Trading Secrets - The rollercoaster of $800K/year to $0?! Savannah Chrisley reveals the impact of parent’s prison sentence, the wild numbers behind reality TV, prioritizing mental health, and keeping her faith

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by entrepreneur, real estate agent, podcast host, and reality TV star, Savannah Chrisley! Over the past 10 years, Savannah and her family gained recognition for their rapid success from their hit reality show, Chrisley Knows Best, with over 200 episodes and several successful spinoffs including Growing Up Chrisley, which featured Savannah and her brother as the stars of the show. Since then, Savannah leveraged her reality TV success with various entrepreneurial endeavors, including starting her own personal beauty brand, hosting her own podcast, and starting her own luxury reality company in Nashville. Although her career accolades have proven Savannah’s ability to succeed in whatever she puts her mind to, she has to endure it all through unique personal struggles from those close to her, including her parents being sent to prison for tax evasion and the tragic passing of her ex-fiancé. Savannah gives insight to how her life could be adapted into a Lifetime movie, starting on reality TV at age 15, how mental health should be prioritized and reform for minors in the entertainment industry, what negotiating looked like with family, the difference in pay between the two shows, how she spent her money in her late teens/early twenties, how the family was able to utilize their leverage with the network due to the value they brought, and how the show was impacted after her parents were found guilty at trial. Savannah also reveals how honesty and transparency allowed her to thrive, how she looks at money at this current moment, how her dad’s former business partner played a critical role in the trial, how complex the case against her parents was,  advocating their innocence, the biggest takeaways she has learned from the entire court cases, getting into politics from a people perspective about the broken prison system, and the role her faith plays in her daily life. How did the Chrisley’s end up with a reality show in the first place? Was she making more on the show or social media? Is money a motivator? What was her time on Special Forces like?  Savannah reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!  Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Guest: Savannah Chrisley Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial 

Welcome back to another episode of trading secrets and welcome to the pre-market trading segment where I tell you a little bit about what you can expect from today's guest, a quick money tip and an update for my personal life. Today we have Savannah Chris Leon. Now I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to say, easily, one of my favorite top 10 interviews, maybe even top five. Why? Because you can love Savannah, you can like Savannah, you can even dislike Savannah. You can agree or disagree. But what you have to do is respect what she has gone through and how her resilience, her mental endurance, and her strength and perseverance has gotten her where she is today. She has had so many curveballs sent her way. And through them all, she learns, she grows, she adapts, she strives to be better.

What I also like about Savannah is she speaks with conviction. She speaks with facts. And then she articulates her opinion, which again, you can agree or disagree on. But I love the way that she puts yourself out there and doesn't worry at all what people think. Maybe it's something that I inspired to be, right? I know through therapy and a lot of work, something I care way too much about is outsider opinion. It's something that I have spent hours and hours and thousands and thousands of dollars working on. And it's something that I see from Savannah that I am intrigued by. I'm not magnified by and I appreciate it. Today's episode, it's wild because it's like a true crime podcast. We get into the specifics of her parents, financial fraud conviction, which has

them in jail for many, many years. The specifics behind it, you're going to hear Savannah's side, where she, of course, defends them and believes that they're innocent, although they were convicted and are guilty, but you're going to hear all about it. So within this episode, it's cool because you're going to get all the numbers of reality TV, the highs of building, wealth, the lows of losing that wealth, the impact, the arrest had on the show, the conviction had on the entire family's net worth, the cost of what it's taken to defend them, and then the overall value that they've lost because of the way their brand as a family has been diminished. So this episode is one truly you can't afford to miss, no matter who you

are or what your interests are. Now, a little tip I'm going to give you. This tip, of course, from Talk Money to Me. It's the eight financial questions and numbers. You must know about yourself. And if you are in a relationship, how to discuss those with your partner and build as a unit. And if you're not in a relationship, this book is still perfect for you because it will give you all the tips, tricks of how to build independent wealth so that when you are in a relationship, no one has leverage on you when it comes to the resource of money. And we know that money can be used in weaponizing relationships and has a huge impact on the success of relationships and even the intimacy. A chapter you have to know and a number you have to know

is your debt to income ratio. It sounds terrifying, but there's a full chapter and talk money to me about what it is and how you can calculate it. And it's a huge number that the banks look at when they are approving you for a mortgage loan. It's the ideology of understanding your debt and how that connects to your overall income. Now, here are some numbers I want you to know. There are over $10 trillion in credit card debt, over $1 trillion in student loan debt, there are over $11 trillion in mortgage debt,

and on average, in America, each individual is carrying over $96,000 of debt. So the idea here is that's okay, but we have to know what debt is bad and what debt is good. We also have to know how to understand it and pay it back. and talk money to me, I will teach you how to do that because $25,000 in rolling credit card debt is costing you more than $100,000 plus in interest. I'll tell you a little bit about that.

And I'll also showcase why hundreds of thousand dollars in student debt in some cases can be much more beneficial than even $10,000 in rolling credit card debt. So if you want to know what your debt to income ratio is, if you want to know debt, understand good debt versus bad debt, go grab, a copy of Talk Money to me. You go to Amazon right now. When you do, send me the receipt. Because in the next week, I am going to be announcing our book tour. We have locked up a title sponsor. We are going to be having a book tour. I will be having incredible guests at each location. And get ready for this. Tickets are free. You heard it. They're limited, but they're free.

So if you buy a copy of Talk Money to me right now, send me the receipt. Trading Secrets. at jason tardick.com because at the end of the book tour, I'm throwing a banger party in New York City, invite only, and I have a certain amount of slots set up for the money mafia. So to be on that list, please just send me the copy of your book receipt and you will be on the list when we are selecting who is going to come to the party. It is going to be a blowout. So just send that to trading secrets at jason tariff.com. A little update from my life. Super Bowl was absolute mayhem, a great success. I am back in Nashville, fully focused on work and preparing for what I believe will be the craziest next month and a half of my life. I have some exciting news. I'll be on the Jennifer

Hudson Show talking money to me. Good morning America and many more. And in March, I'm going to be in a total of about 15 cities in a month. And about 10 of those will be book tour stop. So that information is coming. Before we ringing the bell with Savannah, I just want to thank you guys. From bottom of my heart, thank you Money Mafia for the support. Thank you for purchasing a copy of Talk Money to me. It's $30 and I can't tell you how much it means to me when you're supporting something I have put so much work in and that has truly built an education and impact and I've done my best to also make it entertaining.

Literally, there is no sign of gratitude that I can receive more than just you purchasing one copy. So thank you for that. Secreting secrets, go follow us on YouTube, our Instagram page, and make sure you give us five stars on Apple and let us know what your biggest takeaway from this episode is, because buckle up. There are a lot of takeaways. Let's ring in the bell with the one and only, Savannah Crissly. Also, one quick update.

Last week, we put the episode out around 3 a.m. So it's ready for Monday morning. We learned at 5 a.m. that the recap audio was screwed up, two hours. within those two hours we fixed it if you listen to last week's episode with angelina what you probably noticed is in the recap david's audio is off that was a mistake on our end and it won't happen again but here's the deal if you ever hear mistakes like that trust me when i tell you we immediately fix it but when you subscribe to the podcast it auto downloads so if you notice a mistake like that and specifically the angelina one if you want to go back and listen to the recap you would just go to where the show is in Apple or Spotify, and you'll see three dots right near the

episode. You'll click the three dots, and then you would hit Remove Download. And then you would just hit Download episode, the same three dots. So remove it and add it, and the new version will be there. We deeply apologize for that mistake in the recap. It won't happen again. If you remove and then add the download, you'll be good to go. And as always, thank you for hitting subscribe button to trading secrets that helps us in enormous ways. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by entrepreneur, real estate agent, podcast host, and reality TV star Savannah Chrisley.

Over the past 10 years, Savannah and her family gained recognition for their rapid success from their hit reality show, Chrisley knows best. Everyone knows that show with over 200 episodes in several successful TV spin-offs, including Growing Up Chrisley. which featured Savannah and her brother as the stars of the show. Since then, Savannah leveraged her reality TV success with various entrepreneurial endeavors, including starting her own personal beauty brand, hosting her own podcast, which I was just on, go check it out,

and starting her own luxury reality company here in Nashville. I'm going to need some real estate, so we're going to talk. Although her career accolades have proven Savannah's ability to succeed in whatever she puts her mind to, she has had to endure it all through unique personal struggles from those close to her, including her parents being sent to prison for tax evasion and tragic passing of her ex-fiance. So today we are going to discuss what motivates Savannah on a daily basis and what she does to stay positive and focused through growing professionally and personally

during these tough times. Savannah, thank you so much for being on trading secrets. Thank you for having me. You got a lot of action going on here. Hey, I like to say if I didn't have bad luck, I would have no luck at all. I like that. Well, let's talk about the fact that you entered the public spotlight over a decade ago, right? Through that, you have been subjected to so much. I think when you enter the public spotlight, so much gets put on your shoulders. On top of that, you've had loss. There's been criminal things that have happened that you're aware of.

Alleged. Alleged criminal activity, right? Alleged, we'll talk about that. But you've seen a lot. Now you're parenting. You're a businesswoman. You're dealing with all this. I would just say, like, let's just start with this mentally.

Like, where are you right now? How are you? Oh, I'm okay. I feel like I'm like very, my therapist says, like high functioning depression. It's a real thing. And I would say that's kind of the category that I fall in. Like, I'm very high functioning. I'm always go, go, go.

Like enough is never enough for me personally. Like I just hold myself to a certain standard that I'm like, I can always do better. Okay. But I think when that comes a lot of success, because you're always expecting more for yourself, but I have to find the balance of accepting my little wins and seeing them for what they are and rejoicing in them instead of just saying, you know, it could always be better. But for me, I would say every few months I like hit a wall and I'm like, I have one day to where I just like fall apart. I'm like this. It's all just a lot. I need to feel my emotions. And then I get up

the next day and I go. Yeah. It's amazing that you keep going through because obviously the highs of highs. But some of the lows of lows is I'm doing the research for the podcast, right? Both parents are in prison right now, your ex-fiance, and then I just keep reading. I'm like, I feel like I'm watching a movie. The gentleman you're dating now, his ex had a hit on him. I'm like, you can't make this up. Your life kind of is a movie. Have you ever, like career direction business wise? Have you ever thought about making your life a lifetime show? Hey, it really could be. I look at it and I'm like, I have thought about it. I have, especially with my parents stuff, that in itself is a legitimate movie.

It just how everything went down the whole process over almost 10 years of them being investigated. Like it is a, it could be a lifetime movie. It could be a show. God only knows what it will turn into, honestly. Would you sell the rights to this show? Heck, yes, I would. So you're ready to roll. I'm ready to roll.

Okay. Well, let's take it. a few steps back to when you started reality TV. 15 years old, Chris Lee knows best. You guys create the show and what I read is you put it off to 10 networks, nine made an offer, right? It's the only time to this day it has ever happened.

That nine networks out of 10 made an offer. That's extremely rare. When you guys came up with the idea, how did this even come about? It was a friend of my dads who I think he actually was like sitting next someone on a plane or somehow he got into business with this lady. And then she was like, you guys need a show. And she was a producer. My dad was like, no, grew up very similar to you on like we keep all of our dirty laundry behind closed doors. Like you don't, you walk out your door,

you put a smile on your face. No one knows about it. And so my older half brother from my dad's first marriage, like bipolar drugs, the whole nine yards. And so my dad was like, no, no, no. like we're not doing this like the world's not going to see those things and then finally he was like all right like we'll film a pilot for it and we didn't expect anything to really come from it and then nine out of ten networks wanted it and we were kind of shocked because you know you just look at it's like we're just a family we just recorded something and so the highest bidder was Oprah's network at the time for like I want to say it was 12 14 hour long episodes and for that to be your first run that's a big ask. But we ended up going with USA. I mean, trading secrets, I got to ask,

Oprah, the highest bidder. Can you share how much that was? I was so young at the time. I don't remember, really. If you had to guess, what do you think? I really don't know. I know, like, later on when I was making, because obviously after 18, like, I'm responsible for my own finances. So back then, I don't know. And as you know, the first few up, like the first few seasons, you don't make a time. You don't, like, you have to prove that you're kind of here to stay. Sure. Yeah. TV.

So that was a... Yeah, a gray area. Bethany Frankel has come out very aggressively talking about how there needs to be reformed with reality TV, especially for children. Being 15 going into reality TV, looking back on compensation, mental impact, all those things. What's your take on that? There should, on the production side of things, network side of things, there should be encouragement for therapy.

There should be those services offered. There should be, there should be more oversight because, and I think it's very hypocritical because these same networks and these same people that want to preach mental health. And we agree with all these things. They're doing nothing to help with your mental health. So I think that's a really tough thing, especially when you have minors on television and how it impacts the rest of their life and things that are said. And to you, unfortunately, you are just a dollar to these networks. Like you can think they care about you, but they don't. They care about the paycheck that they're making and what they need to do to get that paycheck. So I definitely think there needs to be some sort of reform, but that's also been done.

I mean, financially it's been done with, you know, what occurred with McCulley Cooke and having Coogan accounts for minor children and things of that nature. So you're protecting their money more, but you're doing nothing to protect their mental health whatsoever. So that's interesting, right? So the money's being protected. the mental health isn't you have had quite a journey we're going to step into that but let's talk about 15 to 18 when the money is coming in the door for you how is that working like is it are the checks being sent to you do you have your own bank account at this point who's managing it like

how are you doing that 15 to 18 so I know part of it gets sent to a kugan account which like you can't touch till you're 18 then part of it went to our production like the production company that my parents had seven C's productions and we all all of us were like part owners of it. So it all ran through. It all had to go to this one loan out company to then be paid out to us. Okay. You know, that's how it works. Loan out companies in the entertainment world. Like everyone has a loan out company. Okay. So that's just how it had to be done then. And so we would get money and I spent money as fast as it came in and went out. That's for sure. All right. Stay tuned to the recap. We'll talk about what a loan out company is.

We'll get into the details of that. But one thing that's different is The Bachelor, a lot of reality shows that we've had on, Vanderpump, you name a show, we've had someone on from it. They're all working in a way that they are cast, they are paid per episode. We don't ever see the financials. We don't know the numbers that are coming in. Given the fact that it was your family show, were you subjected? Like, did you know, obviously new ratings, but did you know, like, what the show was grossing versus what you were being paid? Like, were you exposed to the numbers at all? So I think my parents were. Okay. Because my dad's contract was very different. It was was very, even agents at William Morris said they had never seen a contract structured that

way. Specifically what? He was obviously executive producer and very early on also got, you know, part of the back end side of things for the show's performance. So you guys had actually like equity in the show. Yeah. That's so rare. Interesting.

Yeah. So it was, the contracts were structured very differently. There was also a partnership with the production company. So it was very complex his side of things. Okay. Because obviously he was the reason the show was so successful. Like it, Dad was the main person of the show. So his contract was very complex.

Okay. Branding wise, I always like to ask this. Dad off show, you off show, cameras are on. How similar was it? Was it extra magnified just to get the ratings going? Branding wise. No, no. My dad, like, he is what he is.

He's got a big, larger-than-life personality. Like, he's hilarious. He's, when it came to parenting, he was hardcore. He had high expectations. But, you know, for TV, they love to have some things exaggerated or they loved. They would, different from your experience, they would be like, say this, say that. And finally, we got to a point where we're like, this is a scripted comedy. And if you want this to be a scripted comedy, then,

And pay us what scripted actors get paid. Okay. You don't get both. What do scripted actors get pay? I mean, scripted actors get paid a hell of a lot more than reality television. How would you have any idea or no? I mean, you look at like Yellowstone. Okay.

Like, look at actors on Yellowstone. You're making $250,000 an episode. Right, exactly. Like the lower cast members. Sure. And so you look at that and you're not making that in reality television. No. No.

All right. Talk to me about this. When they sign you the first time, is it a one year deal, one season deal? Oh, I want to say it was two. Okay. Yeah, it was what you don't get either. Okay. So you're 50, yeah, that's right too.

So 15, 17, can you share, like, on an episodic basis what you were making then? At that time, I don't know, $4,000 to $7,000. An episode. Yeah. Right. Okay. So then two years comes up. How the hell do you, like, what is your basis for negotiating?

Like, do you go to dad and be like, hey, dad, pay me more hours as a star? Like, how does the process of the business negotiating? So it was always, it's always been tough, especially being in business with your family. Yeah. Like my parents never wanted money to come between their children. Of course. So that was a tough thing because if I'm looking at it and I'm like,

all right, numbers wise, like I should be getting dad and then me. Like I should be getting paid the second highest salary. But that never happened just because it was, and I get it. Because like with all my siblings, you don't want that friction when it comes to money. Like no relationship is. worth losing over money. It's just not. Exactly. So that was the tough part. And then, you know, it was a lot easier with the spinoff because it was just my brother and I. Yeah. So we obviously got paid a lot more for that. Okay. Jersey Shore, they say that they have. I forgot the exact term

with Angelina on, but they essentially have a pool union where they go in together and negotiate and they're all paid the same per episode. And it's massive. It's a big dollar amount. What is it? It's six figures. That's wild. Crazy, right? So I didn't get paid that. But did you? But did you ever, like, so is that what the deal was with you and your siblings? You were paid the same. Yeah. Okay. Was that a little? Did that create a little contention from your standpoint? Yes. For sure. I mean, you were the star. Yeah. Well, I don't, I don't ever like to say like, okay, I'm the star of it. Like with a show like ours, it wouldn't be our show if it wasn't for all of us. Yeah. Because we all gave something that was special and unique. And so I don't ever like

to say, I'm just a numbers-based person. Yeah. So when I look at like social media following and things of that nature, I'm like, okay, like, come on. Pay the girl. Yeah. So that's kind of, you know, you obviously get, you have resentment when you're filming a show that involves everyone.

And then you see people not showing up their best, not putting the best foot forward, not, you know, going out partying the night before and then showing up to try to film the next day. Yeah. Like there's resentment that builds because you're like, I'm showing up. best, the best version of myself and doing my job, I need you to do the same. Interesting. Yeah. Fascinating. All right. So you said about four to seven K, let's say, per episode when you started. Can you share with the most you made per episode? 30. 30 per episode. Okay. When you think of,

30 a week. 30 a week. Because we filmed an episode a week. Okay. So it's just 30. Okay. Got it. So when you think about that number. And we filmed, we got to where we were filming 30 episodes. So you could do the math. Yeah. That's a great. year. Yeah. And how old are you at this point? Well, it just depends. I say that, but then, because there were two different shows. So, like, what we got paid for each were different on the shows. Like, I got paid more on the spinoff than I did Crisly Knows Best. So, and the spinoff was only 10 episodes, I think. 10, 12 episodes of season. So I would say I was 20. Yeah, so you're 20 years old, grossing over seven figures from reality TV. And on top of it, having other income sources,

how did you manage that inflow? Oh, I didn't. I did not. What do you mean? Tell me more. I just think. But a million bucks at 20. Yeah. Like that is, that's unheard of. When you say you didn't, what did you do? Spend it all? Yeah. On what? I think for me, I, and it goes back to the mental health side of things. If I would have been better equipped to deal with everything that the world had coming at me from reality television, I probably wouldn't have spent my money the way that I did because there was this huge amount of hurt within me that I'm like, all right, and so I don't have to feel this. Let me surround myself with all these outside, you know, distractions. And I think for me, that's what it was, was just, and when you're 20 years old and you get money, you're like,

And before that, you got to keep in mind. My dad filed for bankruptcy back in 2012, I think it was. And so I watched my family go from dad making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in real estate and living in a 30,000 square foot house to now them struggling to pay the bills every month and a 5,000 square foot house. Now, it's all relative. 5,000 square foot house is what I live in now. like I it's a very nice way of living so it's not to say what but it's all relative when you go from 30,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet it's all relative and but I still watch my parents struggle and like all right how are we going to pay our bills how are we you know and that's when the show came

about got it so what seeing that like I went from having everything and then there was a time to where it's like you know you struggled to get what you need and so when I got it. money on my own like that. I was just like, I was living in the gulch. I moved out at 17. I lived in the nicest time ride you could live in in Nashville. Like, I was just living life up. What do you think that when you look back at that time, what is the most outrageous thing that you bought? What was the cost of it? Oh, gosh. I don't really know. I mean, first, a 20-year-old living in a $3,600 a month apartment is probably outrageous. Like definitely outrageous.

But even for millions of dollars a year, that's still immaterial. Yeah. 40K a year. But I also think that and cars. Okay. Like cars. What was your go-to car? I don't know.

I had like a Mercedes AMG S-63. Interesting. That would probably, I think that's the one. All right. Knowing what you know now about money and finances. And now even parenting, and we'll talk a little bit about that, how you like deal with the finances of that. What is one lesson you would have told yourself?

back then. Savannah, don't do this and do this financially. Invest and save. Okay. Definitely invest because you look at it and you're like, if I would have put away $500 a month or just something tiny, you don't realize 10 years from now what that could look like. Yeah. Or investing in a company. And for me, it was just you don't have to do all these things or pay for all these things in order to be accepted. And if you do, then you're hanging out with the wrong crowd of people. Sure. And so I think for me, I just wish I would have invested better because now I'm 20, almost

27 years old and it's like, all right, I'm starting over. Yeah. One of the things I think about, too, is like career trajectory. Like this world, there's so many fluxes. Well, I thought it was never going to end. Well, that was going to be my question. So you're 20 years old. At this point, you didn't go to college, right?

Well, I was in college, but it was very hard for me because I was paying for my own college education, which was like $50,000 a year, $60,000 a year, like Lipscomb and Belmont. With the earnings from the show. With the earnings from the show. So in my mind, I was like, I'm paying $60,000 a year to go to college. Why am I doing this? Okay. So you dropped out that. Yeah. How much money did you lose going to college not finishing your degree? Oh, probably. Okay. Got it. And so in your career mind, 20 years old, what did it look like? you thought what was going to happen for Savannah? I just thought, honestly, I thought my career was going to blow up. I was going to be set for life. I was going to be fun. But

unfortunately, I or fortunately, I'm not the type to like go out here. I'm not going to be half clothed. I'm not going to like sell my soul to make money. And in our world, you kind of have to. You kind of have to like be half naked and to get all these followers. And I just wasn't willing to do that. And if I would have been willing to do that, I'd have millions. Understood. Understood. So you finished the show, though. Your highest payment point is 30K a week. And you have all these millions of followers. Are you able to monetize, like a lot of shows, they will take a percentage of your monetization because the show created your following. They have restrictions. Could you monetize full speed with your social media while filming? So there were no restrictions with that. No, they wanted to. Yeah. But we just,

We wouldn't allow it. We were in a very fortunate position because we knew how valuable we were to the network. Our show not only was it pitched to 10 networks and 9 wanted them, but there was a bidding war between USA, E, and Bravo. And finally, like the head of NBC stepped in and said, we're bidding against ourselves. So I'm going to make the final decision. It's going to go on USA and then it's going to rerun on E and Bravo. So it was on all three networks. Do you get paid on reruns?

No. No. Okay. So interesting. If you were making 30K, I'm speculating, but I got to assume your dad was making $600k a week off the show. Holy smokes. I mean, I don't, I know.

Yeah. I mean, he were. Damn, they're rolling it in. So they, we knew how profitable we were to the network. Yeah. So we knew we basically, when I came out with my cosmetic line. Yeah. You know, they were wanting a percentage of.

at it. And or else they weren't going to film it. Sure. And my dad basically told them to go F themselves and said that they could watch us. They could sit and film us playing a damn board game and see how, you know, entertaining that is. And they finally just folded. They folded. And we knew we could say we're walking. They couldn't afford that to happen. This is unprecedented, though. I think this is extremely rare for a family to have back end, getting paid where you guys are getting paid, and then be able to do integration rights with brands. That is an extremely extremely rare thing within the reality TV space. But I also think that connects to how much leverage that you guys had based on the value

that you were bringing because of the ratings. The ratings were popping off. Was there ever a point that you guys were going to leave USA? Did you have another network knocking on your door? There were always people that wanted it, wanted our show. I feel like USA at that time was a great partner for us. USA had never been successful in reality television. Yeah.

And so we had an opportunity to come in and be the face of the network. And so it was always a great relationship until it wasn't. Until it wasn't. Until it wasn't. Until the indictment happened. Not even the indictment. They actually signed on for another season after the indictment. Interesting. And so they had full faith in our family and the success. And then when mom and dad were found guilty at trial, that's when USA were just like, bye. And it was not pretty. But at the same time, they dropped all advertisements like they were not advertising for our show at all and this is when season 10 was about to air and our show was still in the top 10 highest rated shows on cable

television without any money put behind advertising interesting okay I want to take a pause here because we're going to go to before and after I have to hit a few things before the show is canceled when you talk about social media monetization were you making more being on the show as a cast of 30k a week, are you making more off your social media? I would say it was probably the same. Okay. Like, I would say, it's so hard with how the show filmed and, like, in between seasons and years and, you know, half the season and one year, half in the other year.

So I would say it was fair to say, like, I don't know, $800,000 a year was, like, a fair amount to say that I made. Okay. But, I mean, I don't really, I wasn't keeping track of it, you know, until. I was. Yeah. So at this point, you're making millions of dollars and you have the family CPA doing your accounting work. I remember when I first stepped into this world at 1099 contracting, like the idea of like keeping up with taxes was a lot. For you, was someone like helping you manage all of this? I wasn't doing any of it. I was not. I had a CPA doing it who spoke to

networks and who all the 1099s got sent to. And I did not touch a single thing. Okay. So if from a tax perspective, you're not touching anything, but you also don't have someone that's like financially managing you, giving you an allowance. So that was probably the issue. That was the issue. And I think if there was some way to enforce that, especially amongst minors in the TV world,

that's a good idea. That would make a lot more sense and would allow people to be a lot more successful long term. Yeah. If that was forced. Especially in America, you look at like the average household salaries in the 50 to 60k range. And now you're an 18 year old, 19 year old, making that in a week on a basis.

Like, how could you be prepared? You couldn't be prepared. Not at all. One thing I got to ask you, we talk a lot about social media monetization. What they say is your brand really connects to what your rate is, not necessarily following, your engagement, your brand. There was a big agent that came on and he's a CEO of Viral Nation. He came on saying, G-rated personalities will always make more than R-rated personalities

because of liability risk is what are you saying? Now, to your point with your eye roll, G-rated personalities will make more from a Fortune 500, but the R-rated personalities, of course, can go in other directions, only fans, et cetera, and then make millions and millions of dollars. For you, after everything happened,

there had to be a ripple effect to your brand, and you speak out openly about this. How has that impact your monetization being so outspoken about something that has created so much controversy? Oh, for a year, I made nothing. Really? Nothing.

What year was that? I would say it started at the indictment. So starting in 2019, it was August 13th, 14th, 2019 is when my parents were formally indicted. So it hits the news, all of that. Immediately started losing deals. And then probably at about mid-2020 to the end, things started picking up a little bit. And then when they were found guilty, everything stopped for literally a year, I would say almost. What do you think drove the ability to pick it back up? My honesty and transparency.

Interesting. I think that's a good trading secret for people back home. Yeah. The more honest and transparent, whatever it is that you do, that will always supersede everything else. That was the biggest thing for me was, all right, I'm not going to get on here and fake it. I'm not going to act like my life is perfect. I'm not going to act like I'm sitting on millions of dollars. I'm not going to portray this image to people. That is not me. Yeah. And so when I came out about that, say, especially in the past few months when I've been very, very outspoken. I mean, you look at the numbers on my Instagram, like, because, you know, that's what we go off of in this world. Of course. And you see a video of mine, like, I don't think now I get a video that's less than

a million and a half views. Yeah. And it's just because people crave that honesty and transparency. And I think people are just tired of where our country is at and where it's going. And they just want something to believe in. And they want someone to finally tell the truth. So do you make more money now based on creator programs because like Snapchat and stuff and in TikTok, they will pay per view and you don't have to actually have a brand deal? Like are you getting paid off that in addition to the ad revenue? So if I'm being honest, I am the worst at social media. Okay.

The absolute worst. Well, you're good at social media. Yeah. I mean, I'm good at it. Yeah. Not monetizing it? So TikTok, I really have barely used. And everyone's been like, get on TikTok.

Yeah. Like, I'll occasionally post a video, and they're like, you see, you got three million views on this TikTok video. Like, what are you doing? That would pay, based on what I know about the creator fund, that would pay about seven and a half K, just for putting the video up there. Well, why aren't you helping me? Well, let's, we'll change that. I have $300,000 on my personal one, and I've only posted like five videos. Oh, my, okay. So Savannah's producers here just told us that Savannah did not know that she has a TikTok with $300,000. Do you know how much money you can make off that?

No. A lot. Okay. Well, you're going to. Okay. We're going to make you a lot of money off that. Okay. Interesting. Wow. I haven't done a great outside of Instagram. I haven't done a great job at monetizing anything. It's funny. It's like there's this interesting business economy here that you have this brand that's such a pop that generates so much value and money. But on your back end, you haven't found the way to like make that life changing for yourself. But I also think it's really hard because I'm so outspoken and I have

such a personality of just like, I like to try to go by the mindset of like love people, love people well. I use my social media as a place for people to see that it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to see the struggle. It's okay. Like I pour my heart out on Instagram. So it's at times I forget about the monetization side of it. Interesting. So does money motivate you? Yeah. It does. But this, if I have learned anything throughout this whole experience of like my ups and downs in life, I've realized that like money means nothing if you don't have the people you love with you. Yeah. Yeah.

And so right now I look at money. I don't have a love for money like I previously had. Okay. Now I view money as a means to survive and to provide for the people I love. Now that's not to say I don't have goals. Like trust me, I would love like, all right, let me have a. place in the Cayman Islands. Let me have a place like in New York. I want all the finer things out of life, but it means nothing if you don't have the people you love with you. That's true.

I think that's a good segue to even talking about that. Do you at all view money connected to just like toxic filth and disgust just because it is a financial crime that put your parents in prison? Like what is your relationship with money knowing that it's money that doesn't have you with the loved ones that you just said. I don't think it's so easy for people to look at money and say, oh, money is the root of all evil. Because a lot of people use that excuse in order to justify their lack of working for it because it takes a lot of time, grit and energy to make money. True. So a lot of people use the excuse of, oh, money is evil, money is this, just because you haven't reached that level yet. Yeah. And I just believe money showcases more of who you

And so for me, I would love to have the money to if someone said they're struggling for me to be like, here you go. Yeah. Like, let me go pay off your house. Let me go pay off your car. Like that's the heart that I have. So that's why I love money for those reasons because it allows you to be a vessel for other people or to help other people and be a contributing member to society.

So I don't really have a negative view. Honestly, I view my parents' situation as an injustice. and in our system as a whole. I don't have any, I don't relate it to money. I just relate it to how we live in what's supposed to be the greatest nation on earth. And it's one of the most corrupt systems in the world. You've talked a lot about the injustice with your parents. And I think knowing what you know and what they know now about what happened,

from a financial standpoint, what do you think they would have done differently? I think for them it was, they were just so comfortable. Yeah. And, you know, my dad created a business and he was making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. And when he got to that point, he basically his, he had a guy by the name of Mark Braddock who was helping him run the business. And this guy really was for all intents of purposes running the business because dad had built it up. Then he had hired people. And dad was like, all right. As long as he got his money, he knew he was supposed to get every month. He didn't worry. He didn't think anything was going on. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, there were so much. illegal activity going on that he didn't find out about until years later. So for him it was to not get comfortable and where you're at and stop asking the hard questions and stop doing the things that led you to that dollar amount. Interesting. And I think that's what a lot of people do. Once you reach this goal, you forget about all the things you did to get to that goal. Right. And that's where you can have a downfall. Interesting. So with the case, when they talk,

there's some like investigative reports out there that talk about wire fraud and falsifying documents to banks and things like that. What is your take on what happened? So what a lot of people don't know is the government's key witness was Mark Braddock, my dad's former business partner, who got full immunity from the government. And when you talk about a $36 million fraud scheme is what the media likes to portray it as, our lawyer says it best. He's like, you never see full immunity given. You just don't see that. You may see like, all right, we'll give you less time. We'll, you know, you won't have a harsher sentence, all these things. But you don't get full immunity. He got full blanket immunity for everything. So he sat on the stand at trial and said, I falsified their

names to documents. I falsified documents. I was in their emails. I, you know, was on the phone acting like I was Todd. I, like he admitted to all these crimes. But his fallback was they knew about it. And so that's what a lot of people don't realize is this man got full immunity all because the government wanted to go after people that they thought they could make an example out of. Interesting. So the first question I'm saying is why give him full immunity? And you think because the repercussions of your mother and father dealing with the sentence is so great that it makes more impressions. Yes. It makes more impressions. and also these federal prosecutors wanted to create a name for themselves.

They wanted to, this was the biggest case of their career. Yeah. And this was their chance to kind of blow it up. So the business partner, Mark comes in and says he committed, he did everything. Falsified the documents, signed everything. He committed every crime. But his whole take was that your parents knew about it. How do you prove in a state of law and court that your parents,

parents knew about it. How were they able to prove that? Unfortunately, you don't have to. You don't have to. And that's part of on our appeal that we filed, especially on my mom's appeal, was that her name wasn't on a single bank loan. So how do you go down for seven counts of bank fraud, but your name's not on a single loan? That's pretty wild. Your mom's name wasn't on one bank loan. Not on a single bank loan. And the government's own witnesses got on the stand and said they were bankers. And they said, we'd never met Ms. Crisley. She's never given us a document. She's never, there was not an email.

Did she have to, because I think I was in the banking industry, you'd underwrite, you'd have to underwrite the person. And you say, like, as bankers, when I was a banker, right, we're underwriting based on the information we're provided. So we're lending money, assuming that the information we're getting is correct. Yes. If the information is getting correct, we know we're taking inherent risk on. With that risk, we priced it appropriately.

So then the fraud comes into play. when someone gives information that's inaccurate, we're then lending money not knowing, right? The liability. But if her name wasn't even on the bank loan, nor did she sign for it, I'm very bewildered as to how that occurred. That is one of our biggest arguments,

especially for her because she's now sitting in prison for seven years. And her name wasn't on a single bank loan. And so that's the really tough part. And especially too, because you have Mark Braddock saying, he accessed my parents' emails. He would get in their emails, send an email to himself, then go in and delete it.

He would do it at really random times because he knew they wouldn't be on him. And he has a background in forensic technology, all these different things. So he knew how to kind of finagle things. And he submitted false information to banks because he was stealing from the company. So he had to make sure the company's financials looked like the company was doing great. Sure. Even though he was stealing millions of dollars from the company. So even these bankers that got on the stand said, yeah, Mark Braddock was the one who always

gave us, he provided us with all the documents. Interesting. That is because the number one thing we would see in fraud with banking is if financial documents were, if there was any type of fraud, it would show up in the finances. So then you'd have to falsify financial documents to get away with the fraud. But even then, there's different ways to kind of navigate that. So did your parents plead guilty then? No.

Okay. They went to trial. So they go to trial and on what basis, like if I went and got ripped through the court documents, which I'm sure you've done over and over, on what basis were they convicted then? Just the standpoint from Mark saying this is what they did? That was the government's key witness. So with the way that the trial happened, it was a four-week trial. They started off the trial.

I always say everyone's political beliefs are their beliefs. They believe what they believe for their own reasons. Like they, and you have valid reasons for believing that. And for our family, grew up in the South, very conservative, and our case was in Fulton County, Georgia. The prosecutor started off our trial by stating, ladies and gentlemen, what we have here are the Trumps of the South. And that obviously did not go over well in Fulton County, Georgia. And the most Democratic county in the state. And so we knew at that point, like, okay, this is not going to be good.

And then they started off with tax fraud, is what they were alleging. And they used the tax fraud case in order to build their bank fraud case because they needed to create this image of these entitled people who live a luxurious life, who don't think they need to pay the government. And because they don't pay the government, you're now suffering. You jurors are now suffering because you work every day and you pay taxes, but these people think they don't have to, which all was a complete. and after trial, which is part of our appeal, the IRS agent on the stand admitted that her exact words were what I said actually wasn't accurate. They don't owe anything. This was after my parents were found guilty. Yeah. And so her testimony was all false. The prosecutors knew it was false. And my parents didn't owe anything. And so at one point they did though, right? So at one point

there were back taxes with the state of Georgia, which they paid. Yeah, but the reason being is because my dad had filed for bankruptcy. And it was a very lengthy bankruptcy that went on a year and a half. I think at least a year and a half. And while you're in bankruptcy, there's nothing you can do. Correct. You can't file tax. Like you. Everything has to be settled out. Everything. You're in bankruptcy court. But I read that. So your parents settled their Georgia state tax evasion agreeing to pay. It was $147,944. dollars. And so that was an agreed amount that was paid back. Yeah, but they alleged that over what, it was a million dollars or two million dollars that weren't paid in taxes to the state of Georgia and they settle for $100,000. Interesting. Like that math isn't mathing. Okay. So I think what I'm

hearing is they took things that did occur. Yeah. Like real things that bankruptcy, back taxes, these things. And then what they did was painted the picture like that happened. So you already know that it's capable that this could happen. Yes. That was the idea. And did they have any hard evidence to actually say they knew about it? They had emails. They had emails that allegedly came from my father. But there's a moment that will always forever be ingrained in my mind is our lawyer,

asked the FBI agent. He said, I just have a quick question. He was like, what process did you go through to authenticate this evidence? That it is exactly what you say it is. And the FBI agent goes, I don't know what you're asking. And our lawyer goes, what steps did you take to verify that these emails are what you say they are, that they came from where you say they came from? Because all their evidence came from my dad's former business partner. And the guy asks, the FBI agent goes, well, if you're asking me for a paper trail, I don't have one.

And our lawyer goes, so you're telling me you have Quantico at your fingertips. Like you are the FBI. You have Quantico at your fingertips. and you didn't go and get these emails authenticated? Interesting. They never one time took any step to authenticate any of their evidence. So it could have easily been fabricated. Where did it come from?

Interesting. And when it comes to the bank fraud, one of our biggest arguments is where are the loan documents? Right. They never one time showed a single loan document at trial. That's interesting. All they showed was an Excel spreadsheet of what they say their loss amount is for banks. And this was also during 08. All these crimes that they're alleging happened were back in 08.

And so this was when there was a banker that got on the stand and testified on the government, that the government called subpoena to testify. And his exact words were, the world was on fire. Yeah, it was. Like everyone was throwing their loans back at us saying, good luck, defaulting. Like, it was on fire. They said, and while the world was on fire, Mr. Chris Lee came to us and said, because there were loans that he had that were legitimate loans.

Sure. And he said, hey, I want to try to make you as whole as possible. How can we do this? So he didn't just throw the loans back at them. Yeah. And that's not someone who's wanting to commit bank fraud. Yeah. He said, let me try to make you as whole as possible. Let's do a short sale on this property. He was in the real estate. Sure. Yeah. And so even their own witness said, he tried to make us as whole as he possibly could. Interesting. Yeah. Because, back in 2008, the whole thought that why there's so much regulation now is because there was a lot of looser lending. So banks were lending to companies that shouldn't have been lent to and they're lending to individuals that couldn't afford to repay. So that's why things are now.

One of the biggest arguments was, you know, their loan renews. And back, like right now it's more stringent on loan renewals. They need to see all kinds of documentation. It wasn't like that back then. It was kind of just like we gave you the loan originally, so you're fine. Yeah. And so they just kept renewing it. So there's so many great areas that people don't realize until they look into the case. And then when you look into the case, you're like, whoa, this isn't how it should work.

And I've said from the beginning, if you can show that my parents are guilty of what you say they're guilty of without a shadow of a doubt and you have done it ethically and morally, I'm for it. Gotcha. I stand for it. Interesting. Okay. Do you think if they would have pled guilty,

their sentences wouldn't have been as extreme as they were? The government was after them. So they offered my mom five years and my dad 15. And so they, he made out better going to trial. She made out worse because she got seven. He got 12. Yep.

Interesting. The whole thing is interesting. And then the appeal process, how is that going? So we filed for the appeal. We got granted oral arguments, which happened the week of April 15th, ironically enough, tax day. But only 6% of cases get granted oral arguments. Sure. So for us, you know, we alleged huge Fourth Amendment violations, which are, which is an illegal seizure that happened.

Okay. So that was already misconduct by the government. And we, the IRS agent lying on the stand, the prosecutors withholding evidence that could have proved innocence. And we have all of these things. asked for evidentiary hearings with the trial judge. She wouldn't give it to us. It was just nothing went in our favor. Interesting. I saw that you had said that your sister, there's speculation that you had mentioned your sister helped put them away. A question I would have for you is, is that true? If so, how? And does the rest of your family and your family all plead their innocence at this

point? Yeah. So to answer the question, yes, it is 110% true. People can look in trial transcripts, they can see. And there has been a lot of public lashing out at each other. You know, I find it funny because her so-called lawyer wants to say that I'm using her as a punching bag for my emotions, which is not true at all because I go off of facts and I go off of you have interviews that she did with the FBI for two years. two years. And so I'm going off of the facts of it. And I wholeheartedly believe she was a huge player in this whole fiasco. And it just is what it is. And at this point, I believe that like family is family can be some of your closest friends. They can be blood. Blood does not mean you are family to someone. Interesting. Because they, well, so essentially what they knew was that

there were some gaps in the relationship with her and the government. And so they went to her to try and get information as a result of that. And out of her anger, bitterness and resentment for she just, if she couldn't have the success everyone else was having, then they weren't going to have it either. God, there's so many twisted,

wild webs weaved in this scenario. Oh, yes. We talk money on this podcast, Savannah. If you think about it, like if you had to guess, how much money has the family had to commit to this entire process from start to finish of like defending everything about seven million dollars oh my goodness gracious and i just know

what i've spent yeah and that doesn't impact then you also think about brand value and impact would the show still beyond would be i think we had an evaluation done and it was like 75 million oh my gosh so if appeals are ever done and overturned there's a potential lawsuit here for the ramifications of what occurred. There is a lot of action here. What would you say your biggest takeaway trading secret is knowing what you've seen in all forms, the deception, the manipulation,

the trial process, and where you are today? You know, I think from a money aspect, it's to prepare, to prepare for a rainy day, to prepare for it all to end. So you're not sitting, scrambling, worrying, what am I going to do? I think that is the number one most important thing. Like play a game of chess.

Don't play checkers. Don't just look for the next move. Play a game of chess and think five years down the road, 10 years down the road, if it all ends. And that's what I wish I would have done. But obviously, you can't go back. Yeah. And so now just from business relationships, I've realized that like see people for what they are and not what you want them to be. Yeah.

And keep people at an arm's length. and always protect herself. And from the legal aspect of things, it's just, I grew up in the South. I grew up like, you bleed our country, red, white and blue, like you respect our police force, you, all these things, which I do. I am all for the police, even despite what has happened to my family, because I believe as many bad ones as there are, there's also that many good ones. And I have, I hold my faith in the good people in our system.

But it's time for an overhaul. And I didn't realize how corrupt our system was until I got involved in it. Because now I have people tell me, oh, you wouldn't be fighting for, you know, criminal justice if it wasn't for your parents. And I say you're 100% right. Because I was toned up to the system. Sure. We normally only care about things that impact us.

Sure. And now that it impacts me, I know too much to not do something about it. Yeah. And so I tell people to open your eyes to something bigger than yourself. And that's been the biggest lesson. So in a way, I'm grateful for it because now I'm learning. I'm getting to change so many people's lives. I'm in rooms with politicians.

I never thought I would be in rooms with. I'm getting to a point in my career to where I feel like it's about to just take off. But I'm going to have a lot of people hate me in the next few months with some things that I'm getting ready to do. Take off. Yeah. So I'm going to have a lot of people hate me, but I'm going to have a lot of people hate me. but I'm going to have a lot of people love me. What are you getting ready to do?

In the February, I'm speaking at a very big event in D.C. Are you getting into politics? I'm dabbling in it in certain areas. Okay. Because I like to tell people, I, obviously, when it comes to, you look at my background, not the most educated human being in the world when it comes to actually, you know, degrees and things of that nature. Sure.

But I've chosen to take my experience with our justice system and educate me. myself. And I spend tons of time doing that, especially when it comes to our prison system and my parents being there now. I speak about how broken our system is and how it is utilized as a means to just destroy people. What's the number one thing that's broken about it? Well, on your podcast, since it's a money, we're going to come at it from, because that's what I like to say is I'm coming at it from a people perspective. From a, it's not a left or right issue. It's about people and human life and loving people well, and we don't do that. All we do is just take away any self-esteem they have.

But when you're looking at it from a financial perspective, you look at, in our federal prison system, there's 225 federal prisons. There are, the Office of Inspector General came out with a report that stated all 125 facilities were in need of upwards of $2 billion worth of repairs, $2 billion worth of repairs. and Congress gave them $60 million for repairs, but also the annual budget for the BOP is, I want to say it is $9 billion. $9 billion.

What are we doing with that money? And now there was a report that just came out by Corey Booker and it states the First Step Act, which was implemented under the Trump administration, and it was the first act in decades to do anything with prison reform, anything, Democrat, Republican, Trump made leaps and bounds when it came to prison reform. And but the BOP doesn't know how to implement the First Step Act. And the First Step Act, it allows nonviolent offenders to enter back into society in a safer manner.

So therefore, it takes time off their sentences, if they complete certain classes, all these different things. And the BOP doesn't know how to calculate those credits. So there are men and women who have been sitting in prison for six months to a year longer than they ever should have. So we falsely imprisoned them, and it's cost taxpayers $140 million. So you look at that and you're like, we falsely imprison these men and women. It's costing us $140 million. But yet we have a government who's saying we're trillions of dollars in debt. Well, look at what are we doing to fix it?

Where are the numbers going? We're not doing anything to fix it. And there's no one to hold these government, these sectors of government accountable. Insert, Savannah. Hey, I wish. No, I just think partnering with certain political figures is going to be the key because they have the education, they have the experience. I'm coming from a personal place of saying, hey, I've seen this firsthand because a lot of these politicians, they don't know. They don't know what it's like inside a federal prison.

They don't know that our taxpayer dollars are going to feed. these men and women food that expired back in 2019 and it's now 2024 they don't know that they don't have clean drinking water that there's black mold there's all these different things passionate about this yeah yeah that is there's i could we could do a whole podcast on this whole yeah so we could go down the rad of a hole right here just the money is sickening when you look into it and the waste and our taxpayer dollars are paying for it yeah i think that yeah the idea i think in general, the idea of understanding where tax paying dollars are going, how they're going there, why they're going there, and the systems of accountability that are put in place to keep things

equitable for humans that are in prison is very important. And so that is a long journey, pushing through your passions and keep going there. But the last thing I got to give back to before we wrap up with you, because it's something we haven't talked about, is now on top of potentially being a politician, a reality star, a podcast home. an entrepreneur, a real estate agent and owner of an agency, and I'm sure I'm missing a few, you're also a parent. You have custody now of two. So talk to me a little bit about just, first of all, there's a mental aspect with the finances. How are you paying for everything that they're undergoing? Is there a trust set up? Are your parents somehow helping out? How is that

being done? No, it's all through me. So your earnings are paying for them right now? And every which way? Yep, 100%. And that's why I say it's like, I am a hustler. I am no better than anyone else out here to have to work three or four jobs. Like I will do whatever comes my way. Just before we sat down to do this podcast, I was sitting at the coffee shop with my real estate partner right next door, sending out emails to clients, looking at like sending them houses, getting on the phone. I was sitting there before I came up to do this. And then when I leave here, I'm going to go back to the coffee shop, work on more real estate, go work. work out, take the 11-year-old to therapy, and then start all over again tomorrow. Do you, are you having financial hardship with all this burden? You know what? I, of course, it's not easy because you look at it. And you're like, all right, I want to give these two kids the best life possible. Chloe's in a private Christian school.

Grayson, he's in a private Christian school, does online schooling. But it's still, you got to pay that tuition. Do you take it out for this? Are you like going into debt by taking care of them? I just do it all on my own. And I just work. And I say that's why my faith is a huge thing to me because there are times where it's like, I don't know how I'm going to do this.

Like there are times where I've broken down. It's like, I don't know how I'm going to do this. And God provides just when I need it. Interesting. So I look at it and I'm like, you know what? Like God's going to, he's going to pave away for me. He's going to allow certain successes to come into my life. He's going like, and I just have to have that faith to keep me moving.

One success I heard about and I always listen to podcasts that. my guests do to hear what they say and how they say it. And on the vial files, I heard you had made a quick comment about special forces, the paycheck. I had someone on and special force talk about the paycheck. We had to take it out. We got in trouble with Fox, so I'm not going to go there. But I know it's a nice payday. But you were only there for three days. So I have to ask you, or just a couple days, was part of your process, like get that check and get out? Well, I wouldn't stay. Given the cost you have right now. I would have stayed longer if there was like a big, I mean, the paycheck was great. If there was a winning prize, I would have stayed.

But in my mind, it was so hard because this was, you know, we were still getting used to mom and dad being gone. And I had the kids full time. And I don't have, my grandparents are so much older. So thinking of leaving, going across the world and leaving these two kids, if there was an emergency, I don't have my phone. I don't, you know, I had so much anxiety just about leaving them. And I was, I got paid the same, whether I stayed or I didn't, you know, so I was. business move for you. Yeah, it was a business move.

And I was like, if I would have had a huge jackpot at the end, you could have beat me. I don't care. I would have stayed. But there wasn't. You got paid the same regardless. Hustler. Got a hustler in your blood. Would you say our earnings back to where they were at one point?

Are we feeling good about that? I mean, they're getting there. You know, you have your highs and lows. You have, I kind of get worried just about moving forward and stances I take and, You just never know, you know, but at the end of the day, I, I'm, I'm less concerned about the dollar amount than I am about who I am, especially with the kids. It's so important for me to show them that it doesn't matter how much money you lose as long as you stand firm in your convictions and who you are. And no amount of money is worth changing who you are as a person and what you

believe in. Yeah, I think that's a great lesson. I was going to ask you, and maybe that's the answer. And this is probably the last question before you're trading secret is just through everything you've undergone, which is a whole lot. We've named a bunch of that. What is it that keeps you resilient? How haven't you broken completely? I think for me, I look at this experience with my parents, and I just have so much fight in me. And I know what it feels like to love people so much. and instead of breaking, I'm like, hey, like, I'm going to fight for them. I'm going to fight for them. Like, they fought for me my whole life.

And so I've taken it as an opportunity to educate myself and to, I'm on the phone with lawyers all the time. I think that's my, that's my why. Like, my parents are my why because I know I'm going to see it through for them to come home sooner than later. And also the kids, I feel like obviously your 20s, it's so easy to be. like selfish and self-absorbed and you're worried about your life and what you're doing and me getting the kids like for the first time of my life I love two individuals more than I love

myself so everything I do and I realize that what you leave behind are kids and people tend to forget about the younger generations and how much of an impact they leave on this world but they're the most impactful right now and so teaching them and guiding them through life it's I have so much to live for. So why not accept little wins and just live life? And it's kind of like you started this podcast off talking about like the functioning depression. It feels as though everything that's happened your way, regardless of how tragic it is,

whether it causes depression, anxiety or fear, what's differentiated you is the functioning aspect. So these things happen and then they drive what's next. They actually function to a level higher than you functioned before because then happening. And that's what I try to find the positive. every negative situation. Because like if it wasn't for my parents going to prison, I would not be, like I said, I wouldn't be sitting in rooms with former presidents and congressmen and just the people that I've been surrounded with. And now I have the potential to make lasting impact. And my goal is to be

testifying in front of Congress. So to be in my 20s testifying in front of Congress about something I'm so passionate about in a way it's like hey god thank you for allowing this to happen because now i can impact millions of people's lives and not just my families okay we've seen your charge you you you want to be testifying you want to be doing what you're doing you're working every day to make a change crystal ball last question i got for trading secrets your dad is at the release january 20 23rd your mother julie october at 2028, crystal ball. Did they get out before then? 100%.

100%. 100%. That is the conviction. I will not take no for an answer. Wow. Like I said, you play a game of chess, not checkers. All right. So I've got option one, option two, option three of how we achieve what we need to achieve.

All right. Savannah, you are coming back on when your prediction is correct. But until then, we got to get your trading secret. So it's a trading secret that no one can get in a textbook, learn from a professor on a TikTok tutorial or YouTube channel. they can only learn from your wild career, financial, and life journey. It's one trading secret with Savannah, Crystal. What can you leave us?

For me, it's just like, our government's not what you say it is. Do your research. Look into it. I think that's the biggest, like, did you know that if you report someone for tax fraud? Yeah, I think it's 30 to 50% of what the government collects. Like, it's stuff like that, you know, that like. So it's almost like your trading secret is that behind what we think, think is the norm or what we just assume is reality. There are many trading secrets we don't know

and we need to do a deep dive and understand. Yeah, I think for us as humans, it's so, it's easier to take what someone tells you as being the gospel, the truth. It is what it is. But in reality, you do your research behind it and nothing is ever as it seems. Sure. And so for me, I've learned to, when someone says something, I'm going to do my research. I'm going to do my research. I'm going to to look up the numbers. And at the end of the day, numbers don't lie. Yep. So you have to do your research behind things. You can't be so trusting of people. People like to say I'm jaded, but I say, no. Like you, people are too trusting. And I think it's so hard because this whole thing has taught me things that people, I just put a video on Instagram and I'm like conspiracy theorist

times five million. But like, it's kind of, as some say, conspiracy. theorist, I now know a lot of things is the truth. So it's just so hard that I think it's just don't be trusting of people. Like, do your research. Don't take people's word as the gospel. Yeah. And then you'll know you show up with numbers and numbers and facts and you can argue anyone. Numbers don't lie. I love that saying. And I think my trading secret from this episode is it's kind of systems in place for checks and balances. Right. So like you have to have three or four layers of protection because anyone out there, if you're assuming it's getting done by the one person, if they're manipulating or moving things in a different way, what system do you have to keep them

accountable? And the more layers you put in place, the less this happens. Like if you think about your dad's situation, this guy that was committing the fraud, if there was another way to have four different checks in place where he was been held accountable, none of this happens. Or at least it's brought to fruition and then it's dealt with. So that's a big one. It's like, fine.

If you have trust in people, that's great. put systems in place so that they know that there's people watching. In a basic one, I'll get one right now, you have a CPA, you have a financial manager. They have to be interconnected, right? Making sure that all the numbers align. There's just so many ways to do it. So, Savannah, this has been an unbelievable episode. Your journey has been remarkable.

I can't wait for that movie to come out. We'll see if your predictions right. When and if it's right, you are coming back on the show. And it sounds like you might be moving into politics. So we'll keep an eye out on that, but I'm just assuming you didn't say that. Where can everyone follow you and see what you have going? on so they can see what comes different. Yes. So my podcast is unlocked with Savannah. You can find it on any podcast platform. Also YouTube. You can find full videos. And we do some one-off videos on

YouTube under the Unlocked podcast that aren't on podcast apps. So we kind of keep it fun. And then Instagram is Savannah Crisley. Also TikTok have that too. We're just going to utilize it better. We have two of them, two of them, Unlocked and Savannah. And next episode, she'll be making a lot more money or social media, because we're going to bring it to her Savannah. Thank you for being on this episode, Traying Secrets. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing the bell to the Savannah Crisley episode. This was an episode that was absolutely electric, off the charts, highly energetic, entertaining

all the things. I mean, when you look at Trading Secrets episodes and you talk about what do I want out of a guest, this incorporated everything. We had drama. We had true crime. we had financial lessons, we had opinions on the current state of the United States, what is happening for the good and bad, and we had someone speaking with a depth of knowledge. You can agree, you can disagree, you can like, love, or dislike, whatever you want to say,

what you have to agree with is Savannah speaks with conviction, and she does her homework, and she aligns the research she's done with the thought she has. And for that, you have to give this individual so much credit, especially for what you she's going through financially and personally hardships galore she makes the most of it i want to quickly before i turn it over to david say a few things one last week we had some issues with the audio and the recap so in the future if you ever see any type of issues with the show know that we hear you we see you at five i am on monday it was released at two a m on monday at five a m at monday we all woke up we fixed it here's the problem when you follow the show which is great please hit

follow. It helps us, but it will auto download. And when it downloads, it'll get the original version. So what you'll have to do is, when you go into the show on Apple, for the specific episode, not for the show, you'll see three little dots for that episode. You would click remove download and then re-download for that episode, and you'll get the new version. My deepest apologies for that, it will not happen again, and we love the money mafia and everything you guys bring to the table. The second announcement, and a much more exciting announcement, And the Tarduk household, we have our own version of the birthday song, and it goes a little like this. It's your birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you.

It's your birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you. And many more. The curious Canadian soon to be the curious can am. He'll explain that. It is his birthday, February 17th. So if you could go in the reviews, give us five stars. And at this time, literally, just say happy birthday to the Curious Canadian. He watches those reviews.

So thank you guys so much for being part of the Money Mafia. Thank you for the love, the reviews. Let's get to Savannah Crissly with the birthday boy, the Can Am, David Ardwin. Wow, wow. Things I was not expecting today was getting serenated by Jason Tartick on my birthday. 37 years on this planet, Jay, and we are thriving here on Trading Secrets. So thank you for that. Thank you to the Money Mafia listening to us this whole time.

And, you know, we are going to kick it to the Savannah Crissly episode because I really didn't know what to expect. I have watched the show in the past, right? I've gotten to know her character on the show a little bit. But Jay, the only thing that I can say, my reaction after this episode was I needed a drink and I needed a cigarette and I don't even smoke cigarette. So that's how I felt listening to the episode, start to finish. I mean, she is a fire cracker.

I was amazed at kind of just her knowledge and intensity and research. And overall, like her whole life's work has gone into researching this case for her parents and the other doors that it's open and questions that she has that she's kind of moved forward on. But overall, I mean, it was action-packed. you know what's interesting david is a little behind the scenes strange secrets action packed probably maybe i'm going to go and say top five favorite guests to interview i think for a couple things though one the chemistry was built because i was on her show first so we did back-to-back shows right so i think that allowed for chemistry what's also interesting though is i thought it would work against me the first

interview i did with her right i wanted her show and there are a lot of curveballs there's a lot of like detailed discussions of my relationship. She came in pretty hard at certain moments. And even like that curveball, she's like, yeah, I had Caitlin in this studio in March. And I knew right then based on the way that she was talking to me,

that she was done with you. And I was like, Jesus. So the good and the bad, like it creates this chemistry, but it's also hard to pivot. We saw this with the Chris Harrison podcast, but we got unbelievable feedback at the Chris Harrison podcast.

So maybe this is something we'll be doing more of, these swaps where we go back. back to back because it does create chemistry. It creates for a good episode. So David, real quickly, though, I want to give people a little bit of insight. I did say the curious can am. Before we go deep into Savannah Crisley episode, tell people why I said the curious cana am. On top of the birthday this weekend, I got a letter from the USCIS, which is the immigration control services. And I got my temporary status removed from my green card. Jay, I am an official permanent resident of the United States

that gets me 10 years green card status. So I'm all on the road in Minnesota. Ashley sent it to me a picture of it. Huge celebration for us. And it's something that, you know, in the legal proceedings of getting these statuses change to remove is a huge, huge, huge day for me. And I'm one step closer, like you said,

to be in a can-am. I know it has been an insane struggle for you. I remember the days of you not being able to go home the tears, the fear, the crossing of the border and having tons of issues and being held in detainment. This has been a very long struggle for you. So I am so happy as a friend who loves you. This is amazing. Let me ask you one question that I want to get to Savannah. Why do you think the process has become so challenging? Well, it's so interesting because I've been in the United States since 2008 as a student, as an employee, and now obviously permanent resident through marriage.

I've gone through the Obama administration, and then the Trump administration, and the Biden administration, and the process has changed greatly through those three presidents as well. I will say this, and I've always said this, if I'm an American citizen, you should have, well, it's actually kind of funny to cash 22 now because of all the issues that they are having at the southern border, but you should have all the faith in the world in the legal process of becoming a permanent resident. and a citizen in this country because I am as, you know, American as it gets in terms of, you know, I've been here for 15 years. I'm from Canada, a neighboring country, but the legal process is thorough, and I mean thorough. Like I've had to put my, explain my life on paper a million times, go through, do interviews, et cetera, et cetera.

And, you know, 15 years later, I'm finally a permanent resident in the country. So I've always said, if I'm like American citizen, you should have a lot of faith in this process but that's if you do it legally and obviously there's a lot of issues right now with illegals as well so um it's always been a process i've done absolutely by the book and uh super happy and proud and jay the next step is citizenship we're going to take that test you're going to stunting me up and i'm going to be an official american citizen that's the next step well we are going to throw you one hell of a can't am party when that is maybe we'll do a live event and speaking a live events before we go into savannah chrisley ladies and gentlemen we have a crazy

book slash we'll call it even podcast tour coming up Seattle, San Fran, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Del Rey, D.C., Philly, Boston, Nashville. And then what we're going to do in New York City is we're going to throw a massive, exclusive invite only. It will be a red carpet. There will be media. There will be names you know. It's going to be a banger. How do you get on that list? Will you buy a copy of talk money to me. You can buy it on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble. Send the email, Trading Secrets at jason Tartick.com, your receipt and just put in the subject, New York City party, and you will be entered to be on the invite list. It's going to be a small group. It's going to be an insane party with musicians you know and people you know. So go get a copy. Do that now

and get ready for this tour. Seattle, San Fran, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Delray, D.C. Filly, Boston, New York City, and Nashville. So, David, before we dive deep into Savannah Crissly, you got to give me some thoughts, man. We talked about this years ago. I mean, this podcast, man, this was just, we put this out of thin air, gave you a call and said, hey, you're one of my favorite buddies that I have the deepest and funest conversations with. What do you say, you know, we jump on the mics and you could do the recap?

Like there's so many directions, this podcast, this book, this life could have gone. I think, you know, I'm going to pat myself on the back would have been a little easy to get someone that's got like a big following. But I did, did it for the boys. And here we are three years later. We're going on tour. What are you got?

I'm just excited, man. It's all surreal. And the biggest thing for me is like, you know, the guests that we're getting, they keep coming. Like, I know we always had conversations about like, how long could we do this for? Our guests, our well of guests is drying up. You know, how are we going to pivot?

And the fact that you're going on your second book tour, I get to be a part of it at some of these stops. You know, we're adding two episodes a week in the future. Like it's just growing and it's exciting, man. Like it's the definition of growth and it's all thanks to honestly you and thanks to the Money Mafia, thanks to Evan, thanks to our amazing team.

And it's exciting, man. I mean, it's exciting. The fact that I get to listen to all these guests and, you know, hear you evolve as a host as well and come on and give my two cents and try and, you know, speak for the people listening as well and hopefully get to meet a lot of those people on the road during the book tour as well. So it's amazing stuff, man. I'm just excited for where we're at and where we're going.

Hell to the, yeah, it's beautiful. I think you're right, man. I think for so long, it's a good business lesson. I think for so long we were operating out of fear, right? Fear of the whole entire goal of this podcast was make it to the next week. We can do it. We can make it. And I think that was a motivator.

And some people back home that might resonate you. Fear might be a motivator for what you do and how you do it. But I will say that I think we are now in a position where we're operating from, momentum excitement and operating for momentum and excitement takes you to that next level and that's where we're at so it's exciting to be here yeah you said j t a pin the hair back just let it rip like you know we're reaching out to guests we never would reach out to before we're starting to book them we're getting amazing episodes got amazing feedback so it's good so savannah chrisley no different jay no different and and before we get into any details i got to do my thing and if someone else out there

was listening this episode and heard this term it has no clue what it is i'm going to start maybe hopefully a curveball. Hopefully it's a fastball. You can knock it out of the park. She talked a lot about money on this episode, which is amazing because I know that's important in the feedback. And one of the monies that she was talking about was before she was 18. She was receiving money in paychecks. And she said, because she wasn't 18 yet, part of the money was going into a Kugan account. And then some of the money was going into the parents production company, which was a loan out company. Now, can you explain what a loan out company is and what a Kugan account is? Yeah, let's start with Kugan account. So Kugan

account is just a trust account. So it's required by California, New York, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Mexico. And so essentially it is, it's in, it's, we've talked about SAGAFRA, right? But if you work for SAGAFTRA, 15% of any minors gross wages are required to be withheld by the employer and put into this account. So 15% of gross wages for minors are put into this account for the future version of themselves. So it's a great mechanism to take money, put it away, protect the child, protect the minor, and know that that money is going to be in a safe, good place, healthy place for when they are available. A loan out corporation, we deal with loan out corporations all the time. Like when we signed our podcast dealer, when I sign a brand deal or

whatever, a loan out corporation is going to be for someone, it's for creators, it's for an individual where the corporation is typically, there's only one shareholder. So one person owns the entirety of the corporation. It's really, really used for liability protection. right it's not like a tax strategy thing or anything like that it's a loan out for one person that's used for liability that one person has full ownership of the company and what you'll typically see is that loanouts are for the entertainment in professional sports industries so you'll see models actors creators athletes people where their brand or their entity they'll use a loan out right i have a loan out corporation does that explain it 100% it does perfect okay i got a she's

shared a lot of numbers, so I'm going to throw some numbers, and I'm going to see which of these numbers were you most surprised at or made you really think and reflect. One, she dropped that Yellowstone actors are getting paid $250K an episode. Were you more surprised that she was making $30k a week in filming, so $1.56 million a year? Were you more surprised that her dad was making $100k a week off the show, $5.2 million a year? Or were you more surprised that the legal fees that it's costing her herself was up to $7 million and the brand value an impact of all this, um, the lawsuits around her parents, the brand value and impact has reached $75 million.

Which of those numbers surprised you the most? Oh, I'll be honest with you. What's crazy is sometimes the biggest numbers surprise you the least. Yeah. You know, when you think about the value and how these guys, they were the, the Christy family as a household name. And this completely, completely blew them up. So I'm not surprised by the 75 million.

I'm not surprised by the seven million. I'm saddened, like, that's disheartening. That's, I wouldn't want that on my worst enemy. Like, that's just terrible. But what I was surprised by David was the amount they were paid per episode. I know. Like, dude, that, you know, this wasn't, this show blew up, but like, this was a USA show, right? This wasn't like this big ABC, The Bachelor, et cetera.

And to be making 100K a week for one cast and then 30K a week for another cast, dude that's a lot of money that's a lot of money for like what was you know i know the ratings were big but a smaller show so that to me was like i don't know that blew me away how about you which of those three blew you away i mean i think for me i may be the opposite the biggest numbers always blow me away um you know we've talked a lot about episode episodic payouts for a lot of these people so i think the big numbers for me like this i mean just hearing seven like seven million in legal fees like in my brain i just think about like who has that money set aside right like that is just crazy to prepare for speaks a little bit about our like you said maybe the system of

sometimes they just bleed you out of expenses so you can't even fight the case here's a big big and this is my brain going deep down the rabbit hole here's a big question that i have she talked a lot about you know the federal prisons and the money that is needed to run them and how much Congress gives and how much goes on the taxpayers and how much to spend 140 million false imprisonments every year and no one's really responsible for getting the government in terms of the debt that we're in and cutting expenses and cutting into the trillions of dollar debt that we're in. I always think about how the U.S. dollar is the gold standard kind of how the world operates off the U.S. dollar. What kind of, I don't even know how to ask this,

but my brain is just asking you because you're the money guy. Have you thought about the impact or how close are we to the U.S. dollar not being kind of the world's currency? Yeah, I mean, so here's a deal. Since the end of World War II, U.S. dollar, has 100% by a large margin been the most widely used currency for all things international trade. There's a huge demand for the U.S. dollar, which allows us to borrow money at a lower cost and then use currency kind of as a tool in leverage, right? That also comes with a lot of issues too.

So, but the idea is like, we have been the world's currency since World War II, and it's the most commonly held currency, amongst all currencies for international trade. Now, you might ask yourself, well, who's close to the U.S. dollar, right? So the share of allocated foreign exchange reserves, at the end of the first quarter of 2023, U.S. was 59%, the euro was 19.8%. The yen was 5.9%. British pound was 4%. 4.9 percent and so on. Now, one of the biggest concerns, though, as of July 2023, China has by far the most reported currency reserves of any country. So they have more than $3 trillion. Japan then comes in second place around 1.1, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and Taiwan also have a large

reserve. The United States, put in perspective, currently holds $244 billion worth of assets in its pool of reserves. So let's slow that down. We hold $244 billion of assets in our pool of reserves. China, $3 trillion. So while we are the massive, massive leader within the currency, the big issue becomes how long can we hold it for? And this is where, this is a whole episode, but when you get into like U.S. debt in our overall GDP, like these are some of the biggest concerns. And for people that don't know, foreign exchange reserves, right, that is the denominated foreign currency that are held by that nation's bank. So those are some things to think about.

If it were to change, there would be a huge impact in the United States economy, strength, power, position. We don't want it to change. Could it change? We'll see that's a full episode. We only have a few more minutes left in the recap. So I'll ask you to go to the next topic if that's cool. No, I mean, we don't even usually dip our toe in these realms.

So my head just explodes as soon as we start talking about them. But no, that's really, I mean, Jay, it was really cool to hear you guys almost like, I feel like you were making deals for her on the show. like you were, you know, locking in the client when she talked about her TikTok and really not understanding the impact and dollar amounts and value behind that, have you guys helped her? Now that you guys have done, recorded the podcast, have you guys been able to help her with some business? Is there some crumbs down the line? As you can imagine, David, you've seen my schedule, you've seen her schedule. We are both moving in 8,000 directions full speed, but we've talked about it.

We haven't nailed down a date yet, but she wants to start working with rewire talent management. We are going to make her a lot of money. The agency is going to do good things by her. So that is to come. I would just say, wow, Savannah Crissly, one of my favorite episodes yet. I have a feeling Savannah and I are going to be friends for quite some time. She's a really cool person. And I'm very impressed with just what she's done with the curveballs thrown her way. Now parenting, taking care of the family financially, still fighting for her parents' rights,

fighting for what she believes in. I said it in the beginning of this. I'll say it at the end. You can love her, like her or dislike her. you could agree or disagree with her. I think at the end of the day, what you have to do is take your hat off and respect her. She's earned the respect of what she's done,

the weight she's carrying on her shoulder, and how she's protesting for what she believes in. You don't have to agree with it, but you have to respect her. So I hope you guys all thought this was a great episode. Again, buy a book, send us a copy of the receipt, and just put New York City invite. And you will be added to the possible exclusive invite list

for this party. which will be absolutely epic. David, you got anything before we wrap? No, just glad you're recovered from the Super Bowl, back on the ones and twos, and big guests ahead, baby. Big guests ahead. David, happy birthday, man. I love you.

I will give a little toast. When we do birthdays, I like to go around the horn and tell everybody something special. So, David, I'm going to take this time to say something special about you. Amazing. I have a lot of friends in this world that I feel so fortunate in it, but no one is quite like the one and only David Ardoin.

his ability to dig deep, his ability to value friends, valued loved ones, and also put up boundaries. This world, and I don't do a good job of this, but this world brings so much noise, so much toxic energy, so many people that take and don't give. I don't think I've met anyone that has a better ability to put up boundaries and protect their life's work. And as you know, your life's work is your wife, Carter, your in-laws, your parents, your friends, your family. you protect those people with everything you got. I know that I am one of those people. I love you for that.

I inspired to be more like that. And happy birthday. I love you, brother. Amazing. 2024, if you can't have friends and can talk, say those things about you, then you don't got friends. So thank you. Love you too.

Appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. Can't wait for 37. Can't wait for 37. So thank you, everybody, for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets. One you can't afford to miss. Remember to go follow us on YouTube. Go subscribe to us on Spotify.

and Apple. Please give us five stars. And then this week, please just hammer the reviews with Happy Birthday, the Curious Canadian, the Can-Am, David, father of the year, whatever you want to call them. We will see you next week with another episode. Can't afford to this. Living the dream