Designing Wealth: Bobby Berk's Blueprint to Millions
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- Living in New York City, I moved there at 21. I made $2,200 a month, that's what I brought home. And my rent was $2,100. - No. - And so I was living off 100 bucks a month. I was literally buying a dollar chicken sandwich from the dollar menu at McDonald's a day. I would split it in half, eat half of it for lunch and half of it for dinner. And that was my meal every day. I was so skinny. My pants fell down. My financial philosophy back then was just to survive.

What's up, rich friends? Welcome back to another episode of Net Worth and Chill with me, your host, Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF and your favorite Wall Street girly.

So, fun update, I'm likely going to be extending my time in Miami, and that means I'm probably going to be finding a new apartment pretty soon. And with a new apartment comes a series of headaches. You've got to find a new place that you like, you've got to lug all of your old stuff to the new place, and sometimes you've got to buy some new stuff to fill the new space you have.

And I've always loved the Japanese, Scandinavian, ultra clean, modern, refined look. But aside from that, I actually have no clue how to properly design a space or a home. So I called in a friend and today we are diving into the world where creativity meets cold hard cash with someone who's become a household

name by literally transforming households. Everyone, please welcome the man who can transform your space and your whole entire life. He's an interior designer, a writer, an entrepreneur, the incredible Bobby Burke. Hello. How's it going? Thanks for having me. Oh my gosh. What a sultry intro. It's my podcast voice. Okay. I love the deep podcast voice. Obviously, you are an amazing designer and my friend. So before we get started, let's do a fun icebreaker.

what is the most expensive piece of furniture or art you have ever sourced or purchased for a client?

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I have to say, I never source super expensive stuff. I think of, unless you are an art collector, unless these are investments, I think of furniture in your home as a depreciating value.

It is not maintaining its value. It is losing its value. You don't buy a $60,000 couch and sell it for $60,000. You probably sell it for 500 if you're lucky or just give it away to get it out of there when you're done with it. So for me, there are so many brands out there that are expensive literally for no reason. You know, restoration hardware, for example. No, that's where all my furniture is from. Girl, you have...

- Yeah, I mean the markup is insane. Like I used to work for them years ago and don't get me wrong, their stuff is beautiful and it is high quality,

But you can find other brands that are just as high quality where you're not paying for the mansions that Gary Friedman built for his stores. So again, for me, I always tell people, I'm like, buy quality, but you don't need to buy the rich, the fancy American brands, the, you know, the B&B Italia's and those ones that you're literally, it's just like when you go into Louis Vuitton or anything, you know, you're paying for the name. Yes, it's a quality, but can you find that quality elsewhere without paying for the name brand? So,

To answer your question, as far as furniture art, no. I would say probably the most expensive things would be appliances. Because appliances are in your kitchen. And your kitchen and your bathrooms are the two places in your house that you will always get back, if not what you spent on it, more than what you spent on it, if you're doing really great pieces. So if you're getting that $18,000 Sub-Zero fridge...

You know, I just were renovating a place in the desert and it had a $20,000 sub-zero fridge in it that was from 2012. So it was like well over a decade and I was still able to sell it for 10 grand. Oh, wow. Yeah. So there are some things like that in your home that don't obviously retain their full value, but they retain a pretty good value.

They had a pretty good value. You know, if you're using it for 12, 13, 14 years and you get back half, that's still pretty good. So buy quality. Don't buy name brands for your home. Yeah, if that answers your question. Wow. That answers the question and gives us a hot tip. Like, where should we be looking for really good furniture? I don't... It's funny. I'll say where not to go. I don't necessarily like...

I mean, honestly, brands like Crate and Barrel. Yeah. West Elm. Yeah. Our House. These are all places that you can get living spaces. And living spaces has a wide range of, you know, there's some stuff that probably isn't going to last you that long, but they also have really great stuff too that's not overpriced. Again, you're not paying for an opulent brand just for the sake of it being opulent.

Yeah. You know, like, again, like Restoration Hardware. Like, it is, they have created, Gary has created this amazing brand that is very sought after that even people like you who are very financially savvy are still like, oh, I want it pretty. Okay, but can I tell you, it wasn't me who wanted it. It was my husband. Oh.

Because they had a restaurant in New York City with the beautiful rooftop, with the delicious burger. And every time you have to walk through the whole store to get to the rooftop. Gary has done, and again, I worked for Restoration Hardware in like 2003, the one in the Flatiron District years and years ago. And the brand has evolved so differently since then. But Gary has created a lifestyle that just like your husband, you want. You walk in and you're like,

This just feels rich. And if that is your thing, great. You know, for me, I think I could care less. Yeah. Wow. That's really, really sound advice. And I actually want to take it back because you have always been relatively frugal. Always. Yeah. I'm so cheap.

It always surprises my friend. It's funny, I'm cheap on most things, but then on some things I'm not. Like travel, I'm not. You want a ball. Experiences. I will spend money on things that my husband and I can share experiences. But again, as far as like buying, I don't buy name brand clothes. I don't buy name brand furniture.

Couldn't care less. So on most things, I am very cheap. Okay. Yeah. Like I won't go to expensive restaurants. I get so annoyed spending frivolous money on expensive restaurants. Yeah. So frugal – and kind of speaking of like a shoestring budget, you actually built your design empire from scratch. Yeah. And you moved to New York City with $100 in your pocket and a dream. Yeah. My first job in New York was at Restoration Hardware. Wow.

Wow. Like what financial lessons did you learn from those early days when you weren't making that much money? You had just moved to a new city. You didn't have anything. I think to me, that was the time of my life where I really realized what was important. And living in New York City as, I mean, I moved there at 21, a hundred bucks in my wallet once I paid my first month of rent. And I really realized I didn't, I didn't need much to have a great life.

You know, I learned where the open bars were. You know, I learned, okay, if I get to this bar at eight, they have an open bar from eight to nine. And so I can, you know, get drunk off my ass in that hour. And then I don't have to spend any more money because I don't have money. And I walked everywhere because there was a point where I couldn't even afford the subway. But I still-

really had a good time. And, you know, so I think that was a time in my life where I really learned you can still have an amazing life and not spend money. Don't get me wrong. Money makes the world go round. It's great to have it, but it made me feel

Find where those important things was, which again, to me is experiences. What was your financial philosophy back then? Was it the same as it is now? Survive. Oh. My financial philosophy back then was survive. I mean, I remember again, when I was working at Restoration Hardware, that first job, I would, I was walking up from the stockroom, the stairs one day and my pants fell down.

Okay. Because I was so skinny. You had lost so much weight. I had lost so much weight because I was literally buying a dollar chicken sandwich from the dollar menu at McDonald's a day and I would split it in half and I would eat half of it for lunch and half of it for dinner. And that was my meal every day because I made $2,200 a month. That's what I brought home. And my rent was $2,100. No. And so I was living off a hundred bucks a month. Luckily my rent like included utilities and stuff. Yeah.

Um, but I had gotten so skinny and I couldn't afford to buy a belt because I literally had no disposable income. And so I'm walking up the stairs and literally I, I had stuff in my hands. Like I was carrying stuff up for customers. And so I couldn't hold onto my pants like I normally could. And they just,

right down. And it's funny. Yeah. It's a funny, a friend of mine who I'm, who worked there, who's a friend of mine to this day said she saw it and just to this day, she still laughs about it. She's like, I remember when you were so skinny, your pants were falling down. But yeah. So my, my financial philosophy back then was just survive. There was no, there was no saving. There was no spending on experiences. No, not at all.

When did you feel like there was like the first turning point of, you know, I'm out of survival mode. I can start to feel a little bit more comfortable. You know, in New York, um,

It's funny because in New York in your 20s and in your early 30s, you know, life is tough. You're living in a 300 square foot walk-up apartment with roaches and it's fine. Yeah. The struggle is real because you're like, I'm young. It doesn't matter. I'm in New York City. It doesn't matter. Like this is part of the experience. So it never bothered me. But then I got in my mid 30s and my stores were successful. And at that point, my husband was out of med school and was finally making some money. Excuse me.

But life was still a struggle. I was like, wait, New York, why are you so mean? - Why are you so mean? - Why are you so mean? And it's funny, we were talking about Miami. We started spending more time in Miami and in LA 'cause I had stores in both of those cities. And I started to realize that I had Stockholm syndrome and my captor was New York City.

And I realized I'm like, wait, I'm so in love with this city that just uses and abuses and beats me up, you know, getting on the trains a fight, getting the elevators a fight, walking down the sidewalks a fight. And so even though we were doing really well, I think it wasn't until we moved to LA that I finally was like, oh, I had some breathing room.

I started because obviously LA is not cheap by any means, but compared to New York, it definitely was. Yeah, for sure. I want to take a quick pivot and utilize your subject matter expertise. Okay. We've seen a lot of headlines. Tariff this, tariff that. What do you feel about –

where that's going to impact your design business, but also just the broader, you know, economics of furnishing and designing a home. Greatly. I mean, we are, our suppliers are, have already been sending out emails that get your stuff now because prices are going to be increasing, you know, a huge chunk. I mean, all of, almost all of restoration hardwoods furniture comes from Vietnam. Good friend of mine is the owner of the factory that makes almost all of it. And it's 40% tariff.

We saw the day the tariffs were announced, Gary Friedman was getting interviewed by – I forget what financial show I was watching that day. And they're like, what do you think about what's happening to your stock price? And he hadn't seen it yet. And it had dropped, I think – don't quote me on the exact number, but let's say it was selling at 200. It had dropped down to like 40. And you saw him see it on the monitor and he was like – Oh, my God.

- Oh my God. - Holy, can I go? - Yeah, yeah, you can come. - He was like, "Holy shit." You know, it just, because people realize this is going to drastically affect their business. It's going to affect every, you know, every business. - Every business. - But especially the home business. There's not a lot of home stuff that's made in the States anymore. You know, there are, a lot of upholstery actually is made in the States still. - Yeah.

But case goods, which are tables, dressers, nightstands, wood, stuff like that, it's mostly made overseas. It's China. It's Vietnam. If it's metal, it's made in India. And all those places now have tariffs. Why is that? Why don't we make furniture really here anymore? We used to. Yeah. It's just the cost. Yeah. It got expensive. It got expensive. Also, we don't have the artisans anymore.

You know, like I'm sure you saw that article about the Louis Vuitton factory in Texas where they throw out 80% of everything that's made because the States does not have the artisans that this knowledge and this talent and this artistry has been passed down for centuries in Europe. Like it's something that they've really retained. We haven't here. We've gladly shipped everything off overseas and-

Yeah. That's that. And so not only is obviously cost of living higher, so wages are higher, materials are still coming from overseas. It's not like the materials are made here. There's

Fabrics aren't made here anymore. Metal springs aren't made here anymore. All still coming from overseas. But just the level of artistry that's just not there anymore to mass produce furniture. Again, there are still quite a few factories that manufacture specifically upholstery. But there's just not enough people that know how to do it to bring it back the way it used to be. Yeah.

What is your biggest tip for folks now in today's reality when they're shopping to furnish or design their next home or apartment? Like do you have any good tips? Financially wise? Yeah. No. No.

Really? Okay. Yeah. It's because it's at the end of the day, it's, it's about your budget. It's what can you spend? So my advice is to stay within your budget. You know, if you have to pivot because prices have went up for tariffs, if you don't have the money to increase your budget, don't, don't be, don't be house poor. Is there something better to be spending on like soft furniture versus hard furnitures or, you know, you mentioned earlier appliances focusing on the bathroom and,

Focusing on things that, especially if this isn't your forever home, focusing on the things that are going to retain their value and increase the value of your home. That B&B Italia sofa, that's not going to increase the value of your home. That Sub-Zero refrigerator though will. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Got you. Let's talk now a little bit about your illustrious media career. So most folks watching or listening to this from home probably know you from Queer Eye. And I've got a point blank question. Okay. Did you make a lot of money doing it? So the first two seasons, I definitely lost money being on the show. Lost money? Lost money. Because I mean, they were paying us

Basically nothing. Yeah. And the amount of money that I was losing from not running my company and being gone, because we had to move away and we were gone. Like you couldn't be the CEO of Bobby Berkshire. No, not at all. Because we were gone for five months. So half the year we were gone. And then we were on just constant press tours, which was great. But yeah, the first two seasons, I definitely lost money. Season three and four, I probably broke even. To be frank, they never really paid us well. Yeah.

You know, compared to what they pay scripted stars, I mean, we made a single digit percentage. Yeah. Obviously, what it did, though, was open up doors for working with brands, working with companies, you know, things like that. So that's where, you know, I remember over the years, fans would...

get annoyed with the Fab Five because we were often promoting brands, promoting companies, doing brand partnerships. And they're like, oh, we're just so sick of this. And we're like, well, girl, we don't make money off the show. Like this is our form of income. Yeah. How do you think we continue to do the show? Yeah. Yeah.

Looking back, do you think the exposure and what it has given you was worth it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So it was a win. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was, again, it was tough the first few seasons. Yeah. But the doors that it has opened for other things, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you can't pay for that type of exposure. We got really, really lucky to find Lightning in a Box.

And the show came out, you know, right at a very defining moment in the world. Yeah. You know, Trump had just become president the first time and people were really distraught and everybody was each other's throats like they are again. And we were this happy feeling of, you know, five gays walking into red states and getting along and like meeting people in the middle and being humans instead of

political affiliations and you know it it really became a cultural phenomenon that i yeah i never regretted doing it yeah oh i love that um ultimately you did decide to leave the show um this was you know kind of like the reboot of a franchise that you had really helped to build into a very very successful thing

What was the thought process that went into that? Like, was it a certain number you had hit in your bank account to feel comfortable to do it? No, I mean, for me, it was just time. You know, we had signed up for and including the season we did in Japan, nine seasons. And in my mind, that was always the end point. Yeah. You know, and just...

Yeah, to me, that was just always the end point. And that's when I had made the decision to leave. That's when my husband and I had decided that's when I was going to leave. And, you know, my castmates decided to keep going, which is great. Good for them. But it wasn't a financial decision at all. Because again, like...

We didn't make a ton of money from that show. And I have my design business, which I had before Queer Eye. So it's, yeah. And I'm doing other shows now I can't talk about really. And one of them, Strikers, that I'll be acting in. So I'll be getting into scripted. I have some new renovation shows coming up. But yeah, it was just time. In my mind, there was always an end date.

I personally think that's when the show should have ended because that's kind of when the show was on its high. But hey, to each their own. And we talked about this a little bit when you just walked in, when we were chatting as friends. Your husband and you, both of you are incredibly successful. Thank you. You kind of came from, started from the bottom, now we're here together. Did your decision to leave the show, was that ever impacted by the fact that you're like, hey,

You have made a lot of concessions so that I can do this. Now it's time for me to really support you and your medical career or like, how do you guys balance both being a power couple? My husband works one or two days a week now. Okay. When, when 22 years ago, when I thought I got me a doctor, I'm like, I'm never going to have to work.

Who would have thought he would be the one that got to retire early? You got Ali Wong, by the way. Yeah, we were talking about it though earlier before we started recording that it actually all stemmed from the fact that when I was away watching Queer Eye, when I was away filming Queer Eye and watching it, we would go months without seeing each other. And we've been together for 22 years. It just didn't work for us. So in order for me to be able to keep doing that show, he got rid of some of the offices that he was a surgeon at.

And luckily for both of us, because I can't, that one day a week he works, I can't stand it. He was working today and I don't like it. I wish he just wouldn't work at all. You're like more attention, me, please. No, no, I just, we, 22 years later, we still enjoy being together. And he also still goes to New York once a week, every single month. And he has an office in Darien, Connecticut that he does cosmetics in. And he teaches trauma surgery at Elmhurst Hospital in New York.

So he still does work. He's just got to like retire a little bit early, semi-retire a little bit early. So yeah, I think I had no, there's no concessions I've had to make now for him 'cause he's just, he's living a great life. I mean, we both are. - Yeah. - We both are. - Yeah. - Again, I wouldn't want him, I wouldn't want him to go back to work full time. Neither would our daughter. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. Which is a dog by the way. - Yeah. - I was like, wait, I did a lot of research. I didn't see this daughter in the research.

I'm like, she's a dog. She's a dog. She's fluffy. That's so funny. And I actually want to take this in a little bit of a different direction. Sure. Because we got a little peek inside. I read an interview. You said that you keep a super tidy wallet, which was, in fact, the least surprising thing I've ever heard about you because you just give off like organization energy. Uh-huh.

So why was that surprising? No, it wasn't. It was the least surprising thing. Oh, okay. But it said that you had two American Airlines credit cards, a debit card, your license, and a Costco membership. Let's see. Is that still the case? Support for this show comes from Pure Leaf Iced Tea.

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With a Pure Leaf iced tea in hand, you'll be left feeling refreshed and revitalized with a new motivation to take on what's next. The next time you need to hit the reset button, grab a Pure Leaf iced tea. Time for a tea break. Time for a Pure Leaf. Okay, don't show the camera your credit card number. Two American Airlines and Amex. Okay. Let's see. My card, car card, debit, another Amex, and my license. Your driver's license. Yeah. And Costco's digital now.

- Oh, wow. So you really do still keep such a tight wallet. - Yeah, yeah, I could never, I could never. - How did you decide that those were the cards that you were going to have in your wallet and what do you largely spend your money on these days? - So the American Airlines ones, I've been flying with American Airlines since 1996, I think. - Did they give you concierge key yet? - I am concierge key. - Oh, I'm so jealous. - Honestly, honestly better than wedding an Emmy. I woke up, I was in Vietnam for work

And I woke up in the hotel one morning and I looked at my email and I'd got concierge key. And I was like, literally, I was more excited than when we won an Emmy. Like, especially, you know, if you travel a lot, traveling is rough. And so when, you know, when you're very loyal to an airline, they take very good care of you. And concierge key is their, their unpublished thing.

There is no level that you can get to. They just have to invite you. Yes. And it's based on spin and who you are and this and that. And luckily, you know, six years later, I still have it. But every year around March, I'm like, oh God. They can kick you out of it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One day you have it. One day you don't. I have a friend that just recently lost it. She was devastated. Devastated. Yeah.

I would cry. I think that would actually be worse than not having it to begin with because now you've tasted – If you've lost love and never had it, how's it go? Did you ever have love? I don't know. If you've lost concierge key but never had it, did you ever have concierge key at all? But no, I've been flying with American for years. I'm very loyal. I've learned a long time ago one way to save money is to be loyal to brands, hotels, airlines. People are like, oh, well, sometimes the tickets are more. I'm like, yes, but –

I mostly always get upgraded. You know, I always get taken care of. So if you average it out, you're actually saving a ton of money. Yeah. And with, just so people understand the magnitude of this, I,

I was on a plane one time and there was one passenger who had not yet boarded the plane. And I was like, why aren't we taking off? And it was a concierge key passenger and they held the plane for this person. If I have a layover, they'll meet me at the plane door, walk me down the stairs to the runway, put me in a car and drive me to the next plane.

In foreign countries, they'll meet me at the plane and walk me through customs and immigration. Let me just stop salivating for a second. It's great. That's crazy. I never lost that. Like every once in a while, I have to fly another airline and I'm like...

Yeah. You're just like a regular, a normie on that airline. Yeah. But I mean, you know, up until COVID, I was flying half a million miles a year. Oh, wow. Like in 2019, I flew over 500,000 miles in one year. And so like, I know everybody at check-in at the airport and like in the lounge. And again, if you're loyal to a brand, they take care of you. Yeah. There was in fact one card that

So no, because unfortunately it wasn't for life.

What? It expired. I didn't realize that. I thought it was for life. What a scam. Yeah, I went to use it a couple years later and they were like, oh, this is expired. Yeah. That's why it's not on the wallet. No, that's why it's not on the wallet. No. I can't believe that would have been literally the best deal ever. Not only did you get a free burrito every day, but also once or twice a year you could actually use Chipotle catering as well for a small party and that was free too.

Wow. Karamo used to always cater his pool parties from Chipotle. And you're like, hey, I also have this card. You need to pick something else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, they sent them to us. I think they re-upped mine once. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure if I reached out again. It's funny. I would go into some Chipotles and they wouldn't know what to do with it. They're like... They'd never seen one before. No, they're like, what is this? Yeah, they're like, we'd be filming in Kansas City. I'd go into the local one. They're like, wait, what?

this isn't real. They're like, you literally made this on a, on a, uh, yeah. Yeah. I'm like, just swipe it. Trust me. Just swipe it. It'll work. It'll work. That's crazy. Um, okay. So I want to talk about today, Bobby and potentially future Bobby. Um, talk to me about all of your different sources of income now, because at one point you were quote unquote, just an interior designer. And at one point you were focusing on being a TV personality, but now you got a little

lot of stuff going on. Um, so we have obviously TV, which money from shows you get paid by the episode in TV. Um, it's kind of like being a flight attendant. So if the cameras aren't rolling, you don't get paid. So like with queer, I would go out weeks before the other guys and I wouldn't get paid for that. I wouldn't get paid until we were actually shooting an episode. Yeah.

After this question, I will be discussing #justiceforBobby, continue. And then I have my design firm. Yeah. Which I've had long before Queer Eye. I have licensed partnerships with my art that I've created over the years, rugs that I've designed. I have some other partnerships coming out soon.

I have my resorts. We have a resort out in Palm Desert and we're actually building another one right now. I don't think I knew about that. Yeah, they're small like boutique resorts. They sleep 20 to 25 people and it's basically you're renting a whole resort just for yourself. The one, it's called Casa Tierra and it's spread out across three homes on nine acres and you literally, you're getting your own hotel to all you and your friends. Okay, we will be in fact booking a trip after this.

after this. A lot of like yoga retreats book it, wellness retreats, corporate retreats, because it's cool because you get to travel together, but you don't have to be on top of each other. Because a lot of times when you rent an Airbnb, you're all in one house. You're like, I don't want to share a wall with you. So it's the fact that it's spread out amongst three homes is pretty cool. And then I have a great marketing and endorsement deals that I do with brands. I'm very picky about that though. Like a lot of times...

I hate to use the word celebs, but celebs will kind of do almost anything. Which, by the way, celeb is the correct word. I hate using that word. It feels icky to me. Um...

But I try to, within reason, be very true to like if it's not a product that I already use or be a product that I actually will use now. Yeah. I like it now because you came to me and you're like, hey, do you like this? And if it's something that I would absolutely never use, more than likely I'm going to say no, which a lot of times really annoys my team. But I just – I feel like I'm not going to push something for my fans to do if I'm not doing it. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah.

So what do you think is a pro-money move that you have made these days that is going to take care of future Bobby? Dividend stocks. Obsessed with it right now. Yeah, making more monthly off that than –

almost anything. It's kind of crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Even with stocks being down right now, it's still a massive monthly income stream that a friend of mine got me obsessed with it recently. And it's just been like every month I'm like, oh my God, my God, free money. Free money. Yeah.

That's your money, Bobby, actually. Yes, I know, but it seems like free money. When you are investing, how do you decide what you're investing in? Do you have a team helping you? Are you doing it yourself? I've always done it myself. Of course, Mr. DIY. Right now, it's just mainly high-yield dividend ETFs. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And obviously, you own a resort. Have you thought a little bit more about a real estate portfolio and other things like that?

So I had, so I wanted to continue buying real estate, but honestly, I don't know if I want to stay in the States anymore. Talk to me. So I want to move. My husband and I, it's actually me pushing it more than him. I want to move to Vietnam. Like I've always wanted to live in Vietnam. It's one of my favorite places in the world. My husband is Vietnamese. He grew up there until he was 13. But he doesn't want to go.

He's down. He's down. I tried to get us to move there in 2007 when he was finishing med school. I was like, let's move here. You can open up your practice here. I'll open a design firm. And his mom was like, are you insane? I spent years trying to get you out of there. You will not go back. And she's still not happy about it now. But to our face, she doesn't say anything. But she does tell all of our cousins to tell us not to go.

But I want to open up hotels there. It's always been my dream to open up hotels in Vietnam. So yeah, it was just everything going on in the States right now. I don't know if I just want to get

- In deeper. - Yeah. - Who knows? - Yeah. - I'm that person that I always think about like the worst case scenario. - No, no, no, no, no, no. Tell me you are not a doomsday prepper. - No, no, no, no, no, not at all. I just always have a plan. Like years ago we were in North Carolina at a big furniture trade show and I'm driving and my team's in the car and,

you know, the GPS is going exit, exit. And I was just in a completely different world and I wasn't listening. And they were like, whoa, Hey, where were you? Like you were just, I was like, honestly, I was thinking about what I would do if there was a zombie apocalypse and how I would get us back to LA. And they're like, wait, what? I'm like, I would like to have a plan. Wait, do you and your husband ever do this thing that me and my husband do where I'm like, okay,

If you are at work, I am at our apartment and something horrible happens. I mean, like mushroom cloud. I'm talking like zombies, like last of us type of thing. Without telling me or like without discussing, what would our meeting point be? I have it in my mind, but my husband is the exact opposite of me.

Oh, he's sunshine and rainbows. Sunshine and rainbows. Nothing bad ever happens. Um, doesn't, I mean, doesn't pay attention enough to think of something bad happening. Oh, just like, just like, yeah, he's off in his own little world. And that's what I love about him. Um, but I am the one that worries for the both of us. Yeah. And so I could have that conversation with him, but he, he wouldn't remember it. He'd be like, he's like, you're crazy. Um, but you know what?

God forbid anything does happen, he'll be happy that you had a plan. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I've definitely thought about, okay, if he's at his office and there's an earthquake and da-da-da-da-da, like how would I... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which I... We only drive electric cars, but I did...

keep a gas powered one for years. Just in case? Yeah. I finally, because it sat around so much, it was starting to have problems from not being driven. So finally I got rid of it recently, but I kept one like just in case. Wow. Do you feel like you're that like just in case with any other part of your life? I think with everything. Yeah. Finances, everything. I was just in case. What is your financial just in case?

I keep things diversified within real estate and cash and stocks like just in case, just in case that it- Do you have an emergency fund? Yes. There's, yeah. And there's bank accounts in other countries. There's-

Yeah, just in case. I feel like I am learning something that I did not know about you. Getting ready to open one up in Vietnam, even if we don't live there, just in case. Just in case. Fastest growing economy in Asia, like get into it. Just in case. Yeah, just in case. Wow. God forbid this administration just turn us into Gilead and you lose all your U.S. assets. If you have the ability to diversify overseas a bit, do it.

Now, I'm not talking like hidden bank accounts. Right, right, right. Yeah. Do it on the up and up. Yeah. But just, you know, just in case, Handmaid's Tale, honestly, it did this to me. It did a number on you. Do you remember? Did you watch it? No, I didn't. Okay. Well, there's a scene in the very first season where it's a lesbian couple and they're

one of them is American, one of them is dual citizenship Canadian American and they have a son who obviously has dual citizenship because of that. And they go to leave the country and the woman who was an American citizen- - Couldn't go. - They wouldn't let her leave. They were not letting citizens leave the country. And she ended up being turned into a handmaid. So right then and there,

I applied for citizenship in Portugal and like we're getting our EU citizenship because I'm like, if I ever have to leave here, I know that sounds crazy, but not as crazy like with things that are going on recently. You're like, it feels like the beginning of Gilead. If I ever have to leave here, I want to leave as a resident of somewhere, not a refugee. Yeah.

Okay. Wow. Just kind of think of the way. Don't be a crazy prepper. Just, you know. But you know what? I actually do think that's good advice to like have a backup plan. Always. Plans A through Z. Yeah. If you have the financial ability to set aside a little money somewhere else, don't necessarily set it aside here in the States. Set it aside somewhere else. We're just in case, you know. Just in case. We never really had to worry about that before. We were the most secure economy and country on the planet ever.

It's not really the case anymore. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So just in case. Wow. Yeah. All right. We are now pivoting into the lightning round. Okay. Okay. So first question. After departing Queer Eye, you actually joined The Masked Singer as a competitor. Which did you enjoy more? I mean, it's like comparing oranges to apples. Yeah. Very, very, very different show. Yeah.

Masked singer? No. Wow. Okay. I was in and out. Yeah, okay. In and out. It was fun. You also didn't have to redo an entire home in seven days. I mean, it was work. Don't get me wrong, because you actually do sing live. Yeah. And my costume was the largest and heaviest costume they had ever made. And so it was...

I almost passed out on the very first episode. After that, I made them- Because it was hot. It was so hot inside. And so I made them make me a vest that I could pack full of ice to keep my core temperature down. Wow. But yeah, Masked Singer was a blast. Okay, we were on Queer, it was a blast as well. But if I had to choose one, Masked Singer was fun because it was just in and out. I'd come in for an afternoon, sing, go home. Okay. I wasn't living in bumfuck Egypt. Okay.

Sorry, all those places we filmed. Okay. So my second question is hashtag justice for Bobby. Okay. Not to undermine how much work went in from the rest of the cast, but there is a running joke online about the fact that they would do X amount of work. Yeah. They love this joke. It's their favorite thing in the world. It never, ever caused problems between us. Not at all.

But you managed to redesign a home in seven days? Three.

Three days? Like, how did you do that? I mean, I had an amazing team. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't do it on my own. But it was a lot of work, you know, especially the earlier seasons. Yeah. You know, by the time we got to seasons like seven, eight, you know, my team and I had worked together for five, six years at that point. They were like family. So I didn't have to work as hard. Yeah. You know, we all knew how each other thought. I trusted them. But yeah, those first like four seasons, I worked hard.

Six, seven days a week, you know? And my castmates, I don't think they ever realized that because they were in themselves not there six or seven days a week. What would you say is your biggest money mistake? My biggest money mistake. Long story.

My biggest money mistake. Come on, give it to us. Yeah, no, it's just when I had my retail stores, I hired a friend as a CFO and he ended up embezzling and talked me into opening up the Atlanta store. And I sunk a lot of money into that because he wanted to be out of sight so I wouldn't see what he was doing. But yeah, I think that was my biggest money mistake, trusting someone, which I'll never do again.

That's such a bummer too when someone takes advantage of your trust, your generosity. Yeah, which is why to this day like you asked who does my stocks. I do. Who manages my money? I do. I don't have a money manager. Nobody touches my money. Nobody. My bookkeepers and stuff, they always laugh at me because they're like, okay, here's the taxes. Okay, you know, whatever.

Here's the number. And I'm like, I don't know. It seems off. They're like, no, we checked it, checked it, checked it. I'm like, I don't know. I think you're like 400,000 off or whatever. And they're like, no, trust me. I was like, check it again. And they're like, oh, my God, like 420. How'd you know that? I'm like, I just – and I probably couldn't do that as well now. But when I had my stores every day, I saw what went in. And every day I knew what went out. And I just was able to keep kind of like this running tally in my head. And I just –

Ever since being taken advantage of, I've just never, nobody...

My husband doesn't even touch my money. Yeah. It's 22 years later. We still don't have a bank account together. Really? And it's never been a thing really. How do you guys split expenses? We don't. You don't. I pay for everything. I love this for him. But there have been years where he paid for everything. Yeah. And it's just never been a yours and mine and your half and my half. It's always just been the bill. We'll figure it out. Yeah. This is the bill. This is our life. Yeah.

it needs to get paid. If there's money in my account, I pay it. If there's money in your account, you pay it. Yeah. We've just, we've never split things.

I think like when we first moved in with each other, I think maybe the intention was, but at the time I was poor. So I mean, he paid for everything. Yeah. He used his student loan money to pay our rent. Wow. I remember our first week dating, my cell phone got shut off because I couldn't afford to pay it. And so he used a student loan money to pay my cell phone bill to get it turned back on. It was like best investment he ever made. Yeah. I would have been like, now that I paid your phone bill, you have to text me back. Exactly.

And as someone who has experienced both financial struggles and major success, has the definition of wealth evolved for you over time? And how do you define it? I think it has because I think when you first come into money or find success, you do try to define yourself by the things that you buy, like clothes.

people knowing it, people knowing you're successful by the things you buy, the name brand, this and that. And I think to me now, I define success as what my finances allow me to enjoy with experiences. It keeps going back to experiences. Like I don't need my finances to buy me these luxury things to show people I have money. Yeah.

My money, my best use of money and my definition of wealth is my money working for me and allowing me to not work. And I think that is a beautiful way to end our conversation. Bobby, you got a bunch of cool stuff coming up. I don't know if you can talk about it or not, but tell everybody where we can find you and what we can look out for. You can find me on Instagram. My Instagram is just at Bobby.

TikTok the same, threads, that's it. We don't do X anymore. We don't. And then I'm shooting a scripted show next year that I'll be acting for, not the first time, but my first big lead role. And there's a couple other shows that I'll be announcing in the next few weeks as well, if they might already be announced when this comes out. But yeah, a lot of fun things.

Thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. If you liked the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcast at yourrichbff.com. Follow Net Worth and Chill Pod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related news. And you can follow me at yourrichbff for even more financial know-how. See you next week.