cover of episode Money Expert Reacts to Broke TikTokers... Again

Money Expert Reacts to Broke TikTokers... Again

2024/10/11
logo of podcast George Kamel

George Kamel

Chapters

A TikToker suggests opening a new credit card with 0% interest to transfer existing debt and avoid interest for 18 months. George Kamel criticizes this approach, arguing that transferring debt doesn't eliminate it and suggests paying off existing debt instead of accumulating more.
  • Transferring debt to a 0% interest card delays interest payments but doesn't eliminate the debt.
  • A $200 transfer fee is involved in the "Hot Girl Debt" hack.
  • Kamel recommends paying off debt directly instead of opening new credit cards.

Shownotes Transcript

Aren't TikTok trends fun? Love it or hate it, TikTok is a great place to find stupid challenges, sweet choreography, and great skincare tips. But it's not always the best place to get financial advice. And TikTokers have been posting some pretty outrageous money videos, and my team has handpicked some of the juiciest ones for us to watch together, so we can separate the good from the insanely dumb. But before we start scrolling, pretend your finger is a tortilla and slap it on those like and subscribe buttons like it's 2022. And share this with your mom who still doesn't have TikTok because...

China and stuff. China. China. China. China. China. China. China. All right, let's get to it.

If you are in hot girl debt, I got you. Here's exactly what you're going to do. This was my first year ever being in debt, and it has been one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I do not recommend it. Avoid getting into credit card debt. It's not cute. Anyways, back to the tray. My schemer dad taught me this. He's a self-proclaimed cockroach to society. Step one, you're going to research new credit cards with 0% interest for 18 months. You're going to open up a new credit card. It will take you five seconds. While you're opening up that credit card, there's going to be an option for you to transfer your debt.

I had no idea you could do this. Like I said, it was my first year ever being in debt. I'm trying to get out of it real quick, but this changed my life. Now, I'm going to warn you, there is a one-time transfer fee of like $200, but you're paying that in interest anyways. You're basically paying that transfer fee so that you can be interest-free for 18 months. Basically, this is going to just buy you some breather time to get out of debt.

Okay.

There's a lot going on here that I think only a therapist can unpack. Number one, what the heck is a cockroach, dad? It's probably better if we don't know. Okay, so what she's talking about here is opening a new credit card and paying a $200 fee in order to transfer your debt so you can delay paying the interest you owe. So the hot girl debt hack is to...

move your debt from one debt to another debt because that gets you out of debt. Here's an even better hack that you don't need to be a hot girl to do it. Just freaking pay off your credit card debt and cut it up. Not opening new ones. Just don't get into more debt. Pay the debt you have off and never do it again.

Okay, the average interest rates on these things are like 22%. So what she's saying is, well, if you can get it to like a 0% card, then you can transfer it and just pay that off faster. Listen, moving debt around is not the solution. All right, don't just kick the can down the road. Get rid of it once and for all. But we do agree on one thing at least, credit card debt,

Not cute. All right, let's see what this bro has to say. I eat Uber Eats every day. I never cook. I keep an empty refrigerator. My dad's like, son, don't you think it'd be so much cheaper if you cooked? I said, let's talk about that scenario. Calling the valet. Getting downstairs in the elevator. Getting in the G-Wagon. Sitting in traffic on Biscayne. Trying to find a parking spot at Publix. Looking around the store for what I want. Dude, I want chicken or steak. Getting the food. All the ingredients. Going home. Parking again. Going back up the elevator. Getting the pots and pans out. Cooking. Like a pro.

- I'm an idiot. I'm cooking, saving money. The Dial soap that costs $8 a little bottle. Clean the dishes, clean the plates, nerds. - This man represents everything wrong with society. - I gotta get valet and get my G-Wagon? What a tough life. Dial soap is $8. - This man clearly has never darkened the door of a grocery store.

Okay, and it shows. He's stuck inside his house, apparently self-tanning. Savage burn, sir. The part that makes this even better is his caption. Why cooking is for broke boys. You know what is for broke boys? Uber Eats every single day. You know what they're charging for that? They're upcharging for every single item you purchase. There's a delivery fee. You got a tip, and if you're not tipping, you hate your grandmother. So all this adds up to a guy who works out too much in a tight shirt telling you that if you want to stay broke, then...

Cook, but if you want to be like me, buy Uber Eats every single day because somehow that is a path to wealth. Stop it. Stop it right now. Sorry. I'm sorry you had to see that. Let's just forget it, everyone. 12,000 likes. 12,000 likes on this crap. Can I read you some of the comments, though? If it's all about money, then don't buy a fridge if it's empty. Oh, sick burn. Got him. This is so Sigma. I don't know. Is that a fraternity?

I don't know what that is. Don't listen to idiots like this who tell you that cooking is a waste of time and you're an idiot if you do it and it makes way more sense to Uber Eats. That's not what you should do. What you can do is shop smart. You can meal prep for the week. It doesn't have to be expensive. It doesn't have to take a lot of time. You don't have to use 19 pans, okay? You just have to be intentional and that way you'll actually have margin left over to do things that really matter. And if you do Uber Eats every day, you're going to be broke forever and probably be friends with this idiot.

That's all I got. That's the nicest thing I can say. On to the next weirdo. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new. Nothing's new.

what living with $130,000 student loan debt for 10 years feels like. So here's the caption, which I think helps set the scene here. It says, "So many years felt like the same day, just trying to survive and get through to the next one." Well, Batty Brad, if that really is your God-given name, I have a lot of empathy for you. This is something a lot of people are living with. All right, 130,000 is a lot. The average student loan debt per borrower is over $38,000.

So if you're like Brad over here, you're in a tough spot, it's not hopeless. Okay, you can get out. I've met with lots of people who have gotten out of $100,000 or more in student loan debt and other types of debt as well. Here's how they did it. They use the debt snowball method. They list out all of their debts, smallest to largest. So I'm guessing Brad doesn't have one giant student loan. He probably has like 12 or 13 different student loans.

Break them all out, smallest to largest balance, ignore the interest rate, and attack the little one with a vengeance with all the extra money you can throw at it while making minimum payments on the rest. Now, depending on Brad's income, this might take a while. But on average, if you do the debt snowball method with intensity, it'll take 18 to 24 months. So picture that. Two years from now, you're completely debt-free. So Brad, if you're watching this, less tears, buddy, and let's get to work getting rid of this debt.

Let's see who's next. - I just saw a video of a girl asking people how much money they keep in their checking account before they start freaking out. And she said that her minimum balance that she never goes below is $4,000. I am just kind of like baffled, but wait, there's more because when I get into the comments,

there were multiple people and I barely scrolled through the comments but I must have seen at least four people say that they freak out if their checking account balance is under 10k that's that's a lot I'm gonna be fully honest here and say that for the past like 18 months I'm lucky if I have three digits in the checking account okay I I don't even have ten thousand dollars to my name okay hey hey

Hey, net worth, six feet under, baby. But if you're someone who has $10,000 in liquid assets, why is that not in a savings account? She's got a point. A high yield savings account, a regular savings account, or am I totally off base? And are all of y'all just walking around out here with four to $10,000 in your checking account on the daily? What?

Olivia, love the energy girl. Thank you for this video. It's fire. Here's the deal. Number one, I agree. $10,000 may be an exorbitant amount for most people to even think about having, let alone in their checking account. But here's the deal. You want to have some buffer in there, not zero. We don't want to go down to where we're constantly on the edge of overdrafting, but it's wise to have a thousand bucks, at least in a buffer in case you have things pop

up, your budget went over, whatever it may be, you don't want to go right down to zero. But you also don't need to have a crazy high ceiling to where you can never go below $10,000. So you need to decide what the number is for you. The key is you don't want to be broke every month. You want to have a separate emergency fund with three to six months of expenses saved up. Now in there, that might be 10, 15, $20,000, but it should be in a high yield savings account, which can earn you some really good interest.

So she's right. Most people really don't need that much in their checking account. And we know four in 10 people have $0 in savings and therefore they probably don't have much in their checking either. But it's wise to have a buffer and it's wise to have a high yield savings account to store your emergency fund and other savings goals. And a great one is offered by Laurel Road, one of the sponsors of today's video. Right now, your account balance earns 4.8% APY. Plus there's no minimum balance required to open an account,

Your deposits are FDIC insured, and there's no hidden fees. And if you want to talk to a real human being, Laurel Road has a premium care team that will take great care of you. Look, your money should be working for you. So if you've got too much in checking or you want a great place to stash your savings, check out Laurel Road. Go to laurelroad.com slash george or just click the link in the description.

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Back to the talk. Thank you, Brian, for this short but wonderful piece of content. The text over the video says, when you're just living life, and remember, you are in credit card debt. So he's living La Vida Loca over here until he realizes he's really living La Vida Broca. And it gets sad real quick. And he...

He comes to in a way. So this is funny and there's some truth and sadness to this. Debt can put a damper on your fun. I remember being in these shoes back in 2013, I was 40 grand in debt. I had 36 grand in student loans, four grand in credit card debt. And I was feeling a little anxious, a little frustrated, a little angry.

a little scared. But the way I got out was using the debt snowball method that I mentioned earlier. And I decided, you know what? I'm going to cut up the credit cards. I'm done with this. I'm going to use my own money. And that's when I really started to build wealth and make progress. So Brian, I hope you're not actually in credit card debt, but if you are, hit me up. I'll help you out. All right. This last TikTok better redeem them all because frankly, I need a win right now. Why not increase the price and therefore increase the profit?

That's what's up.

Love this guy. That is CEO Don Voltaggio of Arizona. And did you catch what he said there? He said, we're debt-free. We own everything. We can do what we want because of that. They can keep the price low because they've been smart with money and they don't have to make debt payments every month, which means they're not as desperate for the profits. And this totally applies to your own life and to your own personal finances.

When you owe nothing to anyone, it frees up more money to be generous. So thank you, Arizona, for teaching us all a lesson. And please keep those Arnie Pommies coming, because they are absolutely fire. All right, that is more than enough TikTok for one day. And somehow, we ended on a high note. So if you see any good money-related videos as you're doom-scrolling in your PJs at 1 a.m., DM me a link on Twitter or Instagram, at George Camel, and I'll try to include it in the next video where I give the internet my two cents.

And speaking of giving my two cents, keep watching this next video to see how I ticked off a million people with one of those cents, or click the link in the description to check it out. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.