December 19, 2024 • 34 mins
In this special episode, John is coming to you from within the walls of his 2024 Hope Global Forums annual meeting. He asked some of his friends and colleagues who were in attendance, "What financial advice would you give to your 18 year old self?" We have answers from Roger Goodell, Adam Silver, TI, Roland Martin, Boris Kodjoe, Stephen A. Smith, Killer Mike and Shannon Sharpe!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome the Money and Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. So I'm
John O'Brien. I'm here with two legends, a commissioner of
NBA basketball of course in NFL football, Adam and Roger,
(00:25):
and we're going to take them, transport them back to
their eighteen year old selves, which is only a couple
of years ago. What would you advice would you give
to your eighteen year old self? Robert financial literacy advice.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think learning how to manage money. You don't have
a lot usually when you're eighteen to have the ability
to learn more about how to save, how to their best,
how to make sure that what you earn you take
care of, and so you just have to learn about
it well.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
That some of the great program should.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Do financial lucy for all what we're doing together, all
three of us are doing together. I said yesterday, I
would ignore the noise. There's a lot of noise around you.
You're trying to be like this person, probably like that person.
Somebody's trying to be a four square blocked celebrity. You
just realize later on none of that stuff in.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
All timing the market that's the other thing you get.
So you know, if somebody's got some get rich quick
screen ski, yeah usually does work.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's right, it's smart. A free launch is probably still
adam you've been. Have you always been this calm and
cool and collected your whole life?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
By the way, I'm not inside. Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
And in terms of financial literacy, I know a mistake
I made was when I was eighteen outs is pre
internet and all that, that I had a summer job
and I bought some individual stocks. And I'll never do
that again to this day. I don't buy individual stocks.
I only buy funds. And I thought that you could
read the paper or learn something about a company, and
I didn't understand it was essentially gambling to pick an individual.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Stock like that. So buy funds.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
If you're not an expert on the market, you know,
invest in the market overall, but stay away from individual
stocks at least, that's my advice.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
That's brilliant. Actually I wouldn't go that far.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
No, it's brilliant because you're you're going to an expert
who knows who knows about stocks, and you're saying I'm
gonna rely on the expert to find a bucket a
basket of investments to make. In some ways, it's how
you run an NBA franchise. You've got these owners and
coaches who get the individual players you're running. You're you're
building the franchise value of the whole both of you,
(02:23):
of of the leagues.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
That's a great, great point.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
We don't have to root for individual teams or buy
an individual teams where we managed to risk through.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The whole league. But there's a similarity there.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
But but I do I think that you know, individual
vestors who day trade, it's highly risky, you know, unless
you're an expert in that, you know, but if you
buy funds or indexed funds or professionally managed funds, then
you can ride the market.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think that's the way to build long term wealth.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, as you said about you're not as calm uh
on the inside as you running outside. I think it
gives a lot of people confidence because you look so
confident all the time, and it makes people watch to say, well,
if he is not always calm inside, then it makes
them feel okay that they're not always a call included
collected inside gives them courage.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, you know, it's a great point, John, I would
say that I've learned over the years. I'm sure Roger
has as well that when you're nervous, most about everybody
else is as well. Yeah, you know, and just some
people do a better job of hiding it. But I
think acknowledging that nervousness really takes you a long way.
I think when you accept like, Okay, I'm nervous. You know,
I'm scared. Now I'm gonna go do my best.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
That's right. That's that's a great advice for young people.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And players call it pre game jitters, and it's sort
of the you know, you get the little stomach bugs
and yeah, that's all good stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Right, because that gets you, gets you killed up. That's right,
you're ready for it. It reminds me we had a
kid who would go through our financial literacy course. He
was about twelve years old in Detroit, and he had
gone the course and by the third week he was
wearing a suit like the banker. And when he came
out of the course, I was going to go commend
him and his friend. We're teasing them, man, why do
(04:01):
you want to wear that stupid suit? Why do you
want to go to the stupid class? You know, and
I went over to him and said, look, i'm gonna
give you this was now a decade and a half ago.
I'm gonna give you seventy dollars make a decision about Nike.
The young man Derek says, I'm going to buy a
shared Nike stock.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And they had been studying Niki by the way in
the classroom, so it wasn't an individual purchase. It was
something he researched. And the kids were like, oh, they
doubled down.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
This is stupid. Why would you want to do that.
He gives you some Air Jordan's.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Everybody's got Air Jordan's Purple, Air Jordan's Future Air Jordans
start going through all the way. So I went to
the I want to go defend Derek. Amen, Derek, You're okay.
Derek says, no, no, no, I'm cool. I want them
to buy those shoes because when they do, they're making
me money. He had already transported himself into a shareholder.
So his mindset shifted, and so he had jitters that
(04:51):
turned into confidence because he had knowledge about how markets worked,
and what you guys are doing is helping people to
take their jitters and turning it into confidence because you're
authentic as leaders, and you're giving people a place to
take their talents and turn them into magic on a
stage that everybody can cheer for. And I want to
(05:13):
thank you for being American heroes, that you really are
a force for good.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Want to have you. We just work with American heroes. No,
you manufactured. Thank you all you doing, appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Ti, my brother Tip, I love this drug. He is
from the streets and the suites and back again. He's
a bridge to all of our communities. He's much smarter
than anybody gives them credit for. He's a noted artist,
a hip hop artist, a producer. He also is a
comedian now he's also a real estate owner, father, husband.
What would t I tell his eighteen year old self
(05:49):
about money and financial literacy to look back?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
What would I tell my eighteen year old self that
the liabilities aren't this fund as they before you bound?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That's deep.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
Yeah, you know, I think we've been blessed with with
with abundance, and we we all of us, have spent
way more money on things that we didn't need because
we thought that they would benefit us far more than
they actually did. But it wasn't until we you know,
to we made the purchase and we and we experienced
(06:25):
you know.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So the payments continue even when the fun stops.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Well some of us, some of us cash out, you
know what I'm saying. But I've done it both ways.
So yeah, you're absolutely correct. But but but it's not
until until we splurge and we're in the midst of
it that we're like, you know that I could have
done with that this, But but I think it's that experience.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
We really are paying for that experience.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Could that be like low self esteem? Could that be
like it could it be like weird, like trying to
prove that we are somebody by overcompensating, and you think
that it's you know, because we haven't had these experiences
and these opportunities to pass.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I don't think it's as much self esteem as well.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
For some it could be, But for me, it was
just I grew up not having, you know, and when
you grow up not having, you want to have it exactly,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, just like you know
most people who when you're fast, you know, of course
they say it's supposed to break your fast with something small,
but you know, the human nature is to gorge, you
(07:31):
know what I'm saying, after you haven't had you want?
And I think that, you know, like, for instance, my children.
You know, my kids, most of them don't even care
for most you know, like Major, he don't care what
kind of shoes he wear. I ask them what kind
of car you want when you turn sixteen? He says, man,
just something to get me from point to eight to
(07:53):
point b, you know. Same for Messiah, Same.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
For the country singer. Well he rock and roll, he's really.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Yeah, he doesn't, but he doesn't really value. He values
things that has been you, that have been used and
can stand the test of time, you know what I mean.
He's into vintage things, and that's because he grew up
having so much.
Speaker 7 (08:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
So they don't agree, they don't, they don't. They don't
have the same hunger exactly. They don't have that itch
to scratch the way I did, right, you know So
I think that it's growing up without that kind of
had me overdo so much.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
But it's also you raised them, well, you cursed him out,
you set them down, You told them that, look, this
stuff is not real. You gave him real values, you
showed him what was real. You show him what what
real and then let them make the decision. Yes, I
is very about that kid. If he's walking in here now,
no one even know he's your son. He's just he's
just chill and understated. He let his talent speaks for itself,
that's right. And he's walking in role. Let's traveled on
(08:54):
music that he's completely comfortable with. And because he's comfortable,
everybody else is coming.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
And I think I've tried to I tried to to
to instill in them just the value of what's in
you more so than what's on you, you know what
I'm saying. And and and the true measure of wealth
is the amount of things you have that money came back.
That's right, you know, love, respect, honor, integrity, you know
what I'm saying. I try to feel them full of
(09:21):
you know, tools they can.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Use like that, and service like you're showing up every
year to the Hope Glow Reform. And as busy as
he is. I saw him about a month ago and
he was in the middle of a public situation. She's like,
hey man, when's the forum.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I need to be there. He brought it up. I
didn't and you do.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
You remember the first time I came, I brought him
with me.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That's right, he informed.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
No, No, he didn't was a second time. I don't
even think he was even playing the guitar yet. Remember,
I think the first time I came, maybe it was
about four years ago. I think it might have been
twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Two before that for real. Yeah, yeah, you've been around
for for a minute. But but he came with last
year or the year before. Yeah, yeah, he came with
me just observing, just because I won't.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
I thought it was important for him to kind of
learn it, be exposed to to people who have a
lot more than.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Us, like you and uh and see you're doing You're
doing just fine. And see the way that that they behaved.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
That let them know that all money isn't loud, you
know what I'm saying, right and uh And and he
liked it and enjoyed it and learned so much from
it that he made it his business to come back
on his own.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I've learned that when you've got the power, you don't
need to use it. There's no need to scream and
holler and raise your voice. It speaks for it. Well,
you've got the real power. It speaks for itself. It's
better to underestimate and overperform than overestimate and underperformed. Yeah,
and you have, you have slid under the you've slid
on the radar and things like movie production. You're doing movies,
now you're doing comedy. You're just you're just going to
(10:54):
do the work and letting that speak for itself.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
I mean, man, you know what, Man, I'm just continuing
to to just be blessed enough to have my steps
guided by my passion. Man, I don't even think about what,
you know, what I'm gonna do, like for money. It's
just like I just do what I what I feel
is gonna fulfill me. You know what I'm saying and
(11:16):
what I think can help others around me.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So it sounds like what you tell your eighteen year
old self. It's chill.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
Yeah, yeah, don't sweat the small stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Over mess not it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Make sure your asses are not on your ass. So Rowland,
first of all, thanks for coming here every year for
the Whope level form. This is our biggest eversar. I
(11:47):
tend to anniversary uh and because of you, in large part,
we're able to reach after the meeting where we get
incredible engagement. We're able to reach millions in the weeks
after because in large part of your engagement.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You are the network for Black America. As far as
I'm concerned, what would you tell your eighteen year old
self around financial literacy lessons that you now know to
be true, but when you're you may be kicking yourself
when you're eighteen.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
First, the credit card that they came and shot to
us fro Texas A and M, don't do it.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
That's one.
Speaker 8 (12:27):
The second would be actually, no matter how little made
in college, still save something. Those are two that jump
out like most people. So the Birmingham The Birmingham News,
I interviewed with them sixteen editors.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
They all wanted to hire me. But in Alabama in
nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
They had a law that said they can factor your
credit score in really and you couldn't get to your job.
So h R at the Birmingham News said they couldn't
hire me. Every editor wanted to hire me, it's for
the credit.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Score and so and so.
Speaker 8 (13:14):
In my career wherever I was spoken, especially in Alabama,
I would remind the Birmingham News that they could have
had me work there. Except for that law, and they
were like, damn, you have to keep bringing that up.
I'm like, yes, I do, but again, it's a perfect
And there were so many journalists, George Curry and others
who were pissed. They were like, what the hell I
(13:35):
mean here, we are one of the top journalism and
graduates in the country and because of the credit score,
I wouldn't get hired there. But that's also I went
to the Austin American Statesman and then career took off.
But that's a perfect example that that was a law
in nineteen ninety one. And then later when I joined
TV one, I said, you know, we're gonna do a
whole one hour show on credit and my producer Jay
Felman is like, dude, that's no show here. I said,
(13:57):
trust me, there's a show here. And then when we're over,
he was like, like four shows here. Like I tried
to tell you that, because even he didn't understand how
deep and broad a credit score goals.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
And so many different people.
Speaker 8 (14:12):
We have people on who could not get military advancement
because of your credit score was so low because of
top secret and so that's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
How broad lose your security clearance in the military.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Ability to serve your credits to the floor. So we did.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
We did a whole on our show. But that experience
again not getting hired.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
How were you?
Speaker 8 (14:37):
I was senior college, like they again the editor, dude
was like almost in tears. But the HR qualified and
every other I mean destroyed. But the HR Department said no.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
That's why I say that civil rights and civil rights
are now connected because you had the talent, you had
the gifts, but the criteria included financial ecument acumen that
they that that it is based on the standard that
no one's taught us. We never had an economic infrastructure
in the history of Black America, which is what you're
advocating for and what I'm trying to also build.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
But that's also one of the reasons why Alabama remains
the poorest because there's a lot of talent that those
laws that were passed that they keep folks, keep folk away.
And so again, so Birmingham News they the talent that
I had never came because of that law and the errors,
(15:31):
like we got to get rid of this because we're
losing great talent. But but but again that that was
one of the deals so it was just I mean,
that was a perfect example of what I said. Remember,
my dad was upset, and I was like, Dad, don't
worry about it. I'm gonna get a job. Don't worry
about it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
We'll be good.
Speaker 8 (15:44):
And then he coold, now him, I'm living in my
house that's paid off.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (15:49):
But but it was a perfect example, Like that was
the first job that come I wouldn't I hadn't graduated yet.
They wanted to hire me, but the credit card prevented
from happening. And uh, and now that thing is now
expandings that I think it was thirty eight or forty states.
I mean, it's how it's expanded, how that has changed.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
A lot of eighteen year olds feel that they don't
need to worry about what they're doing in eighteen life.
They're gonna live forever. Every it's gonna be great though
repercussions and what I'm here you're saying is, in hindsight,
everything matters.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
When you're read Oh, because that impacted impacted the car
I got, impacted the uh they impacted and impacted the
interest rate I got.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
And then even that even impacted the interest rate that
I got when I bought my first house nine years later,
so same thing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Thank you very much, Rollan appreciate less your brother, so boris.
First of all, thank you for being here, Thanks for
being a force, so goot honored to have you here.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So what advice would you give to your eighteen year
old self? What financial literacy advice if you had to
go back, would you give it? And by the way
I got to I get it our get the mic up.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
So the first thing I would say is invest in
financial literacy, meaning read as much as you can, kind
of can talk as talk to as many people as
you can, get a financial mentor. And don't be afraid
to make mistakes because we're paranoid about making the wrong move.
(17:25):
You will definitely make the wrong move many times over
and it's okay. And then I would say, stay away
from the stock market and invest in S and P
five hundred.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So do that, so not with the stock market, but
state go go smart with the stock market with the
S and P five hundred, which is.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Basically the leading company leading five hundred companies. And invest
for the long term. Don't buy into becoming a billionaire
in three years. Don't believe social media, take your time, learn,
educate yourself, and know that at some point you will
(18:08):
turn fifty. So even though you're only eighteen, fifty will come.
So what you're doing now will pay off handsomely when
you're fifty, and you might actually be handsome when you're
invest in your mental health as your physical health, in
your spiritual health, because the spiritual.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
The mental, and the physical go together. If you let
one slide, you will suffer. Holy they're all connected. They're
all connected.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, and most millionaires, by the way, don't get there
until they're in their fifties.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
That way, right, Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You would basically tell your eighteen year old self to
knock it off, don't ignore the noise all around you say,
very focused on fundamentals, and these fundamental truths have been
true your whole life.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It appears right. These are solid These are solid things
that you're value said things.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
You can double your money every seven years if you're
careful and you educate yourself, and that's a that's an
absolutely attainable goal, and it'll pay off when you're fifteen.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, this is somebody who understands you make money during
the day, you build wealth in your sleep. And there's
a difference. He's not just making a living, He's built
a life for him and his wife. What's financial advice
(19:29):
would you give? Financial literacy advice, economic advice, cautionary tales?
What would you say to your eighteen year old self
if you could go back?
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Listen more?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Hmm.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Prioritize saving hmm.
Speaker 9 (19:46):
Embrace the fact that you can't do it alone, because
even if you do succeed in doing it alone, chances
are you didn't uplift anybody else along the way right
standing alone, and when you're standing alone, a fall is
inevitable because there's but so much you can do by yourself.
(20:11):
You can spearhead, you can spark, you can motivate and inspire,
But in terms of carrying that load, it only gets
heavier as you get older, more responsibilities, mortgages, children, family,
and by.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
The way, the more successful you are, the more people
are going to get to know you.
Speaker 9 (20:32):
They're gonna be in your pocket, they're gonna they're gonna
end not only that they're not gonna come asking, they're
going to come feeling entitled to what you've earned. And
all of those challenges are things that you will work
a lifetime to ward off.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
I am in my fifties, and I'm still learning how to.
Speaker 9 (20:49):
Ward that off because there's always new people that come
along and they may have helped you, they may have assisted,
they may have provided assistance and help and all of
that stuff, but their belief and what they're entitled to
far exceeds what your beliefs may be engaging. Where that
line is, that line of demarcation where you're trying to
(21:13):
establish what's right, what's wrong, what's fair, what's unfair, what's
too excessive, what's enough. It's a never ending process, right
and when you're youthful, you don't think about that that's right,
but inevitably it comes your way. So that guidance from
the elder statesmans of the world, and by that I
don't mean age, I mean.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Wisdom and experience.
Speaker 9 (21:35):
When you have folks who are wiser, who have more experience,
who have endured the terrain, that inevitably is going to
come your way. If you arm yourself with that level
of intel that comes from a place of inspiration and
heartfelt you know emotions as well in terms of them
caring about you and your upliftment goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
This is one of the best pieces of advice that
I've heard anybody give on this question, because when you're young,
you look at successful people and go why they're so
stand offish, why they got to why they got people
around them? And I can't get at them, why they
got such an attitude, why they're so paranoid with paranoid
(22:16):
because y'all coming at us and you try to get
your in our pocket, and when we won't, when we
zip up the pocket, you want to go around us
and take it as if it's yours.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And it's happened to me, it's happened to you, it's
happened to.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Everybody in this room, and we're shocked by it, like
we're stunned by because it's not strangers, the people who
look like us, and we never had this conversation. But
this is wisdom, and everybody listening to this needs to
understand you need to have compassion and empathy for folks
who are walking a different path from yours and learn
from them. And you can't take everybody with you when
(22:52):
you get on that path and success and help people
as you can, but you don't have they don't have
an entitlement to your success.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
The thing that I just got from you more than anything.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Becase people hear you, and you're always loud or whatever,
it's as quiet wisdom you listen. I asked Quincy Jones,
why are you so how'd you get so smart?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Answer?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
God, rest of soul. I'm just nosy as hell. I
want to know everything about everything. When I met you,
I was shocked. After I interviewed. The first thing you
had to say to me was questions. Tell me about this,
tell me about that, Tell me about the structure of
this too. He was as smart as he is still learning.
God gave you two ears and one mouth, so you
(23:30):
listen twice as.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Much as you talk. Well.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
I think the word that comes into mine as humility.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
My success is not something that I think about too often.
Speaker 9 (23:42):
My attitude is I have to wake up every day
validating that success that I've achieved. I can't walk around
like I've arrived because the second you do that, you're
gonna get knocked off. That proverbials pedestal, and I'm not
gonna let that happen. But the thing about it is
that the humility comes from an understanding and a complete acceptance.
(24:05):
You don't know it all. You don't even know most
of it. There's always somebody that knows more. There's always
somebody who can teach more. There's always someone who cares more,
who's more empathetic, who's more in touch with their empathetic side,
and the kind of things that ail us, not just
(24:25):
as individuals, not even just as a community, but as
a society. And so when you're thinking along those lines
and understanding that, you sit down in that humble space
of yours, looking somebody in the face who sees you
as a successful human being, and you're saying to them,
no matter what I am, I don't think I'm better
(24:47):
than you. I would appreciate it if you would help
me become even better than I am right now. And
when you do that, it's very, very difficult for somebody
to turn away from you and you on helping hand
when you come to them with such humility and an
understanding of your place in this world.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Success with a light touch, yes, success with a light touching.
Speaker 9 (25:10):
And sometimes the heavy touch is necessary, but only in
defense of your self preservation.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That's right.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
You know, when you know that you're crumbling, when you
know that the weight is too much, only you can
make that call about yourself. And if you know that
about you, there are going to be people that accuse
you of being selfish. They're gonna say you don't care enough.
They're gonna discount all that you've done, all that you've done,
(25:37):
They're gonna they're gonna discount all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
But you have to work the late nights and weekends.
You didn't.
Speaker 9 (25:43):
You have to have the alligator skin, the intestinal fortitude
to withstand it all and keep marching forward. Because anytime
somebody is prosperous, there's always going to be people in
your path trying to stop that progress because their definition
of success is hindering your progress in their mind, in
(26:04):
their mind, and you have to know what that is,
what that looks like when you see it in your world.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So your eighteen year old self, a tougher skin, a
lighter touch, a humility and understanding that hurt people, hurt people.
Speaker 9 (26:21):
Yes, I've always had the humility, God blessed me with that.
I've always been one who listened, always been one who
was inquisitive, So I never was I never lacked that part.
The other stuff, though, when you're on your grind and
you put your head down and it's about marching forward
and making sure nobody stops your progress. Sometimes you miss
a lot, you miss a lot along the way. But
(26:41):
in my case what I missed was helpful for me
because the lessons it taught me. Sometimes you got to
pay if somebody is If somebody is walking down the pass,
you don't want them to fall into an abyss they
can't get out of. But sometimes you got to let
them fall because that's the greatest lesson they'll learn, rather
than the wisdom that you may have bestowed upon them.
(27:03):
Because even though they'll listen to some degree, sometimes they
don't listen enough.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's right.
Speaker 9 (27:07):
Sometimes the fall is the greatest device for listening than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Drop the mic. This is Steven A. Smith on him
talking to him at eighteen years of age, and all
of you need to listen to this and put it
on repeat. So the question, Mike is, and we've been
(27:36):
asking all the top leaders, yep, what advice financial literacy
advice would you give to your eighteen.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Year old self?
Speaker 10 (27:42):
Man, The same thing my grandparents tried to get, tried
to drill in me. It took me a while to
get I got mentors like you that drilling in me
and live at it below your means. If you're eighteen
years old and you make two grand a month, you
can't afford a two grand apartment. So you and two
of your cousins should get together and go in on
that apartment together. You guys should take the extra money
put aside to a savings to buy an investment property together,
(28:04):
by your very first duplex or quadplex together. We have
to start taking seriously money very early. So at eighteen
years old, you're old enough to start saving. You just
need to do it with a plan and do it
with the folks of people. If I was eighteen years old,
I tell me my cousin Jimmy and my cousin Brian,
let's get a place together.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Let's buy an investment property.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Let's get a quadruplex.
Speaker 10 (28:22):
We'll stay in two of them together, we'll rent out
the other two and then we'll repeat processes.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
We save money. That's it.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
That's it tells about a seat. The guy's a genius.
Not only first of all, he's got to rap like
and understand. I love his music. I just play it
on repeat all the time. But he's so wicked smart trying.
This is the example of that. What advice would would
you like to give to the eighteen year olds listening
(28:48):
to this now?
Speaker 10 (28:50):
In life, man, there's nothing that's impossible with time. You know,
a river, a river takes a jagged rock and makes
it smooth. It just takes time. Give yourself time. It's
gonna hear to you that everyone else is taking off
while you're sitting still. That's their story, that's their movie.
Stop trying to star another people's movie starring yours. And
if you've read Jason Ziliad or if you saw John Wick,
(29:12):
what you know is the hero must go through a
personal overcoming to establish and win. So you're the hero
in this movie. Every trial you're going through is just
another trial that brings you closer to the ultimate victory.
And the victory isn't the ending going your way. The
victory is and que you become on the journey.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Rainbow's only follow storms. Amen, You not have a rainbow
without a storm. Says you cannot grow except for legitimate suffering.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
Man.
Speaker 10 (29:34):
I was I landed in Jamaica with my wife once
and it was poor down and she wasn't expecting Ryan,
and she wanted a beautiful weekend, and she was complaining
that a driver turned to us and said, ma'am, the
farmers pray to.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That part.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So what would you tell your eighteen year old self
about financial literacy? What lessons or what advice would you
give your eighteen year old self? Looking at wo.
Speaker 11 (30:00):
Knowing what I know now, that bicycle really wasn't worth it. Okay,
I never really had a large summer money. I was
working for five dollars a day.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I made.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
Twenty seven to fifty working from seven to seven, working
a half a day on Saturday, so I made twenty
seven to fifty and by the time I settled up
with the corner store, I brought home about twenty dollars.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
And I've always had lofty ideas.
Speaker 11 (30:28):
I mean, the worst thing that happened to me is
what my advice started coming on because they had roles,
they had a side shad, they they had ferraris, and
I wanted that, and I felt that was I had
made it.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
If I had that.
Speaker 11 (30:40):
You know, you grew up in a house with no
indoor plumbing and you have to go outside to go
to the bathroom, you have to draw whale water. So
I needed things to say, Okay, I've made it, not
realizing that I could have made it without having all
those things, But that's not how my mind was wired
back then. I had to have I needed a Rowlex
to say okay, I got out of the hood. I
(31:01):
needed a big house to say.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Yes yes.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
And so now things that interest me and excited me
when I was eighteen doesn't have the same effect on
me now. It doesn't have the same effect when I
was thirty, doesn't have the same effect when I was forty,
And so I wish I would have had that mindset
then to realize that, you know, what's shunting You could save,
You could get something that's not as expensive, because at
(31:26):
the end of the day, I'm shoting sharp regardless, that's right.
I can be sharing sharp and a Chevy, or I
can be sharing sharp in Ferrari. At the end of
the day, I'm still shunting sharp. And that's what I
had to realize because the car didn't make me.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
I bought it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
The wealth is not on your arm, it's in your head.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yes, Yeah, So you realize that you are actually somebody
and you don't need something else to reaffirm that. Now
you get those things now, cool, but it's not a
proxy for your self esteem. So you've become reasonably comfortable
in your own skin over time.
Speaker 11 (31:54):
Yes, if you go outside and you look at your
car and your car, it's worth more to you having
your bank account. You're a fool if your ass, if
your assets are on your ass, you had a problem exactly.
And so that's what that's what we're gonna have to understand,
is that it's not the things that we have that
make us wealthy.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
You shouldn't be paying over your car notes.
Speaker 11 (32:16):
And you are paying for rent no absolutely not no
absolutely mortgage and look you and why have a fancy
car if you're renting. Hello, that's a lot of times
people have these nice cars and you pull up to
you pulling up to an apartment complex really broke.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Ro I mean the range Rover and no range nowhere?
Speaker 11 (32:35):
You parket it outside. You ain't going to arge garage
to park it in. So home ownership you you you
live and learn. So I wish I had learned these
things a lot sooner in life.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
You here and have you with this, Thanks are making
this issue sexy and appealing and reachable for most people
financial literacy and civil rights issue generation.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I'm honored to be here Thank You.
Speaker 7 (32:59):
M.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a production of
the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome the Money and Wealth with John O'Bryant, a production
of The Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. So I'm
John O'Brien. I'm here with two legends, a commissioner of
NBA basketball of course in NFL football, Adam and Roger,
(00:25):
and we're going to take them, transport them back to
their eighteen year old selves, which is only a couple
of years ago. What would you advice would you give
to your eighteen year old self? Robert financial literacy advice.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think learning how to manage money. You don't have
a lot usually when you're eighteen to have the ability
to learn more about how to save, how to their best,
how to make sure that what you earn you take
care of, and so you just have to learn about
it well.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
That some of the great program should.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Do financial lucy for all what we're doing together, all
three of us are doing together. I said yesterday, I
would ignore the noise. There's a lot of noise around you.
You're trying to be like this person, probably like that person.
Somebody's trying to be a four square blocked celebrity. You
just realize later on none of that stuff in.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
All timing the market that's the other thing you get.
So you know, if somebody's got some get rich quick
screen ski, yeah usually does work.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's right, it's smart. A free launch is probably still
adam you've been. Have you always been this calm and
cool and collected your whole life?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
By the way, I'm not inside. Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
And in terms of financial literacy, I know a mistake
I made was when I was eighteen outs is pre
internet and all that, that I had a summer job
and I bought some individual stocks. And I'll never do
that again to this day. I don't buy individual stocks.
I only buy funds. And I thought that you could
read the paper or learn something about a company, and
I didn't understand it was essentially gambling to pick an individual.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Stock like that. So buy funds.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
If you're not an expert on the market, you know,
invest in the market overall, but stay away from individual
stocks at least, that's my advice.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
That's brilliant. Actually I wouldn't go that far.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
No, it's brilliant because you're you're going to an expert
who knows who knows about stocks, and you're saying I'm
gonna rely on the expert to find a bucket a
basket of investments to make. In some ways, it's how
you run an NBA franchise. You've got these owners and
coaches who get the individual players you're running. You're you're
building the franchise value of the whole both of you,
(02:23):
of of the leagues.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
That's a great, great point.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
We don't have to root for individual teams or buy
an individual teams where we managed to risk through.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
The whole league. But there's a similarity there.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
But but I do I think that you know, individual
vestors who day trade, it's highly risky, you know, unless
you're an expert in that, you know, but if you
buy funds or indexed funds or professionally managed funds, then
you can ride the market.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
I think that's the way to build long term wealth.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, as you said about you're not as calm uh
on the inside as you running outside. I think it
gives a lot of people confidence because you look so
confident all the time, and it makes people watch to say, well,
if he is not always calm inside, then it makes
them feel okay that they're not always a call included
collected inside gives them courage.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, you know, it's a great point, John, I would
say that I've learned over the years. I'm sure Roger
has as well that when you're nervous, most about everybody
else is as well. Yeah, you know, and just some
people do a better job of hiding it. But I
think acknowledging that nervousness really takes you a long way.
I think when you accept like, Okay, I'm nervous. You know,
I'm scared. Now I'm gonna go do my best.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
That's right. That's that's a great advice for young people.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
And players call it pre game jitters, and it's sort
of the you know, you get the little stomach bugs
and yeah, that's all good stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Right, because that gets you, gets you killed up. That's right,
you're ready for it. It reminds me we had a
kid who would go through our financial literacy course. He
was about twelve years old in Detroit, and he had
gone the course and by the third week he was
wearing a suit like the banker. And when he came
out of the course, I was going to go commend
him and his friend. We're teasing them, man, why do
(04:01):
you want to wear that stupid suit? Why do you
want to go to the stupid class? You know, and
I went over to him and said, look, i'm gonna
give you this was now a decade and a half ago.
I'm gonna give you seventy dollars make a decision about Nike.
The young man Derek says, I'm going to buy a
shared Nike stock.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And they had been studying Niki by the way in
the classroom, so it wasn't an individual purchase. It was
something he researched. And the kids were like, oh, they
doubled down.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
This is stupid. Why would you want to do that.
He gives you some Air Jordan's.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Everybody's got Air Jordan's Purple, Air Jordan's Future Air Jordans
start going through all the way. So I went to
the I want to go defend Derek. Amen, Derek, You're okay.
Derek says, no, no, no, I'm cool. I want them
to buy those shoes because when they do, they're making
me money. He had already transported himself into a shareholder.
So his mindset shifted, and so he had jitters that
(04:51):
turned into confidence because he had knowledge about how markets worked,
and what you guys are doing is helping people to
take their jitters and turning it into confidence because you're
authentic as leaders, and you're giving people a place to
take their talents and turn them into magic on a
stage that everybody can cheer for. And I want to
(05:13):
thank you for being American heroes, that you really are
a force for good.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Want to have you. We just work with American heroes. No,
you manufactured. Thank you all you doing, appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Ti, my brother Tip, I love this drug. He is
from the streets and the suites and back again. He's
a bridge to all of our communities. He's much smarter
than anybody gives them credit for. He's a noted artist,
a hip hop artist, a producer. He also is a
comedian now he's also a real estate owner, father, husband.
What would t I tell his eighteen year old self
(05:49):
about money and financial literacy to look back?
Speaker 5 (05:53):
What would I tell my eighteen year old self that
the liabilities aren't this fund as they before you bound?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That's deep.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
Yeah, you know, I think we've been blessed with with
with abundance, and we we all of us, have spent
way more money on things that we didn't need because
we thought that they would benefit us far more than
they actually did. But it wasn't until we you know,
to we made the purchase and we and we experienced
(06:25):
you know.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
So the payments continue even when the fun stops.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Well some of us, some of us cash out, you
know what I'm saying. But I've done it both ways.
So yeah, you're absolutely correct. But but but it's not
until until we splurge and we're in the midst of
it that we're like, you know that I could have
done with that this, But but I think it's that experience.
Speaker 6 (06:51):
We really are paying for that experience.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Could that be like low self esteem? Could that be
like it could it be like weird, like trying to
prove that we are somebody by overcompensating, and you think
that it's you know, because we haven't had these experiences
and these opportunities to pass.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I don't think it's as much self esteem as well.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
For some it could be, But for me, it was
just I grew up not having, you know, and when
you grow up not having, you want to have it exactly,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, just like you know
most people who when you're fast, you know, of course
they say it's supposed to break your fast with something small,
but you know, the human nature is to gorge, you
(07:31):
know what I'm saying, after you haven't had you want?
And I think that, you know, like, for instance, my children.
You know, my kids, most of them don't even care
for most you know, like Major, he don't care what
kind of shoes he wear. I ask them what kind
of car you want when you turn sixteen? He says, man,
just something to get me from point to eight to
(07:53):
point b, you know. Same for Messiah, Same.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
For the country singer. Well he rock and roll, he's really.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Yeah, he doesn't, but he doesn't really value. He values
things that has been you, that have been used and
can stand the test of time, you know what I mean.
He's into vintage things, and that's because he grew up
having so much.
Speaker 7 (08:16):
You know.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
So they don't agree, they don't, they don't. They don't
have the same hunger exactly. They don't have that itch
to scratch the way I did, right, you know So
I think that it's growing up without that kind of
had me overdo so much.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
But it's also you raised them, well, you cursed him out,
you set them down, You told them that, look, this
stuff is not real. You gave him real values, you
showed him what was real. You show him what what
real and then let them make the decision. Yes, I
is very about that kid. If he's walking in here now,
no one even know he's your son. He's just he's
just chill and understated. He let his talent speaks for itself,
that's right. And he's walking in role. Let's traveled on
(08:54):
music that he's completely comfortable with. And because he's comfortable,
everybody else is coming.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
And I think I've tried to I tried to to
to instill in them just the value of what's in
you more so than what's on you, you know what
I'm saying. And and and the true measure of wealth
is the amount of things you have that money came back.
That's right, you know, love, respect, honor, integrity, you know
what I'm saying. I try to feel them full of
(09:21):
you know, tools they can.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Use like that, and service like you're showing up every
year to the Hope Glow Reform. And as busy as
he is. I saw him about a month ago and
he was in the middle of a public situation. She's like,
hey man, when's the forum.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I need to be there. He brought it up. I
didn't and you do.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
You remember the first time I came, I brought him
with me.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
That's right, he informed.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
No, No, he didn't was a second time. I don't
even think he was even playing the guitar yet. Remember,
I think the first time I came, maybe it was
about four years ago. I think it might have been
twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Two before that for real. Yeah, yeah, you've been around
for for a minute. But but he came with last
year or the year before. Yeah, yeah, he came with
me just observing, just because I won't.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
I thought it was important for him to kind of
learn it, be exposed to to people who have a
lot more than.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Us, like you and uh and see you're doing You're
doing just fine. And see the way that that they behaved.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
That let them know that all money isn't loud, you
know what I'm saying, right and uh And and he
liked it and enjoyed it and learned so much from
it that he made it his business to come back
on his own.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I've learned that when you've got the power, you don't
need to use it. There's no need to scream and
holler and raise your voice. It speaks for it. Well,
you've got the real power. It speaks for itself. It's
better to underestimate and overperform than overestimate and underperformed. Yeah,
and you have, you have slid under the you've slid
on the radar and things like movie production. You're doing movies,
now you're doing comedy. You're just you're just going to
(10:54):
do the work and letting that speak for itself.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
I mean, man, you know what, Man, I'm just continuing
to to just be blessed enough to have my steps
guided by my passion. Man, I don't even think about what,
you know, what I'm gonna do, like for money. It's
just like I just do what I what I feel
is gonna fulfill me. You know what I'm saying and
(11:16):
what I think can help others around me.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
So it sounds like what you tell your eighteen year
old self. It's chill.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
Yeah, yeah, don't sweat the small stuff.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Over mess not it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Make sure your asses are not on your ass. So Rowland,
first of all, thanks for coming here every year for
the Whope level form. This is our biggest eversar. I
(11:47):
tend to anniversary uh and because of you, in large part,
we're able to reach after the meeting where we get
incredible engagement. We're able to reach millions in the weeks
after because in large part of your engagement.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
You are the network for Black America. As far as
I'm concerned, what would you tell your eighteen year old
self around financial literacy lessons that you now know to
be true, but when you're you may be kicking yourself
when you're eighteen.
Speaker 8 (12:18):
First, the credit card that they came and shot to
us fro Texas A and M, don't do it.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
That's one.
Speaker 8 (12:27):
The second would be actually, no matter how little made
in college, still save something. Those are two that jump
out like most people. So the Birmingham The Birmingham News,
I interviewed with them sixteen editors.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
They all wanted to hire me. But in Alabama in
nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
They had a law that said they can factor your
credit score in really and you couldn't get to your job.
So h R at the Birmingham News said they couldn't
hire me. Every editor wanted to hire me, it's for
the credit.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Score and so and so.
Speaker 8 (13:14):
In my career wherever I was spoken, especially in Alabama,
I would remind the Birmingham News that they could have
had me work there. Except for that law, and they
were like, damn, you have to keep bringing that up.
I'm like, yes, I do, but again, it's a perfect
And there were so many journalists, George Curry and others
who were pissed. They were like, what the hell I
(13:35):
mean here, we are one of the top journalism and
graduates in the country and because of the credit score,
I wouldn't get hired there. But that's also I went
to the Austin American Statesman and then career took off.
But that's a perfect example that that was a law
in nineteen ninety one. And then later when I joined
TV one, I said, you know, we're gonna do a
whole one hour show on credit and my producer Jay
Felman is like, dude, that's no show here. I said,
(13:57):
trust me, there's a show here. And then when we're over,
he was like, like four shows here. Like I tried
to tell you that, because even he didn't understand how
deep and broad a credit score goals.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
And so many different people.
Speaker 8 (14:12):
We have people on who could not get military advancement
because of your credit score was so low because of
top secret and so that's.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
How broad lose your security clearance in the military.
Speaker 6 (14:26):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Ability to serve your credits to the floor. So we did.
Speaker 8 (14:30):
We did a whole on our show. But that experience
again not getting hired.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
How were you?
Speaker 8 (14:37):
I was senior college, like they again the editor, dude
was like almost in tears. But the HR qualified and
every other I mean destroyed. But the HR Department said no.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
That's why I say that civil rights and civil rights
are now connected because you had the talent, you had
the gifts, but the criteria included financial ecument acumen that
they that that it is based on the standard that
no one's taught us. We never had an economic infrastructure
in the history of Black America, which is what you're
advocating for and what I'm trying to also build.
Speaker 8 (15:10):
But that's also one of the reasons why Alabama remains
the poorest because there's a lot of talent that those
laws that were passed that they keep folks, keep folk away.
And so again, so Birmingham News they the talent that
I had never came because of that law and the errors,
(15:31):
like we got to get rid of this because we're
losing great talent. But but but again that that was
one of the deals so it was just I mean,
that was a perfect example of what I said. Remember,
my dad was upset, and I was like, Dad, don't
worry about it. I'm gonna get a job. Don't worry
about it.
Speaker 6 (15:43):
We'll be good.
Speaker 8 (15:44):
And then he coold, now him, I'm living in my
house that's paid off.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (15:49):
But but it was a perfect example, Like that was
the first job that come I wouldn't I hadn't graduated yet.
They wanted to hire me, but the credit card prevented
from happening. And uh, and now that thing is now
expandings that I think it was thirty eight or forty states.
I mean, it's how it's expanded, how that has changed.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
A lot of eighteen year olds feel that they don't
need to worry about what they're doing in eighteen life.
They're gonna live forever. Every it's gonna be great though
repercussions and what I'm here you're saying is, in hindsight,
everything matters.
Speaker 8 (16:20):
When you're read Oh, because that impacted impacted the car
I got, impacted the uh they impacted and impacted the
interest rate I got.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
And then even that even impacted the interest rate that
I got when I bought my first house nine years later,
so same thing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Thank you very much, Rollan appreciate less your brother, so boris.
First of all, thank you for being here, Thanks for
being a force, so goot honored to have you here.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So what advice would you give to your eighteen year
old self? What financial literacy advice if you had to
go back, would you give it? And by the way
I got to I get it our get the mic up.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
So the first thing I would say is invest in
financial literacy, meaning read as much as you can, kind
of can talk as talk to as many people as
you can, get a financial mentor. And don't be afraid
to make mistakes because we're paranoid about making the wrong move.
(17:25):
You will definitely make the wrong move many times over
and it's okay. And then I would say, stay away
from the stock market and invest in S and P
five hundred.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
So do that, so not with the stock market, but
state go go smart with the stock market with the
S and P five hundred, which is.
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Basically the leading company leading five hundred companies. And invest
for the long term. Don't buy into becoming a billionaire
in three years. Don't believe social media, take your time, learn,
educate yourself, and know that at some point you will
(18:08):
turn fifty. So even though you're only eighteen, fifty will come.
So what you're doing now will pay off handsomely when
you're fifty, and you might actually be handsome when you're
invest in your mental health as your physical health, in
your spiritual health, because the spiritual.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
The mental, and the physical go together. If you let
one slide, you will suffer. Holy they're all connected. They're
all connected.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, and most millionaires, by the way, don't get there
until they're in their fifties.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
That way, right, Yeah, So.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
You would basically tell your eighteen year old self to
knock it off, don't ignore the noise all around you say,
very focused on fundamentals, and these fundamental truths have been
true your whole life.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
It appears right. These are solid These are solid things
that you're value said things.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
You can double your money every seven years if you're
careful and you educate yourself, and that's a that's an
absolutely attainable goal, and it'll pay off when you're fifteen.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, this is somebody who understands you make money during
the day, you build wealth in your sleep. And there's
a difference. He's not just making a living, He's built
a life for him and his wife. What's financial advice
(19:29):
would you give? Financial literacy advice, economic advice, cautionary tales?
What would you say to your eighteen year old self
if you could go back?
Speaker 6 (19:38):
Listen more?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Hmm.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
Prioritize saving hmm.
Speaker 9 (19:46):
Embrace the fact that you can't do it alone, because
even if you do succeed in doing it alone, chances
are you didn't uplift anybody else along the way right
standing alone, and when you're standing alone, a fall is
inevitable because there's but so much you can do by yourself.
(20:11):
You can spearhead, you can spark, you can motivate and inspire,
But in terms of carrying that load, it only gets
heavier as you get older, more responsibilities, mortgages, children, family,
and by.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
The way, the more successful you are, the more people
are going to get to know you.
Speaker 9 (20:32):
They're gonna be in your pocket, they're gonna they're gonna
end not only that they're not gonna come asking, they're
going to come feeling entitled to what you've earned. And
all of those challenges are things that you will work
a lifetime to ward off.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
I am in my fifties, and I'm still learning how to.
Speaker 9 (20:49):
Ward that off because there's always new people that come
along and they may have helped you, they may have assisted,
they may have provided assistance and help and all of
that stuff, but their belief and what they're entitled to
far exceeds what your beliefs may be engaging. Where that
line is, that line of demarcation where you're trying to
(21:13):
establish what's right, what's wrong, what's fair, what's unfair, what's
too excessive, what's enough. It's a never ending process, right
and when you're youthful, you don't think about that that's right,
but inevitably it comes your way. So that guidance from
the elder statesmans of the world, and by that I
don't mean age, I mean.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
Wisdom and experience.
Speaker 9 (21:35):
When you have folks who are wiser, who have more experience,
who have endured the terrain, that inevitably is going to
come your way. If you arm yourself with that level
of intel that comes from a place of inspiration and
heartfelt you know emotions as well in terms of them
caring about you and your upliftment goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
This is one of the best pieces of advice that
I've heard anybody give on this question, because when you're young,
you look at successful people and go why they're so
stand offish, why they got to why they got people
around them? And I can't get at them, why they
got such an attitude, why they're so paranoid with paranoid
(22:16):
because y'all coming at us and you try to get
your in our pocket, and when we won't, when we
zip up the pocket, you want to go around us
and take it as if it's yours.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
And it's happened to me, it's happened to you, it's
happened to.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Everybody in this room, and we're shocked by it, like
we're stunned by because it's not strangers, the people who
look like us, and we never had this conversation. But
this is wisdom, and everybody listening to this needs to
understand you need to have compassion and empathy for folks
who are walking a different path from yours and learn
from them. And you can't take everybody with you when
(22:52):
you get on that path and success and help people
as you can, but you don't have they don't have
an entitlement to your success.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
The thing that I just got from you more than anything.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Becase people hear you, and you're always loud or whatever,
it's as quiet wisdom you listen. I asked Quincy Jones,
why are you so how'd you get so smart?
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Answer?
Speaker 1 (23:10):
God, rest of soul. I'm just nosy as hell. I
want to know everything about everything. When I met you,
I was shocked. After I interviewed. The first thing you
had to say to me was questions. Tell me about this,
tell me about that, Tell me about the structure of
this too. He was as smart as he is still learning.
God gave you two ears and one mouth, so you
(23:30):
listen twice as.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Much as you talk. Well.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
I think the word that comes into mine as humility.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
That's it.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
My success is not something that I think about too often.
Speaker 9 (23:42):
My attitude is I have to wake up every day
validating that success that I've achieved. I can't walk around
like I've arrived because the second you do that, you're
gonna get knocked off. That proverbials pedestal, and I'm not
gonna let that happen. But the thing about it is
that the humility comes from an understanding and a complete acceptance.
(24:05):
You don't know it all. You don't even know most
of it. There's always somebody that knows more. There's always
somebody who can teach more. There's always someone who cares more,
who's more empathetic, who's more in touch with their empathetic side,
and the kind of things that ail us, not just
(24:25):
as individuals, not even just as a community, but as
a society. And so when you're thinking along those lines
and understanding that, you sit down in that humble space
of yours, looking somebody in the face who sees you
as a successful human being, and you're saying to them,
no matter what I am, I don't think I'm better
(24:47):
than you. I would appreciate it if you would help
me become even better than I am right now. And
when you do that, it's very, very difficult for somebody
to turn away from you and you on helping hand
when you come to them with such humility and an
understanding of your place in this world.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Success with a light touch, yes, success with a light touching.
Speaker 9 (25:10):
And sometimes the heavy touch is necessary, but only in
defense of your self preservation.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
That's right.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
You know, when you know that you're crumbling, when you
know that the weight is too much, only you can
make that call about yourself. And if you know that
about you, there are going to be people that accuse
you of being selfish. They're gonna say you don't care enough.
They're gonna discount all that you've done, all that you've done,
(25:37):
They're gonna they're gonna discount all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
But you have to work the late nights and weekends.
You didn't.
Speaker 9 (25:43):
You have to have the alligator skin, the intestinal fortitude
to withstand it all and keep marching forward. Because anytime
somebody is prosperous, there's always going to be people in
your path trying to stop that progress because their definition
of success is hindering your progress in their mind, in
(26:04):
their mind, and you have to know what that is,
what that looks like when you see it in your world.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So your eighteen year old self, a tougher skin, a
lighter touch, a humility and understanding that hurt people, hurt people.
Speaker 9 (26:21):
Yes, I've always had the humility, God blessed me with that.
I've always been one who listened, always been one who
was inquisitive, So I never was I never lacked that part.
The other stuff, though, when you're on your grind and
you put your head down and it's about marching forward
and making sure nobody stops your progress. Sometimes you miss
a lot, you miss a lot along the way. But
(26:41):
in my case what I missed was helpful for me
because the lessons it taught me. Sometimes you got to
pay if somebody is If somebody is walking down the pass,
you don't want them to fall into an abyss they
can't get out of. But sometimes you got to let
them fall because that's the greatest lesson they'll learn, rather
than the wisdom that you may have bestowed upon them.
(27:03):
Because even though they'll listen to some degree, sometimes they
don't listen enough.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's right.
Speaker 9 (27:07):
Sometimes the fall is the greatest device for listening than
anything else.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Drop the mic. This is Steven A. Smith on him
talking to him at eighteen years of age, and all
of you need to listen to this and put it
on repeat. So the question, Mike is, and we've been
(27:36):
asking all the top leaders, yep, what advice financial literacy
advice would you give to your eighteen.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Year old self?
Speaker 10 (27:42):
Man, The same thing my grandparents tried to get, tried
to drill in me. It took me a while to
get I got mentors like you that drilling in me
and live at it below your means. If you're eighteen
years old and you make two grand a month, you
can't afford a two grand apartment. So you and two
of your cousins should get together and go in on
that apartment together. You guys should take the extra money
put aside to a savings to buy an investment property together,
(28:04):
by your very first duplex or quadplex together. We have
to start taking seriously money very early. So at eighteen
years old, you're old enough to start saving. You just
need to do it with a plan and do it
with the folks of people. If I was eighteen years old,
I tell me my cousin Jimmy and my cousin Brian,
let's get a place together.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Let's buy an investment property.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
Let's get a quadruplex.
Speaker 10 (28:22):
We'll stay in two of them together, we'll rent out
the other two and then we'll repeat processes.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
We save money. That's it.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
That's it tells about a seat. The guy's a genius.
Not only first of all, he's got to rap like
and understand. I love his music. I just play it
on repeat all the time. But he's so wicked smart trying.
This is the example of that. What advice would would
you like to give to the eighteen year olds listening
(28:48):
to this now?
Speaker 10 (28:50):
In life, man, there's nothing that's impossible with time. You know,
a river, a river takes a jagged rock and makes
it smooth. It just takes time. Give yourself time. It's
gonna hear to you that everyone else is taking off
while you're sitting still. That's their story, that's their movie.
Stop trying to star another people's movie starring yours. And
if you've read Jason Ziliad or if you saw John Wick,
(29:12):
what you know is the hero must go through a
personal overcoming to establish and win. So you're the hero
in this movie. Every trial you're going through is just
another trial that brings you closer to the ultimate victory.
And the victory isn't the ending going your way. The
victory is and que you become on the journey.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
Rainbow's only follow storms. Amen, You not have a rainbow
without a storm. Says you cannot grow except for legitimate suffering.
Speaker 7 (29:34):
Man.
Speaker 10 (29:34):
I was I landed in Jamaica with my wife once
and it was poor down and she wasn't expecting Ryan,
and she wanted a beautiful weekend, and she was complaining
that a driver turned to us and said, ma'am, the
farmers pray to.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That part.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
So what would you tell your eighteen year old self
about financial literacy? What lessons or what advice would you
give your eighteen year old self? Looking at wo.
Speaker 11 (30:00):
Knowing what I know now, that bicycle really wasn't worth it. Okay,
I never really had a large summer money. I was
working for five dollars a day.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
I made.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
Twenty seven to fifty working from seven to seven, working
a half a day on Saturday, so I made twenty
seven to fifty and by the time I settled up
with the corner store, I brought home about twenty dollars.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
And I've always had lofty ideas.
Speaker 11 (30:28):
I mean, the worst thing that happened to me is
what my advice started coming on because they had roles,
they had a side shad, they they had ferraris, and
I wanted that, and I felt that was I had
made it.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
If I had that.
Speaker 11 (30:40):
You know, you grew up in a house with no
indoor plumbing and you have to go outside to go
to the bathroom, you have to draw whale water. So
I needed things to say, Okay, I've made it, not
realizing that I could have made it without having all
those things, But that's not how my mind was wired
back then. I had to have I needed a Rowlex
to say okay, I got out of the hood. I
(31:01):
needed a big house to say.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Yes yes.
Speaker 11 (31:04):
And so now things that interest me and excited me
when I was eighteen doesn't have the same effect on
me now. It doesn't have the same effect when I
was thirty, doesn't have the same effect when I was forty,
And so I wish I would have had that mindset
then to realize that, you know, what's shunting You could save,
You could get something that's not as expensive, because at
(31:26):
the end of the day, I'm shoting sharp regardless, that's right.
I can be sharing sharp and a Chevy, or I
can be sharing sharp in Ferrari. At the end of
the day, I'm still shunting sharp. And that's what I
had to realize because the car didn't make me.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
I bought it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
The wealth is not on your arm, it's in your head.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yes, Yeah, So you realize that you are actually somebody
and you don't need something else to reaffirm that. Now
you get those things now, cool, but it's not a
proxy for your self esteem. So you've become reasonably comfortable
in your own skin over time.
Speaker 11 (31:54):
Yes, if you go outside and you look at your
car and your car, it's worth more to you having
your bank account. You're a fool if your ass, if
your assets are on your ass, you had a problem exactly.
And so that's what that's what we're gonna have to understand,
is that it's not the things that we have that
make us wealthy.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
You shouldn't be paying over your car notes.
Speaker 11 (32:16):
And you are paying for rent no absolutely not no
absolutely mortgage and look you and why have a fancy
car if you're renting. Hello, that's a lot of times
people have these nice cars and you pull up to
you pulling up to an apartment complex really broke.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Ro I mean the range Rover and no range nowhere?
Speaker 11 (32:35):
You parket it outside. You ain't going to arge garage
to park it in. So home ownership you you you
live and learn. So I wish I had learned these
things a lot sooner in life.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
You here and have you with this, Thanks are making
this issue sexy and appealing and reachable for most people
financial literacy and civil rights issue generation.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
I'm honored to be here Thank You.
Speaker 7 (32:59):
M.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Money and Wealth with John O'Brien is a production of
the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the
Black Effect Podcast Network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
John Hope Bryant
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.