Bob Wheeler And The Money Nerve On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Bob Wheeler recently interviewed the host of Join Up Dots on his amazing podcast The Money Nerve.
And as it was such a fun and engaging conversation we decided to release the show through Join Up Dots.
But lets start with giving you an update on who your host is today.
Introducing Bob Wheeler
Bob Wheeler is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.
Bob Wheeler, a financial expert and motivator, book author, and founder of The Money Nerve?
As a man of true integrity with infectious energy, Bob Wheeler’s crusade for personal growth has cross-pollinated with his accounting practice to create a new approach to personal finances.
His passion is to help others gain insights about how their emotions trigger financial decisions.
Combining finances with behaviors, Bob explores his personal concept of creating a healthy relationship with money in his recent book, The Money Nerve.
While strengthening his accounting practice, Bob has simultaneously pursued his love of satire and ventured into the realm of standup comedy.
How The Dots Joined Up For Bob
From his thirty years of helping clients, Bob has distilled a concoction of warmth, humour, information, motivation and budgeting directives that he offers to anyone with financial concerns.
He is also currently the CFO for The World Famous Comedy Store.
Now if that’s not enough for you, then he has also an adventurous spirit in abundance too, with world travels that have led him to high altitudes.
He has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, ascended to the Mount Everest Base Camp, and hiked several smaller mountains in between.
With charm and humour, his experiences on the road, in the office, or running a Greek marathon, feed his wit as a stand-up comic and financial motivator.
Bob Wheeler helps listeners conquer their money shame and avoid making poor financial decisions by teaching how emotions can dictate our choices.
So is it all about our attitude to money that directs the riches that we bring into our lives?
And what happened in Africa that changed his beliefs around money?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Bob Wheeler
Return To The Top Of Bob Wheeler
If you enjoyed this episode of Bob Wheeler why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Spike Ball Founder, Nick Ruiz, Sarah Caltieri or the amazing My Business Is A Mess
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Full Transcription Of Bob Wheeler And The Money Nerve
Intro [0:00]
Life shouldn’t be hard life should be a fun filled adventure every day. So now start joining up dots, tap into your talents, your skills, your God given gifts and tell your boss, you don’t deserve me. I’m out of here. It’s time for you to smash that alarm clock. And start getting the dream business and life you will, of course, are dreaming up. Let’s join your host, David Ralph, from the back of his garden in the UK, or wherever he might be today with another jam packed episode of the number one hit podcast. Join Up Dots.
David Ralph [0:41]
Good morning. Good morning, and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. Now today’s show is going to be slightly different. Oh, yes, it is. Because I thought I’d do. I was on a show recently, and with a gentleman called Bob Weaver. And he was interviewing me about sort of money and my money, beliefs and where my money beliefs came from. And I kind of forgot, but I’ve been on the show. And then he sent it through to me. And I listened back to it and I thought this would be interesting for Join Up Dots this be interesting to share it out. Because it there’s a lot of a lot of people struggle with making income and money, not because of their talents, their skills, more about their personal belief. And through Join Up Dots, it’s become quite obvious to me that people struggle not because of what they do, but who they are. They kind of hold themselves back they they mentally put the anchors on. And so I was interviewed with this guy, Bob Bob Wheeler from America, and he was talking about certain things. And it but yeah, I’m, I’m doing Hawaii, I’m doing quite financially, I ain’t got any money worries at all to to bother me. But I’m also rooted with the the childhood but I had of living in a household where my parents which were blind, but they hadn’t got any money. And that’s what’s what’s how life was. And it’s a kind of, you know, dichotomy really where you think to yourself, yeah, I’ve got all this money, but actually, I haven’t got this money. And yeah, I can spend and do this, but actually, I shouldn’t spend this and so anyhow, I thought to myself, it’d be quite interesting for you guys to to reflect on your own money beliefs and look at it and think Yeah, do I operate because of how I was trained? how I’ve seen or have I got a totally refreshing and natural and confident way of operating with your finances. Well, this is Bob Wheeler through the money nerve. And I’m gonna bring him on because I think it’s a very good show. So enjoy yourself. And I’ll see you again soon we have another proper episode of Join Up Dots when it’s just me, Bob Wheeler
Bob Wheeler [3:21]
Welcome to another episode of money you should ask. I’m your host Bob Wheeler. And in this episode, we’re going to explore question examine Converse, dig deep expose, laugh and cry about the money beliefs, money, blocks, and life challenges of our next guests. Turn up the volume listen, learn and laugh. Our next guest David Ralph is the extremely attractive host of the top ranked online show Join Up Dots Join Up Dots where I was just recently a guest. In each episode, he takes his guests on a journey of discovery following the words of the late Steve Jobs from birth to today and back again. David joins up the dots of his guests lives highlighting their failures and successes. With more than a few laughs in between. Join Up Dots has gained a massive audience in over 160 countries with its fun and quirky style. David is an ex corporate trainer with a wife, five kids, three grandkids a cat. And originally a snail who is now officially dead. David, welcome to the show.
David Ralph [4:18]
Oh, it’s lovely to be here. Mr. Wheeler, we finally got it going. And you almost did the fatal the fatal thing that people do by throwing in Join Up. Dots. It’s the one thing that drives me mad.
Bob Wheeler [4:33]
Yeah, I wonder if people sort of add that extra thing in there. Let’s just add that word. It’s not there.
David Ralph [4:40]
The z is silent. And the thing that annoys me most if I’m being really confessional now is the ones that say, Oh, I love your show. I’ve listened to every episode and then Ben I call it Join Up Dots. And I’m not sure you’re listening to the show then but
Bob Wheeler [4:59]
there happens to be another Show Join Up Dots. Yeah. So all right. So I have to ask you this. So you are an ex corporate trainer. Does that mean you teach people how to live in cubicles with excitement?
David Ralph [5:15]
It’s funny, actually, you’re you’re not far away from it. It was more the fact of teaching people how to get out of the cubicles. And there’s a weird story, one of the last things I did, I had an induction course. And in England, we used to have do this course called induction, where people would come in, and you would teach them how to be a member of staff. And so they stay with me for five days, and then they’d go off to the different teams and do their thing. And the very last one, I’ve kind of lost my mojo for the business. And I had 15 people that came in on a Monday morning at nine o’clock. And I said to him, Look, it’s great for you to be here is really wonderful company. But don’t stay here for more than six months, you know, use it as a stepping stone to go off and do something else. And you can go off and do something else, because you’re brilliant, sexually attractive people go for it. And of those 15 people, only two came back from lunch, and all 13 of them quit, I decided that I could do something else. And so it wasn’t my best day in the office. But it was the day when I realised I have to be an X trainer.
Bob Wheeler [6:23]
Or they were gonna make you one anyway. Yeah, yeah. That’s too funny. Now, when you were like five or six years old, did you say I want to be a corporate trainer? Like was that the vision?
David Ralph [6:34]
No, it wasn’t. And actually, this is really weird. But I found out recently, my, my mom and dad have lived in the same house for like 150 years. And so I grew up in this house. And you know, when you leave at the ages, sort of like 2022, you leave some stuff, just so that you’ve never moved out. So there’s a toothbrush there. And there’s some t shirts and stuff. And there’s probably my my programme from Huey Lewis and the News concert 1987. And I went back and cleaned out the loft. And I found a load of cassette tapes that we used to have in the 80s in the 70s. And I realised I used to go around to like the bank manager and the butcher, and you know, pop up adults with a tape recorder and interview them. And it was real fascinating. But I had all these little tapes of my little nine year old voice, eight year old voice. And now 3040 years down the line, I’m doing it for a living. So it was a real Join Up Dots moment. So now I didn’t plan to be an X trainer. But it seemed to be that I planned to be a podcaster but had to wait 40 years until podcasting became a thing.
Bob Wheeler [7:42]
We all have to wait for good things to come. So you waited 40 years to become a podcaster. So it was it was there. Even though we didn’t even know the concept existed, right? There wasn’t even
David Ralph [7:52]
it was enough. Ah, that had to be scratched basically, are you? Once you get to that point, you’ve got to keep on scratching.
Bob Wheeler [8:02]
You got to keep scratching, because the edge keeps coming back. That’s coming. Now, did you have brothers and sisters? Were you an only child? Did your parents say Do whatever you want? Or did they tell you to go be a corporate trainer like what what was growing up, like,
David Ralph [8:17]
growing up was job for life? You know, I went through the education system basically doing the courses I want. I wanted to be the next Wham. Basically, I wanted to be a pop star. And my mom wanted me to work in a bank. And so when I came through the education system, I said to my mom, and I remember this distinctly, I’m going to take some time off. I’m going to you know, I’ve been learning all this time, I’m going to take some time off. And she said no, you’re not you’re going to get a job. And she actually wrote the job applications for me and sent me and unfortunately, I seem to be quite good in interviews, and I got the job. So I ended up working for a high street bank. And I walked up the steps and thought, oh my god, I’m gonna be here six weeks, and I did 10 years until I had an app. And then I left and I went into insurance. I am the most boring person I did 10 years banking 10 years insurance until I thought I can’t do anything anymore. And so I left. So no, I didn’t have any plan at all. It was very much that my parents kind of drove me where I went. And I didn’t have any ambition. I just kind of floated around for a couple of decades getting drunk, listening to music going to concerts and you know getting drunk again Really?
Bob Wheeler [9:35]
Well, it’s I mean, at least you had the getting drunk part. I mean, it sort of feels like a 20 year sentence like you did time you did the bank. Yeah. What’s it like, by experience life at the bank?
David Ralph [9:47]
No, I didn’t experience anything. I mean, a lot of nice people and I think we can all saver and I think whenever we leave an organisation we always say I won’t miss the company, but I missed the people. But what it did it taught Funnily enough to how to podcast because one of the things I had to be was a cold caller, when you pick up the phone in the old days, and these were the phones with the curly wire that you actually sort of cooked on the neck, so there was no headphones and stuff and, and phone people up and try to sell banking products to them. And it was I looked back on it now. And I realised it was one of the greatest podcast training because when you do a podcast, you literally have to connect with a complete stranger, and make it seem like you’ve known them all your life. And so I can hark back to certain parts of my career and thing, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now without it. So it wasn’t wasted time. It was just time that I didn’t know what I was doing.
Bob Wheeler [10:44]
Exactly. You were just in training, and you just didn’t know it. So yeah, that works. That works. And when you were growing up, did your parents talk about money? Like they talked to obviously, they said, go get a job for life? Do the smart, you know, do the stable thing. But did they talk about money? Did they tell you how much money they had, they give you an allowance. I had
David Ralph [11:04]
to work for everything. And so we didn’t get any allowance. So if I mowed the lawn, I’d get something. If I made a cup of tea, we used to have this thing called the productivity scheme. And there was like a chart up on the wall, where if I made a cup of tea, I’d get two pens, which is like nothing now my kids won’t even get out of bed for 20 pounds. This was to pack to pee. And if I wash the car, I’d get a little bit so if I if it was like slave labour and I worked in a sweatshop all week, for my parents, I could get about three pounds, you know, which was an awful lot of money. But no, but we never talked about money because my mum was always totally skin. There was no money about no money about and we were always really really skinny. Funnily enough, well, not funny enough, my mum’s now had a stroke. And so I’ve become controller of their finances. I’ve got loads of money, I can’t believe every bank account is jam packed with 1000s and 1000s of pounds. But certainly when we were growing up, it was always said to us that we were skin and we couldn’t afford it.
Bob Wheeler [12:10]
So is there a little revenge spending going on right now to make up for the past?
David Ralph [12:16]
Well, I still I’ve listened to quite a few of your guests. And they had similar outlooks. I was listening to your show, Lisa Peterson, who I know quite well. And she was saying the same thing as me. Even when you have money, if you’ve grown up without any money, it’s very difficult to spend it. You’re almost programmed to think you’re skint. And so, now, the only thing I really spend money on is when I go on vacation. And it’s like, and I’ve thought about this, and I think we spoke about it on my show. And it’s that feeling of nobody’s here who knows me, I can be a bit flash with the money. Where in my own country, I’m quite happy to walk around boring clothes off of panhandlers and vagabonds to sort of cover it. But yeah, there’s, there is a funny thing with money that I’ve got. But even though I’ve got money, I kind of tell the wife, I haven’t got any money. And that that’s got to come from my mum, because that’s what she did to me.
Bob Wheeler [13:20]
And when you go on vacation, do you put it on a credit card? Do you know how much you’re gonna spend on a vacation? Or is it just like, let’s just let it fly by the seat of the pants.
David Ralph [13:30]
It’s crazy balls time. It’s It’s just that the my family always say I don’t understand it. You’re so tight at home, but on holiday, you go like mad. And I just think that when you’re on vacation, there’s nothing worse than somebody saying no, you can’t have an ice cream and you can’t have this, you know, they pay all this money to go somewhere then race be experienced. So no, I kind of have a mental checklist. Well, I kind of manually taught it up. So every time you have a McDonald’s or something, I think okay, that’s, uh, you know, I know what I’m spending but I don’t really care.
Bob Wheeler [14:05]
Now, that’s awesome. I say I grew up in a big family. So when we went on vacation, or even going to Disneyland, we had our pack sandwiches that we had to smuggle in. We go to the movies, we have our own homemade popcorn. Like how we
David Ralph [14:21]
do that. On the hottest day of the year, the kids are wearing overcoat so that we can stop drinks and sweets in from the shop down the road before you go in. Yeah, so no, we all do that.
Bob Wheeler [14:33]
Oh my gosh. Like Mom, why can’t we just buy a soda from the plate? No, no, we have our own Just let me get it out of my purse. Oh my god.
David Ralph [14:41]
I’m still I’m still like that today. I’m not paying those prices. Yeah, because yeah. Once again, it is weird Really? Because you can afford it but I can’t justify spending more on the food ban seeing the film.
Bob Wheeler [14:56]
Exactly. $8 for a water Yeah. And how much since you have kids? How much help should kids get financially, like, young and even into adulthood?
David Ralph [15:10]
This is an interesting thing, because I think that they should get support. But if your kids are really, really lazy and won’t do anything bad, I don’t think they should get anything at all. So I heard like Paul McCartney saying, you know, he wouldn’t buy his daughter, a secondhand Volkswagen Beetle, because he felt that she should earn it, she should work for it, you know, and I totally understand that if you’ve got money, you shouldn’t just give it to your kids. But kids nowadays, maybe it’s just my kids, as I say, they won’t do anything. Unless it’s for the king’s ransom, you know, where the hassle that I had to earn my free pounds when I was a kid seems to go out the window. It’s because you know, they won’t like, get out of their bed for 20 pounds. I will sleep if someone’s 20 pounds, you know? I really don’t care.
Bob Wheeler [16:02]
That’s a 20 pounds or 20 pounds. Yeah, yeah. But in the back. And now Do any of your kids want to be like social media, celebrities or influencers? Or are they going for the job for life, are not gonna
David Ralph [16:16]
follow in your footsteps. My son is going through university, and he’s doing Film and Media editing. So he wants to be in the kind of movie business. Which is great, because even if you don’t get into the movie business, you can make videos and films for local companies and stuff. So he is learning skills fair. And my daughter is very much in the performing arts. But they’re all always on Tick tock, totally. They’re obsessed with Tick tock, I don’t know a tick from a talk. Basically, I’ve got no idea what this platform is. But there’s a big drawer. So they do really focus in on social media, but not Facebook. My wife’s on Facebook all the time. They don’t go near Facebook, it just seems to be Tick tock, but they seem to watch.
Bob Wheeler [17:00]
And when you met your wife, did you guys did you to talk about finances? Like Did you ask her her bank balances? Did she asked you if you were a good investment? Like was she taking a gamble?
David Ralph [17:12]
What a stupid question to ask Mr. Wheeler. I don’t I don’t talk finances with my wife now. And it’s funny, I should have learned when I first met her, I realised that she was a lovely person, a great person. And she was three grand in debt. And I lent her three grand before we were together. Before we were anything, I said, Look, you’re working hard, you’re doing another job to try and pay off your debt. I will give you 3000. And now we’ve been married for two years, and she still owes me 972 pounds 65. She hasn’t paid off this debt. And she says I’ve paid it off our ways. And she just kind of written it off. But what I should have said to her is, why are you in this debt? Because 30 years down the line. I can see why cuz she’s as bad now with her money as she was been, you know, being totally transparent. We had a joint account for about three days until I realised that we were going to be totally skinned if I allowed her to just dip into the family bank account. And so we’ve had we’ve had separate finances since Ben she has her money and I run the house, because otherwise it will just be a freefall to ship. She’d be like Imelda Marcos, we’d like 600 pairs of shoes and 700 drawers.
Bob Wheeler [18:33]
Well, you know, you got to have two for every day of the week.
David Ralph [18:36]
Well I do yeah, I’m trying to cut back Yeah.
Bob Wheeler [18:43]
So even now your wife You don’t talk about money but do you budget Do you budget do you plan things out? Or do you just work from the premise we don’t have any money No,
David Ralph [18:52]
I very much I budget things out I I like I love a spreadsheet. And I like to pay myself first. That’s one of the things so I have six pots basically. But every bit of money that I earn I put onto a spreadsheet and it tells me to put 20% in here 20% in there a bit from my tax and stuff and then I operate from what’s left. And I’ve always done that. And so it’s it’s very difficult to budget and save when you’ve been used to spending but when you’ve come from an environment where you was always skins you had no money, it’s quite easy because you don’t need a lot to sort of operate. So that’s what I do I very much budget and I look at it and I’ve got like a pot for Christmas and holidays and things like that and I’ve got another pot for tax and another pot or whatever. And I split it up very much on there and religiously. I do you know, and I like playing around with the figures and changing the percent and thinking oh in five years I will have this amount if I keep on saving at this rate and 20 years. I I, I like doing these little sort of calculations on there.
Bob Wheeler [20:04]
And then do you celebrate when you hit the benchmark?
David Ralph [20:07]
I do personally, but I don’t tell her about it. Because if I if I told her about it, I wouldn’t be hitting that benchmark.
Bob Wheeler [20:16]
That’s right. You have to pay for the celebration. Yeah. Do you have? Do you have any financial regrets? Is there one financial thing you did that you say, Man, wish I hadn’t done that?
David Ralph [20:27]
Yeah, that there was there was one stocks and shares, I was up in the City of London. So I got involved in stocks and shares, that was my sort of game. And you have to keep your eye on the ball, which stocks and shares you have to know when to sell. And I bought some shares in the name of Millwall Football Club, which are a football club in United Kingdom. And they’ve always been quite a low level, but where they’re based, is prime location. And so this guy told me you should buy shares in Millwall Football Club, and I bought them at naught point five p. And on one day, they got into the FA Cup Final, and played Man United. And they went up to 11 p on that day, and I lost about 500 grand. It just didn’t dawn on me, that I should be setting them. And and that that’s my biggest financial regret. I look back on that and think, Oh, my God, you know, that that would have been a windfall and such an easy windfall, but I didn’t do it.
Bob Wheeler [21:27]
What is your favourite place to invest money? Is it real estate? Is it stocks and bonds? Is it currency?
David Ralph [21:35]
No. I don’t understand crypto, I don’t understand Bitcoin, and all that kind of stuff. But I do understand land. And I do understand that buying land in positions where other people might need in the future will always pay you back. So I’ve got one or two plots of land scattered around, which I’ve bought, which will be quite valuable sort of in a few years time. And yeah, I kind of I’m a bit lazy. So in the old days, I loved it because there was good interest rates. And you could put the money in you and you get a good return and it’s quite safe. Nowadays, the interest rates are negative, you know, every the countries are in debt. I’m gonna ask you this question because your money now? I can’t answer this. Our country, the United Kingdom owes 275 trillion pounds. Okay. Bye. Bye. Oh, it? So who’s given it to them? Because I don’t I don’t imagine America has got 270 Yeah, he’s got that amount of money. And my second question, if they’re a government, why don’t they just print a load of money and give it back to them? And why? Why are we in debt? Why can’t we print money?
Bob Wheeler [22:48]
Well, we can print money up it just, that’s what we’re doing here in the USA right now. We’re printing and printing and printing and printing. But eventually people are gonna realise it’s just paper. We’ve all agreed that had had a value but as we keep getting more and more, it starts to have less and less value. And
David Ralph [23:06]
is that is that how it works? So that’s, that’s where we’re just in debt until my great great great granddaughter, you know, passes away, we’re, we’re never gonna get out of this debt.
Bob Wheeler [23:17]
We’re never gonna get out. We probably need to do a whole reset everywhere. But that’s probably not going to happen either.
David Ralph [23:25]
270 from labour trillion, and I couldn’t compute that number. And so I saw it and they worked it out. You know, it’s like 1000 1000 billion or something. And you think, yeah, that’s mad and, and somebody lent the mat. So yeah, the Donald Trump’s got a few quid as
Bob Wheeler [23:44]
Donald Trump is still trying to get loans. I don’t know that he’s, everybody’s dropping him at the moment. So I don’t know that. He’s going to be somebody that’s lending out the money
David Ralph [23:55]
is laughable? Well, Donald, I, I laughed every day for four years.
Bob Wheeler [24:01]
They laugh and cry, and laugh and cry. What do you talk to your kids about with money? Do you actually have you don’t talk to your wife? We’re clear. You don’t even know what you’re having for dinner. But but but do you talk to your kids about money? do you encourage them.
David Ralph [24:20]
And finally I encouraged my son to be a bit more generous, my son that is so tight. You know, he’s got the nickname squirrel because he buries his money and we never see it again. He’s starting to just understand that it’s actually quite nice to be generous to his mom on Mother’s Day, and you know, and that kind of thing. My daughter who’s just turning 16 she hasn’t got a job. And she doesn’t need a job really at the moment. And so she hasn’t really got money worries because she comes to the bank of dad. So if she has to buy a present for someone, it’s me who pays it, you know? And I think they’re quite clued up. My kids with with money, but I think it’s as bad being tight as it is being, you know, a spender. I think there is a happy medium. If you’re buying the right things, you know, he had a girlfriend, there was his first girlfriend. And we said, you know, are you going to buy a birthday present? No, we send you in prison, you know, and it was like him coughing up a lung or something, you know? So he’s never going to be skin.
Bob Wheeler [25:30]
Does does Bank of dad have a high interest rate? Or
David Ralph [25:34]
is it zero interest rate is zero is probably negative interest rate. Yeah, I don’t think I will see that back again. But you know, it’s what you do, isn’t it?
Bob Wheeler [25:45]
It’s what you do. It’s what you do? Well, we are getting close to our Fast Five moment so I’m gonna ask you these fast five questions. You don’t have to think too long on them. We thought ours on him but but you just take a couple minutes. Aside from necessities what’s the one thing you cannot go a day without? I think that might be a necessity for some people. But here you go. What song would you say best sums up your life?
David Ralph [26:17]
Happy talk by Captain sensible there’s a real rubbish song in the United Kingdom. And it got to number one. And you know when a song so rubbish, it’s actually good. I think happy talk is the song that I will play at my funeral as much because it would wind my wife up as anyone else.
Unknown Speaker [26:38]
That’s That’s good.
Bob Wheeler [26:38]
And you’ll have land to bury yourself in just in case. you’ve run out of money. So Well,
David Ralph [26:44]
I’ve got this plane, I want to be put on a catapult and just twang and the thoughts of me hitting the ground will just bury me. Or be like the Fourth of July where we set off a few fireworks and just rang me up into the air and see where I land. And that’d be
Bob Wheeler [27:02]
yes, that can be fun. If you thought what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
David Ralph [27:09]
Cool property the dinner I’m having tonight when I get home. I imagine. strangest thing I’ve ever eaten. I have a in some weird things. I did eat buffalo once in America. And I wasn’t the beans whether they were actually buffalo. You know, I was wondering, it was just the name. I’ve had some weird things in America, to be honest. If you do a road trip, you don’t eat healthily to say the least. So yes, that is true. That’s certainly some weird stuff over there.
Bob Wheeler [27:38]
Yes, there is. If you could teleport yourself, where would you go? And why not come
David Ralph [27:43]
over there. And so we could do this live? And I could wait. I could reach out and touch you if you know. We’re not saying hashtag Me too. But um, I don’t like to touch you.
Bob Wheeler [27:57]
Connection. Yeah, connection. What is one of your favourite memories around money.
David Ralph [28:03]
Um, I think the last holiday that we had, because since then we’ve gone into lockdown. And we had a great three or four week holiday through New York and through Pennsylvania, up to Niagara Falls. And it was just a great holiday all for this my family in a car that last two kids. And it’s happy memories, because you see so much on the TV and the kids go, oh, I’ve been there. How I’ve been there, you know, and I like that, that they’ve connected those good times. That’s cool.
Bob Wheeler [28:33]
That’s cool. I think travelling and family experiences can be a really nice thing. Sometimes they can be really painful. But for the most part, I think that’s I like those family memories. So we’re at our sweet spot, our m&m moment, our money and motivation. Can you give the listeners a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom that you’ve learned along the way?
David Ralph [28:57]
Yeah, I said it earlier, pay yourself first. Don’t try to save what you’ve got left. Because you’ve never got anything left. Just look at what you’ve got. Knock Off 20%. And then live on what you’ve got. And you will live on what you’ve got. And that’s the thing. And when you could make it 25% and 30%. And you’ll still be able to live on what you’ve got left. pay yourself first and then leave it non negotiable. keep on adding to it, keep on adding to it. And once it gets to a certain point, if you do see an investment that you want, then go for it. But don’t think of it as just our dip into that whenever one that’s gone. That’s gone money. That’s future money.
Bob Wheeler [29:35]
Yeah, no, I think that’s true. And I you know, what I’m hearing you talk about is not obsessing about money, not like trying to be the richest person in the world. But like having enough to have your needs met, having enough to have your wife’s needs met. And and actually doing what you love like you were doing corporate stuff and It wasn’t, it wasn’t feeding your soul, maybe so to speak, and looking for those things that actually make you happy. And, and what I’m not also hearing is lots of anger, your parents are not talking about money, or not giving you all this stuff. It’s like, Hey, I’m learning this as I go. And
David Ralph [30:19]
yeah, I think actually, you know, when I left corporate land, I was on a good salary. And I was obsessed with replacing that salary through my entrepreneurial ventures. And it was harder than I imagined. And it was, it was quite difficult. Now, I would rather be the poorest man in the place, as long as I’ve got freedom and time and the ability to do what I want. But there was a time that I was obsessed about. If I got this amount of money, I needed to get this amount of money. And I think it was an ego metric more than anything else, so that I could say to people, yeah, I wasn’t an idiot, leaving my job. I’d done really well for myself. And now, I’ve done really well for myself, if on a Monday morning when everybody else is traipsing off to work. I’m sitting there watching Netflix, sticking biscuits and cookies into a cup of coffee, you know, just because it’s it’s that time. So I had turned 360 in the last probably five years from being money driven to freedom driven.
Bob Wheeler [31:22]
Yeah, it’s so important. And I’ve worked with so many people that have reached their financial goals made all this money, and they find they’re not happy. And for me, I’d rather have happy than rich. Yeah, I enjoy money. But I’d rather be happy than rich.
David Ralph [31:36]
Yeah, I’d like to be happy with a rich wife that would. Then she could spend whatever she wanted. Yeah, then it would be a joint account. Yeah, there you go. There you go. Where can people find you on social media and online? Just Google, go to Google and type in Join Up Dots not Join Up? Dots, but Join Up Dots. And you’ll find me Google’s a good place for finding things. So yeah, you’ll find me there.
Bob Wheeler [32:01]
Google makes us all smarter people. Does, so do our listeners. Don’t forget to share the love you can follow us. or like us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram search for money. You should ask all one word. Subscribe to this podcast on your favourite podcast player, visit Apple podcasts and search for money you should ask or click on the link below. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to YouTube and subscribe to our channel for more tips tools or how to learn how to have a healthy relationship with money. Visit the money nerves calm. That’s money nerve and er v not nerd. David, it’s been so awesome having you here. I’m glad technology worked again and wishing you the best. Thanks so much.
David Ralph [32:42]
Thank you very much Bob. It’s an absolute pleasure.