99. Where Are They Now? Netflix Reunion with Drew

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.

I was tired of living the way I was living, with like the secrets, I guess, and the guilt. I went to bed stressed. I woke up stressed. During the day, I was stressed thinking about money. That has all definitely changed. Tell me for the better. By Thursday I'll have zero credit card debt.

What is that gonna mean for you?

The world is the first time I've said it like out loud, period to anyone. Like not even like my therapist. I've talked about that with that much. This isn't that scary. We can do this. Like, the language is still the same. But I'm doing it. You're doing it finally. You know, we're here, we're queer, ain't got nothing to fear.

Welcome to my special update with Drew from my Netflix show, How to Get Rich. You're going to find out what has changed since he appeared on the show. So if you haven't already finished it, please go do that right now. Now, all I knew about Drew when I met him was his name and I had seen his financials. I didn't know anything else and the producers had me show up in front of a Bar. And I was waiting outside. I heard the music playing. I said, okay, cool. I walk inside, there's a bunch of people sitting around having drinks. Cool. I said, this is a party bar. Great, let's do it. But I didn't know who Drew was. I didn't know anything. Then I heard the music get really loud. Then I saw the dancers come out. I realized, okay, cool, this is a drag bar. But then I realized Drew was one of the dancers. So today you get to find out what has changed since Drew and I talked on the show. Let's watch. Hey, Drew. Hello. How you doing?

Wonderful. How are you?

I cannot complain. I'm very excited to see you.

It's been a minute. Almost. Oh, my God, almost a year.

I have so many questions. I follow you on Social, but I also want to know like the intricacies financial. What was your experience like working together? I want to know it all.

Well, I'm sitting in my condo right now in Chicago. Still at the same job. Well, because I think when we were working together, I had switched. I was getting ready to switch. Yep. So I'm still at the same place that that happened. Doing great, still loving it, still busy, still making that money, honey. Love it. So there's that. You know, we're almost not a year being married. Love it. Fifteenth. Yeah. Fifteenth of April will be our one year anniversary.

Amazing.

Kind of a bunch of the same old, same old, but also very much not like in the head, you know, especially like, you know, with talking to Mikey about money or planning things and saving things. That is all just definitely changed. Tell me for the better. Yeah, so. And just we will want to making more money. So that's. That always helps. Yeah. So like the biggest thing I've been working on this last year, which, you know, I've been working on keeping you up to, is getting rid of that credit card debt. Because I think that was kind of just the biggest. The biggest one, the easiest one to fix right away. Especially with, you know, just the discussing interest rates.

Yeah.

So it's kind of like, let's get this shit gone. I thought we met next week. So I was going to be like, oh, it's going to be gone. But are you ready for it?

I'm ready.

Thursday. By Thursday, I'll have zero credit card debt.

Yes. My man. That is amazing.

Yeah, Wait.

Okay.

It's really fucking cool.

Let's talk about the importance of this. Because when we met that credit card debt was a huge secret. It was like between you and Mikey and it was causing A lot. You guys were getting married. It was like, a huge problem. And then you paid it off. 200 bucks a week. So 800 bucks a month you put towards that credit card debt. Oh, my God. That's insane. Congratulations.

Thank you. It's insane.

What does it feel like to see the end coming by Thursday?

Really good. Like, it's proud. I'm really, really proud of myself for, like, buckling down.

What is that going to mean for you, the world? It's like the credit card debt became part of your mission, part of your identity, and when you make it that it becomes a lot easier to put money towards it.

I was like, okay, credit cards, we're not talking anymore. You know, we're on a break. And so I would just, like, make the payment. So I wasn't really paying attention to the balance so much because I knew it wasn't going up. I knew it was only going down. And then one day I saw, because I think the card was left at, like, 500. And, you know, I had a good shift or a good week, and I was like, I'm knocking this out. I'm like, you know, let's just get her done and put her away. Yeah.

That's awesome. What does Mikey say about it?

Mikey's really, obviously really excited. Really proud, of course, with him, because he is, you know, type A. Always thinking. He's like, okay, great, so next we can work on this.

He wants to go to the next, which is like, me. I'm like, okay, great. What's next? And then a lot of people, I've learned, need to celebrate and take a second and say, like, oh, my God, look at what I accomplished.

I feel like I'm more part of the team now. Which, you know, was not how I felt when we first. No.

It's no surprise that you have absolutely crushed that debt. That's awesome. One thing you notice about people who make huge changes with their life is that they confront it head on. It's quite amazing. You can make dramatic changes in your life when it comes to money, fitness, relationships within six months. But you'll notice that the people who do this tend to go all in. And that's exactly what Drew did. Now, of course, we're not all ready to do that. That's fine. There are parts of my life that I'm not going all in on, But I just want you to know that it is indeed possible. 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 100,000 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 doc.comit zocdoc.com 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 BUILT 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 BUILT 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 B B I L T.com Ramit and make sure you use our URL so they know that we sent you.

I think the biggest Thing that I'm stuck on, but I've also done the most work on. I think in taking the most from our work together is the job search, the job hunt, and just really like getting out of the industry. Like, yeah, it's great that I'm making more money in the industry, but I don't want to be a server for the rest of my life.

Yeah, that's smart. That's smart to know when you've reached a limit in a certain industry and you're like, look, I could spend the next 10 years trying to eke out an extra 10% or I can just switch industries. So what's the, what's the progress on that? Have you been applying?

I've been applying. That you should see something to do. Like, my resume is like night and day.

That's exactly what you should do. Awesome job. Sticking with it. So are you actively applying to jobs now?

Actively applying. I started and the other thing I've used and twisted, adapted, adapted, adapted, adapted. The other thing I've adapted is the informational interviews. I've worked with the Chicago Board of Elections doing training and so really figuring out could I see myself doing this 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. It's almost like an internship. Yeah. With those in a way that I can like, get that information, but I'm also making money doing it.

Do you have a, do you have a deadline for yourself or is it open ended?

Right now it's open ended, but obviously it is very much like, the sooner the better. I'm making decent money now, so it's kind of sometimes easier to be like, ah, you know, no, I'm, you know, I'm good. Summer's great in Chicago for waiting tables, so I'm ready. Like, I can't let myself fall back on that. Well, you're going to make great money this summer. You can wait till the fall to start looking like, no, let's just get this done now. So in the fall I have that hopefully that, you know, nine to five.

One thing that I'm hearing from you, this pattern is you are going from being reactive to proactive. You were reactive with your money when we first met, then you got super proactive with paying the debt off and you saw the results. And my dream for you is to connect that feeling and that behavior with the job search. All right, so you'll keep me updated when you land the next job?

Oh, absolutely. You'll probably be one of the first. You'll probably be like second after my queue. Okay.

Love it. What are you going to do once you start making more money, what are you going to do with the additional income?

Get some more dogs.

Is this a joke? So before, when we first started talking, how much were you making?

I was probably making, I think, 35 a year then.

35,000 a year.

35,000? Yeah.

Okay. What are you making now?

And now this year? Oh, I just looked. It was. I think it was 50. I was right about 50 this year. $50,000.

What does that feel like?

That felt was really good, too. Like, and then again, it was kind of like, whoa, where's it been going? And I almost, like, went back to that old headspace of, well, you know, you're wasting money, you're not doing something. I was like, wait, bitch, you have knocked down $5,000 in credit card debt. That money hasn't gone nowhere.

Yeah, it went. It went exactly where it needed to go. Like a fire hydrant. It went. Or fire hose, boom. Straight to where it needed to go.

Yeah. Now I feel like since I have. I'm being able to contribute more financially to our trips, I feel like I can help make the calls more and be like, hey, I want to go do this. I want to see that. No, we're going to stay in this hotel because, you know, I want to. Yeah, that's what happened. We just spent, you know, a week out and Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. And for the first time in the seven years we've been together, I planned the vacation. Like, I found our Joshua Tree rv. We stayed with friends in Palm Springs. But then, you know, I was like, I found, like, what to do, what sites to see. Like, we. Well, that was a combo. Like, obviously he found some cool stuff, too, but, like, for the most part, it was like, I took charge for most of the trip. I think I'm finally accepting, you know, again, seven years later, that Mikey and I are a team. And, you know, this money at this point is. Yes, exactly. It's our money.

Ah, that is cool. Didn't you do that on the honeymoon? I remember you sent me a message like, you were going to surprise Mikey with something on your honeymoon.

Yeah, we did jet skiing. Awesome. So, yeah, I just was like, okay, I'm going to plan something for the day. And we did it, and it was super cool.

It's amazing after seven years that you are uncovering this new layer of your relationship. I think that, to me, is the coolest part of the whole thing. You uncovered your own new layer. I can do this. I can make more. I can dedicate the money towards this and crush this debt in a year. And then also the coolest part is you're discovering this layer of your own relationship with your husband. It's exactly why I did this show. That's why I did it.

I'm glad you did. Help me.

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Well, I know you remember I may have gotten scolded about having a savings account for my dog.

Yes, I remember that. For me, I've been waiting to ask you about that. Tell me, please.

Well, you're gonna love this part, Daddy taking is taking some money back.

Yes.

And we are starting a Roth IRA for me with $2,000 seed money.

Yes.

The GG account.

Amazing. I mean, I love you, Gigi, but, Drew, you need that retirement account.

That's awesome. I'm gonna leave. I'm gonna live longer than her, so I need it more. That's good.

Listen, I'm not gonna say anything more because I have a lot of people who watch this who love dogs, and I don't need to get. Like, of all the people who can get mad at me, I really do not need dog owners coming after me, so.

Oh, God, love you.

Love dogs. But I'm especially happy that you're getting your investment account going. Now that you know the game, you start to see these connections, like the fact that you paid that credit card debt off so aggressively, and. And you saw results. Now when you start to do the same thing with your investments, and you start to see compounding, but just in the positive direction, you go, oh, my God, I understand the game. That's how you win. Just a quick side note on this, I have a friend of mine who told me how she loves spending on her dog, but she struggles to spend on herself. I was like, what are you talking about? And then later, I posted this thing that said, normalize spending as much on yourself as you do on your dog, which went totally viral. So that is dedicated to my friend Monique. But you see this with tons of people. I've had moms on this show who will start crying about how they cannot spend on themselves because they feel so guilty, but they will spend anything on their children. I've had dads who are on this show, and they describe themselves as providers. But when I ask them, what is your rich life for yourself? They're completely stumped. It's totally fine to be generous. It's even great to have that as a money dial, but not to the exclusion of yourself. Your rich life can be spending generously on other people. That's totally fine, even laudable, but not to the exclusion of spending on yourself. Do you use the conscious spending plan in your, like, money conversations or at all? If not, that's also okay. But I'm just curious.

We keep talking about talking about it. First it was the new job and trying to settle in, and then the same thing again with the struggle has been with my job. The ebb and flow, like, you know, July to December has been tastic, but then this last three months has been. Yeah, you know, so, like, it's very unconscious spending. It doesn't go out the window, but it kind of, like, gets thrown off.

Let me offer a little bit of feedback if. If you don't use it, that's okay with me. Okay. Not everybody successful with money has to use a conscious spending plan. But let me suggest a couple of things where I think it might be helpful for you right now. If you buy too much, it becomes something where you are now letting the tail wag the dog. In other words, every month you're sitting there writing a check for 300, 400, 500, whatever, and you go, why can't we go on this vacation? Why can't we eat out? So it really pays to get it right. So that's where I think a CSP can come in handy.

You sound exactly like my husband, because that's pretty much everything he's already done. So you'd be very. You'd be giving him his gold sticker right now, like, well, he's already kind of done all that.

The key is, I want you to be on board. I actually. My dream, which you've already started to do. It's awesome. Is for you to go to Mikey and be like, hey, you know what? I ran a few calculations. I don't know, maybe I made a couple mistakes here or there, but here's how I'm seeing it. What do you think about that? And then you take Mikey's budget, you go, mikey, fuck these numbers. You don't even calculate TCO correctly. Get this out of here now. From now on, we're using my numbers. Just make sure you throw up a camera on that so I can get a copy of that.

Oh, absolutely.

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I think the emotional toll it took on me, like, just. I think it was funny because it was for a lot of what was you. And I talked about it. Even Mike and I talked about is the first time I've said it, like, out loud, period, to anyone. Like, not even, like, my therapist. I've talked about that with that much. So, you know, I think that was because end of the first day, I was exhausted. I'm like, all I did was talk. But by the end of it, I was like, I need a drink. Like, I was tired of living the way I was living, with, like, the secrets, I guess, and the guilt. And just I went to bed stressed. I woke up stressed. During the day, I was stressed thinking about money. Like, you know, can I afford this? But then I think also how once you kind of started me on that path, how easy it was to follow and be like, okay, this. This isn't that. You know, this isn't that scary. We can do this.

We started internally. You talked a lot about how you felt, and it was very emotional very quickly. And what I loved seeing was you went from that, the internal work to the external work of, like, I'm gonna find out how much exactly I owe. I'm gonna start putting money towards it. That debt started to get paid off, and then now you came full circle back to the internal work. Like, you're talking about being a partner. You're talking about feeling like you are contributing and being proud, like, full circle. And that is exactly how it's supposed to work.

Yeah.

Well, I was very proud to watch your journey. Looking back on our time together, what was your most memorable moment?

Creating Cass Monet.

That was too good. You really caught me off guard with that one. Tell everyone what that is in case they have not seen it cast.

Money is your drag name if someday you decide to do drag. Cause that was. Is a part of my life. It's one of my little joys. So I figured, oh, yeah. Cause that was it. We were joking. I was like, if you were making me do a solace work, I was gonna make you do something too.

Yeah, you threw it back on me. I was like, wait a second. I'm here to give the instructions. And then you're like, ah, Ah. I was like, okay. All Right. So Cass is my wife, Cassandra.

Yes.

And so you quickly identified what my drag name would be.

Usually it's like your first pet in the street you lived on, but you didn't have a pet. Correct. And then I remembered your wife's name was Cass. And then because of money, like, Cass money just sounds like too much like cash money. But Cass Monet, it's a little on the nose. Yeah. Cass Monet is a rich life. That's a rich drag queen.

I love it. Okay, beautiful. Anything that you want to share that you didn't get a chance to share on the show? Any questions you have for me? I mean, we talk frequently, so it's not like you've been bottling something up, I don't think. But I want to make sure you have that chance.

Significantly less scary and easier to navigate and be like, okay, yes, here's how I can make it work. You know, when I was making $30,000, and now I'm making 50. Like, the language is still the same, but I'm doing it. But I'm doing it. You're doing it finally. You know, we're here, we're queer, ain't got nothing to fear.

There you go. Well, I'm pumped.

I'm excited.

I'm so excited to see your story go live. You really represent millions of people who want to do the right thing. Maybe grew up not really talking about money, not really engaging with money. And you are an amazing example for people that when they take control of their money, they really can start living a rich life fast. That is pretty much all I hoped for. When I first started thinking about doing this Netflix show, I met Drew. He was very stressed out by money. He was keeping credit card debt, thousands of dollars of credit card debt, as a secret from his fiance, Mikey. They were soon to be married, and Mikey knew that Drew avoided money. He represents a lot of people who didn't really grow up being taught about money, who work in different jobs. Not everybody works at Google. Drew is a server, and he's acknowledged he likes it, but he needed to change to make more money. Now he's making 50k and he wants to get out of the industry. And what is amazing in catching up with Drew is that he's made a plan to pay off his debt. He's continued doing it for a year. He's days away from being completely credit card debt free. And my favorite part of all is that he and Mikey are talking now more as partners. That part is incredible. They're creating their money rules together. All that's fantastic. That's where money can really change your life. It's not simply about dollars and cents in a spreadsheet, but it's about how you talk to your partner. If I had to give Drew some constructive feedback, it would be take that same energy that you use to pay off your debt and redirect that to finding that new job. In the same way that your life changed when you went from making 30k to 50k and it gave you so much breathing room and confidence. That same thing will happen when you switch industries and you're able to make more and be respected by the people that you work with and your boss. I think that will be fantastic. The other constructive feedback I would give is to start using the conscious spending plan. I didn't push too hard because it's really up to them. Drew's a great example of everyone going at their own speed. To me, it doesn't matter if debt takes you six months to pay off, two years, et cetera. But the fact that he made steady progress is incredible. If you can do that, then you can truly live a rich life. So congratulations, Drew. And for everybody who has seen Drew and the other cast on the show, how to get Rich is on Netflix now. And thank you for watching here. Now head on over to Netflix and watch the entire show. Thanks for listening to I will teach you 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 you 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.