93. Where Are They Now? Netflix Reunion with Amani and Matt

If you've recently discovered this podcast and you've wondered, how can I get Ramit to answer my specific money question? There are two ways to do it. Number one, you can apply to be on this podcast, although we are already full for the rest of the year. Number two, you can join my Money Coaching membership in this program. We do a ton of cool stuff I want to make sure you know about it. We do a monthly live call with me where I cover some of my favorite money topics that I can't go into publicly in as much detail as. And I break down our members conscious spending plans. Plus I answer your questions live. We also have tons of virtual events coming up that cover every aspect of living a rich life. For example, our new event, Money for Aging Parents is coming up at the end of October that is included for all Money Coaching members. You get access to our library of all past calls like how to find an extra thousand dollars a month and how to do a Rich Life annual review. Plus, we have a Money Coaching community group where you can see inspiration how other people are spending their money and get your own questions answered if you want to get help. If you want to meet amazing other people in Money Coaching and you want to build your rich life faster and bigger, you should check out Money Coaching today. Go to iwt.commoneycoaching to join right now. That's iwt.com moneycoaching. Do you have separate accounts?

We have separate accounts.

We do, yes. Okay.

Did you ever have a joint account?

In the past, when I supported us, we had a joint account.

I'm gonna check out this conversation because I've heard this like 10,000 times already. Just today.

That's the end of the conversation.

I'm just tired. It's like emotionally draining.

You fight about money, you spin about money, and then what ends up happening?

I get defensive and then I get mad.

Let me just talk to her. Trust me, you're not doing yourself any favors by cutting it. Trust me.

I just don't understand why she didn't understand what I mean.

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.

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 gonna 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 gonna see how honest they get today. So first make sure you've watched them because you're gonna 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. Hey, Amini. Hey, how are you?

Sounds like such a. Like a deja vu, but also like kind of ptsd. But like, no offense to you.

I hope it's not ptsd. But it is surreal to see you through the screen right now.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's just so great to see you actually.

Yeah, same. I've been, I've been so eager to talk to you and catch up and just.

Is this allowed? Like there are many times I'm like a whole drummit say right now.

So will Matt be joining us?

Yeah. Okay. He should. He's not like, I'm hoping he saw the zoom link.

Okay, let's give it a minute. I want him to definitely be on. I definitely want to catch up with him.

Yeah, he was yesterday I was like, hey, you know, it's tomorrow. I don't want this to be one sided where I fill out everything like what happened before, you know, or so he was like, no, I'm good. I had enough of this. That I'm like, no, you're gonna. I want your side, your side of story too, so.

And how did he react to that? Ah, there we go. Hey, Matt.

Hello.

How's it going?

Yeah, it's going okay.

Let's get Amini back and I'm excited to catch up. It's nice to see you. It's been a while. First off, 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. 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 dynamic. Amenie, 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. You know, very few couples will openly argue in front of me. And what I love about it is it's real.

Well, when y' all first came, we were pretty much at each other's throats. I wouldn't say I was at her throat too much as she was at mine. She get pretty feisty, but, I mean, yeah, you know, like, it was hard not to argue on camera. I never thought that we would be, you know, we'd be in a situation, still bickering after, you know, like, people are in front of us. I mean, I definitely understood, like, where my wife was coming from. You know, I mean, she. She goes through a lot of stress, and I don't know, I guess the way that the cards fail, you know, she. She felt some type of way, and I don't disagree with her necessarily, but, you know, I'm just glad that at the end, you know, we were able to communicate and talk things through. I mean, we were stressed. We were stressed.

We were already fighting, like, so much together before the show came. The show was like, kind of like whatever the last.

Everything to the surface.

Oh, I mean, it's crazy, right? People say that you'll forget that the cameras are there. They say that, and I. I never believed them, but it's true. You become in your own world, and it just shows what's actually happening. So, you know, I appreciated that you were honest. You were fighting. It was very obvious, like, 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 I'm very thankful for that. You both allowed me to see that, even though it was tough to do it at the time. Gosh, it seems like sometimes the most important conversations we need to have are the ones that we are least likely to want to.

Yeah, for sure.

But you did it. You did it. You really opened up with a lot, and it's quite amazing to see the results of that. When I first met Matt and Amani, they started fighting. Within minutes, they almost dropped out of the show. And every time I talk to them, they seemed to actually relish fighting with each other. It's kind of like one of those old couples we know who are always sniping at each other. But Matt and Amini 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. Real Question for you do you know how often you're supposed to see your primary care physician? How about the dentist? How about a dermatologist? A lot of us just wait to get a text from the dental hygienist to know it's time to make an appointment. But your health is important and we talk about going from defense to offense with your money. What about with your health? Why not make your life easier and Book this year's appointments today with zocdoc. Zocdoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. They have over a hundred thousand doctors across every specialty from mental health, dental, primary care and more. Just filter for the doctors based on your insurance, your location, even ratings and find a doctor who's a good fit for your needs. Plus, Zocdoc appointments happen fast, usually within 24 to 72 hours. Instantly click through your options, book the appointment and you are good to go. If I needed to find a new doctor today, this is what I would use. Stop putting off these doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com ramit to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Z O C-O C.com Ramit Zocdoc.com Ramit what comes to mind when I share these specific moments? Renewing your passport. Scheduling a dentist appointment. Replacing that light bulb that's been out for six months and you're not sure what's the right bulb. We all procrastinate on weird stuff and taxes are usually right at the top of that list. We wait until the last second, then we get overwhelmed. We gotta pull all this paperwork and we're panicked because the deadline is approaching. That's why I recommend gilt. Now that tax season's over, this is actually the best time to get ahead. If you run a business or you filed for a tax extension, one small move right now could save you thousands later. Gelt is not just another CPA firm. They helped one of my colleagues rethink his entire tax setup. Now he's saving more than he spends on tax prep. With Gelt, you get a proactive yield year round strategy, not just a one time filing. Credits, deductions, business structure. It's handled and their tech platform makes it easy to stay organized. You'll also get access to G's full tax library with guides on retirement plans, QBI and more. So if you've got a business or you filed for an extension. This is the window to take control of your tax plan. Head to joingelt.com ramit to book a consultation. And as a member of my community, you get to skip the wait list again. That's joingelt.com ramit join G-L T.com ramit taxes don't have to be a task with Gelt. They can be a tool to build wealth. Looks like you're in a different location. I don't recognize that house. Is that in a different place?

It is pretty crazy because when we were talking to you, like, it was like a five year plan for us to try to get to our dream house, our dream house in San Diego. And it was just a combination of things. I had my highest revenue year was last year.

Wow. Amazing.

This house was just like amazing. It was on a hill and a mountain and you can see like, like literally like 360° of San Diego. And like even far you can see the ocean in the water. So wow. And he 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? And we went and like the moment like we were driving to, like, it was just like we had the goosebumps. We're like, this is like our dream. Like, like in all the neighborhood looks so nice. We were like, we can't afford this, you know, like. And yeah, fast forward. We actually purchased the house. It was pretty crazy. I had to put like a lot of money down because I already had another loan. So I'm trying to sell my house that we filmed in Temecula right now. And we started Airbnb, our guest house. So that's like, okay. Another income that we started getting. And that's why we made that step. To be honest, it's probably like the riskiest financial decision we made owning two homes, trying to sell the first one using all the cash I basically and the investments that I worked on all last year. But the Airbnb is doing well so far as like paying half of the mortgage where it puts us back to our initial mortgage of the house, back into macula. And that was the goal. Like we took that rescue decision knowing, like we can get there where we might end up being in the same amount as like, you know, our previous house. But now we are in San Diego and yeah, it's our, what, second month right now in the house, Matt, Would you say so?

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

Wow.

So this is Amazing, because I remember, Amenie, 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.

Combination of both. Mountain house with some sort of water view.

So that's kind of amazing. And you did it in about a year. 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 you think it's going to cost. You know, 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.

I had to take a risk. Like I said, it was the rescuest decision I'd ever take because I almost, you know, basically emptied that cash. But it's not gone because now it's in, in, in the house equity. You know, when I was doing your spreadsheet, I love, by the way, the new version. So that first table, when I was putting our asset, like the value of our houses and the card, all that, I was like, what? I didn't rinse 500k? What the hell? And it was like, like I was like, you don't guess our net worth. Like that felt great. And yeah, again, it was like, you know, 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, you know. So, yeah, it's my first rescue decision. So we'll see. I mean, right now, I would say as much as, like, we have learned a lot and we're taking a lot of new experiences. It is our, actually, I would say my, our most vulnerable financial situation right now because I own two houses. Not by choice. You know, it's a market that. That's why I was too scared of investing like real estate, stocks. All that, like, to me is like gambling, you know, it's like up and down kind of market. And when you take a risk, you know, that comes with consequences. Our house has been in the market, like, since January. We haven't got, like, any offers. And that's like, stressing me out because I don't have that much left in my bank account. I have to think, okay, how many months can I go by paying two mortgages? And then I have to.

And what's the answer? How long can you go?

I right now have budgeted for like, three more months. And then after that, I'll bleed out. Like, I don't want to start taking out. Like, what, what you say if you start cashing your stocks and you feel.

Like, oh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. We got to fix this right now. Hold on. This is crazy. So 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.

Absolutely.

Okay.

It was very risky. Like, just even me talking about it with my friends, like, their answer was, did you really have to get this house? You know, you could have waited until you sold your Temecula home and you would have found another beautiful home. But, like, for me was. 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, I was scared of. That's why I'm like, I can already tell in like, one minute how worse you 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 last. Then what?

Okay, this is an interesting scenario. They have three months of cash flow, which is way, way too risky for me. But they also have a very high income and now multiple income streams. I kind of 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.

That was, like, a big part that of the show. That was, like, I didn't get an answer for intellectually now, which is Matt wanted, like, 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. And he wanted to, like, 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 know, 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 was making, you know, that could be his passion. And I've been seeing him thrive so much managing the Airbnb, and, you know, like, people love him. He's great with people on customer service. He really goes above and beyond, like, little things like, you know, cookies for the guests, things like that. And he would go down and clean it like, you know, like no other. Like, he was really, like, working hard on this area, be like his own baby. And I see now what he was asking for before, like, running his own business. Like, I just had a different concept of it, and I. I think he's thriving. He's good at it, and I want to be able to support him more toward that direction.

Wow.

But, yeah, I feel like we kind of found something that. That, like, I'm comfortable with and he's thriving in for sure.

It seemed before when we talked, at least early on, that there was this kind of, like, push and pull. Amani, you were saying, like, I want you to do it this. I want you to do it my way.

And now, like, that's just me. Yeah.

Yeah. Do it on my timetable, my way. And Matt was like, no, I'm not gonna do that.

Yeah.

Yeah. Fair to say. Matt, what do you think? Okay. And so now you change the structure. That seems to have really changed a lot of the dynamic. That's outstanding.

Managing the Airbnb has been, I don't know, it's kind of delightful. I kind of enjoy it.

What do you like about it?

My wife respects it, you know, like, she'll actually leave me be and let me do the things that I need to do for it because she sees, you know, her focus is on, you know, like, the end result.

That's awesome.

Just open the Airbnb and we booked all month except two days, and it's like 3,600 revenue on, like, a small loft. It just has, like, a really pretty view. And everyone says in the reviews that the host goes above and beyond. You know, the place is so clean and he's so thoughtful. Like, I can see his personality, like, being put in the job as being a host. And I said it before, like, I didn't feel like I could trust him to, like, you know, like to have a big investment in, like, some sort of business he does. But something like this, I could see already, you know, the. The result. I. I don't think I could have juggled my job and doing this. I tried to do it all, but it was one of the things where I had to trust him to do it because I just. I just couldn't fit everything in my schedule and. And I. And I wanna. I wanna help him thrive more like that's my next goal financially. I'm trying to save for and invest more so we can have another Airbnb property.

Amani hasn't trusted Matt for a long time. It sounds like she's made progress, but as I dig in, I can tell that it's still a very real issue. When I talk to new business owners, I hear a lot of the same motivations. I want to make extra money. I want more freedom. I want flexibility. But I will tell you something that I've never heard. I want to start a business so I can fill out a bunch of tax forms. That sounds like my hell. The good news is you don't need to be a tax expert to start your own business. Instead, you can use Gusto, this episode's sponsor. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all in one, it's remote, friendly and it's incredibly easy to use. So you can pay, hire onboard and support your team from anywhere. They offer automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, workers, comp 401k matches, you name it, they can help. Plus, it's quick and easy to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data and get up and running fast. With no hidden fees and no surprises. Try gusto today@gusto.com ramit and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com ramit once more gusto.com/ramit there's this myth that if you rent, it means you haven't made it. I don't really believe that I rent and I want you to know that you are not a failure if you choose to rent. In fact, I want more freedom right now than buying a 30 year mortgage. But if I'm spending thousands of dollars a month, I want to get some of the perks that homeowners get. And that is where BILT comes in. BILT is a loyalty program for renters. You pay your rent through BILT and you can earn points for it. Think about it. You're earning points for your biggest expense every single month. And you can redeem those built points towards flights, hotels, Lyft rides, or even future rent payments. BILT has evolved into a complete rewards ecosystem where you get rewarded for the first time as a renter. And it's easy. Almost any payment method is compatible so you can start earning right now. I wish I had had this when I first started living in New York. Plus, BILT recently announced that homeowners will be able to get rewarded the same way on their mortgage in 2026. So stay tuned. Join the loyalty program for renters@joinbuilt.com Ramit that's J O I N Bill B I L T.com Ramit and make sure you use our URL so they know that we sent you. So since that time, you know, 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?

I, I'm far from like being, you know, perfect with managing my money. But I would say that, I mean now is all things more like long term versus in the moment. In the past, I was always thinking like, I just want to live my life. You know, you only live once. Like I was focused on like spending that money to create joy versus now it's more like kind of in the middle, you know, where, yeah, there is that 20, 30% that we discussed where you can go spend, do whatever you want. But also I'm thinking about like our future as a family, my kids, things like that. On like I'm, I'm working hard on providing them A nice life. But I want to make sure it's, like, sustainable long term. So I'm always thinking about, like, what can I do to invest my money better? What are other people doing to get additional income? Things? Like, that's what I now more like hustler mentality, which I never thought I would be because I'm. I'm afraid of taking risk, you know? You know, like, there's. There are questions that you always ask, like, well, what do you think Matt feels about this? Because, you know, being empathetic, I feel like that's something that is really good at. So I always try to think, like, even when I'm on my own, you know, how would you feel about this? As a big example, when he was talking right now on the call, how, you know, he's, like, there for me, like, as a listener when I'm going through some stress, like, it made me think, okay, well, if he's my rock, then who's his rock? You know? So I try to do more of that for him, even though, like, it's hard for me to even, like, have it together for myself, you know, because if he has nobody, then he can't be my rock. It's kind of like a vicious circle. Right? So I'm not. I'm not perfect. I'm better at it. I'm definitely not where I want to be, but, you know, I'm working on it.

Okay. I like it. All right. And, Matt, what about you? What habits have stuck with you since we met? What was it?

Quicksand?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You remember that?

Like, I don't know. I guess. I guess when y' all first came, I felt like I was at the point where, you know, like, walking away just. Just wasn't, you know, wasn't what I was supposed to do anymore. I guess I just forgot it. But, yeah, you know, like, sometimes. Sometimes just, you know, bringing it to her attention, you know, like, hey, you know, like, you're being a little rough on me, and, you know, calm down. Let's go do something else, you know, like, at least. At least it's good communication.

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.

Right. Right.

And whether it's quicksand or whatever, term works for you. That's fantastic. 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 choose. And if you want more techniques like this, this is where a skilled cognitive behavioral therapist can help you ongoing I know that some of us think better when we write our thoughts out, but for a lot of us, including me, I'm better when I can think out loud. If that's you, I recommend you check out Whisper Flow to save you tons of time to bring your ideas to the page. Whisper Flow turns your voice into clean final draft writing inside whatever app you're already using, Email, Slack, Docs, even text messages. And it works on Mac, Windows, and iPhone. So instead of spending all of your time responding to messages and especially while sitting at a computer, you can hit a hotkey, speak, and the text appears. It's accurate, it's fast, it's all formatted so you can get back to work. Here's what my friend said about it. Whisper is amazing because it learns the way you speak. So you can send this rambling note as a text message and it kills all the filler words and it perfectly formats it for you. They said it's much better than using the Apple Voice to Text feature. The spelling is way better. If you want to buy your time back and get back to what matters, check out Whisper Flow. Try it for free at whisperflow AI/ramit that's whisperflow AI ramit w I s p r flow AI ramit or click the link in the description below. I remember when I was starting my business how I spent hours and hours and sometimes days just trying to get the technology set up right. The right font, the right alignment, getting the links to work properly. And it sounds ridiculous looking back, but when it is your idea, when you are starting your business, every single tiny decision feels huge. That's why I tell people, don't overcomplicate the big stuff. Use Shopify. It handles the infrastructure so you can spend time on what really matters. Finding customers who are happy to pay you. Shopify's technology lets you start off simple. And as you grow, it can become as complex as you need it to be. In fact, it can even connect you in store online whether you've got one location or a thousand. And it makes shopping easier for your customers because you can ship directly to customer buy online pick up in store. It gives your staff tools to handle every part of the process that they need. And because acquiring customers is expensive, Shopify helps you keep the ones that you've got. It's got first party data built in personalization and you can become more effective with your marketing. One report from Ernst and Young showed that businesses using Shopify POS saw an average of 8.9% boost in sales. Get all the big stuff for your small business, right with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today. And@shopify.com ramit go to shopify.com ramit shopify.com ramit okay, now the opposite question. Where are you still stuck? So it might be, you know, 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?

Well, I, I'm better now at managing money than I was before the show, but I'm not where I want to be for sure. You know, like kind of like I was telling you, like, you know how I'm stressed out right now about some things financially and me learning like, you know, how to better invest. I feel like there's more potential for Matt to have more income than just the Airbnb. I believe that he could do like what I'm doing, where he can have like a full, full time job where we can add even more income, you know, 100k plus that will allow us maybe to invest in more properties or whatever while he could still be a property manager. Like I want him to be there to get out of his comfort zone and be able to juggle both like you know, a career and I guess being, you know, his own boss. You know, I'm saying I think there too. And as far as like our relationship, like we're not there 100% as far as managing money together, like we still don't share accounts. I feel like that's something like that we need to, like, still work on. And, like, that's the part. It's. We're still, like, not there yet.

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. Why don't you have joint accounts?

I mean, as you said, you know, like, she's still hesitant on turning any financial responsibility over. So I don't even manage the finances of the Airbnb that I manage.

So that was a recurring thing, right? Because when you wrote me, you said that you had no access to the family financials. And would you say you have access now?

I've been told I have still have zero access.

You've been told by whom?

By my wife.

You're not quite sure if you should trust him yet, and we're talking about Matt, who is the father of two children.

Not like, trusting him. It's more. I want to. You know how with the Airbnb thing happened, like, where he showed his value and I, like, I fully trust him, right? Then I always do, like, a testing, right? So I was like, okay, what you would do with a credit card that.

You want to test it, it's not.

Enough to, like, obviously cover, like, a lot of the bills. It's just for now, just paying the mortgage and whatever, you know, leftover for himself. So that's why I'm saying we're not there. There's so much more room to grow.

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, all, right? I'm guessing that you assume positive intent and you give them anything they ask for. And then if maybe if they mess up, you're like, okay, I'm not going to deal with that person.

Trust me. I had to learn that. When I started working, like, out of college in corporate America, that was a huge slap in the face because delegating was one of my weaknesses, right? 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, like, it's great, you know, like, I thrive more that I trust them. I still kind of like, you know, 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.

Well, let's try it. Let's try it. Okay, that's good. You see that? I appreciate that. 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. 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. The communication could be improved in a big way. Now, 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. 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.

Yeah, stellar. The weakest we've been. I see the potential. It's just, first I gotta get rid of the other house. That's like my. The biggest drag going on for me right now.

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. You know, 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 this three years behind me dictate the rest of my life? Your future together is bigger than your past. 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 live 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. I. I'm, like, waiting.

So happy.

I cannot wait. Amani, you asked about my 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. So let me give you this number. You know, 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. All right. Honestly, that was awesome to catch up with Matt and Amani. 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 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, this really happening. It's really different than seeing in my office and doing my podcast. So 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. You know, they're actually talking to each other. They're asking questions. Now, of course, they have work to do. I think Amenie can delegate a little bit more effectively. She can assume positive intent. 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 Mania and many couples. In fact, almost no couples have a joint, rich life vision. But that can be fixed, right? 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. A lot of times, you know, when you look at 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 health care 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. That helps a lot. And the fact that Matt is now generating income through that Airbnb and managing it, also fantastic. The problem is they have not adjusted their spending. Okay. And as Amania admitted, she goes, well, I never thought I'd be making this much and having these kinds of problems. 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. Oh, we got to sell this house, we should sell it. Credit card debt, 401k, et cetera. 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 $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. Amania was telling me about her childhood, so was Matt. And to be able to reconnect with them just. It feels awesome to see their progress. So, Matt and Mania, 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 an Amani's full story. It's actually unbelievable when you see it on my Netflix show, How to Get Rich. Thanks for listening to I Will Teach youh to Be Rich. I'm Ramit Sethi. Please follow the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you haven't read I Will Teach youh to Be Rich, my book. Pick up a copy. You can get it at any bookstore or any library and it will show you the specific tactics for how to build the I will teach you to be rich system into your personal finances.