Transcript

Season 5 of Tell Us a Good Story Begins!

[0:00] Hello, friends. We are back. We’re back, baby.
Welcome to the beginning of Season 5 of Tell Us a Good Story.
Today, we get to talk to another Ramsey personality, an author of the new book titled Breaking Free from Broke, Mr.
George Camel. You guys, George has his own YouTube channel and is co-host of The Dave Ramsey Show, which is the second largest radio show in America.
It’s easy to understand why George was selected to be a personality of the radio because he has such fantastic stories and is very, very funny.
From renting a real life camel for his wedding reception to sharing what it’s actually like to work at Ramsey Solutions to the hilarious story of what he accidentally said to Dave Ramsey live on the air that thankfully did not get him fired.
This was such a fun conversation, you guys, and we can’t wait for you to hear this episode with Ramsey personality, George Camel.
I’m Kevin. And I’m Stephanie. And during our marriage, We have dealt with an electrocution a brain tumor brain surgery then doctors telling us that children were not in our future Followed by miscarriage and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis However, today we live a life completely healed and restored with three healthy children who doctors said were not possible And we’re here to tell stories that inspire give hope and brighten your day.
Welcome to tell us a good story. I.

Introduction and plea for support

[1:22] Okay, friends, before we get to this episode, just a friendly reminder to please hit the subscribe button on YouTube and Apple podcast or give us a review. Five stars, please.
In our world, this is super, super important because it will help with the algorithm to make it easier for people to find us.
And thank you for sharing our post across your social media.
That really helps with engagement and with us getting guests.
Yes. So, hey, if you want us to keep working our way up to talking to Chip and Joanna, please share us with your friends. But regardless, thank you for listening to tell us a good story.

[1:55] All right, Steph, this is going to be so much fun.
He’s like our trifecta from the Ramsey personality group. I love his personality. I love it already.
Well, friends, our next guest is a Ramsey personality and personal finance expert.
And he is the author of the new book titled Breaking Free from Broke.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to tell us a good story. Mr.
George Campbell. George is here.
Yes. Thank you. Enough, enough. Keep it going, but enough. Well, first off, thank you for saying yes to us.
Can I start? I have a question for you. Okay. We’re entering Christmas season.
When we record this, yes. Yes. And my husband has a very hard time during the season because everything’s on sale.
So George, he has a $150 budget to spend.
Last year, he spent over $1,500 on himself.
Okay. Okay. This feels more like marriage counseling than a financial question. Listen.
Right. She’s been wanting to get this off her shoulders, right?
I’ve been having, it’s been bubbling for a year now.
I’m never gonna see these prices the rest of the year, George. There it is.

George’s perspective on returning purchases

[3:01] Scarcity mentality, Kevin. That’s how they get you.
See? That first weekend, I’m like, anything and everything, I’m like, okay, if my mom, if your mom.

[3:10] Always comes to you and says, Hey, I need an extra 30 bucks.
I need an extra 50 bucks or whatever.
Do you have something for Kevin? I can give it to my wife and say, Hey, here, give this to them, right? It’s going to fit me. I’m going to love it. It’s going to be perfect.
However, last year, I just ordered a bunch of stuff. I didn’t know what was going to fit me. Got my most favorite retailers.
I asked Steph, okay, how much, how much money do I have? Do you need from your, our parents and stuff? She’s like 150 bucks.
George, I looked, I had spent like $1,500 that that I was going to return it.
Just baby bit. So it’s like, okay, I’m going to make some tough choices here.
And I mean, I returned literally $1,350 worth of merchandise to the store.
Yes, you did. That’s what I do, and it drives my wife crazy.
So I’m basically needing you to be like, Kevin, you don’t need to do this.
Oh, I have never related more to Steph. Really? I am team Steph here.
Because this happened to my wife, okay? Okay, she went to Target and she bought $500 worth of throw pillows.
And she was like, hey, do we have room in the budget? I was like, no, we don’t have a $500 throw pillow budget this month.
And then she said these words that Kevin knows very well. Well, I’m going to return almost all of it.
And so then you can’t argue with that because she said she’s going to return almost all of it.

[4:27] But then what do you do in the budget? You have this like financial conundrum of what happens this month until the money is returned and how much will she actually return?
Then this is my favorite part. You guys relate to this. She comes home and she returns it. She goes, I made us $300 today.
I returned the pillows. I went, you didn’t make us money. You just spent a little bit less.
So I totally understand. There’s my first story of the day.
And it’s a classic marriage conundrum. There’s always one that can justify the spending because of the return policy. policy. One thousand percent.
That’s what he does. Yes. But you guys need each other for balance.
I totally agree. Yes. OK, so like you said, we’ve talked to the trifecta now, George.

George’s debt journey and college experience

[5:07] You’re the third Ramsey personality that we’ve been fortunate enough to talk to.
And of course, Dr. John Deloney and Jade, they’ve got amazing stories.
Jade had like almost a half a million dollars of debt.
So can you share the story of like when you started in 2013, the amount of debt you had? right? And can you share your story with us?

[5:25] Absolutely. So I had followed the classic path that we were told.
My parents were immigrants.
They came from the Middle East in the 80s from Egypt and Syria.
I was born here stateside as a first generation American.
And so what do you do? They want a better life for the kids.
So you got to get the education, you know, very much about getting the good grades and getting into the college of your dreams.
What I didn’t know is the college of my dreams cost $200,000.
And apparently we didn’t have that kind of money. But my parents were kind of just like, well, we’ll figure it out.
You know, we got this. I was like, wow, they must have some secret trust funds set up for me. This is amazing.

[5:59] And I chose a different school because I knew going $200,000 into debt for a film degree, even as a knucklehead, you know, 17-year-old, I was like, this probably isn’t going to pan out.
Like, I am not quite Scorsese over here. So, like, let’s not pretend.

[6:14] So I ended up going to a state school. And still, over the course of the next four years, I racked up $36,000 of student loan debt.
And a lot of that was I didn’t really understand how it worked you know you go to the the guidance counselor and they go right look at this financial aid package that involves loans at a better interest rate and you’re like okay I guess I’ll take that and then there’s the parent plus loans and all of a sudden you wake up as a graduate going I got 11 loans or 36,000 my minimum payments are 400 bucks and rent is this much and I couldn’t breathe and so I was living on credit cards and I had my SkyMiles American Express card that was It was a huge blessing to my life, getting those sky miles as a broke guy who couldn’t even afford to travel.

[6:54] And I woke up one day going, this can’t be it. I was frustrated.
I was anxious. I was stressed.
And I went, I was lied to by so many people in my life, by society, by the guidance counselors, by well-meaning parents and people in my life. And I needed a change.

George’s path to financial freedom and joining Ramsey Solutions

[7:10] I knew my plan wasn’t cutting it and I couldn’t continue this way.
And so luckily I found Dave Ramsey. I got an internship here as a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, broke 23-year-old.

[7:20] And that began the journey. I went through Financial Peace University as part of onboarding. I deprogrammed all these money myths that I had come to believe.
I started to have some hope that I could actually get rid of this debt in my lifetime.
And so over the course of 18 months of side hustling and lean cuisining and Ubering and lifting, I ended up paying off that $40,000 in consumer debt in 18 months and was debt-free.
And there was no better feeling. Well done.
Okay, so your degree, nothing to do with finance.
No, I got a communication degree. I thought I was going to go into like media and film and journalism.
That’s all the stuff I loved. Little did I know I’d be on the other side of the camera instead of behind it.
And so the thing that is the thread through all of it is I’ve always loved and appreciated and respected and admired those who share incredible messages in creative ways that impact people. Right.
And so I get to do that now, but with money, because these principles changed my life.
It helped me go from broke to now household net worth millionaires with my wife and I.
And I didn’t think it was possible for me, let alone in 10 years, because I was just the average George.
I didn’t grow up with money. I didn’t have a trust fund. I wasn’t handed anything.
I had to just work my butt for it. But it gave me hope that if I can do it, anyone can.
So when you started working at Ramsey Solutions, and now your personality, does everyone ask you financial questions?
Are you at like Thanksgiving and people are asking you or your school or church and people are coming up just drilling you with questions? How does that work now that you’re a Ramsey personality?

Coworkers and Family Avoid Financial Discussions

[8:49] You know, the coworkers surprisingly don’t ask many questions.
I think they have, you know, they’ve got Jade Warshaw and Dave Ramsey.
So they’re like, we’ll, we’ll save George that we’ll spare him.
But family, I’ve learned to not talk about it more than I have to learn to talk about it.
So unless they ask me, I don’t bring up finances it’s like a hot button issue in my direct family but outside of that i do have a lot of friends people from high school or college or old buddies they’re messaging me on facebook and sending me the text like hey man like just wanted to know like am i doing this the right way would you advise anything and so it always means the world when someone uh even dr john deloney like called me up and he’s like hey dude i’m at a date with a date night with my wife we’ve got this financial question i felt like he was phoning a friend on who wants to be a millionaire it was a a huge honor and so it does happen from time to time but generally it’s strangers on the internet that uh i want to like send me a 14 paragraph dm and i’m like hey you got to call the ramsay show i wish i could help you in the dms but it’s difficult, Okay, so don’t be concerned if you get a text message or something from my wife saying, hey, my husband’s driving me nuts with these Christmas returns, right?
Can you talk to him? Some people can’t be helped, Steph.
You know, there’s only so much I can do. I can’t change a person.
I would be happy to help you guys anytime.

Favorite Book and Promotion of “You Met Her Where”

[10:06] All right, Steph, I’m going to test you again here. What is your favorite book of all time? Obviously, it’s the Bible, Kevin.
Yes. Nailed it. Very good. Good. This time you didn’t say the book we wrote called You Met Her Where.
But it’s still a really good book. That is true. And it would make a great gift for friends or relatives on their birthday or for Christmas.
Friends, you can order your copy of our book titled You Met Her Where at kevinandsteph.com.
And we will make sure to personally sign a copy for you or whoever you want.
And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.

[10:38] Okay, George, I have worked for a few Fortune 500 companies.
So I’ve got experience working with large companies. these. I’m fascinated by Ramsey Solutions because Jade, when we were talking to her, she said that the Ramsey Solutions has like several hundred people there at your home office in Tennessee, which I didn’t realize it was that big.
So I’m just thinking, I’m putting myself in your shoes, like if I’m working there versus JPMorgan Chase, what it’s like.
Okay. So I’ve got a handful of questions here and you confirm if any of these are true.
Confirm or deny. First off, yes. During your interview, during the interview process at Ramsey Solutions, do they pull your credit report?
Right in front of you and walk through your personal finances to see what it is.
No, I wish. There has been a narrative of that outside. You’re like, I heard they check your wallet every time you walk in the door to see.
No, there was no credit report checking. There was no wallet checking.
It’s a lot of the honor system around here. The one thing that they do dig into, and I think is a really cool way to.

[11:37] Make sure that you’re going to be a fit here, is they have you do a personal budget, a very basic bare bones they’re not wondering what your netflix subscription costs it’s just going hey we want to make sure that your personal finances align with what we can pay you to be here and that you’re not going to be in a lurch by taking this position and it’s really cool some people are doing it for the first time and it’s a real eye-opener for them to do the budget and so it’s not like a test there’s no right or wrong answers here uh and no there are no credit reports unfortunately so we do like to every time in the cafeteria i like to check to see what kind kind of card people are using, you know, as they swipe to pay for their lunch.
But so far, I have not caught anyone trying to swipe the Capital One.
Everyone is very, they actually practice what they preach. And if they work here, they believe in the principles.
And that is something we ask is, how have these principles affected your life?
Like, do you believe in this mission?
Because if we tell people not to use credit cards, and then we’re hypocrites inside this building, we lose all the trust.
And so when you check my phone and wallet, I own one debit card and a license it’s a very simple life and I love it but people are always like what you really don’t have a credit card like I know you tell people to not but you don’t, Well, you’re missing out on the miles and points. And I’m like, bro, you really don’t get it, do you? Like, I believe this stuff.
I have drank the Kool-Aid, and it is good, and a better life is on the other side.
See, that was my question for you. Like, in the cafeteria, there are credit card machines.
I didn’t know if you guys all had to pay cash for the things.
Are you required to pay with cash? Yes.

[13:03] Well, you know, the machines, they’ll take debit cards. And so while some people do pay with cash, we will always accept cash.
I use Apple Pay, to be honest with you. My debit card is loaded up, and so I double tap on my phone while carrying the pizza, and I move on with my day.
So I have seen the old school folks who got the envelopes out because they’re really doing it. They’re in baby step two trying to get out of the debt.
They’ve got $50 to spend on lunch this week. They’re doing it.
And a lot of people bring their lunch, to be fair.
The line just to the microwave is long here because we practice what we preach, again.
And people go, it’s cheaper to bring food from home even though the cafeteria is a killer deal. You guys should come by sometime.

[13:43] Okay. Do you have vending machines in your offices?
You know, we don’t have vending machines, but the cafeteria, we have like, you know, a whole wall of different sodas and drinks and all of that and snacks, you know, chips and all of that.
So there’s no old school vending machine, but you just kind of grab it and pay for it and move on with your day.
And we do have free coffee here. If you’re inquiring minds, we do offer free coffee and a great coffee bar where you can buy, you know, fancy lattes and all that.
I’m shocked you have a cafeteria. I honestly thought you may not because it was going to force everybody to bring in their own lunch and bring in their own coffee.
So I’m actually impressed you have your own cafeteria there.
We stepped it up as we built this giant headquarters.
We were like, listen, our team members beforehand, I remember those days, we were all scattered, traveling around to grab some lunch and come back and eat at our desk.
Now we have an amazing cafeteria staff that’s run by a third party.
So it’s not our team cooking back there. And so I respect that.
I love it. I haven’t brought a PB&J in a long time, I’ll be honest with you.

[14:43] Are you so thankful you no longer have to bring a PB&J? Right.
It’s one of the reasons my wife and I had a goal to get out of debt, to get the house paid off.
We wanted to have the margin to enjoy life and have a little more time.
And part of that is we eat out a little bit more.
I eat in the cafeteria for lunch. You know, she’s not packing me a little lunch every day, although that would be adorable.
But we have a three and a half month old. So I feel like that’s a lot to ask of her right now.
Okay. Okay, so I was thinking this out loud because this happens a lot in non-Ramsay Solutions organizations.

[15:15] If you happen to tell a coworker that you booked a vacation using credit card points, is that a fireable offense at Ramsey Solutions?
How does that work? Now, that’s a good question.
I don’t know if I can confirm or deny that. I think there would be a conversation if you brought that up.
I bet there would be. you know i i haven’t heard that situation come up with the hr where they’re like hey we had to bring him in right mentioned he bought it with the credit like i don’t think it’s that legalistic but i do think there would be a conversation to go like hey man are you like are you bought in like do you really believe this stuff because we heard you you’re buying vacations with credit card points over here uh but again people’s at work here it’s not like they come in and they have to be debt free to work here right so people come in with all different situations so in my mind i’d I’d go, wait, were these credit card points before he worked here? Did he rack them up while he was here?
You know, I’d start to get wishbone on the case and get to the bottom of this to figure out the real situation.
But the truth is a lot of spouses, you know, I can’t guarantee that every spouse from every team member at Ramsey Solutions is 100% on board.
That’s a lot to ask. But many of them are. I know mine is because she works here at Ramsey too. So that’s a whole other love story.

[16:22] Okay, last one. You guys are in the parking lot. Somebody rolls in with a new car. You’re like, ah, those are new tags.
Do you start asking, like, is this a brand new car? Is this a brand new used car?
Is there a pressure? Did you pay cash for this car? To tell people I did not take a loan out for this car.

[16:41] Oh, you guys are asking the real questions. Okay, to be honest with you, I have had that thought because I’m nosy and I have a dark curiosity.
So when I see a team member, I’m like, is their spouse independently wealthy?
Because I know they can’t be making that much. They’re not making Beamer money.
And so there is always that thought.
But again, I always assume the best and I give them the benefit of the doubt.
And some of their spouses, you know, they and they may be in a financial spot where they can do it and they do it with cash.
I can’t imagine someone like I couldn’t live with that if I took out a car loan and then drove up to work in that vehicle and went to work helping people avoid car loans. Like, that just hurts my brain to think about.
So I have not heard any stories of people actively taking out car loans while they’ve worked here.
The ones I’ve talked to are all like, I’m working on getting rid of the car loan.
You know, I started six months ago, we’re working on Baby Step 2.
So those are the stories I’ve heard.

The Ramsey Bubble: A Countercultural Financial Oasis

[17:34] But George, here’s what’s weird. Like every other organization, nobody cares.
If you get a car, it’s like, oh my gosh, let’s go for a test drive.
Cool car, let’s go for a test drive.
Nobody is thinking like, oh my gosh, I wonder if they pay with cash for this.
Or did they take, like that never crosses anybody’s minds.
That’s true. We are a bunch of nerds in the Ramsey bubble. Completely different world. But in a very cool way.
Yes. It’s very rock and roll. When you look across a parking lot and you’re like, these are all paid for cars, baby.
No one in this building even has a credit card in their wallet. it like we all admit this is a weird place to work like we talk about how we breathe rare air here and when people visit us from all over the country they feel it there’s a certain sort of presence to it all when you walk in you go this place is different man this is countercultural and that’s what dave has been building for 30 years and he’s worked hard to protect that because this mission is too important to have people just come here for a job and a job when they don’t actually believe in what we teach is there a sense of freedom when you walk into your building Oh, absolutely.

[18:31] Yeah. I mean, when you think about the lives that we’re impacting, the legacies that just the team members are creating, the ripple effect of just 1,000 people that work here becoming debt-free, paying off their homes, investing for the future, their kids aren’t going to go to college with debt.
I mean, the generational effect on that blows my mind.
But then also, people visit from all over the country, and we meet them in the lobby every day as we host the Ramsey Show.
And they’re telling us their stories, and they’re going, hey, we’re Baby Steps millionaires. We never thought we’d be here.
All these five kids, we cash flow their college education.
And it’s just like, this is crazy that these people just exist all around us in a world that’s filled with debt and stress and anxiety and divorce.
And we get to meet these people who are actively building a better life for themselves.

The Incredible Feeling of Being Debt-Free

[19:12] Well, George, you mentioned this earlier, but two years ago.

[19:15] You and your wife became completely debt-free.
Mortgage paid off, all of that. So what is that like, right?
When you finally pay off the mortgage? mortgage. Are you like rolling around in your backyard in the grass because you own the whole thing?
Like, what is that feeling like, George? It is an incredible feeling.
And I would say that I like to roll around in my backyard, but our two French bulldogs, they do their business back there and I have trust issues.
So I have yet to do the roll around, but it is an incredible feeling.
And there’s a few angles on it. One, of course, is just financially.
I mean, you just look at the budget and the margin and you freed up a $1,500 mortgage payment or $2,000 mortgage payment or even more.
It’s incredible what that does. That’s $24,000 a year that we now freed up to do what we want with.
We can give more generously. We can take a better vacation.
We can upgrade the car. We can save more for retirement.
So it just opens up so many options. And my wife right now is on maternity leave.

[20:11] And when she went on maternity leave the conversation was hey if you want to stay home you go for it girl you know and so she’s still you know having that conversation but the fact that it wasn’t even a financial conversation of are we going to be able to afford this when you don’t have a house payment and you don’t have any debt and sally may isn’t you know breathing down your neck it’s easier to make life decisions and so that’s the the emotional part that’s freeing is nobody can take our house away nobody can take our cars away and if life happens we have an emergency fund and no payments and we’re investing for the future and our little girl that was just born she’s not gonna know debt and like that’s an incredible feeling of legacy that we get to leave and in the meantime while we’re still on this earth we get to do some really cool things we get to dream about right what kind of car do you want to get like we can get some nice stuff we can go on that vacation but we can also go how cool would it be to like cover adoption fees for a family or like buy that single a single mom that’s struggling what if you just buy her that used car so that she can get her kids around safely.
That’s what life is really about to me. And as I start to think about impact and legacy, it becomes less about the stuff and it becomes more about what kind of options does this give us to give generously, to build wealth for the future and give an inheritance to our children’s children, as the Bible says.

[21:26] I love that. Did you do, what’s it called? The debt scream or the- Yes, the debt-free scream. The debt-free scream. Did you do it?
We did, and it was a funny story because I was hosting the Ramsey show at the time, and so I thought, what if I’m on the show with Dave the day we do our debt-free scream?
And so what happened was, Dave teed it up, and he goes, all right, we got a debt-free scream on the stage.
It’s Whitney’s out there. And he goes, George, you should probably go join her. And I go, oh, my gosh.
So I scramble from around the desk, run out to the lobby, join my wife on stage, and we got to do our debt-free scream solo with Dave in the studio and share our story. And on top of that, we brought…
Our french bulldog olive to celebrate with us so in the debt-free scream which is on youtube you guys can play the clip we’re holding our french bulldog as we scream it was a real special moment steph what is one of the most asked questions we get about tell us a good story uh do i really get that excited besides that one oh how do we get all these incredible guests correct and some of our best conversations have been with guests who are listeners have reached reached out to us and said, you should talk to this person.
To name just a few, Nick Vujicic, Coach Tom Ryan, Carol Matico were all recommendations from our listeners.
So if there’s someone you would like us to interview and think they might be a great fit for Tell Us a Good Story, please let us know at kevinandsteph.com.
You don’t even have to personally know them. True. But do me a favor.
Before you submit their names, please make sure they are still alive.

[22:54] That has actually happened. And it is super hard for me to find their contact information. But regardless, thank you for listening to tell us a good story.

George’s Rise from Temp to Co-hosting The Ramsey Show

[23:28] Like he said, at Ramsey Solutions to speaking at their live events, co-hosting The Ramsey Show, co-hosting Smart Money Happy Hour podcast, plus hosting his own YouTube channel.
The Ramsey Show stuff is America’s second largest syndicated radio show. Wow.
So first off, well done, George. That’s amazing.
I can’t take much credit for that one, but thank you. It’s an honor to stand on Dave’s shoulders.

[23:53] Amazing what you’ve done in 10 years to go from temp to co-hosting.
So what’s scarier, the first time on stage at one of these live events or the first time sitting next to Dave taking live radio calls?
Oh, my goodness. Well, just audience wise, when you think about how many listeners are listening live, like you don’t feel the pressure because there’s no people right there necessarily watching.
But in your mind, you’re like millions of people are listening right now.
And if you screw this up, this is your last day on air.
With the live event you do get the more you know visceral reaction from the 5 000 people so i remember kind of auditioning to be a host at a live event and ken coleman’s in the background he’s cheering me on because i’m like ken needs me to take over and dave the first thing dave does when he walks on stage he walks up like a dad and he fixed my rumpled suit collar that was all jangled and i was like i’m not doing it so far like before the event even starts dave is having having to fix my attire because it’s so unprofessional.
And so that was a, it was a rough day. I wouldn’t say I nailed it, but I also didn’t bomb either because they let me take the job and I got better with every single event we did.
But it was, there was a fear, but I also was more comfortable on stage.
I had a lot of stage experience being a musician and hosting some other things.
But radio was a different beast for me because you don’t really have the reaction of the crowd.
You don’t have your physical movement. It’s all about what you’re saying and how you’re connecting. And so you’re much more aware of every single word going into that microphone.

[25:22] When you are talking and there’s an audience member, have you ever had like any hecklers where you’re like stating your facts and they’re like lies or that’s not right? Have you ever had to deal with anything like that?
Oh, wow. You know, live events, you never know because people that go to live events are a little bit weird anyways.
You know, if you’re going to like a financial live event on a Saturday, you know, that’s a different kind of person.
And so naturally you get some folks that want to yell things at you.
And so I learned early on because I used to, when I was 15 years old, I would play, you know, acoustic guitar sets in Starbucks and I was a songwriter.
And I learned very quickly how to deal with hecklers. And the key is, number one, with bullies, and that was even earlier, growing up with bullies, I learned you get to the joke first before they do because it deflates them.
You steal their thunder.
You know, when you can make the short joke before they do with confidence, they’re like, dang it, what do I do now? He took my move.
And so I found with hecklers, you just sort of play into it or ignore them.
And you don’t feed the trolls.
That’s what I’ve learned. In the comment section, live on stage, never feed the trolls. It’s what they want.
So I always do the opposite of what they want. And usually that tends to shut it down.

Dealing with Hecklers and Dave’s Feedback

[26:33] Okay, have you had any issues with Dave where you said something, you gave financial advice, and he’s like, that was dumb, George.
Totally disagree with that. Like, have you had any issues with that?
Dave is not shy about just letting you know you’re wrong live on air.
So there’s been moments like that. And he’s very kind about it.
Like he’ll kind of let you talk and he’s like, uh, regardless of what George said, here’s what you need to be doing.

[26:55] There was one time though, where my filter wasn’t working great.
And I’ll tell you this story. Cause it’s, it’s a funny one. It was live on air.
So I’m sure it’s still on YouTube somewhere.
We were heading into the break and Dave’s one of Dave’s great motivational pieces is if I can get control of that guy in the mirror, he can be skinny and rich.
My filter wasn’t working that day. So I instantly responded, well, Dave, you’re one for two.

[27:17] And it took him a second to realize what I had just said. He just looked at me and just like daggers in the eyes. But we went to break.
So I was like, there was no time for him to respond. It was great.
And we had a good laugh about it. So sometimes I like to poke the bear. Yes. To your boss.
I love it. All right, Steph, next fun fact here. George, I’m jealous of you in this regard because he has met some incredible people as a Ramsey personality.
He has pictures on his Instagram of meeting and connecting with the stud Navy SEAL, Jocko.
And our favorite comedian, Nate. Nate Margazzi! No!

[27:55] We finally impressed Steph. I love Nate Margazzi! Oh, George, love that man. Okay, what was that like?
I’m sure that’s probably one of the pinch me moments since you’ve been a personality. yeah there’s a there’s a funny story there I’ll tell you I don’t know that anyone knows this or I should even be saying this but it was funny because we were excited when we heard like hey we could get Nate Borghese on the show on the Ramsey show and Ken Coleman and I had this brilliant idea of like what if Nate’s on with us you take financial calls and Nate is giving advice to people we’re like this is a brilliant this is brilliant radio I know where this is going so then our producer James is like hey I need to make sure that nate’s team knows that like dave isn’t going to be there that day and so this is not a knock on nate but i think they found out like hey dave’s not going to be there do you want to reschedule to when dave is there and they went like yeah oh absolutely we’d rather have dave yes and so i we didn’t get this amazing opportunity to have nate on taking financial calls it was a very standard but fun interview with dave but he was he was such a nice guy he is exactly who he seems like he is like when i met him he was like just like slumped down on the green room couch just Just staring off in the distance and just fully Nate right down here.
Very dry, but very gregarious sweet guy.

[29:10] So that’s his personality offstage. Exactly. Yeah. Really. He is the same guy.
And he just turns that little notch on to go full Nate where he’s, you know, goofing around in the driest way, telling the funniest stories.
Yes. But Nate’s a super nice guy.
Jocko, frightening, but also very kind.
Good. To know that, you know, he could kill you. Oh, yeah. And you would never see your body again. Like, that’s who you’re talking to.
Don’t look at him in the eyes. Yep. Don’t do it. Don’t take him off.
So I was in honor to just, like, flex next to him and then realize I got some work to do.
So, George, of course, I saw the interview with Nate Bargetze.
And immediately when it came up with Dave Ramsey, I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, does he know he’s going to get asked financial questions on this? Like, this doesn’t seem like a good fit.
And so I watched it and I busted out laughing because he talked about how he moved Dave Ramsey, right?
Like 20 years ago when he was a mover and stuff.
And then Ken tried to ask him an actual financial question. And immediately I’m like, OK, this isn’t going to go well.
And Nate’s like, I don’t know. My wife does all the paying the bills.
I don’t even know what bank we have.
I should ask my wife. And then that was the end of the interview. Like, done.
Okay, that’s enough financial questions for him. Thanks for being here.
That’s why I thought it would be so funny. Because Nate notoriously loves to be like, I have no clue what I’m doing.
My wife is the adult. I just live here.
And so we thought, I still think there’s room for that. So Nate, if you’re listening, I know you’re a big fan of Tell Us a Good Story.
Please come on The Ramsey Show. Come back with us. We’d love to have you.

First-time parenting: Surprised by the long list of baby items

[30:36] All right step next fun fact on august 25th as he mentioned a little bit ago george became a dad for the first time when his daughter mia jane was born at 9 20 a.m so first off congratulations life-changing but as a first-time parent were you surprised by how many things you have to get or how many things they’re asking you to buy because like when we were first-time parents I was shocked. They’re like, okay, you need this bouncy thing.
You need this jumper. You need all these big things that take up so much real estate.
Thankfully, we were smart enough to do Facebook, marketplace, garage, lots of garage sales, because half the stuff our kids didn’t even like, but they’re big. And if you get them new, they’re very expensive.
So were you surprised by that as a first time parent here?
Yeah, well, you’ve figured out really quick when the registry happens, you know, you got baby showers and all that.
So my wife is working on the registry, God bless her for just manning that and then I looked at the registry and there was.

[31:35] 227 items and growing and counting and I’m just going like where’s this gonna go in the house Yes, financially recover from this and so as the items just kept showing up to the house and people were so generous, Gifting us things it became it got to the point where I was like, please stop gifting us things Like how many of these do we need?

[31:55] Because all you really need, and you guys know this now, but it’s like, it’s diapers and wipes and burp cloths.
And so there was a few things that were like the bigger ticket items that like frightened me.
When I found out there’s this really fancy bassinet that’s like automated and it’s called a snoo. Have you heard about this? Yeah.

[32:11] So our friend generously let us borrow a snoo because it’s like the cost of a Kia Forte for this bassinet. Oh my gosh.
And so we are borrowing that. So we’re being smart about that.
We’re unwilling to pay the price. But we did spring for the bougie stroller Which was okay, you know halfway a gift from from my family and then we covered the other half and so we got the this Was a big news on the Ramsey show Rachel and I covered this because there’s a question between spouses They went my husband won’t let me get the really bougie stroller.
We make three hundred thousand dollars a year We don’t have any debt and he thinks it’s insane to spend a thousand dollars on a stroller and Rachel and I were both like Get the stroller you deserve it forget him and so we got the bougie up a baby vista v2 stroller i didn’t know that’s the one you picked yes and now i like notice strollers out in the wild like oh they went with the mockingbird yes you know like i’m who have i become and i will say the stroller is one of the best purchases we made one thousand percent that’s the one that surprised me was a stroller and then eventually the double stroller yeah and when you’re at disney world you notice every single it’s like the you know stroller capital of the world and then you have like the travel stroller but then Then you need the big stroller and then you need the umbrella stroller. It just never ends.
So if you’re a minimalist, like I don’t know how you survive with kids.

[33:25] All right, Steph, next fun fact. A few weeks ago, George and his wife, Whitney celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary at their wedding.
They had a real camel.

[33:36] So did he say he’s Egyptian? Didn’t you say you’re Egyptian?
So yes, please tell us the dots.
Yes. About the camel. And of course I was thinking your last name being camel, but there has to be a good story because I’m thinking, first off, where do you even rent a camel?
Two, did you have a drunk uncle trying to ride or race the camel at the reception?

[33:57] Please tell me you have a good story about that. The even crazier story is that we won a free wedding.
It was a local wedding contest there was like a twenty eight thousand dollar wedding package it was very poorly marketed so my wife found this online while googling so like let’s enter you have to submit a five-minute video like sharing your like story about love and why you want to win this seven people entered this contest seven oh my gosh and so they they chose five finalists and we were blessed enough to be one of the five and here was the kicker whoever got the most likes on their video on YouTube in a week won the contest and I And I was like, I host a YouTube channel.
And so we also had the best video because we have a world-class editing team.
And so I phoned a friend here to help us create the video.
And so we ended up winning this contest out of the five finalists.
And we won the free package. And so because of that, I went, hey, we’re not paying for much here.
I want to spring and do something really fun and wild. My last name’s Camel.
What if we got a live camel at the wedding as kind of a photo op for people and for us with the wedding photos it’s kind of epic and so I found a guy I googled around if you just search camel rental Tennessee ice clicked on the first one it was this guy Phil hooker at hooker farms in Milan Tennessee and I said hey man we want a camel and he’s like I was like do you do this he’s like oh yeah man we we bring camels to churches all the time at nativity scenes at Christmas I was like this guy crushes the game I had no idea this was like a niche business.

[35:26] And so he he hoofed the camel all the way over there for 750 bucks for the day.
We had a camel hanging out with us and I wanted to do camel rides.
But the venue that is government owned has a policy against like exotic animals.
So it was hard enough to just convince them to let us have this camel on the property. So I said, all right, no camel rides. It’s not going to be a liability.
We’re just going to hold them with a rope and you can take pictures in front of it. So that’s what ended up happening.
It was probably my favorite part of the wedding other than getting married.
And having a free wedding.
The camel is the most memorable part to me, and we got some great photos out of it. And his name was Cowboy, if you’re wondering. Cowboy the camel.

[36:04] That’s funny. Okay, when you said Hooker Farms, that sounded pretty sketchy.
That was pretty bold to even click on that link, George, quite honestly.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t do it on a work computer, just in case. It was too risky.
Wait until I got home. But then I found out his name was Phil Hooker.
I’m like, all right, this guy, he’s a good old boy.
And he came through for us many times. I actually brought the same camel back to our Battle of the Bands event.
And I rode in on that same camel as Aladdin.
And they played the music from Aladdin. And it was like, this was my childhood dream. And we just got to make it happen. That’s awesome.

Spreading the Word and Seeking Feedback

[36:40] If you like what you hear, please tell someone about us.
As soon as this episode is over, go tell your spouse, your closest friend, a parent, a coworker, or share one of our posts on social media.
However, if you don’t like what you’re hearing, please do not don’t tell anyone don’t tell anyone don’t tell anybody just disregard this message don’t worry about it forget about us yep go on with your merry day and to get more information about us or our entire catalog of episodes be sure to check us out at kevinandsteph.com thank you for listening to tell us a good story, alright final fun fact after 10 years at Ramsey Solutions and one painstaking year of writing George is now the proud author of his first book titled Breaking Free from Broke The Ultimate Guide to more money and less stress.
So George, can you please tell us more about your new book?
Absolutely. As you said, it was painstaking. I didn’t know how hard it was to write a book because it’s always like a dream for any author to be like, I’m going to write a book. It’s going to be so fun.
And then you sit down in front of a Microsoft Word doc and you’re like, I’m not that smart or creative or funny.

[37:42] Why am I doing this? Like existential crisis every time you sit down to write.
But day after day, evening after evening, weekend after weekend, I toiled to try to make the most creative, fun, engaging, informative, well-researched book I could that really not only shared my story of going from broke to millionaire, but hit every single objection I’ve heard over my 10 years here at Ramsey, over the last few years hosting the Ramsey Show, talking to people.
I really wanted to try to create a paradigm shift where they could unplug from this money matrix that we found ourselves in and Unplug from this debt system and so it’s not just to get out of debt book it’s a hey if you’re willing to buck this financial system and ditch the credit score and the credit cards and get out of the Auto loan debt once and for all and get them I get a house the right way with the right kind of mortgage and not Fall for the investing traps you can build wealth and have so much more peace and joy and margin and options and meaning than ever before and so that’s the promise of the book and I think we delivered on it and we’re so excited to get this out in the world in January oh well listeners for more information about George you can go to his Instagram page which is at George camel the website you just type in George camel calm and the really dangerous page camel like the animal I’m like yes with a K it’s an Arabic word as your last fun fact it’s an actual Arabic word that means whole complete or perfect.

Pre-ordering and Promoting the Book

[39:06] Oh, very nice. Use that at your next dinner party slash Arabic trivia night.
Oh, of course. We have lots of those. So many.
And folks, you can pre-order the book at ramseysolutions.com.
And then it’ll be out January 16th, I believe. Is that correct?
Yes. And it’s only 20 bucks to pre-order it and you get the hard copy.
That’s awesome. We will put links in our show notes so you can click on it and go right to those pages so you can pre-order that.
Well, George, I absolutely love your personality. This was fantastic.
Fantastic. Thank you so much for saying yes to us here on Tell Us a Good Story.
You guys are so fun. I just want to hang out with you guys all the time.
Don’t say that because we’ll be down in Tennessee.
Like knocking on your door. We’ll be in the Ramsey hallway there.
If all podcast interviews were like this, I would do them all day long.
You guys just made it so fun. It was so personal. And you did your homework at such a level that I’m like, this guy knows more about me than I know about me.
What’s he going to pull? He’s like, you tweeted this back in 2009.
I want to bring this. Let’s get the screenshot. I’m like, oh my gosh, what did I say?
And if you’re ever in Nashville, come by and see us. We’d love to have you guys.
Oh, we absolutely would. We would love that. We absolutely would.
Thank you. All right, thank you again. God bless. All right, have a good one, guys.
Friends, we want to encourage you to please follow us wherever you listen to this, whether it’s on the Apple Podcast app, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or one of the other platforms.
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