Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Reacting to: “If I Can’t Buy a Home, Why Don’t I Just Be Gorgeous?”

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

💻 Shape what comes next for Smart Money Happy Hour by participating in our Spring 2026 audience study!   If you’re an exhausted millennial wondering if buying a home is a lost cause, we get it—and we’ve got you. Today, we’re unpacking common home-buying frustrations and real estate woes. Spoiler alert: Yes, it’s still possible! Next Steps: 🎙️ Catch our episode How to Financially Survive Every Season of Life 🎬 Watch George’s episode I Asked People at Disney How Much Debt They Have. 🍸 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 or 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.  💵 Create a free budget and find more margin with EveryDollar. 🏠 Your free, step-by-step course to buying a house that fits your budget. 💻 See how much house you can afford with the Mortgage Calculator.    Connect With Our Sponsors: Check out the FAIRWINDS Credit Union exclusive account bundle. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Get 20% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth.   Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Basil & Lillet Spritz Recipe by Emily Laurae 1 ounce Lillet 4–5 basil leaves 4 ounces sparkling wine   Instructions: In a shaker, combine Lillet and basil leaves and shake with ice for 30 seconds. Strain into a glass filled with ice. Top with sparkling wine and garnish with a basil leaf before serving. 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

This one goes out to anyone who feels like owning a home is a lost cause at this point. Chin up millennial soldiers, we've got you. I can start a fire in our fireplace. Isn't it just like baby Jenga? Are you guilty of overpaying for anything as a homeowner? Well, that's a loaded question. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel.

And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers. Cheers. Hey guys, this is the show. We're two friends who have to be many experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and money. But first, let's talk about what we're sipping on.

This is a basil and lilai spritz. Oh, Lelele-Let. A little French thrown in there for fun. Lillette. It's not Lillette. We found that out the hard way. I watched many a pronunciation video on YouTube, which, by the way, guys, if you're going to make pronunciation videos,

just get right to it. We don't need an intro. Don't need a preamble. Just tell us how to say the word. It's just to know how to say the word. There we go. Did your girl not help you, your little AI friend? I didn't ask her.

Oh, she'd be like, oh my gosh, George, you are so smart to even ask. Not many people ask the pronunciation of that word. Let's a very astute question. Let me tell you, George. Let me tell you. Oh, you know what? God forbid someone be encouraging in my life. Whitney, I'm on your side in life. I don't like her.

Well, hey, stick around to the end. We're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass. Don't miss it. All right. So we saw a relatable article recently that made us LOL. So we're here to tell you about it. Oh my gosh. It was tight.

I'm going to read it because it is funny. I can't afford a home. So why don't I just be gorgeous? Meaning, they have a good point. I cannot afford this massive purchase. So I'm going to just go spend it on things that make me feel good and clothes and purses and beauty stuff. And travel and just live your life.

I'm going to just do the things that I want to do because that out there is out of reach. So instead of trying to get that thing, I'm going to just spend it. It'd be gorgeous. I think you can do both, and I'm living proof. Okay. I'm kidding. Mm-mm. You are not.

It is very a classic millennial to disassociate from the harsh reality around us and instead take the path of least resistance to get a quick hit. That is, it's very much the zeitgeist in which we live. Yeah. You think you see that a lot? You feel like you do? I think there's a level of cynicism that then leads to a almost carefree, whatever. man. Let's just live our life.

Well, there is that feeling of like, okay, I can't afford a, you know, $400,000, $300,000 home in the market, right, like in Nashville or something like a nice place. It's like, so I might as well just go get a $2,000 bag, make myself feel better, you know? It's like the stages of grief. They're at the acceptance phase. Yes, and it's just like this is how it is. And so I'm going to do what I want, and I'm going to just live in the moment. Can I give you another example of this? Yeah.

Pursuing your third graduate degree to avoid entering the real world and facing all the student loans that you have required. It's just anytime someone's like, I'm in grad school. I think I'm going to go get my master's. You're like, why? You shouldn't think you're going to go get, you should do it because your job requires it. The thing that you are pursuing is like, you can't do this without that. Why does that make us so angry? Because I'm just, you're just avoiding reality. It's delusion is what it is. It's an expensive version of delusion. And, and feeling like this false hope of like, if I have this, everyone's going to want me. Yes. And you're like, everyone's. still getting the same way for the most part, right? Yeah. Like it's not like, oh my gosh, I automatically get a $30,000 raise

because I got a master's degree communications or something. You might be overqualified. No. Because you can't get that job without having a job in the first place. You need some experience. Yes.

And they can't get the entry level job with a master's degree a lot of time. Yeah. And do you think that they have a dollar amount in mind when they leave the master's program of what they now expect? Oh, for sure. I think anyone

where the master's degree is like, I'll be making six figures. It's just like automatic. It's not like real. Like it doesn't work like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of things that we do that are wild. But let's focus on the task at hand here. Yes, I know. The housing market. Now, we are not here to deny that this is a challenging thing, right? It is. The market today, it is, it is challenging. We're going to dive into some numbers. We're going to talk about it. George's, I don't see, like, I don't see you like this very often. But right before. we started rolling the cameras. George was like, I just don't want us to come off. Like we,

like we are so out of touch. I'm like, George, we're not. We're going to give all the prerex that it is a challenging time. I'm the one who has to watch myself. I can be a little bit It's a challenging day. Well, I think as what's to call us content creators, is that annoying? I think it's better than influence. Okay. I'll say content. There's a lot of people in the space when they talk about houses, they're basically like, there's no hope for anyone. We only make $4 an hour. and houses are $5 million. You're never going to get anywhere. Like, that's what it feels like when we watch other people and we're like, gosh.

Or the other side is you should get 30 houses before you're 25 and just follow my strategy and buy my course. I'm like, okay, what? That's so true. We can't afford one house. You want us to buy 20? Never. Thought about that, George.

It's exhausting. They want you to get five VRBOs or they're like, you're never going to afford it. And it's not that hard, guys. Yeah. So listen, we are not on either extreme. We're in the middle. We're here to give hope to the situation because we see people doing it, right? And does it take longer, different expectations?

Absolutely, we're in chat all about it. But just know, we're not going to leave you with the problem of that the housing market is hard and just be that friend that just sits there and just doesn't move. We're going to be moving, moving in the muck, you know? We're going to acknowledge the hard truths, and we're also going to dispel some myths and squash the misinformation on the Internet about real estate. Okay, so we both host the Ramsey Show, and we hear from real callers every day. So we put together a list of the most common excuses,

venting grievances, whatever you want to call it, dilemmas. That might be a better reason. They're not always an excuse. Some of these are real. Yeah. Okay, we're not just like pushing all to the sides. Like, this is real. This is...

Here's our list. You've been waiting for it. Drum roll, please. The first one we hear is a common one. The difficulty saving for a down payment. Yes. Yeah, because it is a large sum of money that usually, for most people,

not just hand it to you, right? So you're having to work and save for it. We always say a 5% down payment for first-time home buyers. 20% is traditionally where we've always gone to avoid PMI and all of that. But all that to say, you know, on a house, you know, that's anywhere from 10,000, depending on the type of house you're buying. I mean, for a $500,000, that's $100,000. Yes. So, yeah. So, I mean, it can be $10,000, right? You go there all the way up to 100,000. Yes. Easily. And the hard part is you're starting from zero. And you're just like, like, we're going to put a thousand bucks in this month. Woo! Right.

And you're just like, this is going to take me 15 years at this rate. That's right. Well, it'll take me 100 months to save up for a down payment on this home. Which is why we tell people, you got to become debt free and have the emergency fund to create as much margin as possible, so nothing throws you off track when it comes to this down payment. Yeah, because that is one thing when I see people doing the math about saving up a down payment. They're like, how can people? Here's the average budget.

But in the average budget, they have a student loan. a car loan, a credit card bill, all of this. So that is one reason we're like, hey, if you are debt-free, that frees up almost $1,000. That's not going on payments. You could be using extra to save. So that is a big point of the baby steps of being debt-free, frees you up a lot. Yes.

And so here's the priority list, because we've got to put this where it fits. Yes. When it comes to buying a house, it's Baby Step 3B, saving for the down payment. So Baby Step 1, $1,000 start an emergency fund. Baby Step 2 pay off all of your consumer debt with the debt snowball method. Then Baby Step 3 is the emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. Now we can begin saving up the down payment in a separate fund. And we'll say out loud, like this could take you five years, right?

I mean, like, it can be a long game. And a lot of people are like, oh, I don't want to rent for that long. But I'm telling you, that is way less stressful than people that call in and they have two car loans. They still have student loans, $15,000 in credit card debt, and then they want to go and buy a house. And you're like, that is going to be so stressful. And they're like, hey, I don't know what to do. I can't afford to pay my bills. Yeah, that's right.

And we're like, well, what's your mortgage? It's $3,000 a month. What do you make a month? $5,000. Yeah. So yeah, that's why the order is important. And if you really do want to tighten up on the budget every single month to save up for the down payment, every dollar is a great budgeting app to do that because you are

able to look to see, okay, here's everything. And even if you still have debt when you do it, there's almost that dream of like, okay, if we didn't have this line item of the student loan and the car loan, here's what would be freed up to be able to move that to a savings line item for the down payment. So we'll put a link down below if you want to check out every dollar, but it's awesome. And the sinking fund feature is great because you can set your goal and then you're working towards that goal, putting money aside every month and it's tracking it along with you. But this one kind of feels like how older people view retirement.

They go, well, 62, time to retire. I'm like, well, do you have the money? And they're like, no, I didn't know I needed the money. I just thought I could, I'm 62, I get to retire. A lot of people see home ownership that way. They go, well, graduate of college or, hey, I got married, or, hey, had a kid, time to buy a house. There's no pre, there's nothing that says you have to buy a house by a certain age or at a certain life milestone. So this is your own journey.

And if you want a house, great. And also, if you're a single person, you don't need a house just because people are telling you you should buy a house. It's okay to rent and wait until your life changes, too. 100%. Or if you have the money and you're single, go buy a house. Yes, man. The, the, um, have you seen this homeownership with women now has outpaced men? That makes sense because women want security.

They do. And guys couldn't give a written. They're sports betting their life away. Yes. What could be a house? They are freaking putting into sports betting. The idea of making a million dollars on a parlay is way more exciting. Oh, stupid.

Than buying a house. God, man. I know. I would say if I was single out in the world, and there was a guy he's like, I'm a homeowner. I'd be like, wow, that's an attractive quality versus like I have apps where I bet money on other grown men playing sports. She has a point.

Not so much. I do think it's an attractive quality because it just shows some level of stability. It was like a townhome. Did you imagine? Brad, and he's like, yeah, I got a town home. And you're like, wow. Good job, Brad. Brad pays an HOA fee.

That's some grown. up stuff. That is, that is security if I've ever seen something. There was something to it. For sure. We should call this out. In our baby steps, we talk about investing in Baby Step 4. So a lot of people go, wait, so am I saving for the down payment or am I investing? Well, you can really do whatever you want here. In Baby Step 3B, you can invest anywhere from zero to 15% while you're saving up the down payment. So if the house is more urgent, you can pause investing. But if it's going to take you longer than two years, go ahead and start investing now because you don't want to all the compound growth for too long.

Yep, that's a great point. I love it. As a homeowner, I will say, one of my favorite places to be is on the couch, all cozied up in my cozy earth. Joggers with the blanket, the whole thing. So if you're wearing some good quality products,

whether it's bedding, towels, their towels are amazing. Yep. Sheets. Clothes. I mean, all of it, you guys. The socks? The clogs?

I love the lakehouse claws. I will be in my muck boots. George will be in his cozy. Earth clogs, but they are. I will take those over Crocs any day. Amen. Move over Crocs. We got a master's degree over here and it was worth it on my clogs. Yeah, but Cozy Earth products are amazing, so make sure to check them out.

Yep, and they have a 10-year warranty on their betting, a hundred-night sleep trial. So, you know, they have an amazing return policy as well, but you probably won't need to return it because you're going to love it that much. So give the gift of everyday luxury, make the small moments in life extra comfortable. Head to CozyEarth.com slash smart money and use our code smart money for for up to 20% off. And if you get the post-purched survey, be sure to let Cozy Earth know you heard about them

from Smart Money. All right. Next, I don't want to say complaints. What would you call it? I would call it a grievance. Grievance is. Home prices are quadruple what our parents paid in the 90s. There's some truth to this.

So yes, they are more expensive and they were 30 years ago. Just like, you know, the price of a house in the 90s was more expensive. than it was in the 60s, right? So housing prices are going to go up, and you will see throughout history times that it is inflated, that it does.

And we saw that huge during COVID. I mean, at least our value of our home almost doubled. Like, it's pretty wild. Which is extra depressing if you weren't a homeowner, and you were like, ooh, I'm so close, and then it's gone again. And I will say some markets have settled back down to, like, I would say, probably more normal, but it didn't, it was not a bubble.

It's not like that spike went, and it just popped and everything went back down to what it was in 2019. It was definitely overinflated for a while and it cooled back down and prices went down. And they're still kind of cooling a little bit in certain markets. But the truth is the data indicates median home sales price in 1995 was around $133,000. But the median family income was about $34,000. So let's compare that to the middle of 2025. Median home sales price around $410,000.

And as of 2024, median household income was nearly $84,000. So if you're doing the math at home, it is true that income has not kept up with the price of homes. Yeah, it's not. It is harder mathematically when you look at it. I broke down, this is from my book, Rachel. Can I tell you what? Is it on the Amazon charts? I'm proud of myself.

It is not on the Amazon charts, unless you guys go buy 1,000 copies right now. But here's what I wrote, and I think this was, I was trying to be fair. Ready for this? Yeah, I can't wait. As of July 2023, National Meeting Home Price, 440 grand. median household income in 22 is just under 71 grand. Here's the sad math on that. The median home price is now six times the median income.

Here's the perspective. Between 1973 and 75, home prices were about two times the average income. So six time versus two times. Yeah. That's a big difference. And it does make it more difficult to buy a home. And so I want to be clear, this isn't all just people without a control spending, going into crippling debt and then whining they can't afford a home.

Yes, no. The numbers are startling. Yes, 100%. which means on the solution side, they are going to be more extreme than what it was. It means you need to make more than the median income and you need to buy a house that is maybe less than the median sales price. That's called compromise. And it's a hard reality to face. Yes.

Because you go, I don't want that house, Rachel. I know. And what's hard, too, is like there's always going to be things throughout life that are out of our control, right? I mean, housing market, right? You're like, you can't control that. It is what it is. And so I think you have to decide, okay, what am I going to do? Am I going to just sit in the corner, cry about it, and do nothing and never become a homeowner?

Or am I going to complain a little? Because it's kind of fun. So it's okay to complain a little bit. And then to say, okay, what am I going to do next? Like, what are the steps to actually have this dream become a reality, right? Which is the saving and that, you know, changing expectations and all of it. But, yeah, it's going to take longer and it's going to be different than what you thought. but it's still, it is still possible.

We talk to people every day. Yeah. Well, there are a lot of variables. There are a lot of levers you can pull. For example, you don't have to stay where you are. People move all the time. You might move to a lower cost of living area. You might go, hey, maybe I should get a town home to start.

Or the condo versus the single family home that I really want in the neighborhood that I want. You might have to move 30 minutes or 40 minutes out from where you work. Right. And that's not ideal, but that's what you got to do to get your foot in the door in today's real estate market. Yes. And then the great thing is, too, you know, the equity and stuff that you're going to build will happen. And then you may look up in five years.

Okay, great. Now we're going to move to where we want to be closer to where we want to be, right? This house is not your forever home. Yes, no. And I think that that's like a, yeah, that's a romanticized idea that I think even for our parents' generation, for some people I know, their parents still live in the home. Oh, yeah. That they were in high school, you know. My parents just recently, just a few years ago, moved out of my childhood home.

Yes. And so they were there for, you know, 30 plus years. Yeah, yep. crazy. Okay. Another one we hear all the time is maybe if I wait, I'll have fill in the blanks. That could be a spouse, I can have a better interest rate, a better job, better options on Zillow, all of it. Mary Rich. I'll just wait and see what happens.

And so, yeah, if you're waiting to save up and do those things, that's great. But if you're waiting for, again, a big life event to happen, we don't always control those. So you are kind of just, you're sitting back passive. instead of being proactive with one of the biggest purchases that you're going to make financially. This is something you want to be very thoughtful of,

but you also want to be the one that's in control of it and not just sitting back and waiting because, you know, who knows what interest rates are going to do? Who knows, you know, what your future looks like with a spouse, who knows, what kind of job you're going to have in four years? Like, nobody really knows. So control what you can today

to get you where you want to be if you want to be a homeowner. And while no one is coming to save you, there are companies that exist to help you through every step of this financial journey, and Fairwin's Credit Union is one of them. Yes, we love Fairwins. When you have a banking institution on your side, it's amazing, like, honestly, whether it's the app, talking to one of the customer service agents, like whatever it is, knowing that they are for you in your financial journey is huge. They're not sitting there and pitching you debt options over and over and over and over and over,

trying to get your money that way. No, they want to see you win too. That's why we've partnered. with them. The fact that Ramsey Solutions has partnered with any level of big. That's a big deal. So Fairwin's Credit Union, they're amazing. We love their team. We know the heart behind what they're doing. And we are all for them. And we both use them. Oh, yeah. And they have a really great smart bundle that has a no fee checking account, which I love, any lack of fees, and a high yield savings account, which is perfect for something like a down payment. So it's a short-term goal. You don't want to invest that money in case the market has volatility. And so their high-yield savings is a great option. So check it all out. Go to fairwins.org slash

Ramsey and open your smart bundle today. All right. Next is interest rates have still not come down. Exclamation point. I don't know if we'll ever see two to three percent again. Can I say that? I think if we do something terrible has happened. I'm going to be honest. I don't think we want the world

where that exists. Where that was. I mean, that's insane. And what's crazy is like that became normal for our generation for a bit. But you look and you're like, never has it ever? Like I think it was 18% or something in the 80s. I mean, like crazy. Coming out of the Carter administration,

like those were nuts. I mean, even in the 90s, it was, what, 10%. Yeah. So yeah. So those were normal interest rates for mortgages. So the fact that we even settled on some normalcy of 2 to 3% is pretty wild. Well, and everyone like locked that in. And now the sad part is it's kind of golden handcuffs.

They go, well, I can't get rid of my house. I can't sell. I can't upgrade. I can't move. Because of my rate is so good. go of my rate. And so that one, that kind of hurts my heart a little bit. I'm happy if you have a low rate. That's great. I want you to pay less interest. But it just kind of stinks in a sense, too. Yeah. Because people thought, well, this is a good starter home, but it's not where we want to be long term.

And now it's where they are long term. Yes, because they've locked it in. Yep. A hundred percent. As of this recording, interest rates are in the mid-fives, low sixes, depending on whether you have a 15-year or a 30-year mortgage. And again, it's a factor that is totally outside of your control. I don't think we're going to get back to twos or threes. I do think this is just a guess on my part that will end up somewhere hovering around the fives. Yeah. Maybe high fours if we're lucky on the 15 year, but I think it's going to take a while. Well, and it's been a slow drip down over years, right, that we've seen. So if you have the money and you are able to get in, I would not let this be the barrier. I would not wait for interest rates to go any lower because I think we're, I think it's

about done. I mean, honestly, it may go a little bit lower. And the thing about as you wait, home prices could still be going up. Yes, it's our south-pays. And if rates do continue to go down, that could actually spike home prices back up. And so you don't want to just wait on interest rates, although I understand it factors into your mortgage payment heavily. And if you want to factor this reality into your home buying budget, you can check out our free mortgage calculator.

It's a great tool to estimate what you can handle month to month. We'll drop a link in the description if you want to check that out. Oh, George, so much can go wrong when you buy. It's just too much responsibility. I don't want to be a homeowner. I agree with this one. It is too much responsibility. It's a lot more than what you bargain for.

Can I say that? Yes. There's a lot that happens. And I'm even married with a husband that does a lot. He's very handy. He's doing things that I don't even know are being done. Does he know how to hang drywall? I bet he does.

That's a good question. We haven't done any renovations or anything, so I'm not sure. But he'd figure it out, though. He would figure it out. And he probably wouldn't even need a YouTube video. He would just kind of like, Let me try this. Our dryer wouldn't shut.

And so he did YouTube that and bought a little piece at Home Depot and fixed the dryer. Nice. I know. But that's what I'm saying. Like in general, though, there's just a lot of things. Leaks. Have you ever had water drip from a light fixture? Oh, yeah.

That's not fun. Well, I had, it's called an ice dam. I had one of those happen in an old town home. Oh, no. And just during this latest ice storm in Nashville, Whitney looked up at our ceiling and went, that looks like it's like sopping wet. No. So we're looking into it.

Don't know what it is yet. Shoot, George. Maybe a leaky bathtub upstairs. Yes. And this is like a brand new quality built house. I know. I know. So that's the frustrating part is you think, well, if I get a newer house, it'll be great.

Or if I get an older house, it's got good bones. Things are going to go wrong regardless. And you've got to be prepared for that financially. That's right. Yes. So there are things, yeah, definitely. Are we talking people out of home buying right now? Maybe.

I just want to give them the full picture. It is wonderful and I would never want to go back to renting. Again, that's why I think the. emergency fund and having no debt makes it more of a easier pill to swallow when those things do happen because adding that on top of having no margin financially would be so stressful, so stressful. So having the margin, having the savings. So when things go wrong, you fix it. We always say it's like an inconvenience. It's not a crisis. And I think that's true. But yeah, but there's a lot that goes into it. I do miss the days where I could just like text the apartment complex. I'm like,

you guys need to fix this toilet. You got a big problem on your hands. Something's wrong. I miss those days. Now it's just texting myself and me like Googling Plummer near me. Yes, I know. Or going in a Facebook group feeling like, who's not going to screw me over? Does anyone have a recommendation for a garage guy? Yes.

I think I've dealt with it all at this point. Have you guys had like pretty much every thing happened? I know. I was going to say, we had two, yes, major things. And one, I will give our builder credit. They came in and fixed it a few years later. So our fireplace. Oh, what happened there?

Not something you want messed up. Well, we're big on fires. So when we... What does that mean? We love... Winston and I both love a real fire. So when we built our home... Like real wood.

Yes, we didn't want, like, gas. You know, gas loggs. We were like, we're going to do a real wood-burning fireplace. But gas starter. But we're going to have real wood. So because of that, I think one of the fireplaces where the smoke was, something wasn't connected correctly. And we went out...

because we built a lot of fires. Like, we build fires a lot. Like, we... Building feels like a strong word for stacking a few pieces of wood. Dude, you should see me. No, I'm like, Annie Oakley. I call my son. No, she's not like a fire girl,

but she's building outdoors and girls me. What is she known for? Riding horses, but I just feel like she'd build a great fire. I'm always like, I'm Annie Oakley tonight. I can start a fire in our fireplace. Isn't it just like baby Jenga? You just stack a few pieces of wood on top of each other?

George, and you got to get the lighter in. You got to move the soot from the last fire. I dragged the wood in. And I do it all. Oh, wow. You actually move the wood. Oh, 100%. I'm telling you. Without muck boots.

I take it back. Sometimes just with some ballet flats, you know? You never know. That is impressive. Yeah, but our five, but something wasn't connected, which, again, this is like the one thing you do not want to be wrong is your fireplace. Yeah. So with the smoke coming up and stuff, it, like filled our attic, like smoke damage.

I know. Real bad. So that was not good. But our builder, I will give them such credit, like they came in and fixed it. And then we had a water leak in. We have a crawl space underneath, and yeah, it wants it out to get fans and a sub bump. The old sub bump. That's quite the word.

I don't know if that's what it's called. It's the thing you stick in it, it sucks it in the water and spuse it out the other side. I'll allow it. What do you call that, George? Could be wrong, but I want to make you feel good. So, yeah, so we had, like, major linking, yeah. Wow. Like, I consider those big.

We've had some roof damage from, like, I mean, we've been in our house for seven years. I feel like if you have to call someone, it's big enough. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. So it's, yeah, it's a lot. That's real. Some of mine were self-inflicted, like things that I stupidly did that I was like, oh, someone's got to go fix that now. Oh, no. What's you do?

Right into the garage door? Well, put a hole in some drywall, you know? Why? Like the baby recliner, you know? Rocking a little too hard, I guess. I don't know what happened. There's a hole there now. There's a hole there now.

And I just nick the walls on my way up. You didn't pivot, like Ross? Did not pivot hard enough. Yeah. I wasn't screaming and no one was helping me. So it was a solo. There you go. It's not all fun in games.

You've been on the internet. How long now? Late 90s? Yeah, probably. AIM with, you know, decades of being online. Our information, it's seen some things. It's out there. Well, what's crazy is your home address, past addresses are out there.

Family names, phone numbers, email addresses. Like so much of your information is out online. And having a team, like, delete me. go in and remove your data from data broker websites is so big because that means less spam calls, less scammers can get hold of your information. And so we really push it because it is. There's something, a piece of mind of just knowing that someone is there removing your information off the internet. Yeah, we talk about, you know, insurance a lot. And it's one of these things. It's not an insurance, but it's the defensive measure you can take to protect your digital privacy. And it's well

worth it for the price. And if you're a listener of the show, you get a sweet discount, 20% off their annual plans if you use code smart money or go to join delete me.com slash smart money to get the deal comes out to about nine bucks a month and I sleep better at night for it. For sure, yeah. So if you're online, if you're living in this world at all, delete me is a subscription that you need. And again, it's not expensive, but it is worth it. And if you're not living in this world, you don't need it. I don't know how you even listening to the show. I just, what world do you live in? I don't want to know. If you're an alien, you're a little, you're, alien life form.

And that just means everybody. That's true. What's our takeaways, George? What do you think? It's just a complicated topic and there's so much emotion behind it. Yes. And I think you just need to put your blinders on and go, okay, where am I at today? Where do I want to be?

How do I bridge the gap? Yes. Those are the only questions you should be asking. Yeah. And some emotion and complaints and like, oh, my gosh, this is the worst time ever to be where I'm at to try to buy a home, whatever. Do it off. That's great. But then we need to move to a solution.

And I think that's where facts come in. Truly look at your salary, look at your area of where you're living, and start actually making a plan to move towards that. So maybe that's for you still getting out of debt or getting an emergency fund, whatever that looks like. But the movement needs to be forward, not just sitting and complaining about the current situation. Because even though it sucks, let's do some movement, though, right? Yes. And in your career, who knows? You could double your income in the next few years.

You could get married and have a dual household income. You might move or maybe choose to move to get the place that you want. Maybe you buy something older or cheaper. All of these things are options. And so just focus on the options instead of all the things that you can't control and your life will be better. And the key is to get your foot in the door when you can, when you're financially ready, so that you can capture that equity and home appreciation.

Because I promise you this, 10 years from now, you're going to be wishing the prices were what they were today. Yeah, that's right. going to continue to go up. And George, you have a home buying video course, right? That's right. It's free, though. You're not, you're not, you're not, you're not, you don't have to buy my TikTok real estate course. You don't have to buy the course. No, George is so giving and selfless. That he just puts it out there. But you packaged it well and just in a sense of you're looking to buy a home. Yeah, check it out because it may help you. Yeah, make some good decisions.

Yeah, we will drop a link to that free home buyer course down below in the description. Check it out. Send it to a friend. Maybe they'll find it encouraging. So great. All right. Before we. spill the tea on our guiltiest charge segments. Let's get the details of what we drink today. I liked it. We drank the basil and lilae sprits. Mm-hmm.

Who finished first? I think you were a lot closer. That was me. I liked it. It was very refreshing. I'll be honest. The first sip, I was like, I don't know. Taunt me off guard.

But then it grew on me. What rating would you give this drink? I'll go 7 out of 10. All right. I'm not going to fail it, but I'm definitely not going to be like, oh, my gosh, I really want to order this at a restaurant. Yeah. I think on a nice summer day in Italy, it would hit.

I think what I didn't realize is that it's the wine that threw me off. And I know like a sprits. It's got the lily, which is like a French liqueur, basil, as you can tell if you're watching. And I think they muddled it too freshly, thank you. Sparkling wine and lime juice. Okay. And the total comes out to $4.61. And I think it hits more like a white wine.

So if you like a carbonated white wine With a little bit of that floral basil You will love this But I wasn't expecting a white wine type beverage So I can't dog it for that My honest rating It's probably a 4 out of 10 on this one Wow

And I'm just I don't know if it's I'm not like a big white wine guy You know? I think that's fair I fancy myself more of a You look like a 4 out of 10 Yeah Was that about me or the drink

Is that a dis? No, the amount of If I told Rachel, yeah, you look like a four. No, not you, the amount you drank. The amount you drank, you can tell. No, it's fine. We all knew what you meant. We could tell.

We can tell. Yeah, I wouldn't order at a restaurant. I'm more of a, if I'm going to go for a wine, I might go for a Pinot Noir. Maybe a Temporeneo from feeling fancy. Well, now it's time for. Guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other. A guilty is charge question every week.

And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, are you guilty of overpaying for anything? as a homeowner. Well, that's a loaded question. I feel like I overpaid for everything as a homeowner. Right. Oh, man. I mean, furniture comes to mind.

I will say window coverings is the biggest scam out there right now. Wait, window treatments. Sure. Whatever they are. Clines and curtains. I will tell you, curtains. And Roman shades. It is the death of me.

I'm not kidding. We paid more for window treatments, I think, than some of our furniture. Yeah. Like for, I mean, it's so expensive. Like a rug, you can, like, get away, like, find in a cheaper rug. Not window treatments. If you're doing it right, so much. It is so much.

And I know you can DIY and all of that, and there are cheaper options, but my wife was really wanting, like, hey, this is going to be forever. Like, you're not going to redo this. So do it right the first time. Roman shades are beautiful. We have a panel of them in our laundry room because it looks out to our front. Oh, nice. And Charles, just the other day. was up on the counter doing something and he grabbed him and I yelled.

It's like, drop those shades. Don't touch those shades. Drop that right now, Mr. Because they are so much. Yeah, I'm like, we don't touch them. We don't touch them. The Romans think very highly of themselves. They Romans love.

Here's what we sprung for that hurt my heart. But it's nice. Is the motorized shades in our master bedroom? We've never done that. How is it? It's pretty, the windows are really big in there. And I was like,

I'm not going to want to hoist this thing up like a sail. I know. Whenever I want to open it to get the light in. And so we got those and all in, like we did it through, it was like a thing through Costco. And so the key is you get a- Of course it was. But here's the key. It came with a 15% cashback Costco gift card. Stop it, George.

So the saving grace is that after spending, I don't know, like college tuition on these window coverings and treatments that I got a Costco gift card that I loaded into my app and the next like five or six Costco trips were covered. that's pretty fun. Which, it felt like I hacked the system. That you won. Yeah, you won.

You beat it. Because I got none of that. So that's, uh, you got Didley. Oh my gosh. How about you? Any thing you overpaid for?

I'm trying to think, I'll say Winston always goes over the top with our air filters. Oh, that's right. She's like really big on the MRF. It's not, it's MRV. Okay.

N-R-V, not MRF, but I like that. He's a MRF-12 kind of guy. Yeah, Winston famously has the like hospital grade filters. Well, his dad owns a heating and air company. So I think they just have their, like, they just know what they like, you know, with the air filters.

You like what you like. I didn't know people could like an air filter. I know, yes. He's very specific about it. How often does he change him? Do you know? Do you see him change them? That's my thing is he does things that I don't know he does.

Oh, like while you were at work, he was like, hey. Some people need a will. Yeah. I need like a list of like, if something were to happen to you, what is not going to be done that I need to do? Yeah. Let's be honest, those air filters would never be changed. No, God, no, no.

You wouldn't. Definitely not. Well, then you've got to climb up sometimes to change those things. Yeah, no. Yeah, no. Yeah, I'm skipping that. I'm glad I have life insurance. I love cutting corners in life on things that don't matter.

Air filters would be on my list of that. You think that doesn't matter? Yeah, not really. We're all fine. It's disgusting. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Well, if you have a guilty-as-charge question for us,

make sure to DM us at Rachel Cruz and at George KM. I actually got one this afternoon, George. look through my DMs. You sent it to us. I screen shot it to you and Jenna. And I was like, guys, got a new guilty charge question. So genuinely, we really appreciate it. So send it our way and make sure to subscribe because we always love having you here.

And we don't want you to forget about an episode. But if you love this episode, you're going to also love how to financially survive every season of life. We'll link it for you. And we'll see you next Thursday on an all new episode of. Smart Money Happy Hour.