors do nothing with that.

Just leave you high and dry. That would make my day. So, editors, who are you going to choose? Beat me out. Make it funny. That is amazing. No, I'm going to keep this family friendly because we have a surprising amount of seven-year-olds that listen to this show. So I feel like I'm the role model. Unbelievable.

All right. Let's go. Voice mail number one. So one thing I struggle with is how come you should pay off your house if you know you're not going to live there for a long time. Why should I pay off my house if it's not my forever home, essentially? Mm-hmm. I would posit this question. Why would you pay off your car if it's not going to be your car forever?

What's the point? You're going to get another car eventually. Might as well just roll over the payment to the next one. Yeah, just keep it going. I know. Well, and the good thing about the home when you're, quote, unquote, paying it off is you're putting in equity to the home. Like, you're still getting value.

It's almost like your money is shifting from like a bank account to an asset. Do you know what I mean? Like in my head, your money actually may even grow, right? with as your home goes up in value. So we get that question a lot. We also get the question of, okay, we have, you know, $20,000 and no consumer debt, an emergency fund, but we have an additional, like, big chunk of money.

Should we go ahead and just throw it at the mortgage? Or we might, in the future, move. Should we just keep it for a possible future down payment? And there's no, like, real plan in place. It's just an idea. And even in that case, I'm like, it's like a forced savings account that you can't spend when you throw it at your house, right?

So eventually if you did move, you just roll your equity over and use that money, your equity, for the down payment as you go and get a different home. Absolutely. That's how it works in reality, and that's what I've done with my own house. We paid it off. We sold it. Took all of the equity. Put it into the next one.

That allowed us to get debt free even faster. And I think human behavior and psychology would say, having a giant pile of money or saying, well, I could put it toward the house if I wanted to, I think deep down there's a justification and excuse of you saying, I'd rather not, I'd rather stay in debt longer and have this money to go spend. To go do something else with it, yeah. So just budget for the spending,

budget to pay off the house early. Yeah. And knock it out. You can do both. Love it. Hope that helps. We usually have the name in the city. We don't have that.

So we make them up. Oh, like Brenda from Michigan. I had Brendan my head too. George Camel. I literally thought her name was Britney. Yes. She didn't sound like a Brenda, but I wanted, she had Brenda vibes.

She had Brenda vibes. Yeah, I would have got in New Hampshire. Oh, wow. I don't know why. Felt right. Okay. Yeah, Brenda from New Hampshire. She didn't have a New Hampshire accent to me.

What's a New Hampshire accent? I don't know, Lien's New England-D, it's near Boston, you know, a little bit of that Dunkin' Donuts kind of, you know, attitude. Hey, have you seen the kid on Instagram? He keeps coming up in my feed, and he's like 12, and he's Italian, like pure Italian from New York. Have you all seen this? Like, it's Bolognais.

He's like, and he's like, listen, oh, what was the last thing? Everyone has seen it, so it's like, become a trend. He had, what was his word recently? Monterella. Yeah, was it Monterella? Yeah, was it that one? People were, like, mispronouncing. They weren't doing it, like, in the full Italian way.

Yeah, you don't pronounce the A at the end, I don't think. He's fantastic, y'all. I'm going to check him out. Oh, and his grandmother makes pasta, and there's a video of them hugging, and she's like, oh, and she's, like, slapping his back hugging. I mean, just an Italian grandmother. The most Italian you can get. I got to find this guy.

It is, it's the best follow. That is the mind of Rachel Cruz. We go from, let's talk about mortgages to rabbit trail into a 12-year-old Italian influencer. I don't know what he is. I don't know who he's influencing Rachel, I guess. I know, I like him. But that's a good housing question to kick us off. Pay off your house.

Yeah, absolutely. You will not regret it. If you do, you can always go back into debt. Very few people choose to do that. Yeah, that's my line. Get rid of the biggest fixed expense of your life. And we didn't say this. When you're paying down the mortgage, you're a mortgage,

essentially earning that interest rate. So you have a guaranteed interest rate that you're saving of that five and a half percent versus saying, well, I'll invest it and maybe make money, maybe lose money in the short term for savings plan. Yeah. And always remember this, always work towards being debt free. And if you become debt free, even house and all, and you absolutely hate it, you can get back in. Like there's a whole industry out there waiting for you to get back in. They will be marketing heavily. Hey, tap in that home equity. Yeah. So if you hate being debt free, you can always get it. Get back again.

Remember that. The people with the helox to go do, who knows what? I know there's a lot of heat locks. What are you guys doing got? This is the most American thing. You know, we build some wealth and we're like, hey, let's undo all of that to go on vacation. I know.

Well, a lot of people do helox for home renovations, though. To build the pool. Give them a little credit. Redo the kitchen. They do. I get it. All right. Let's go voicemail number two.

Hey, George. Hey, Rachel. My name is Sally and I'm from New Jersey. I'm currently working through Baby Step 2, and I'm down to about only three. $10,000 left in debt, so almost there. However, we just found out that my oldest daughter needs braces on her teeth. And after shopping around, it's going to cost us about $5,000. I do have an HSA account, but I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to cover this. Should I pause my debt

snowball to cash flow the braces, or is there a better way to tackle this and stay on track with the baby's debt? Oh, man. Sally from New Jersey. We got her name. You know, she's next to Brenda. You know, they're close and the same part of the country. I would have guessed Sally. Maybe New Jersey. She seems so nice. Very sweet. And then great question.

So 10,000 left on the debt payoff journey and boom, braces. Braces. Isn't that how it always goes? Always happens that way. $5,000. She's got an HSA, which is a health savings account, which is awesome. I wonder how much she has in there, you think? Yeah, I imagine not 5,000.

No, no. She's trying to figure out how to cash flow this. So that could help. So she's wondering, do I pause the debt snowball completely and just make minimum payments in order to cash flow this. I don't know what the payment plans these days are with braces, like if you have to pay all at once versus spreading it out. Right. Could you like cash flow the process?

Yes, could you cash flow in your budget? There's probably a larger lump sum at the beginning, I would think. But yeah, I mean, I bet every single appointment, I don't know. I'll be honest. I don't know the braces world is like these days. We have not. I know. Did you know I never had braces? People comment and they say Rachel's teeth are impeccable.

Never had braces. Straight your whole life. Just perfect. Yeah. I did. Still the same baby teeth? Never fell out? A year ago.

Yeah. And my mom and dad never had braces. My parents, neither of them. But Daniel and Denise did. My mom never had braces and she has beautiful teeth. Isn't that crazy? That's wild. Yep.

But all that to say, I didn't have a little bad. What a great humble brag on Sally, like Dunkin on Sally. Good luck, Sally. Good luck, Sally. Some of us don't have to have brazeny. What would I do if I was in Sally's shoes? I mean, if it truly is, I'm not going to call this an emergency, but it is necessary. Yes, that's what I was going to say.

And depending on what you make a year is going to help determine. Like, if it's going to take you two years or longer to get out of the $10,000, I probably would slow that down and cash flow the braces at the same time. That's probably what I would do. But if you can, like, knock out the debt in nine months or something, you know what I mean? Yes. Then just do that. So I'd figure out the drop-dead data on when we need to start braces,

what that amount is going to be. have that amount ready, then figure out what the remaining payments are going to be. And I would slow down the debt snowball so that I can cash flow it. But I don't know that I'd completely pause it if she still has money left over. That's what I'm wondering. Can you put braces off for six, seven, nine months, right? And kind of be saving on the side for that while putting some extra towards the debt. Can you two at the same time?

But it's just going to be slowing down the debt snowball while you're doing that. But yeah, the kids braces thing, I don't know. And then the new thing, George, which again, we've not entered, but kids are doing braces earlier. Did you know this? They're not doing it in two phases, so that actually may help her. I don't know.

Well, not. They do a shorter amount of time earlier, and then they do it a little bit later, another short amount of time. Just kind of splitting it up. Versus like when we were in school, you got them in like middle school and you had them for like two to three years straight.

I got mine off when I was a freshman in high school. Okay, yeah, so there's kids right now in third, fourth, fifth grade that have braces. Wow. Because once your first four teeth come in at the top, they start, Yes, because it's a shorter amount of time early, and then they'll have them again in middle school,

but it will only be for like a year or something. Interesting. I know. It's a different philosophy these days. I'm learning something new. I feel like this is my, like, is this a scam or orthodontists all in on this, you know, starting this trend? I'm not trying to go there, but could it be?

You know, I love a conspiracy. Could it be? I know, I can't dangle that in front of Rachel. It's dangerous. Especially with teeth health. So this comes down to making a budget. I would use every dollar, download the app, and go, okay, how much can we throw with the,

debt, how much do we need to cash flow each month to cover the braces, and then start splitting the difference in the budget to see what's going to work for you guys? Yep. I think that's a great question. And, you know, we talk to so many people that pay off all their debt, they become debt-free, and they'll say in our debt-free journey, you know, we had a baby in the process, we cashed flowed some renovations that are like our roof needed to renovate. Like, life is going to happen, right?

Life is going to happen. So just remember that. Give yourself some grace around it. But the faster you get out debt, the more all that cash is freed up every month versus going to payment. so let that be your motivation. George, this was not a voicemail, but I'm going to ask you.

Okay. Ring, ring. Hello. Hello, George. How do I keep all my personal information safe from the internet? What an astute question, Rachel. Thank you. It's very easy because I use a service called Delete Me.

So what they do, they go in to all these data broker sites on the web, all these weird, scammy-looking sites. Weird sites. And they delete your personal info, your email address, your net, name, your family's name, everything's on there. And so they'll go and delete it, send you a report, showing you what they've done. And there's real people behind the scenes doing this all year long

over at Delete Me. And it gives me a lot of peace of mind and saves me a ton of time. Yeah, it's amazing, you guys, because again, it's like a billboard out there on the internet these days with your name, your address, your email, your phone number, your kids' names. So much is out there today. And so being able to protect your privacy online from fishing and scams and all the things, it is worth it. AI, it's just gotten out of control. I know. And it's just, It's not getting better, George. So get people on your side is important. And delete me, are those people you want?

And to make it even sweeter, we've got a deal for you. You can get 20% off their annual plans by going to join delete me.com slash smart money or just click the link in the description. And we will take you there. Love it. Perfect. All right. Voice mail number three.

I have a question about Baby Step 3. We're about $12,000 into our emergency fund with about $30,000 a go for a full six months. and all hell breaks loose. My husband's truck window gets cracked, car issues, transmission with my car, dental issues. If you're halfway through, when do you start pulling from it?

Or do you replace the window with cardboard and figure it out until it's fully funded? Oh, boy. Man, life happens. Well, life happens, and that's why we have an emergency fund. So we really look at an emergency three ways. Is it urgent? Is it necessary?

And is it unexpected? Unexpected. Thank you, George. So those are the three things to think through, and a lot of these feel that way. So it is really defeating. I think maybe step three is one of the more defeating steps. We don't talk about it enough.

It's grueling. It is because you're just like, oh, my God, we're continuing to put money away. And then at the same time, it feels like life happens. Like what she's describing happens all the time to people. We're like, I just saved that $5,000. $1,000 extra, and now I'm going to have to pull it out to, like, do all this stuff. So it is normal to dip into your emergency fund, but that's why it's there.

While it's stressful to have to take it out because, you know, to replenish it, at least you're not going deeper in debt. And so there's, like, a beauty to it. So, yes, I would be using some of this as an emergency fund, for sure. And I would also try to do as much research as I can get as many bids and quotes as I can to minimize the damage done so that it's not as defeating when you're like, oh, gosh, it's going to be a journey. you said 42,000 is the total goal it sounds like.

She's 12 in, 30 to go. Yeah. So it sounds like they've got some, you know, pretty serious expenses. So if you can lower your expenses, that can also lower your emergency fund. Yes. So if there's areas you can cut out of your lifestyle, that could also help you get there faster. But the truth is, baby step three is a slog, but it's so important to build that foundation. That's right.

And here's what I found once you have the emergency fund, you have less emergencies. You're able to do more maintenance and repair. As you go on. Yeah, keep things up more, create sinking funds for all. these things that you know might pop up. Yeah, and if there's some of those things, because you just listed out like five different things, if maybe like one out of five or two out of five,

you can cash flow on the side by just cutting expenses, that will help, right, with the blow of having to like take all this cash out. And I would prioritize them too. Okay, this needs to happen. I personally wouldn't go with cardboard for three months on the, I would just get it fixed. Yeah, totally, yeah.

So, oh, so sorry. It feels like life just punches you in the face when you're doing the baby steps. Yeah, and Baby Step three, for those of you that may be new to all of this. Babysept 1 is to get a $1,000 emergency funds. Then you're going to pay off all your consumer debt, which on average it takes people about two years.

And then you fully fund an emergency fund, which is Babysept 3 to 6 months of expenses. So they've been in this. I'm not sure how long. I don't know how long Babysept 2 took them, but it could be a solid three to four years by just getting where they are now. So it does feel like a setback

because you've been in it for so long, but you've got this. You're good. You can do this. You can do it. All right. next voicemail. I am newly engaged and I have been starting the wedding planning process to my fiance and we asked both of our parents just if they had any ideas for contributing or what that looks like

and my parents kind of blew us out of the water with their amount and it was much higher than the expected and they're pretty financially irresponsible. So moving forward, we're trying to make our wedding budget and just curious how much weight do we put into their contribution. Their reliability percentage is probably about 50% with things that they follow through with. Oh, boy. Oh, no. Okay, hold on. We've got to figure out her name.

I have a name for her. Do you? Oh, gosh. I'm going to say it on three. Let me think. All right. One, two, three. Sarah.

Oh, Katie's a good one. That's a good. Katie and Sarah are in the same family. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And where are they from? City, ready? Ready? Oh, gosh, I'm sorry.

An exact city, not a state? Yeah, yeah, I got a city. I was thinking about it. Okay, all right. City, ready? One, two, three. Phoenix. I thought of Phoenix, too.

West Coast. I did, I was in the West Coast area. Let us know, Katie, Sarah, Phoenix, Sacramento. Okay, well, the 50% follow through, if they're really offering an amount of money, then I would say, okay, thank you so much. is there a way Can I have it?

Yeah, to put this in an account for it to be our wedding account so that when we're meeting with vendors and we're doing stuff and we're buying stuff online. Yeah, that we're not having to go to y'all every time and that kind of ensures that their promise is kept, right? I don't think that's, I don't think that's bratty.

I think that's being wise with someone offering you something and saying, okay, are you actually going to be able to follow through with that? So I would probably do that. And then, yeah, I think that's probably what I'm, I would do. Is that bad? I don't know why that feels selfish. No, I feel like if I'm those parents, I'd be like, okay, we're going to write you a check for this amount and say, hey, if you don't use it all, use it for your future together. You know, just kind of make that the gift is what makes the most sense.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't spend, I would not go in spending your money with the expectation they're going to pay me back. Like that whole psychology, I think is going to mess with you. Getting reimbursements. Yep. So if they don't fund it and you guys are like, well, we're planning, then you do have to come up with plan B. And maybe it is you ending up paying for it with the expectation they're not going to pay for it. And then maybe they come through later, that's great.

But like, I would not be spending money thinking on the back end that they'll end up reimbursing us. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like that's scary. Because they go, oh, gosh, they didn't follow through and now we have all day expenses. Yes, this is like, it's a theme.

We hear this a lot. And I don't know if they just have really bad follow through. I don't know what it is. I think it is an interesting concept to tell somebody because this happens a lot. Like, oh, we'll pay for that. And then they don't. Maybe because it's good intentions

they just don't have the money to, but it's a big promise. Cover the big things up front and then you kind of know, okay, the rest is on us. So they've already kind of put the skin in the game early on. Yeah. But I wouldn't wait until the end

when all the bills are due. That friends me. Yeah, that's hard. We need to come to Jesus meeting. Yeah. Some clarity. Yeah. And as your wedding planning,

you know, making sure that you're on budgets and having a budget for that. Every dollar is a great place to be budgeting. I would create your own every dollar account for that. I was going to say you could have a totally different account. Yes, exactly. And it helps you keep up with all the expenses. So you know you're staying on track

because weddings can get out of hand so fast, so fast. I had a very intense Google sheet to where it was like, this is beyond the capability. I believe it, George. I think you suck the fun out of it probably too. Well, I had the estimated. Then I had the actual spent. And then I had a space to where I could add the note

or the link to the thing we bought, how much we paid. You know, so it was just, there was a lot going on. No one looked at the sheet but me. Nobody was interested. I try to show people. I'll be out with friends like, hey, guys, want to see my wings spreadsheets. But guess what? We were under budget, all right?

Your boy did great. Camel rental and all. It's very responsible, George. I'm really proud of you. Thank you. Really proud of you. Well, if I were to have an Excel sheet of things that I love in life, not just wedding planning, I would have all the clothes that I bought from

cozy earth just right there for me in Excel sheet just so I could bask at the wonderfulness of all the stuff that I've bought from them. I'm going to call that a style guide. It's a little more exciting. You should do a style guide, a cozy or a style guide. Have you ever wanted to do that where you upload all of your clothes to like an app and you can kind of like see what you have and pair outfits together? No. I think that's a thing. But I should. It's good. Good use. Because the cozy earth, I'll have the joggers. I'll have the ribbed shirts. I'll have the robe. I got out a bunch of stuff. Sox? I can't wait.

I'm a little jealous because you have a bigger collection, but my package arrives today. So as soon as I get home. Are you getting your shoes? My clogs are coming in. Yes. Clog it up.

I'm not a crox guy. I got to be a little elevated, a little bougie. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a boogey crock. It's actually much better than crocs. So much better. No shade of crocs. So all of their products are such quality.

Like they do such a great job when they make their stuff. And my biggest thing, too, is when you wash everything, it stays intact. It's a really big deal. Time after time. Because I will get some dupes in life, but you can always kind of tell.

Like after a little bit, after a few washes, you know, they've had their time. Quality goes down. But this stuff, man, it just lasts. It's great. And they stand behind it. They've got a 10-year betting warranty, which is amazing.

So all their stuff. Yeah, if you want to stay cool this summer, this fall, check them out. You get up to 40% off everything on their website when you use the promo code smart money or go to cozyearth.com slash smart money. We'll drop a link in the description as well. All right. Last voicemail, George. Let's do the last one. Number five.

Time flies. Time flies when you're having fun. Hi, Rachel and George. This is Sherry from California. I am a 50-something mom married with two grown kids and one almost grown. The son is 29, a daughter that's 26, and a daughter that is 17 about to graduate from high school. And my question is, when do you stop helping your children with emergency? For example, they want to borrow money for a bill or for a sudden dental visit or whatever. When do you stop doing that? Oh, man, this is a hard one. I mean, my rule at thumb would be when they're out on their own.

Like, that they are, you know. You're gainfully employed and not living under my roof. Yes, I know. I mean, that's the hard and fast rule. But a mom's heart, you know. Yeah, the daughter calls and she's like, Mom, I have a dental thing. I know. You guys.

And she said, borrow, which worried me a little bit. Oh, good catch. Yeah. Yeah, they asked to borrow some money. I'm like, well, now it's a weird loan situation with family. Yeah. But then it feels weird to like continue to gift this money and enable them. Yes.

Because they go, well, I got bank of mom, why figure out how to save for my own? That's right. That's right. Yeah, it is, it's such an interesting thing because I've known people in different camps in this with like they don't have their, they don't have responsibility. And they are just kind of like living as they live and they need help. and the parents are there to bail them out. So I think it is one thing when parents help just bail out irresponsible kids, adult children.

That's not helpful, right? You're not helping your child become a responsible adult. But then on the other hand, I've heard multiple stories of parents that, you know, the children are, they're great. Like they've, you know, they have work ethic, they've done great things. But they just don't make as much. And so the parents have the ability to be like, hey, yeah, we'll treat you guys to a great vacation. or we will replace your car for you.

You don't know what I mean? Like there's something about as parents, it's a balance that you are able to help your kids. And that's a beautiful gift. If you have a great relationship with them, and you know what I mean? Like there's something about that that I think is really noble and wonderful.

But it's out of the idea that it's not because you have to bail them out. I think that's the key word. Bailing them out, that's tough. Especially time and time again. And they expect it. Do you know what I mean? Like there's a lot of that feeling

that I think is not great. But I have known people in situations and they're awesome. They just don't have it to cover. And the parents are like, hey, I'm going to help you out this time. And it's great. And it's wonderful. You kind of want it to be like on the parents' terms

and not the kid. Oh, that's a good point. Yes. That's a great distinction. Like where I just notice it. Like the kids working hard. I'm like, you know what? They didn't ask.

And you're like, you know what? I'd love to do this for you. That's when it's like cheerful giving versus a bailout situation. That's a great way. And I'd have more follow-up questions. What is the work ethic? Do they have jobs?

has there been a really sudden life change where they truly need the help right now to get back on their feet? Or is this an ongoing pattern of just, well, I spend everything I make and therefore I can never cover an emergency. That's a bigger problem. So we've got to kind of teach them out of fish here

instead of just tossing more fish over. That's right, yeah. But the character of people is big when it comes to money. And that's with any kind of like relationship question, whether it's within spouses. You know, you hear crazy stuff with spouses. We had one today. Literally the guy was like,

wouldn't give her access. and she's a stay-at-home mom. It's terrible, terrible. So I'm like, that's the character of a guy that is not good, right? We have the character of, you know, the children that will not work as adults and they expect their parents

to bail them out of everything. That's not great character. So fixing the character issue, the heart issue, and then the money, the good habits of money, will follow that. But it's so much about the person that's handling it, that's everything. The hard truth of that is it starts

when they're under your roof and they're young and you're teaching them all this to build that character, build that work ethic, because it's hard to, like suddenly reversed that and all of a sudden be like bad cop. I'm like, listen, you're 26 now. I'm not bailing you out anymore. They go, whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened? You've been doing this my whole life

and all of a sudden it's a bait and switch. Yeah. So that also feels cruel, but I think a reset conversation would be healthy to say, hey, listen, I think I've done a poor job of setting a boundary here, making clear, helping set you up for success, that's on me. Here's what we're going to do moving forward. Maybe you give them a book or Financial Peace University to help them get on their feet actually learn this stuff and say, this is going to be my last time, or I'm going to cut you off by this date, because I love you,

not because I want harm to come to you. Right, right. I want you to figure this out because you can. You're a capable adult, and you can do this. So that's great, George. Top Convo. I know. But if my little girl calls me one day,

I don't know what would I do? She's like, I, Dad, I want a pony, all right. And you get a pony. And you get a pony. Oh, my gosh. These were great. Thank you for all the voicemails. Yeah, y'all.

And thanks for telling us your names and where you're from so that we don't have to guess, although that's fun too. I know. They may have, and we may have edited them out. They just got right in. Is that the full voicemail we heard? They may have edited it for time. Okay. Oh, most didn't have name.

Okay. We will pick one for you. We will pick one for you, Sandra. All right. Well, if you have a future question that you want to ask us, call 877306-1517 and leave us a voicemail. And we may do this episode again. It's very fun. I'm guessing that number is going to be on the screen.

go back and pause it, all of the things. Okay. Do you remember having to listen to the radio grown up? Oh, memorize the numbers? They're like, call in for these concert tickets, 492, 6192. You're like, oh gosh, oh gosh,

you're like, that's the last time I memorized the number. I know. Did you ever win those radio contests? You know, I called in twice, and no. Never got it. I know. I know.

I was a caller, though. You called in? I did. The river. 107.5. Ask for songs to be played. And the party, 1.2.5.

The party was a. It was a. the party? Back in the day. Now it's a sports station, but back when I was in high school, it's called the party. Opposite of a party. That's fun. I once got a dedication then. You did. On Delilah? Well, my version was David Allen Boucher in Boston. Oh, okay. Magic 106.7. Okay. Soft rock, you know. Yes. Ballads. Yes. And so I dedicated, I don't remember total eclipse of the heart or something to like my girlfriend. It was amazing.

But hearing David Allen Boucher and his smooth voice say it And you called in and you got on Well I said yeah they play a little clip of you Like hi I'd like to dedicate this you know I think it was total that feels like an odd song to choose in hindsight Because I think that song is about heartbreak Oh yeah Foreshadowing

Maybe you were a heartbroken George That's a good one Did you ever listen to Delilah though? I think that was a I don't know that I had that I don't know that I had access to Delilah We had Delilah And you'd be like falling asleep in the car and it's like, Dalaila, love someone tonight.

Even in the backseat, just falling asleep as a kid, but you'd hear Delilah's voice. That's the most singing I've heard from you. That wasn't actually not bad. I think the quieter you do it, the better it is. Okay. If you increase the projection, it would have got dark. I think that's actually very true.

Yeah, defying gravity from this voice, probably not the best, but I still do it at home. Love you, Winston. Wow. I'm going to get a recording from Winston on like the ring camera. or whatever. I have a great recording of me doing it. That is fun.

All right. Well, okay, before we spill the tea on guilty is charged, what do we sip it on? This is the Irish maid that costs comes out to $3.5.5 per glass, no more, no less.

Here's what's in it. Irish whiskey, elder flour liqueur, simple syrup, lemon juice, and cucumber slices to garnish. Ah. Really comes through on the nose there.

I'm going to go nine out of ten on this one. I may go ten out of ten. I think I would legitimately order this like with appetizers and stuff at dinner. If I was eating outside on a nice day, I would order this drink. I would also order this at a sushi restaurant. Oh.

Doesn't that sound good with sushi? I could see that. Yeah. With the cucumber, very fresh, light. There's something about it. Pairs well? I'm like, I need a spicy tuna roll, you know? All right.

Hey, get the recipe in the show notes. This is one to make, absolutely, especially with warmer weather. So give it a try this weekend. Let us know what you think. Now it's time for guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a guilty charge question every week,

and if we're guilty, we take a sip. But playing with our voicemail theme, George, we have a guiltiest charge on the voicemail. Oh, they left it as a voicemail. I love that. So we're doing this now, you guys, that you can actually call in and leave us your guilty as charge questions

via voicemail, which we love. So make sure to call at 877-306-1517, and maybe it'll be next. I'm so excited about this. That's so cool. Okay. So let's play guilty as charged. Hey, what is going on?

This is Gregory. And my question for you guys is, what is the dumbest stupid text you have paid? Because I've only been on this earth for 23 years. And I paid some pretty stupid tax that I hate to admit. And, I mean, like you said, you learn from every lesson, but I would just like to know

some of your biggest stupid text mistakes were. Thank you. Have a great day. Love it. That's good. A little of Gregory. Solid name. Stupid tax mistakes.

Oh, man. There's like, I had a recent one. Have I dogged Dick's sporting goods yet? Have I threw them under the bus? Tell us about that. That's what we want to hear. All right. I got a pair of shoes as a gift for Christmas.

And they were like a size off. Like I needed like a nine. What kind of shoes? Like Nike's? They were Adidas Sambas. Very cool shoes. Very hip. Very in vogue.

And I just needed a size up. They were a little bit tight or whatever. So I go to D'S, exporting goods. And this is, you know, Christmas and now it's March by the time I go to return them because I finally get around to doing the errand. And you know me. I'm not trying to walk into exporting goods on my own volition. No, you're not. So I walk in and I go, hey, I'd like to return these shoes. Here is the receipt showing exactly what was paid. And you can't return that. I'm sorry, why? Final sale? There's a, there's a 90-day return window and you've missed it by

13 days. And I was like, please, like I literally just need the size up. I don't even want the money. Just let me do an exchange. Can't do that. This person was the most unhelpful. They didn't let you. Okay, I was going to say, sometimes George, you have to play by the rules, not everything's around you and what you want.

Like, there are policies. But the exchange is different to me. I should have read the receipt and saw that there was 90 days, but, you know, who's like reading the entirety of a receipt? They just go, I have the receipt. I'll return them in due time. It wasn't a year later, you know? It was 100 days instead of 90.

Right. So this lady was the worst. Oh, man. What they finally did was they said, well, we can do my manager is saying I can give you a store credit, but not for the full amount. For what then? For like 60% of the value. No. Because we don't know what was actually paid.

And I was like, I'm showing you on the receipt. They're like, yeah, but the receipt's no good anymore. And so that's where I lost it. That's where I lost it, Rachel. And so I went in the car and I called the corporate number for Dix and I reported them to the authorities. And I said, this is not okay. And the lady was much nicer on the phone, the corporate lady. And she ended up, like, adding enough, like, rewards points to the account that it equaled the amount that I was missing.

You went to the top. So I basically got, like, $40 worth of rewards points to add to my $60 gift card. Oh, my gosh. To make it whole amount. But that was, you know. Okay, my question to you is, here's what we didn't talk about. Rachel's not putting into work. No.

No. I'm saying, guess me, I'm, that I'm just. And I'm just... It's okay, it's fine, just trash them. It's fine. It's whatever. Here's my question, George. $40, okay?

Yep. We're all friends here. You've shared enough of your financial journey with the people of Smart Money Happy Hour. You're fine, George. You're fine. Oh, you think this is about $40.

No, you're mistaken. So my question... This harkens to childhood trauma of getting bullied and taken advantage of. My ancestors, my Middle Eastern ancestors getting ripped off. And I'm like, I'm not standing.

I'm changing my family tree. So it is a principled thing. It could have been $10. Yes. And you would have done the exact same thing. The fact that I had a receipt showing exactly what was paid for these shoes and they wouldn't even exchange them. If it was $10, would you have gone through that all of that again? Yes.

I still would have called corporate. So it is a principled thing for you. In a fit of rage, it could have been $0.5. God bless. So there you go. That's a stupid tax that I paid for not reading the stupid receipt. I bought a very expensive swimsuit one time, which ended up being like I, grandmother's sweater material.

It was terrible. But it was like very... That's what I said. I bought it from an influencer who blinked it. Because I was like, that's cute. And then I got it. And I was like, is it?

Like, oh, man. Did she just fake it to get some affiliate revenue? I'm going to have to be honest. They had to have. Because when I put it on, I was like, this is the most uncomfortable thing ever. So even if it looked cute, it was still very uncomfortable.

Horrible. Horrible. Oh, man. Yeah, that was bad. But I ended, I had like two days to return it from when I realized I hated it and actually like try it. Because I will get packages, George, in the mail. And I don't like try them on for like maybe like, because I had it for a trip. So like had it in the corner of my closet.

Oh, you're like, well, I'll try it on later when the trip's coming up. Yes. And then I did. And I was like, oh, I hate it. And then it was like two days to return. And I was like, oh, my gosh. But I got it in, thankfully. Oh, man.

I wish I had a really good one. I'm going to be honest, I don't right now. Well, if you guys have any guilty-of-charge questions, make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George Camel. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. And also, you will like the vibe of our other episode. Responding to your complicated money questions, we'll put it in the link below so you can check it out next.

And make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.