Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Unique Money Traditions You Won’t Find in the US

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

You’ve heard of pin the tail on the donkey, but are you familiar with pin the dollar on the bride? Join Rachel and George on a journey to learn about money traditions around the world––from the West African sou-sou to an unexpected German spending obsession that not even the pandemic could shake!   In This Episode: ·      Communal savings, questionable British accents, and “the dollar dance” ·      The global money custom that George’s ancestors may have invented ·      The OG GoFundMe and other heartwarming ways different cultures give back   Helpful Resources:   ·      Get your finances organized, make a plan, build up your confidence, and kick money stress out of your life for good with the EveryDollar budgeting app. Click here to get started today! ·      Be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card when you take our listener survey! Click here to let us know what you think.  ·      Do you have a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George? Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it.       Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy     This Week’s Happy Hour Special: Sazerac   Ingredients: ·      1/2 ounce absinthe ·      1 sugar cube ·      1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey ·      1/2 ounce Peychaud’s bitters ·      1/2 ounce Angostura bitters ·      1 1/2 ounces cognac ·      1 lemon peel   Pour a small amount of absinthe in a chilled glass, swirl it around to coat the glass, discard the remaining liquid, then set aside the glass. In a cocktail mixer, muddle the sugar cube with Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters. Add rye and cognac to the cocktail mixer with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into the prepared glass, twist the lemon peel over drink’s surface to release the oils, garnish with the lemon peel and enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Camel. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Delicious George. Delectable. Well, this is the show. We're two friends who happen to be money experts. Talk about what you're talking about.

Things going on in the world, pop culture, and of course, money. Hey, can I just say, Rachel, our audience is wide-ranging from six-year-olds to many, many boomers who reached out to let us know they listen. Because one of our past episodes, I was like, yeah, so if a boomer's listening, they don't know what an influencer is, George, you're like, boomer. boomers are listening. They are. I know. And then we got a few six and seven-year-old fans out there. So our target demo, alive. That's who we're going after. If you're breathing, if you're breathing, this show is for you. That's right. So today, George, we're going to be talking about money around the world. It's so interesting. This is, you know, all about how people save and spend and give in certain countries from money celebrations to superstitions, which were all a little stitious,

as Michael Scott would say. Yeah, so lots of, yeah, cultures do different traditions and all that. So we're going to dive into it, which I'm excited about. And today we are sipping on a what? A Sazirac, another very culture drink born out of New Orleans and the French-inspired culture. It's delicious. So we're going to give you our rating on that, the recipe, and the cost per glass at the end of the episode. Stick around.

That's right. So, George, shall we dive in? Should we get in a plane? We're flying. We're flying around the world. fly around the world. A hot air balloon. That's the way to travel.

It feels like Amelia Earhart-esque. It makes me a little nervous. Which is your daughter's name. It is, and she's on a project. Amelia Airdhart Cruz. I think it's a beautiful name. So as hosts of the Ramsey show, we know that obviously people handle money very differently,

and sometimes their culture or traditions come into play of how they handle money today. Sometimes they're mad at us, Rachel, because they go, well, in my culture, and I'm sorry, we're here. I mean, we only know this one, culture. So I don't know. I can't speak to everyone's culture. We can't. Don't at me. We're not that smart. We're not that smart. So again, this conversation is going to scratch the surface. There's a lot of money traditions. A lot of ways people celebrate with money around the world. So we want to hear

from you though, because I think it's fun. You know, we have listeners from all over the world, George. So DMS, let us know what your money tradition is because we do want to know. You can drop it in the YouTube comments as well if you're watching over there because we're on video now. There's 17 cameras in this room. It's very excited. Okay, George, so you're probably the most cultured out of all of us. Thank you. Out of the two of us. Mine is like, I've been here for centuries, the line.

East Tennessee is its own culture. I know. That is probably very true. You got a lot. But do you have traditions from the, because your parents, again, remind people where your parents are from. So my dad was born in Egypt. My mom was born in Syria. And I actually, just before we were recorded, I was like, mom, dad, are there any, like, weird traditions?

They were largely unhelpful. But chat GPT was super. helpful. That's all your culture. I went to chat GPT and I was like, what are some of the most interesting money traditions from the Egyptian and Syrian culture? Please share. George, this is like coming right from you.

You're like one generation removed. Are you so excited right now? And I sent it to my parents and they said, oh my goodness, this is amazing. All of these are true. And so here's just some interesting ones. Egypt basically invented the tip. It's called Bashish. And so no matter who in your life provides any kind of service, you tip them, even like a

teacher. It's customary to give them a tip. I would, I would, we should be tipping teachers more. So it's not mandatory, but it's considered a kind gesture, and you'll probably get, you know, a rude look if you don't. Another one that's interesting is, you're going to love this. Ancient Egypt, it was customary for pharaohs to have their faces stamped on gold coins as a way to ensure their likeness would be seen and remembered for generations to come.

That's good branding. Yeah, but I feel like that held true. I don't know where it started, right? But majority of cultures, I mean, here in America, president's faces on coins and dollar bills. Do you look at the Romans, right? Caesar was on that. Absolutely. I don't know where it started.

I'm going to go with Egypt. Did it start Egypt? I mean, Middle East gave you guys the number system, the alphabet, hummus. So much to be grateful for. You're welcome. You never thank you for any of those. So let's look at different topics of money and how it impacts different cultures around the world. So let's look at savings because a lot of cultures participate in group savings.

So in the Western world, we're very, we're an individual culture in the Western world, right? You save up every man for himself. For your family, and that's it. I mean, even, yeah, we'll give some to our kids, but sometimes it's like, not until a certain age, or once you're a certain age, you should be on your own. You know, obviously, like health care, people can be on their parents still like 26. But even in America, it's not a custom. It's not a tradition.

It's not in us to, like, even take care of our parents financially, right? Oh, yeah. So, like, you know the old saying. It's very individual. It's like your 401k. It's your savings. I mean, we are a very like... You're responsible for you.

Yes. That's a very Western mindset. And that's how we live. And that's kind of how we teach even with the baby steps. It's like, yeah, take care of your household. Well, in the Western culture, you know, we haven't done a great job handling money. And so when you rely on your parents who are broke, that's a bad plan. And when the parents now have to rely on their children because they did a bad job handling money, that's a bad plan.

No. That's a bad plan. Do you think the Western world is worse at handling money than other parts of the world? I wouldn't throw like America under the bus, but I do think we we love debt more than any other culture in the world. Like we have made it this a good thing and it's a ticket to wealth for a lot of people. And I think that's what's caused us to get to this point. And how much of it do you think is like our expectation of how we're supposed to live, right? Like in America, I'm like it's just, it's there.

What's the land of opportunity? The American dream. Right, right. So it's like embedded. Sometimes you have to take out alone to get the dream. Seriously. And I'm like, and it's just, that's what you do. You know the old saying it takes a village.

That's how most of the world still operates. Yes, that's right. You take care of each other. The parents move back in with the kids, and this also bleeds into savings. So let's talk about how the savings structure works. Yes. So in other cultures, for example, in West Africa and the Caribbean, groups save it using an informal rotating savings club called a sousu. Oh, that's fun.

Is that right, sous? So here's how it works. A group of people get together and contribute an equal amount of money into a fund, and they set intervals. So it's like monthly or weekly. Like $100 a month. We're all going to throw money into this pocket. That's right. Yep.

So the total pool is called The Hand. And it's paid out to one of the members of the club on a previously agreed upon schedule. And the pool rotates until all the members receive their share. What? This doesn't make sense. It doesn't. So do you just get your money back? Like, are you making money off of this?

Or is just a forced savings plan? That's what it sounds like. It's sounding like a forced savings plan. So if you put in a thousand bucks total, eventually you'll get your thousand bucks back. No, how about this? If I put $1,000 in and everyone else puts in $1,000, but I need $8,000, and there's like 20 people that are doing it, I take the $8,000. That's the question. Is it all equally given?

And everyone, I'm sure, take it. Oh, yeah. Shoot. It feels very, like equitable. We need to go to Latin America and have them explain this to us. Because there's a good thing. There's a level of accountability. That's a pro to, like, oh, I have to put in this amount of money because I have agreed upon it.

That's the fourth savings plan side. Yeah, which is like, because some people are like, oh, I just can't save, and it's just so hard. This is like no. It's part of your culture. Yeah, like this is what you're doing. You have to do it. So there's a pro to that, right? Well, the cons are, there's kind of a mutual trust.

There's no government regulation here. You're just hoping that everyone is cool about it and doesn't take more than their share. And so there's a lot of trust that has to be built. Yes. Next celebrations. Yes. So there's a lot of... So much to celebrate.

So much to celebrate year. But yeah, cultures use this a lot, right? So whether it's weddings or anniversaries or birthdays, money plays a huge role in celebrations. And it does here in America too, right? People pay insane amount of money for their kids' birthday parties or for weddings or fill in the blank. But spending money on celebrations is true really anywhere around the world. Yeah. Well, gifts for holidays in general is a big deal.

But weddings is where the money gets dropped. And so let's talk about weddings around the world. There's something that is called the Dollar Dance, which is very popular in Poland, Hungary, Nigeria, Philippines, Mexico, and of course, the Midwest. What? Which is also known as America's tiny Europe, apparently. Who knew they were so culture? They are cultured. They've got Tater-taught hot dish and the Dollar Dance.

They have it all. They have cheese and dollar dances. So this is also known as the Money or Apron Dance. Can you tell us how the dollar dance works? This is very interesting. So money is tossed, handed or pinned on to the couple while different guests take turns dancing with the newlyweds. The Filipino prosperity dance. So male guests line up in front of the bride and pin money to her dress.

Women pin money to the groom. This is a lot of close contact for me. We're all very sweaty. It's been a long day. I think we all need to keep some distance. Okay, here's the question. I think this is where they got it right. Because we register for gifts in America, which is helpful.

But when you register, I know when we went and we got married young. And so it's like you get this like little, this little scanner gun at Bedbath and Beyond. And I just went and went crazy. You get the tea towels? With the stupidest stuff I could ever imagine. But I was like, why not? You know, you feel like you're on supermarket sweep or something. You're just like, I'm just grabbing stuff.

I think Winston would not be into this. He just, I don't know. I don't even know if he went. I don't even know if he went. I think you were by yourself. But like, you think back on it, I'm like, actual money may have been more valuable to use. Now, granted, I guess you could have just spent it and been flip it with money. Well, that's another Middle Eastern tradition.

I found out for my parents, they don't do gifts. It's cash. It's all cash. For weddings, which I love that. Let's take that to America. That's what I'm saying. I kind of feel like that might be, right? Because when you have money and then you go to bedbath and beyond, you're thinking, like, do I really need the $300 skillet or can I do the $60?

like you're sitting there like It goes back to consumerism. We love stuff. We want stuff. And when you give someone money, it's like, oh, I feel we should get them something off the registry. You know, that people have that feeling. I think I'm going to start giving money, George.

I'm a huge fan of money. And the Greeks, this is a big one, the old money dance. They love a good dance. Same idea. The cash is pinned to the bride only. Italian brides carry La Borza.

Mattel. It's a small satin bag used to hold money. Which I think we should bring that back. I love a satin bag used to hold money. Very classy. Little coins in there. Yeah. I think it's good. Yep. Um, okay, so with that, the guests place envelopes full of money into the bag to help cover the cost of the wedding and the honeymoon. And sometimes the bride wears it while dancing at the reception. And men who want to dance with her can pay for that privilege. I do love the idea of the, you have to pay for the privilege to dance with the bride.

It's kind of nice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to start charging with. Whitney for my impromptu dance moves at home. But I do think cash gifts are the way to go. That's just my hot take. Okay, so in Japan, I'm going to have you take this one. Okay. I am not great at phonics. So pronouncing these is going to be tough for me.

Couples in Japan receive... Gosuji? Gosuji. Gosuji. I think it's a ghee. Gosugi. Yeah. Gosugi on their wedding day, which is just gift money.

This is the contribution of every guest to the wedding itself and the couple's new life. So again, it's kind of like you're helping pay for the wedding because obviously it costs a lot of money and a little bit to get them started on the newlywed journey. So I love that. So they bring in a special envelope and they bring it to the receptionist. Which is the Gosugi Bukuro. Oh, thank you. You take it. Take it.

I just wanted to say it. It was a fun word. And you did good, Bukaro. Thank you. That was good. That was good. And the bills must be new and crisp. Now that I love.

Me too. Isn't that nice? There's something just so. elegant about a crisp fresh boat. I agree, George. Hot off the press. I agree. So the amount is determined by your relationship with the couple, and I kind of like this, too. Okay. It's kind of nice. So if you're a friend or a coworker, it's $30,000, which is $250.

Okay. A boss or an employer, so if you're like the boss, then it's $50,000 or $370. Wow. And close family, up to $100,000, which is $741 right now. So that's expensive. That feels like a lot. So with this, though, whatever the amount is, it should not be a number that can be easily split into two clean halves.

What? Hence, like 30,000 is standard. Okay. Because it starts with an odd number. Sure. So the starting gift with an even number is considered poor symbolism for marriage. Weird. Because it's easily split.

Okay. So four and nine are very unlucky numbers. in Japan. So you would never give 40,000 yen or 90,000 yen. I appreciate that. I wish I had stuff like this in my life.

Very specific directions that you're like, that feels good. We won't do, there's no 13th floor on the elevator. That is true. Yeah, that is true. Which feels like a very weird, superstitious thing.

We all just adopted and we're like, yeah, yeah, that's normal. Everyone knows that. That's what happens. I guess so, yeah. Wow. Now there's also generosity. And, you know, you can't take money

with you when you leave here. No. And so being generous is a big part of your financial plan. We talk about this at Ramsey a lot, regardless of where you are financially giving should be a part of your financial plan. Again, whether it's a little or a lot, be generous. So there's a lot of generosity traditions around the world. Yeah. Kenya has one. They have one called Harambe, and the word means all pulled together in a language called Kiwasele.

Kiwasele. Yep. You did better. Kiswah. Kiswahili. Kiswahili. Kiswahili. Oh, it's like Swahili with Kee in front of it.

We got this. What are we doing? Kiswahili, which is Kenya's national language. Fun fact, Rachel. So this phrase is even in their national motto. And it's less about regular savings like we talked about earlier and more about fundraising for specific needs. So Harambe is like the OG GoFundMe.

Yes. Which I like. I can get behind that. Yeah. So it's just for like a big life of. event like a wedding, education opportunity, serious illness, a relative's funeral. So if someone needs financial help, then they will contact an elder and their family or tribal leader.

And then this leader will call a meeting of all the elders and see if the issue is deemed significant enough to warrant the strength of the community. They will organize a harambe. I like this. You know what, I like this too, because sometimes you see the GoFundMe and it's like, go fund my trip to Europe. You're like, sorry. Or like, go fund me, just like pay off my deck because I overspent and do it.

I know. And then you have the GoFundMe of like, yeah, like someone's hot. The house burnt down. There's a medical issue. Or a husband is in the, yeah, is in the hospital with a, you know, a cancer diagnosis to like help the family out. Like there's actually legitimate for me. Well, this honestly reminds me of what the church should be and what some churches do well. That's right. Which is support their community in times of need. So I'm all about this. And this doesn't have to be like a huge donation, you know, every little bit counts. And there's an incredible pay-it-forward practice in Turkey called Eskida-Achmik. Yes.

So this is an interesting one. So it means suspended bread or bread on a hook. So here's how it works. You go to a bakery, pay for two loaves of bread, but only take one. And you tell the person who takes the money that the one loaf is... Eskida-A-Mach. Thank you. So your tradition is then...

I knew you're waiting on me for the pronunciation. Bagged and hung together with other... Eschida ecmec. Loaves. So that when people come through the day and they ask, is there any bread on the hook? And they can take the loaf for free. I love that. We should start doing that.

It is. That's like when you're in the drive-thru and someone pays. It's like to pay it forward thing. How many bakeries do you go to George and ask for a loaf of bread? The American way is the drive-thru now. Yeah, but at the drive-thru, I don't know if the person behind me is even on the struggle bus. You know? Sure, they got eight kids in the minivan all ordering frappuccinos, but they're doing just fine. I like the bread maneuver because then it's someone who actually needs the bread, shows up and goes, hey, I can't afford the bread. Can I have the bread on the hook?

Bread on the hook? Yes. That's why I see it differently. But in the generosity spirit, as Christians, that is like, that is part of our spiritual walk is being generous. So the tie that's part of that. Yes. 10% to your local church. But I think it's, you know, it's more beyond that, too. I think it's the way you live your life. Is it more of a selfless life that you give and you serve and you're helping people around you? Or that selfish perspective. So there's kind of that biblical tradition at the tithe. But I think it goes beyond that too. I think people have that generosity spirit.

Yeah. Regardless of your faith, I think opening your hand and giving. When you get back to these cultures where it's just like you support your local community and you know the needs of the community? At this point, we don't know anything because we just see what's on social media. That's right. So very rarely do we even know who's struggling unless we're reaching out to organizations who are actively in the community.

Yep, so that generosity. It's a part of, again, it needs to be a part of your financial journey regardless of where you are. Now for the fun part. The superstition. Are you superstitious? I feel like you, if you lean conspiracy theory, you lean superstitious. Nope, two different categories to me. Wow.

Two different categories, like step on a crack. Like, what are supersatist? Like, step on a crack, you break your mom's. You love that one. That's the first one that came to mind. Walking underneath the ladder, is that one? No, yeah, that's what I do that. Opening an umbrella indoors.

Do that. I don't, yeah, see, that stuff doesn't like. That stuff is just like, it's dumb. I don't think it's like superstitious. Just, why are you doing that? Wouldn't do that. Quit doing that. Wouldn't do that.

But there's a lot of superstitions and cultures around the world. So one from the UK is the Christmas expense. I was really hoping for an English accent on that one. Oh, shoot. Just try it. You have a good English accent. We know this from the royalty episode. Spotted tea. Christmas

Sixthens. I can't do it. Yes, you can. I feel good about this. You have to walk into it with the old Spotted Tea trick. Yeah, the spotter tea. Hello. Hello. Christmas. Christmas.

Christmas expense. No, that wasn't good. It might won't be good either. Oh, that's a hard one. That actually is a hard one. You try Lindsay. This is going to go so bad. Okay. Hold on.

I got to think about how you pronounce this. Christmas. Christmas. What was that? I wish it was so bad an accent and I keep hoping on the spot. Oh, I'm really uncomfortable now. Lindsay, I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to do that. It's okay. I just forgot how anyone to expect someone else. I don't hear about myself. Christmas. I can't do it. Go, George.

Maybe it's like a Benedict Cumberbatch vibe. It's a little more elegant, you know? Christmas six pence. How do you say it again? Just let it roll. Don't put too much effort in. The Christmas expense. Christmas expense.

What is this for us you're doing with the Christmas sixpence? I'm done. I'm so sorry. I tried. Wow. Out of all the cultures I thought we would offend today, UK was not on my list. The English name is not on my list. They hate us so much.

Oh, my goodness. But don't you wish you talked like them, though? Oh, yeah. Man. Well, here's what this is. This is, a sixpence is a former British monetary unit equal to six pennies. Makes sense? Six pence, six pennies.

You track him? I got you. Okay, here's how it works. On the Sunday before Advent, families gather in the kitchen to help make the Christmas pudding. Christmas pudding. Pudding. Pudding. And a silver sixpence is placed into the pudding mix.

Not okay. And every member of the household gives the mix a stir. And whoever finds the six pence in their own piece of the pudding on Christmas Day sees it as a sign that they would enjoy wealth and good luck that year. But having a piece of dirty metal in your pudding, I'm not eating that. George, get over yourself. Wow. And be a UK fan, please.

All right, fine. You can have your nickels and pudding or whatever. Okay, so there's another superstition from Greece originally. Now other places, and it's the never empty wallet. So the idea here is that money attracts money. So you never want your wallet or your purse completely empty. Oh. And if you give one as a gift,

then you want to make sure to stash a little something in there, even a dollar. So if you give like a purse or a wallet as a gift, you got to stash some money in there. Okay, this one isn't necessarily a superstition, but it comes from a place of suspicion. Now that is a rhyme. There you go. Germans, let's talk about the Germans. They still insist on using cash for almost all of their transactions. Man.

Dave Ramsey would be a fan of that. Especially 90s, Dave. Yep, cash is king. And so, yeah, there are, um, a little bit apprehensive to some money, like the abstract forms of it. So like stocks, shares, credit, all that. Because, again, they want the actual cash.

They want to see it and touch it. Yep. Okay. And historians attribute this cultural phenomenon to two things. Stasi. So the state of service in East Germany's communist government from 1950 to 1990.

And the... Gestapo. Gestapo. Which is the Nazi police force. Yep. Okay. So they're wondering. It's like the surveillance. idea, right? This is kind of a conspiracy. No, I could get on board with this. Like, who's watching

my money? Who's watching our money, George? If I have it all physically, I know exactly where it is. Exactly. You know what? I could go there. I could go all cash. Rachel, could go there. Because it's true. Who's looking? Who's seeing? Are they on your side? Are they not? We don't know. And Rachel, Germans have, they have a lot of history with kind of losing money and being scared of this. The panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that saw small investors in Germany lose everything. And even during the pandemic, 75% of their transactions were still cash. That's amazing. That's amazing.

Almost 8 out of 10. Yeah. That's crazy. In August of 2020, NPR published an interview of the woman who is local in Berlin named Valerie. They asked her about her cash use despite the pandemic. And she said, when I use a card, I have the feeling I've got an unlimited supply of money. And that's not the case.

With cash, it's easier to see you've overspent because it's gone. Is she a ram? Does she do the Ramsey plan? We should send her something. Maybe Financial Peace University. Maybe your book? I know. This is it, though, for real.

When you spend with cash, there's something that happens, when you let it go, and you know it's gone. Well, we've been conditioned. We don't want to feel any pain. We want all the convenience. But part of winning with money is forcing yourself to feel some pain and having that delayed gratification and pushing back against all this consumerism. Okay, I just, someone sent me an email their kid got from the Scholastic Book Fair. And it said, cash is king, question mark, not at the book fair. E-wallet is the way to pay at this year's Scholastic Book Fair.

No way. So everything is going away from cash. And I think obviously it's going to cause a lot of overspending because there's no actual thing you're giving away. Right, right. You don't feel the pain of it. When you've saved up your little pennies and your little dollars to get that book and you have to give them that cash, you feel it.

There are times raising kids today that I'm like, okay. Because I watched my parents struggle. Like they came out of bankruptcy. We shopped at garage sales. It was like, I mean, yeah, you just, like, I just have early memories. And into like middle school. And, like, it just was, yeah, we were told no all the time because mom of dad didn't did not have the money.

So part of the Ramsey Plan is changing your family treat, right? You're getting out of debt. You're saving up so that your kids don't have to make the mistakes you made. Like, we really want to teach this upon our kids. So I do think about my kids as the second generation, right? Or the third. And they're growing up in a world where Winston and I financially are doing great. Like, we're fine.

You know, we didn't go through bankruptcy when they were kids. They haven't even witnessed struggle. That's right. So where can we put the struggle in? The Book Fair. Oh. I refuse to let Amelia buy books at the book fair because I was never allowed to buy books at the book fair because we didn't have the money. And I don't let her buy books at the book fair.

What's her reaction to this? Oh, she hates it because everyone gets to go and buy books. I'm like, they are overpriced. True. And we can buy books anywhere else and we can check books out of the lot. Like, we can figure out a way. But you need to know that these overpriced books at this book fair, we're not just spending my – I'm not just giving you a $20 bill.

Now, I know books are important, and she loves books, and we buy books off family. I'm sure she has plenty of books. She's fine. That's not an issue. No, but it's the idea of like... It's the FOMO. Yes. Did you buy stuff at the book fair?

Oh, yeah. Your parents did. I don't remember how. I think we're on an allowance structure. You know, immigrant parents, they want better for their kids, I guess. So they gave me 20 bucks to go, you know. I know. I struggle with the book fair.

So anyways. Wow. I digress. Wow. George, there's been a lot. There's been a lot. We've been around the world. And I feel like this is free therapy for you.

And you're welcome. Thank you. She's really just being vulnerable. Thank you for that. You're a great mom. Thank you. You know, you got to put the struggle in somewhere. That's right.

There is a lot of entitlement that we have to rally against with kids. Yes, you got to push against it. Love that. All right, George, I think it's almost the end of the episode, and we like to close on every episode with Guilty As Charged. This is where our producer gives us a new Guilty is charged question every week. and if we are guilty, we have to take a sip.

Marjorie asked, have you ever bought an MLM product? Did someone ever try to make you sign up to get rich? Oh, man. I feel like you've probably been pitched. Do you ever been one of those Tupperware parties? Not a Tupperware party. But I've never done it. You never fallen for it?

No one's even ever asked you. Did you ever sniff it out? And you went, not interested. There's probably been a few times that it was like, hey, there's this thing. Yeah, if you want to get it. I've been to a few with the parties. And then I feel like they always pitched you at the parties. Have you ever bought a product that is technically an MLM product?

Like Goetra essential oil station. Yeah, I don't. It's not my go-to, but I have twice because friends were doing it. And apparently I wanted to support them. So one of them was like a jewelry-faced one. And I was like, that's good. actually liked the jewelry. I was like, I'll buy that. Um, there was one party. And again, I don't want to be too specific. I don't know who listens to this podcast. Be as specific as you can be.

I know. I went, I went to one party and didn't know it. We'll leap out the names. I didn't know it was an MLM party. And we went through the night and I don't even want to say the thing because I don't want to make the person feel bad. But it was being served and all this and it was great. And then at the end, they start pitching it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is an MLM party. Was it? Wine? Mm-hmm. Oh, interesting. Didn't know.

But it was a wine MLM. Yeah. But I thought I was just going to a wine tasting that a friend was hosting. I mean, out of all the MLMs, I can get behind that one. But I didn't know. I didn't know what it was one, which felt a little sneaky. It is sneaky. It's all sneaky.

Agreed. So I have been pitched, because I feel like, again, at these parts, they do pitch you to buy, maybe even. But I just, I didn't grow up in a household where mom and dad did that. Like, I didn't grow up in an MLM household. Yeah. So I don't feel this like attraction to it personally of like a way to make money because it's like, yeah, I just never grew. I never have thought about it. So how about you, George?

Yeah, I've fallen for the pitch. You did. Tell me the story. And I went to the pitch meeting. You did. This guy walked up to me at the mall. No, you didn't even know him? No.

I was in Macy's on my lunch break, as one does. You know? And so I'm in the mall and this guy just goes. Hey man, like that shirt. And I go, oh, thanks. That's it. He walks away. Not two minutes later.

He somehow sees me again. And he goes, hey, you seem like a sharp guy. Are you like, do you work around here? Like, what do you do for work? I was like, oh, I'm in marketing. And he goes, that's amazing. My friend just started a business. And he's looking for some marketing help.

Do you do any freelance work? I was like, yeah. I love a good side hustle. Oh, no, George, he's rubbing you in. And so he was like, hey, all right, cool. Let me get your contact. Was he, like, at a kiosk, or was he just floating around the mall? Just a random guy at the mall.

Okay, so some random guy. Now it's like getting with sketchier. I try to, you know, give people the benefit of the doubt. That he's just a normal guy. Just. Yeah. So, I meet him at a Starbucks. I think my love song collection.

I think this is worse than the love song collection, but keep going. I meet this guy at Starbucks. And he's got this. No, you made him offsite? Yeah. So we meet, like, days later. I'm like, great, we're going to meet. We're going to talk about the business.

It changed numbers. Yeah. Oh, my God. We meet at Starbucks. He's got a tiny iPad, and he spins it around, and it says, Amway. And immediately my heart sank, and I was like, oh, I just fell for an MLM pitch. Like, I felt so dumb. And I'm too nice.

So I'm letting this guy go through his little presentation. He's got a little goody bag that has assorted, like, this is, like, generic brand Gatorade, and here's, like, a cleaning product. And so I'm such a terrible person. I text him the next day and said, I want no part in this. Please don't contact me anymore. And you can pick up your bag from the front desk at Ramsey from the receptionist. I couldn't even see his face again.

Because you are so distraught. George, number one, a stranger comes up to you. Yeah. I thought this was going to be a friend. No. A stranger. And then you give him your number, George. And then you meet him at a Starbucks.

How old were you? Oh, I was, you know, in my 20s. How would you do today? If a guy came up to him was like, hey, nice show. There's the crazy part. I was in Target. A few months later, this guy walks up to me, does the same speed. He goes, like your glasses.

I go, oh, thank you very much. He comes back, not minutes later and says, hey, what do you do around here? I was like, oh, I'm in a market. He's like, oh, we're at. I was like, oh, Ramsey. And he's like, I go to church with Dave Ramsey. I just saw his grandson get baptized last Sunday. I went, okay, there's a connection there.

Right? Sort of. But that's a legitimate, like, okay, he's trying to make a connection. And he goes, oh, you're in marketing. Do you do any, like, work on the side? And he's like, I've got a business thing. And I went, oh, and so my spidey senses go off this time. 100%.

And he goes, yeah, it's a Fortune 500 company. I went, okay, still don't trust this guy. And I was like, what's the name? I kept egging him on to get the name. I went, okay, well, thanks for the, thanks for the info. Immediately looked it up, and it was an MLM. And I know many of our listeners are, like, they do have. I know, I know, I know. And I've spoken to MLM conferences. They're great. The energy's amazing.

They're all very positive and fun. What a time to be alive. So good. All right, George. I finished my drink. Yeah, you did. Clearly, you loved it. Oh, that was great. A 10 out of 10, Michael. 10 out of 10. A rare 10 out of 10 from Rachel Cruz. I gave the Cosmo a 10 out of 10 too in this one. Yep. I think it was great. I'm going 10 out of 10 as well. A Sazirac is a winner. If you do it this way, here's the cost breakdown. 82 cents because the absinth is in there, and that's very costly. So it's got absinth, sugar cube, rye, peychoid bitters, Angostora bitters, cognac, and lemon peel. And it all just comes together in this perfect medley and harmony, Rachel. It's so beautiful. So you can find

the recipe in the show notes and just give it a try this weekend. And let us know what you think. And if you have any other recipe ideas, you feel free to DM us. I've loved all the ones that people have sent us so far. It's been great. All right, George, it's closing time. That's right. So if you liked this episode, please share it. It's one of the best ways to get the word out about anything in life, right? We are so overly saturated with information and content. There's just so much out there. So when you can kind of just push through the noise and tell your friends, hey, listen to this.

Hopefully they'll give them a laugh, some information and inspiration. And I love reading the reviews. So keep leaving those reviews and people are saying, hey, I needed this levity in my day. Life is heavy. Life is hard. It's fun to just laugh and goof off. And they say they always learn something new. That's our hope, George. That's what we wanted.

We started this podcast. I learned something new. And I, me too. You guys, make sure to join us next Thursday on a new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.