How George Kamel is Preparing for His First Baby!

Bo has three children, one is freshly minted, freshly made, I mean, it's in pristine condition right now. And then I know you and Whitney have one, any day, well, not any day, but it's very important, very soon. I figured I'd kind of sit back because I'm the older guy. I'm in this new phase with college-age kids. But talk to us about having your first child coming into the house soon and how that affects the financial stuff. Because you already said, man, we're thinking about things we hadn't thought about before, the kind of food we buy and this and that, and the type of furniture, and all that stuff. Has it been a huge difficult financial hurdle to overcome, thinking about preparing for a baby? We've always told people, they go, "Where does a baby fall into the baby steps? When's the right time to have a baby? Once we're at," and we go, "When you want to have a baby, like, we want to start a family, go for it, and just know that it's going to be a budget line item. Pause the steps, stack up cash so that you can cover any expenses that come up, medical bills, all of that stuff." But I'm not worried about the financial aspect because I just know it'll be like, "Oh, we got to add in diapers into the line item, formula, baby clothes. Couldn't have so many baby clothes. Like, how long are they wearing this for? Not long. Let me just go and ruin this for you. You're going to get all these like newborn clothes and my kid was born gigantic, right? So, he was born and not even in newborn clothes, so I have all these wasted clothes. And I honestly need to bring you some clothes and diapers. I would appreciate that. I can do that. Maybe some pink polos for my life." That's perfect. That's appreciative and also at the same time. But yeah, I'm the financial part doesn't worry me as much. I mean, there's a piece of just bringing a child into the world in 2023 with all of the technological advancements and where society's at. And I don't watch the news much, so I'm less of the, like, I feel good about being a good dad. It's more the lack of sleep, carrying the family. Like, we have two French Bulldogs, which are nothing like children, but they are so needy. It requires a lot of time and attention and all kinds of stuff. And I just know one bark from the dog means the baby's waking up, which means I'm now mad at the dog. And so there's the kind of logistics on that side. But financially, I'm excited to go, like, let's start a 529 plan. Let's go. So, financially, I'm excited about it. But emotionally and just like physical energy level, I'm... We're bracing ourselves because we're already exhausted. And it's like any other thing that you've done in life, right? You move into these unknowns. You have to have a plan in place. And even though you have a plan, it may not work the exact way that you think it will. You'll figure this out with eating and feeding and all that kind of stuff. But what's beautiful is, if you have a plan, it makes it much easier to adjust the plan. If you go into it with no plan at all, I say it's just true for babies. It's just as much it is for your financial situation. And if you recognize that, you do the things like have a rainy day fund, recognize that things are going to change, recognize your plans not going to go exactly according to plan, it's much more likely to set you up for success over the long term, going into it, understanding that. That's some wisdom right there. I'll tell you. Having a child now in college, but also, I think you said something that was really powerful to me, George, is that if you want to have a child, have a child. I think some of us financial mutants and us financially minded people, we try to wait until everything is perfect, and we try to plan. And that's something you do need to be careful of, enjoying each phase of life, enjoying... Because sometimes I think that's the part that us financially minded people, analytical thinkers, everything feels like it needs to be perfect. And I'm going to tell you, nothing about bringing a child in the world is... It's going to humble you, both financially and both from a behavioral standpoint. You'll realize you're nothing is in much control as you think you are. But I would challenge everyone, if you have love in your house and you think you'd be a great parent, and you want to have children, don't overplan it. Because I think I'm guilty of that as a guy getting older and now reflecting. I think I overdid it. It's just like, I am at the point and loved hearing you talk about generosity because I've learned from Beau on generosity. And then I've watched how him and his wife have... They've had the children, and they've had them close enough in age where they all play together and stuff. There's just so much to telling people to enjoy each phase of your life, because I think as being tightwads or... There's nothing wrong with having great financial habits, but man, you only get one shot on this planet. So, make sure you are maximizing it. For more information, check out our free resources.