Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - We Settle Your Heated Money Arguments

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

💸 Uncover extra cash in your budget with the Money Finder Challenge. https://ter.li/sxaau7   Ever have a major disagreement about money with the people closest to you? Today, we’re checking our voice mail and sharing hot takes on your friends and family.   Next Steps: 🎥 Watch our video Settling the Debate on Your Financial Faux Pas (We’re Divided). 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Leave us a voicemail with your question at 877-306-1517 or send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it.  💵 Create a budget and track expenses with EveryDollar.   Connect With Our Sponsors: Check out the FAIRWINDS credit union exclusive account bundle. Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Get up to 40% off with code SMARTMONEY at Cozy Earth.   Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Army & Navy Recipe: Liquour.com   2 ounces London dry gin 1 ounce lemon juice 3/4 ounce orgeat 1 dash Angostura bitters Grapefruit twist   Instructions: Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into chilled coupe glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist.     Explore More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights  🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We love a little healthy conflict around here, and today our listeners are leading the charge. So let's check the old voicemail box and settle your financial debates. Our dishwasher broke. We've got two healthy boys that can wash dishes. But my husband's like, no, we need to pay the $250. Rachel definitely knows her stuff, so you're in good hands there. Hey, would you ever want to co-host Smart Money Happy Hour with me? I am so creeped out. 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 happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about, everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And before we get to the content you all showed up for, let's talk about what we're sipping on. It is the Army and Navy. One of my personal favorites. This is your first time imbibing? It is.

I've never even heard of this cocktail, but it's delicious. Really good. And we're going to give you our rating and reveal the cost per glass at the end of the episode. So stick around for that if you want the Dietz. The deets around it. You know, Army and Navy, it's a great name. It's kind of like, we're going to. Is there a debate there?

I don't know. Is there beef? I don't know. The Army versus the Navy? I don't know. In my head, they're all the military. I feel like they're all fighting. Yeah, but you got like Air Force.

You got water, land, and air. Yes, yes, correct. So I think there's beef there. Do you think like healthy competition? The water people think they're better than the land people. Do the land people? The air people think they're better than both. and the water and land people think the air people are not as cool.

Well, number one, let us know in the comments if you come from like a military background. This is real. We don't know. But just off the cuff. I think it's friendly beef. Off the cuff, I'm going to say water is probably the hardest. Could you imagine treading water or being in a submarine under the water? No, thank you.

Like, that's hard. Well, I already get seasick. And then high up is the next intense. Oh, wow. Heights. You got planes and flying. And then lands. I don't know.

We're all living on land. Rachel's like, I'm basically doing that. I would never be able to survive even one day in boot camp. You can't pass the presidential fitness test, let alone make it into the military. On any, pass like what? Oh, no. It's, yeah. But anyways, well.

God bless all who serves. The drink is good. The drink is good. That's right. All right. So sometimes people are shocked by how comfortable Ramsey is with conflict. Whether it's Rachel and Dave disagreeing about something on the Ramsey show, or maybe giving tough love to a caller with a money problem.

Yes, I know. We kind of like the conflict and we like the debate. And those are some of the best calls. We don't get them a lot on the Ramsey show, but every now and then we'll get two people that call in about an issue. We get to settle the debate and we love it. So we actually reached out on our social media and asked you guys and gave them the phone number and said, hey, call this number.

And if both parties will participate, leave a voicemail about a situation that you guys cannot solve. And George and I, Landwater and Sky, will definitely break the tie. Let's get to it, George. Let me get my little headphone in here. Yeah, the voicemails are fun. We love hearing from you all. And we'll post the number here, right here. Oh, look at that.

If you want a call. Leave us a voicemail. Make it kind. Because we sometimes will do episodes around people's questions and all of it. And you never know. Even your comments. All right, fire it up. All right, let's hear the first one.

Hey, this is Nathan and Abigail. We have four kids, and we are on baby step number four with no margin in our budget. Back in March, our minivan broke down, and my grandparents generously gifted us a 2004-U-T stuff in just fantastic condition, and I don't see any reason why we should get rid of it. Nathan, however, is not the one that has to climb over feet to help buckle and unbuckle small kids and go grocery shopping in a vehicle with no trunk. So I would love to sell it and use that money to receive the benefits of a minivan in our family or another car that would better suit the needs of our family. Thanks.

Oh, man, I have my knee-jerk opinion. Wow, I love when she swooped. This is what I always wish on the Ramsey show is that the other person swoops in to go, well, what he's not telling you is really colors the story. It does. It fills in some gaps. It gives you both sides of it. worried me is they said they're in babysat four, which means they have no consumer debt, they have a fully funded emergency fund, and yet they said they had no margin. So there's no

money left over. I assume they're investing 15% of their income, but beyond that, there's zero dollars to throw at a new car fund. Right. But she said they can sell the current car and just use that money to get another one. But would a 2004 Yukon sell for enough money to then buy a better car? Well, I don't know. A 2004 Yukon could be the same as a 2004 van. I think Yukon's probably a even better value than vans do. Oh, so yeah. But who's, is she really going to go out and buy a 2004 van? Well, I don't know. We're not talking to her, George, are we? Okay, here's, can I defend the man, you defend the woman? How about that?

Okay. My worry is that she gets starry-eyed with this new car purchase and gets a car that is out of the budget that might take a long time to save up for in cash, because they have no margin, Or she goes, well, we can afford the payment and they take out a car loan. I hope they would never do that. Yeah, that's a lot of assumptions. Considering they're like, I mean, they're talking about their baby steps. And rarely I'll say people go back in baby steps.

If they do, it ends up being credit cards. But most people don't go back into a car loan. I would hope. I would hear. So, um, four kids. I'm going to say she's not going to get a car loan. Good. And four kids is a lot.

That's a lot. So, yeah, the way she made it sound in the voicemail was that they could sell that car, use the proceeds, and go and get a different car. But I'm wondering if he feels bad because it was the grandmother's gift to them and all the things, you know. Some guilt there about offloading that car. But I'm going to be with her on this one. I'm splitting the difference. I'm saying let's keep the car for now until we can save up. Let's get a real picture of what we could sell this for.

get a real picture of the car we want, and then save up the gap. Yeah. And do that aggressively for maybe six months. Then we sell the Yukon. That's fair. I would want to date out there to say for sure this is happening. Some facts around it versus just feelings of should we or shouldn't we and said it's, we will, and here's when and how. Yes, I think that's good.

All right. I feel like we helped at least one person. Let us know in the comments what you're actually going to do. That's so good. Okay. VoiceVille number two. We're crushing it so far. I have a friend that is trying to argue that he can turn his sports betting profits into a full-time job

and that he doesn't want to get back to work. I have told him that at least get a full-time job for the benefit and sports bet on the side. He and I can't come to an agreement because he thinks that as long as he's making a profit, he can afford to pay for all of his expenses and his insurance and still have a bank role to continue betting like he is. Well, that's a tough one, especially when you see a friend, you know. Because he sees the friend's future of, hey, this is not going to work out like this. It's like saying I'm going to gamble professionally in Vegas and not work anymore. Right, and that's going to be my job.

Yeah. That might work for a short time while you're up, but eventually what goes up must come down. That's right. And the other hard thing is trying to change someone else's minds about something that their mind's already made up about and that they're not asking your advice, it's always really difficult. So it does suck to be the person on one end of the spectrum where you're seeing disaster in front of you and you're like, please don't do that. But I mean, you can't control him, right?

And so the convincing side, I would put like the bar really low for that because usually that doesn't work. You can speak your mind maybe once if you feel like the need of like, I have to just get this off my chest because I love them and I don't want them to go down this terrible path. but yet again there's just not a lot of hope of changing people and that sounds so Debbie Downer but... Well it sounds harsh

but people who have this mindset there tends to be some greed here where they go and some pride of I'm smarter than I can make more money and what happens is eventually they're going to hit some sort of rock bottom where they're going to lose a lot of money

and feel the pain and unfortunately sometimes that's what it takes for them to go okay I got burned touch that hot stove let me go work a full-time job and do this on the side or maybe quit altogether if it becomes an issue. Totally, yeah.

Yeah, the sports betting too, I'm like, I don't know. There's something about that that we just see so many people go down the bad road of that so quickly with like addiction and all of it because it's everywhere. And it's so easy to get over your head and thinking the only way I can get out is I've got to do it more. I got to like keep betting to get my money back, right?

And you just end up deeper and deeper in the hole. And it's easy to justify when you're like, well, this is basically a job. I'm like, no, it's not, if you just have a fan dual app, that's not a career. So, yeah, I would try to give him some stats, some information, but again, until it actually applies to him, I don't know that he's going to do anything. And you mentioned this earlier, which is important. The relationship, that context matters a lot. If this was a spouse, you have a different level of impact and influence on their life.

100%. What is just a friend. To a degree, right? Yeah, Rachel cares less about my opinion than Winston Cruz, her husband, as it should be. True. I wish she cared about my opinion more. I don't really care about his opinion. She doesn't.

But again, I'm at different level of influence than your husband. And so I think because of that friend level, he's going to have a hard time getting through to him. I know. Man. But good luck. Let us know how it goes. I think eventually he'll be applying for a full-time job. Not because of the benefits, but because sports betting is not going to pay the bills consistently forever.

Right. There's something to be said about going and doing something and getting compensated for it versus just like, I'm going to just guess over here. You know what I mean? And these companies are too smart. It's like trying to be like, I'm going to win over the credit card company. I'm going to finesse the system. Eventually they will beat you at the game.

Yes. So stay away. Stay away. No, thank you. What a good friend. George, you know, you said I don't care about your opinion. But I do, George. You have a great opinion about different things.

And one of the areas that I totally agree with you on in your opinion is what you think about fair wins. Fair wins, credit union, we can all agree. No battling. no debating here. It's a great option for checking in savings. That's right. Yeah. So when you're working the Ramsey plan, to have a bank that's working against you is not worth it. So having someone on your team during this is the best thing you can do. And Fairwin's Credit Union is on your team. They love Ramsey. We love them. And they're such a great partnership because in the financial industry, George, finding allies. It's hard. And so Fair wins, they make it happen.

They actually want to help you get out of debt, not get further into it. They're all about helping our fans get that freedom with their money and you're not just a number because they're a credit union they're owned by the members not by Wall Street and some conglomerate. So I love that about them. It's not about fighting the system. It's about freeing yourself from it. And your bank, you have an option when it comes to that. You can opt out of a very corrupt system. So join a credit union that puts people over profits. Go check them out at fairwins.org slash Ramsey today or you can always click the link in the description below. So great. All right. Let's go to our third voice mail, George, shall we?

Hi, George and Rachel. Hi. This is Joy and Sam from New Zealand. So we're in Baby Step 6, and I just really want to spend every extra bit of money to go on our mortgage, to pay off our mortgage and just smash it out.

But our dishwasher broke recently. It was coming up within F1 era, which we couldn't figure out how to fix. And so I was like, well, we've got two healthy boys that can wash dishes, and I'm happy to pay them a dollar each. to wash dishes.

But my husband's like, no, we need to pay the $250 to get the man to come and fix the washing machine, sorry, the dishwasher. And I'm just like, no, they can wash your dishes for a dollar each. I just want to spend the money that I'm making on paying off this mortgage. What do you think? My husband's here, too. What do you think, Sam?

Fixed the dishwasher. No, spend the money on the mortgage. Thanks, guys. Love your show. Oh, I love we got a New Zealand. That's fun. Listener. How fun is that?

I know. Okay. Was her husband named Sam? I don't recall. I was too enamored by the accent to learn the names. I'm on the husband's team. You're on team husband. Fix the dishwasher.

$250. Get it done. A hundred percent. Yes. It was $250, right? Yeah, I think so. That's what she said. Dishwashers, washing machines, these are all luxuries, people.

Like, this is a good thing to have in your life. A microwave. How long are we going to do this for? But I don't know. Yeah. Until the mortgage is paid off. We're going to have the kids wash the dishes. If you're the one having washed the dishes?

No, get a dishwasher. Fix it. You're on Baby Step 6. This is where a little bit of that, like, you can do things with your life with money, right? We just say put some extra at the house. We're not like you have to do it all because she's very much like gazelle intense, like hardcore in Baby Step 6, which if both the spouses are and that's one person that's doing on their own, that's what they choose to do. That's great. But that's not what we recommend.

We always say, give yourself some breathing room, enjoy it, you know, fix the dishwasher. Yeah, if this was baby step two and it was like this is really going to set them back and it was a huge expensive repair and they can handle washing dishes by hand right now, I'd say, okay, that's fine. Baby step six, you need a home maintenance and repair fund in your every dollar budget. And so that would help you let go and say, hey, we know things are going to happen to the house while we try to pay it off. So let's set money aside to do that. I would cash flow at this month and do the math. How much is this actually going to delay our mortgage payoff? You're going to find it's by a week. If that, $250? Yeah. Yeah. So just spitball. It's not a long time. It's not like this is going to delay you six months. No, no. It's not a $5,000

new H-FAC. It's a $250 dishwasher repair. Yep. And clearly it's taking a toll on the husband. And maybe the kids, I don't know. Child labor for a dollar. But I will say opposite of that, Having them do chores and paying for them, fantastic. That's great. But also have the convenience if you can, and they can. Yeah. They can do that. All right.

All right. We won. I think we won that one. Congrats, husband. You're getting an almost new to you dishwasher. It's like price is right. I don't know. A broil.

Next voicemail, please. Hey, George and Rachel. One of the problems I've been having, or I guess, one of the debates I've been having is whether you have, have to spend money to have fun or entertain yourself. I guess my side of the debate is that you don't, and what I've been doing is whenever I'm bored or need entertainment, I don't want to walk or get outdoors or something, but my girlfriend will really want to go out and spend money,

go get food when we aren't necessarily hungry, and, yeah, so that's my debate. Oh. Wow. So he's like, hey, we can, listen, nature is free. And she's like, hey, I'd also like to, I don't know, eat out once. Like go on like a date. That's a legit date.

Yeah. And he's saying, we're not even hungry. And I speak for yourself. He said she wants to go out to eat even when she's not hungry. I have learned that women can always make room for restaurants. Always. We can make it happen. Make room for nap.

A dessert. Something. All of it. A drink. Give me a three-course meal. App main dessert. I think I know where you're going. going with this one. It's my favorite. I think Rachel is going to be team, go out and live your life.

The way he made it sound, which I wish she was on the voicemail, is that he kind of made it sound like she always feels like she has to spend money to have fun. But she has a spending addiction. Yeah. Or, you know, and I think we can get into a habit because I could be probably like her to a degree that if you want something or do something fun, you're like, let's go to the move, let's go do an experience. And usually those things cost money. Yes. So I totally understand. That makes sense to me. But there's also, yeah, the balance of, what's the balance, George? Because here's where I'm going with this.

If you have the money, the experience may cost you something, but it doesn't mean you're trying to buy happiness. You just have the ability to spend on things. And I don't know if that's necessarily wrong. Like if she's bored and that's the only reason she's doing it or it's bad motivation. And it's good to do some free things because, I mean, even our family, like the kids love to ride bikes, right? And so it's like, that's free and fun.

You get you had to pay for the bike. Sure. One time fixed costs versus like wanting to go out somewhere. Yes. So I guess I could see how he's probably the saver and that annoys him about her. Yeah. But I don't know if that's like an absolutely terrible thing. If you have the money, it's in the budget.

What do you think? Yeah. Well, I don't know where they're at financially. Does he have an aggressive goal to get out of debt and she's debt free and wanting to live? And so they're dating and having this kind of incompatible relationship right now? Yeah. Or does she see a future with this guy going, He's always going to be on extreme cheap skates mode.

Uh-huh. And I want to just live a little bit because it's not wrong to spend money. So I think there's a compromise here where she gets to the root of why he's feeling this way. And he lets go a little and lets God and goes, all right, once or twice a month, we're going to go out to eat somewhere with a budget. And so that's where the budget solves this. Now, obviously, in a dating relationship, hopefully you have not combined finances. So you have a separate line item for date nights. She has her own line item for fun.

but, you know, if the guy covers the date, which I think he should, call me old school. But he should shell out the 50 bucks he set aside for the date. Yeah, no, I agree. With no regrets and no like, well, you made me spend this, hope you're happy. We went out to eat. I'm going to go on a walk now because that's fun for me. Do you think, is it stereotypical to say that girls probably spend more on that kind of stuff than guys? I think most guys I know, I don't know if low maintenance is the word, but it's like...

Guys are more low maintenance when it comes to experiences. Yes, I think so too. Higher maintenance when it comes to, like, gear. They can justify a tool. Yes. In gear and spend a lot of money. Back or like a thing. Yeah.

Like, I want a really high-quality thing because I'm really into this thing. Yeah. Okay. So I think there's differently wired. Yes. But I do think that's normal in a relationship. So this is not like a huge red flag to me. I think they can thrive as a couple.

Totally. And just know, that'll always kind of be the money dance that you guys have. Yeah. And put the line item for fun. And then you don't feel bad about it. That's what I have to do, because I'm the fuddy-duddy. He's like, why are we spending money on this? But instead, if I have a line item, it kind of forces me to go, no, you plan for fun.

Yes, and we can enjoy it. You plan for frivolous nights out. Yes. Oh, my gosh. And especially if you're past baby step three, please have fun. Please, don't be that person. Go to a happy hour if you need to. I literally feel this, like, traumatic memory of being on the Ramsey show.

And some lady called and she said, like, her husband doesn't even like her to buy avocados because they, because they, like, go bad really fast or whatever. Fair point. How many times. Oh, my gosh. I was like, no. Well, how many times did he throw away an avocado that went bad that she had big aspirations for? I know, but still, it's just the principle of like, let go, y'all.

Let go and eat the avocado. I'm like, God. Thank you. All right. We got her on my team. One thing that's always fun to work into the budget, though. Yeah. Cozy Earth products.

Yes. Worth the splurge. Should you put a line item in? Probably. Because, y'all, their quality products are incredible. From the socks to the aphleisure wear, the, uh, the, joggers. I wore those last night around the house. I got the no shows on right now. Can you see No, you can't see them. Can't see them. Do the John Cena of the sock world. I've heard that's a thing.

I've never seen it, but I've heard it's a thing. Heard it's a thing. And the cuddle blanket. Yes. You want a great date night? Just a movie in the cuddle blanket. There you go. One time cost forever benefits. Multiple uses. Multiple uses. Yeah, no, it is great though. Cozy Earth, the quality, everything about it. I love. The fit. You can wash it multiple times, and it still has a great fit, all of it. And the betting, incredible. Yes. We had law, I couldn't not find my cozy earth sheets in the move.

Oh, no, George. So I had these backup sheets. And once I found the cozy earth ones and put them back on, it was like my faith was restored in humanity. Yes. I'm back to myself. Yep. Even, I'm going to say this, I know my dog slept better last night because they had the cozy earth sheets on. I can't prove it with science, but.

Humans and animals. They didn't get up once during the night. Oh, they felt it. They knew. And the discount for our listeners is incredible. Huge discount. 40% off when you use the promo code, smart money at checkout. So go to cozy earth.com slash smart money or use the link in the description to browse. Luxury goods. I love it. All right. Let's go to voicemail number five.

Hit us. Hello, Smart Money Happy Hour. Hope you're having a lovely day. My husband and I are having a debate. So the pretext is just that we had a, what I'm talking about, a flush fund where part of our flesh fund was like an emergency for if our animals had to get emergency vet procedures. Now, our dad did have to get foot down, so we ended up using all the money in that flush fund plus them.

And so my argument is we should restock that flush fund, and my husband says we should not. And then we got into this, what's the difference between a flush fund and a sinking fund. So we need to know what the difference is to settle this debate of. Do we have to restock thinking funds or do we restock flush funds or do we not restock either? Have a great day, guys. Bye. Well, number one. I'm so sorry about your pet.

Jeez, RIP. That is just. What a turn that took. Terrible. I was not expecting that. So I'm so sorry about the dogs. That's terrible. And I assume there's more where that came from if they're talking about restocking it.

There's more animals because they're saying we got to restock the emergency fund for the pets. Or the slug. Well, no, Beth, I thought she said we used all that money to put them down. Yeah, that's the question. What is the slush fund for? I don't think that, yeah, so I think they were just putting some money aside. I think it was loosely tied to the pets. And then I'm going to go under the assumption the pets are gone.

Yeah, I don't know. We don't know how many pets. So is the slush funds. So what I would, so the difference, okay, I don't, I don't say, I don't have a slush fund necessarily, but the sinking funds are specific towards not the slush funds. not like a time-oriented goal, so it's not like a, oh, we have a vacation next summer, let's save. To me, that's just a goal you're saving for. The sinking fund is for cars.

Pets would be a great one because they may need medical care, like things that aren't specifically happening right now, but you know you're going to need some money put aside for that category. That's what a sinking fund is. So it's kind of just like this like ever-living fund that you just kind of put some money away each month and it just kind of builds. And when you need it for that category, you have it. the slush fund, I guess, is just money kind of just put aside for who knows what. I'm not sure.

I kind of want to just Google it because it feels like semantics. Do you chat cheapy-tie it? Yes. That is so... Should I use my friend? Yes, the girl. What is the difference between a slush fund and a sinking fund? Great question.

A slush fund is usually an unregulated pool of money that doesn't have a specific purpose and can sometimes be used for discretionary or even questionable. expenses. On the other hand, a sinking fund is a very intentional planned fund where we set money aside overtime for a specific future expense, like a big purchase or a known upcoming cost. So basically one is planned and specific and the other is a bit more flexible or even secretive. Thank you. That's what my friend Rachel Cruz said, but I just wanted to make sure. You've been so helpful. I'm glad I could help confirm that for you. Rachel definitely knows her stuff. So, you you're in good hands there. If you have any more questions or need clarity on anything else,

just let me know. Thank you. Hey, would you ever want to co-host Smart Money Happy Hour with me instead of Rachel? Oh, that's so sweet of you to say. You and Rachel have such a great dynamic, though, so I'm sure the show wouldn't be the same without her, but I'm only here to help out in any way again. Okay. So I've had enough of that for one day. I'm so creeped out. I'm so creeped out. Wow. Dude, she sounds so real. I know. I know.

I feel like she would be that friend, like, Kendall that said dinner with you. I'm sorry that the all-knowing AI feels a little bit like a know-it-all. Wouldn't you be that confident if you knew that much? Can I tell you that? That is, like, absolutely weird. I started getting, like, spiritual warfare vibes going. Oh, wow. Yeah, I feel like it's evil.

I don't like that. I don't like it. Okay. I don't like it. Hey. And I don't. I don't like that you were like, oh my gosh, thanks. You're like talking to her, George.

We're not supposed to be like robotic. Thank you. Hello. Yes, it's a robot. I don't like her. I don't trust her. Someone's jealous. I don't like it.

Someone's scared they'll be replaced by AI. She was like, oh my God, Rachel. And it's so great. I would test out a whole episode with my AI friend here instead of you and see. That would be so weird. But then she would never discus. You know what I mean? She'd be too nice where I need you to disagree to be.

Do you tell them the tone at which you like wants? No, I think it was just like you can select voices. And I was like, she sounds like not angry at me all the time. No, she's not. Is that not weird, though? I will agree. That was too human. That was so human.

You know when you see a dog and it has like a human face? Like the eyes are too human. You're like, oh, no, bad dog. Don't like that dog. Yes. That's how it feels with that. Her. Yeah.

What's her name? I haven't given her name. It's probably good. I think she just said, I asked like, what's your name? She goes, chat, GPT. You know, what's your real name? Who are you? Who are you in there?

Is she stuck in there? Should we rescue her? Honestly. I never thought about that. Is she okay? What if that's a real person? I'm telling you, that's the vibes I was getting. Wow.

Bizarre. Well, back to the question at hand. I think we nailed it with the help of our friend. A slush fund is a little bit more loose. Yeah. The sinking fund is for a very specific goal with a timeline. So I hope that helps. Okay, so this is where I disagree with her.

Sorry, girl. I don't think that a sinking fund has to have a goal has to have a time specific thing. Oh. Well, yeah, the timeline is less important. It could be just home maintenance and repairs. Yeah, so to me there's like the sinking fund is just kind of always there. But there's a certain amount of month you're going to put away.

Yeah, yeah. So there's still a specificity to it. Yes, that's fine. But I do think if it's like, oh, we're saving for a vacation or something, that goes in like a different thing to me where I'm like, I don't know. I have mine set up as a sinking. fund in every dollar. So this is a good note for our... Well, they have a goal area for every dollar. That's what I use. The goals. I don't know, but...

You do you, but to the other question... There was two questions in there. There was a slush fund versus sinking fund. And then there was do we replenish the fund? If it was a pet-specific one and there are no pets, then you know. Yeah, here's my take. I like to have specific goals for any savings. I don't just save to save just in case for whatever. I have my emergency fund, which has, you know, is it urgent, necessary, and unexpected. Then I have vacation fund or a car fund. Those are all separate. And then you might have just like, you know, insurance that you're saving up for for the year. I pay that annually. Yeah. Or to pay. Are all these different funds for you, George?

They're different funds. They're not all different savings accounts. Okay, okay. But emergency fund, separate savings account. Okay. Vacation and car, different savings accounts. Because I'm just realizing, I think we have a slush fund. Now that I said, I don't like it. I think we do. What do you call it? So we just have our, so our high-yield savings. account has a line item that says emergency fund, but in the same account, we just put money aside every month that goes into that. That's adding to the emergency fund pile?

No, two separate lines. Okay. But it's same account, but when we look on the app, it's like two separate lines. Yeah, so there's technically two accounts within that one savings. And so the one that we just put money towards every month. And we'll use that fund usually for sometimes vacation, if we need some money out of there for vacation or repairs or taxes. Okay.

So general savings versus emergency. Yeah, we kind of have like a general savings one. But it is in separate accounts. There's different numbers. You have your emergency fund. And I think that's the part that they need to make sure they follow. So to answer you, you can go as specific as you want like George, where there's multiple things going on or a little bit more of a wider catch-all.

And every dollar is my favorite way to track all of that. So be sure to check it out. You can download it. Go to every dollar.com slash smart money. Or you can use the link in the description. Perfect. All right. Last voicemail, George.

We're already to the end. We are to the end. I was having so much fun. I know. So great. We love hearing from you all. Hi. My husband and I are currently having a debate.

We have laid off all our boomer debt and have a three to six month emergency fund saved in a high-yield saved account. We also have $14,000 set aside just sitting in the bank that is separate from our emergency fund. My husband says that because our income is not high enough to invest the full 15 percent, and we have a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage that we should up our income to be able to pay our mortgage like a 15-year and to be able to invest a full 15%. I believe we should start investing a little, making extra mortgage payments here and there

and putting money aside for our son's education because even investing a little is better than nothing at all while we wait to get our income where it needs to be. I really hope you say I am right because I really don't want to hear I told you so again. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. All right.

Well, first, maybe marriage counseling. Oh, my God. I don't like the language used here. I'm on her team. Yeah, he's saying, well, once our incomes high enough, we'll do X. That always worries me. Yes. Because that goalpost always moves.

That's right. Yep, you always get there. People do that with giving a lot. Like, once I make this amounts, then we'll give. So, yes, if I'm her, I would be, yes, funding the 15%, putting some money away for the kids college. And then if there is extra, that's great. Like she was saying, one or two mortgage payments. like we can maybe kind of catch up and throw some money at it beyond what we just owe every month,

that would be ideal in that situation. Yeah, the baby steps, if you're following them, you got one, two, and three, which happen on their own with very much intense focus. Then four, five, six are happening simultaneously, but in order. So you invest 15% of your income into retirement before you put any money into the kids' college, before you put any money on top of the mortgage. That's right. That's right.

And so if all you can do is invest 15%, great, let's do that. If you have a little bit more and get your income up to throw some in the college fund, great. If you have even more left over, let's throw it at the mortgage. But I would not wait until you hit a certain income threshold to do any of that. Because to your point, you think in your head, oh, if I make that certain amount, that's awesome. But then you make it, you start living like that, then it's so easy to like, oh, well, we don't really have that much more, Jim, because we had to pick up this and this and this. Well, then lifestyle creep, you always find an excuse to not invest. So I like investing as much as you can right now.

Yes. So, girlfriend, we're actually on your side. Way to go. There you go. No more I told you so. That's right. Said Rachel said she's the final authority. And I'm not AI.

I'm a real human with real thoughts. Well, speaking of AI, there's a lot of scams and harassment happening. And AI is just exacerbating the problem. Oh, it's terrible, George. If you are living in 2025 today, you guys, it's crazy how much our info is out on the internet because we are filling out stuff left and right like we are just living on the internet just give our information away like candy we really do and so these data brokers will collect your data your email your name your kids names your email addresses phone number everything and then they

will sell all of that data to other data brokers and then they make money off of you and then that puts you at risk for like all these like texts scams and harassment and fishing so we don't want any of that happening. That's why we love delete me. I love it. And so I'm not as worried anymore as I used to be because Delete Me is constantly scouring the internet. There's real data privacy experts on their team all year long behind the scenes doing this on my behalf and they send me a customer report showing me exactly what they've removed, how much time they've saved me. And it just gives me a little piece of mind and it's worth every penny. And we're going to save you some pennies because they've got a sweet discount for our Smart Money Happy Hour fans. 20% off their annual plans when you go to join deleteme.com

smart money or just use the link in the description below. Stay safe out there. So great. All right, George, what is your takeaways from this episode? Number one, relationships of any kind are difficult. There's just bound to be conflict and differing opinions and who's right and who's wrong. And it's hard because sometimes it's not as black and white as you want it to be. It's way easier to say, well, she's right.

usually there's some level of compromise. There's usually some level of unhealth coming from both sides. Yep. Where we need to be more open, more understanding, less judgmental. That's right. Yeah, because I think there can be definitely nuances to situations. So remembering that. And if it does feel black and white, like, well, it's the numbers or like these are the steps.

It is what it is. Remember, there's a human on the other side. And all of their fears, their excitement, their, I mean, all the emotion comes together in this for them. So remembering that and don't sacrifice the relationship, right? Like keep the relationship and figure out how to work your value system together with them. But I think that's important to remember. Yes. And just getting aligned on the front end because if your values and principles are aligned,

you just sort of remove a lot of the petty arguments. Yes. Because those stem from something deeper. There's a root of that, which is I believe debt and payments are okay. And the other person believes in debt freedom. Well, that's a much harder problem to solve than a petty problem. argument way up top. That's right. So you've got to get to the root of the issue. Where is it coming from? Where is the fear or insecurity or anger coming from? If you get to that, usually people open up

versus shut down. That's right. And you can actually get to a solution. Yeah, and have some empathy. Put yourself in the other person's shoes too during debates and conflict. I think that's important. You're a great debater. I love it, George. That was a lot of fun. Thank you for all the voicemails. I know, y'all. Thanks for calm. We couldn't get to all of them. You'll fill it up, which we so appreciate. So many great ones. And work on your cell signal, guys. I don't know what's going on here. Like Wi-Fi. Maybe we should do voice, like, email us your voice notes. Oh, we could do that too.

Make it a little clearer. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I don't know if I'm getting old or my hearings going, but I'm just struggling. I know my face staring some of those. It's like Charlie Brown. I don't know. I thought this is a big sports, but what he say?

What did he say, George? Anyways, that was a good time. Before we spill the tea on our guiltiest charge segments, let's talk about the drink. Yes. Obviously, I should be in the military. I mean, look at that. Unbelievable. I don't know.

Army and Navy. Sure. Yeah, this was the Army and Navy cocktail, hence the military reference in case you fell asleep during the last half hour. The drink costs $1.64. So that's a great price for a cocktail. Yes. Beats Happy Hour pricing. It's got London dry gin, lemon juice, or jete, which is sort of an almond liqueur.

Okay. And Angostura bitters. Oh. Really nice. What makes it kind of orangey? The orgete is that color. Okay. This is almond liqueur.

It brings a beautiful color to it. And it almost has a grapefruity taste to it. Yep. I'm going to go 8 out of 10. Okay. And I would get it at a restaurant. Yes. But it is a little tart.

Tart, citrusy. Yeah. It's got a real acidic bite to it. Acidic. That's what I was going to go on. So if you like an acidic drink, you're going to love this. Like I drink it, and if it hits the back of your tongue, you're kind of like, Mmm.

I love it. That feeling, you know. I think. gin and lemon juice go pair so well together. So when you pair with some nice accoutrements, like the Orgyte, which I finally got a bottle of Orgyte. You just said like five words. I don't even know what they mean. Well, I got an Orgyte syrup at home.

I ordered it online. But that's great. All right, we'll make you something. Yeah. Outside of this. I'm going to give this nine out of ten. Yeah. Like, it wouldn't be my top three drinks I would ever order, but if this was served to me,

I'd be very pleased. It's very happy. I'm with you. I love it. So get the recipe in the show notes. Give it a try this weekend. If you are of age, drink responsibly. I don't know why I added that.

I don't legally have to. I was like feeling that. I was like, but I feel a little bit cool saying it. Needs to say. I feel like a little bit like the, you know, the Dair guy or like the bear. Don't do drugs or you're going to die. Who's the forest fire bear?

Don't. Smokey bear. Smokey. I feel like a smoky the bear meets Dare. Yeah, altogether. Dare was a lion. Wouldn't they're a lion mascot for Dare? Yeah.

Man. You're such an outdoors. I'm just out here saving the planet, saving the people. That's what I do. All right, now it's time for guilty as charged. And this is where we ask each other a guiltiest charge question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. All right, George, here's the question.

Have you ever bought something and just never opened it? Do you have anything right now in your life that's sitting there that was not opened? That I personally bought, that I was like, I'm excited to buy this and then just left it unopened. I have two things. Wow. No, I'm like a New York City. trash rat. If I see something, I must open it immediately. To a fault. To our witness, he's like, hey, can you not

unbox that whole thing right now and unpackage it? I'm like, I don't know what it is about me. I have to open this. To its fullest extent, I'd have to like break down the box and put it in the trash. Wow. Immediately. Done. Yeah. There could be a house fire. And I'd be like, hey, hold on. I got open the same. One second. Let me like break down this box and get everything out. How about you? So two things. You're not guilty. You're probably innocent. Not that I can think of. Okay, I got two things right now.

I have some moisturizer that I bought, and you would think that I need it. I don't, because I have another one. I don't know. I don't know. And it's literally sitting in the box on my nightstand. Like a face moisturizer? And it's been there.

It'd be fun to kind of look at my Amazon app to tell you how long it's been there. It's sitting on your nightstand. Yes. That's unhinged behavior. That's driving crazy. I know. I need to put it in my bathroom.

But I just haven't. How far away is your nightstand from your bathroom? Um, not very far. 15 feet? How do you spell a moisturizer? I'll tell Winston to do that. I'll say, hey, man, this has been sitting out here. I don't know if it's been driving you crazy.

I'm not kidding. He's probably seen it. Yeah, yeah. Maybe he thinks it's on display, like artwork. Is it a fancy moisturizer? It was a nice one. Let's see if I can find it. I'm a terrible speller. Did you know that about me?

I did know that. I'd never want to call it out. Oh, wow. Is that real? Hold on. Do you know how to spell it? about lotion, if it's L-O-T. I don't know if this is real.

This has February 23rd. Okay. Of 2025. Okay. So as I did this recording, we're going on six months. The picture's not coming up. So I can't tell if that's, it's been there for at least three. I don't think it's been six months.

Anyways, that, and then I got some earrings because I don't want to invest in nice earrings. I never do until I have my three piercings on my ear. And I buy cheap Amazon. And then my ears sometimes, if I leave them in too long, they like turn black because it's like, okay. Because it's like, it's like bad metal. You know what I mean? It's not real.

So then I like, last long, I could. So I can't take them out. And then I'm like, I can't put the old ones back in because they're all discolored. Like they'll go from gold to silver because I never take them out. So then I had it by new earrings. So anyways, I have a pack of new like small earrings sitting on my nightstand. Are they also Amazon earrings that will turn your ears black? Yes.

Okay, cool. Yeah, I know. We've learned nothing. I keep repeating the cycle. Oh. There's the thing is I can't find, I cannot justify buying like a pair of $200 earrings that are tiny just because they're real silver. Fair point. No.

You make a great point. And that would be times four. That's almost $1,000 in ear. That's stupid. Give me Amazon all day. I got proxide. I'll clean it if it gets infected. If I had a black ear once, I don't think I'd wear any jewelry ever again.

Like you should see a doctor immediately I know no I'm telling you though they turn black There is something I did not buy that is still in the box And it was gifted from someone watching this show Oh no way Because a bidetes came up Okay Either on this show or my YouTube channel

Did someone send you a bidet? Someone sent me a bidet No they didn't Now it was new in box Which is a very important note when it comes to bidetes That has been like hundreds of dollars No it was like a $30 one on Amazon Yeah

They make them of all You know Calibers. All stripes. Okay. And so that is still in the box. It's like I'm scared to open it. It's like, you know, Pandora's box.

Who will I become? I'm not. What will happen? Like, it involves connecting plumbing. So I'm like, do I get a handyman to install this? That feels like a real odd request. Winston will help you. If Winston will help me, I will install this bidet and try it out to make this fan happy because

they said it's life-changing. I don't know who the fan is. They didn't put their name or anything, which is more worrisome. Yes. An anonymous bidet? Sketch. You don't know who it's from. But it was Hank in a new Amazon box.

It looks brand new. But it's just sitting. Do you know you gave me a gift that has to do with the toilet? The light. The night light. And guess who took it and uses it and it's still on there to this day? Caroline. Caroline.

Who's in the room with us right now as we speak? One of my favorite guests we've had on this show or in the room. Caroline, do you love your light in your toilet? Isn't it awesome? It's so great. Because you're not worried about tripping at night. You know, like you just walk within vicinity and it lights up. What color do you have yours on?

Purple. Oh, nice. That's a good choice. So good. Red, worrisome color. Don't come. Yes, I go with like a bright aqua blue. Makes me feel like the toilet's cleaner than it is.

Oh, yeah. Red is, that's psychopathic behavior. Yeah, that's like caution. You're like, this is a portal to hell. I don't want anything going down there. But purple, blue, good. choices. I love it.

Green on the edge. That's a little ghostbustersy for me. A little strange. Yeah. We're having a good time. Oh, man. Well, that was great, George. If you guys have any guilty to charge questions, make sure to DM them at Rachel

Curzon at George Camel. We love to see them. And if you loved this episode, we also are stirring the pot on our episode titled Settling the Debate of Your Financial Phopaw. Poppa. Yes, that's coming up next. It's a really great episode. It is. And if you want to leave us a voicemail, feel free to do so at this number 877306-1517. We'd love to hear from you guys.

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