Podcast Summary:

Podcast: George Kamel (Ramsey Network)
Episode: Where Does Your Income Rank Compared To The Rest Of America?
Date: November 10, 2025
Host: George Kamel

Episode Overview

In this episode, George Kamel digs into where your household income places you compared to the rest of America using up-to-date census and labor data. He discusses why knowing your income percentile isn’t the most important financial metric and introduces the concept of “financial margin” as the true indicator of wealth-building potential. Through concrete numbers, humorous asides, and practical advice, George breaks down income statistics, explores cost-of-living realities, and provides actionable steps for increasing your financial margin.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Income Percentiles: Where Do You Rank?

• Top 50%: Household income of at least $83,592
  • "So if your household brings in more than 84 grand, congratulations. You're ahead of half of the country."
  • (00:20)
• Top 25%: Approx. $153,000/yr
• Top 10%: Approx. $251,000/yr
• Top 5%: Over $335,000/yr
• Top 1%: $659,060/yr
  • "If you want to join the exclusive top 1% club, you'd need a household income of $659,060 per year. That's chump change."
  • (01:17)
• Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, DQYDJ calculators

2. Why Income Percentile Isn’t Everything

• Income percentiles ignore cost of living—your geographic location dramatically affects how far your income stretches.
  • "Your national income percentile really isn't a great indicator of how well you're doing financially, because it doesn't tell the whole story."
  • (01:50)
• Examples:
  • San Francisco: Median rent $2,418/month vs. Wichita, KS: $812/month (02:17)
  • "So if you're in the Bay Area making the national median income... Good luck finding a cardboard box on Zillow."
  • (02:34)

3. High Earners Still Broke: The Debt Trap

• Nearly half of U.S. households making over $100,000 live paycheck to paycheck
  • "A big reason Americans are living paycheck to paycheck is debt."
  • (03:00)
• Debt from student loans, credit cards, car payments, and oversized mortgages suffocates financial progress.
  • "You're using a massive chunk of every paycheck to pay for past mistakes instead of building wealth for the future."
  • (03:37)

4. The “Financial Margin” Metric

• Definition: The difference (gap) between what you earn and what you spend; “Cash Cushion” or “Cashkush” (trademark pending—joke).
• Margin is the most powerful predictor of wealth—not just income.
  • "Your financial margin really is the single greatest indicator for wealth building potential."
  • (04:10)
• Margin allows for:
  • Faster debt payoff
  • Emergency fund building
  • Saving/investing for the future

5. Real-Life Scenario: Margin in Action

• Person A: $100k salary, debt, minimal investing (3% = $250/month)
  • Ends up with ~$949,000 after 35 years at 10% return (S&P 500)
  • (05:01)
• Eugene: $100k salary, no debt, invests 15% ($1,250/month)
  • Ends up with $4.7 million after 35 years
  • (06:25)
  • "Eugene is going to run laps around person A because he has margin."
  • (06:45)

6. Building Your Margin: Two Levers

• Expenses: Cut spending
• Income: Increase earnings
  • "You create more margin when you crank the expenses lever down or crank the income lever up. If you can crank both at the same time, even better."
  • (07:04)

Detailed Advice: Boosting Income

How to Increase Your Earnings:

1. Switch Jobs
   • Fastest way to get a raise; job switchers get median 7.1% salary increase vs. 4.4% for stayers (08:15)
2. Negotiate Your Salary
   • Research market rate; ask for growth plan and responsibility before requesting a raise (08:55)
     • "Don't just walk in and ask for a raise. Instead, ask for a growth plan and more responsibility after you've already been crushing it in your current role. Crushed it."
     • (09:00)
3. Start a Side Hustle
   • Drivers, freelancers, tutors, selling goods online
   • Take George's side hustle quiz at georgekamel.com/sidehustle
   • (09:25)

Detailed Advice: Reducing Expenses

1. Self-Audit Your Spending
   • Review bank transactions, identify leaks
   • "Just pull up your bank transactions from last month and take a good hard look. If you see that you're spending a hundred bucks on subscriptions you forgot about or that you spent 400 bucks at Bojangles without even realizing it, you probably need to focus on the other lever first."
   • (10:05)
2. Cut Subscriptions, Cook at Home, Shop Smart
3. Use a Budgeting App
   • App recommendation: EveryDollar
   • Personalized recommendations to find “thousands of dollars in margin in the first 15 minutes”
4. Consider Moving to a Lower Cost-of-Living Area
   • "And here's a big one that people don't want to hear. Consider moving to a lower cost of living area. What did you say?... And you don't have to go from New York to Nebraska. I'm talking about 30 minutes down the road."
   • (11:10)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "You might need to start a sinking fund just to buy a submarine sandwich."
  • (02:09)
• "Nearly half of US consumers earning over $100,000 are living paycheck to paycheck. That's sad."
  • (02:53)
• "Cash Cushion trademark. Put that on a shirt."
  • (04:13)
• "If you can crank that soldier boy, congratulations. You're officially old and no longer on fleek."
  • (07:10)
• "Don't get too caught up in where you rank nationally in terms of income. What matters way more is creating margin so you can get out of debt, build wealth and give even more to bless others."
  • (12:25)

Timestamps of Key Sections

• Income Tiers Breakdown: 00:05 — 02:00
• Cost of Living Examples: 02:00 — 03:00
• The Debt Trap & Living Paycheck to Paycheck: 03:00 — 03:45
• Financial Margin Explained: 03:45 — 04:30
• Investing Scenarios (Person A vs. Eugene): 04:30 — 06:45
• Margin Levers (Income & Expenses): 07:00 — 07:45
• How to Increase Income: 08:15 — 09:30
• How to Cut Expenses: 10:05 — 12:00
• Final Takeaways & Recap: 12:20 — 13:00

Conclusion/Final Takeaways

George wraps up by reminding listeners not to obsess about where they fall in national income rankings. Instead, focus on increasing the gap between what you make and what you spend—your financial margin. This, not your income percentile, determines your potential for long-term financial success, security, and generosity.

For more tools and calculators discussed:

• Side Hustle Quiz: georgekamel.com/sidehustle
• Free Cost of Living Calculator
• Ramsey Investment Calculator
• EveryDollar budgeting app

Share this episode with someone who dreams up ridiculous side hustles, and don’t forget to comment on what you’d name your doggy doo doo removal business!

Host Tone:
Informative, humorous, and snarky, with relatable analogies and pop culture references throughout.