Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Red Flags That Scream, “I’m Bad With Money”

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

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Start stretching those wrists, people, because today we're waving our financial red flags. This may be more common than I think it is. It doesn't shock me. I'd honestly rather that than you holding a fish. That's a red flag, especially if you're dating. So, Homeboys, the girl is running. Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel.

And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. This is the show where two friends who have new money experts talk about what you're talking about. everything from pop culture, current events, and money. Before we get to the red flags, let's talk about this red drink. We are imbibing this hour. This is a watermelon margarita. Frozen, I'll have you know.

It's just so impressive. Very impressive. That we get made these cocktails. I know. I don't have the energy to even think about making this. I mean, genuinely, is it a Vitamix that does this? Like, where, how do you... It's definitely a blender situation.

Yeah, it's got to be a ninja, a bullet. I don't know what they call them these days. I like them. Stick around to the end. We're going to give you our rating on this drink. reveal the cost per glass. You don't want to miss it. Okay, Rachel, we've raised a flag or two on the show before. We're no stranger to raising a glass or raising a flag. Oh, there you go. Back when the internet was obsessing over beige flags, we did that one. We talked about good, bad, and neutral habits to look out

for in money and dating. That's right. But today we're going to talk specifically about the red flag. When you see it, your red flags should go up, which means, hold on. Stranger, danger. Caution. Caution, caution. Don't get in the ocean yet. Right? Ocean. flag. Oh yeah. And they raise a different flags. Double red. Double red is extra scary. She collie, and we got two flags here. So we're going to talk about it because there are a lot of things out there that you need to watch out for. And not just, you know, there's the dating relationships. Yep. Which we're going to talk about. That's one category.

There's also like the workplace. There's also family. There's also friends. There's some financial industry. The industry has some red flags you want to watch out for. So we're going to react and share our honest thoughts as we go. And we want you guys to be a part of the conversation. So join us in the comments. Let us know your thoughts. If you think These are red flags, or maybe you love them. I don't know. Maybe you're a weirdo like that.

Maybe you're a green flagger and you're like, listen, that's not bad. Yeah, some people see the green in every red. Tweet that. Put that on a high school poster. Are you more likely to talk yourself out of a red flag? Are you more likely to see more red flags than exist? I think as a recovering pessimist cynic, I tend to only see red flags. I must be convinced that anything is green.

Okay, yeah. Head on a swivel. Everything is risk. Yes, and I'm the opposite. Yeah, you're like, everyone's so nice. I am to the point that like I'm going to get screwed one day to be. I'm like, they were just so kind. Like, I just thought that everything was fine, you know. And then it's like, no, that was not good.

I think we both could do better in leaning each other's way. Yeah. You go a little my way, a little more, you know, on edge and me a little less on edge. I think that's good. I think I need a little more street smarts. And I need a little more Rachel smart, whatever that is. I'm not going to say that. I'm going to say my street smart.

My street smart's pretty good. You're actually book smart too. I just see the good in people a lot. Not book smart. Wow. But you read a lot of books, I guess, is my point. I do. I do read a lot of books. Not smart books, but like fun books.

Books about red flags, actually. If it's a part of a book club, you're here for it. 100%. Love it all. All right. Okay, well, let's start off with the red flags that I feel like most people think of, dating. So dating red flags. The first one on the list.

This is a good one. A toxic tipper. You get the bill at a restaurant, and you lean over and you realize they didn't really tip. They didn't leave a tip. Or a good tip? Like, they're kind of cheap. Yeah. Or they say things like, they were awful.

I'm not tipping. It took forever for them to come back and get our check. You know, I get it. We've all had bad service at restaurants, and it's okay if you don't want to tip 25% because there was bad service. But not leaving a tip at all or being spiteful when you don't know the full story. I, that's a red flag, especially if you're dating. So, Homeboys, the girl is running if you're a bad tipper. Yep.

Girls like a generous man. Did you see the Friends episode where Rachel Green and her dad and Ross went out to dinner? No, I don't recall. And the dad didn't like, he left like a really stingy tip and Ross went back and left some money and then gets caught. It was like this whole thing. I was like, oh my gosh. That is something that I would do. Be Ross, you know, in a situation.

Be Ross. Because what does it point to? Let's go deeper one layer. Yeah, yeah. Because I think it's a... If you're stingy when it comes to tipping someone who has served you, you're probably going to be stingy

in a lot of other areas of your life. Yeah. And I'm going to say a probably pretty critical person too. Very tit for tat. Yes. Keeping score. Yeah, probably a lot of that, right? And if you just...

I don't know. In my head, if someone serves you, and I get it, it may not be the best service and maybe you go down to 18% or whatever. But, like, I don't know. I just feel like you have an obligation to tip. And so it would be really hard for me if they're like,

I can't believe this. because we're not dipping. I'd be like, oh, man. I mean, unless you got like cussed out or something, right? Like, does that happen? No, I don't think so. I mean, I've had people be rude to me, but not cussed at. No.

Yet. No, but what if? Would you tip if someone cussed you? Depends if I deserved it, honestly. Okay, that's fair. I would check with my wife. Like, was that warranted? She'd be like, yeah, you deserve that.

Oh, gosh. I don't know what I would do. I'm very nice. I know. You know, especially when I have my baby there. If they're nice to my baby, extra tip. Oh, okay. Good to know.

if they try to interact in a nice way. Not too overbearing. Yeah, yeah. Don't get my baby crying. Yeah, don't be holding my baby. Like we went out this weekend to brunch, and they were super sweet to her. Yeah, talking to her.

Like getting her little plastic water cup and all that stuff, getting her crayons. She throws them all on the ground. Yeah, I hear it. That's a win. Okay. Next, never wants to talk about money. Ooh, that's a big red flag.

I know. I think so too. We get that a lot on the Ramsey show. Yes. Where someone calls in and says, they just won't talk about money. especially like dating is one thing. It's way worse when it comes to marriage.

Right, yeah, you're married and your spouse won't talk about like what they make or like they don't want to talk about money at all. Big red flag for sure. But especially, yeah, dating. And I get if it's not like the first date. Like we always joke it. It's true. Like don't ask for someone's like,

you don't need to show them your budget. Yeah, 401K balance and like tax returns. Like, no, we're not going crazy here. But as the relationship moves along, naturally, I feel like it's a topic of life that's going to be brought up, should be brought up, I should say. just like other important topics, talking about like in-laws and work. And I mean, like life, right? And money is a part of life.

So if they don't, if they want to avoid that subject, and I would say any hard subject, they just want to avoid talking about. Yeah, that's a good point. I want to go red flag. Red flag. Because that tells me, number one, they could be hiding something that they don't want you to know, which is not a great sign because relationships are built on trust and communication. Yes.

But then the other piece is if there's maybe some trauma or baggage there or shame or guilt, again, if they're unwilling to deal with that or at least be open to talking about it with someone they might be in a long-term relationship with, that also scares me. That's not going to bode well for the relationship. That's right. Long-term. Yeah, for the subject of money itself in the relationship, but then also other subjects that they probably want to avoid too, right? So I'm like, no, no, no, we got to talk about this. So if they avoid you, I'm going to say red flag with the money conversations. And why I always tell people as they get, as they start heading toward marriage. It's a wise idea to go through something like Financial Peace University, our flagship

money course, because it sort of forces you to have these conversations, forces you to have common language, which I think is much more helpful than just a cold, let's talk about money. Yeah, for sure. What are your thoughts on debt? Totally. Versus going through a course that you go, hey, what do you think about that lesson? Yep, yep. Especially if it's earlier. Don't you find that people who don't deal with this when they're dating, it just gets so much worse. It gets amplified. Oh, man. When you're married, and you think, well, maybe when we're married things will change because we'll combine our lives. and then they stay the same.

Separate bank accounts and they won't let you have access or transparency into what's going on. Those are the real-life calls we get on the Ramsey show where we go, this is late in the game. Like you need some emergency counseling to try to resolve this. That's right, that's right. So yeah, do it early, folks, if you can.

All right, next red flag, you ready? Not generous. Oh, that ties in with that tipping one. It does. Generous in spirit, generous in money, just in general. Yeah, I think in all of it, just in conversation.

and time, like someone that's just like a selfless person is usually going to be a great companion, a great spouse later in life. Yeah. But the generosity, the money piece, I think would be hard if they just like want to just hoard and keep, keep, keep. You know, I think more and more like financial influencers keep coming up on my feed because I just keep clicking on them.

But I keep seeing. And there's a good bit of them, George, at least from the videos that I keep being brought to me, it can feel like, and I think it is more common that I realize, again, I see the green flags and everyone. more common of like, oh yeah, I'm going to win with money, I'm going to get rich, and it's going to be awesome,

and we have all this stuff, and it's like me, me, me, me, me, there's not a lot of people that talk about giving. That is true, and when you do talk about it, people will, like, shut down. Yeah, but I just... Like, when I make videos about giving on my channel, nobody cares. They don't do well. I'm like, guys, you need to care. I know, I know.

They don't see the value in it. Yeah, I guess. So I would say, like, I would not want to be in a long-term relationship. with someone where their money goals are all about them. Yes. So the generosity piece, I really think is huge. But what I'm saying is this may not be, this may be more common than I think it is. Like, I always feel like everyone gives.

Oh, yeah. Does it make sense? Like I'm like, I'm in a world where we love to get. Like giving is like one of the goals of all of this. Like, yes, give. And then the fact that people don't, again, I think it's more common that people don't than they do. And maybe they just, they didn't grow up in an environment where that was the norm.

And so it's not normal for them. growing up but I think it's really important to make that a habit and include it in your every dollar budget have the giving line items of maybe it's to your local church maybe it's to a nonprofit that you're passionate about maybe it's still the person on the side of the road but it just it changes you more than it does anything else and I've just found the most healthy people are the ones that have made it a habit to give yes so you you'd want to date those people find them yeah and then I've even changed my tune about this can I tell you yeah what do I feel like I'm like attacking you on this episode.

No, it's fine. He said it makes you feel good. I've now changed my tune and like, I used to be like, yeah, and the benefit is you feel good about it. But I'm kind of to the point in my life, George. I'm like, I don't care what I get out of it. Like, you should just do the right thing. Yes.

You don't do it for some sort of feeling. Feeling, that's right, yes. But it's a natural byproduct. Yeah, you will. I think you will. I think there's a beautiful thing when you help people. You will feel joy. But I used to even frame it in that way of like, oh, yeah.

Like if I leave a big tip, I'll feel good about myself. Yeah, but that part of me is like, that I've changed my tune about it. I'm like, I don't even want to say that. You should just give because like there's people that need help. So be a giver. That's it. Be a giver. That's it.

Because it's the opposite. People need help. You are able to help. So help. Yes, I know. So help me, God. So help me, no. That's a good one.

All right. Next, uh, next and last on our dating list of financial red flags, credit score obsessed. George, are you so excited about this one? So excited. You love bastion the credit score. Well, I found out that. And you have a chapter of it in your book.

I do have a whole chapter on credit score. So I guess am I credit score obsessed? You love anti-credit scores. I mean, talk about passion. Just such a weird flex. Like the fact that a bank is willing to loan you $60,000 on a line of credit, that's a flex today? Yeah. Like, that's what you're bragging about?

I heard on dating apps. Do people put their credit scores? Is this the thing? I've heard this. The ladies can vouch. Yes. And I heard, yeah, we're getting some knots. Can you believe that?

It doesn't shock me. I'd honestly rather that. than you holding a fish. I'm going to be honest. That's actually better. Okay, I have opposite. Really? You'd rather see the fish?

I'm like, look at Harrison fishing with his, like, you know, that's great. I wish it was a Harrison. Harrison's outdoors. Good for him, you know? Wow. Out on the land. Well, here's what I found. So Professor Scott Galloway has a whole bit where he talks about what women look for in a man.

He's talks about kindness, intelligence. I love him, by the way. He's great. And the last one, outside of kindness and intelligence, was a man's ability to signal future provision. for the woman. Okay. So then I go, oh, the fish makes sense.

The woman's going, I'll never go hungry. The man knows how to fish. And so my thing is the credit score is him trying to signal in a very toxic, unhealthy way that he is able to provide because he is financially stable. Look at you looking for the green flag. That's my, my heart is out there for Harrison. Wow.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to fish, you know? I just, I can smell it through the app. My gosh. I go, this guy's taking a stinky fish home. And we don't know. Does he even know how to like skin it, debone it? Clean it, cook it? I don't know. He knows how to catch him. He knows how to catch it. He may throw it back in. It's for the sport. So the credit score doesn't actually signal how well you're doing financially.

All it does is signal how good you are at playing the debt game, paying your debts back, which sure is better than not being able to pay your debts back and having a low credit score. Sure, that's better. But to me, the ultimate sign is, do you have money in the bank? Are you investing for the future? Do you have a fully funded emergency fund? Are you out of debt? Those are much better signals of future provision. That's right. If you're on a dating app.

Yes, for sure. Choose wisely, ladies. I love it. All right, let's go into the financial industry, shall we? It's time. We just almost got there. Red flag number one for the financial industry, store credit cards. So listen.

I could not wave harder. The whole... I could be in color guard with how hard I'm waving. Can you like, yeah. And to save like 10%, 20%, right? Yeah. on a pair of jeans that are $60. Has this happened to you lately? I'm shocked they still do it.

I don't shop in stores anymore. I'm online. Well, you can't be seen in a store. You'd never make it out. There'd be a signing line before you left. No, George, that is not true. No, but I do. I shop all online right now in life. So I've not been, I mean, the pop-up ad, you know, to say 10% or whatever. But that's more like the mailing list. It's easier to fall for at checkout because if I could save 15% right now, the person in front of me, just asked. I know. This happened to me recently at a J-Crew factory. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they wanted

the store credit card. I politely declined. Okay, for the J-Crew factory, is it the factory credit card or just J-Crew? I assume it's just a J-Crew card. Yeah. I don't know. But I'm not, I'm not intrigued. You can only use that credit card at those places. No, you can use it anywhere. But you get benefits if you use it at that store. At the store. That's the big benefit of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's a tough one. Man. And it's always some, like, well-meaning 18-year-old. I know. I wonder if they're interesting. I know. I wonder if the interest rate is higher on store credit cards. I believe it is because whenever I've looked, it's like 29% or APR or something crazy.

There's always a range, but generally the higher end of the range is higher than a normal credit card. Yep, yep. So don't fall for this and don't think, well, I'll get the 15% that I'll cancel it. Most people don't, and they lure you back in with another offer, another promise. So just politely declined. And if they start, you know, really drilling down, I'm like, why won't you open it? Why would you not want to save?

Then just name drop Dave Ramsey. That'll shut them up real quick. Yeah, they don't like that. They don't like that. That'll help you. Okay, next is zero percent interest loans. Oof. So red flag here.

So they will try to get you on that. I'm like, it's zero percent interest. You're not paying any extra. You're just paying the payment. This happens with cars, with furniture, with appliances, even by now, pay later products now? Totally, yeah. So for some of these loans, not all of them,

but some of them, usually a lot of them, in the fine print when you sign the contract, it's basically if you miss one payment, they backlog all this interest and all. I could put you in a whole, horrible spot if you have like a hard month. Like if you lose your job and you can't pay that one month, they will like backtrack everything. So like it's a horrible setup. And then there's always something, George, I still, I live by this. I think it is so true. There is something about paying

for things that are already done versus if you just pay in the present, you are like literally living in the present or looking at the future. I mean, there's constant living behind you. Put it on a tab. All these payments, you know, the student loan that I already went to college for. and yeah, the credit card, all of this stuff, you're paying for things. You're using your present money, not for your future self, but for your past self. It's already lived that life. So just stay in the presence, look forward. Like, let's live in those categories, you know, with our money, not the past.

And with cars, this is especially bad because they'll lure you in with, hey, zero, we have a 0% offer. And you get in and you don't qualify, of course. But then you're already there. They've already lowered you in. That hurts. Ow. Yeah. And you get no deals. And so if you're trying to negotiate, not happening.

You're going to pay full MSRP on that car and get screwed on the deal. And you really shouldn't be buying a brand new car anyways. Most people taking advantage of this are broke or have good credit. And so they go, well, I'm going to do great. Money's cheap. Another payment. Who cares? Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it.

All right. Another major red flag is when data brokers take your information, sell your information to other companies, and then you are exposed to fishing and skisings. scams and all this stuff. But delete me. He comes in and saves the day. That's what they do. They scour the internet for your personal info and they wipe it and they send you a report

showing you what they've done and how much time they've saved you. And I sleep better at night for having it. So it just like really grinds my gears, George, to think that my information, my email address, my phone number, all of it. Like they're making money off of my information. I'm like, stop that. Don't make money off me. No.

I don't want my stuff out there. And they're getting more sophisticated. Oh, yeah. And there's more and more breaches. Text and say, yes, yeah. So as much as your information can be removed as much as possible and having services like Delete Me that help you and do that, it is, oh, the better off you're going to be.

So really focusing on that these days, George, because in the world we live in now, internet, you can't be too safe. They're everywhere. And they're giving our Smart Money Happy Hour fans 20% off any of their annual plans if you go to join DeleteMe.com slash Smart Money or click the link in the description below and we'll take you there. All right, next red flag.

Debt settlement or relief companies. I know, y, y'allie. I know. These people. It does. Their marketing schemes are so aggressive. We get tons of calls on the Ramsey show where someone says, I signed up for this debt settlement company because they promise they'll get rid of my debt

and make my life better. I know. And I'm trying to get out now because I realize it's kind of a scam. Yes. So what I want to say to you, Sarah, out there, you can do it yourself. Yeah, Sarah. Come on, Sarah. You got this.

So that's the thing. They're doing something that you can do yourself. so do not pay them extra, don't get stuck in a payment plan with these companies, drags you along, not worth it. Yeah, let's talk about how it actually works. So what they do is they say, hey, stop making payments on your debt, let it go to collections, instead give us that payment, and then eventually we'll try to settle the debts and negotiate on your behalf,

therefore lowering the amount you owe. That's right. Here's the problem. That tanks your financial world, and the creditors can still come after you and sue you in the meantime. And the debt relief companies have no promise that. they can actually get you out. No, and a lot of them, like, from a legal standpoint,

are in the process. So you can't get them out. And that's terrible. Aren't they incentivized to just keep collecting your payment and just kick the can down the road for years? Yeah, because if you really can't pay it, and we get people that call the Ramsey Show a lot and their debt is in collections,

well, you actually can negotiate that at that point. Like, you really can. But also, if you have the money to be paying it, you need to be paying it too, like the moral obligation of, like, we signed up for this debt. And if you have the money to, you know, be paying it and to get out of debt, then we want you to do that.

But for some people where it's gone to collections or they literally don't have the money to pay, it probably will go into collections, but then you can settle it. You don't need a company to do that for you. So if you're in one of these, just cancel it and do the debt snowball method and call it a stupid tax and move on with your life.

But the key is you can do this yourself. You can negotiate bad debts that are in collections. You can do the debt snowball method and knock out the debt on your own. All right. Last red flag, George, of the financial industry. He locks. The old home equity line of credit.

Do you feel like they like just skyrocketed over COVID, or was that just me? Yeah, because everyone got so much equity in their homes. Yes. And they were still broke, so they went, well, it just happened to our home like a piggy bank. We're here, let's put it in the pool. Let's redo the renovation. And the marketing has been so aggressive. I mean, they'll send you mail because they know exactly how much equity you now have,

so they'll send homeowners a bunch of mailers saying, hey. It's so tempting. Access 250 grand. Right. Build that pool. You do you. Life is short. Life is short.

Oh, the marketing's gross on these. I know. And this really puts you at risk because the second. mortgage on your home, so it's another lien against your house, they could take your home if you can't pay that HELOC. And the interest rates are terrible. They're usually variable on helox, which makes them even worse. So stay away, don't fall for the trap. If you can't afford the renovation or college or you're going to use it to pay off debt, unwise. Stay away from these and just save up and pay cash. And it has you going backwards in your equity. Exactly. And we don't

want that. We want to be present or future oriented. Don't go backwards. Yep, don't go backwards. All right, let's get into parenting and family. This one's dicey. Oh, my gosh. Are you ready? Okay, give us the first red flag. Fix it, parenting. Meaning, you'll automatically, immediately fix something by just throwing money at the situation.

Have you done this? For me. You know, I'm, yes, I was in a habit. This was, I don't know. Gosh, I probably could be more self-aware. It probably has been recent, too. But I was in a habit with my girls, like, something would break. And I'd be like, that's fine.

We'll just get, you know, a necklace breaks or whatever. And I'm like, it's fine, girls. we'll just get another one. Because on Amazon, it's like $5.99 for 20 of them. They're not buying super nice things. No. But I was a fix. I'm like, oh, yeah, we'll just fix the situation.

And now I've been so aware that I did that. And now I'm like, no, I don't care. It's not about the money. It's about the principal. But I always looked at it from a money standpoint. Oh, yeah. It's fine. It's not that expensive.

The principle is you should take care of your stuff no matter what. Yeah. And if it breaks, you're still alive. Like, we're okay. Yeah. Like you get to keep on living. And adult life says, I got to save up and buy another one. That's right.

That's right. So hopefully that was harmless and hopefully I don't scar my children for life. I probably did. But also as kids get older, this is where it can get even more toxic because they're not learning resilience at all at any level. Well, then you become a snowplow parent, right? That's the term now? Yes.

Will you clear the path to make it nice and smooth for a little john? Yes, yeah, no bumps, no grooves, if you will, just easy. Just skate through life. Wow, must be nice. What a terrible way to enter adulthood. Yeah, because in your time. kid has no clue how to survive on their own. Of course they're going to come back to you.

Totally. Bank of mom and dad to solve their problems. Yeah. Or if anything hard happens at work, someone's not, you know what I mean? They're like, oh my gosh, you know, there's a problem and they're like, I can't. You want to build a resilient kid. And so you don't want to, you know, cause them undue pain and suffering. But there's some things where they just let them figure it out. Yes, that's right.

Kids are smarter than you think. That's right. So, yeah, fix it parenting. Red flag. Don't fix everything with money. All right. Next red flag for parenting and family is guilt trip spending. Oh.

So making kids feel guilty for what you spend on their school, their sports, etc. I know. It's kind of emotional manipulation happening there. For sure, especially like a little kid. Yeah. You kind of hold it over their head and like they can't fully understand. Right. No.

Yeah. So definitely red flag there. And then, but as adults, parents to their adult kids. Well, I did this. You should come home for Christmas. I can't believe you're not coming. Oh, the quid pro quo. You know what I mean?

They call back to what they did and how they were, how great they were. And so now the expectation is. Oh. How you should be. We get calls like this on the Ramsey show where someone says, my parents want to move in with me and they feel entitled because they took care of us growing up. Right. So now they want us to fund their retirement because they didn't prepare.

I'm like, that's not healthy. No, no. A child needs to be taken care of because they're a child. That's it. Period. Period. Period. Like, oh my gosh.

So teaching your kids about money is an important part of this to go, hey, money comes from work. Having work ethic is important. You save up and buy things with money you have. If you don't have the money, you don't buy it. We invest for the future, save for the future. And I'm the adult in the situation, and I'm choosing to spend money on your sports. Yes.

You're not forcing that on me. I am choosing that, so like don't put that over their head. Yeah. That's going to cost them a lot in counseling later on. So spare them that cost. That's right. All right. Next is gifting with strings attached.

Ooh. That's a hard one. Hey, I'm going to give you this, but then I'm expecting you to X, Y, and Z, you know. if it's in it for them, the gift. It's not really a gift at that point. Not free and clear. What are your thoughts about, like,

what categories would this fall into? There's a gift, but it's like you have to use it under these terms. I feel like I hear this. I hear this like for wedding planning. Like, hey, we're going to give you some money, but you're going to have to do X, Y, and Z at your wedding. You need to have it here. You need to invite these people.

Yeah, they start to control. I think it's a controlling thing too, right? Or we're going to take you all on vacation. And so, but we expect you to X, Y, and Z without. or if we do this, then you should do this later in the year. I don't know. Like it's this, yeah. Did you say quid pro quo?

Yes. Earlier? That's a good. Yeah. I think that's it. That's the statement. If I do this for you, you got to do this for me. So I think if you're going to do that, it's okay.

It's not always malicious. You know, if it's like, hey, here's money, but you have to use it for college because it's for college. That's one thing. We're not talking about that kind of gift. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the when it's done with an impure motive. Yes, yes.

Well, it's the keeping score mentality. is what it kind of feels like. We did all this for you. So now you should do this with the gift, which isn't really a gift at that point. Yes, especially if it's borrowed money, which is not a gift, but we see this lot when we take calls.

The in-laws gave us this money to borrow for this thing, but now we want a vacation and they're judging us now because, like, wait, you haven't paid us back. You're out here buying nice things, got a new car. So that can really hurt relationships. That's the key with all this stuff. It damages relationships. It's fine to accept gifts.

It's fine to give gifts. but just do it with a pure heart. Yes, and as freely as possible, because I think that that really does help. But a gift that I will always take freely, George, anything from Cozy Earth. Oh, I got my no-show, Cozy Earth's Song-Ton right now. You can't see them. They're invisible to the world.

They're nauseous. That's all that matters. I know, Cozy Earth. I mean, I had some pajamas on recently at a family beach trip, and all the girls were like, where did you get those pajamas? I was like, Cozy Earth. Were they the Sky Toily ones? Yes, with the Preachies on.

print? Yes, because I got them for Whitney and then you were like, I wanted those. That's right. They came in for me. That's right. Technically influenced you. You did influence my drawers. I was like, okay, I want those because they are so cute. So cute. Yeah, they have tons of great stuff like from bedding to the a fleaure to the sleep sets to I got the clogs in. Amazing. I'm a new man. You were going to do shoes. I'm a new man. That's amazing. Move over, Crocs. Get out of here. My lakehouse clogs are in. So I love everything they make. It's super comfy, great quality, great warranties. their products, they stand behind it, and you can save up to 40% off. If you go to cozy earth.com slash smart money and use the promo code smart money.

We'll also drop a link in the description below. All right, George, we're leaving family and relationships behind. Where are we going? We are going into work. Somewhere I love to go, to work. Red flags on working. Ready? Yep.

No raises or toxic promotion norms. Ooh. So, if you don't get a raise, never, ever, ever, ever, ever. and you're growing up, up, up, up, up. Yeah, you're busting it. But it's not being acknowledged with the old Benjamin's. Yeah, and eventually you're going to lose good people

because of that. Yes, for sure. So it's a good note to anyone who owns a business, leaders out there. If you don't treat your people well, you don't give them a path for growth, eventually they're going to leave because humans are wired for growth.

Yeah, and raises should be expected. Now, if their performance is lacking, yes. Then that's understandable. but if they're doing great, performances should be in the long. If the company's in a real bind or something where they go, hey, we're not doing any raises this year across the board, that's one thing. Totally.

But if it's consistent over a long period of time while you've been killing it, I think it's time to go. Yes, I know. There was someone we were talking to recently. Was it friends? I can't remember. And apparently they sold this big account and they were making it a huge deal. They were like, you know.

And everyone I think was supposed, I think was promised or said out loud, like getting a cut of something. Cut of the deal. And after they were like, oh, we're not able to do that. but here's a pizza party. Oh, no. And they were all like, oh, my God. So, yeah.

Nobody wants a pizza party. Don't promise things that you can't deliver on either. That's not fun. Skip the pizza. Yeah. All right, here's another one, red flag, not getting paid consistently. And you might be thinking, who are these people? These aren't commissioned people.

We're saying, like, you work at a job for someone else, and they go, hey, not going to be able to pay you this month. That's real life. We get those calls. We get those calls, yeah. And again, if it's one time, something. something crazy happens and you're able to stick it out because you love the company, do what you got to do.

But if that's a consistent theme that they can't make their bills and they can't make payroll, Yikes. And it's funny, people call us and like, I feel bad for leaving because they're struggling already. They're so nice to me. And they're struggling already. And if I leave, like, that's going to leave a big whole, like, people take on a lot of responsibility for other people's.

They feel guilty. Yeah. But sometimes, Joel, you got to do what's best for you. Let's be honest. We always say choose guilt over resentment because you. you're going to get real resentful. Working for free. And it's going to live in your head rent free,

and it's going to go on way too long because you're trying to be nice. Just do what you need to do. That's right. That's right. Next, fear-based layoff threats. Ooh. We see these lately because there's a lot of scary stuff happening with the economy

and the will there, won't they, with a recession. Government jobs especially, too. Government jobs went through it. If not, there's a lot of that, yeah. And so if you're, like, living in fear, this is a problem. If this is a pattern over a long period of time, Especially a business that, a small business that you know the people.

You know what I shouldn't even say that. But a corporation, I don't know. If there's always this constant, like, there's about to be a bunch of layoffs. Water cooler talk about who's next and what team is next. I know. That's not good. I think that is pretty common in, like, corporate America, though. Yeah, like, certain industries.

Sweeping layoffs and stuff, you know, like, that does happen. Yeah. But if it's a continual thing, like, it's not worth the stress and anxiety, you know? No. I've got friends and family who work for, like, especially startups and tech, this happens a lot. is they have a lot of investor funding money, and then the revenue's not there a few years in, and they are on the chopping block.

And they cut people, yeah, it's wild. Be careful out there. It's so crazy. It's a wild world up there. Wild Wild West. Oh, my gosh. What a great movie, too. Wild Wild West with Will Smith. I know.

We finally found some common ground. You like Juan West? I never thought you would have watched Wild Wild Wild West. Yeah, and the theme song is great. The Jim West Desperado one? I had, is that it? Wild West. Yeah, yeah.

Yes, Rodder. No, you don't want. Okay. She's a real one. In case you're wondering. She's redeemed herself. Man. I just threw my straw.

Don't play that back in slow-mo. She's redeemed herself. I like flicked it accidentally. Now I got to... Who knew you loved a cowboy movie, George? I didn't know anyone even liked an old Will Smith steampunk high-concept action comedy. I know he punched someone on stage, which is not okay.

It was a slap. It was a slap, to be fair. Yeah, yeah, not good. Like, we can't do that. A punch is worse. But Independence Day, great movie, you know? Yeah. He was in some great movies.

Wait to defend Will Smith. Something that happened years ago. I find the green flag and everything. I know. Oh, my gosh. I just got my sodium intake for the day with one sip with no strong. Did you get all that salt? I have to.

Oh, my gosh. Do you feel like you just went in the ocean and swallowed a bunch of water? My tongue, I can't feel it. Oh, that's so much salt. Okay. We're done with that. Can I say the salt is aggressive, too? It's like really thick.

Yeah, it's like a, what's it called? Like a rim. Rock salt. Rock salt. Which is a much thicker. Well, and that's what this should be. Somehow a saltier. Is this is like...

Oh, is that really it? I feel like this is like... Yeah, that's what they always use on margaritas. Really? Okay. Oh, I don't know where you go. Where they use table salt to rind drinks. It just, just everything just... I prefer a tijin or tahine rim.

Tahin is great. Yeah. Yeah. I still don't know how to say it. I can't get anyone to verify. I emailed the company. I think it's Tahin, right? You would think.

But then someone of culture said, no, no, no. It's Tajin. Tajin. Oh, gosh. Now I don't know. Look, we look so American. But I imagine in Latin America it would be pronounced Tahin. Like the J would be a ha.

Yeah. Let us know in the comments. All right. Last one on work. Financial Red Flag. Remote work that has zero. boundaries. Oh, this is hard. So working in an office has perks. We work in an office. I enjoy it. Working remotely also has its perks. But if you're in this work from home situation and you're

expected to always be on, that's frightening. Yeah, that's hard. Yeah. And I think there's not great boundaries, whether you're in a physical office or not. But I do feel like in a physical office, there's still kind of that old school mentality. When you leave people, they don't see you. But when they they can contact you all the time, like remote work, it's like they're so used to talking to you whenever. And so there's a lot of people that work so many hours doing this. And if you leave an office, there's a physical distance that's created where you can actually leave work at work. It's hard when you're on the couch, you slam your laptop shut, and now you're like, I guess I need to still sit on the couch. Just turn on the Netflix instead.

Yeah, you need to create some natural separation. Yes, for sure. That's a tough one. Yep, that's good. Yeah, do you know what, Jeremy Breeland, our boss, our boss's boss, I guess we should say. He always said that, yeah, when you make yourself available, people expect you to be available. So sometimes there's these boundaries of like, you're not available, you know?

Just you're probably not going to hear from me. And I'm, so that's the expectation. You know, it's a good one too. And Dave has mentioned this. Because Dave would, you know, sometimes he'll catch an email late and he would fire off an email. And he was going, oh, the team expects that I also expect them to be working if I send an email at 10 p.m. Oh. They go, well, I guess this is the culture.

And so he started scheduling emails to fire off. off at 7 a.m. the next day to not create stress on the team or pressure that they needed to... Oh, shoot, I'm bad at that. And Rachel's always emailing. 9.30 p.m. Rachel's like, looks great. But I don't... But I don't expect people to email back.

But sometimes if I get behind, I'll just shoot off a bunch while I'm thinking about it. But I'm like, I'm not expect... I mean, I know it's at night. I don't expect people. But then the other person feels like, well, I guess I should also be responding at night. Or this is normalized. So the schedule button on Outlook. Very few good things about Outlook. I'm not scared to Sully there.

name. But the schedule button is a game changer. Wow. Well, I always do it on my phone. I email on my phone. I think you can still do it on the Outlook app. Okay. I don't use that app.

I use the mail on my phone. You're hopeless. Yeah, I know. You're never going to, we've got to download the Outlook app now. That's not going to happen. Gross. No. Exactly.

I don't know. Okay. What's the, what's that? What's this? This is my, um, that guy right there. Yeah, yeah. The Apple Mail. app, which you have your outlook loaded into.

Okay. I don't think you can actually schedule from that. See, told you. You know, you can schedule text messages now? No. Game changer. Why would you schedule text messages? I do it all the time.

Why? If I need to remind my wife of something, but if I tell her now, she will never remember if I text it, so I can schedule the text to send at a later time. Okay. In which, you know, it'll be of utmost importance. Do you ever do reminders on your phone? Yes. new favorite feature.

Wait, do you do the voice-to-text reminders? Like, Siri, remind me to... Yeah, I won't say Siri. I just click that button. I just say, like, yeah. Remind me in two weeks to give Caroline her medicine or whatever. Yeah. And then in two weeks...

What a great mom. Way to make it about Caroline. Is she okay? She's fine. She had an antibiotic thing, but I was like, ooh, and the last thing, you're supposed to wait a little bit and then, like... Oh, I was wondering. I was like, what condition would be like two weeks from out.

That was literally like last night. Yeah, that's that happened recently. But I love it. I love the reminder. Game changer. Game changer. These are the kind of tips you get on the show. You think, oh, we're going to learn financial stuff now.

You're going to learn some outlook and serious tips. You didn't want it, but you got it. Oh, man, all right, George. What can we learn? Did we learn anything from this whole episode? Don't be a red flagger. Yes. Yeah, and I think it's okay to recognize the red flags to like the Rachel's out there. Yes.

But they're out there, and that's okay. Like, you've got to be smart about this, right? You've got to be smart in this life, head on a swivel, be looking around. And that it's okay to call it out, that if something doesn't feel right, it's probably because it's not right. You know what I mean? It's okay to say no, to set the boundary, to push someone or something out of your life because it doesn't serve you.

Yep. And sometimes in the moment, the no is easier. Just nope. Then dragging a situation along and you feel the red flags and then later, it's always going to be harder. Trust her gut. Usually there's that thing where you're like afterwards like, ah, I felt something, but I didn't do anything, I didn't say anything.

I know. I read a book called The Gift of Fear. So good. Who wrote it? Do you know? No. Okay. But it was a little... I know. I'm sorry for whoever wrote it. But it was mostly about women. It was safety. Like, kind of a safety book.

And one of the number one reasons, like we... Something happens to women is because they feel bad. Oh, William, an abusive relationship. They don't want to like... Wow. Right? Yeah. You stay in it.

We went real dark. Yes. Yes, George. real bad. Okay, sorry. I'm talking about like at the gas station. Okay. You're pumping your gas.

You feel uncomfortable, but it's like you feel something in your guy. You're like, I don't feel like good, right? You know what I mean? And it's okay to like just pump your gas and get in your car, you know, where a lot of women feel the need to like be nice and kind to everyone. And it's like, oh, it's a fine, it's, you know.

And then stuff happens, right? And so that's it. The gift of fear is what it's called. It's in there. You got something for a reason. Guys trying to help you move up to your apartment, boxes, you know? And if you feel like it's sketchy.

If you're like this doesn't feel right, like just say, no, thank you. You know, just, you can be strong on that. Yeah, that's why I aim to be a safe, a safe male. Oh. Yeah. You can always ask me to move furniture. God made me five, six for a reason. I'm not intimidating.

You can take me in a fight. People don't get weird vibes. Yeah, if you're over 11 and you have all your limbs, you can take me in a fight. No problem. Even Harrison with the fish. Even Harrison. If you have, if you know how to fish, you can definitely take me to fight. I'm not messing with that guy.

It takes a lot of muscle strength to reel up a little catfish. Yeah, for sure, for sure. I don't know what they're catching these days. Oh, man. Ask Winston, he'll know what the fish of the day is. I don't know. This episode was, had anything for y'all out there in the world. Some episodes are just for us. You know, and that was today's episode.

That was today's episode. Okay. Borgantiganty is charged. What are we sipping on? We are sipping on a frozen watermelon margarita. Mm-hmm. That is very ornate, I think is the only word. for it.

Yes. It's got, I think we did about the same drink-wise. I would have had more, but my straw fell out. And I refused to drink all the salt. So this is going to come in at $3.37 per drink. Okay. It includes frozen watermelon, tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and honey. Oh.

Surprise, it's not agave. I'll have to ask mixologist Michael, why he didn't use agave, which is more traditional in a margarita. Wow. You didn't have concern about the honey? You thought that's a normal thing to put in a margarita? I mean, it sweetens it up. It could be like simple syrup, honey, agave.

But agave is what margaritas need. And remind me, honey comes from bees. Agave comes from the plant? The agave plant. Yeah, okay. Correct. And that tastes a lot different than honey? Yes.

Honey has a very... Sweet. Intense sweetness. Agave is a little more neutral, I would say. A little less sweet, depending if you use light agave or dark agave. Okay. I don't want to get into it. It's for a different episode.

I know. I can take us real off track, and I'm going to. They may edit this out, but this is the episode with random facts. Have you seen The Bee Girl on Instagram? No. Save the Bees. Yes. Is she like a bee influencer?

She will go in and find beehives that are like in people's houses, and she like pulls back everything, and it's like this insane colony of bees. And she doesn't get stung, and she like removes. Is she wearing the bee suit? The beekeeper? Not always. Not always. and the way she talks, she's like, and then I remove, you know, this,

and so then she'll eat. Your hands? And so then she'll eat the cone. And she finds the queen. The honey cone? I found the queen bee, and I put her in a clip. And they bring her into the thing. And they're following her to the new colony.

Wait, does she talk like that? It's another great day of saving the bees. You've got to find her, George. She's so fun to watch. Wow. Should we have her on the show? Oh, my gosh. I just have her talk the whole time.

Because her voice. Is it a pleasant, calming voice? Like, how would you describe her voice? I mean, it's like this. I mean, maybe like 10%, like, oh gosh, everything okay? You know, like, but 90% very, very, very calming. It's giving a little bit of like Britney Spears on Instagram. Like, are someone forcing you to do this?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. But it's so good. Anyways, when I see her eat the cone and, like, there's honey, you're like, oh, that looks great. So if that's what's in my drink, I'm happy. Does she know that you can just, like, buy honeycomb? Like, you don't have to go to those legs. No, but she rescues the bees out of situations

and puts them somewhere else. Were they in dangerous way? Yeah, in people's homes or like in a barn or something, but there's like... So if I have a bees nest in my house, she will come over and save the bees and save me. Yeah, I think she lives in Texas. But yes, it's a great account to follow. It's another good day. Didn't know I needed this content.

And she finds the queen in like two seconds every time. It feels difficult. Is the queen the biggest? Yeah, sort of. But I mean, like, not really. And she's like, I spotted the queen. And you're like, how did you spot the queen? Wow, I'm fascinated by this.

Truly intrigued. I'm going to send you a video because it's so fun to watch. Thank you. All right. Gosh, I mean, 9 out of 10. I'm not a big frozen drink because you see what's happening right now. It's all melted now. It gets a little bit melted.

So I'm going 9 out of 10. Because everything else was great about it. Yeah, I'm going 9 out of 10 as well. I could use a little more lime, a little more sour. Yep. Do you want more sour watermelon? Sour watermelon. It's all that salt.

It just hit all at once. I love a salt. That's great. All right, thank you for this wonderful drink. Get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend. You can always make a mocktail version and omit the liquor if you want to do that.

Still be a great drink. All right, now it's time for Guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a guilty-est-charge question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George. Have you ever been second-hand embarrassed

because of something your parents did or said? Oh, my goodness. Oh, man. Where do you start? Where do you start? I mean, this is definitely my dad. I don't think my mom has ever said something that has embarrassed me secondhand. Yeah, no.

It would be my dad. I think Dave can't hear. Did you know this? He has like the hearing of an 83-year-old. Like, he got tested. Yes, because of, let's make clear, because of 30-something years of doing radio and blasted speakers and stages and feedback. So he's had hearing aids for probably the last decade, I'd say.

It's been a while. but still if he gets in a bad echoy room or a restaurant that's really loud like if he's in a situation and sometimes not sometimes just in the kitchen you know over there you know you have to like really it's one of your specifically that's worse

you really got to like shout like like dad you know you know but sometimes like he's out in public and like a waiter is like asking a question and he's like I'm like dad dad he's like huh huh oh my god

people will just talk to you know what I mean and like he doesn't hear And they think like he's being rude or something. I don't know. I mean, it looks rude. Yeah, because either he's not responding or he's barking and yelling at them. Yeah, what? That's amazing.

So, yeah, I'd say that sometimes. That's a good one. Yeah. Mine is a Max Camel, a famous car negotiator. Oh. But you do not want to be at the dealership when he's negotiating a car. Because it is that embarrassing and cringe-worthy as he tries to secure the deal. And so I have had to leave.

with my mother. Because you get just so embarrassed. It's just too tough to watch. Okay. Is it because he gets the deal? I mean, the man, if you need a car, go with Max. That's where I get it from. Is his negotiating skills? I'm probably just as cringeworthy. Yeah. But I'm just younger and hipper. So I guess it comes off a different way than my show. My Middle Eastern dad with a little accent, like, hey man. You know, it's how he sounds. It's how he sounds. Oh my gosh. But yeah, anytime I'm with him, if he's interacting with other people. So I was haggling for a deal. Yeah. Or just the small talk can be awkward. Oh, really?

Yeah. Do I'm like, sorry, that's just how he is? We love him. Because, you know, he's always making jokes, but if you're a comedian, eight out of ten jokes don't land. You're aiming for those two that do. Yeah, and sometimes they miss. Sometimes it falls flat on the audience. Oh, man. I love it. I love it.

That's parents for you. Yeah. Well, if you guys have a guilty-starch question, make sure to DMS at Rachel Cruz and at George Camel, we always love to hear what you have to say. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to leave a review. But all of this is just the tip of the iceberg because there's a lot of other flags out there, beige flags, if you will. So check out our episode, How to Spot Bage Flags in Money and Relationship. That's coming up next.

And we'll put a link down below. So we'll see you guys next Thursday on an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.