Episode #93: Where Are They Now? Netflix Reunion with Amani and Matt

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[00:00:00] Ramit: Do you have separate accounts?

[00:00:02] Matt: We have separate accounts.

[00:00:03] Amani: We do, yes. Mm-hmm.

[00:00:04] Ramit: Okay. Did you ever have a joint account first?

[00:00:06] Matt: Yes.

[00:00:07] Amani: Mm-hmm.

[00:00:07] Matt: When I supported us, we had a joint account.

[00:00:10] Amani: I’m going to check out this conversation because I’ve heard this like 10,000 times already just today.

[00:00:16] Matt: That’s the end of the conversation.

[00:00:18] Amani: I’m just tired. It’s emotionally draining.

[00:00:20] Ramit: You fight about money, you spin about money, and then what ends up happening?

[00:00:24] Amani: I get defensive.

[00:00:25] Ramit: And then?

[00:00:27] Amani: I get mad.

[00:00:28] Ramit: Let me just talk to her. Trust me, you’re not doing yourself any favors by cutting in, trust me.

[00:00:33] Matt: So I just don’t understand why she didn’t understand what I mean.

[00:00:36] Amani: And I don’t understand why you’re like, oh, you know, when I worked, I felt this and this and this. Well, then go work then if it’s such a big deal for you, like–

[Narration]

[00:00:45] Ramit: Today I have a special episode for you with two guests you may recognize. They are guests on my new Netflix show called How to Get Rich. That’s right. If you go to Netflix right now and you search for my name, Ramit Sethi, or How to Get Rich, you are going to see my new Netflix show. And I decided it would be fun to bring them on almost a year later to talk about where they are, what has changed. And you’re going to see how honest they get today.

So first, make sure you’ve watched them because, uh, you’re going to have spoilers. So go to Netflix first if you haven’t already watched it, search for my name or How to Get Rich, add to list. Make sure Netflix knows that you want to see this. Then if you’ve watched the show, come back and listen because here now are Matt and Amani to share what’s been going on since we last talked on the show.

[Interview]

[00:01:40] Ramit: Hey, Amani. 

[00:01:41] Amani: Hi.

[00:01:42] Ramit: Hey, how are you?

[00:01:44] Amani: This is like a dejavu but also like PTSD, no offense to you. But it’s like–

[00:01:51] Ramit: I hope it’s not PTSD, but it is surreal to see you through the screen right now.

[00:01:57] Amani: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. It’s just so great to see you actually.

[00:02:01] Ramit: Same. I’ve been, uh, I’ve been so eager to talk to you and catch up. We had such a–

[00:02:06] Amani: Is this allowed? So many times I’m like, what would Ramit say right now?

[00:02:11] Ramit: Yeah. So, um, uh, will Matt be joining us?

[00:02:15] Amani: Yeah. Um, he should. He’s not like– I’m hoping he saw the Zoom link.

[00:02:22] Ramit: Let’s give it a minute. I want him to definitely be on. I definitely want to catch up with him.

[00:02:26] Amani: Oh sure. Yeah. Yesterday I was like, hey, it’s tomorrow. Because I want to make sure I review the spreadsheet and everything we’ve put together. I was like, I don’t want this to be one-sided where I fill out everything like what happened before. Um, so he was like, no, I’m good. I had enough of this. I’m like, no, you’re going to– I want your side of story too.

[00:02:48] Ramit: And how did he react to that?

[00:02:51] Amani: Um.

[00:03:00] Ramit: Ah, there we go. Hey, Matt.

[00:03:12] Matt: Hello.

[00:03:13] Ramit: How’s it going?

[00:03:15] Matt: Yeah, it’s going.

[00:03:17] Ramit: Okay, let’s get, uh, Amani back and, uh, I’m excited to catch up. It’s nice to see you. It’s been a while. First off, uh, the last time I saw you was, I remember vividly because it was that beautiful sunset and we had spent a lot of time together. So it feels very surreal to see you after this much time. I wanted to tell you the reason that I was really excited to work with you when I first met. I thought it was so cool how honest you were with me. There was this fascinating, uh, dynamic. 

Amani, you were earning tons of money. Matt, you had no financial access. You don’t see that that often, and you were willing to talk about it. Very few couples will openly argue in front of me. And what I love about it is it’s real. 

[00:04:13] Matt: Well, when y’all first came, we were pretty much, uh, at each other’s throats. I wouldn’t say I was at her throat too much as she was at mine. Um, she can get pretty feisty. Uh, but I mean, yeah. It was hard not to argue on camera. I never thought that we would be in a situation still bickering after people are in front of us, I mean, I definitely understood where my wife was coming from. 

I mean, she goes through a lot of stress and I don’t know, I guess the way that the cards fell, she felt some type of way. And I don’t disagree with her necessarily, but I’m just glad that at the end we were able to communicate and talk things through. I mean, we were stressed.

[00:04:58] Amani: We were already fighting so much together before the show came. The show was everything over the last–

[00:05:06] Matt: Brought everything to the surface. 

[00:05:09] Ramit: Oh. I mean, it’s crazy. People say that you’ll forget that the cameras are there. They say that. And I never believed them, but it’s true. You become in your own world and it just shows what’s actually happening. 

So I appreciated that you were honest. You were fighting. It was very obvious from the first five minutes in the room, and then you showed that to me, which actually, the trust that you put in me by showing me that allowed me to better understand what was really going on. 

And, uh, I’m very thankful that you both allowed me to see that even though it was tough to do it at the time. Uh, gosh, it seems like sometimes the most important conversations we need to have are the ones that we are least likely to want to.

[00:06:00] Amani: Yeah, Yeah for sure.

[00:06:01] Ramit: But you did it. You really opened up with a lot. And, uh, it’s quite amazing to see the results of that.

[Narration]

[00:06:17] Ramit: When I first met Matt and Amani, they started fighting within minutes. They almost dropped out of the show. And every time I talked to them, they seemed to actually relish fighting with each other. It’s like one of those old couples we know who are always sniping at each other. 

But Matt and Amani are young. And I have to say, I’m very glad that they did not drop out. They stuck with it. They have a lot of differences in the way they communicate about money and the way they see money. You can learn more about those on the Netflix show.

[Interview]

[00:06:55] Ramit: It looks like you’re in a different location. I don’t recognize that house. You’re in a different place?

[00:07:01] Amani: It is.

[00:07:03] Ramit: What happened? You got a new house?

[00:07:06] Amani: We did.

[00:07:07] Ramit: Tell me.

[00:07:08] Amani: And pretty crazy because when we were talking to you, it was a five-year plan for us to try to get to our dream house in San Diego. And, um, it was just a combination of things. So I had my highest revenue year, it was last year.

[00:07:24] Ramit: Wow. Amazing.

[00:07:27] Amani: This house was just amazing. It was on a hill, on a mountain. Um, and you can see literally 360° of San Diego. And even far, you can see the ocean and the water. Um, and it had a guest house. So I ran it by him and I was like, let’s go check it out. And he was like, you’re crazy. Did you see the price in there? And we went and the moment we were driving to– it was just we had goosebumps. We were like, this is our dream. The neighborhood looked so nice.

We were like, we can’t afford this. Um, and yeah, fast forward, we actually purchased the house. It was, um, pretty crazy. I had to put a lot of money down because I already had another loan. So I’m trying to sell my house, the one that we filmed in, in Temecula right now. And we started Airbnb-ing our guest house. So that’s another income that we started getting and that’s why we made that step. 

To be honest, it was probably the riskiest financial decision we made– owning two homes, trying to sell the first one, using all the cash obviously and the business that I worked on all last year. Um, but the Airbnb’s doing well.

So far it’s paying half of the mortgage where it puts us back to our initial mortgage of the house back in Temecula. And that was the goal. We took the risky decision knowing we can get there where we might end up being in the same amount as our previous house but now we are in San Diego. Um, and yeah, it’s our, what, second month right now in the house, Matt. Would you say so?

[00:09:03] Matt: Yeah. It is.

[00:09:04] Ramit: Wow. So this is amazing because I remember, Amani, that one of your dreams was to live by the beach. And Matt, I remember you telling me that you wanted to be more outdoors. 

[00:09:16] Amani: Combination of both. Mountain house with some water view. 

[00:09:21] Ramit: That’s amazing. And you did it in about a year.

[Narration]

[00:09:24] Ramit: Two things I want to point out. Number one, it’s possible to live your rich life a lot faster than you think. I don’t like hearing someone say, someday I want to take a trip to Spain. I’m like, what? Let’s get specific. How long do you want to go for? What season? What do you want to do there? What are you going to eat? That is important. And you can achieve that much faster than you think if you put a plan down and become intentional. 

The other question I ask him is, how much do you think it’s going to cost? Most of us have never actually calculated what our dreams would cost us. A lot of times it’s less than you think. Sometimes it’s more than you think, which is also fine because it gives you a reason to make financial changes.

Number two, I also want to make sure that they can afford it. Wanting a new house or extravagant trips or clothes or whatever is one thing, but you’ve got to make sure you can actually afford it. Now, listen to Amani talk about it. 

[Interview]

[00:10:19] Amani: I had to take a risk. Like I said, it was the riskiest decision I’d ever taken because I almost basically emptied that cash. But it’s not gone because now it’s in the house equity. When I was doing your spreadsheet, I love, by the way, the new version. 

So that first table when I was putting our assets, the value of our houses and the car, and all that, I was like, what? I’m rich. 500k? What the hell? And it was like, [Inaudible]. I was like, guess our net worth. That felt great. 

And again, it was validation that it’s not about how much money in the bank that you have. If you go and put that money towards something else, it’s there still. Um, so yeah, it’s my first risky decision. So we’ll see. I mean, right now I would say as much as we have learned a lot and we’re taking a lot of new experiences, it is, actually I would say, our most vulnerable financial situation right now because I own two houses not by choice. It’s the market, that’s why I was too scared of investing real estate, stocks, all that.

To me, it’s like gambling. It’s up and down market, and when you take a risk, that comes with consequences. So our house has been in the market since January. We haven’t got any offers. And that’s stressing me out because I don’t have that much left in my bank account. And I have to think, okay, how many months can I go by paying two mortgages? And then I have to–

[00:11:53] Ramit: And what’s the answer? How long can you go?

[00:11:55] Amani: Um, I right now have budgeted for three more months and then after that I’ll bleed out. I don’t want to start taking out what you say, if you start cashing your stocks and your 401k– 

[00:12:06] Ramit: No. Hold on. We got to fix this right now. Hold on. This is crazy. It’s interesting what you say. On one hand, you feel the most successful and in control you’ve ever felt. On the other hand, you feel the most vulnerable.

[00:12:19] Amani: Absolutely. It was very risky. Even me talking about it with my friends, their answer was, did you really have to get this house? You could have waited until you sold your Temecula home and you would’ve found another beautiful home. But for me, it was hard for me to find in the market, a house with a guest house.

So I felt like I had to make the move and take that risky decision of having two mortgages, but now here I am, I got greedy. Four months into this, my new mortgage is going to hit, and I’m like, this is the worst-case scenario I was scared of. 

So that’s why I’m like– because I can already tell in one minute how worse it can get, which is like, oh my gosh, I don’t make enough money to support all this. I’m going to start cashing in my stocks. Then what? I’m going to go cash in my [Inaudible]. Then what?

[Narration]

[00:13:07] Ramit: Okay, this is an interesting scenario. They have three months of cash left, which is way too risky for me. But they also have a very high income and now multiple income streams. I love these unusual financial situations. 

Let me give you my take. I think this is really risky and they need to get rid of their old house right away. The fact is they’re going to sell it for a lot less than they thought. That’s life. Second, their scenario isn’t really that bad if they act fast. And this is uncomfortable to hear for a lot of people.

But the truth is that a high income solves a lot of financial problems. Not all of them. Because you and I have heard many guests who have high incomes and spend every last cent they make, but having a high income solves a lot of financial problems. 

My dream for Matt and Amani would be that they sell the house fast, even taking a loss. They set up a rule so they never get this close to running out of money again. And then they begin having more open conversations together where both of them have full access to the money and they share responsibility. That’s what I would do. That’s my dream for them. 

[Interview]

[00:14:18] Amani: That was a big part of the show that was like, um, I didn’t get an answer for it actually now, which is I wanted to push Matt to do a type of job that I do, which is corporate and things like that, and climbing ladder and he wanted to run his own business. 

And I was like, oh, I don’t want to fund that business for you. And it’s too risky. And you don’t want to learn from somebody. You want to be your own boss. But I think the problem was he didn’t find that thing that could be his passion. 

And I’ve seen him thrive so much managing the Airbnb and people love him. He is great with people and customer service. He really goes above and beyond. Little things like cookies for the guests, things like that. And, um, he would go down and clean it like no other. He was really working hard on this Airbnb like his own baby. 

And I see now what he was asking for before, running his own business. I just had a different concept of it, and I think his thriving. He is good at it and I want to be able to support him more toward that direction. Um, but yeah, I feel like we found something that I’m comfortable with and he’s thriving in for sure.

[00:15:34] Ramit: It seemed before, when we talked, at least early on, that there was this push and pull. Amani, you were saying, I want you to do this. I want you to do it my way. 

[00:15:46] Amani: And now that’s just– yeah.

[00:15:48] Ramit: Yeah. Do it on my timetable, my way. And Matt was like, no, I’m not going to that.

[00:15:53] Amani: He wanted to do the opposite. Yeah.

[00:15:54] Ramit: Yeah. Fair to say, Matt? What do you think?

[00:15:56] Matt: Yeah.

[00:15:57] Ramit: Okay. And so now you changed the structure. That seems to have really changed a lot of the dynamic. That’s outstanding. 

[00:16:05] Matt: Yeah. Managing the Airbnb has been, um, I don’t know, it’s delightful. I enjoy it.

[00:16:12] Ramit: What do you like about it?

[00:16:14] Matt: Uh, my wife respects it. She’ll actually leave me be and let me do the things that I need to do for it, because her focus is on, uh, the end result.

[00:16:27] Amani: Yeah. We literally just opened the Airbnb and we were booked all month except two days and it’s 3,600 revenue on a small loss. It just has a really pretty view and everyone says in the reviews that the host goes above and beyond. The place is so clean. And he’s so thoughtful. I can see his personality being put in the job as being a host. Um, and I said it before, I didn’t feel like I could trust him to have a big investment in some business he does. 

But something like this, I could see already the result. I don’t think I could’ve juggled my job and doing this. I tried to do it all, but this is one of the things where I had to trust him to do it because I just couldn’t fit everything in my schedule. And I want to help him thrive more. That’s my next goal, financially. I’m trying to save for and invest more so we can have another Airbnb property.

[Narration]

[00:17:25] Ramit: Amani hasn’t trusted Matt for a long time. And it sounds like she’s made progress, but as I dig in, I can tell that it’s still a very real issue.

[Interview]

[00:17:36] Ramit: So since that time, uh, if you recall, we pulled out all those bills and we were looking through all that. I still remember on the table we’re looking through all this stuff and all that paperwork. What habits have stuck since we first met and worked together?

[00:17:54] Amani: I’m far from being perfect with managing my money, but I would say that Amani now thinks more long-term versus in the moment. Um, in the past, I was always thinking like, I just want to live my life. You only live once. I was focused on spending that money to create joy, um, versus now it’s more in the middle where yes, there is that 20, 30% that we discussed where you can go spend, do whatever you want. But also I’m thinking about our future as a family, my kids, things like that on, um, I’m working hard on providing them a nice life, but I want to make sure it’s sustainable long-term.

So I’m always thinking about what can I do to invest my money better? Uh, what are other people doing to get additional incomes? Things like that. Now I’m more hustler mentality, which I never thought I would be because I’m afraid of taking risks. 

There are questions that you always ask like, what do you think Matt feels about this? Um, because being empathetic, I feel like that’s something Matt is really good at. So I always try to think, even when I’m on my own, how would he feel about this?

Um, as a big example, when he was talking right now on the call how he there for me as a listener, um, when I’m going through some stress, it made me think, okay, well if he’s my rock, then who’s his rock? So I try to do more of that for him, even though it’s hard for me to even have it together for myself. Because if he has nobody, then he can’t be my rock. It’s a vicious circle. So I’m not perfect at it. I’m better at it. I’m definitely not where I want to be, but I’m working on it.

[00:19:39] Ramit: Okay. I like it. All right. And Matt, what about you? What habits have stuck with you since we met?

[00:19:45] Matt: Uh, what where was it? Quicksand?

[00:19:50] Ramit: Oh yeah.

[00:19:51] Matt: Yeah.

[00:19:52] Ramit: You remember that?

[00:19:53] Amani: That’s right.

[00:19:55] Matt: Because, I don’t know, I guess when y’all first came, I felt like I was at the point where walking away wasn’t what I was supposed to do anymore. And I guess I just forgot it. But, uh, yeah. Sometimes just bringing it to her attention like, hey, you’re being a little rough on me, and let’s calm down. Let’s go do something else. At least it’s good communication.

[00:20:22] Ramit: Yeah. That’s cool. I’m glad to hear that word quicksand. It’s been a while. I’m really glad. You know what? You need tools sometimes to be able to say, hey, I’m overwhelmed right now, or I need a second, or I know we want to talk about this, but I’m not in the place to do it.

[00:20:37] Amani: Right.

[00:20:38] Ramit: And whether it’s quicksand or whatever term works for you, that’s fantastic.

[Narration]

[00:20:42] Ramit: On the Netflix show, you’ll remember that they were fighting so much. I finally gave them a tool to be able to cool down and step away from a fight. By the way, this happened on the first conversation where I met them. 

I asked them to come up with a word that would instantly signal that one of them needed time to think. And they chose quicksand, as in we’re sinking in quicksand and I want to take a break. 

This is a great lesson you can adapt for your own life, whether you are solo or in a relationship. If you find yourself spinning or catastrophizing or fighting, you can literally call it out with a word. Some guests on my show have done this. They’ve identified with an angel and a devil on their shoulder, and they say, I’m not going to listen to you right now, Mr. Devil. Others use words like quicksand, you. And if you want more techniques like this, this is where a skilled cognitive behavioral therapist can help you ongoing.

[Interview]

Okay. Now the opposite question. Where are you still stuck? So it might be– I’m sure there’s some detailed questions, and I definitely want to talk about those, but bigger picture, where do you feel stuck still?

[00:21:55] Amani: Well, I’m better now at managing money than I was before the show, but I’m not where I want to be, for sure. Um, like I was telling you how I’m stressed out right now about some things financially and, um, me learning how to better invest, and I feel like there is more potential for Matt to have more income than just the Airbnb.

I believe that he could do what I’m doing, where he can have like a full-time job where we can add even more income, 100k plus, that will allow us maybe to invest in more properties or whatever while he could still be a property manager. I want him to be there, to get out of his comfort zone and be able to juggle both a career and I guess being his own boss. You know what I’m saying?

I think there too. And as far as like our relationship, we’re not there a 100% as far as managing money together. We still don’t share accounts. I feel like that’s something that we need to still work on. That’s the part we’re still not there yet. 

[00:22:59] Ramit: Oh, I appreciate the honesty on all of those. Some of those are about you. Some of those are feelings or attitudes towards Matt, and then some of them are together. Um, why don’t you have joint accounts?

[00:23:13] Matt: Um, I mean, as she said, she’s still hesitant on turning any financial responsibility over. So I don’t even manage the finances of the Airbnb that I manage.

[00:23:30] Ramit: Hmm. So that was a recurring thing. Because when you wrote me, you said that you had no access to the family financials. And would you say you have access now?

[00:23:40] Matt: I’ve been told I still have zero access.

[00:23:43] Ramit: You’ve been told by whom?

[00:23:45] Matt: By my wife. 

[00:23:46] Ramit: So you’re not quite sure if you should trust him yet. And we’re talking about Matt, who is the father of two children.

[00:23:55] Amani: Not trusting him. It’s more I want us– you know how with the Airbnb thing happened, where he showed his value and not like I fully trust him, then I always do a testing. So I was like, okay, I want to see what you would do with a credit card.

[00:24:11] Ramit: You want to test him.

[00:24:12] Amani: It’s not enough to obviously cover a lot of the bills. It’s just for now just paying the mortgage and whatever leftover for himself. So that’s why I’m saying we’re not there. There’s so much more room to grow.

[00:24:25] Ramit: I want to offer you another tool like I offered you quicksand when I was with you. So when you’re at work, you’ve got these different coworkers. I’m guessing that you don’t test them. I’m guessing that you assume positive intent and you give them anything they ask for, and then maybe if they mess up, you’re like, okay, I’m not going to deal with that person anymore.

[00:24:47] Amani: Trust me, I had to learn that when I started working out of college in corporate America. That was a huge slap in the face. Because, um, delegating was one of my weaknesses. And I was like, I can’t do it all. I was working until midnight. I was like, I’m burning out. I have to trust my team and my people. 

And honestly, it’s great. I thrive more that I trust them. Um, I still be a quarterback and manage to make sure that everything is on track and I just can’t seem to copy and paste that in my personal life yet, which is weird.

[00:25:24] Ramit: Well, let’s try it. Okay. That’s good you see that. I appreciate that.

[Narration]

[00:25:28] Ramit: This is what I mean when I say trust is still an issue. Look, personally, I completely disagree with Amani. But me telling her she’s wrong will not do anything. I noticed she’s made some steps, which is a great sign. 

But what I’m trying to do here is to create analogies so she can make the connection herself. That’s because she has to get it. She has to realize the cost of what she’s doing, and also see that when she trusts Matt, he can deliver.

Of course, Matt plays a role in this too. That communication could be improved in a big way. With all of that said, considering they now own two houses with Airbnb income and they have two kids, I think it’s crazy that he has no access to the family financials. 

You cannot have a partner if you treat them like a child. The good news is they’re making steps and all of this could change step by step if they make the decision to do it. 

[Interview]

[00:26:29] Ramit: Seriously looking at these numbers and with your income, and the Airbnb income, and the potential house income, you could be in a stellar position.

[00:26:39] Amani: That’s the weakest we’ve been. I see the potential. It’s just first I got to get rid of the other house. That’s the biggest drag going on from me right now for sure.

[00:26:50] Ramit: Everything else falls from that. Get rid of that house. Do not let the tail wag the dog. Just get rid of it. Even if you have to take way less than you thought, it’s okay. There’s this phrase that we use, which is that your future is bigger than your past. 

And when I was going to make some tough decisions in my business, I kept saying, well, oh, I already worked so hard and I don’t want to have to start again, and this and that. And what I realized is I’ve got 40 years plus ahead of me. So why am I letting these three years behind me dictate the rest of my life? 

Your future together is bigger than your past. But the fact is, right now, if you don’t make a massive change, all the work that you’ve done in terms of saving, investing is moot because you will go broke very quickly. So it’s existential. But you got to get out of this situation with two mortgages. 

And then once you’re free and clear and you close that door, then you can focus on this house, the Airbnb, and whatever income the two of you decide to generate together. You can’t have a successful marriage if you’re constantly playing with one hand behind your back.

Maybe a successful marriage is about going all in. We made this decision together. We had children together. We lived together. Maybe it’s about assuming that things are going to go right and also having the confidence to know that we can handle it if things go wrong. That’s how I would look at it. And once you have that, you’re going to know exactly what to do. And hey, send me an email when you sell your house. Uh, I’m waiting.

[00:28:35] Amani: So happy.

[00:28:36] Ramit: I cannot wait. Amani, you asked about, uh, texting me if you have questions. Let me give you my number right now. You can text anytime. Matt, feel free to text anytime as well with any questions. Uh, so let me give you this number, (***) ***-****. If you have questions that come up, we spend so much time together, of course, I’ll be happy to answer them. So just text me anytime.

[00:29:05] Amani: Thank you so much.

[00:29:07] Ramit: All right. Honestly, that was awesome to catch up with Matt and Amani. Uh, I haven’t seen them since the last scene, the last time we filmed. And just to see the two of them smiling and talking is completely different than the first time I met them. 

And I remember, uh, they were actually the first couple, the first day who I shot with. And I remember sitting on their couch and they were arguing in front and I was like, is this really happening? This is really different than seeing them in my office and doing my podcast. 

So, uh, I just want to reflect on a few lessons that I took away from Matt and Amani. First off, I see lots of better communication. They’re actually talking to each other. They’re asking questions. 

Now, of course, they have work to do. I think Amani can delegate a little bit more effectively. She can assume positive intent. Uh, I think Matt can be more specific with what he wants and why. And I think both of them can create a vision together.

That’s really what’s lacking in Matt and Amani and many couples. Uh, in fact, almost no couples have a joint rich life vision, but that can be fixed. They have a vision. What do we want to do? Date night. And they’ve started to get little elements of that. I want more for them. 

The second lesson is that having a high income actually does solve most financial problems, but not all. I want to emphasize this. Uh, a lot of times when you look at, uh, people with financial problems, one of the most obvious things is that there’s a limit to how much you can cut, but no limit to how much you can earn. 

And if you’re making $35,000 a year, it’s going to be very, very difficult to get ahead. And that’s why I’m such a fan of more affordable housing and affordable healthcare and all those things. But at a certain point, like I said, there’s just a limit to how much you can cut. 

In this case, Amani has a very high income, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and she’s young, so incredible in her career. Uh, that helps a lot. And the fact that Matt is now generating, uh, income through that Airbnb and managing it, also fantastic. 

The problem is they have not adjusted their spending. Uh, and as Amani admitted, she goes, well, I never thought I’d be making this much and having these kinds of problems. Uh, they need to tighten this up. 

And that brings me to my third point, which is they have to become intentional with their money. A lot of the things that I see happening are something in front of Matt and Amani, and then they jump on it. Like, oh, we saw this house, we should buy it. Uh-oh, we got to sell this house. We should sell it. Credit card debt, 401k, etc. It’s like jumping from one thing to another. It’s financial whack-a-mole.

And what I would like for them to do is to become much more intentional. Here’s the percentage we’re going to be putting towards X, towards Y. Here’s how many vacations we’re going to take. If I make more than I projected in the conscious spending plan, I’m going to take 75% and put it towards investments and 25% and use it for fun. That’s the level of intentionality I want. 

Now, whether or not you’re making $350,000 a year or whether you’re making a $100,000 a year or 40k, you can use those same principles. Better communication, increasing your income by negotiating your salary or starting a side business, or getting more intentional with your money.

I really enjoyed talking to them and as I mentioned to them, they were so honest. I mean, they were arguing. They were telling me how they felt. Uh, Amani was telling me about her childhood, so was Matt. And, um, to be able to reconnect with them, uh, it feels awesome to see their progress. 

So, Matt and Amani, I want to thank you for coming on the show and sharing your follow-up story with all of us. And I want to encourage you to watch Matt and Amani’s full story– it’s actually unbelievable when you see it– on my Netflix show, How to Get Rich.