My Response to Graham Stephan
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- What's up, George? It's Guise here. I was scrolling through my YouTube feed and all of a sudden I saw a peculiar video with a peculiar title from a peculiar fellow, Graham Stephan. Graham reacted to my reactions to broke TikTokers, which is wild. I mean, a multimillionaire YouTuber talking about me? Kind of feels like your favorite teacher is grading your homework publicly. - That sounds terrible. - And now,

the student becomes the teacher, 'cause I'm grading his grading of my test, and that's the true test, and I will not be grading on a curve. Now, Graham and I have become friends over the years, and we don't see eye to eye on everything, mostly because he's 5'8", and I'm 5'10". And we don't agree on all things finance either. Like 30-year mortgages? Really, bud? Who has the time? Ain't nobody got time for that. But I appreciate that we both care about fighting broke TikTok advice. So here we go. George reacting to Graham reacting to George reacting to TikToks. Let's get to it.

Welcome back to the Graham Stephan Show. And as I'm sure you're aware, I'm a big fan of Dave Ramsey, George Camel, everything they do. Okay, what? Hold on, Graham. Three seconds in? What the heck was that? Is that the top of my head with the bottom of Dave Ramsey's face? Honestly, still handsome. Continue. I'm really a fan. Even though we have disagreements every now and then about debt and 30-year mortgages, we still get along. But one thing is certain that we both could agree on.

Broke TikTokers are back at it again. Thank you. And they're spreading such bad information. Wait, why did he show me that? Okay, good. What on earth is going on? We have failed with financial literacy. Amen. Comment on that. Yeah, Graham. As soon as you hit the like button and subscribe. 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. There's going to be an option for you to transfer your debt. Now I'm going to warn you, there is a one time transfer fee of like $200, but you're basically paying that transfer fee so that you can be interest free for 18 months. Now the thing is, she's not wrong about this.

If you're in massive credit card debt and you want to help get yourself out of it and you're paying 24% in interest, there are credit cards out there that offer you a low balance transfer fee. Grant, I thought you were going to say don't get in credit card debt. Instead, he's like, well, just do it on the 0%. All right.

18 months, 12 months sometimes, maybe a little bit longer, completely interest-free. And if you're responsible about it, yes, you could actually save a lot of money. Like just consider you have $10,000 of credit card debt at a 25% interest rate. You're spending $2,500 a year. Yeah, that's true. A lot of money wastes an interest. If you transfer it to a different credit card with 0% interest, you're saving $2,500 in a year that you could then use to pay down the debt.

It's fantastic. Now, the argument against this is that it really just excuses your behavior that got you into the situation. Thank you. And you're more likely to spend more money on other credit cards because now you've consolidated your debt. It's at zero percent interest. You have an extra twenty five hundred dollars. And there's nothing stopping you from just going and opening up another credit card and starting the process over again. And then you're in worse debt.

If you had the self-control. I got to pause him there. If you have the self-control. Have you seen the human condition, Graham? Look at the Taco Bell drive-thru at 11 p.m. Let's talk about self-control. We, okay, I can't explain the fall of man in this video, but it's dark stuff. Okay, I understand human psychology. And unless you're incentivized to do the right thing, discipline is hard to come by these days, especially when it comes to personal finances. Man.

Man, that is dark. Continue on about your self-control, my friend. Actually pay down your debt and take it seriously, yes, it gets my thumbs up of approval. But if you're going to still have the same habits that got you into the situation to begin with, it's bad because you don't really...

grow or learn from it because you're just going to say, oh, you know, I got to handle it. I'm going to do it again now. Thank you. That's true. So you got to handle the underlying issues if this is going to work. So technically she is correct, but psychologically a lot of people are going to screw themselves up over this. Let's see what George has to say. 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? Okay. A cockroach dad is probably someone who's a leech on society. He's probably doing the bare minimum, kind of using the system a bit. It's basically just a cockroach.

Oh, thank you, Graham, for the explanation. And that's what she was grown up around. That's what she was accustomed to. She wasn't taught proper financial habits. That's the way I interpret this. If there's a different meaning to cockroach dad that I'm unaware of, please correct me in the comments section. I'm all ears. I could be wrong on this one. That's my initial take. 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. Just freaking pay off your credit card debt and cut it up. So here's the thing. Like, I really like George Camel, but we have fundamental differences on psychology and credit cards. Now, this feels like a breakup. Just say you're breaking up with me, bro. I don't.

I can, hey, I'm a grown man, all right? This is like, hey, like, you're a great person. Just tell me, hey, I don't feel a connection here. We're not aligned on our values, and for those reasons, I'm out. No, but lay it on softly. For the normal Joe Schmo on the street, it's probably better that they just

pay off the credit card, transferring debt, because like I said, they might be more likely to transfer the debt and then have an extra credit card that's now available for spending. And they're just going to spend it back up again because they haven't solved the underlying issue of money problems. Okay. Uh,

I like to believe that people have some resemblance of self-control, where they could understand the principle behind, I may as well save $2,500 because I can. I could use that towards paying off the debt. And if I paid off a little bit faster, save some money that I could then invest into my 401k.

Something like that. So, okay, here's the deal, Graham. I'm with you that in a perfect world, we'd all pay off our debt. And you're clearly doing math here. But if we were doing math, we wouldn't be in credit card debt. Math would say, live on lesson you make, never ever be in credit card debt under any circumstances. But the problem is, here we sit with $1.2, $1.3 trillion in credit card debt. Let me ask you, Graham, how many dollars of debt are we in debit card debt? I'll wait.

Zero. Zero dollars in debit card debt. That's what happens when you use your own money instead of using someone else's money and hoping you'll pay it back later. I rest my case, Your Honor. So here's the TLDR on this one. You get a false sense of relief when you do one of these balance transfers. And like the girl mentioned, you've got to pay a transfer fee just to do this. So you've got to ROI on that fee before you even see any real meaningful savings. So to this I say, nay. Still, to this day.

This is exactly why it's so important to take your finances seriously. Like most people completely overlook the best ways to make the most of their spending. Like, for example, take a look at rents. Literally one third of the United States spends money on rent. How do we get to rent? Typically, that's just money out the door without getting anything in return. But thanks to our sponsor. I knew it.

I smelt it and you dealt it. All right, he's about to go into a sponsor and I will not allow that on my channel. So instead, I'll talk about a sponsor of my channel, which is Tello. They're a great way to lower your cell phone bill because they have the same great coverage as the big guys without the big price tag attached. And my family uses Tello and we love it. It was super easy to sign up from the comfort of our own home. Didn't have to walk into a store, didn't have to make a phone call. Just knocked it out online right quick. So if you want to check them out, they've got plans as low as five bucks,

all the way up to 25 bucks for the unlimited everything plan. And to save you even more, you can go to tello.com/george and get an extra five bucks off the unlimited data plan for your first month of service. And the best part, no contracts, no fees, just quality coverage at an amazing price. That's tello.com/george or click the link in the description below. And while we're at it, let me tell you how to get your savings to work harder for you. And that's with a high yield savings account like the one offered by online bank, Laurel Road, another sponsor of today's episode.

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while you sleep. So if you want to check them out, go to laurelroad.com slash george or just click the link in the description below. All right, let's get back to Graham reacting to me. He Uber Eats every day. Oh, this guy again. Getting downstairs in the elevator. Why are the shirts so tight? Trying to find a parking spot at Publix. Getting the food. Going home. Parking again. Going back up the elevator. Getting the pots and pans out. He makes a great case, though. I'm exhausted listening to him. I would say...

Objectively, eating at home is so much cheaper. And it doesn't have to be complicated. Thank you. Like one of those crockpots, basically. Throw a whole bunch of stuff in there. That's not a crockpot. At night, it's just cooked. It's not burnt. It's nothing. Even, by the way, there are just cheap places to go and get a good meal. Chipotle is an example of that where like,

- $11? - Yep. - I get two meals out of it. - Thank you. - I get dinner, and then I also get lunch the next day because you pile on all the stuff on it. It's a lot of food for the money. - Maybe me and Graham should go split a Chipotle bowl and do it for science. You know, kind of a lady in the tramp situation, except we don't meet in the middle. - I gotta get valet and get my G-Wag. - Oh, that was a good impression. - What a tough life. - This man clearly has never darkened the door of a grocery store.

Okay, and it shows. The part that makes this even better is- - I just wanna make Graham laugh. He's not laughing. - My cookie is for broke boys. You know what is for broke boys? Uber Eats every single day. - Uber Eats is the biggest rip off. - Thank you. - Unfortunately, I have like, every now and then I'll get a gift card for this, like Uber Eats, and I'll be like, "All right, I got $25." - Who's giving you Uber Eats gift cards? - It's so expensive. He's right. Let's just say a Chipotle at the store is $9.

Well, on the app, it's gonna cost you 12. And then all of a sudden, there's a delivery fee on top of that. And then all of a sudden, you have to tip on top of that. And then there's a tax. And by the time you're done with it, it's like $25. You're spending probably two and a half times the real cost of the item to get it delivered to you. Something with your brand. In some cases, sure. If it saves you more time than your time is worth,

Maybe that's a positive ROI. But again, it's just so objectively expensive. It's not this much. Graham's not doing it and he can afford it. All right. Graham and I largely agree on this one. He's saying, hey, if your time is worth more than it, then maybe. But even then, because here's the deal. I know Graham. He's making real good money. And even he is like, this is a ripoff and I'm not doing it. And I'll happily drive to Chipotle or grocery shop and create a meal for myself.

because he knows that getting ripped off, regardless of how wealthy you are, is not a good plan to build more wealth. Kapow! Truth bomb! I said what I said. Come at me. Oh, I remember this one. What living with $130K student loan debt for 10 years feels like. He's crying at the end. 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.

It's a scam. How is it not the biggest scam ever in the world? Student loan debt. Student loans are a scam. I'm with you on that. It just primes you to work a job that you don't like, to be a cog in the system, just to pay off debts that you didn't need in the first place, to keep you on the hamster wheel. And then by the time you finally pay it off, you're just now starting at like ground zero again at 35, 38 years old. And you can't afford a house yet because now you just paid off the student loans. Yep. And-

your career and your investment will step back because you spent this time in college. The money, it's a big scam. Certain circumstances, yes, legitimate, not a scam. But for a lot of things where it's like, I don't know what I want to do, so I may as well spend $60,000 getting a college degree on who knows what. Did they raise his voice? That way when I'm 22, maybe I'll have an idea. No, bad idea. Wow. Bad. If you're watching this at like, you know,

and you haven't gotten to college yet, and you're in that weird phase, figure out really what you want to do or go to community college. What weird phase? Is he talking about puberty? Get those two years out of the way at a really affordable price, and then determine if college is the right choice. I fully agree with Grandma on this one. If you're going to go to college, here's the two questions to ask. Is it the only way, and is it the best way? That's a direct quote from my friend Ken Coleman, who helps people figure out their careers. So you've got to think...

Is this the only way that I have to get this degree to get this job that I want? And is it the best way? Meaning, is it the most affordable option out there in order for me to get this degree? And if the answer is no, we got to pause.

Do some research and go, OK, I could do two years at a community college and then cash flow the extra two years at an in-state institution instead of paying 75K a year for the out-of-state school that has the nice brochure and landscaping and water slide and cafeteria or whatever. The education is simply not better because you went out of state and paid more. So if you're going to do this, make sure that you're doing it.

in cash. Don't go into student loan debt. Find another way. Take debt off the table. And then finally, make sure the degree you get actually has a marketplace value on the other side, a.k.a. a job that can pay you well for that education. Finally, we agreed fully on something. Thank you, Graham. All right, let's do one more. Why not increase the price and therefore increase the profit? Oh, the Arizona guy. Love this. We're successful. We're debt free. We own everything.

Why? Did he catch what he said there? He said, we're debt free. We own everything. We can do what we want because of that. I agree with that one as well. I think it's fantastic they do that. Part of me wonders how much of that is just a really clever marketing ploy. Like, it sounds great. And I'd like to believe them that it's like, yeah, we have no debt. We could afford to do this.

What's the ploy, Graham? I don't know if they have shareholders or investors to answer to, but I also wonder if it's like that branding, seeing that in the store, because I distinctly always remember you walk into a 7-Eleven, you see the thing, and it's big printed right there, 99 cents, like on the can itself. And you just see that. It's like, well, that's 99. Let me buy that. I'm wondering if that gets people in the door. Same thing with the Costco chicken.

They sell that below its cost just to get people in the door, make them hungry. That's called a loss leader. What do they got? They got energy drinks. They got Arizona hard ice tea. They have beer. They have Arizona snacks. Ice pops, fruit snacks, snack trays. They have merch. Graham, we got to get some snacks and hang out, bro. Maybe that's just a loss leader. But I also think it's fantastic that they have a 99-cent product these days that really puts them –

above the rest. So with that said, you guys, I'm going to link to George's channel down below in the description. Thanks for the link. I highly recommend. You go and follow there as well.

So sweet. That is so kind. Graham, thank you for that kind word at the end there. The part you left out on the Arizona one is that being debt-free gives you more options. And I know, you know, you've got some real estate debt sitting out there. You're not a fan of the consumer debt, which I appreciate. But imagine if you could just pay it all off today, which you can, because I remember Dave Ramsey reviewed your portfolio and said, dude, you got all this cash, just pay off the real estate and be done with it.

but you're hanging on to that debt. And I'm telling you, man, just emotionally, mentally, financially, you're going to be more free than ever, more options than ever. So there's my challenge to you, Graham. Become debt-free completely. And if you hate it, I'm sure there's more debt out there. There's more debt fish in the sea for you, bud. But thank you for reacting to my reaction and

We are going to continue this. So Graham is now going to react to my reaction to Graham reacting to me reacting to TikTok so that we can keep the YouTube algorithm happy. And before you go, do what Graham said. Subscribe to this channel because we're putting out that fire content and you don't want to miss another one. And if you enjoyed this one, keep watching for this next react to more crazy advice on social media or click the link in the description below. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.