Trading Secrets - 297. Thirty Minute Thursday. Derby Days, Met Gala Nights & Tommy John Takeaways!

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

This week on Trading Secrets, Jason Tartick is back with the Curious Canadian for another 30 Minute Thursday! The two break down the biggest moments from the Kentucky Derby and Met Gala, share some hilarious stories from Jason’s parents being in town, and recap this week’s conversation with Tom Patterson — including the business lessons, brand-building insights, and unexpected moments from the episode. 

I got David here. We got a lot of action here. Kentucky Derby, MacGala. We got Hawks Bachelor Party coming up here soon, which I got a funny business story for you regarding that one. We just had the CEO of Tommy John on. We got Kyle Cook coming up next week. Parents, for the first time in 37 years,

came to visit me at my house, my first house. A lot of action, David. How are you doing? Where do you even want to start? Well, you tease the whole thing. And you touched on all the things that we're going to touch on, which is always good to see that we're yinging. We're yanging. We're on the same page.

But listen, also, you miss something. Sabers, Sabers playoffs. We're in it. 30 minutes of puck drop. Game one. How you feeling about the series? Can I get a quick prediction? Man, I felt so good about our first series against Pittsburgh. I need to see the puck drop.

I need to see how we match up. I would say this is a 50-50 matchup here. I think we're looking at a coin flip. I think we take it in game seven, but I do feel like playing in Montreal, going on the road to Montreal is going to be. absolute nightmare, but Buffalo Sabres in seven, four two final in game seven. Wow, that's a very, very direct prediction. Listen, I'm a little torn here.

I've been a new Buffalo Sabres fan this year, watching them come back. I've loved it, but I do have the rule. You've heard me say it. I cheer for teams that have kids that I coached on, and I coached Elaine Hudson for a year, the star defenseman for the Montreal Canadian. So I'm, I'm torn either way. I'm just, I'm happy to see someone win at the end. It's going to be an electric series.

Nothing like playing playoff hockey in Montreal. The fact that we get to absorb that as fans is going to be extra special. I think the Sabres are going to take it, though. I do think they'll take it. I think it's going to be Sabers and six. Sabers in six. I like it. Where did you coach him?

At the North Jersey Avalanche, Lane lived with me for a year in my house as one of my billets when he was 15 years old. Good kid or shipbag? Unbelievable kid. Unbelievable, nicest kid ever. I'm so proud of him. I lived with his older brother, Quinn Hudson, who's in the Minton Oilers organization. But I was texting Elaine last night, texting them good luck. I said all the people in Western New York are saying that the habs are dead.

So you got to show me something this weekend. But I'm super pumped just to be able to see and play on this stage. It's going to be an unbelievable series. Round two playoffs in Buffalo. Fun fact, you're going to hate me for this. I had two tickets from the NHL to go to the game tonight. Could have brought you. But then when they get up, I have to be in New York tomorrow.

And I just have so much on my plate right now. And I was like, I got to make a big boy decision. If they keep going, I'm going to go. But I just couldn't pull it off. But sooner than later, you know, Curious Canadian Night, hopefully we'll get to a game. Yeah, you just, listen, I'm not going to hate you. As long as you keep me as that plus one in mind, I won't hate you for that. So, and guess what?

I started day one of a 72-hour bone broth fast today. And so I would have been no fun at the game, even though I would have broken the fast, but I need to do the fast right now. You need to shed some pounds. Is a guy who shed about 14 pounds in several days that I can't speak about right now? I would say three days, no problem. Just don't think about it. I think the biggest thing is if you're doing a fast, make sure it's healthy,

your doctor before you do it. The biggest thing is if the food isn't like in front of your face, that's where I have a problem. It's like when I'm like, you know, running around the house and the food's like beautiful cookies, like I did a story about it today. There's these beautiful cookies. Cookies by Joel. They're sitting in this like perfect thing Catherine's got. It's like how you not going to eat that. It's like it's right in front of you. Disrespectful. You can't have it in front. Yeah. It's just if it's not in front of you, out of sight, out of mind. I'm telling you. Just got to stay busy. That's how, that's how you don't eat. But listen, If I was you and I had to do Tommy John campaign, I'd be on a 72 day bone brawl fast,

but you had an unbelievable campaign. You've touched on it a little bit on this podcast. Now we have the CEO of Tommy John on here, Tommy John himself. And it was, you know what? It was an awesome, awesome episode. One of those ones that gets back to our roots of the true essence of the podcast. And he referenced our podcast as something that he's found as inspirational and motivational. And just to hear him say that and learn a bit about his experience.

and what he's been through and some savvy business moves that he made was really like, I really, really enjoyed the episode. I think I needed the episode. I think I needed it. With all the reality, TV gossip and stuff that we've talked about and will talk about, I needed a wholesome business success story in the version of Tommy John. I thought it was a great, great episode, Jason. It's the nuts and bolts of what we do, right?

You think about he started this business liquidating his 401K with his wife, gave something in a shot. Corporate wasn't working out. Now it's $100 million-plus company. I mean, it's really the nuts and bolts of how we got there, what he did, what he's doing now, how to differentiate. And there was nothing, like he said, there's nothing special about me. I just worked hard and took a shot. Anyone can do it.

And I think that's really cool. And to your point, it was interesting. I talked a little shout out to Peggy Morton. I was with here this weekend. She's an avid listener of our show. And it was funny to hear her be like, my mom was dying with the John episode. She's like, oh, my God, I thought that was the funniest episode you guys have ever had, which was pretty much all the feedback we got.

hilarious hilarious hilarious a good take from peggy was like listen funny and stuff but that's not why i listen to you're saying to trading secrets to get this comedic ha ha ha ha like i you know i go to i want to hear your story i want to hear the money i want to hear how you got there i want to give me the nuts and bolts and so for our listeners that like that's why you come here this is a great way to come back to it 100% and a couple things that he said and that were maybe non-traditional things that you hear on every episode but when you really think about it are right i thought it was really interesting to hear to say that the best time to start a business is in a recession. Is that a common theme in the business world or is that more of like makes you think and be like, huh, I could see how that could be

true. Well, we've heard that a couple times. Ryan Sirhead, the first time he ever came on the show, he was an actor and model trying to hack it in New York City failing. And the way that he started in real estate was when the mortgage crisis happened. Like no one got in real estate in 2008. That was unheard of. But when you think about demand being low into an area, that's where there's also opportunity to skyrocket. When no one wants to be there and you're there, it gives you an opportunity to learn quick and learn fast. So there definitely is something to that. That's not only the first person that's at now the second and look at Ryan Surhan and look where Tommy John is that company's crushing. So clearly there's something there. I'll be the third because we started

BK, the hockey academy in the middle of COVID. When everyone was shutting down, we were like, wow, we have all this invested time and money and people. So we went everywhere and played everyone and put ourselves on the map. So when people were sitting on their homes at COVID, wishing they were playing. Who's this BK team playing everyone, beating everyone? So I felt that a little bit. One thing that he said that I did love, and I've never really thought about it this way, where it was at the end of the episode and he was talking about making money. He goes, you know, I really have just made money because of the passion. He goes, at the end of the passion of this industry of the business, it led me to the money. He goes, I'm more impressed with people that can make money and do something

that they absolutely hate. I thought that that was a really interesting justification of, like you said, he's not a special guy. He's not the smartest guy. He just worked really hard and had some good ideas. And you could tell how incredibly thoughtful he was in his approach. The stories that he talked about about going into Neimanis and Marcus and getting to know the sales associates and having those shirts ready on hand for a guy who was trying on a suit. He's like, hey, you want, you want to try this undershirt? And he goes, I'll take 18 white, 18 black. I just thought those stories are like, he's backing it up. That isn't just a genius move. You don't have to be the smartest guy. You just have to be someone who's absolutely obsessed and dedicated with their craft. And he stumbled into opportunities like that. And if he didn't have that aha moment, like, oh my God, I just sold 36 undershirts, there is something here. Who knows where the company goes or doesn't go? I also like when he talked about just the idea. I don't want to look back in my life and be the one that had the idea, but didn't take the shot to do it. And so maybe that's motivation for anyone that's listening right now. If you have that idea, go fucking do it.

go do it. And if it doesn't work out, who cares? Go do the next thing. But take the shot. Speaking of taking a shot, David, when my parents visit, I feel like every time I see my dad, he always asks every single time without fail. Hey, so has David found his crypto yet? And I'll tell you, for any of our traders out there, people that are interested in finance, Bitcoin has now surged over $81,000 per coin as we're recording this. So, David, to answer my dad's question, have you found the crypto yet? I've made steps. Okay, steps.

I haven't necessarily found it. I have a fear in the steps that I've made that there is no more crypto to be found. So I've made steps. I don't have confirmed negative news. I don't have any positive news, but I've made steps to get a little bit of a realization. So no, I don't know. I don't think about it at all until your dad visits you and then you bring it up to 50,000 people every single time they listen to podcast. So I haven't yet.

So thanks for that. And you know what? your dad, Gary, I hear you. If it's a chirp, I deserve it. But we're going to hear a little bit about maybe some chirps he was throwing your way as a new homeowner there, putting your handyman things to the test. He was throwing chirps. Before we get into that, quick little update.

As of today, markets closed reaching all-time highs. There was some speculation that the war in Iran was closing up with a potential deal. And after markets closed, Donald Trump did come out and say, not so fast. They have not accepted our proposal. accepted soon, we'll be bombing them. Now, what's interesting is the price of oil per gallon went and dipped under $100 per gallon, which is a good sign, which is why airline stocks were absolutely ripping and roaring today. But, you know, it's really interesting to see how this is all impacting on the United States, but the overall global economy, more to come. Hopefully

there's a deal here sooner than later. The sooner there's a deal, the sooner the overall economy and outlook for the future will be in a better place. So more to come. come on that. But we can go right back to mom and dad if you want to, David. Well, airline stocks rip and you said maybe a little too, little too late for old spirit there. Spirit, RIP, Spirit Airlines. RIP Spirit Airlines. And what's interesting is before today, a lot of the airlines were giving us estimated dates as to when they just truly could not afford oil anymore. So as the futures for oil, right, think about we can have a look into what the price of oil will be, that can help these airlines think about what their costs they'll assume will be

with me keeping it very 101. And as those futures go down, obviously the stocks will go up because it increases their profitability and ability to just think about it perform day to day. Like the biggest piece of the airline business, obviously is compliance operations in the cost of fuel. So a lot of moving parts with this war. We'll see what happens. We'll keep you posted as we talk about this stuff on 30-minute Thursdays. David, anything on that topic before we kind of wrap it? No, I think that that's a good little summary. R.I.P. Spirit Airlines. One more thing, though I do want to talk about is retirement real quick. There's an article that came out today, according to Northwestern mutual survey. Americans think that the magic number for retirement is $1.26 million. And the top

10% are on track to reach and surpass that amount. That's data from the Federal Reserve's most recent survey of consumer finances, which is published every three years, shows that the median retirement savings for the top 10% is now over $900,000. In contrast, the median savings across all households with retirement account hovers just over $87,000. So we are starting to see, especially with the markets moving up, there's becoming a huge discrepancy between the wealthy and those in the lower class here. And that middle class is shrinking by the moment. Is that saying, just to make sure I'm on part? here, 1.26 million is the target number for retirement. So at 65 years old, people are hoping to have

1.26 is the target in their 401k. Am I reading that right? Am I picking up what you're putting down? Not quite. You're kind of picking what I'm putting down. Well, most Americans are saying that they think that's the magic number. And so when they retire you're going to live to hopefully 90. That's 25 years. Quick math, 1.2 divided by 25. Don't have that math in my game, but you do. So the number is, what was the question well 50,000 a year would get you at 20 years would get you a million dollars so 1.2 is another 10 okay 24 it's pretty good math yeah 24 years of 50,000 is an annual salary probably not enough money 48,000 yeah 1.2 million divided by 25 is 48 thousands okay you know there you go but you also got to assume that you're going to live off the 1.2 million let's just suppose you have 1.2 million in retirement

and that smp 500 on average returns 10% a year on average since inception, you can make 120 grand a year off that 1.2 million. Rob Grunkowski just talked about this on a podcast. He was like, I grew up frugal. I grew up using my brother's equipment. I didn't have new anything. So when I looked at my contract and I was like, wait, I can make $4 million in four years. I'll be able to save like $1,2 million and then do appearances and stuff, get another million. If I get $3 million bucks, Rob's like the way I live, I don't have to work again. I'm 24. And he talked about the fact he didn't have to spend any of endorsement money. How much money do you have in the old S&P there?

I got a lot of money in S&P. Yeah. 10% is annual? 10% is the annual return since inception. Like there are years where S&P 500 is down 20%, 15%, 12%. But if you look at since inception, which I believe is like 1940 something, to 26, it averages 10%. Okay. Good.

S&P. Love. See you backing it up, talking about it, backing it up, loving it. now you got the house. You're investing in the S&P. Now you got the house. Listen, I think it's just going to be a trending topic here. Parents come to town. First time they see the house, talk me through it here a little bit. Was it a aha moment? Was it a holy shit moment? Was it a, oh my God, I'm grateful moment? Was it a, I mean, talk me through it. That's a special time. Yeah, honestly, it was a very, very special time. It was, I think they've seen pictures and

stuff, but like it's even better in person. They loved every bit of it. I feel like they're very particular with what they like and what they don't like. And they're so complimentary. And they love the flow of it. They love their room. They love the work that Catherine's done on interior design, which she's done a fantastic job. They just were just so, so happy about it. My mom had said, she's like, you know, so many times I would come visit you in Nashville. And when I would leave, it would hurt me to leave. Because I'd be thinking about he's there by himself or he's lonely or I don't like the situation he's currently in. And she's like leaving this time was so easy and refreshing.

She's like, you have an amazing partner. You have an amazing house. You've worked so hard. You've built this life through going through a lot to get here and you've got here. And just as your mom, as I leave that driveway, I'm at ease. I'm at peace. And I haven't really felt that ever. And so like that was quite nice.

That's amazing. That's an amazing feeling. And you do deserve it. and I know how much she probably means that and has felt that and wanted to feel that and say it. So she's probably so happy to be able to say it. How long did it take your dad to get the tools out? Was he, was it immediate? Instantly, dude.

McGaiver Jr. can't stop. I mean, literally this guy is just an absolute beast. He's so good. But you know what's interesting? Growing up, I didn't have an interest to learn this shit. I'll be real with you. I didn't. And I don't think, I don't want to take a shot of him.

I don't know that he had the patience. You know what I mean? But I didn't have the interest. So he would say, I'm not teach you this stuff. And I'm like, Dad, I didn't want to learn. I didn't have the patience. And you were just doing your own thing. And my dad's just that kind of guy.

He's a check bag. Like, get it done, get it done. And he just knows how to do all this shit. Do you think that, and I'm going to use you as an example here, our dads are so much more handy and those types of things. Like, it's incredible. Like, your dad goes through that house, he's opening up boxes and he's going in the attic and the crawl space. And he's finding the piping and the wire.

and you're like, what the fuck? Like, I'm useless. Like, I won't be able to know any of this stuff. Do you think that you'll be able to pass your financial knowledge and your, your investing knowledge in a way to your son one day where your son or your daughter's, like, holy shit. Like, I'm really good at social media and technology and like, but I don't know. I don't know any of this.

Like, do you think that's the thing that you're going to be able to kind of like pass down that your kid has no chance of like understanding or learning at the level that you do? Yeah. I mean, like a lot of technical stuff, especially like construction and things like that. I've never been interested in. I've never, never wanted to do it. You know what I mean?

What I've always been interested in my whole life is like building businesses and like finding areas to grow with like financials. And, you know, just like I know marketing has always been interesting. Sales has always been interesting. So the things that I've acquired over the years, I'll be able to pass that down. But I won't be able to pass things like cleaning your gutters or building a home or put, you know, like, I just won't be able to do that. You know what I mean? Part of my, I remember the first time, this is stupid. It is stupid, but I remember the first time I ever learned what opportunity cost was. And the example our economics professor gave us her teacher, because it was in high school,

he's like, if your lawn takes an hour and a half to do and you could pay someone $40 to do it, because the value of your time is more than $40 for an hour and a half, that is opportunity cost of time. And I remember the second his name, his name was Mr. Wright, he said that I was like, in my life, I want to be the person that has a valuable time enough that like, I don't have to mow the law. That was just my thing that I don't know. So like maybe those are the things I'll pass on. But it certainly will not be hammering a nail into a wall and using a stud finder and going to Lowe's and building a toolkit, which I did for the first time. Bro, tools are fucking expensive. So expensive.

And it's like you got to buy so many different sizes and things. And it's like I don't, A, I don't even know how to use that. B, I don't even know how I don't even know what to use it for. See, you're telling me that I have to get it just in case the pipe burst the one time. Listen, if a pipe burst, I ain't using a fucking tool. I'm using the phone, which is my tool to say someone help me to hell out because I am underwater. Exactly. I mean, dude, I had this starter pack like that, you know, like the kid who goes to school for first grade for the first time and he gets.

like his little crayons and pencils. Like I had the fucking first grade toolkit starter kit, $750. I'm like, I didn't buy it. What did I buy a screwdriver? Carter has more tools than I do. My three-year-old son has more tools than I do. I'm an absolute joke when it comes to that stuff.

Yeah, dude. Oh, it's so bad. But you know what? I will say the cool thing is, when you own a house, as you know, you own a house, you have no choice but to learn.

I don't want to learn. I hate it. I can't stand it. But my God, do I know a lot more about a home than I ever did. Then you're just getting started. Wait you go through all four seasons because every time you have a season, something else pops up.

My pool guy's coming tomorrow. I got to open the pool, which is like, ding, I got to go get the chemicals tomorrow. My lawn guy finally came. Speaking of this, funny story, lawn guy,

cost of opportunity costs. I have a great long guy, $40 to cut the grass. One thing that I'm glad to say, like, hey, if I have two hours, am I cutting the grass or am I going golfing? I don't get that much sunlight in Rochester.

I need to go golfing. So there you go. Opportunity cost of time right there. Oh, yeah. I also was at the casino this weekend with Hawk for his mini bachelor party because of the Rochester guys who couldn't go to Portugal

for his bachelor party. We did it this weekend. We went golfing. We went to the casino. 1.30 in the morning. We finally get on the cross table. I looked at my left who it is. It's the guy who cuts my grass. And I hadn't seen him yet. And he's like, I've got to come over. I was like, oh, it's all good. We played crafts for half an hour's a great time. Do you give him 40 bucks?

I should have. I should have put it on the pass line. You should have. I should have. That would have been smart. I'm not going to say the brand or the deal. It's a dream brand. It's professional sports. I'll stop at that.

I just pass, and maybe there might be a chance to do this deal later, and I'm really hoping there is. I passed on a $75,000 deal because it was the weekend of Hawksbatchewski. Where is it? Can I step in? Do they want to put a 7.5? I'll take a 10%. I'll take 10% of it. I know.

It's in England. I'll leave it at that. But that one hurt. But the right move, but we'll get it back. Somehow. We get it back. Cassino was good to me, though. It was good.

How'd you do? Would you win? Yeah, we want some money. What'd you play? I played a variety. I learned some new games. Mississippi Stud, new game. I learned it.

Great game. Yeah, it is a good game. Played blackjack, roulette, craps, but I won my most sports gambling in the sports book. That's a really quick transition to Kentucky Derby here. I mean, three to one winner. The Tampa Bay Lightning owner also has ownership in this horse, the first female trainer to ever win the Kentucky Derby. Pretty cool to see that horse come from behind. Of course,

you're seeing all the trends go out of like, just keep your blinders up, keep going, ignore what's around you, just keep focused. Ignore the noise. Had to have been the first, legitimately last place to first place in a race Kentucky Derby winner. I mean, I can't imagine that that's happened ever before. The horse was legitimately in last place. Remember when we were in college, there was that one horse, I think it was called Mind That Bird, which was like a 50 to 1 or something like that. And that was something like that. But literally to come from the last place was, that was wild. Also heard that there was only one horse in the entire derby that wasn't the direct bloodline of Secretariat.

Did not know that. Yeah. I think that was a John Gurney fact on the Trading Secrets Call this week. Interesting. Yeah. That's fair. And, you know, another thing on the horse racing front, I will tell you, I've learned a lot from Catherine's side. I've always enjoyed horse racing, but on the animal welfare front.

Bad. She's got a lot arguments against it. And once she brings the arguments out, I got to be honest. As a guy who likes to argue, it's a tough one. It's a tough one. It's a tough one's a debate. So you got the Kentucky Derby. You get all the people wearing the fancy hats, the fancy dresses.

You also got the Met Gala this weekend, too, talking about fancy hats, fancy dresses. What in the fuck were some of these people wearing? And listen, maybe this is a poor take for me. I get it. I've been consuming the MetGallop. I couldn't figure out the theme to save my life this year. It just, it just, I was like the Matrix. It was just dodging me.

I couldn't really figure it out. Here's what I'll tell. Here's, I'm going to take a devil's advocate approach. Expression is beautiful. Art is beautiful. And I believe what majority of these people are trying to do is find a way to express in a form of art. And I think most of us live in a world where it's very one dimensional, two dimensional. It's very just blinders on like the Kentucky Derby winner. And we live in our own worlds. And it's hard for us

to understand what that art is. And I think what we do is a society. And I know everyone does it. And I know this is more of a serious take. But a lot of people chirp it, make fun of it. Group chats are like, this is embarrassing. So I'm just going to take a devil's advocate approach and just say, hey, you know what? The art, the form of expression and art is cool. I agree with you. I would love an explanation for some of this shit. Like, help me understand your art, because I don't understand it.

And I'm not like a, I'm not like a Met Gala hater by any means. Like, I actually, I actually like watching it and seeing some of the outfits. I was just, this year I was just more confused. Maybe that's on me. Maybe that probably is on me.

And that's okay, right? I can admit that. But I was very confused with some of the, the outfits and how it connected to the theme. But it creates eyeballs. And I've heard there's some intense rules. the MetGala too. I think there's intense rules. You know, it's $100,000 to touch

sharing secrets. It's $100,000 per seat for anyone that attends. I think that's not invited. Like, I think celebrities don't pay. I don't know. I'll have to look into that. Interesting. It's the whole thing is really fascinating. Yeah, no drinking at the MacGall, I heard. No drinking. Yeah. I don't know. It's interesting. I always, what I find invited would you go yeah of course i would go but i always find it interesting the people i would never get invited but i always find it the people that are like never said kind kind of yeah never say never but i'm the people that are on let's call it like the the potential list one day and they're like they get all angry about it but then they're like but one day i'll be there and like a lot of the people

let's say it you're like no you won't yeah you won't you actually have no idea stars i would love If you ever go on the Met Gallo, we're doing like a full behind the scenes of like you, what you think you are going to wear and then like what someone tells you that you're going to wear based off the theme. I don't think we'll ever have that problem. But I promise you if we do, I'll tell you. Okay. Okay. So you got to take me as your plus one in the Savers game and you got to invite me as your behind the scenes in that gal. I love it.

I never have to worry about ensuring secrets. And we got, then we got Kyle Cook coming up on Monday. I got to tell you, for everyone listening with us still, I asked for logos. I said I got 500 bucks. I got 100 emails today, logos. Every single one was chat sheet, BT. Oh, yeah. Come on, guys.

Too easy to tell, too. Yeah. Wait until I should do a post with all the logos people submit. It's hilarious. They're all the same logo. Yeah, because they're all the same prompts. Exactly. We're also going through a little podcast network right now.

A lot of a few networks are sending us offers. So we'll see what comes next. Yeah. Well, we're running out of time here and Montreal and Buffalo. In Montreal and Buffalo. The puck is about to drop. Keep flying high. Keep spreading happiness.

Keep making impact out there, David. This was a cool little podcast. I love these 30-minute Thursdays. It feels like I'm just getting to catch up with you. It's, I don't even care if people listen. I haven't checked the numbers. I have so much fun. I have so. I swear, I haven't checked the downloads once.

I do know the networks that are putting offers on the table right now. I really love the 30-minute Thursday thing. We'll see where it goes. Great to see you. Go Sabres. Anything else you want to wrap with? No. I'm looking forward to doing this next week.

All right. We'll see you on Monday with Kyle Cook. Another episode of Sharing Secrets. One, you can't afford to miss.