Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Why Fewer People Are Having Kids Today

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

Does saying yes to babies mean saying no to wealth and retirement? Rachel and George talk about the major money fears stopping Millennials and Gen Zers from starting a family––including the estimated $310,605 price tag per child. 👶💰   In This Episode:   ·     Smart Money Happy Hour’s new favorite girl dad ·     How less babies running around eventually means higher taxes for all of us ·     The bizarre pet George co-owned with an ex-girlfriend   Helpful Resources:   ·     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.   ·     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. Go to everydollar.com/smart to get started today! ·     Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices ·     Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy   This Week’s Happy Hour Special:    The Mom-to-Be Margarita Mocktail ·     1 ounce fresh lime juice ·     1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice ·     1/4 teaspoon maple syrup ·     1/8 teaspoon pickle juice ·     3 ounces tonic water ·     Rock salt (optional) ·     Lime wedge (optional) Want a classic salty margarita rim? Start with a wedge of fresh lime. Swipe it along the rim of your glass. Turn the glass upside down and dip the rim into a plate of rock salt. Now, we drink! Grab your salted (or unsalted) glass. Add the lime juice, lemon juice, maple syrup and pickle juice. Give it a good stir. Add ice and top with tonic water. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel Cruz. I'm George Campbell. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Wow. She tart. She crispy. That lining. Well, this is the show.

We're two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. Everything from pop culture, current events, and, of course, your money. And today, we are talking about babies, babies, babies. Justin Bebes. Love him so much. I know. I know. Not him and babies.

And real life. We're talking about real life babies here. How much they cost you, your friends who are attending a zillion showers and birthday parties. And the big one, do babies delay or diminish your ability to build wealth? Yes. Controversial. Hot button topic. So in honor of talking about babies on this episode, we decided to do a mocktail.

It's a mocktail margarita. No alcohol here, but it's a mocktail margarita. So if you're an expecting mother, you can make one of these at home. Yeah. It's delicious. We're going to give you the rating and reveal the cost and what's inside at the end of the episode. So stick around. But first, speaking of babies.

Do you know why I thought it would be fun to do an episode on babies? Why, Georgie? Because I'm going to be a day! That's right. You heard it here first. On Smart Money Happy Hour, Whitney and I are expecting our first child. I am over. The moon.

I am so excited. I can't wait for all of the advice. She is just the cutest little thing. She works here at Ramsey and so everyone here knows because she's walking around with her little bump and it's so precious. A little camel. Oh my goodness. Are you telling gender at all? Sure.

We did like the earlier, like it's not the official scan, but we did it and it's a girl. It's a girl. A little baby girl. Love it. Little baby girl. Which everyone keeps telling me like you're going to be a great girl down. You are going to be a good girl down. I don't know what that means other than they're saying, you're feminine.

You're going to crush this. You know what I mean? Like, if I was like a super burly dude, you wouldn't be like you're going to be a gray girl dad. It's less about that and more about like you're just understanding, you're into. You know what I mean? Like there's a stereotypical dude that's like, I don't want to listen to anything. That means the world. But there's like a kindness about you, George, and having a sweet little girl, you're going to melt.

You're going to melt. I know. It's going to. she will just rip my heart and soul out in the best ways. Oh, she's going to. And it's so good. Baby camel coming late summer, 20203.

Congratulations. Mark your calendars. We are here for it. This is why I thought I can rig this thing to get free advice from Rachel if we just do an episode on babies. Give you all my knowledge. Because I mean, I'm nervous. There's some nerves. For sure.

What are you most nervous about? The lack of sleep and just this like, you don't have, you won't have a life for the next few years. at least. Not that I do now. Like, I don't have a big life. But you got a life. But, like, your brain is constantly going. Another human being needs me constantly. I know.

I'm used to being the needy one in the family. That's about to flip. I know. And the dogs. And then the dog, we have two French bulldogs who are very needy. And so they're going to be on the back burner while still being needy. Let me just say this, though. The early stages, yes, you'll be tired.

But with one, you just kind of pack on them up and carry them around. What is this? Just. The car seat. Oh, got it. Yeah, just take them around and put them in a pack and play in a closet at a friend's house. You can still do life. They're just chilling.

Talk to me. It's when they start wandering around that makes me nervous, too. Yeah, yeah, there's going to be a lot, George. We're here for it. I'm very excited for you. How would you describe parenthood, Rachel, for those of us that don't have kids out there and we're wondering. Because you hear both sides. You hear people go, oh, my gosh, they're kids, man.

And then you hear the people that are like, it's the best thing that's ever happened. Yeah, they're lying. No, I'm just kidding. I don't like it. I feel like that's a balance. It can't be one of the other. Oh, it's a huge balance. That's fair.

But no, it is. It's unlike anything you'll ever experience. I don't know people say that, but it is wonderful. There's got to be like a little hint of narcissism in humans that were like, it's a little version of me, and I love it. You know what I mean? Can we just admit that? That's part of it.

Yeah, no, but it is great. It's wonderful. Yeah. Thank you for that. I feel better already. I really am so excited. Because there's the deal. If people absolutely hated it, they wouldn't have multiple kids.

So there's something to be said of like, yeah. That's fair. Right? Well, a lot of people disagree with you, and those people are entire generations. Oh, no, really? Millenials in Gen Z, largely, they're not a fan of this, Rachel. I mean, look at this. Birth rates in the U.S. have dropped 20 percent since the Great Recession in 08.

Oh, dang. And according to a report from January 2023, millennials and Gen Z aren't currently having enough kids to sustain America's population. Really? I don't know what that means. Like, are we going to go extinct as humans? I don't know. I mean, I feel like I could use less humans on this earth.

Have you sat in traffic? I'm done with it. But if the average population, yeah, starts getting older and older and we don't have enough people. Do you feel like your friends aren't having as many kids as, you know, our parents' generation? Oh, yeah, because I feel like to have, yeah, I feel like there'd be families with like five kids, four kids. Not that that was the norm necessarily, but that didn't feel abnormal. But for our age people to have more than three. Do you even have three?

Like, you better have your own HG TV show if you have more than five kids. Because I know that's what it feels like. So, yeah, I would say that is true. I think that people are having less. Like the era of five, six, seven, eight kids, not really happening. No. I'm sure we're going to get a lot of comments. I have eight kids, and it's great.

Like, I get it if you live on Little House on the Prairie. But, you know, for a lot of people, I'm from Boston. A lot of Northerners, we're not having a lot of kids. They get married late, and sometimes it's too late or they just don't want to deal with the hassle. And I was going to say, too, the average age now of women having kids is getting older because you're getting married older. I mean, all of it. So everything is just pushing that way.

Well, here's, I want to play out what would happen. If this plays out and there is a lower population. So the average age of our population gets older and older. We'd end up with a smaller workforce and a bunch of retirees, which could be bad for the economy and bad for public budgets, aka taxes. Because then taxes are split amongst less people. Oh my gosh. That's just, I'm not saying I, that's not what I adhere to.

Yes, but that's, that's, that's, that's, that's what happened. Taxes if it meant less people on Earth. You would? Yeah. If it meant no traffic, no lines. I think you're still going to have all of that. Imagine going to Disney World and it's just you can breathe. You know what I mean?

I don't know where you're hanging out. Why don't you go in a field and breathe? I can't go in the forest and breathe. No, no, I'm not doing it. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Rachel. Let's not go there. Let's not go there. Okay, so why are Gen Z and millennials?

Why are they not jumping on the parenting bandwagon? So the top reasons, number one, not wanting kids at all. So people who just go, I want to just be childless and life's too hard. There's too many responsibilities. I want the freedom. We're not going to have kids. Then there's people who have medical challenges, which is understandable. For sure.

But then the big one, money. It's money. They cost a lot. So nearly three and five millennials without kids say they don't have any. because it's too expensive. Three out of five. That's a big number. Does that surprise you?

That feels like a lot. It does feel. That's the majority. Yeah, that they don't want kids because they are too expensive. I mean, it's such a range. I don't think we'll get into some of the specifics. But I mean, there's obviously like fixed costs, I guess,

like of childcare and that kind of thing. But even within that, like there's just ranges of stuff, right? Like you're, you guys are probably shopping for a stroller. And I'm like, you can buy something. used on Craigslist all the way up to this like insane expensive thing. But there's more pressure to get the expensive one because they're like, well, you know, it's not safe. But yeah, you'll probably be all right. Like, well, I want to be a good parent.

Oh, that's such a, that's such a parent. That's a sales tactic. There's those kinds of pressures. And they're like, well, this one, I mean, it's got the one touch release. And you're like, well, that would be nice, you know. I would appreciate that. I know. But the range, the range of having a kid for sure is of how expensive they

can be, it does. You can go inexpensive, very expensive, but don't make your financial plans stop you from having a kid. Have a child. If you want to start a family, start a family. Same with marriage. If you want to get married, regardless of where you are in debt, like, get married. There's not a specific step where we go, okay, now you can have kids. Yeah, no. This is, that's a very personal decision. So, yeah, go at it. But if you do decide to start a family and you're in the baby steps. If you're in baby steps one, or especially baby step two, the debt snowball, we say pause the debt snowball, pile up some cash. And then once baby is good, mom is good, everything is fine, press play, throw that cash at your debts.

But save up in stork mode. So for the people who don't know, we've had some new listeners pop in who just found us on YouTube. So the Ramsey Baby Steps is our plan to get out of debt and build wealth. There's seven of them. We'll drop a link in the description. But people call the Ramsey show that we co-host together and they'll go, hey, I don't know if we're ready to have kids. We have some debt. And we go, okay, well, it's another line item in the budget.

save up cash until mom and baby are home safe. But don't wait until you're completely out of debt if you want kids. That's right. But kids are, they are expensive. So get this. From the day the baby's born, until the day they turn 18, your family will spend about $310,605, about $17,000 per year per child.

Do you want some tequila in that drink for you? Wow. I might need a spot. This drink after that. 17 grand a year. I know. That's a lot. I mean, if you think about someone who makes, you know, 40, 50 grand and 17,000 of their net

income after taxes. I want to see this broken house. Because, again, it goes into housing, education. They do break it out. There's a slight range, depending on the age. You know, like you're going to have daycare when they're younger, but you may not later on. Right.

But they may, you may send them to a private school later on. It's more expensive. Education, that whole thing. That's like a whole other bracket of like a. a major expense. But I don't, I mean, counting housing feels like, I get it. But here's the thing, people do have to factor in. If you have three kids, it changes the house you buy. For sure, yes. You need more bedrooms if there's more kids. Now, do you eat, does each kid need its own bedroom with its own shower? Right. No. Yes. We've gone overboard. We're fine.

Do they cost money? Absolutely. But again, I think this range, hmm, I don't know. I think you can do it way cheaper. Now, education and daycare I get. Sure. If you're working, you've got to pay for daycare, and that does add up. Food, yes. It costs money to feed babies. Yes. And as they get older, teenagers, it gets very expensive.

And that's where that's different. Because even my kids, they're like little birds. Like, they just still, I mean, they're 5, 3. Sure. I feel like it's when they hit those preteen years and all that that you're like, oh, wow, you actually are. I can count you as a human. Like I count our kids. But I've heard formula is expensive.

Yeah, that is true. It is. That's fair. There's one. Now, transportation, I don't know that that's a huge factor until they become teenagers and you know unless you have to unless you need like we got the minivan after three yeah once we had three vehicles yeah health care i mean there's a lot of appointments and doctors visits clothing goodness gracious the clothing rachel oh the and a girl that's a real that's so stereotypical but it's so

true y'all are going to get so many clothes well i'm going to get all the hand me downs little tiny dresses we've already pointed out our hip friends and they're like we'll give you all of the and i was like perfect give me all of the tiny denim jackets and little like Converse and bands. Okay, are you going to, oh, this is a... But paying full price for a baby denim jacket? No, thank you. Now, this is where we could disagree, George, on the baby fashion.

We'll go here for just one minute. Okay. We will get back to money. Timer on the time. I had a thing about having with my babies and how I dress them that until they were one years old, I'm like, I'm dressing you like a baby. What does that mean? It bothered me. No judgment.

Oh, versus like a human. Babies don't need shoes. A three-month-old that's in like a seersucker. outfit and he's like this. He can't even hold his head up. And you're just like, oh my God, get that baby out of that suit and put that baby in like pajama. Like that is a baby.

Yes. Don't dress them like a 35 year old man until they hit one. Then I'm like, you can dress them like a little person. But no, not the, it's my thing. I'm like when they are a baby, they are going to be dressed like a baby. Let them be dressed like a baby. Yes. Which is just like a onezies.

Onezies, yes. Or like a little like a. Doesn't have to be. I'll buy. I will be your southern. Yeah, I'll be Southern Aunt Rachel. I think the South. She needs a little bit of smocks.

It's a different game. She needs a little, a few smocks. Yes, she does, because she's a little baby. I was hoping you wouldn't mention the smock. She's a little baby. Just a word smock. It's so sweet. I don't do that for my boys.

Charles didn't wear smocks. My sister dressed her boys. For sure. There's so much I need to learn about Southern culture. It's so sweet. I still barely know how sororities work. Goodness gracious. Okay.

Okay, let's get back. So New York Times had a survey back in 2018. they found some specific financial fears among people who didn't want kids or were on the fence about kids. And the results still feel accurate five years later. So let me throw some at you, get your reaction. I will react. 31% said it was because they couldn't afford child care. Don't want kids on the fence about it because of child care,

which is a fair point because child care costs have increased 214% since 1990. And child care for one infant in 2020 was over 12 grand on average. $200 a week. Yeah. Which is a lot for people, you know, when you're already having your budget strapped. And here's the deal, too, because we went and we looked at different daycare is when we had a million. And you want the one that you feel the safest and it's the cleanest and the best. I'm like, it's your child that you're handing over.

So I'm like, I understand people that pay and have to these crazy amounts for daycare. Because I'm like, you do want the bet. You want the one that you feel the best, but it still has to fit within your budget. And so that's when the conversation comes in of like, okay, we need to do pros and cons on both parents working. even because it can get to a point depending on where you live and how much it is, that one parent's salary, that 75% of it is going to daycare and then it's like, is it worth the tradeoff, right? So you start to have those conversations. That's a hard one. That's one where I'm like, I know we can't solve life's problems, but I wish there was more stipend. I wish there was more

help with child care in our country. But like big cities, you can pay upwards of, you know, two grand a kid. Oh, sure. And I saw one story, San Francisco, $4,000 a month for their two kids. So you think about that's 50 grand a year of net income going towards child care. Yep. So you have to make, you know, 70, 80, 90 just to make that break even. It's a bad to justify. Yes. Oh, yeah, it's a break even, yeah.

Or even for it to be worth it. It's a tough situation. It's really hard. Yeah. Child care, it is, that's a tough one. 24% of people that were surveyed said that they couldn't afford a house. And that's one reason that they didn't want to have kids. So home prices went up 34%.

percent since the start of the pandemic. And owning a home, I guess people definitely you associate that with a family and having kids and all that, but you could have kids in rent. Yes. People do it all the time. Yes. They live to tell the tale. Now, it's usually, people that call in, like, this isn't an ideal situation. We want to get into a house. For sure. But we can't right now because we have a kid, our budget strapped, but usually it's tied back to their debt payments. Yes. So having the margin allows you to do do that. I want everyone to be a homeowner at some point in their life. It's a great part of your wealth-building journey. But it's true that having a kid and paying child care, that's money that

can't go towards the down payment or getting out of debt so you can afford the house, all of those factors. Yeah. So that's a real problem. Yes. But owning a home, it is still possible. It's going to take longer because of where we're at with the market, all of it. But it is still possible. And don't let that be the thing that stops you, though, from having a kid, I would say. Yeah. So what are the parameters you would say? If you check all these boxes, you're ready to buy a house, whether you have kids or not. So be debt-free, have a fully funded emergency fund at three to six months of expenses, have a good down payment anywhere from 5% to 20%.

We say that your mortgage payment needs to be no more than 25% of your take-home pay on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. So those are our parameters. And again, and I always say this because it's true, they're very conservative. People get mad at these parameters a lot with us. They are very conservative, but we just know that when your income hits your account, we want you to be able to do more with your income than just own a home. We want you to be able to do retirement. We want you to be able to pay off debt.

Like there's things to do with your income. And if half of your income is just going to a mortgage payment, it's going to stop that growth of building wealth in other places. Oh, yeah. Well, and it gives you some freedom and margin and wiggle room with having a kid because kids are expensive. That's right. So if your mortgage is like 50% of your take home pay and you're trying to pay child care and live a life and go on vacation, you're going to be broke a long time. It's a lot. So be patient, do this the right way.

23% of the people surveyed said that they were worried about the economy. Oh. Okay, do you think this is like wisdom? Is this fear? I think it's mostly fear. Because when you say worried about the economy, it's such a vague what-if scenario. Like, what are they actually worried about? Just the economy collapsing?

Because that's, I mean, if that happens, we got way bigger problems than children. Yes. So what are they actually scared of fear? I think they're just, they're worried mostly about, I think when they say, that they're worried about inflation. That's really what it comes down to. Or their job, maybe. Or their job.

Yeah. Which is fair, but again, I think reality, putting facts on paper, having perspective of history, and stop watching the news. Most of the time these people, they're glued to every headline, every little thing that happens with the stock market, with the White House, they're freaking out. Yes, they're watching every little thing. 13% said that they have too much student loan debts. Outstanding federal student loans in the U.S. currently total more than $1.6 trillion owed by more than 43 million borrowers.

Ouch. Is that not wild? One study said that women with $60,000 in student loan debt are 42% less likely to have children than their non-endetted peers. Oh, interesting. And I get that. I mean, I think there's a truth that, man, when you feel burdened by debt. Yeah. And there's a lot going on financially that it's like, oh, starting a family.

That just feels overwhelming. Like that can feel like a stress point. So I get that. It's emotional and financial. I remember in the borrowed future documentary, which is free on YouTube, you can go watch it. It's awesome. But there's a guy named Josiah that I interviewed on the podcast version. And he's in the documentary and he's telling a story.

And he literally said, I feel like we can't have kids, number one, because I'm not the man I need to be because I'm carrying $100,000 in student loan debt. And I don't want to raise a kid in a podcast. poverty-stricken home. Those were his direct words and has stuck with me because that's how they feel emotionally. Yeah. And you run the numbers, you know, he's a teacher in the Midwest. He's not making $100,000. Right. Right. So to pay off $100,000 in student loan debt while having a kid, it's a lot. It's a lot. And so make a plan to get out of student loan debt, put it into that debt snowball we mentioned, small, so largest balance, regardless of the interest rate. And please don't wait on the freaking government to fix this. No, fix it. They don't have a great track.

track record fixing things. Not really. Not great. They're not like, no, they're not the best, I would say. I'm not going to play the game of will they or won't they. They're not the best. You take control. So, Rachel, one last reason people are scared to have kids is because they're scared they're

not going to be able to retire because of how expensive kids are. How are they going to save for retirement? They don't want to work until they're 65 these days. And so I want to touch on this because it's a real fear. And there's, I mean, you could crunch the numbers and argue that you could retire earlier if you didn't have kids. So if money is keeping a lot of millennials and Gen Ziers from achieving their dreams of starting a family, what is the solution, George? Oh, gosh, that's a loaded question, the solution.

I think they need to take the emotion out of it and focus on the things they can control, the things they can do, which the big one's getting out of debt. That's where I would start. If you are debt-free, emotionally, you can actually handle this. Yeah, for sure. I would agree with that. And I think just having a plan of knowing where you're going. Because I think a lot of people get stuck of where they are financially with a lot of debt payments. They may not be budgeting. They don't know where their money's going. I mean, it's just like this like whirlwind of just, I don't know what's going off my money. And it's amazing. When you have a plan in place and you have a destination that you want to go to, it's like, I want to go here.

And that's what the baby steps are. It's a great plan. And it gives you a level of control over your money that I think it does bring a level of peace to say, okay. And I'll say this money is a real. really important part of life, but it is not your whole life. Yes. Like, life is, there's so much more out there, you know, with relationships and marriage and kids and family and friends. Like, all of that is the important stuff. And what sucks is that money is the thing that, like, bogs people down so much, too. So releasing that and saying, hey, I'm going to have a plan to help me go and enjoy my life.

Because that's what money is. It's not a destination. Money is a tool to help you get to where you want to go. But here's the thing. With our plan, if you follow it, which means you're getting. out of debt, you have an emergency fund, you're investing 15% towards retirement, you're working on paying off the house early, saving for kids college. If you do those things, you can still retire with dignity and have kids. It's not like an either or. People do it all the time with

kids. Let me just say that. Invest for retirement and cover the cost of child care and kids. Yes, yes. It is possible, 100%. But it comes down to doing the budget. On paper, you go, okay, we put 15% towards our 401K. The rest is going to be allocated towards child. child care and all these things. If you're not doing a budget, I do think it's going to be much harder because you don't know where your money's freaking going. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So that's going back to having a plan and just saying, hey, this is exactly what we want.

But yes, don't let not starting a family happen and creep in just because you want to retire early. Yeah, not a good plan. But, you know, wanting to have your finances in order before having kids, that's a good goal. I think it'll be less stressful if you're out of debt with an emergency fund between hospital bills, child care, all of these things. It's expensive. Any final words of encouragement or advice for a father to be? Oh, for you, George.

Yeah. Where to save, where to splurge, how to overcome the fears. What would you tell a new parent? I would say that it's not going to go the way you think it will. That's not encouragement. I was hoping for encouragement. People have like your birth plan. I mean, you think pregnancy is going to go, even having the baby,

Even getting, right? Like, I mean, stuff just does not go the way you plan. So have what you want. So don't have this perfect picture of that. And if something goes off track, it's okay. It's okay. Give yourself grace. And every.

That's the encouragement you were secretly giving. Yes, that's what I was going to say. Give yourself grace and know that every, there's somebody on the plan. So I told myself that has had the issues that you're having. You're not alone. You're not alone. And you're going to be tired, but everyone has dealt, whether, again, it's the feeding stuff, whether it's pregnancy issues, labor and delivery.

You have very specific sleep training advice. I will sleep training. That's for another episode. Oh, my gosh. All of it. But you think it's going to go away. And when it doesn't, don't let that freak you out, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay.

And then financial side for those that are still worried on the money side of like, I don't think I can have a kid because of money. Oh, I would say that's not true. I mean, yes, if you have a good plan in place and you're working towards having peace with your money, that is going to help you in your overall life. But don't let money stop you from having kids. I just don't think that. I think getting married and having kids is a personal decision regardless of where you are with money.

And I mean, I would. But the more in control you are of your money, the less dressed you're going to be. That's fair. And that's a good. That's a nice thing to have. Well, you're a great mom. I think we can all agree on that. Not only a great person, but a great mom.

Thank you, George. And Winston's a great dad. Winston is a great dad. He's just a picture perfect. If I can just be like Winston, my kids are going to be okay. Which means I have to learn how to do like manly stuff. He's a great girl dad. Ask him some questions.

All right. We'll have Winston on the podcast. But it's hard, but it's hard. It is so hard. It is so hard. So I'll say that too. Thank you for your honesty. This was all very helpful and encouraging mostly.

Good. Thank you for that. Okay. So we are almost at the end of the episode. And at the end of every episode, we do a segment called Guilty as charged, where our producer, Lindsay, gives us a new guilty-charged question every week. And if we are guilty, we take a sip. So, Lindsay, what is it this week? I actually have two for you.

Oh, two for it. just too good. And I think one will be a shorter answer. So we'll move on a bit. All right. First up, have you ever called a not cute baby cute? Oh. Yes.

Yeah, I got to take a drink. Now you know what I do. You just say, oh, look at that. No, George. Not we're supposed to say. You've not done that. No. I say.

You have such a sweet baby. So you lie. I say your baby's precious. Sweet. Sweet and precious are different than cute. Because there are some ugly babies, and the parents don't know. I look back on some of our baby pictures of our kids. I'm like, they weren't cute in some of these pictures.

That's fair. They also don't. But you will never know. You think you know. You would think, oh, I'm going to know if my baby's not cute. You don't know. Oh, like you're blind to it. You're too close in the situation.

It's your DNA. So your brain automatically is like, that's cute. You genuinely think it's the most beautiful baby in the whole world. And then you will look back at some pictures. But what if she is? It's a possibility. And she will be. She will be.

If she looks anything like Whitney, she will be. It's a girl, but this, I will be very honest. And I'll say, I hope she has a great personality. You know, that's what you hope for. You're not going to know, George, regardless. But if I come in and I say, you have, she's. So sweet. If Rachel says you have a sweet baby, I'll know exactly what that means.

Oh. Wow. Okay. So guilty. Yeah. I've done it. I have told people, yeah, for sure. I know.

We're all good to have it. Now, if it is a cute baby, I'll caveat and say, I'll be honest. Some babies I don't think are cute. Yours is legitimately a beautiful baby. Same. Like, I lean into it. That's good. I love that.

Because I think all parents know that in the back of their mind, they might be lying. Yes, possibly. Or you just believe your baby really is that cute. And whenever it says, you're like, I know. Yeah. I can't guess. You don't care anyone else. All right.

Second up. Have you ever stayed with someone you were dating? So think back to, like, middle school, high school, college, after college, if you waited. All right. Because they bought you nice things. So did you stay with someone ever while you're dating them because they bought you nice things? Or like took you to do, like, really nice things. So I'm not going to break up with this person because the perks are too sweet.

Yeah. Whether it was status, stuff, whatever. No, but I got married. Yeah, I didn't have, I mean, there weren't a lot of stuff of high school working by. That's true. So, no, I mean, no. You know, Lids, they would do the custom hats.

This girl that, like, liked me, we, like, hung out. She went to the mall and bought me a camo trucker hat that said G-CAM in gold. Oh, no. From Lids. And that was, like, her gift to, you know. George. Just trying to court me, I guess. And you had the big swoop hair, right?

Yeah, I had the skater hair. It was like a big mop on my face. I mean, it was bad. But I didn't like her. So I said, I kept the hat. But he said, so he's guilty. But I didn't stay with it. I never dated her.

Oh, okay. Well, well, it doesn't count. Okay. Now, one thing that had, I'll admit this. I dated a girl once and we co-owned a bunny rabbit together. And so I like, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have admitted this. It's so random.

I should not have admitted this. It was one of the strangest situations. That is the weirdest thing I think I've ever heard out of your mouth, George Campbell. That is the most bizarre. George. A bunny rabbit. I heard you. I heard you.

And that is so weird. I didn't really want to do this. I don't believe you. It was not my idea. Oh, shoot. What was the name of the bunny rabbit? Nigel. The bunny's name was Nigel.

Can't make this up. You cannot make this up. This is odd. But it gets worse, Rachel. How does it get worse? So we had shared custody of this rabbit. And so we would split. Like one week she had the rabbit.

Stop it. The other week I had the rabbit. How old were you? I was, uh, I think I had just graduated high school. He's an adult. So I was probably, yeah, I was probably 18 years old. It was probably 18. Like not fully brain formed yet.

Not fully baked. But. What? The things we do for love. And so we, here's the worst part. She goes to India on like a summer trip. I break up with her while she's in India and then have to return the bunny to her house to her mom as part of this breakup and go, here you go. So she wanted the bunny.

Did you fight for the buddy? Did you fight custody? We did not have a custody battle over said bunny. I truly did not want said bunny. The smell of said bunny went like, you know, the cage. I can't. I don't do it. And so I was like, hey, here's her bunny.

She can have it. And then I left. And it was a very awkward scenario. That is... It was the last time I've ever co-owned an animal with someone I was not married to. Learned to the hard way. Oh, Nigel. I think he may still be alive.

He probably is. He probably is. God bless. So there's your lesson for the day, kids. Well, he finished her drink first. I think I'm closer. Yeah, you might be. It was a good one.

It got better as it got wired down, I think, from the ice. Yes. Okay, so here's what we were drinking. It is a mocked. Margarita. It has zero alcohol, so great if you're an expecting mother or if you just don't drink, which is a lot of our fans. I appreciate the comments of them saying, we love the mocktails. Keep coming. Yep, absolutely. So here's what's in the mocktail margarita. It's got lime juice, lemon juice, maple syrup, and some tonic water. Oh, and there's one ingredient we didn't tell you,

isn't it? Uh-oh. What? Pickle juice. There's pickle juice? Yes. Really? I didn't want to tell you because you wouldn't drink it. Wow. Because I guess it gives the taste of like tequila. Oh. Yeah, I've always thought when I have tequila, this kind of tastes like pickle juice. But, I mean, what do you think? That makes sense.

You would have never known. No, I will say, like, if you have a martini, there's a brinyness because of the olive juice. Sure, sure. That's similar to a pickle juice. So you're getting the same kind of thing. But the cost breakdown, it's just $1.73. So easy. So we'll put the recipe in the show notes.

Give it a try. Give it a try this weekend. And beautiful presentation in our Smart Money Happy Hour cocktail glasses, which are not available for purchase. But they are fun. We'll leave them wanting more. But they are fun. All right.

So if you guys liked this episode, make sure to share it with a friend. It's always helpful to get the word out and leave a review. We love the reviews. We love reading them because we love you guys. So thank you guys so much for listening. And we will see you next Thursday on a new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.