A New York man wants to take an $87K pay cut to fix boats in the Bahamas — one detail flipped the Ramsey hosts' verdict

John has spent nearly two decades in manufacturing in New York, and is now earning $135,000 a year. He has a job offer to work on boats in the Bahamas for $48,000 and wanted to know if he was about to make a catastrophic mistake.

"I'm kind of curious if I'm about to commit financial suicide," he told The Ramsey Show .

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The pay cut is $87,000. The company would train John, and, assuming all that is promised is delivered, the role comes with shared housing in the Bahamas — a two-bedroom apartment split with one other employee, rent-free.

His fiancée is 52, earns about $15,000 a year on disability and would be welcome to join him. John is 44, has no consumer debt, owes $57,000 on a home worth $350,000 to $375,000, and holds roughly $615,000 in other assets: $550,000 in a 401(k), $25,000 in stocks, $30,000 in a high-yield savings account and $10,000 in checking and savings.

For context on what the role pays: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US median annual salary for motorboat mechanics and service technicians was $57,550 in May 2025.

But while John's $48,000 offer is below the U.S. median, the Bahamas is its own market.

According to the Economic Research Institute's 2026 Bahamas compensation data , the average boat mechanic salary in the Bahamas is approximately 31,578 Bahamian dollars. So, with the Bahamian dollar pegged 1:1 to the US dollar , John's $48,000 offer sits well above the local average, suggesting the company is paying a premium to attract skilled workers.

Cohosts Rachel Cruze and George Kamel were running cautious math. John estimated his living costs in the Bahamas at around $3,000 a month, and Kamel estimated his net take-home from the $48,000 salary at roughly $3,000 a month after the Bahamas' 3.5% insurance bond deduction that John noted — leaving almost nothing to spare.

Then John revealed something he'd held back: "I'm a disabled veteran. And I do have substantial income from that as well. That would be equal to — that's $4,500 a month."

"Well, you buried the lead there," Kamel said. "That really helps us out with the expenses. We were scared you were running it up to the line."