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[@jackneel] "He Cheated With An AI Girlfriend!" Caleb Hammer Exposes The Purchases Destroying Gen Z

· 138 min read

@jackneel - ""He Cheated With An AI Girlfriend!" Caleb Hammer Exposes The Purchases Destroying Gen Z"

Link: https://youtu.be/NK3yzChl-dA

Duration: 116 min

Short Summary

Caleb Hammer, a financial auditor and content creator who built a quarter-million-dollar net worth and became a millionaire before his YouTube career, explains why Gen Z is described as the poorest and most in-debt generation in American history, carrying approximately $94,000 in debt per person while averaging only $400 in emergency savings. The episode explores how high-income guests earning $400,000+ often exhibit worse financial outcomes than lower-income guests due to lifestyle inflation and increased access to debt. The discussion covers psychological spending triggers like dopamine chasing and loneliness-driven delivery purchases, while offering practical strategies including 30% spending cuts, prioritizing debt above 7% interest, and building a 6-month emergency fund.

Key Quotes

  1. "It is not hard to have sex before any notoriety or money. It is not hard, but there's a lot of social pressure. They're locked inside." (00:45:26)
  2. "Gen Z men are losers. Dating rates are record low. Virginity rates are record high. They're losers paying for Only Fans. It kind of sucks cuz it's also just not hard to have sex."
  3. "The average Genzy person has about $400 in emergency savings is $94,000 in debt. Statistics show it's the poorest most in debt generation in American history."
  4. "So the biggest lie is go to any institution, borrow whatever it takes to get any degree you want. We need to be much more intentional with our students."
  5. "College. Art degree or double jaw surgery? Flip a coin."

Detailed Summary

Financial Audit Episode: Caleb Hammer on the Gen Z Financial Crisis

Introduction: Caleb Hammer's Background and Journey

Caleb Hammer is a financial auditor and content creator who critiques people's spending habits and financial behaviors on his show Financial Audit, approaching its fourth anniversary while receiving hundreds of applications per day. He grew up poor and lower middle class with foreclosure notices, with a father who worked as a gas station attendant and a mother who worked at an eye doctor's front desk. He went $70,000 in debt from a music degree in Michigan, with his first debt being a credit card maxed at age 18 to buy a piano. He accumulated a quarter-million-dollar net worth before ever making a YouTube video and became a millionaire before starting his Financial Audit channel, yet he says his level of happiness did not change when he became wealthy. He competed with the Kill Tony podcast on charts after a friend pointed out his subscriber lead at an afterparty, which fueled his competitive drive in content creation.

The Gen Z Financial Crisis

The episode presents Gen Z as the poorest and most in-debt generation in American history, carrying approximately $94,000 in debt per person while holding only $400 in emergency savings on average. Three major cost burdens facing younger generations are housing, education, and healthcare, with costs continuing to rise each generation. The job market is described as one of the worst in a long time, citing AI impact and companies holding hiring due to economic uncertainty and steady interest rates. Gen Z doesn't actually have $400 in savings on average, making them particularly vulnerable to financial shocks. The youngest guest on the show was 18 years old, though Caleb's show generally requires guests to be at least 21. Guests under 21 typically only have student loans and around $250 in credit card debt because they have not had enough time to accumulate significant debt.

  • Gen Z carries approximately $94,000 in debt per person on average
  • Average emergency savings for Gen Z is only $400
  • Three major cost burdens: housing, education, and healthcare
  • Job market cited as one of the worst in a long time due to AI impact
  • Companies holding hiring due to economic uncertainty and steady interest rates

High-Income vs Low-Income Guest Disparities

Guests earning $400,000 or more annually often have zero savings due to thousands in monthly expenses on unaffordable houses, eating out for every meal, and two car loans on $60,000-$70,000 vehicles. Higher-income guests end up in worse financial situations than lower-income guests because they have access to more debt, requiring an extra $100,000 a year to escape their situations. In contrast, lower-income guests need only a 5% pay increase to recover financially. The maximum debt seen on the show was "hundreds of thousands," approaching a million, since million-dollar debt cases typically go elsewhere. The show has revealed that guests making $40,000/year frequently spend $1,500/month on dining and food delivery alone. Approximately 95% of Financial Audit guests spend more per month than they make, funding overspending with personal loans, credit cards, or 401k withdrawals.

  • Guests earning $400k+ often have zero savings
  • High-income spending includes unaffordable houses, eating out every meal, two $60-70k car loans
  • High-income guests need $100k extra annually to escape their situations
  • Lower-income guests need only 5% pay increase to recover
  • Maximum show debt reached "hundreds of thousands," approaching $1 million
  • $40k/year guests spending $1,500/month on food and dining
  • 95% of guests spend more than they earn monthly

College and Education System Critique

Caleb argues that the cost of college keeps rising while anyone can borrow unlimited amounts for any degree at any institution with no questions asked. Federal student loans are distinct from personal loans because the government can garnish wages and borrowers cannot escape them through bankruptcy or time limits. Student loan disclosure sites should show expected monthly payments, career salary trajectories for chosen majors, and total borrowing amounts before students commit. Psychology, history, and arts degrees are oversaturated in the job market—important fields but supply exceeds demand. Only about 10 to 30 sports programs nationwide actually generate return on investment; most college athletic programs lose money. He specifically cites Full Sail University as an example of an expensive school where spending $100k on a camera-operating degree offers poor return on investment.

  • Unlimited borrowing available for any degree at any institution
  • Federal student loans differ from personal loans: wages can be garnished, cannot escape through bankruptcy
  • Loan disclosures should show monthly payments, salary trajectories, and total borrowing before commitment
  • Psychology, history, and arts degrees are oversaturated in job market
  • Only 10-30 sports programs nationwide generate ROI
  • Full Sail University example: $100k camera degree with poor ROI

Psychological Drivers of Overspending

"Girl math" is described as a coping mechanism where people want immediate joy rather than sacrifice, with TikTok reinforcing this behavior. Gen Z and millennials exhibit a psychological phenomenon where they believe they will never own a home or retire, leading them to spend all their money immediately. Loneliness drives spending on delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash, as well as video games, as coping mechanisms for emotional pain or boredom. Spending is motivated by both positive emotions (wanting to look good, show off on social media) and negative emotions (coping with depression, trauma, or emotional voids), with the reward being dopamine release rather than lasting satisfaction. Microtransactions like game skins provide happiness for only seconds to minutes. A Ramsey Show guest was secretly paying $25/month for an AI girlfriend behind his wife/fiancée's back; she discovered it during filming and it caused a relationship breakdown. Top micro spending categories for men on the Ramsey Show include gooning (OnlyFans), energy drinks, AI girlfriends, and meme coins.

  • "Girl math" represents immediate joy over sacrifice, reinforced by TikTok
  • "I'll never own a home" mentality leads to immediate spending
  • Loneliness drives delivery services (Uber Eats, DoorDash) and video games
  • Spending driven by both positive emotions (showing off on social media) and negative emotions (depression, trauma)
  • Microtransactions provide happiness for seconds to minutes only
  • Ramsey Show guest paid $25/month for AI girlfriend secretly; relationship broke down during filming

Consumer Spending Patterns and BNPL

BNPL services enable bad purchasing behavior by making expensive items appear affordable through small payments. Gen Z micro-purchases (Uber Eats, DoorDash, TikTok Shop) accumulate significantly but are often underestimated. Social media platforms amplify lifestyle jealousy and instant gratification spending among young adults. Food delivery services shifted from being a rare treat to an expectation for younger generations. Birthday months are criticized as a trend that encourages overspending. One guest spent thousands buying percentage shares of French bulldog breeding rights, receiving 10% of puppy sale profits but ultimately made zero dollars and was losing money. Fad collectibles (Lab Bois, Beanie Babies, PopMart) rise and fall too quickly for genuine investment and are not like 90s/2000s collectibles that held value.

  • BNPL makes expensive items appear affordable through small payments
  • Gen Z micro-purchases significantly underestimated
  • Social media amplifies lifestyle jealousy and instant gratification
  • Food delivery from rare treat to expectation
  • Birthday months criticized as overspending trend
  • Guest lost money on French bulldog breeding rights scheme
  • Fad collectibles (Lab Bois, PopMart) too volatile for investment

Career Recommendations and AI-Resistant Fields

Nursing is recommended as an AI-resistant career with advocacy for more men to enter the field. Women should consider trades and men should consider social work to diversify away from oversaturated degree paths. The coding/engineering job market is now hyper competitive compared to 5 years ago when companies hired anyone with any background. One person working with AI now produces what three people did a few years ago in software engineering. Cyber security was traditionally safe but AI tools are now exposing vulnerabilities, creating uncertainty about future demand. Kevin O'Leary believes AI will create more jobs, while Mark Cuban believes AI will destroy all jobs. Caleb positions himself in AI-resistant career fields like trades and finance (due to regulations), healthcare, and teaching, where human trust factors matter.

  • Nursing recommended as AI-resistant career with need for more men in field
  • Women should consider trades; men should consider social work
  • Coding/engineering market hyper competitive compared to 5 years ago
  • One AI worker now produces what three engineers did a few years ago
  • Cyber security facing uncertainty as AI exposes vulnerabilities
  • Kevin O'Leary vs Mark Cuban split on AI job impact
  • AI-resistant fields: trades, finance (regulation-driven), healthcare, teaching

Content Creation and Creative Career Realities

Content creation and arts are not recommended as primary careers for average people—only a small minority succeed and success often requires sacrificing everything. Creative passions should be pursued on the side while maintaining stable income, not pursued through expensive degree programs. The speaker spent $30,000 on emergency surgery for a Great Pyrenees dog that developed sepsis after swallowing objects like candy wrappers and furniture stoppers. Guests frequently use CareCredit cards to cover expensive pet surgeries and vet emergencies. Good $50/month pet insurance prevents bankruptcy but becomes another unaffordable minimum payment when not handled carefully.

  • Content creation and arts only work for small minority of people
  • Success requires sacrificing everything
  • Creative passions should be pursued on the side with stable income, not through expensive degree programs
  • Caleb spent $30,000 on emergency dog surgery for Great Pyrenees with sepsis
  • CareCredit frequently used for pet emergencies
  • $50/month pet insurance prevents bankruptcy but can become unaffordable minimum payment

Dating, Relationships, and Spending

Gen Z dating rates and marriage rates are at record lows; virginity rates are at record highs among young men. OkCupid analysis reportedly shows top 80% of women engage primarily with top 20% of men on the platform. One guest spent approximately $25,000 on a visa process to bring a woman from her African village overseas to marry him. Cold approach (in-person flirting with strangers) is recommended as an effective dating method over dating apps. The gender wage gap is often cited as 70 cents per dollar, but controlling for same degree and same job, it drops to only 2 cents. More women are going to college now while men are increasingly going to trade schools or remaining unemployed, widening the gender wealth divide.

  • Gen Z dating and marriage rates at record lows
  • Virginity rates at record highs among young men
  • OkCupid: top 80% of women engage with top 20% of men
  • One guest spent ~$25,000 on visa to bring woman from African village
  • Cold approach (in-person flirting) recommended over dating apps
  • Gender wage gap 70 cents when uncontrolled; only 2 cents with same job/degree
  • More women in college while men in trades or unemployed, widening wealth divide

Financial Philosophy and Investment Strategy

Caleb lists legitimate investments as stock market, crypto, life insurance, car/home/pet insurance, and real estate (which barely beats the market). Going into 30% interest debt to fund happiness does not yield a 30% return; at best it might provide a small 2-5% return over a lifetime. He recommends making as much money as possible now to invest and compound at approximately 10% average market returns over decades. The host claims the stock market will make more money than real estate long-term and recommends renting over buying, citing freedom to move, job flexibility, and no maintenance costs. Building a fully funded emergency fund should come before spending on health, fitness, or luxury purchases. Buying boats and pools before building an emergency fund are strongly discouraged as these are toys to purchase after becoming a millionaire, not before.

  • Legitimate investments: stock market, crypto, insurance, real estate (barely beats market)
  • 30% interest debt for happiness does not yield 30% return
  • Goal: earn as much as possible to compound at ~10% average market returns
  • Stock market recommended over real estate long-term
  • Renting preferred over buying for flexibility and no maintenance costs
  • Build emergency fund before health, fitness, or luxury purchases

Spending Reduction and Debt Payoff Strategies

To reduce spending by 30%, Caleb recommends starting with a budgeting app to automatically track where money is going, then categorizing expenses as needs, wants, or investing, and cutting wants that don't provide actual joy. The 50/30/20 rule recommends allocating 50% to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to investing/saving. People should rank purchases by joy level to identify wants that provide the least happiness and are easiest to cut first. Pay off debt with interest rates above 7% as quickly as possible since nothing else competes with that return on investment. The best financial advice is building a 6-month emergency fund (12 months if self-employed or contractor), which changes your life and allows you to take more calculated risks. The average guest in the Hammer Elite membership pays off over $20,000 of bad debt in 12 months.

  • 30% spending reduction: use budgeting app, categorize expenses, cut joyless wants
  • 50/30/20 rule: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% investing/saving
  • Rank purchases by joy level to identify easiest cuts
  • Pay off debt above 7% interest as fast as possible
  • 6-month emergency fund (12 months if self-employed) changes your life
  • Average Hammer Elite member pays off $20k+ of bad debt in 12 months

Cars, Transportation, and Predatory Lending

Used cars that cost approximately $2,000 at the show's start now cost around $10,000. America has car-dependent infrastructure that creates a catch-22 cycle: individuals need a car to get a job, but need a job to afford a car, often leading to predatory loans or unreliable vehicles. Predatory car loans trap buyers in cycles where income from jobs goes toward loan payments and vehicle maintenance rather than building wealth. Using Uber in LA can be as expensive as a car payment. Cars are treated as an accessory in culture, not merely transportation. The speaker proposes banning politicians from individual stock trading and restricting them to US index funds only, while increasing their base salaries to reduce corruption incentives.

  • Used cars rose from ~$2,000 to ~$10,000
  • Car-dependent infrastructure creates catch-22: need car for job, need job for car
  • Predatory loans trap buyers in cycles funding loan payments over wealth building
  • Uber in LA as expensive as car payment
  • Cars treated as accessory in culture, not transportation

Hammer Elite Membership and Show Statistics

Hammer Elite membership includes 2 follow-up episodes per week, 3 premium shows daily, 6 days a week. Sam and Rosa achieved the highest debt payoff on the show and became completely debt-free during "Fat Stack Week," representing guests with some of the highest debt levels. The show has been operating for about four years and receives hundreds of applications per day. The Dollarize budgeting app has tens of thousands of monthly users and is recommended for tracking spending by percentage, category, and individual purchases.

  • Hammer Elite: 2 follow-up episodes/week, 3 premium shows daily, 6 days/week
  • Sam and Rosa: highest debt payoff, became debt-free during "Fat Stack Week"
  • Show operating ~4 years with hundreds of daily applications
  • Dollarize app recommended with tens of thousands of monthly users

Tithing, Community, and Social Services

Religious tithing (typically 10% of income) can financially harm people already in precarious financial situations, especially when forced during hardship. Tithing/church donations are identity-based for some people who believe they will "die" without it, making it difficult to advise otherwise. Religious institutions provide one of the few remaining third places for community, particularly for men experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness. Social services are identified as the most chronically underpaid job category relative to the value of work provided. 911 dispatchers in lower cost-of-living areas earn approximately $20/hour, with difficulty retaining staff in high-cost areas like Los Angeles where response times are affected.

  • Tithing (10% income) harmful to those in precarious financial situations
  • Religious donations identity-based and difficult to advise against
  • Religious institutions provide remaining third places for community
  • Social services most chronically underpaid job category
  • 911 dispatchers earn ~$20/hour, difficult to retain in high-cost areas

Final Thoughts and Core Philosophy

The speaker's financial philosophy centers on the idea that "there's only one way out to get better and that is sacrificing for the first time in your life." He acknowledges he holds AI stocks because top-performing indices have significant AI exposure. AI represents an unknown future that could either boost productivity enormously or eliminate jobs entirely, making it particularly scary for Gen Z and Generation Alpha. Despite his financial success, Caleb emphasizes that happiness did not change when he became wealthy, underscoring that financial security alone does not determine life satisfaction.

  • Core philosophy: "only one way out to get better is sacrificing for the first time in your life"
  • Holds AI stocks despite discussing AI risks because top indices have significant AI exposure
  • AI could boost productivity enormously or eliminate jobs, scary for Gen Z and Gen Alpha
  • Happiness did not change when he became wealthy

Full Transcript

Show transcript

Today's guest is the most feared man in personal finance. >> Dude, Gen Z men are losers. Dating rates are record low. Virginity rates are record high. They're losers paying for Only Fans. It kind of sucks cuz it's also just not hard to have sex. >> A music kid from Michigan who went $70,000 in debt chasing a dream. His life turned around when he became obsessed with financial education. >> I turned 18. I wanted a piano. My parents said, "Oh, well, go max out a credit card to get a piano." That was my first debt. And that [ __ ] me for years to come. Now he's built one of the most controversial shows on the internet, auditing people's spending and calling out the habits keeping them broke. >> Uh he was paying for an AI girlfriend behind her back. He was all up in that chat. He was like, "Come for me, baby." It wasn't like finance breaking, but it was kind of relationship breaking. >> In this episode, we'll expose the purchases quietly destroying Gen Z. Explore why this generation feels like financial freedom is impossible and investigate whether the system is genuinely rigged or the problem is the person staring back in the mirror. So the biggest lie is go to any institution, borrow whatever it takes to get any degree you want. We need to be much more intentional with our students. >> So college or double jaw surgery? >> College. Art degree or double jaw surgery? Flip a coin. >> Caleb Hammer, welcome to the Jack Noil podcast. >> That was a That was a good little intro. That was exciting. What is that accent? I've never heard this. >> The accent. >> What are you? >> I'm from uh Kentucky originally. >> No, you're [ __ ] not. That is some European ass [ __ ] I get this all the time. >> Probably isn't. You got >> Where does it sound like I'm from in Europe? >> I don't know. That's why I'm asking. >> People ask me if I'm like Australian, if I'm like British or something. But >> what's wrong with you? What is it? >> I think I'm just I don't know, man. Guys, comment down below. >> Are you a hill boy? >> A hill boy? >> Hill boy. Like the Kentucky Hills. >> Oh, like the hillbillies. >> No, no, no. Like the hills. Cuz they got like Appalachian Mountains. Is that right? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I mean, my parents do sound like that, like they're straight up country. But >> nice to meet you. I really thought you were European, but thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it. >> Caleb, uh, I want to ask you, you've sat down at this table across from hundreds of people, many of which are in their 20s, looking at their income, debt, spending, and the financial decisions they're making every day. When you look at Gen Z as a whole compared to other generations, how broke is Gen Z? >> It's pretty bad. Listen, I mean, a lot of the analytics that we're getting around Gen Z are pretty brutal. Uh especially with the rise of buy now pay later. Like credit cards, that's already [ __ ] when it comes to millennials. But with Gen Z's just as inclined with the credit cards, but now they're adding the buy now pay later. their student loans are even worse because the cost of college keeps going up and we let anyone borrow as much as they want for whatever degree at any institution they want to go to, no questions asked. Um, so student loans are brutal. Uh, cost of living is brutal. It's it seems to be getting worse every generation from the boomers to now in three main categories. And of course, debt being added on top of those, but that being housing, school or education, and healthcare. healthcare. They're not having to super deal with yet on the overall generational level. Of course, they have to u make their monthly payments and whatnot, but in terms of they're obviously not a sick generation at this point, but housing, school, the other big ones, they're facing that facing that big burden where it just keeps going up and not stopping. It's not going to stop. Not in the with with the way that the systems are currently set up. So, it's pretty brutal. They're brutal right now. Now they're entering one of the worst job markets we've had in a long time. I know like old millennials, they entered the job market in the great recession. As a young millennial by like a year, I'm lucky that I didn't enter the job market in the great recession. But I I know the old millennials are young Gen Xers like they I mean I wouldn't want to enter that job market. That's brutal. But >> Gen Z with the rise of AI right now, brutal job market. companies just kind of holding hiring right now because they don't know what the economy is going to look like over the next year or two and interest rates are still holding steady. Not the best time to be graduating college. So, I feel bad for them. >> I mean, the average Genzy person has about $400 in emergency savings is $94,000 in debt. Statistics show it's the poorest most in debt generation in American history. >> Yep. Do you think Jinzy is incapable of saving money and being financially responsible or do you think it's something else? >> Not necessarily. I mean, millennials didn't do well either until until they were in their 30s, getting towards the height of their career for older millennials. I mean, the oldest Gen Z's are still like a few years into their career. We shouldn't expect that generation to be anywhere like super successful right now. But, I mean, you're right on the debt scale. like student loans, the cost of college just keeps going up. So, that is brutal. But the cost of college isn't them not being able to save. Them having these student loans now that they have to deal with, but I mean, if if you see anyone in their from 18 to where what's the oldest Gen Z like 29 now? That's usually not when people have savings. They should, don't get me wrong. I advocate for it. I will help them get there, but 20s are often the times for [ __ ] up. And we accept that as a society, maybe we shouldn't, but we do. It's It's not surprising. I don't think anyone's surprised. If we're just being real about it, doesn't mean we should excuse it. I'm not trying to enable it or excuse it by any means, but I don't think we should all be like, "Oh, wow. This is crazy. I've never heard of this." I mean, it's it's every generation at 20 to 30. And it's worse now because of those three categories that we talked about. But even still, it's also worth recognizing that the cost of food as a percentage of income in terms of groceries or the cost of entertainment, anything else beyond those three categories that I mentioned as a percentage of income is actually lower now than at pretty much any point of human history. So, Gen Z is very lucky when it comes to that. But Jenz's exiting college right now in a bad job market, meaning it's hard to get a good income right now while you're also having to finally start paying on these student loans that are higher now than other generations. So that's just a bad double thing you're having to deal with at the exact same time. So it doesn't really matter if grocery spending is a lower percentage of your income than previous generations when you have to deal with like some of the two biggest things plus cost of housing on top of it at the exact same time. >> Right. So those are some of the more like systemic uncontrollables. Uh, but when it comes to like the personal responsibility degree portion, like is there anything specific about I guess Jin's mindset, their psychology that you see that they're worse at just this whole money thing? >> The paying for certainly is enabling a lot of bad purchases, making it look like you can afford something that you can't going to Coachella this year. You can get it for some smaller payments instead of onetime payment. So, it's definitely enabled some pretty bad behavior. >> You can do Afterpay on Coachella. >> I'm sure you can. you can do it on everything. So going out getting your Uber Eats or Door Dash, doing it on CLA, >> you know, it's it's a way to make it easier. And they they grew up on those apps now, too. So food delivery is much more of an expectation and considered reasonable now than it would have been even when I was young. You know, getting Jimmy John's delivered was a treat, but I couldn't just go and get uh Shake Shack or Texas Roadhouse delivered. But now it's it's considered more of an expectation. And there is a responsibility part of whether how you do college. But at the same time, there's a lot of parents impact there when you first go to college, where you're choosing what degree you're picking, and how you're borrowing to pay for it or how you pay for it at all. But still, I mean, once you're like halfway through, if you're 20, you you're having conversations with professors, advisors, you're making more friends. you should if you're tweaking your major or choosing where you're transferring or figuring out what you're spending, how you're living in college, then you have a bit more personal responsibility. So, I would advocate there is personal responsibility in school. Maybe not right at 18, you know, like there is a little, but I know you have a lot of heavy influence from your adviserss in high school and your teachers in high school or everything in our culture over the past few decades. It's like rur college no matter what. And college is great, do not get me wrong, but people go and get the [ __ ] degrees. And if you're at 20 and you're still getting the [ __ ] degree at a private institution or even a public out of state institution, whatever it is, and you're borrowing anything to get that [ __ ] degree, the art, even psychology, honestly, just so many degrees that right now, um, when you actually kind of look into the wealth divide between even genders, right, that 70 cents per on the dollar thing, a lot of it comes down to even just the degrees. when accounting for the same degree for the same job, it's actually a two-cent divide, which is kind of curious. So, with more women going to college now, uh, and men are just not men are going into trade schools or they're being unemployed losers as well, there's, uh, a big issue where people are just still getting a lot of [ __ ] degrees. And unfortunately, it is women. I I do feel bad for that. >> What would you say are the five most [ __ ] college degrees? >> Five most [ __ ] Well, the arts thrive and I love arts. I I mean, like your intro said, I went to school for music composition. I was making money off of it because I had a business brain. I mean, this is pulling out of my ass, right? Because I don't have statistics on the actual what [ __ ] degrees, but certainly like psychology is a classic one. Uh, history, things that it's not that they're not important or that we shouldn't have them in our society, but way too many people are going to them that the market demands. Like we need history researchers and whatnot. We do, but more people want to do it than is currently available in the marketplace. >> Certainly the same can be said for art and psychology as well. Now, if you go and you get your masters, you do all this, you do therapy, you do social work, sure that's different, but even social work doesn't necessarily have the best return on investment. So unfortunately a lot of those people that go to college and again the vast majority of people going to college right now are women and men are kind of falling behind and that's a whole different conversation. Uh but a lot of the people that are going to college in that larger percentage are getting [ __ ] degrees and it leads to worse wages and you do not want to have a [ __ ] degree and a bad job market when cost of housing and cost of getting that [ __ ] degree are higher. If you were picking like a degree to get now or like a skill to develop or how would you determine that? Would you be looking at I guess going on LinkedIn and seeing what companies are hiring and what the requirements are? Like how would you go about it? >> Maybe I have a little bit more of an anxious brain. So AI is in the big conversation right now. No one really knows what it's going to look like and I don't listen to anyone who says they know what it's going to look like. Like I don't know. But if I am a little nervous, I want to be a little more AI resistant. Nursing is incredible. We got to get dudes in nursing. It's not gay to be a nurse. And there's nothing wrong with being gay, Jack. Okay, but still, go get go get a nursing degree. Like, what what are we doing? Why aren't guys getting into that? Um, and then women into the trades would be awesome as well. We need we need more of that. And we need more men in social work. Uh, I I want to see people getting into those degrees that are more AI resistant at least cuz I don't think they're taking over the trades anytime soon. They still might. I mean, you're going to get plumbers and electrician robots probably, but it's not going to be doing a code base. Right. >> Right. >> Or which is what AI is doing now, which is a lot easier. Nursing, I don't think people are going to want a nurse robot. Even if it is better, in the end, I think you still want that human touch in that field. banking, finance, yeah, you're gonna have AI integrated, but there's such a heavy regulatory environment that it might be more resistant to AI soon. So, that's more protective. It was all engineering, engineering, get into coding, everything like that. And I think that it's still a good place to go, but >> hyper competitive. >> The competitive landscape is it's completely different than it was 5 years ago. 5 years ago, they would hire anyone with any background to work in any kind of coding or whatever because they just needed that labor and they were chasing that labor. But now where you can have one person working with AI takes up what three people would have done a few years ago, you have to be the best of the best now. Can't be the junior guy. Can't be the junior engineer. So, I'd only go into that now if you know you're ready to fight for it. And if you fight for it and win, you make a lot of money, don't get me wrong. But it's not that perfect, easy solution to get an incredible job and career as it was even 5 years ago. In security, we'll see with cyber security. Cyber security has always been a safe one. We need cyber security. But now with mythos right now, it's poking holes in cyber security, but I think they're meant to be using it as eventually defense in cyber security. And we'll see how humans get involved on that. Maybe that's the next industry to go. So, >> would you recommend content creation >> for the average person? I mean, just kind of like music, right? Um, for the average person, no. I think music, content creation, the arts, anything like that, acting, it's going to be the small minority that make it >> and often times it's the people who are willing to sacrifice everything. Um, but yes, I I suggest everyone if they have a passion in it to do it on the side. I did this on the side. Do it on the side and give your all to it on the side. And if it starts to take off, then go to it full-time. But if you're going to like Fullale University and spending $100,000 on that or whatever it is, I know that place is expensive to get a degree in how to man a camera, it's it's not the best return on investment. I want people to We need the arts. We need the arts. I want people to be in the arts. I want people to be in media, but more people want to do it than the market demands. So, you have to be the best. You have to be a killer. You have to be dedicated and willing to do anything. And a lot of time people just have a trouble even starting and or if they start, they don't maintain. They don't learn. Um, but started on the side. You know, I still write music on the side, but I don't pursue any commercial avenues with that. And that was just for fun. And maybe someday if I ever wanted to get music performed again in the concert band world, I could start pursuing that on the side, but I wouldn't just all of a sudden quit this and do that cuz that just wouldn't make any sense. >> Would you say that's more of your passion than what you do now? >> No, I wouldn't say so. But it's still fun. I have a a good time doing it. It's It's rare to do it. It's like a couple hours a weekend or something. >> Yeah. It's just it's interesting to me because I think people assume that like content creators or anyone that works in a creative field loves what they do all the time, but it's like at the end of the day this can turn into like a 9 to5 to an extent because you have to maintain a certain set of actions and a certain set of consistency. Um, and there's like you're not going to love all parts of the job. So, it's not always as sexy as people think it is. You know, >> I don't think anyone I don't think you can love all parts of the job. Like, every crazy politician with unlimited ambition wants to become president. I don't think it's considered like a job with no stress, though, or bad moments. Like, this job's incredible. It's the best job in the world. I wouldn't give it up for anything. Doesn't mean there's bad moments. you know, people you all of a sudden become this weird thing online where people try to create [ __ ] or stir [ __ ] up and or you know, toxic communities and a lot like there's bad things and I have to completely hide my girlfriend's identity because there's crazy people out there and you have to be afraid of doxing or swatting things like this. Um, so there's negatives and um, but overall it's still the best job in the world for me. Might not be for someone else. someone else's perfect job might not be my perfect job. Um, but yeah, even with even with the downsides and I've certainly turned it more to a nineto-ive business, we've grown here, but it's still pretty damn great, right? >> Very, very blessed. Very blessed to be clear. >> I do want to touch on uh the actual expenses of some of the guests on your show. So >> most of the guests are millennials, Gen Z, sometimes older, but when you look at their bank statements as far as the micro purchases, like how is Gen Z spending money differently? Like what are the traps keeping them broke? >> What I've seen in some of our older guests is that they worked for 10 years, 15 years, and now they're like, "Okay, I've I I I've put in the work I deserve going on vacation." We're getting people who've gotten their first job outside of college, have $70,000 of student loan debt, just got their first car loan, and they're like, "Okay, I got my first job. First thing I could do is go on vacation." So, they go on vacations immediately and they go on two a year, they have to go to Europe, they have to go to Japan, they have to do all these things. They're not even going to California or whatever. They're going overseas. They're doing these big trips just because they hit the first job milestone and they finance it as always. They put it all on a credit card or paying for as much as they can. Um, there is the college piece that we talked about. People have an enormous student loan burden, but with the repayment assistance program, you can get a if you don't have a great job right out of college. First of all, there are deferrals, but even besides that, you can get it as low as 1% of your income. So, but people don't know about the options out there. So, people start getting hammered with the student loans. People get a job, they think it's going to be a lot more money, it stretches a lot further. they have to have their first place on their own or even with roommates, you know, maybe it's their first time moving out of their parents house. It's a lot of that adult [ __ ] hitting for the first time in their life and that income doesn't stretch as far as a lot of them think it is and yet they need to go get a vacation as well. Like I want people to be able to experience the world and do the things they want to. There is an importance of just getting your [ __ ] together first. Having an emergency fund so you're not [ __ ] when your car breaks down or when you get fired and you still need to pay your rent. That's they they rush they rush beyond that point. But again, I think every generation does when they are in that 20s to 30s. This is everyone uses the excuse on the show and I hate it. It was like no one taught me about money. No one teaches anyone about money. I didn't get I didn't learn anything about money. You have to teach yourself. You have to figure it out. But also, it is the standard thing right outside of college. You finally make money with your job. You want to do something. And now with the Instagram and the Tik Tok and the YouTube communities, everyone posting their lifestyles, there's more of that jealousy and wanting to mimic it and get the new clothes, get the new car, go on the trip. So, lots of that instant gratification that Gen Z views as adulthood that you can just do the moment you get your job. And maybe people have waited a little longer. >> I guess when you think of like your last 50 people you've had on, like is there always consistent transactions that are like new within the last 10 years that like it's it's the Uber Eats, it's the Coachella, like what are some of the other things? >> Food delivery is a huge one, right? Food delivery is a huge one. I mean, honestly, you know, the show's turning four here soon. Even at the beginning, I was getting less of it. >> Like, I know Uber Eats and Door Dash was ramping up around that time, but I was still getting a lot less. >> Getting a lot more Tik Tok shop now as well. >> Really >> tons of Tik Tok shop. It's so easy cuz every other Tik Tok you see is an ad for something and people just click and it's it's to their door in a few days. So, a lot of Tik Tok shop. It's those it's those small purchases that they don't think amount to anything, but they do a couple of them a day or a lot of them a week and it adds up to a lot. Hey, quick question. Have you ever used Bitcoin or Ethereum to purchase anything in real life? Like, sure, you might have it sitting in a wallet. You trade it sometimes or send it to friends, but you're not able to actually buy anything in real life. That's I was pretty excited that I found out about EtherFi. They have this cash card that you can spend directly from your crypto balance like a regular debit card. There's zero converting, no sending it to five different platforms. You simply swipe the card or tap it with Apple Pay and it works. But the best part to me is you don't have to sell your crypto to spend money on the card. So, you get your 3.5 to 7% staking rewards and you get the cashback rewards that the card offers. And if you want a free meal right now, they're running a daily challenge where you post the weirdest thing you've eaten on X or Instagram. Tag EtherFi. Use #dine different and they'll pick a winner every single day where they reimburse you up to $50 for your meal. So, if you're already in crypto and not actually using it, this is probably the easiest way to start. Click the link in the description and check out EtherFi. Grab the cash card and take advantage of the dine different campaign while it's live. Spend like you normally would, just get rewarded for it. But anyway, guys, back to the podcast. Do you think cars are a big problem with Jinzy? It's a big problem for any American generation. We're a car dependent infrastructure nation. It's [ __ ] I mean, it [ __ ] sucks if I'm being completely honest. And cars are brutally expensive now more than ever, especially after the pandemic. During the pandemic, it just got brutal and it really never came back down. You can still get a used car, but even still, the what used to be a $2,000 car when I started the show is a $10,000 car now. So, you're not getting a clunker that breaks down immediately. And even with that, you still need to get it checked out by multiple mechanics. But it it's a big issue because it's a weird cycle. We are unless you're blessed to live in a rare few communities where you can walk, bike, or even maybe take public transportation to a job. You need a car to have a job, but you need a job to have a car because cars are expensive. And that's that weird cycle where it's like, what do you do first? And either people get into a predatory loan to have a usable car so they can get a job to pay off the predatory loan, or they get a [ __ ] car that always breaks down to get a job, but then they're using all their income from their job to pay for all the repairs and crap and maintenance on their [ __ ] car just so they can get to their job. And it's it's brutal. The car situation in this country is brutal. And it is such a trap. And people feel like I swear the amount of justifications I get on my show for I need the new car, the 2027 model, the safety. I care about my safety. Safety, the kids, the dogs, the wife, the whatever. I'm confused. Were we making cars that literally just like whipped out a gun and shot you in the face 10 years ago? Were we making cars that the moment you got into any troublesome situation blew up? We were not making hardcore dangerous cars. I'm not saying go get a 90s car or even 2000's car, but getting a 2019 car isn't the worst thing in the world, 18,1 17, whatever it is. So, I mean, there's a lot of cope around cars having to get the more expensive new car, the safety ratings and [ __ ] that they pay for anyway, allegedly. But with that crap, I mean, it's such a it's a great marketing gimmick and people fall for it. People fall for it. It's brutal. Well, people don't understand loans and interest and all that stuff when they're getting their first car. I definitely did it when I got my first car loan. And that was one of my big brutal loans I had to pay off when I finally started to wake up to personal finances was my car. And people will borrow their down payment, too, cuz they'll do whatever it takes to get the car that they justify with their cope to get that they need a brand new car for. >> Do you think it's the middle class trying to project their wealth by getting a new car? Like what's the mindset? Part of it is. And is it the middle class mainly that like does this phenomenon of getting like cars way out of their price range? >> Have you been to a poor community? >> With those uh dude, go to a white trash community, you'll see all these lifted $100,000 trucks. >> Really? >> A poor a white trash trailer. Absolutely. Go to uh the opposite side of it. go to like a poor uh black community or something, you'll get lots of muscle cars and [ __ ] that are completely decked out. Go to like a poor Mexican community. I I went through uh one of the neighborhoods uh recently that is like a classic like definitely down on its luck more Hispanic community here and everyone had these sexy cars that are bouncing with these spikes off their uh I don't know what they're called, but they're like spikes off the >> the wheels. >> Yeah. Off the wheels, but I don't know what those are called, but that shit's expensive, man. So, no. I uh it's very American at least or American Canadian Australian where it's like that big suburban sprawl car infrastructure type countries and societies we live in. But no, I mean yeah the middle class do it but everyone does it to flex. Such car culture. So many people I know in my own life would prefer having a nice car over a nice house. I don't know what it is. Luckily I don't give a [ __ ] I guess I'm lucky on that. But if I did, in the position I'm lucky enough to find myself in, I'd probably be a [ __ ] [ __ ] Just getting like a Lamborghini, whatever. I don't even know. I don't know what's nice. I don't know. I know Lamborghini is a nice brand, but I'd get something stupid cuz just Americans love that. And it's such a status symbol, and people care what the person next to you at the stoplight thinks about you when they look over. It's such a weird thing. So, from the poorest communities, the middle class to even the wealthiest communities. And we were talking about Togei before filming. That dude's a dumbass with his cars. I love him. Honestly, super nice dude, but he's a [ __ ] dumbass with his cars. What is he doing Rolls-Royce and all this stuff, losing cars and coin flips? This is This is >> He lost his house in a coin flip as well. >> I know. It's ridiculous. This is just what people do in our culture. Cars are such a thing. Such an accessory. >> I've never got it. I can't even speak to it because like I I haven't owned a car since I was like 15 years old. I I've Uber. >> Do you live in LA? >> Yeah. I Uber everywhere. >> Oh, okay. It's expensive. I mean, that's just as bad as a car payment, if not worse sometimes. >> You think so? >> Well, it definitely is. >> My justification for it, and this is going to sound like cope, is I work in the Uber. >> Well, your justification is you can probably afford it. It's fine if you can afford it. >> That's fair. But like I I don't care what anyone does if they can afford it and it's legal. >> Do you see a lot of people spending on Ubers or is that >> Oh yeah. No, it's huge. It's huge. Even when they have their own car, but honestly, a lot of it is usually in that vacation trip or when it's certainly justified. Even if you can't afford it, if you know they're drinking, you got to Uber home. And very fair. I will never yell at them for that. >> Another issue too, I guess, would be just like lack of car pooling. You know, like people could save so much money just by having a friend that has a car and they go to the same place. >> Sit in traffic. Look at the car next to you. It's one person in it. It's brutal and takes up so much space for just one person. >> It's [ __ ] >> What can you tell about someone's finances by what kind of car they drive? >> Honestly, I just assume even with like nice clothes, the nicer people have, I assume the worse they're off. I really do. It's just it's a thing in our culture. I mean, look at all the the wealthiest people in Silicon Valley and wealthiest people in Austin in these kind of cultures. It also it certainly depends on what city you live in, right? Because I know like Miami or LA, it's more flashy, but um the most successful people here in Silicon Valley and other places, they're just dress like wherever. Like I mean, I do very well. I don't own this is the nicest thing I've ever purchased that isn't a car just because cars are naturally expensive. Yeah. It's a couple thousand bucks >> and I did it cuz my girlfriend said I had to. So like it's I don't know. I swear it is it is a cope. It is a psych it is a psychology. People see it on Instagram and Tik Tok and they want that nice thing and they will do whatever it takes unaffordable to get that nice thing. But look at the people who are doing well off unless they are that weird flashy [ __ ] like trying to jerk off around everyone. They're around in town. It's just >> Is it a bigger issue with girls or guys or is it same across the board? The car thing. >> H cars, dudes for sure, right? I'd say cars. Dudes for sure. And clothing and accessories probably women a bit more. But I mean, it still falls in both categories. You know, you get your girly pop SUV, but it's still a Lamborghini or a Porsche. Uh, and you can get your bling as a guy, designer clothes, all that crap. Dude, I think I'm wearing Teimu shorts right now. Like I'm >> like I think I don't know. It's just some crap. >> How much does this fit cost? >> I don't know what this is. This was for branding cuz like the best budgeting app there is other dollar-wise. So, I'm wearing it for that. It's making me money. Then I got Teeu and uh I don't know, some white shirt under. >> Have you ever bought anything off Teeu? I just >> No, I mean it's not actually Teeu, but it's like that quality. It's that cheap. It's It's nothing. >> Um, actually, no, no, no, no. These are like nicer shoes that What is it? O, whatever that brand is. >> Super comfy, though. >> I always see a bunch of like really wealthy guys that I have on my podcast wearing these just like shoes that you can tell are really comfortable, but they're not like flashy, you know? It's just like utility based. >> No, I mean, my entire intent literally I dress to go on like a three mile walk after this. That's what I dressed for. That was my I'm just going to take this off and go on a walk. >> Perfect. Awesome. >> Um, what's the most money you've seen someone waste on food delivery apps? >> Delivery apps. Oo. Oh, we usually tally as just going out to eat in general. Like I I've had it's very standard to see someone making $40,000 a year spend 1,500 bucks and in their single previous month going out to eat. Many of that being food deliveries or also just going out to eat. But it's that is not considered unreasonable on the show. So it's like half their income essentially. >> Oh yeah. Half, a third, even more than that because people almost every single guest, 95% of the guests that come on financial audit spend more per month than they make. >> So it doesn't even matter if it's half their income cuz it's not half their spending still because they just put it on debt. They're funding with a personal loan or credit cards or even pulling from their 401k. Just really bad things. So that is not an odd or a rare thing to see. on financial audit. >> Would you say that your show like the guest on your show's expenses are an accurate representation of the average person? Because I mean obviously you're a content creator. You could have um siphon out people who have like more interesting stories, but would you guess that if we took random person off the street right now just outside uh at a coffee shop or something like would they be in a similar situation? Would you guess? Well, statistically from like what you said, it actually lines up in terms of like how much they have in savings, like a couple hundred bucks. Like a Gen Z person on the show. Uh the amount of debt in student loans, it's actually very normal. So, we actually have a disproportionate amount of people on the show who have a mortgage, like a higher percentage >> of people than do in the real world. So, it's kind of weird where sometimes we'll get more pe people with more money in their retirement, but they're still blowing insane amount of money. So, we we look for you have to financially qualify to be on the show, right? You need to have a place to improve on. So, we definitely have the like you could pick someone off the street and have very similar finances, but then we make sure we're picking interesting stories in unique situations. I mean, they're everywhere. These are your neighbors. These are >> getting hundreds of applications a day. These are your neighbors, your co-workers, your family members. It's a taboo topic, right? >> Personal finances. No one really knows what's going on in most people's lives. We don't talk about income, debt, spending in this country. We just show vacations on Instagram. >> Yeah. It seemed, this might have just been unique to my situation growing up. I just never knew like how much money my parents made or like how much they had. Like would you say that's fairly typical for people? >> Yeah, I didn't really know. I mean, I asked questions when we were receiving like foreclosure notices. Like I learned a little more there, but no, not really. And the things that I got to do, which were I had a very blessed childhood, but it was all in debt, right? I got to do cool things, but it was all on debt. So, but I didn't know that. I didn't know that until I was older and we had those conversations when I was in college or whatever. So, no, I didn't have those conversations and I really don't think we do in this country. Actually, the parents on the show specifically say they don't want their kids to know, right? >> It's embarrassing. That makes sense. Is there any one purchase you've seen recently that you actively think about after you leave the show? Like you kind of tell everyone about it and like you're like, I I actually can't believe that this person bought this thing. >> Yes. A guy with a girl with a wife. Wife or girlfriend? Fiance. One of those situations. They definitely been together for a while. Uh he was paying for an AI girlfriend behind her back. >> Wasn't great. Shouldn't do that. And he was gooning to her, too. He was all up in that chat goon and he was like, "Come for me, baby. Make no mistakes." You know, it's like, "Why are we doing that when she's right there?" And then she found that on the show and it was awkward moment. And that still sits with me even two or three weeks after filming, >> right? >> What are we doing? Then he tried to hide it from her. It was just Oh, it was so crazy. I got him to log in. I went through the messages. >> He showed you the messages. >> Oh, yeah. It wasn't on his no list. People get to say what they do not want included in the conversations before they film. That wasn't one of them. >> How much had he spent on his AI girlfriend? >> Uh, it was like like 25 bucks a month. >> It wasn't like like finance breaking, but it was kind of relationship breaking and it was also just stupid money. What pointless there's a woman right there. There's a woman of be don't remember if she was beautiful, but beautiful to some one woman right there. And why couldn't they just do things together? I don't know. >> Would you say that's common? Like the uh I I guess expenses for men specifically. Uh >> oh, we got OAF like crazy, my guy. We got OF like crazy on these men's accounts. And like I said, people can say what not to talk about. You can you can assume if I have a single guy on the show and we're going through his statements and I don't bring up OAF, OAF is there and he said not to talk about it. So, we didn't. But you can assume most guys have OF these days. It's kind of crazy. >> So, OAF, would you say sports betting is another one? >> I actually don't get a lot of that surprising. Like, we we do get betters. And when we do get betters, they go, you know, they bet a lot, but it's it's actually a small minority still of guests on the show, but when they do, they go crazy. when they're into any kind of gambling, whether that's even just ripping Pokemon packs or whatever it is, if they get into any kind of gambling, it becomes hundreds to thousands of dollars, but it's still I think people know to avoid it overall, but man, when you're in it, you're in it and it's bad. >> I And I I I played with Khi. I had some fun. I had some fun. And honestly, I'm not against those programs. I like Cali and Poly Market. It's hard for me to be against them, too, because they seem a little bit more predictable at the least. You know what I mean? >> I think I think anything like that with a drink or smoking weed or anything. I'm good with it if you can control it. If you know you can't, you need to selfban, >> right? >> So, I actually like them. I mean, they were more accurate in the last election than the polling. So, I like them. They're very fun to play around with. I had fun with the Super Bowl, but all of a sudden, I'm not on them for every game. I had fun with the Super Bowl. That was it. I know how to control myself. So like I would I would even I wouldn't even be opposed to them as like even working with them on a project. Like I wouldn't because same with their credit card. I love credit cards. I love debt. I love a lot of these things that we rail against on the show because it's not for the for the person on the show. >> It's not for the person. There are still good things out there. If you can self-modderate and you can have fun with it, then I'm not against it. People think I'm against all these things. I had someone compare. They said, "Kailed hammer's the new avocado toast for Gen Z." I'm like, "No, get your [ __ ] avocado toast. Get your Door Dash. Get your Uber. I don't care if you can afford it and you have a fully funded emergency fund and you don't have this horrendous 30% debt o hanging over your life that is controlling every decision and every aspect of your future. If you don't, then do whatever. Gamble, have fun in moderation. There's nothing wrong with that." Have you ever thought about how many different software subscriptions you're using to run your business or social media channels? Because if you're like me, you're probably doing email marketing on one platform, you're running your website on another platform, customer support/CRM somewhere else, and you're spending thousands of dollars a month on all these tools, and you barely can keep track of all of it. That's why I was so glad our team started using Highle. It's basically the operating system for our entire business all in one place. But the craziest part is their AI studio. Anything you want to add to your business, new website, better funnel, automations, it builds it out instantly simply by typing in a prompt. Now, be honest with me. Are you currently paying more than $97 a month to keep track of your leads in a CRM, send automated emails and text messages, build landing pages, and process payments? If you said yes, you're probably going to want to switch to High Level. So seriously, if you want to stop paying for eight different software subscriptions to run your business, just go to jackneil.com/highlevel or scan the QR code on screen. Again, that is jackneil.com/highle if you want to run your entire business with one platform. But anyway, guys, back to the podcast. I guess when you think about those micro expenses of men, uh like what would you say are the top five ones that are new to like this genie? >> Gooning for sure. It's a big one. Definitely. Gooning. Um, micro purchases. Did you say specifically micro? Okay. Because I wanted to throw cars in there, but um Oh, gooning for sure. So, lots of collections and they don't just stick to one platform. I I know, but there's there's I'm blanking on the other ones. As a professional gooner, I'm a little disappointed that I'm forgetting the other uh platforms, but you you'll see all of them. If you see one, you'll see the other ones. Um, man, micro purchase. I mean, everyone goes out to eat. That's not really a gender thing, though. The >> Is that one? No, >> I I would actually say uh less on that, but vaping is a crossgenerational thing. I don't see a lot of uh I mean, that's one reason we partnered with Gamer Subs was because men do love to go into the gas station and get energy drinks on the way to work. That's a very common thing. Women love to go to the Starbies. Men love to get the Celsius or Monster or whatever. Yeah. See, I mean, which is good. I mean, it's fine. It's fine, but people can't afford it. And just either buying like a bulk pack, >> right? >> So, going inside and getting some [ __ ] is what we call it when people go to the gas station. So, men love to do that. Most things are honestly crossgender. Um, but men are much more susceptible on our show to stopping in the gas station. Definitely gooning >> meme coins. That's also just kind of more rare than you'd think. Like yes, we get it, but even when we get it, it's so small. So small. >> Do you see a lot of Poly Market? >> No, we really don't. Surprising. >> Gooning and energy drinks. >> Yes, that is like every guy >> or of energy drinks and AI girlfriends. Is AI girlfriends common? >> No, no, no, not at all. That was the first thing that's ever happened. Like we'll get 20% who do like poly market and stuff, but even when they do it, I mean it's bad for them even if they're not addicted to it because they have bad debt if they're on the show, right? >> But even still, that's a it is still small. But I know it disproportionately impacts men as a whole. Like that's for sure as a gendered percentage, but as a percentage of people on my show or overall society, it's still lower. But it's again definitely more men. >> Are you seeing them spend money on women in general? other than watching him naked. You mean in person women? That's hard for Jenzie. >> I struggle with that. Um uh but yeah, I mean you'll see people go on Yeah, you'll see a date here and there, but it's not it's not crazy. Not a lot of big gift buying, not a lot of going out to dates. Even in relationships, you'll see them spend just as much as a couple as a single person does on getting McDonald's for themselves every day. Hm. >> It's pretty It's pretty crazy. >> Interesting. And then just to close the loop on the O of, would you say that's like a reason they're going broke or would you say it's like not? >> It all stacks up, but it's one of those reoccurrings, right? Where it's like the vast majority of men are doing it right now. And it's I know $10 won't make a break, but if you do $10 a few times a month and then you go out to eat every other day and stop for an energy drink every day to work, all this stuff really starts to stack up. Especially if you're starting to put it on a credit card where you're only making minimum monthly payments or not putting as much on it as you spent on it in the previous month. It just really starts to stack and then it just you hit that breaking point where all of a sudden you cannot afford it anymore. >> How about courses? No, that's uh again that kind of falls in that smaller pool, but when they do, they go hard, which really sucks because they it's fair that courses have a bad reputation. Like we do courses, we have educational programs and but they're good. Same with Ramsay's is good. I know like you you're friends with Graham Graham as well and he has a good program. There's there's good programs out there. Yet the programs I see these people do, it's like a $10,000 day trading program. I'm not like what are you doing? Like these people are [ __ ] morons. Why aren't they buying the $200, you know, learn how to budget and invest properly program that like we do? >> Get rich with day trading. >> Yeah. It's the get-rich quick. That's what people want to do. So when we do s see it, they go crazy and they usually finance like a 10,000 hour program really >> which is life destroying. It's so stupid. Makes no sense. And then it encourages them to do day trading. And I don't know. Do you do you day trade? Are you day trader? >> No. Did you see the new rules that went out last week? >> No. What happened? >> You used to have to have $25,000 in your account to do more than three day trades a week. I think it was three. They got rid of that rule. Now you can have any amount of money. You could have $5 in there and you can do as many day trades as you want throughout the week. >> Sounds like our audience is going to be really rich. >> Yes. And really quick. >> It's ridiculous. Um, yeah. I was kind of thinking about the stuff men uh was spending money on in general, like between energy drinks, o meme coins. >> It's those reoccurrings, man. That's where the the guys [ __ ] it up. Where it's just like, yes, I've subscribed to a couple before and it's always, you know, you click in and you cancel immediately so it doesn't re reoccur. But it's these guys, they have multiple reoccurrings and they're like chatting with them and they're paying to chat and it's just some Indian dude like order you look really cute today guy. Don't cancel me. But like it's just some dude that's like you know [ __ ] just chatting with you telling you you look hot and you're paying for it. >> It's interesting. I I'm curious from your view. Do you think a lot of the reason men go broke is because they're simps? >> Oh yeah, dude. Gen Z men are losers. [ __ ] losers. The gender divide, the gender war right now, dating rates are record low, marriage rates are record low, virginity rates are record high. It's insane. They're losers. And honestly, both genders have responsibility to play. Cancel culture went absolutely insane. Like there was a correction that needed to be made and then it overcorrected. And like guys will send one embarrassing text and they'll get blasted all over online. Or you'll go up to a woman and her like morbidly obese friend will say, "He's not interested." And it's just like all these embarrassing moments that are impossible to deal with. And then guys are also just sitting inside [ __ ] gooning to extremists online or like um or just watching porn, not manning up to go cold approach and having horrible conversations. And it's it's brutal. And then dating apps came into picture and it's it is true. Okaycid did their own analysis. It is true that the top 80% of women only go for the top 20% of guys. Um, and women have their own issues on the dating apps. They're getting flooded, flooded, flooded. I would not want to deal with that. But then men are getting almost no matches, no engagement, and it's we have so many things that are stacking against them right now. And they are [ __ ] losers right now. A lot of them, they're virgins. It's not hard to [ __ ] It is not hard to [ __ ] I have never been a 10 out of 10. Never been a seven out of 10. I think I've been a solid I've been to a seven. I think I think I've gone down to a five out of 10. It is not hard to have sex before any notoriety or money. It is not hard, but there's a lot of social pressure. They're locked inside. They're in weird communities and there's a big gender war going on right now, even politically, right? And um it's it's it's it's brutal and just I think people hear the dating app statistic too that it's like bottom what is it? Uh top 10% of guys get the bottom or get the 90% of women, whatever. But I just my view on this and this might not be statistically accurate. I just don't really think women seriously use dating apps. >> Probably not. Who would? >> Like I think they just kind of go outside and talk to guys, you know, and guys assume that like oh dating apps are like where people are supposed to meet and it's just and it's just kind of cope from them actually going outside and >> it's like a video game swiping, right? And yeah, men are staying inside. They're not going out. Drinking has dramatically fallen among Jenzi. That's overall good health. >> But it's actually it is like pretty much like every like men's advocate and not like a weird extremist way because you know there's like the crazy [ __ ] I don't know [ __ ] But just like in terms of like just getting out there and just like being a normal person like a part of that drinking statistics is actually kind of bad cuz you need that social lubricant to kind of go out there and cold approach and get a little more social. I'm not saying get plastered and [ __ ] up your liver all this stuff or blow all your money on drinking but you need to go out. You need a cold approach. You know, my ex before my current girlfriend was a cold approach. >> It works. She didn't know who I was. She only learned afterwards. And um you have to be able to do it. But guys are not willing to do it right now. And some of it is fair. You get plastered online. You get put in the tea app or in weird Facebook groups. You know, it's like there are real things that have led to the fear, but there's probably too much fear, overblown fear. Now they're losers paying for Only Fans. And it kind of sucks cuz it's also just not hard to have sex. Go out to the bar, have sex. Pretty easy. Everyone's trying to [ __ ] It's crazy how that happens. How that works. >> Do you think having a girlfriend makes you spend more money or less money? Mine hasn't changed that much. I mean, I've gotten a couple like nice gifts for like Christmas and birthday. I mean, I've spent more money on myself because I've been forced to. This isn't even like anything special, but um no, my I mean just my cost per going out to eat, but she's making me eat at home anyway more to lose weight. So, it's like no, I think my spending's gone up. I'm sure for most people, yes, it is. It is up though. M the one thing I am a little out of touch on is like I've never like been I I there was like a six-month phase in LA where I would just [ __ ] get like ramen noodles and [ __ ] and just save money and cook for myself. But just do you recommend that everyone should be cooking for themselves if they're making 50k a year? >> Yeah. Well, okay. Well, caveats depends your financial situation. If there's no emergency fund, if there's high APR debt, then yes, absolutely. Meal prep, meal prep, meal prep. Cheap, $300 a month per person budget. LA, that's a little harder, but in most places you can do that and we prove it with our local grocery store, HB like once a quarter. We do the math. Uh, it'll probably have to go up to 350 soon. We'll see. But even still, yes, most people should be doing that. But if you're making 50 and you have a fully funded six-month emergency fund and you don't have any high interest debt, that's where you go to the 50 3020 rule, which is 50% on needs, 30% on fun, which can be going out to eat, and 20% on saving. If you're hitting that 20% on saving, then I do not care. As long as you're living a halfway decent life, you're not overspending on your necessities or underpending. We don't want you to [ __ ] you know, live in like a cave as well. Um, you're living an actually decent life. We want people to go out to eat. 50,000 LA harder. Your bills stretch a lot a lot thinner there. But yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. We want people to go out to eat. It just it really depends on where they are in life. What's the most money you've seen a guy spend on women? >> Yeah. I have had people I had someone throw I think it was like $25,000 for Dari. I'm I'm not in that world. It was like my first time actually kind of hearing about it. Everyone around me knew what it was, but I didn't know it. But it was like her African village parents so that she could bring he could bring her overseas and marry her. He had to like pay like a down payment almost. Um uh we've had a few 90-day fiance type relationships on the show. They've had to spend a lot of money. So we've had tens of thousands of dollars go to that for sure. >> So what are they purchasing? >> Well, the visa process is a little expensive. the lawyers um flights back and forth to see each other throughout that process. >> How did they meet? Just Instagram or something? >> Oh, weird apps. You know, the 90-day fiance type apps, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Huh. >> So, we've had two people from Africa and then we had one guy, she wasn't there, but one, she was from Southeast Asia somewhere as well, and he spent a lot of money on that. And then the guy I remember you talking about it was years ago now so I'm a little fuzzy on the details but yeah he was spending a [ __ ] ton of money on like oh we I mean we've had guys spend a [ __ ] ton of money on strippers and stuff. Uh so that's kind of I don't think that qualifies the same as your question though when it comes to spending on girlfriends but yeah people blow tens of thousands to get their get their love. I think when when usually once people on the show already have the love of their life or they're already dating someone, they're not going like tens of thousands into it though. But a lot of people have spent tens of thousands to acquire that on the show. >> Do you think a good relationship generally saves men from a lot of poor spending habits? >> It definitely can because if you're the [ __ ] if you the guy are a [ __ ] and maybe she's smart, she budgets, it definitely can. But I I've seen it where like the guy was doing well financially and then she came in and she was like a crazy spender, didn't care about debt or budgeting and she tanked it. So it it can go both ways. Obviously it depends on who has what knowledge base or discipline going into it. >> Before I ask about this, who do you think has been the most financially responsible guest on your show? >> Amth if that counts. >> Really? >> Oh yeah. She owns gas stations and I think she was worth like 25 million at the time of filming two years ago. So absolutely what's interesting is no actually she did spend a lot of money um to probably not but even still he technically I think in the end once we discovered more things at the end even though he's being really dumb with his money he probably had a higher net worth just because he's accidentally put things into assets like cars and stuff and luckily for him hasn't really gone into debt he just throws away pay his money, but he doesn't like go into debt. >> So, he has some assets that he could liquidate if necessary, like his house and some crazy cars. So, technically not financially responsible, but he has a higher net worth than most people on the show. >> Yeah, I think Togei said something like, uh, you can't lose if you don't quit when it comes to gambling. What do you think of that advice? >> [ __ ] I mean, that's what that doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense. I don't understand. >> Just joking. But um I wanted to ask you about looks maxing. There's >> Oh, sure. >> a growing trend online where young men spend heavily on their appearance to become more attractive. Do you think looks maxing is a good financial investment? >> Uh I guess it could be uh to I think statistically, right? I don't have this data at my fingertip, but good-looking people tend to get, you know, in terms of in-person job interviews, higher success rates. uh obviously helps you in the dating pool, might help you get a partner. Um interview processes. I mean, it helps people throughout life being more attractive. Uh has the looks maxing stuff statistically proven to actually increase people's attractiveness? I haven't not a looks max expert personally. >> There's something about every inch of height you have, you make another like $10,000 a year or something, but I don't know if >> And it helps on the dating apps as well. like a worthy investment for money. Maybe a little, but I think it's probably a decent investment for actually successful in dating because dating is very superficial. It's even more superficial right now. And people people's expectations are insane. You'll have the ugliest [ __ ] in the world having the expectation that they can only get tens out of tens. It's kind of crazy. Like I I don't know where people have valued themselves is all the way up here. I try to be reasonable with my value. Um I don't know. So it could be good. But does look maxing actually work? Does it actually work in terms of like getting people more attractive? Because that's my question because you can't and get higher. >> There's two parts of looks maxing basically. Like there there's soft maxing and hard maxing. So one is plastic surgery and then one is doing stuff like working out >> and I don't know like doing your hair better, that kind of stuff. >> Well, I mean self-confidence in general, you do better when you're more self-confident. You do better at your job. If you're working out, you're likely to do better in most things because one, you're disciplined enough to work out, so you're disciplined enough to budget and a lot of other things and diet and whatnot. If you're working out, you will have more energy and be will be able to produce higher results across the board. You'll be able to work longer and harder than other people. >> Um, so working out, working out leads to less depression, less mental health issues, which leads to better results in life. So I think working out in general, looks maxing or not, is going to lead to a positive return on investment. Clav says that you should take out your student loans and spend the money on plastic surgery instead of school because >> don't think they allow that. >> He says you won't get in trouble and you'll mog. >> You might get in trouble and you will mog, but while in trouble. >> Do you think that's a better investment than college? Random question really quick. 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It's a plant-based all-natural men's grooming brand that actually performs. So, if you want to try it out for yourself, just use code jackneal at bassbodyworks.com for 20% off your first order. Plus, you'll get a free toiletry bag when you buy your first set. So, again, that is bassbodyworks.com code Jack Neil. But anyway, guys, back to the podcast. Do you think that's a better investment than college? >> Well, seeing how I don't think you're allowed to. I will need to fact check that, but I really don't think you're allowed to do that. He's talked about it a lot. I think it's a thing. >> Okay. Is he a valid source of student loan borrowing? >> He went to uh Boston College. He went to pretty good school. Pretty smart kid. >> Does that mean he's good at knowing the laws and legals around student loan borrowing? I don't know. >> He's talking about it. >> Good. >> Let's assume it's true. Do you think it's a good investment >> instead of doing it towards school? >> So, college or double jaw surgery? >> College. art degree or double jaw surgery. Flip a coin. And yeah, equal return on investment there. >> Do you think student loans should be illegal? >> Illegal? No. >> It's like the concept. >> No, but we definitely [ __ ] it up. Like again, like many social programs, I think it came with good intent where it's like, oh, college is a little expensive. We want people more people to be able to go to college. Disadvantage people to go to college. Sure. But you can view it pretty much per year. Every time you increase what people are allowed to borrow, schools increase just as much if not maybe a little less. Um what they will charge for it because why would they not charge the max that people can borrow. It helps invest in administrators building out better uh facilities to attract more foreign students which pay in cash and at higher rates which is even better for the school. So, um, I mean, the the cost of college immediately just went to the moon the moment the we allowed people to borrow as much as they wanted. So, it it's it's it's pretty clear. It's all in the data. It's not surprising to anyone. So, in order to reverse that, it would be brutal. Colleges would close. People wouldn't be able to go to college now for a while if we just completely stopped the federal student loan system. But, so, I don't think we could rip the band-aid off like that. But, we also can't continue on this trend. We can't because it's the federal government. They'll garnish your wages. This isn't like a personal loan that can go to collections and fall off after seven years. You're not getting out of these student loans. So, it's really bad. I don't know if they should be illegal. >> Do you think they should be forgiven student loans? >> Not without changing the system. I'm not inherently opposed to like, "Oops, we [ __ ] up. Let's reset." But if you do not actually fix what got us here in the first place, which is the infinite borrowing for any degree at any institution, and they can raise the prices as much as they want for administrators and football programs or whatever, cuz only like 10 or 20 or 30 football or sports programs actually make a return on their own investment. The rest of them are [ __ ] You know, I went to Western Michigan University like, "Woo, we got the national championship in hockey last year. That's good. But we still probably spent more than we made." Like, yay, I we get to win that. I'm happy. But is it does it actually make sense for that school to have all those D1 programs? No. But that's okay. Focus on the education. Focus on the education. Um [ __ ] What was your question? >> If they should be forgiven. >> Oh, not without changing the system. >> Imagine you were to break this down for me like exactly why like why are student loans predatory? What is the key cause of them? like >> I don't know if they're necessarily predatory. >> I mean, some private ones might be, but federal not predatory. No, I think I think it's more the lack of education from parents and student counselors. Again, the the mission over the past few decades, which has not been an unfair mission, is to send people to college no matter what cuz statistically it has improved the lives. >> So, why did they raise the borrowing amount? Well, they will always raise the borrowing amount because one, inflation and cost of college goes up, but cost of college goes up with the borrowing amount. And it's also just it's a moral question of making sure everyone has access, no matter where you come from, whatnot. Um, but again, I think we've we've really messed it up in terms of we've allowed every college in the world to have a music program where I'm sorry if you're going to um I can't think think of a think of a random town. Where are you from? >> Artstown, Kentucky. >> Artstown. Think if you're going to town college for trombone performance, are you going to be the one who makes it versus the one who goes to Jiuliard? Probably not. Does that college need to have that? Should we be encouraging someone to borrow $100,000 a year to go do that just because it's their passion? No. So, we need to have a different conversation about what people are doing when they head to college and borrow that money, >> right? >> Really do. I wish I wish every kid that is or [ __ ] I mean, well, yeah, some of them are kids when they're getting their student loans, but every 17, 18 year old before they were finishing, they have to be the one to click. And I wish on that site it was like, okay, you will be paying this much. This will be your expected minimum monthly payment if you do this trajectory from this institution after college. Oh, and by the way, the major you picked your most likely first year out of college pay is going to be this and you're borrowing this much for it. We should just lay that out, educate them as much as possible because right now the only education they'll get is their student counselor and their parents and parents don't know what the [ __ ] they're doing. They don't. But I don't blame them for it either. I blame more the student counselors. >> Yeah. Student counselors are just responsible for getting the most amount of kids in. They're not responsible for like what happens to you after. >> Yeah. >> So, the incentives are kind of messed up. Um, >> actually on that, I would just say as a final note, my student counselor in high school, I think I saw her four times. She's the one that like guides you throughout. >> One time was like, "Oh, what classes do you want to take next year?" The other three times were making sure I'd go to college. >> So, what like it was like she was supposed to be helping me my entire time there. No, it was just conversations about college. That's the whole thing. Let's bro. >> I have a segment I think you'll find fun. We'll call it smart or crash out where I give you a purchase and you tell me whether or not it's a good purchase or a bad purchase. And let's just assume the person makes 50k a year. Um 50k a year where? Let's qualify it further. >> Texas. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Where's their uh debt in retirement situation and fully funded emergency fund? >> Zero. >> Zero on all. Yeah, let's do zero. >> No, no debt. >> No debt, >> but no emergency fund. >> No emergency fund. >> Okay, cool. Let's do it. >> Yeah. Um maybe like $1,000 in the bank. >> Okay. >> Yeah. A Costco membership. >> Yeah, that's fine. If you're actually using and doing most of your grocery shopping there, that's fine. >> An MBA masters in business. Yeah. >> Yeah. Great. Absolutely. Depends how much it cost to get and what how much you borrowed for it, but yeah. >> Lasic eye surgery. >> Yeah, that's good. I mean, um, is it all cash or do they have decent eye insurance? Like, depends how much is covered. But hey, if you can do it, I'm okay with it. I'd get the six-month emergency fund before doing that, but I'm not going to freak out about it afterwards if you put it into your wants category. >> Bitcoin, >> you can include it in a reasonably balanced portfolio. Wouldn't do even half or even a quarter of my portfolio in it. Personally, I have a very small percentage in crypto, but yeah, I mean, Ethereum, Bitcoin has a small percentage. Yeah, sure. >> A pelaton. >> Yeah, personal health is good. Um, again, without an emergency fund, I would rather you go to the gym. And I put gym and health and wellness into everyone's budget no matter where they are. So, that's good. But maybe after your fully funed emergency fund is that if that's going to keep you active even more than having a gym membership or going on walks, then yeah, all about it. >> An Equinox gym membership. >> Sure, I'm good with it. >> Really? >> How much is it? >> I think they're like 300 a month. >> It's brutal. if you're actually using it. If you're actually using it, I'm okay. Again, I would I would advocate, hey, maybe let's start with like LA Fitness, see if you like it. If you want the more dedicated classes and stuff with like Equinox, Equinox, cool, do it. But I'm okay with it. Again, preferably get the emergency fund first. Health and fitness is everything, though. If you're not, you know, I'm saying this, but if you're not going to live for a while, what is the point of the sacrifice that is required to do get all your finances in a good place anyway? What's the point if you're not going to be around to do it? So, take care of health and fitness. Botox. >> No, not yet. Fully fun emergency fund, then take care of the wrinkles. >> A boat? [ __ ] no. Absolutely not. In that situation, no. become become a millionaire first, please. Boats are horrible investments. It's not an investment. It needs to be a toy. >> A pool in your backyard. >> Definitely. Probably. Also not. Definitely a toy later. If you know, if you're getting a pool before a fully funed emergency fund, I'm burning your house down. This This thing's [ __ ] stupid. >> A designer dog from a breeder. >> No. Adopt anyway. Regardless, just adopt. >> A trip to Disney? No, no. I mean, what what even you're gonna spend thousands on there. You're probably morbidly obese because you go into Disney anyway. And so, you should probably go to Equinox. Equinox, not Disney. >> A 20K engagement ring financed at 24% APR. >> Oh, if they're making 50, no. Well, first of all, that the the interest rate, [ __ ] no. Um, but if they're making 50,000, no. As well, >> a wedding over $30,000. >> Okay. Are you paying all 30 or the parents chipping in? yourself. >> [ __ ] And is this U50? She's not working. Damn. Brutal modern marriage. Um, okay. I wouldn't I wouldn't I'm almost more okay. [ __ ] No, cuz they're going to finance it. No. No. Try to cap it at 15 even. It's still kind of brutal, but yeah. >> A brand new Tesla on a 72-month loan. >> What Tesla? >> Newest model. >> Model Y. >> Model Y. >> Okay. base model. >> Yeah. >> What interest rate is 72? >> What's the most common? I >> think you can get them for like one >> as low as one, right? At like special promos. If you're doing that, I'm not thrilled about the 72, but I'm I would be I would accept >> a Ford F-150. >> Definitely not cuz you're spending a [ __ ] ton of money. The gas is going to be brutal for you at 50, especially if we keep [ __ ] with the trader moves. Um, this is not not very good cuz you're also probably not getting a great interest rate with it either. >> It depends on the overall uh what kind of loan and what I can get with it, but probably not. Those are expensive. >> A motorcycle? >> No, cuz that is that going to be your daily driver? Do you live in San Diego? If not, no. >> A used Toyota Camry and cash? >> Sure. Yeah, sure. That's fine. >> Perfect. Can you tell someone's bad with money simply by looking at them? >> The nice clothes and nice car thing is actually kind of indict indicative. I really feel like it is. When I see someone that looks like all like blinged out or designer or nice car, especially if it's like a stereotypical type of car. Um, I assume the finances are pretty bad. That's a That's a pretty easy tell. Is there any like physical signs that someone's bad with money? Like do you think girls with septums are bad with money? >> Okay, I see where you're going. Uh, I mean, maybe. I don't know. They might be more annoying. I don't know about bad with money. That's hard to tell. I feel like seems like every woman I uh meet these days have sess piercing. Um, which I know it's fun to make fun of, but actually, you know, I find a edgy girl pretty attractive, so doesn't actually bother me. But man, I don't know. I don't know cuz even like the biggest slob ever could be is like a doing digital security making $250,000. Like it that's really hard today. Really is. I don't know. Even like racial stereotypes or something if you want to get into that. Like even that's harder to tell. It's like it's like no maybe where someone lives >> but you don't know where someone's living unless you're like following them home. Are you following them home? >> Is there any like uh one thing that like stands out to you that you're like oh another one with a septum like another one like anything like that? No. Well, I mean, sure, sometimes if they're like, "Roo, rent control, like one of the most clear failed policies in the history of all of humanity that has never worked in one city it's been put in. Just permitting gets cut in half the next day and rent goes up for everyone except for the few selected few that get the positive results of it." I mean, yeah, usually like, you know, get a little piercing there. They're like, "Woo, rent control is great." And I'm like, just cuz it sounds good and feels moral doesn't mean it's ever worked in practice. So yeah, usually they're kind of like things like that. >> What can you tell about a person's childhood by their spinning habits? >> Um, we've definitely had a lot of people on the show that are Yeah. One thing that really lines up is the going out to eat and also health style. Um, so people that have like really unhealthy parents that go out to eat a lot or have really bad food, they also tend to be the more large people on the show. Um, fat people that just spend so much money going to McDonald's and they're the same thing was happening with their parents that they're just used to that lifestyle. It's an easier lifestyle. Well, it is an endlessly dopamine fueling lifestyle, getting that food and it is delicious for what it's worth. Um, but that that that really that really does fall generational trends. It really does. >> What's the most irresponsible purchase you've made in 2026? Just the ring, >> probably. >> Anything else? >> We bought new furniture for the office. You didn't see it yet. It's not here, but we're making we're sprucing up the office. We wrote a quarter million dollar check for that. >> That's brutal. That makes me want to put a gun in my mouth. That's brutal. But we're doing it nice. It's good for recruitment. It's good for people that are here. So, there's like lounge space, co-working space, uh private spaces, you know, call booths, all these different things. Like, did we need to do that? No. The business is doing fine. We've recruited pretty well. But it is nice for the employees. I want the if they have to be at work, I want the place that they're at work to be halfway decent. So, that was stupid. Wasn't necessary, but maybe we'll see a return on investment with that and we can take it wherever we go or liquidate it if we go out of business, which, you know, hopefully not, but um like that was pretty bad. I'm renovating my new house, but it's also not a crazy how for my income situation. Again, I've been very blessed. It's dramatically under what I think most normal people would do, but the renovation for the um for the purchase of the house, it's it's a little more up there. >> Do you like buying things? >> I I love new tech. >> I love new tech. Like I have a maxed out MacBook Pro. I don't I don't edit videos anymore. I did when I first started this, but obviously I that's not where my time is best spent now. So that was stupid. That was so unnecessary. I could do everything I do on a MacBook Air. No reason for that. So, that was stupid to spend a few thousand bucks on that. That was also last year. Um, but I do I love to buy new tech like the new Apple Watch or the new iPhone or the new whatever, the new smart speaker. It's like I don't always use it. So, yes, I do like to buy that. I do like to go out to eat. I actually am doing it quite a lesson now. And it's more just cuz I'm like, "Hey, where do you want to go to eat?" and she's like, "Uh, you're sitting right in that [ __ ] chair and we're going to make some healthy fit." And I'm like, "Okay." Um, so that's the less of my choice. I don't know. I don't know. I did get I did get my Plaid Model X. I did get my Plaid Model X before they discontinued the Model X. So, I guess I got lucky on that. I I don't remember if that was this year or the end of last year. That was stupid because I already had a Model X a few years old, but I wanted the updated chip and I was I didn't get plaid last time and I'm like, "Damn it." So, I got planned, but I traded in. It was like half off. So, um, that worked, but it was stupid. I didn't need it, but it was also wasn't financially irresponsible for me. >> What thing do you see people waste money on that you personally don't judge them for? >> Ooh. That I don't judge them for. Waste money on I judge everyone on everything. >> I mean, I was judging you on your accent at the beginning. This is This is kind of what I do. I'm a judging person. Is there one that like other people might judge them for and you're just like it's probably fine. I I don't blame them. >> [ __ ] man. >> Um h that's that that's a difficult one for me. Listen, uh maybe if it's like taking care of a sick relative, but other people wouldn't judge them on that. >> The gym thing, we already talked about the gym thing. Maybe some people would judge, but I think health and fitness is, you know, take care of that. That's number one. >> Um >> how about giving like family money or something like Yeah, but I'm against that usually, unless again, it's like taking care of a sick relative and it's not enabling. If it's enabling, I'm against it, right? A gift. I'm not against a gift, but I'm against giving gifts for Christmas if you're [ __ ] broke and have bad debt. Um uh I I don't freak out if I guess like a one time OF purchase and like I guess some people are like hardcore like no no if you even watch porn you'll die. So maybe something like that. Um, >> what if someone buys something and it's like their birthday? >> Can they afford it or not? If they can't afford it, if it's stupid for their financial position, no. >> But it's their birthday. >> I don't give a [ __ ] Everyone has a birthday. Someone every everyone watching this video has a birthday this year. It's not very unique. I don't give a [ __ ] about a birthday. [ __ ] your birthday. >> Do you think people should work on their birthday? >> Uh, they can if they want to, or they can take it off. off. And if they can't take it off, I don't have any sympathy. Like, I don't care. I worked on mine this year, but then I took off my girlfriend's birthday. >> I don't know. It doesn't matter. If you can take it off and you want to do it, but if you have to work on your birthday, I have zero sympathy. I don't care. What? What? This isn't sweet 16. What are we doing? You're an adult. >> What do you think of birthday months? >> That Yeah, that's the most That's the dumbest [ __ ] I've ever heard in my life. Birthday months. What a stupid trend. What a stupid trend. What are we doing? Why do you get there's 12 a year and you're going to allow yourself to [ __ ] up the other 11 by living to the max for a just one of them because it's your birthday falls in that month? You were born. You're not unique. Congratulations. Every human being's been born. >> Okay. No one's going to give a [ __ ] when you're dead either. Same with me. Who gives a [ __ ] We don't need to celebrate. Like we'll be sad for a second when we die. Well, other people will. We won't know cuz we're dead. But okay, who gives a birthday month is so [ __ ] stupid. I don't understand. Why destroy the rest of your year for one month? Have fun on your birthday. Sure, if you can afford it. Same with Christmas. Same with anything. If you have made bad mistakes or you come from a place of disadvantage that still sucks, but reality is reality is reality in the end. And there's only one way out to get better and that is sacrificing for the first time in your [ __ ] life. So sometimes you just have to say no and be an adult and say no. It's not bad to say no. >> It's hard. >> Have you seen people spend a lot of money on like funerals? >> H no. I think funeral came up once in our conversation, but that's something I didn't knock either. >> Sometimes it's a little out of their control. You know, there's family dynamics at play. You don't get to fully have say in it. And I mean, like, I mean, the death of someone you love, that's I mean, that's hard to [ __ ] with. That's hard. Uh, another one of those where it's like it's hard to say no to is tithing. It's like it's so embedded into their entire moral fabric where if you're like, "Okay, it's a little stupid for you to do this. It doesn't make sense." When it's some when it's something that's it's not ideology or political or even just it's a literal part of their identity. They think they're going to die if they don't do it. It's like it's not going to McDonald's. It's hard to tell people no. I tell them no, but it's hard for me to fight against that hardcore. But I do try to make the logical reality. It's like I want you to tithe if you want to tithe. I want you to donate if you want to donate. Uh if you want to tithe to a church or donate to NPR, I don't give a [ __ ] You can do more of that. If you sacrifice temporarily by not improving your life, figuring out how to get a better job, having more savings, and all this, you will contribute more more over your entire lifetime than doing just little bits right now. So, I I try, but it is hard to be like tell people they can't when it's seriously embedded in their identity and full world beliefs. >> Do a lot of guests on your show use girl math to justify their spending? >> They certainly try to. I mean, I think every gender has their own stupid math. Men with ripping Pokemon cards and buying upgrading their PC and [ __ ] like that. Yeah, you can you can cope the [ __ ] out of that till you're dead. And then, yeah, girls be like, "It's girl math. They think they're cute." And I'm sure they get cheered on with their um Tik Tok cheers them on cuz they got put in their little ecosystem where it's just like, "Woo woo, you can do no wrong." But no, of course it's like that's a cope. >> Is it a real thing? I can't tell if it's a joke or not. I think it's it's half joke, half not, half cope. It's just like I it's like a new version of I deserve it or like thinking you're entitled or just like brushing it off, putting your head in the sand, facing the consequences later. It's a cope. It's a cope and it's a silly way of coping. Um, so maybe a little Tik Tok Instagram trend on it for sure, but there's no actual girl math. It doesn't make sense. It's not a real thing. It's a cope and they just want to do it and they want to have joy of what they're getting right now instead of actually just sacrificing for a second and saying no. >> Do you think pets are keeping people broke? >> It can. It can. And if you do pets wrong, it absolutely can. If you don't There's a couple things. You can get a dog and then something goes wrong with the dog and you don't have pet insurance and you're [ __ ] And then you're not going to you took the responsibility of the dog. You don't want the dog to die. You love the dog. It puts you in a lot of debt and then you have to pay out the debt. That's bad. You can get a dog. You can get shitty pet insurance. Some cheap ass pet insurance because you're told to get pet insurance. So, you just get whatever. You don't look into it. Oh, doesn't cover anything. Then you're a lot of debt. It's [ __ ] You can get a dog and you get $50 a month pet insurance. Oo, that's a minimum payment. That's hard. At least it makes sure you don't go broke if something would happen with the dog cuz it's actually good pet insurance, but now it's a new minimum monthly payment. You can't afford minimum monthly payments. That's brutal. Now you got to get a special dog food cuz they're allergic to chicken or whatever. It it can be for some people. Yes, it it certainly can be. What's the most amount of money you've seen someone spend on their dog? >> Oh, tens of thousands. I've personally spent tens of thousands. My my my uh Great Pyrenees at home, I've probably spent more than anyone I know on my dog. She's a lot. >> What are you buying? >> She surgery cuz she won't stop eating things that'll kill her. So, it's like we're she's monitored 24/7 at all times and she has a muzzle when we can't see her. Not cuz she's vicious or anything. She's the sweetest little thing, but she wants to kill herself. So, she's had multiple life-saving surgeries to get something a blockage out of her intestine. >> Um, what is she eating? >> Anything. One was some wrappers because she found some candy. One was like a little thing that goes under furniture that stops it from sliding. That was her first one. Um, she she's had three. I don't remember what the other one is, but the one where she had uh is it sepsis? Septsus, whatever. Where like, you know, everything sepsis. Yeah. Uh, it was really bad. She almost died. That was $30,000 I spent. >> Jeez. >> About pet insurance. It helps. It helps. But you still got to pay for it up front then get reimbured later. >> How about other people? Have you seen this? >> Still tens of thousands. They'll put it on like a care credit card usually is what it's called. Uh it's usually what people get with for the vets. And it's usually it's a surgery like that. It's a life-saving surgery. Something really bad happened with the dog or the dog goes through chemo or something. Absolutely. in term uh I did have a guy that was spending thousands not tens of thousands but thousands on getting owning a percentage of breeding dogs for French bulldogs owning a percentage of the nut so that he got you know every time that dog nut and they sold the puppy he got like 10% of the profits from the puppy and yeah he made zero dollars he he was losing money no [ __ ] but either way he was spending tens of thousands trying to buy shares of dogs. >> That sounds like it could be good. >> Could be. Wasn't. Obviously, people make money breeding dogs or else people wouldn't do it. >> I think he's just a [ __ ] >> I wonder how much money's in that. >> Well, definitely a lot of money. Puppy. >> What's the most seen someone spend on a dog? >> It's going to be a designer dog, like a French bulldog. Thousands. Thousands of dollars. Yeah. A few thousand. >> What do you see people waste money on and convince themselves it's investing? Oh, convince themselves it's investing trinkets. [ __ ] Lab boooos. Lab boooos. They always they're like, "Oh, but I can resell it. It's good." But now the fads and the trends, their rise and falls are so quick. It's not Beanie Babies where it's like at the top the top of the field and value and collecting them forever. You know, in the '9s, 2000s, now these fats come and go so quick. So, you're buying something on the way up, it's already on the way down before it gets delivered. So people really convince themselves with the trinkets and [ __ ] like that that it's a good investment and it's it I mean it never is. The little boo boos weren't a good investment. The none of that [ __ ] I don't know. Who knows what they're on with PopMart now, but they're on something. They got some new fad going on. I'm sure we'll see it on the show. It always happens. So they think that's a good investment. I mean, people cope the [ __ ] out of uh vacations. They're like, "Oh, I can make more money because I'm happy." It's like, "Well, yeah, but now you're in debt." It's just like people cope the [ __ ] out of everything. >> Do you think that's true? >> What? No. >> Not like just the concept of you have to spend money to make money. Like spend money on your happiness to make more money. >> No, not necessarily. But again, if you can afford it, it makes sense and maybe you are happy and it makes you work harder. Sure. But if you're just going further and further into 30% debt to do it. No, you're not getting a 30% return on it. You might get like a small 5% 2% return. That might have longevity over the course of your life, but not if you're going into 30% debt for it. So now where are the investments? Obviously overall stock market, maybe a little crypto, some life insuranceances, car insuranceances, home insuranceances, pet insuranceances. So insuranceances, um potential real estate, but even that it's like barely beats the market anyway. And personal residences. Um and then personal health, education, good education. There's [ __ ] education, there's [ __ ] health, there's [ __ ] everything. So, >> what's the richest guest you've had on that uh was living paycheck to paycheck? >> Yeah, we had a couple that was making upwards of $400,000 a year, but no, it was all gone. Thousands of dollars a month on [ __ ] A house they couldn't afford. Going out to eat every meal, multiple meals a day, stopping at the gas station, two car loans on like 60, $70,000 cars. Um, they just lifestyle inflate themselves. Honestly, the people that are worse off on the show are the people that make the most amount of money cuz they have access to more and more debt. The lower income people on the show typically are in easier to get out of positions cuz they need like a a job that just pays an extra 5% more and they can get out of a situation because they weren't able to get into a bad enough situation where the people making hundreds of thousands have gotten into so much bad debt where the increase they need to get out of it is literally like an extra $100,000 a year. Like >> what's the most debt you've seen someone I don't know the actual number, but it was hundreds of thousands for sure. Um, I don't I don't know if we ever got up to a million. We've gotten pretty damn close, but usually that becomes mortgages and really large car loans and student loans. >> Who's the youngest person who's ever come on your show and how bad were their finances? >> 18, but not that bad because they didn't really have time to and it was earlier. And that's why we don't really allow people that are like under 21. It has to be a rare situation. It's just cuz they don't really have time to [ __ ] it up that bad. And if you do, it's usually just student loans at that point. Maybe like a $250 credit card. Uh, so it just really wasn't that bad cuz they haven't had the opportunity to [ __ ] up yet. Which there should probably be a show for that, but I would be bored out of my mind. But there should probably be a show where it's like, "Hey, you might [ __ ] up soon. Don't do it so you don't mess it up." That'd be good for people to learn, but it ain't going to be me. >> We've covered this a bit, but I kind of want to expand on it a little more. like what crisis do you think Gen Z will face in the next decade? >> The AI is a hill that we don't know what the other side looks like and it is scary. It could boost productivity in a way that's incredible for everyone's job. It could take everyone out of job and we have no solution. It could take everyone out of job and we have an incredible UBI. It could destroy the world. It could who knows? AI is so uncertain and it's scary for Gen Z, especially generation alpha. Um, yeah, I feel really bad for them with that because it's hard to position what degree to get right now. It's hard to position what career field to start investing your time and energy into to try to move up on. This is very difficult choices to make. Uh, so that is one of the hardest things. We are certainly headed for some kind of student loan catastrophe at some point because no one's changing it. No one's changing it. And that that's I don't know again they can get on the repayment assistance program and do 1% of their income but even that their balances are never going to go down. It skews their debt to income ratios. It just looks bad across everything. Makes it harder to qualify for different types of loans. >> Um getting cars. Cars are getting more and more expensive. So that is becoming a category that's very difficult to deal with. >> Do you think we're in like a private credit bubble? probably. But I mean, you don't really know when you're in a bubble, right? Like, we've been in this tech bubble for the last 10 years. It's never burst. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Maybe it's not a bubble. Are we in an AI bubble? I don't know. Who knows? I You can't It's hard to say something's a bubble when you're in a bubble, right? >> Do you think there's something you see about AI and jobs or just AI in general that most people aren't thinking about? >> No. I just think more people are confident than they should be on what's the outcome. I don't know. It could be good. It could create more jobs. It could create less. Kevin Olirri says it's going to create more. Uh I think his counterpart Mark Cuban says it's going to destroy all. I could be wrong on that. I think that's what he says. But >> what does your gut tell you though? >> No. [ __ ] my gut. What do you want to know about my gut? My gut means nothing. It doesn't matter. I My Who cares? Like I'm not even going to listen to my gut. I don't give a [ __ ] Like I don't know. And I shouldn't position myself as someone that thinks I know. >> What do your actions reflect more so? Well, like I said, I'm a little more anxious person, so I just try to position myself in what's going to last the longest before AI could take it. Trades, maybe finance due to regulations >> that teachers, healthcare, like AI has a position everywhere there. Just a little less trust of a normal human wanting their kindergarten teachers to be their AI, right? So, >> do you feel urgency to make money more so now than you did maybe 3 years ago? No, not than three years ago now because I feel very comfortable now. If every if uh if my income dried up, I would I could live a very comfortable life. So, I feel okay with that. >> Um, >> are you investing in different places because of the AI thing? >> Uh, well, for sure. I mean, I know my stock portfolio absolutely has AI in it 100% because that's a lot of the top performers in the United States economy right now and the stock market in general. So you any index that I'm in that is a top performing index has some kind of AI in it. So absolutely but I don't I don't feel like a race like oh my goodness AI is going to come take every job. So I mean if if I'm in a blessed position man I I'm lucky where I got that savings where I'm okay. >> Do you think the average person should have that kind of anxiety that >> Yes. >> You do? >> Absolutely. Cuz I'm I'm lucky enough that I'm not average, right? But I've saved all my money that I've made here. Um, like you said, Gen Z, $400 that they don't have $400. I would feel terribly anxious. 3 years ago, I felt terribly anxious. A year ago, maybe I was still a little anxious on it. Absolutely. And that's but and that's normal. They're they're not wrong for fearing that anxiety. The scariest stuff is what we don't know. And that's the one thing that I say is we don't know where AI is going. So that is very reasonable and fair anxiety, >> right? >> But also people should and generally should try to make as much as they can right now anyway because even if everything stays normal, nothing goes wrong, that allows them to invest now and even if you make less later, do more passions later, you're allowing your money to grow over decades in the market compounded to like 10% on average. So it's but obviously just saying yeah, go make more money as Gen Z is okay. but the job market and degrees and all that [ __ ] and it makes it harder so you can't just go do it. But >> do you think this uncertainty about the future is a big cause of Jenz's financial situation? Like do you think Jenz are going broke because they feel like everything is hopeless in the future? Like they feel like AI is going to take all of our jobs. They feel like they're not going to be able to be financially free. >> I don't know about the AI one specifically. I don't remember what this term is called, but there is a percentage of young people, Gen Z and millennials, where they're like, I'm never going to be able to get a house or retire, so what does it matter anyway, so let's just blow the money and have fun. Now, there's a term for that. I don't remember what it is, but there is a part of our culture that is pretty extreme on that end for sure. Um, I don't know about that that fear of AI specifically leading to the blowing money behavior, but definitely on the I'm not going to own a house, so what's the point anyway? Which, by the way, I know home ownership is so baked into our society. I think people should just rent anyway. Gives you freedom to move. It gives you freedom to change jobs a little better. You don't have to deal with the maintenance and it's cheaper than owning a home regardless. Don't don't don't chase that home ownership thing. Know it's so baked into our culture. Mathematically, it just doesn't make sense. Invest your money. It's going to make more money. Stock market is going to make more money. It just really does. Yeah, I I largely agree on that. Um, >> but I understand wanting to own as well. It's baked into our culture. >> What do you think is the most important job that doesn't pay well? >> Social services. It's caught up a little more. It's caught up a little more, but for decades, it was dramatically underpaid for the service that it provides. >> Um, public safety is also caught up. We definitely need people of public safety making money. Nursing's caught up as well. A lot of those have caught up. Even teachers actually get paid a lot better than a lot of people think. Bad school districts obviously and lower paid states, those 100% exist, but that exists for all sectors in those communities. Um, yeah, honestly, politicians should probably make more money. I want to avoid corruption by, you know, just making sure they are able to fill their pockets. Like, >> I've heard that tape before. I think it's an interesting >> take, but like it's not even a fully well thoughtout opinion, right? I'm sure there's a good counterargument, but uh don't let them trade individual stocks. They can only invest in American indexes. Uh and try to get away from lobbying, which I know the Supreme Court essentially said, "Oh, no. It's totally illegal." So, okay, we're not going to get away from it, I guess, cuz it's just constitutional. So, pay them enough money where it's like to try to lower corruption, but even if you pay them more money, would they not want more money anyway? So, I don't know. But maybe that's one position we could make even higher. We want people People want to make a lot of a lot of ambitious people want to make good money. So, let's have good people want to run for public office as well. Maybe that's another reason why public office should make more money. Someone could be a CEO somewhere, but maybe that person would be able to deliver more of a public good by running for public office. Maybe a good person could be president that's never going to run because they know they're not going to make much money being president until afterwards when they do a book deal. So, yeah, maybe that could be an argument for it. >> Do 911 dispatchers make a lot of money? >> Uh, we've had two on our show that don't. They don't make Yeah, that's definitely one that could make more money for sure, but it definitely seems to be a lower skill job in that marketplace, right? It's like it's someone we definitely depend on and we need, but they tend to hire lowqualified >> people that >> How much do they get paid? >> Depends where, but I think we had someone she was close to like 20 bucks an hour, but she was in a lower cost she was in a lower cost of living area as well. Like she wasn't >> That's even worse. If she budgeted properly, she could have actually done pretty okay on her income situation. >> That's insane. Yeah. You I mean, if you ever have to call 911 in LA, you can't even get them to pick up usually cuz it's just so far. >> Well, I'm not surprised. Who would work in public safety in LA, >> right? >> It's like they're not really morally supported. >> This is a weird one, but do you think money problems come from spiritual problems? >> I mean, the tithing thing, right? >> Can you define tithing for me? It's where you have to give like a certain percentage of your income no matter what. >> 10%. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> It's like if you do that even when you're in a bad financial position and you can't afford that extra 10%. Yeah. That can [ __ ] you. That can [ __ ] you. Absolutely. Spiritual perspective. I don't know. I mean often times religious people tend to be religious young people tend to be more social because young people are really antisocial right now. So that tends to be one of the only places of community which usually leads to better outcomes in general. If you have a good social life, you tend to have good job, good income, good career, good family life. So there's lots of benefits to religion in our current we've lost third places, places where people would go and hang out. um especially like men's spaces, they've completely vanished and guys are pathetically lonely and they need to sometimes church is a good place to them. So religious religion can help them in that regard in terms of hurting them. Yeah, the tithing thing can hurt them. Or if they're like, "Oh, I'm going to go on a mission trip for two months and quit my job." Yeah, that I mean that's [ __ ] [ __ ] Don't do that. That makes no sense. You can't afford that. You need to work your job. Um it depends. I don't know. That's interesting though. So you think a core psychological reason is the lack of connection leads to >> Well, I don't know. I'm just saying religion could be good in that regard, right? >> If your religion is having you flying a plane into a building, not the best. That is a good financial choice though cuz then you don't have to save for retirement. So >> it works. It works. But I I guess the like connection portion like would you guess that the more lonely people feel the more uh money problems they have? >> Oh, I wouldn't be surprised. It's the O of spending, Uber Eats, all this [ __ ] Absolutely. Yeah, certainly paying a lot for video games and >> like what emotion causes people to spend in your view? Do you think it's like trying to fill like a void for happiness usually like overspending? >> Yeah, it's a few different things. It is that chase of dopamine. Sometimes it is looking good. It's, you know, you want to look good on at the stoplight uh or being perceived. Some of it is showing off on social media. Some is coping for a reasonable trauma. Some is coping for a [ __ ] trauma where people use trauma as a cope where it's like, okay, yeah, someone called you a bad word once. Oh, no, you're fine. Where some people have like actual like generational like abuse or something and yeah, that is sometimes a cope. Some people have mental health problems where that's their cope. They feel depressed. They door dash something. and it makes them feel better, but then you'll feel bad after 20 minutes anyway. So, uh yeah, absolutely. Either trying to feel good or you feel down. It is spending money. There is a reward there in your brain that feels good to get that food, to get that gift, to do something. Even when you're giving something to someone, it's still selfish because you're doing it because it feels good to give something. So, absolutely. So, the worse you feel, the easier it is to fall in those cope cycles of just spending money to feel good. H I guess in your situation um and I'll ask you more about it like the specifics, but would you say that when you were in debt uh it was kind of like self-love helped me become financially free or like doing the actions made me love myself more? Does that kind of make sense? Like do you think it was happiness first or do you think it was the actions first? >> I don't think I was ever unhappy >> really. >> No, I don't think so. We all have unhappy moments, but I think my general contentness with just in general where I am is pretty flat. But I think I adapt to things pretty quickly. Like if I when I was poor as [ __ ] I was happy. >> Yeah, that's that's my reality. You seem like a very happy person. >> Well, in general, I mean, we all have down moments and that's fine. Like I'll have like a down day. Um I don't know. You adjust to everything pretty quickly. I think I I don't remember who said it or what, whatever, but it was like you can adjust to any lifestyle within 3 months and then that's your baseline, you know, that's your new baseline. So, no, it it was all behavior. It was just it was wanting better for myself. But even when I get got there, like, yeah, I'm sure there was a when I got my first house well before I started YouTube, I was like, "Yeah, but like you adjust. That's your normal life. That's your normal life. I became a millionaire, but that's your normal life. It's like I I remember um I know people are just like, "Oh, you know, you're wealthy. You're out of touch and all this stuff." But I the vast majority of my life was poor. I was poor. I grew up, you know, lower middle class foreclosure notices. When I was born, my dad was a gas station attendant. My mom worked front desk at a eye place, you know, we didn't make money. Uh I remember dreaming of like, oh my goodness, if I was a millionaire, my life would change. Changed for a second. And I was happy that I hit the goal, >> but my level of happiness did not change. It really didn't. Now, it gives you more access to things. If there were health complications, I can get my life saved a bit easier. It absolutely does that. So, I'm not saying rich isn't better. Don't don't get me wrong on that argument. But my level of I didn't sacrifice because it made my life happier. I I think I always chase that better and better and better because it's fun to chase. I'm ambitious and uh you think you'll be happier when you hit it, but you hit it. When you're happy for a second, you celebrate and then you keep going. >> Do you think there's any habits uh that you've taken on maybe from your parents or just like early in your childhood that led you to be like a consistently like self-loving, happy with yourself person? >> Yeah. Entrepreneurial I would say. Oh, self consistently self- love. What is the self- love? I >> guess like maybe like do you always prioritize spending lots of time with other people like >> that kind of thing? No, >> I um I'll be honest, this question does not resonate with me. The self-loving, I do not think about it. >> Interesting. >> I I've not thought about it once in my life. >> Yeah. >> This is the first time I've ever thought about it. >> That's fair. >> Yeah. Usually the people who I think like most confident in themselves, uh treat themselves well, don't ever think about it. So, it adds up to me at least. But, um >> I try to take care of my mental health, but I never think of like this self-love thing, >> right? It's kind of just the concept of like uh you can't pour from an empty cup. Uh like people are buying things to kind of fill this void of like they feel as though they're not enough. But like you to me seem like someone who doesn't feel like they're worth more because you bought a labu, you know, but I think that's usually the mindset of a lot of people who overspend. Um >> no, I I don't think so. >> You don't think so? >> No, for me like Yeah, I definitely don't think I do that. Yeah, I think for other people for sure. >> I don't think I'm like special in that regard either. >> Do you compare yourself to others? >> Maybe maybe on certain accomplishments, >> right? >> I remember uh uh one of my first interactions with like another podcast or something was Tony Hinchcliffe of Kill Tony and I had just an awkward interaction with him. It was mostly because of my autistic friend, I'll be honest. But um Oh my goodness, this is so [ __ ] stupid. Oh my gosh. We So we had I don't know if we still do, but we had more subscribers than him and we went to the Kill Tony afterparty after one of his shows and um I was just like I was a little anxious to go up to him. I'm a little socially awkward, whatever. And I went up to him and I was like, "Hey, uh nice to meet you all this stuff." Then my friend, my very autistic, why did I bring him friend came up and he was like, "You know, Caleb has more subscribers than you." I was like, "You [ __ ] You absolute." And then like and then he just started kind of like dissing us and it was fair. It wasn't fair. But I remember after that I was a little competitive. I was like, I want to beat him on the spot podcast charts. So the first time we bought beat him on the podcast charts, I was like, gotcha. Um, so I mean I think he usually places above us on YouTube, but I remember when we beat him and it was like it was so that was fun. Um, so that made me competitive. I think actually no, I don't really compare myself to people too much. Uh, but usually it's like doubt of me makes me do whatever it takes to do something, >> right? Like that gets me places. That [ __ ] that fuels me to want to accomplish something. >> Yeah. >> What does your comment section look like in general? And >> uh like what is the comment section look like of someone who's not in debt? >> Well, it's usually kind of roasty. Like the same kind of roast that I'm giving like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this situation that happened in this episode." It's rarely about me. >> What do you think people misunderstand most about you? >> About me? I mean, I I since I am very roasty, lots of jokes, lots of gooning and gaffs and hard things on the gas, I I care about them more than I think you would traditionally think. But I've honestly I struggle in my life in general in terms of like either friends or family. I'm not the best at showing on the front end how I feel on the back end. I'm I'm a little little more I'm not like hard but maybe I'm more reserved and cold and and showing that emotion. Uh but I really care about their success. We track their success a lot. We try to give them everything we can give them. Anything they request that we don't even automatically provide. We try try our best to do it. I really really do care about their success. Like the show wouldn't be anything without them. >> So I want them to do well. you know, pretend like I didn't even care about them from a human perspective. Like, I want them to do well because they're helping fund this whole thing as well. Like that we would we wouldn't be anywhere without the guests on the show. So, I I care about them more than I think people would think because I'm very, you know, about it on the show. >> Have you ever had someone come back on the show or get in touch with you later and kind of turn their life around? Oh, every day we have two uh follow-ups in our Hammer Elite membership a week. So, uh in that membership uh we do three premium shows every single day, six days a week. In one of those that we post two episodes a week is audit update. So, they come on and we get like a 20 minutes how they've been doing and most people change. Uh it's our current tally we do an annual survey is over $20,000 of bad debt paid off in 12 months or sorry I think that's the No, that's the average. Yeah. >> Was there anyone that surprised you that they got out of debt? >> Yeah, it was our biggest episode in what we called fat stack week which was like just lots of paperwork. They've gone completely debtree. Um Sam and Rosa are their fake names. Everyone uses fake names on the show. They've completely paid off their debt and they had some of the highest debt that we've had on the show. It was impressive. They They were awesome. >> You studied music composition. >> Yes. >> Building arrangements, controlling tempo, knowing when to go loud, when to pull back. >> Do you use any of that when you're making content? >> I think it's easier to make a show and do content if you're if you like entertaining people. So, I like making an entertaining product. I like making music not just for me to listen to, but because I wanted other people to think, "Oh, that's the coolest piece of music I heard in this concert." You know, I want I I like to entertain. I want people to get joy in consuming whatever I am making. If I was making if I owned a coffee shop, I would want it to be the best coffee. You know, the I always want to just deliver what the consumer wants. So, absolutely. I think how that translated from making music to making videos is absolutely just learning what people like and making sure I they they are my customer >> and I want to deliver that. Do you think of like uh composing a song similarly at all to like making an episode? Because I I know something that you do that I see at least is like it's very good like rhythm and like ups and downs like highs and lows. >> Yeah, it's a different art in terms of what goes into a piece of music. But yeah, I mean if you if you learn pacing of music um you can apply similar logic >> to video. It's completely different pacing and how you want to structure a video. But if you at least know how to do one, you might be able to do the other a bit easier. So just that art artistic instinct into what you're creating. >> I guess we kind of covered it a bit, but what's the most important part of your backstory to understand why you care so much about people getting out of debt and saving money? Like uh what is that and how did you turn it around? Yeah, >> it was two things. it was growing up in that from poor and lower middle class foreclosure notices. Um, and just making sure I didn't want to go through that again in my life and if I have a family, I don't want them to go through it. That and then when I was in my own personal really bad debt from public student loans, federal student loans, family debt, car loans, maxed out credit cards, and just how damaging that was for my life. I couldn't necessarily I did actually pretty well as a self-employed composer. Um, but having all that debt and those minimum monthly payments were risk over my head that were holding me back from able to go full-time on that like the way I wanted to. So, it just held me back. So, my debt payoff journey was a step to being able to pursue that. But then it my priorities changed, became a step to having a fully funed emergency fund as well, a step to getting my first house, you know, a couple years before starting YouTube. Um, and then accumulating a quart million dollar net worth before I ever made a YouTube video. So just that life experience of going through what the people on the show have been through for the most part is it's better than someone who grew up privileged, who grew up rich, who've never had debt, never had to work for it, never had to do that sacrifice. I've actually been on the other side of the table. And even with the roasts and jabs and silliness that come with the show, it's still the kind of conversation and system that I needed and wish I had when I was a dumbass 22-year-old destroying my life. Yeah. Yeah. And that my parents should have had when I was being born, you know, when they were 19 and 20 or 18 and 19. >> I guess if I'm someone who wants to spend 30% less money over the next 6 months, what exact steps should I take to do so? >> First, download Dollarise, shameless plug, but it's honestly true. Like, okay, dollar or not, a budgeting app. Okay, I obviously advocate for it. We build it specifically to make it easier for the average person to use, but whatever. A budgeting app cuz it's automatic actions. You need to see where your money's going. If you don't know where your money is going on percentage, categories, individual purchases, you'll never be able to make any progress. If you don't do that, there's no other parts of this conversation that can be done. So, you have to start with figuring out where your money is going. The budgeting apps are the best way to do it. Preferably don't always, but you start there and then it's actually deciding what level first of all, what's needs, what's wants, what's investing of any kind that you're saving for a car or whatever. Then of your wants, what actual level of joy is this doing? And that's one thing that we do unique in particular is you you decide you give it a level of joy that it's actually providing to you. So you know, it's easier to cut the things that do not actually provide you joy, but you just find yourself doing. So, it's easier to cut down on your wants to be able to redistribute those to either to needs if you need to stress your needs more or to up your investments, whether that's, hey, I need to get a new car or I need to fully fund my emergency fund or um obviously save more for retirement. So, in order to cut 30%, it's really it's not a three-step process, it's a one-step process. Just use a budgeting app. People just aren't using these tools that are the most incredible things in modern history for personal finance. And I have no idea why. >> How much money are people spending on things that don't make them happy? >> Oh, hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. It's just little things. It's little things that they don't even know that they think make them happy maybe in the moment, but overall don't contribute to their happiness. >> It really doesn't long term. It gives them like a minute, a minute, two minutes. Even just like buying a gem in a game, it's like a half a second of happiness and it's done. A skin, a skin is something like Fall Guys. Why do you need a skin in Fall Guys? That's not giving That's giving you happiness for 5 minutes max. It's not contributing to your overall happiness. So that's why you rate your happiness on a scale, right? >> I forgot that's the one thing I do is Clash of Clans or Clash Royale. >> There you go. But how when you do it, how long does the happiness last for that exact purchase? It's pretty fleeting. I've been playing the game for years, so it's kind of just like a hobby at this point. >> So now it just goes. You don't even think about it. So just >> But you can afford it as well. So if you can afford it, it's fine. But if you want to cut 30% of your spending, you you need to figure out what are your wants that are also in the lowest providing of overall happiness because that's the easiest thing to cut out of the gate before you go to the harder decisions. >> Right. Yeah. Yeah, you're making me remember I I like we know how Togei's budgeting is and he came on the show and we both had the same game and he had spent like a little less money than I had on the game and I was like [ __ ] I I think I have a problem. >> You're [ __ ] up. >> Caleb, there are people watching this right now who feel like they'll never get out of debt. Uh they're scared and they don't see a way through. If you had two minutes to give someone every piece of financial advice they'll ever need, >> what would you say to them? >> Okay, can we first start off you, Mr. Scared with that out there by Can we all agree on one thing? I'm [ __ ] I'm the dumbest [ __ ] you've ever What? Who am I? I'm nothing. I'm not qualified on anything. And yet, I did it. If I can do it, any dumbass anywhere can do it. But start with a budgeting app, preferably dollar-wise. Download that, figure out where your money is going, rank your happiness on the items, and cut where you can. Make a budget, stick to your budget, audit your budget a couple times a month, eventually one time a month. From there, if we can pay off high interest debt, that is one of the most critical things you can do. Anything over that, especially like 7%, pay it off as quick as you can because nothing else will compete against it in terms of return on investment. Then make sure you get a six-month emergency fund. That is absolutely critical. 12 months if you're a business owner going into self-employment or a contractor about 6 months at least. And then from there, make sure you are living in that 50 3020. If you live in a 50 3020, which is not perfectly easy in places like LA or New York, but if you in general are living close to that 50 3020, 50% on needs, 30% on wants, which is a great percent by the way, and 20% on investing and saving, you will make it to a successful, happy, dignified retirement. you'll live a good life and spend a lot of money having fun along the way, but just sacrifice a little. Sacrifice now, you'll have a better life and even a dumbass like me can do it. So, you can do it, too. That's what I'd say. Was that 2 minutes? I don't know. >> That's beautiful. Um, I do have to ask now. Uh, what's the worst piece of money advice you've ever received? >> Okay. I turned 18. I wanted a piano. My parents said, "Oh, well, go max out a credit card to get a piano." There you go. That was my first debt. And that [ __ ] me for years to come. Worst piece of financial advice I ever got the moment I turned 18. >> And then I'm I have to know cuz I'm just curious like outside of everything like when you think about the best piece of advice you've ever received or could give, what would that be? >> It's interesting. Sometimes I'm bad. I'm honestly just self assessment in my qualities. One thing I'm really bad at is pulling from the past. I do not think about the past a lot. I really focus on the future in terms of just like good advice I got. Maybe someone told me to get a real job and give up the hobby. That was pretty good. But then I also pursued this as a hobby and then it worked out really well. So maybe that was bad advice. Best piece of advice ever? Maybe just getting that emergency fund. If you get an emergency fund, it changes your life. >> Like not many things will [ __ ] you again. You can prepare for most any expense. >> How much of an emergency fund? 6 months. If you can fund your life necessities for 6 months, you can do almost anything. You really can. You can take more risk than you ever could before. That'll provide much better returns on investment. It's a boring one, which is why I think a lot of people don't focus on it. Six-month emergency fund, it's a lot less exciting than any kind of investing or paying off debt, but it will save you. It'll save your life. Yeah, that's something I've realized too from this podcast that like the the gyms uh like I've gotten from the show like none of it ever goes viral. Like the thing that I'm like, "Oh, that's like a real like gym that you can use on business." Like it never goes viral cuz it's not sexy. It's super boring usually. Um so the best advice is typically boring. But well everyone uh this has been your guest Caleb Hammer. This is the Jack Neil podcast. Where can people find you? Caleb Hammer everywhere. Just type that in or download Dollarise. Change your life like tens of thousands of monthly users already do. >> Yeah, you guys can go to jackneil.comdoll and download the app now. Perfect. Appreciate you coming on. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.