The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Alex Rodriguez & John Hope Bryant Talk Money Mindset, Yankees Baseball, Ownership, New Podcast +More

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Alex Rodriguez & John Hope Bryant To Discuss Money Mindset, Yankees Baseball, Ownership, And New Podcast. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlemagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave, so Lawn LaRosa is filling in. And we got some special guests joining us back in the building. Yes, indeed. We got the brother John Hope Bryan. He's back. Welcome, Brock. My honor to be here. And also A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez. Welcome.

Great to be here. A lot of money, a lot of intelligence between y'all two, okay? How did this happen, this connection? Well, whenever you try to make smart sexy, it attracts like on mindset. All of us are up from nothing, by the way. All of this story is the same thing. You can go from the bottom to the top.

Legally, ethically, honestly, pay your taxes, do your stuff. Go from cashing a check to writing a check. And so Alex's story and mine are very similar. Like we had very strong mothers who are great influences in our lives. We're both extremely nosy. You know, Quincy Jones, how'd you get so smart? I'm just nosy as hell. I want to know everything about everything. So, you know, we're nosy. Quincy Jones, how'd you get so smart? I'm just nosy as hell. I want to know everything about everything.

We're nosy. When he got his first check in baseball, he went and asked Magic, how do I turn this from a check to some wealth? We started talking to the folks on the front row

at the games were business people. And he would trade his influence for lunch. I'll go to lunch with you. I just need to ask you a bunch of questions. That's what Magic used to do. I just saw him last week. And it was just brilliant because he gained a business acumen from that. Got basically an MBA while he was playing baseball.

And used that to then buy some real estate. And then buy some more. I think you worked the first piece of real estate yourself, didn't you? Yeah, a duplex. Duplex for 250,000. So we did a financial literacy episode on money and wealth, which you know something about.

It's on the Black Effect Network. That's right, make sure you subscribe to that. Yeah, it's actually, the episode's out this week. We did this episode together on financial literacy because we both believe it's the civil rights issue of this generation. When you know better, you do better. And we're talking about black and brown wealth. How does

black and brown create some green? And at scale. And it's a conversation that many folks don't have. Most athletes go broke, by the way. 70% of all NBA and NFL players bankrupt within five years of retirement and divorced.

So this brother is just defying all the odds. He's cool. He's a humble dude. He wanted to meet you guys. He's been up here before. A-Rod's been up here before. Yeah, but he wanted to get into it. I love the show. He wanted to get into it, go to another level. And so it's a beautiful family re-reunion. Let's jump right into it. He wanted to get into it, go to another level. And so it's a beautiful family

re-reunion. Well, let's jump right into it. So, you know, what gave you the mindset to say, I want to learn more about investing and making sure that I have wealth after retirement? Was it the fact that you've seen so many athletes go broke? Was it the fact that you said, I'm never going back to where I was? Or what was it that said, I want to be different from 70% of those other athletes? Yeah, thank you. I would say, you know, I was a kid here born in Washington Heights, 1975, July 27th. And I grew up right in the block, right by Yeshiva University. And my father was a baseball player and an entrepreneur. And both my parents are Dominican. I'm first generation immigrant. And I had this are Dominican. I'm first-generation immigrant.

And I had this great appetite for two things, baseball and business, because my father was a money guy. And then my father left my mom and my two siblings when I was 10. What did your father do, if you don't mind me asking? So he was in our apartment in Washington Heights. We had a shoe store.

And it was before iPhones, obviously. It was like late 1970s. And they used to call them like the human calculator because obviously we didn't have the phone, the calculator and all that. So, you know, a woman would come up, get four shoes, and it would be like boom, boom, boom, plus tax, minus 10%, boom. And every time it was right because then they would get the calculator out. But he usually had a calculator out, but it wasn't for him. It was for usually the women so they can count and make sure that all the numbers were right.

So I always had that. And then once he left, I saw my mother worked at General Motors for about 12 years. She would have the early shift at 3 o'clock in the morning to 2, come home, nap for two hours, and then go serve tables at night to midnight. And I saw this for years and years and years. And I think my life changed when they were at Publix, which is a supermarket down in Miami. I was about 12 years old and the bill is about $75. And I see her grab some of her tip money and she's got like $56 or whatever. And I see that she's missing like 20, 25 bucks. And she

goes into another pocket in her purse and grabs what I call funny money. And I said, Mom, what is that funny money? It's like red. I've never seen money like that, only Monopoly. And she kind of with shame on her face looked down and she goes, son, the government is helping us out a little bit this month. And it changed my life.

I mean, I can feel it today. And I know so many families out there have felt this. And that's kind of where my ambitions grew. Is that what we used to call food stamps? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, food stamps. I used to love food stamps. Remember they were paper.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I never seen it because it was in green, right? And I think she would hide it from me. We were probably in food stamps for years. She just never disclosed that with me. And then, like John said, I met with one of my heroes and mentors and great friend now, Magic Johnson, about 30 years ago. And he was going out to dinner with cookie and it was near uh la rodeo drive i think master over

something and it was supposed to be a 30 minute you know we were in the back room supposed to be like a little 30 minute meeting we met for three hours he called cookie and said i'm not coming home and years later i said magic why'd you give me like three hours and i left with nine notes of paper that i still have today. He said, because you're one of the few athletes that came in all business, on time, no phone, and you were taking notes. So you were engaged, so I engaged with you. So that's my message to the next generation. It's just like the reason why I played baseball for so long is the fundamentals, whether it's Jordan or Tiger or LeBron or Magic or Bird, whoever,

is fundamental in sports that makes you great. The same thing is in business. You've got to know the rules of engagement. And our young folks, while they're getting better, there's a lot of room for growth to understand the way that money works and the relationship with money and financial literacy. So from day one, did you blow any money? Like when you first got your first big check, did you blow any of it? I was fortunate that I played for almost 25 years. So I would say from age 20 to 30, I made a bunch of mistakes. And then what I realized, like sports, when we won the championship with the Yankees in 2009, we had a squad and we were as solid as anyone.

And in business, the same thing. You got to create an incredible team that are way smarter than you, that have complementary set of skills. But at the end of the day, you're the quarterback of that team. So then I put my lessons behind me, and it's been pretty good ever since. What was the dumbest thing you bought when you first became and made all that money in Major League Baseball? Well, I'm from Miami, so a boat, a Benz, and a Rolex. If you're from Miami, you need a Rolex.

Rolex is not dumb. You can resell that. So by the way, me, him, and Don Peebles, who's been on the show a few weeks ago, the three black men I know, black and brown, same thing, we're all same family, who have a couple hundred million dollars in a loan facility for real estate on, as you know, this non-recourse basis, which means there's no personal guarantees. That's credibility. And that's where we need to go. Like, you make money during the day.

You build wealth in your sleep. And too many of us have hooked on that, I want to make that dollar. I want to get that cash. I want to get that buck. I want to get that bag. It's useless. It's called literally cash flow. Cash will flow.

And if you're outflow, exceed your inflow, then your overhead will be your downfall. And if you don't understand financial literacy, somebody's going to separate you from your wallet. There's just more zeros attached to it. The first year, every athlete spends everything they got. It's natural. If you look at baseball, to answer your first question, I was 18, 19 years old, and this article came out called Broke. And then I think 30-30 did a real shot, right? And you saw the guys were having a bunch of kids, and it was really sad, right, to see.

And when you looked at the data in baseball, three numbers that jumped off the page was, one, the average career in baseball is five and a half years. You make 90% of your money from age 20 to 30. And then what happens in 31 to 80? And then the last one is less than 5% of almost 800 players in the big leagues, less than 5% have a college degree. So when you look at those three data points, I would short the stock,

meaning that I would bet that most guys would run into financial problems, most people, men and women. So that was a big issue. And then one of the biggest mistakes, John, I know we've talked about this, whether it's athletes or just people like my mom and my dad that grew up, I would say more like my mom, they don't really understand the difference between an asset and a liability. So when you say, what was the first stupid thing you bought?

I mean, one of them would be a plane, a boat, you know, cars, you know, assets would be multifamily apartments, a business that throws off cash and things that are going to appreciate over time. I was going to ask, I want to jump into what you were saying. You know, growing up in Queens, there was nobody around me making money, right? We were all the same. We didn't know anything about financial literacy, right? My son goes to University of Miami, calls me yesterday, him and his friends about to buy a restaurant, which is crazy to me because at 20 years old, I wasn't thinking about that at all. But it's the mindset and the people that he's around. So for people listening and they might not have somebody around him that is knowledgeable in business, they might not have somebody around him that knows where to put money or what to invest in or how to do it. What do you tell those individuals? Coming from, you know, Washington Heights, I'm sure that besides hearing your dad, there

wasn't too many people around you that you could get advice from. So what do you tell those people to say, okay, I'm in this situation. I don't have a magic to speak to. You know what I mean? I don't have a A-Rod to say, let me sit down with you. I don't have a John to say, this is what I have and what I do. So what do you tell those individuals? Let me say that first because I know this have a John to say, this is what I have and what I do. So what do you tell those individuals? Let me take that first, because I know this one includes John.

It's the power of proximity to greatness or proximity to intelligence is so powerful. In baseball, I wanted to be around Cal Ripken, Keith Hernandez, Doc Good, and Strawberry, because they had sets of skills that I needed and I wanted, and great athletes can copy and paste better than anyone. In baseball skills? In baseball.

Now you go over now to business, and it's the same exact drill. I want to be around John Hope because every time I'm around him, I get better. He inspires me. He gives me more hope. He gives me, no pun intended, he gives me, my self-esteem rises. Our community, black and brown, the number one issue is self-esteem issue. And they don't want to engage. They don't want to engage in a business conversation because they don't want to be embarrassed we're some of the most prideful people in the world but we

pay our rent on time we're hard-working people we have tremendous heart and grit but we don't want to be embarrassed that's why Shark Tank works so well you get an education while getting entertainment and in America gets an MBA from Shark Tank that's why people say when I walk around oh there's the Shark Tank guy I love Shark Tank that's when I'm getting old. The kids watching Shark Tank. That's why people say when I walk around, oh, there's the Shark Tank guy. I love Shark Tank. That's when I'm getting old. The kids watching Shark Tank is amazing. They learn so early.

So your job as an American citizen, as a youngster, right, man, boy, whatever you are, is to be around proximity of greatness. So if you find a great mentor from age 20 to 30, forget about the money. 20 to 30, go work for John. Go do an internship at A-Rod Corp. Go work for Magic. Pay nothing. Pay whatever you got. Get a roommate.

But 20 to 30 is your extended education. And then once you get into the 30s, you open up that black book, how we say, your relationships. Because when you're 85, you look back, your net worth is going to resemble your net work. Amen. So start. I had a mentor say, if you don't have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day to talk about money, you're falling behind because your competition is doing it. That's right. And another thing too, you said, when you said you sat with Magic and you was just there

with notes for three hours, don't be too proud to ask questions. Ask questions. If I'm around somebody that's doing more than me and got way more than me, I want to know about everything that that person is doing. But you know what happened with Magic? It was, I still have his notes, and I saw him last week at the Dodger game, and he, I mean, he's such a goat.

I love that guy so much, and he's done so much for our communities. But it was the proximity. I can touch him. I can touch him. But here's a man who was great on the court and then put on a business suit and was a Hall of Famer also. And I said, well, wait a minute.

If Magic can do it, why can't I? We look alike. And I can't do that just with a general white guy because i don't look like that guy so to answer your question very specifically great answer i loved all that by the way um my job is to become the public's capitalist that's my job uh you know black lives matter but black capitalists matter. Right? We got to make smart sexy. We got to make this. That's what you guys are doing, by the way, ladies, guys are doing on this show.

You're making intelligent thought interesting and fascinating by putting it where people can relate to it. And this book, Financial Literacy, that I introduced when you introduced when I was on the show last, it's still number one. That's black and brown people buying that book. It's number one in business finance. Not black history. Business finance. Nationwide. Of all books. That makes me very proud. When I go to the airport, like last night,

TSA agent. 670. Wow. Credit score. Yo, yo, man. 670. 800. The people are taking this stuff seriously. We're starting to change the game. So one, get the book, mark it up, write, make comments, have a family meeting once a week with your family. I joke about this, but I'm serious. You go to club and you meet somebody, she's fine. He's handsome. That's cool. Oh, yeah. What's your credit score? That's right. And I'm only partially kidding because if you get serious about that person, that's your business partner for life. That's right. The looks are going to fade. The body's going to drop, right?

But that person's better have common sense. If 2 plus 2 does not equal 6, 8, or 10 in a relationship, what the heck are you doing? If you're not better together, what are you doing? I can do better all by myself. Dr. King once said, he said, I refuse to finance my own oppression. And Quincy Jones, quote again, the only thing worse than being alone is wishing that you were. So if you're not in a relationship with somebody who adds to you, even if it's a casual relationship, what are you doing?

Get the toxicity out of your life. If you hang around nine broke people, you'll be the 10th. Understand you're an eagle surrounded by buzzards and turkeys. Eagles don't fly in packs. So start looking at your posse, your group, and then be really nosy. When you walk down the street in Manhattan, all these buildings, that's not J.P. Morgan Chase. That's a dentist's office.

That's an attorney's office. That's an accountant's office. You can get to those people. I know it sounds crazy. Go knock on the door. I'd love to be an intern. I'd love 15 minutes. Who's going to deny you 15 minutes?

And all you want to do is listen. God gave you two ears and one mouth. You listen twice as much as you talk. I'm nosy as hell. I don't want to know everything about everything. You know, my man, Charlemagne, he's nosy. I call him, ask him about stuff. He'll call me.

Okay, tell me about this so-and-so. You know, we're not afraid of the facts. We're not afraid of knowledge, right? You know, he's mainstreaming mental health right now. That's a topic we all need to be talking about, right? So by A-Rod making this, talking about his family, talking about everything didn't go well, being humble, having humility about it, well, it allows everybody else to have permission to begin to role model that, right?

So we need to model what we see. We need to start role modeling folks who have the capacity to write a check, not just cash it, who build wealth, not just make some money, making a living. It's literally making a living is what it is. That's all you're doing. You're not building a life. So this stuff is so easy, but no one's ever taught us. There's nothing wrong with us. That's right.

We're not dumb and we're not stupid. When the rules are published and the playing field is level, we kill it. Professional sports, the arts, politics. Music. Music, yeah. Entertainment, music, church. Well, we're starting with business. But where the rules are published and playing to this level, we kill it. We have not been told the rules on free enterprise and capitalism.

That has to become all of our roles. And when you get this book, if you finish with it, go donate it under your family's name to the local library. Go to a Title I school. Your name's in the book now. And you donate it to that, and you go and teach in that classroom. And now you're the role model and the hero and shero. We can start a whole new movement, not in the streets, in the suites. My favorite question, to your point, is about asking questions.

I'll stop a meeting, and I'll say, wait, wait, stop. Explain that to me slowly like I'm a third grader. That's right. And you should not be embarrassed to third grader that's right and you should not be embarrassed to ask that that's right you should be embarrassed if you don't ask that and if a business plan I can't really understand in five minutes then I'm out I want simplicity simplicity is your best friend and what's crazy is the person you talking to they know you don't know so I said

Dan act like that's the question like What that mean? Why not? Who got you into the franchise game? Which one? Well, the rumor now is that y'all got the cash ready to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves full ownership. By the way, there's some things that he can't talk about today. Yeah, they can't. It's a legal situation. He'll answer the question he can answer.

By the way, I love, by the way, it was like, which franchise? He owns so much. That was a flex. I heard that. I caught that. I should have said sports. it was like, which franchise? He owns so much. That was a flex. I heard that. I caught that. I should have said sports. He's like, which one?

But there's some things he won't be able to talk about today. Just high level. I mean, just kind of my passion for sports. I think if you talk to most athletes and you do a secret poll, probably 90% or more will tell you, I would love to own part of a team someday. Who doesn't want to convert from player to owner, right? That's the American way.

We took a long run at the Metsets and we came in second to Steve Cohen. Thank God, because he's doing a phenomenal job and we're having a great time with the Timberwolves and the Lynx. Lynx almost won a championship a couple of days ago, came up a little short, but very proud of our young women. Look, this is the ultimate dream, to be in a room with Adam Silver and 30 other owners. It's pretty spectacular. And I look at that, and talk about imposter syndrome. You're seeing Mark Cuban. You're seeing Jim Dolan.

You're seeing Tony Ressler. You're seeing guys like Mark Lajary, people that I've looked up and admired and studied my whole kind of adult life. And now you're in the room with them as colleagues. It's really an incredible feat. And, yeah, I've been dreaming about it probably for a long time and finally made the move. I just got to ask a sport question since we on sports. How about them damn Yankees?

Oh, man. How does it feel to see what is taking so long to get back to? And what do you think about the Yankees now? It seems like Yankee, not Yankees, the baseball is more exciting now. I'm watching the games more. The games are a lot faster. It's fast pacing. So what is your thoughts on baseball now?

Yeah, I'm so excited. I can go on and on about this, but I'll keep it tight. I would say that baseball has needed this moment for at least a decade. I'm so tired of people saying baseball's boring and all. Then look, we went through a little bit of slow time. It was, it was boring for a little bit. It got boring. But give Commissioner Rob Manford and Tony Clark,

the head of the union of the players, and they came up with the clock, right, and made it a lot better pace, made the bigger bases. Now they look like Domino's Pizza, right, a big base. And it's a game that's driven by markets and superstars in tradition and history and this World Series here has it all this is two franchises that have the two richest franchises in revenue and star power global Yankee may be the number one franchise in the world Dodgers may be top five and I'm talking about all of

sports football soccer they were you know the Cowboys number one franchise in the world. Dodgers may be top five. And I'm talking about all of sports, football, soccer, you name it. The Cowboys are number one, baby. Yeah, yeah, number one. Yeah, Cowboy family. But the Yankees are in that top five, right? And when you look at the Yankees conglomerate, it's well worth over $10 billion. When you look at the Dodgers, well worth over $10 billion.

Wow. I would say there's Otani and Judge are two biggest Dodgers you can have. You're going to have probably 15 million people watching japan another 15 or 20 watching here um the fan bases very interestingly it's interesting when you go to dodger stadium there's three type of fan bases you have the corporate um financial institutions in hollywood uh you have the mexicans that you know that last fernando valenzuela who died. He was a big pioneer in that movement. And then the other third is now Japanese. And they're printing money like it's no one's business.

Because of Otani. Because of Otani and obviously the success they've had with Mark Walters, Todd Boley, they have an incredible ownership. He's traded his ball for $4.5 million. That's right. But they've had one championship in 37 years. The Yankees have one championship in 24 years. The Yankees have had one championship in 24 years.

So both franchises are going to be starving. Tickets, I told Sean today, are going for $40,000 behind home plate. One ticket. That's great. So if you want two, that's 80 grand. 80 grand. A beer is probably 4,000. So it's going to be the most watched World Series since the Cubs in 2016.

You won, right? The last one was 09, so we haven't been there in 15 years. So bring the glory days back to the Bronx. Is Ohtani the best baseball player ever? Let me say why. I have never seen in my life that I've watched baseball, a pitcher as a designated hitter to hit that many home runs, to steal that many bases, and a manager allowing the pitcher to do it

because usually you're scared because you don't want the pitcher to get hit by a pitch. You don't want him to hurt his arm while he's sliding. You don't want him to hurt his leg while he's running. But he does it all, and he's amazing doing it. You know what's amazing? He's also 6'5", and he's the fastest guy on the field. And he also throws 100 miles an hour.

But I would say this. I don't know if he's the best because it's too early i mean barry bonds was the baddest son of a bitch i've ever seen on a field i mean he is one bad sucker right and the uniqueness about otani is he's barry bonds married with roger clemens and he's won so is he the best hitter i will still put Barry Bonds probably a bit ahead of him. Is he a better pitcher? I would still put Clemens on top of him. But combined, there's only a class of two, Ohtani and Babe Ruth. Jesus.

My question, I don't know much about the players. It's not about the players. My question is about, it's back to the family stuff you were talking about. My first thought was, so that moment with your mom changed your thoughts on money and building money and family how do you keep now you got all these franchises and all this stuff how do you keep like you take care of a lot of people but when how do you set your boundaries where it's like no because you got to keep the money to make the money but you

also grew up watching so many people not have like what's that battle like for you yeah and you from uptown so everybody was calling you yeah it's it's a great question. So in our company, look, we started with one little duplex about 20 plus years ago, and then we bought a fourplex and an eightplex. And over the last 20 years, we've bought about $5 billion of multifamily apartments, hotels, single family houses. So we've gone from little mom and pop to mid-cap to institutional level. I have five direct reports in my company. And the good news about them, they're all way smarter than I am. So we vet things.

And we talk about what are the things that are important to us. We only play in places where we bring more than capital. As an example, baseball would be a place that we bring more than capital because we have a certain expertise there. Basketball is just another sports you know, sports, right? So we're good there. But the circle of competence is very small. And if it doesn't hit that bullseye, we're not looking at it.

Because the number one thing you have to have in business is discipline. Understand who you are and what you do and do it over and over and over and over again until you're bored with it. I think she was talking about family. Yeah, I was talking about personal. I was going deeper. it i think she was talking about family yeah i was talking about personally like with grandma or you know let me get five family to date like you're you're you're also the celebrity right right and people their family your booze they don't understand what you're saying the discipline

they just see what they need and they call you how do you be like no i can't do that that makes no sense for my discipline so first of all i'm almost 50 now so i've had a lot of learning experience i would say when i was in my 20s and 30s that was a lot more challenging right but now when you're running businesses you can give people opportunities where they can win so as an example my sister does on my personal real estate so if i'm buying a house for you know a dollar she's making you know three percent of that or six percent of that and my sister does on my personal real estate. So if I'm buying a house for, you know, a dollar, she's making, you know, 3% on that or 6% on that. And my brother does. But they got to be competent now. It's not a giveaway. No, no. They know my, I don't play that game. You got to be by the book. There's no nepotism. I'm a very tough boss. I would say that. But here are the rules, rules of engagement. If you play

by them, you're going to get first bid. And and if you perform i'm going to come back to you over and over again if you don't perform i have no problem quickly pivoting quickly and it's not personal it's business that's right now when my mom calls whatever but was there ever a time where you had to explain to people uh the business meaning like they just reported oh alice Rodriguez gets a hundred million dollar contract and somebody comes to you and asks you for something like bro i gotta pay taxes i gotta pay managers you have to explain that oh yeah yeah now thank god for me i guess is i don't have a huge family it's really we're a family of five right my mom cousin and my the three of us we're all the siblings so we keep it tight and and they've

grown with me and they do great work and they work hard and I'm really blessed to have people that really understand money and they have great work ethic comes from my mom and on that aspect I've been pretty fortunate can you expound on something John with that a rod said he said bringing bringing to the situation more than capital he want to be with situations you want to be involved in situations where you bring more than capital. Yeah. Well, the word capital comes from the Latin root word capitas, knowledge in the head. The word credit comes from the Latin root word credito, which is credibility. It has nothing to do with money. Banking actually is a trust business. It's about, do I trust

you? Do you have credibility? And do you have the knowledge, do you have the understanding? Relationship capital is really the real capital. I mean, what's a country club? Why do you go to Harvard? Is Harvard going to make you smarter than the state university? Maybe, maybe not. The glass of 2024 is going to hook each other up for the next 40 years. So that's why you go to a country club.

That's why you go to a private club. That's why any small group, that's why you go to a country club. That's why you go to a private club. That's why any small group, that's why you go to college other than the education. So you've got to figure out what your capital is. You've got to figure out who your circle is. That's why I said earlier, if you hang around nine broke people, you're going to be the 10th. So you've got to, you know, look at who A-Rod's hanging around.

He didn't mention a bunch of people. He mentioned, we both mentioned, we both saw him last week, Magic. Magic's wearing a business suit these days. Anybody in sports or entertainment, now, which is a canvas, everybody who comes through here, anybody in sports and entertainment, with a B in front of them, billion, did it in business. That's right. They translate it.

You can't sell enough, You cannot sell enough concert tickets. You cannot get a big enough contract to become a billionaire. That's not the way income works. You got to translate that into business. Every, literally, every athlete and every entertainer. Jay-Z, business. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan, business.

Dr. Dre, business. Michael Jordan? Michael Jordan, business. Dr. Dre beats business. My man has got a billion-dollar portfolio. That's why he can just be so cool and just understate. Don't need to scream and holler. When you got the power, you don't need to use it. So it is about getting your mind right. All poverty, Charlemagne, beyond sustenance poverty, roof over your head, food on the table, reasonable health care, all other poverty is mindset.

That's why I say there's a difference between being broke and being poor. Being broke is economic, but being poor is a disabling frame of mind, a depressed condition of your spirit, and you must vow never to be poor again. The first thing you got to do is get your mind right, and then the money will follow. Now, for parents listening now, when is a good time to start getting their kids involved in financial literacy? When you start breathing. So when you start spending money.

I mean, you're spending money 24 hours a day. When you sleep, you're spending money. The government didn't buy the bedsheets. The government didn't buy the alarm clock. You did that. The government's not paying for your light bill, right? So check this out. We have a kid's account in Atlanta Public Schools, Operation Hope. By the way, everybody can go get financial coaching scholarship from the breakfast club. Call Operation Hope. We'll give you a $1,000 free scholarship just because you mentioned

breakfast club to get coaching accounts and get your credit score right. So we have it with Mayor Andre Dickens in Atlanta. We have a kid's account in kindergarten. 50 bucks in the kid's account. Now, you may say, what's the big deal of that? If you have a bank account at kindergarten, you're 50% more likely to go to college. Hold on a minute. Watch, check this out. If you have

$50 in that account, in kindergarten, you're 75% more likely to graduate from college because now you're connecting education with aspiration. The kid, the lights on the kid's head. Now you're talking about stocks and bonds and investment. And I mean, it don't, and don't put, don't create an investment account. Don't get a rod or me or you, you know, to come, you know, don't DJ and be, go in and talk about cars, you know, talk about,

because when there's technology these days, right. Talk about it. But through really it's technology these days, right? But through that, it's investment. Now these kids, you hooked them, right? So it's about role modeling. It's about the language of money at the earliest age because this is the aspiration generation. We can literally build the next generation of America. We have to, by the way, because we're going to be a majority of minorities. Literally, if we don't do that, this country is done.

But we can do that at kindergarten with a $50 hope savings account. Let me add to John's answer, and I agree with everything he said. I'll give you a real-life example. So I remember I have two daughters, Natasha and Ella. Natasha is a sophomore at Michigan today. Ella is a junior in high school. I remember when they were in kindergarten and second grade. And I said, all right, girls, here's the deal.

Every day Pops drives you to school. I'm going to give you three business lessons. And on Friday, be ready to pick your five companies for a portfolio. I'm going to put $1,000 in each one of your accounts. And they were confused. And I said, well, you're overthinking it. Give me five products that you use every day. Well, I use my phone, Apple. Are you on Instagram? Not yet, but I know what that is. Okay. Meta, social media, Google, because I Google things. They wanted to get CVS because that's where mom takes them.

And one more, maybe Disney. And I put $1,000 every year. So it's not really about big numbers. It's really about the practice of the habit of honing your craft. You look today, both their accounts got over $150,000, right? And they've outdone the performance of some of the smartest hedge fund people in the world because they kind of didn't overthink it. They thought really fundamentally about what they used. But they now, by the way, by the time they were freshmen in high school, they were like, Dad, no more business.

We're done. We're sick. But now I hear them as many adults, and they're repeating my language that they learned in first grade, second grade, third grade. Although they were fighting it, they were absorbing it. That's right. You know, the biggest thing that my son, who's nine, the thing that I love is my son watches Shark Tank.

So he's nine. So he doesn't know you for baseball. He knows you from Shark Tank. And like I was talking on the phone, we was talking to businesses, somebody, and he started asking me questions that I know that he got from someplace else. I said this the other day, he was asking me, so dad, how much equity do you get in that deal? I'm like, where the fuck are you getting that from?

And then he was like, well, what about, he was like he was like well whoa i said well where did you hear about equity he's telling me shark tank and he was like yeah i want to know what royalty fees are and this and the other and and now i was like i just want to play baseball but you know it was just it was great that they have these type of shows on and i know you got to go i know you had a question yeah i do have a question so y'all are talking about your families and your kids and these two always talk about how when they locked into their marriages everything like flourished for them you talk about your baby girls a lot last time you were here you were talking engagement with JLo I know you're right now dating uh Jacqueline is engagement marriage is that a conversation for you right now like how does that where does

that fit in all this business and the portfolios well I'm very lucky to have an incredible person in my life Jack's Canadian she's right outside of Detroit which is very beneficial because my daughter goes to school in Michigan so I get two for the price of one so you're cutting a good deal so she's 20 minutes from Detroit she's a former nurse she's transitioned her nursing to an incredible business called Jack Fit, where she helps out, you know, thousands of women online get a better life. I personally lost 30 pounds because of her. I haven't really thought about that. This is really the best place I've been in my life. I'm very fortunate, grateful to be where I am. I'm helping out tons of people involved, like you said, with the Timberwolves and the

Lynx and doing my Fox deal with the Yankees and the Dodgers. I'm open to anything, but right now I'll let you know if there's some big announcement coming. Maybe I'll come back. I would think it would be difficult for you to trust anybody. You know what I mean?

Romantically. Just because you are a celebrity within the money, like. It's hard, it's hard for sure. But you know, you take your time, you try to surround yourself with people that are better than you. But it's no question, it's difficult. Now that man is married.

John O'Brien. Oh yeah, Shaytram. And you know, I've known her for 25 years, we've been married for six. She has no agenda. She just loves me. And you can feel it, right? And it's hard to trust people because you're not a person to them.

You're just an opportunity. You're a cash register. And I've had people try to take me down because they didn't get what they wanted. So that makes you really skittish. But if you have the right relationship, as I said earlier, two plus two equals six, eight, or 10, it really does enhance your life and root you and ground you. And they love you no matter what. Ups and downs, by the way. But that goes back, Charlamagne, to what you said about your circle. As your world gets bigger, your circle should get

smaller. As your world gets bigger, your circle should get smaller. That's right. As your world gets bigger, your circle should get smaller. I would love to talk about very quickly a mistake that I made. Because people hear about all these wins and we're doing this and doing that. We don't, you know, they can't necessarily relate to that. You know, I made a mistake since I saw you last. What happened? In business. I sold a mistake since I saw you last. What happened? In business. I sold a company.

So technically it wasn't before I saw you because I sold the Promise Homes company two years ago. But I just realized I made a mistake in the last month. So I invest just real talk. I've never said this before, but I invested $3.9 million in an investment account. I put it in the market, and I tell people, let it sit there. And I messed up. I didn't take my own advice. The market went crazy January 2022. Interest rates started going up. By March and April, interest rates were still going up. Stocks were taking a beating. I had just put my money in the account January 2022.

I had lost $500,000 in three months. So what did I do? Pulled it out. I pulled it out and put it in treasury bills. So I said, take me to cash. I took it all and put it in treasury bills and just let it sit there. And so what happened?

I asked my broker, broker Rockefeller Capital Management as a family office, I asked him two weeks ago. So I'm just curious, what would have happened if I had left it in? Well, you would have lost another $200,000. So I'd have been down $700,000, which is, you know, hold on to your butt cheeks. Right. But if you, but, but DJ Envy, if you kept it in, just let it sit there. This is the magic of markets. This hurts. Don't repeat the same word.

John, you got to stop. That edit is going to be crazy. Because he said, hold on to your butt cheeks, DJ Envy. If you just let it in, then you say it hurts. I had your back. I said don't repeat. Don't repeat that. Me and him are like children.

I'm sorry. We're children. We're children. There's got to be another way to say it. We understand what you said. Go ahead. If you just held it. Mr. Charlamagne.

Oh, no. They're going to know he's into what you say. Oh, man. I'm going to let you out of this completely. I'm out. So this really hurt because the guy told me if I had just done nothing

just let it sit there let the markets do his thing that I'd have made the $700,000 back and another $700,000 on top of it I'd have doubled my money over the losses if I did nothing this is the magic.

Why did you do that? You got to just let it sit. So, by the way, I don't beat myself up about this decision because if I had had money in the market in that account and had made some profits, so it wasn't house money, I would have left it in there. Because if I lost my profits, then that's fine. This was core capital.

My goal for this core capital was just to let it sit. The goal of this money was to be safe. So somebody might be thinking about a 401k plan they've got at their employer, or they've got $1,000 in their savings account. They don't want anybody to touch that, right? So think about that in that example. So this was, for me, that. So I didn't need to make any money.

I just didn't want to lose any on that particular investment. If I had made something, I would have left it there. So in hindsight, statistically, I made a mistake. But from what my priority was, which was safety and security, not return, I'm completely cool with it. I'm just saying that as an investor, I tell people, put it in the market. What did I say about homes? Buy it and don't sell it, right? It'll just go up in value.

I'm just giving, I'm telling you, here's a guy who is pretty good at the investment and business game. And here's an example where recently- You made a mistake. I made a mistake and paid for it. And the magic of markets, you make money during the day,

you build wealth in your sleeve. I was going to ask, why would you put safe money on the market like that? Because they also tell you, too, if it's something that you want to keep safe and to not let, like you don't want to lose it, you don't play with it. This is a great conversation. And A-Rod, if you have an example,

please weigh in. There's three things that have never gone down in American history. I'm so glad you asked this. GDP, gross domestic product of this country, the income, real estate values, and stock market value. It goes up. There's a recession. All

recession means is it recedes. It recedes, and if you stick with it, it corrects above the line. What people who are financially illiterate do is they get freaked out, and they, ah, and they sell it, right? I had a townhouse in L.A. I bought it for $220,000, went down $100,000, $100,000 in 2008.

All my friends were telling me, sell, get rid of it. They're broke, so I didn't listen to them. I kept it. It's at 7122 Lotte Harris. Somebody listening to this know exactly what I'm talking about. Lotte Harris Airport. I kept it. It was 1,500 square feet.

Oh, yeah. I know what that said. You know what that said? I rented it out to a police officer who didn't pay rent on time. But ultimately, he paid me. I paid the property taxes. I forgot about it. Five years later, I'm trying to buy a property for $750,000.

I'm like, where can I get $750,000 from? I call my broker, black real estate broker in L.A. I want you to sell this condo for me. Mind you, I bought it for $220,000. Last time I checked, it was $150,000, $180,000. What can I get for that? $750,000. All I did was let it sit there, and it just went up in value.

So I did a 1031 tax-free exchange, took the home in La Tijera, sold it for $750, bought the other property for free with no tax impact. So you just don't go wrong investing in the biggest economy, the sole superpower in the world, the flight to quality.

People in China, talking mess about us, they're investing here. Folks in Russia, talking mess about us, they're investing here. Iran, all these places, talking mess about us in front're investing here. Folks in Russia, talking mess about us, they're investing here. Iran, all these places, talking mess about us in front of the camera, all of these folks,

including Putin, investing in America. So we have this great thing in front of us called the sole superpower in the world, the biggest economy, and most of us are not taking advantage of it. So I love the stock market. Everything that you love is publicly traded. I got two more questions. economy and most of us are not taking advantage of it so i love the stock market everything that

you love is publicly traded i don't know i got two more questions not totally traded yet but well maybe we can take you public well you know what i was going to say is like you know lauren to answer your question is money's not emotional that's it money doesn't care who owns it or who who what pockets in the emotional ones are the humans and what John Hope is talking about is something that 90% of Americans do is they panic when things go down but when you see guys like Tony Ressler Warren Buffett or the greatest invest in the world Tony Ressler when when John is selling that situation one but Warren Buffett is buying He's buying a lot of it.

So if you can remove your emotions from investing, which is really hard to do and counterintuitive, money doesn't care about you. As long as you know that and you're playing the long game and know that along the long way, you're going to have some hiccups. Emotionally, you're going to be prepared to do that and not overreact. But when things go down, do you have the guts to kind of go in, making sure you understand the business and what you're doing, right? I would suggest do this with a professional. But thinking about a philosophy big picture before it happens is being prepared. It's like in baseball, I'm thinking if this ball gets hit to me,

I'm going to throw it to Jeter or I'm going to throw it to CeCe or whatever. Same thing with markets. If I have $4 million or $400,000 or $,000, and the market goes to 3000, what am I going to do? Am I going to, you got to know that before it happens and anticipate and have a little bit more of a proactive approach. By the way, on that example, to what, again, he's 100% right. It's like double down on a good investment. The same time I pulled out of that investment with the cash, I bought some real estate in another country, Turks and Caicos. I bought it for $2 million.

In the same time period, it's now worth $3.6 million. So I lost a little bit here on return, but I gained over here, almost doubling my money on real estate, secured real estate. And so I achieved my objective, just not in the way that I – Different ways. Yeah, in different ways. I was going to ask, for somebody listening, maybe possibly thinking about buying their first property, their first investment property, or even their first house, or even thinking about

refinancing the home that they have. What do you say to them? Do they wait until after the election? Because a lot of people are saying, wait till after the election, this, that, and the other. What do you say to somebody that's trying to buy a home right now? Interest rates shot up since COVID. I'm sure we're never going to get to 2.9% ever again in life. So what do you say to those individuals listening right now that thinking about buying their first investment property, their first home, or even refinancing their home? I have a strong opinion, but go ahead. You go first. Well, I would say, look, I have a different outlook when it comes to houses. I don't think houses is necessarily an investment. It's an investment to your lifestyle. It's an investment, and for a lot of Americans,

it is your biggest investment, right? Because it's the biggest asset you own, and you got usually a 70%, 75% mortgage or whatever it is. But I would say buy a home that you can afford. Buy a home and lock in your rates. So I like locking in for five or seven years. So I'm almost renting the house. I know exactly where my nut's going to be every month, right?

That's really important. And I would say buy a house that you're going to be happy in, that you're going to be able to raise your kids, that you're going to be safe, and lock in your interest rates and understand that you have to be able to afford these payments no matter what happens, right? And give yourself a margin of error, right? A safety net.

But I do think that interest rates could lower, but I'm not into timing markets when it comes to my personal houses, but I defer to Jonathan. But to say that, I would always say to people that are looking for their first property, if they necessarily don't know and are scared, I always would say get a multi-unit, right? Because that way they can rent out other units and make sure that they can pay their bills until they're more successful, take the equity out, and get their own property. That's why I would say multi-unit. What's your thoughts on that?

So the key with what Alex just said was he said houses. Okay. So this is a whole other situation. That's why he's not all in the houses as an investment. He's got houses, plural. That's a different tax bracket. Correct. The average person listening to this, please listen to me. As fast as you can,

buy a home. The number one way you build wealth in America is home ownership. The average African American, we have 41, 42, 43% of us own a home compared to 75% of our white counterparts. That 30% delta,

that difference is massive home ownership. And prices are not going down. When I started buying those 700 homes from the Promise Homes Company, by the way, Tony Rester was one of my partners and Michael Arrighetti, who we've been talking about a couple of times here. Good guys. I ran it up to $150 million of assets under management of that particular portfolio. I bought for $88,000. I sold them at $350,000. No one moved the house. There was no genius to it. It's the magic of compounding. And so they're not growing any more land. Most of the places where we live are inner cities. What's an inner city in France? It's called Paris. What's an inner city in Britain? It's

called the UK. We, we have centrally located real estate, and we're walking away from it to rent from somebody we don't know, to spend money we don't have, to impress people we don't know, to talk about stuff that don't matter. Like, knock it off. Buy the worst house and the best block in the hood. D-A-H-O-D.

The hood adjacent. Buy it near transportation, economy, economic activity, and a vibrant environment. Buy it, rehab it, the hood adjacent. Buy it near transportation, economy, economic activity, and a vibrant environment. Buy it, rehab it, live in it. Use equity a couple years later and buy, I know you know what I'm talking about here, DJ Envy, buy the second home three years later.

You do that three times over five to six years. This is my mother's story, worked in an hourly job. You're a millionaire, and you can get the down payment through the earned income tax credit. You can go to Operation Hope. We can help you get qualified for EITC. If you're making $38,000 and have three children, the government owes you about $7,000

cash. So you just gave everybody listening to this who makes $38,000 a check and is retroactive for three years if you've never filed. That's almost $20,000. There's your down payment right there, right? So we can get your credit score up, get your debt down, get your savings up, get into that house because it costs

just as much to rent as it does to pay a mortgage payment. You're right. Interest rates at 2% are not coming back. That's fine. 4%, 5% is just fine. That's still very, very low. But prices are not coming down. People, oh, I'm going to wait. No, no, no. Don't wait it's gonna get

worse it's gonna get more expensive buy right now let me go ahead why would i add one thing to that because i think when it comes to finance especially in our communities people get foggy and the listeners they're so smart that they don't even believe they don't even understand how smart they are problem is amer America has kind of confused them with all these acronyms and, you know, ROI and all these, like, fancy terms, you know. And what they have to understand is their gut and their instincts is the best asset they have. The best asset class is talent, number one. But I'm going to do something here. What's your favorite basketball player of all time?

Me? Yeah. Just name one. LeBron. LeBron. MJ. Allen Iverson to do something here. What's your favorite basketball player of all time? Me? Yeah. Just name one. LeBron. LeBron. MJ. Allen Iverson. Okay, perfect.

All right. So in this case, if we were to say, all right, we're going to go to the park and play two-on-two basketball, pick your partner, and you're going to win a million dollars, okay? You pick LeBron. You pick MJ. You pick Iverson. You guys are all solid, okay? Now we say the same drill, and we say, okay, now you won the million dollars, okay? Who, you pick Iverson, you guys are all solid. Okay. Now we say the same drill

and we say, okay, now you won the million dollars. Okay. Who are you going to give it to? Oh, I grew up with a guy in high school and I'm going to give it to him. And I don't understand how in one case you're so intelligent by picking your partner, but when it comes to controlling your personal finances, which is the single most important decision you make besides your wife or your partner, right, is you go pick some high school guy that you know or someone that is basically a guy that didn't make it in Wall Street or didn't make it in Goldman Sachs or J.P. Morgan.

So taking the same approach as going to play basketball and picking the best of the best, go find the very, very best. And it's okay if you pay them a little bit more, but you can't go wrong when you pick the very best. And I find too many times people don't pick the lebron james michael jordan or alan iverson to handle their money or to partner with i would tell your son son paul's in that restaurant who's the best restaurant people in the world i have a great platform i'm your dad let's go see if we can put 5 000 because they put it in 5 million and put a shoulder to shoulder and don't

cover me fees just let me and if that 5 000 becomes 15 000 then i can run5 million and put it shoulder to shoulder. And don't cover me fees. Just let me win. And if that $5,000 becomes $15,000, then I can run it back and run it back. So the competitive advantage we all have to identify is, and with complete self-awareness, is what is my weakness, my blind spots, and what are my assets? Well, for all three of you, you have an incredible platform. So if I have a company that needs eyeballs, I may come to you and say, hey, you guys want to throw in $25,000.

Don't worry about big numbers. It really pisses me off because it's what kept my mother out of investments, right? And what we're trying to do is democratize this whole thing and simplify it, both in opportunity and in verbiage. So if you have $2,000 and somebody like Tony Ressler has put in $20 million, say, hey, Tony, can I put in $2,000? And I guarantee you a guy like Tony will find a way to bring you along. I want to ask a question because I think sometimes we have these conversations and we have these conversations from our perspectives, right? Well, y'all in a different tax bracket.

But I'm just saying everybody here for the most part has money. What about people who have no money? People from our communities who have zero dollars? How do the poor even get to the middle class? I got you there. I mean, he's the master, but I'm just going to give you like really simple, right? Money is the easiest part to get.

And I know this sounds crazy to the folks listening, right? Money, there's over a trillion dollars sitting on the sidelines looking for great deals. So if you don't have money, can you find deal flow? Can you hustle? If you find me an asset that costs $10 million and you bring it to me for eight, you basically own $2 million of that. So if you bring me a $10 million deal, right? And I can buy

it for eight. You say, Hey, give me a million dollars on that. I'll give you, cause I'm still getting a million dollar discount. I'm paying nine for a $10 million asset. So I'm getting a discount. So looking for opportunities, understanding where the train is going and you as an entrepreneur says, how do I get in the way? So when that train goes by, I can jump on and jump in that bandwagon, right? It's creating opportunities. If you find deals, you got money. Is that possible for everyday people to achieve?

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, yes. You can open a fractional stock account and put in $25 to buy some stock. Now, you've spent that on Starbucks. You can do 10 ducks. You can do $5 of fractional stock on any stock that you want. So there's no excuse.

If you want to get in this game, Operation Hope will help you. Again, if you're listening to Breakfast Club, we'll give you a scholarship for coaching and counseling. We're going to get your credit score up. The average credit score for black people, by the way, is 620. Latinos are a little above that, not more. But that means half of us are locked out of the free enterprise system.

You can't get a decent home loan at anything below 700. You can't get a decent auto loan below 650. You can't get a business loan at all unless you're 700 or better because it's risky credit. So we think the issue is racism or discrimination. It might be, but it

also might be that you don't understand there's a game, there's a credit box, and you're not in it. So the bank is like, you're just not a good credit risk. So what we've done is we know to get your credit score up, your debt down, your savings up with hope, so the bank will say yes. At midnight, the computer doesn't know what color you are. That computer will say yes. Somebody's listening to this and saying, is he talking about debt?

Yes, it's called good debt. Bad debt's financing jewelry. Good debt is financing a home mortgage, financing a business, right? Going into an investment with A-Rod to do a multifamily apartment building, which is his bread and butter. So good debt is tied to something that might appreciate. Bad debt is tied to something that will depreciate. Every billionaire you know has used good debt.

Every city or country that grows, including this one, has used good debt. There's nothing wrong with debt as long as you're intelligently using it. The question about can any person win? I can make almost anybody a millionaire if you follow, again, he talked about basically good habits, being disciplined. If you come to Operation Hope and you follow our plan, within five years you're a working class Perkins making $48,000. We will give you a plan and make you a millionaire in five years. It's not complicated, but you have to have discipline. You have to live below your means.

You have to understand this game. You've got to be financially literate. And everybody can be a winner at this game. I'd love to come back at some point. We need to talk about this whole thing about relationship capital, which you talked about a little bit. Like behind all of us is a backer. That's right.

A partner that we're not talking about. Magic has it. I know who they are. I mentioned I love talking about Tony Ressler and Michael Reaggetti, right? They backed me $80 million, and I paid them back plus 7%, right? That's important because our community feel like capitalists. You said, talk about making smart, sexy. They feel like that's a bad thing.

A lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people in our community feel like capitalism is a horrible thing. Having people back you is a horrible thing as well, too. Yeah, so people say, let's go one step further. Oh, I hate rich people. No, you don't. You hate rich people until you become rich. What you hate is a game system, to your point.

What you hate is a system that's rigged so that you don't think you can succeed. The money's not evil. It's the love of money that's evil. It's the greed. Ambassador Andrew Young says that men and women fail for three reasons, arrogance, pride, and greed. What did Malcolm X say? We've been bamboozled.

We've been tricked. We've been fooled. We've been hoodwinked. We've been hoodwinked on this topic. Black people, I'm picking on black people because I'm black. We have never had an economic infrastructure in the history of us being here. That's our problem. Government's not going to save you.

Even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you've got to collect it like a capitalist. So we have got to, what's the entertainment business? The business of entertainment. The sports business. It's the business of sports. What we don't understand is the business. I'm going to give you a, I've never said

this, and it builds on, Allison, what you were saying. I'm going to give everybody here free game. Jay-Z did basically a financial literacy album called 444. That's right. He said, I'm going to give you a million dollars worth of game for $9.99. This is no 99. There are about $100

trillion about to co-hit the market in the next 10 years. All these baby boomers are retiring at the same time. They're going to give their cash and their stock to their kids. They're going to give their house to their family. Kids don't want the business. Those businesses have cash flow, client list, real estate, a brand. Alex, I said to you a minute ago,

bring me an asset for $10 million that I can get for $8 million, and you have the upside between $8 and $10. So if you come to me and say, I have a startup idea, give me a million dollars. I'm like, get out of here, right? You come to me and say, I've got a business that's got a million dollars of cash flow, that's got a valuation of $10 million. Will you finance the acquisition? So one-time cash, so revenue, $10 million.

In this example, it says $10 million of revenue. Will you finance a $9 million acquisition? The answer to that is absolutely yes. Non-recourse, meaning no personal guarantee. Wall Street does that all day. It's called private equity. So you got literally trillions of dollars worth of businesses that are about to hit the market. And people listening to this can go become capitalists right now with an existing cash flow business, existing assets, existing employees, not no risk, but low risk because it's already successful.

So we need to stop being self-employment projects because 96% of all black businesses don't have an employee. I don't know what the Latino numbers are. But again, you build wealth in your sleep. It's compounding. This is a huge opportunity. So if you have, in sports it's so easy. I always use sports as a great metaphor because it teaches about life and business, right? If you say, you know, who's a better basketball player, Shaq or John?

Well, they walk in the room, immediately 100% will say Shaq, right? Business is the exact opposite. Like, let's say you have 4,000 billionaires in the world today, 4,000, just for a number. And you say, everyone press delete, everyone goes to zero. The math will tell us and the science will tell us and the data will tell us that in 10 years, you'll have basically the same 4,000 billionaires again. Because what it is like Shaq is a set of skills and is an ear and is a rewiring of the brain. So all of us here walk into opportunities every single day,

but it's taking your eyeballs and your brain and your ears to think about opportunities when you hear them. So you hear opportunities all the time. You know, poor guy and a rich guy go through a bad neighborhood. The poor guy goes, God, what a terrible neighborhood. I would never want to live here. The rich guy goes, let's try to see if we can buy all this up on a cheap because in 10 years you're going to be different. You go to a barbershop and you hear through a terrible divorce

and you hear this gossip all the time. And you guys are here, man, what a terrible situation. I have to sell their house. I have to sell their car. If you're an entrepreneur in the year, you hear, Oh, that might be an opportunity. Well, maybe I can not to take advantage of anyone, but if you have to sell your house quickly, maybe I can provide a quick buy and sell for you off market. Right. And there goes that $7 million deal for 10. quickly. Maybe I can provide a quick buy and sell for you off market. Right. And there goes that $7 million deal for 10. Right.

So it's about a rewiring of the brain and looking at opportunities and not looking at problems because problems is really opportunities. Well, ladies and gentlemen, John Hope Bryant, Alex Rodriguez. And the Hope Global Forum is happening December 9th to the 11th in Atlanta, Georgia, man. That's right. I'll be there. That's right. Absolutely. We'll give you more information.

I'm sure he'll come back before that. Alright, well it's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.