All right, we're live. Yeah, all right, so well let's start.
Yeah, let's and we're back.
We're back, We're back, We're back around, ambitions back in effect.
So real quick, somebody tweeted me.
Somebody was like, Tiffany, somebody tricked me into going to one of those MLM parties. It's the same day that I listened to the podcast and and you know has heard that you took a brown break from it.
Yikes, And I was rolling.
It's always a friend too, you know, because who else can convince you.
Exactly like, oh, come to this, you know, come to my We're totally having drinks.
Gotcha, that's the party. Yeah, I might have some might have some makeup. I'm selling some tupperware, you know whatever. It's too funny.
Yeah, it is le.
You know who tweeted me today? Oh he tweeted the general Twitter population. But Soldia Boy tell him?
Okay.
Soldier Boy apparently wants to learn how to invest in the stock market. So where else does he go for advice but Twitter? Of course, anytime I want to learn a new financial system, I definitely crowdsource from Twitter. So I noticed all my friends who are personal finance journalists were all of a sudden tweeting at Soldier Boy, and I'm like, what is happening. So around like around like nine am this morning, he's like, so, I'm gonna find the exact tweet me. See, so he tweets a lot,
he does. Yeah, take me all the way down his Twitter feed just to find what he tweeted this morning. Soda Boy is like one of those I feel like he's mentioned wanting to be better about his money recently, but I mean I feel like most rappers all you see is like pictures of him with like big old diamond and gold rings and like chains and stuff.
Every rapper could learn a thing or two from the rappers that have totally gone broke.
I'm saying, right right, Oh, so he's this is his first tweet. Anybody that knows more about the stock market, tweet me. I will follow you back. I'm studying it right now and need some tips. Thanks. It's just crazy to see Soldier Boy retweeting Investopedia, which is like my bible.
He's retweeting Investipedia, he's retreating, retweeting the SEC, he's retweeting market Watch, the Journal, and I tweeted at him because actually today's guest Eric Patrick aka hip Hop stock Doc, had written a story for me at Magnify Money five easy tips to buy your first stock, and so I was like, hey, so boy, but got you covered? And I included a link and tagged Magnify Money and he was like retweeted and say thanks, I'm reading right now at least that.
Yeah, ah, look at you. You've got to be on what is that Love and hip Hop? Hollywood? Or no? Is are they Hollywood?
Look at.
I think so he's on one of the those like, you know, ratchet TV shows.
See now, everybody who listens to brand Ambition knows that I don't actually watch any of those love and hip I watch. I watch reality TV. Don't get me wrong, but it is not the cool stuff. It's like TLC six hundred pound Life, Toddler's and Tierras and a lot of cooking cupcake wars. I'm down with that, yeah, But love and hip hop m.
Only what I'm feeling, particularly like if I'm like super overwhelmed, like I'm just like I just need like a brain melt.
Down, you know what I mean?
Of course?
Yeah, So when I get like that that, I'm like, you know what, Nothing's gonna soothe my soul like love and hip.
Hop or six hundred Pound Life.
Or Basketball Lives or something, and usually like after a half an episode, I'm like, oh God, okay, okay, my soul is like I need you to come on back into the room.
Wait.
I just want to say to Soldier Boy. I mean, he was very humble and he was like retweeting everybody. He's like, I want to say thank you for this is what he tweeted to Investipedia, which could not be. There's probably like five bald white guys who run Investipedia and they're tweeting at Soldier Boy. He's an Investipedia's like, we just want to say thanks for bringing more awareness to exposure and exposure to financial literacy. This is awesome.
And Sojioer Boy goes back, You're welcome, and I want to say thanks for educating me more on the stock market. Greatly appreciated.
Oh that's awesome. But you know what though, I mean, even even though Soldier Boy is not.
It's not like a hip hop artist that kids look up to, he's still very wealthy, so they people definitely look at him as like I think he and his network.
No, well, nobody like so nobody listens to so Boy songs.
Yeah, I only know the Superman.
Yeah that's the only one I know either too, but he doesn't have any recent hits. But Soldier Boy, I think what his real claim to fame was that when he came up with those songs, he was the producer, the singer of this.
So it the few songs that you know that did do really well.
He made all of the money, and his current network is like in the twenty millions or something like that. So yeah, So it's so that's what's so cool about Soldier Boys that even though you know, he you know, had a very short lived popular career, that he was able to do so in a way that he grew great wealth and maintained it, which you know, that's better than more than half of the people in his kind
of like his field. So yeah, like if you google Soldier Boy network, I think it is like is it like twenty thousand something?
Crazy?
Yeah, he said, I made a lot of money. This is one of his first I made a lot of money doing music over the years. I want to invest in style instead of buying jewelry, et cetera. That's a that's a good It is way to go.
Look at you, soldier boy. You know what you've better make it cool to Yeah.
But then about like two hours after he had all this like stock marker revelations. What is he posed? But like a picture of gold yezis like gold plated sneakers. Do you know what I didn't know? I guess you hear about the Kanye clothing line and the shoes and stuff and like, but I didn't realize he's like nine hundred dollars for shoes.
Yeah, Kanye has like shirts with holes in them for like three hundred dollars and people buy them.
I don't understand. I mean, I don't understand a lot of things, but this is especially Geezy boost didas. But this is like what I mean, this is what you see though. I mean, Kanye is like the rapper of all rappers. I mean no, no, no, I under nineteen eleven. No, twelve hundred dollars to thirty five hundred dollars for shoes right now, I'm on Amazon. That's great, right, cool can
afford this. That's why kids get their shoes stolen and they look like they put this look that they wrapped a sweater around a normal shoe.
I said, hey you, hey, you keep warm?
Yeah, I feel like your feet would be very sweaty. No, but it's activity sneakers.
I'd like yeezys on.
You know that.
I'm a payless shoes on.
Yeah, confession, I have you ever heard of teaks? They're flats.
So teeks are like flat and so the bottom you could tell it's a teak because the bottom is that Robin's egg tiffany blue.
Pretty.
Yeah.
So they're very like, you know, like they're one of Oprah's favorite things. The cheapest flat is one seventy five for a flat. The more expensive ones can go up to two hundred and something dollars. And I never buy myself anything quote unquote fancy. So I was like, you know, I'm always struggling to find a good flat. And I said, you know what everyone keeps saying, these flats are feel comfortable.
I had a really really good month, like two months ago, like huge month, a banner month, and I said, I'm gonna treat myself to these overly expensive flats.
How much are they?
I think I paid one seventy five for black flats, and so I bought them and they hurt me.
The first thing.
All day long, really, I thought it was going to be a totally different I thought they were going to change your life now.
And then after that, I was like, I'm never gonna wear these again.
But then I ended up wearing them like a week later because I could go, you know how, like you're you're running to get like groceries from the car or whatever, and you just throw on.
Whatever's by the door. I was gonna wear them.
So I threw them mom, and they were comfortable, and I was like, oh, okay.
So I started wearing them.
And then one day I couldn't find them, and I'm looking for them everywhere, and I said, I know who has some, Supergirl, because I saw she was trying on my shoes, and Supergirl took them to her mother's house and kept them there.
So I called her mom was like, can you bring my flats back?
Well, this is just the beginning, wait till she gets to become a teenager.
But in the meantime, when when Supergirl had my flats, I needed to wear flats that day because I was going into the city and I wanted to wear flats to be comfortable, and so I found my old black pay let's flats and realized these nine dollar flats felt exactly the same.
Exactly Well, I was gonna say, when you start talking about expensive good shoes, like I think good shoes are an investment to a point, to a point to a point,
especially in New York. If you live in any city where you walk as much as New Jersey, New New York, or any state as much as New Jersey and city like New York where you walk all the time, you need a good pair of shoes because, like my I have all these foot issues I never had before, ankle issues and heel issues, and so I had to I've shopped a lot of at Aerosols, which I'm not ashamed to admit, Aerosols super comfy.
It's the old Lady Store.
Yes, it's the Old Lady Shore. But they have very fashionable flats, I must say, and heels and boots and airthing. Okay, so take care of your feet. But I can't believe we haven't even mentioned that people will be tuning into this podcast tomorrow morning, Tuesday morning on election Day. Bomb But no, wait, what was that?
I got like, I don't I'm I mean, I someone was like, are you going to do an election party. I said, honestly, my stomach is in that, and I think I'm just gonna turn off.
I'm gonna go vote Abby, Abby.
Yeah, I'm gonna get my eyebrows done, and I think I'm gonna turn off everything and like just watch them GCV because I can't take it. Like I hate suspense movies, I can't take it.
I just can't take you.
This is I'm not feeling the excitement like you know, Facebook memories, just this is. This week, especially Facebook memories has been reminding me of all the past three elections or two elections, because my very first election was voting for Barack Obama. That's the first time I cast a vote. I was twenty one. How old was I twenty twenty twenty one. So that was a hell of a year to you know, assume my civic duty. And I feel
like nothing is going to compare to that year. And also the excitement, the peer belief in what he stood for. And you know, in twenty twelve, it was like, you know, just bring it was all about just getting a Barack Obama and making sure he stayed in office. And this year it's like god wood, will it and just put us out of our misery.
And I'm just like, I just I'm not gonna lie.
It's scary, and I'm like, so, I mean, people feel like it's weird. My timeline looks back and forth. There are people who are like, oh God, like I'm scared. Are the people who are like, I'm sure she's gonna win, And I'm like, I'm not sure of anything.
I'm just I was sure he wasn't going to get the nomination. Okay, I was sure about so much exactly.
At this point, I'm just anything can happen.
There are there are a lot of uneducated people. You know what's scariest about this selection, especially as a journalist who works really hard. I don't even cover politics, but I write about how, you know, politicians policies can impact people's personal finances, which it has a huge impact on everything from tax rates to the cost of college to your retirement account. But there's just such a lack of interest in facts. I feel like facts have been the
real loser in this election. People like, people want to believe what they want to believe, and there's no like, there's very few people, especially who are you know, on lower Voldemort's side, who are interested in hearing the facts, and it's really hard to fight against those people who willfully want to be ignorant. And I think that's what's scariest. There's there's just a lack of like logical you know, educated thinking and critical thinking.
Not about that, it's about a feeling that they're losing they're losing power over some like mythological place that used to exist before where there were no people of color and women were stood in their place, and like let's go back to like leave it to be. I'm like, man, that was ashl bab, Like that's not there was never Like it's so crazy how people are like I want to go back to these kinds And I'm like, well, in the way that you describe in those times, it never existed that.
It exists to like that for some people. I think, what when people it's almost like in the beginning, it didn't it didn't start out racist with the whole make America Great agan thing. It's almost like, yes, in the sixties, seventies, eighties, like manufacturing jobs were like you could get a manufacturing job and provide for your family and it was a nice blue collar income. And as those jobs went away.
The working white class, blue collar system kind of crumbled, and you have those people who are looking back on these old decades and they're like, man, I can't believe that, you know, I can't provide for my family. These jobs are disappearing. What you know, this this America is not recovering. I'm struggling. And they say they missed the good old days,
but they don't understand that. I think it's just like sort of a everyone's everyone will look out for their own self interests and remember how things are for them, but they forget what the rest of the world was going through in the sixties and seventies, and it wasn't equal or you know, they were the only ones doing pretty pretty well.
You know, that's exactly what I want to go back to the time when only I was benefiting.
What's wrong with that?
Yeah, I'm perfectly happy back then. And you guys didn't have any rights anyway, so who no one even knew you were struggling, you know, I just part of me is just like, man, one of these people going to die out? Is that terrible?
You know?
It's so great? No, it's not paradise to think that all the time.
And you know it's so crazy though, It's like all of these, like so many people that support Trump. I'm like, dude, you know that he would you would never be invited in this house, Like you're not, Like you're not in any way shape or form someone that he would like hang out with, have over, want his daughter to marry, Like you're going for a dude that is looking at you like beneath him.
Quite honestly, how.
Is this narcissistic billionaire becoming the voice for the working white class in such a way. It is mind blowing. Anyway. I feel like if anyone listening out there is as as tired of the election as I am, Here's what the one thing I keep holding onto is we have to vote. Like the best way to get over your election dysfunction disorder is just to go vote. Just do it, because you can bitch about it all you want, so
long as you vote. I feel like people who don't vote, they don't you know, they don't really have a right to complain a vote, not voting, staying home, not voting. I feel like you're just voting for Trump. We were at we were at the house of one of fiance's relatives, yesterday and his young cousin, he's twenty something. He's an
NYPD police officer. We were just talking. You know, it's like an ad for the Trump campaign came up on the TV and he was just like, yeah, man, I'm not going to vote, like I don't know, I don't know who to believe, I don't know who. And I was just like, how can you not know? Like how can you be on the fence and for him, I kind of you know, and I got really upset, and fiance was like, you need to calm down. It's my family. But I was like, I was like, what do you mean.
You have to you know, you have to make a vote. It's not just the president who's up for election. There's all your local you know, congressman, lawmakers who are actually writing the laws. You know, they're really important too. There's a lot of legislators up for election too, that's important. And He's just like, you know, I feel like Trump supports stop and frisk and that helps me in my job as a cop. And I'm like, Okay, that's fine.
You know, it's not even that he wants he it's not even that he's like supporting Trump a little bit it's that I I just don't see why people don't want to vote. Yeah, I guess his sense is that it doesn't matter. I mean, living in New York City, it's easy to think that because it's a blue state. But I don't know. I wouldn't feel it wouldn't feel right. It would feel like not filing my taxes or like not going for annual physical I would never miss that kind of stuff. How could you miss the voting?
No, I just like I said, I just I'm gonna be opptensity. I'm just I'm pretty much gonna turn off Internet because I know it's gonna be pray some emails.
I'm probably gonna watch some reruns of a Fixer Upper.
You're not gonna watch any election coverage. I'm gonna watch.
Sorry, even when, even when when I first voted for President Obama, like I was like, I was like so sick to my stomach cause I was listening and I was like breathing heavy, like, oh, I just can't take it.
I'm sure I'm going to watch some, but I'm gonna be like so my mind can't take my I know.
And I'm just praying for a decisive victory. I'm praying that I'm praying that everyone just does the right thing for the country and not just the right thing for themselves anyway. So this is your brain ambition, Go out, get out the vote. If you're on your way to work right now listening to the podcast and you haven't, you know, taken some time off to go vote yet, you got your lunch break. Polls in New York rope until nine pm, so you can go after work. Twist,
you gotta vote. Tweet us with your vote stickers. Just don't tweet in the booth. That's illegal, right, Like justin Timberlake found that out. You can't take a selfie in the booth. Don't do it. Don't say Brown Ambition said, I could I.
Please because I do not have bail money. I do, but not for you.
Yeah, we don't have bail money. Wait until you leave, and then it's tweetus. A tweet's a pick at the BA podcast.
God, who is this president in my timeline?
Yeah, a dude, I'm I'm planning to vote on November eighth. Voting can make America great. How did Stephen Edward Adams end up in my comline? And it's all these old Caucasian people, me too, Yes, make America vote great?
Oh my god, how did they get How is he my friend? They found you now, I'm like, mmmm.
They're on to you. They're everywhere. Are you kidding me? There are? Ignorance is a universal state of mind in some places, speaking of well, actually a terrible segue. But since we talked about Solanga's album the other day, I wanted to see if you had a chance to watch her performance in SNL and see if her performance has uh because you weren't so impressed by the album. But did you see the performance and what did you think?
I did not see the performance.
I didn't see the crown, the glitzy crown. Honestly, I's spun around on her head, and then Beyonce and Tina were both there.
I didn't see. I didn't even hear. Honestly, I'm so out of it. I'm not gonna lie.
I have not watched much TV. I didn't even see Beyonce. I'm on the CMAS.
I didn't you know what I'm actually, I feel the same way. I didn't know she was on the CFAs and I felt almost sad as a Beyonce fan, like am I am I slipping?
So I didn't see it.
I still have yet to watch it though, me too, and I.
Want to watch it because I heard it was good. But I'm like, I don't know. I just I've just been like so just tired.
I don't know if it's just a whole bunch of work. I'm just like, I'm just exhausting.
Is it all that baby making?
I don't know.
We have a lot of We had quite a few emails from people supporting or with some some tips on temperature checking and ovulation cycles. I'll just for those onto you. Yeah, so what, Yeah, any updates there? Have you guys been to a live educated doctor. Well but that now you got quiet?
You know, I said, not as if yet, you know, I was so crazy.
I was thinking of you today because I was thinking, like I need because I went to the dentist today for a root can.
Now and whoopee, oh god, I know, and you're talking.
You know what, oddly enough, whenever, this is not my first rooc can now, and so it it doesn't it's like why wisdom tooth or way in the back or whatever, and so it's it's sore, but it doesn't like my face doesn't hurt, just the tooth is a little bit. But yeah, and I was thinking that too. I'm like, I hope for taping the podcast, I'm not. It was at eleven, so I'm feeling like, hmm, it's seven now,
so I'm good. But yeah, so but it made me think to myself, you went to the dentist, it's time to go to the baby doctor.
Yeah.
Yeah, oh you know what it is. I know, I'm tired. Baby sat like my nephew almost for a full week.
Listen, can I tell her about the conference call we were on. So our worlds are colliding and Magnify Money is sponsoring Tiffany's Literature Challenged for twenty seventeen, which is super exciting. But anyway, we had our first official call with Tiffany and her assistant and the entire call was like the baby gurgling in the background and the baby yelling, and it was like he was just like yeah.
I was like, oh my god.
He's like, so you scheduled a conference call during my active hours. That's not a smart idea.
And I was hoping I was a baby, He'll be a sleep because like her normal babysitter was away for the week and.
She's like, could you watch him? And I was like, uh so, I can't sold most things.
But I thought, oh because usually like when I'm doing like work, like he has this little toy, so he's fine. But of course he's like, oh, do you need quiet now? Oh no?
Wait. It's almost like doesn't that make you realize though? When my girlfriends and my just friends people I know and women I know who work from home and people are like, oh, you can just work from home and watch the baby, and they're like, oh no, I still have to hire a nanny to actually take because they suck up every ounce of your attention.
And meanwhile, it's not even like he's like a four month old or something where you where it's like you have to always hold.
Him like he's one. So he's walking and you know.
Like he has this little like I have mobile yeah, which is like even more so I didn't. I don't really have a baby proof half of I'm using chairs and stuff to like lock off places where you can't go. And like it was so crazy because you think that
I you just don't realize how smart babies are. So he'd watch me pull a chair like in a little crevice so he couldn't go that way, and as he'd watched me pull it, he realized, oh, she pulled up by the lefe And next thing I know, he's pulling up by the leg to set himself free.
And I was like, how I was responsible?
So every time I would try to lock him in, I had to make sure he couldn't see the method I use, or he would be like, oh is that half?
They're a little Whodini's they are?
I was just exhausted because every morning, at like seven, he'd wake up and I'm like, just wan worn and every night, I mean it just, yeah, I got some work done, but let's just say I had to cancel the majority of my meetings and I was just like, guess it's just me and you kid, and it was I'm still Meanwhile, today's the first day where I didn't really have to watch him, and I didn't watch him really this weekend, but I'm still exhausted.
I'm like, how do moms do.
The baby hangover? So this is a good practice for you?
Then that's what everyone said to like, how is it my best friend Drina because she's got a one year old the same age, And then to make matters worse, she asked me she had to do a press conference.
She said, I know you have baby.
You know your baby nephew that her son is basically the same age. And she's like, but I really have to do this press conference. I'm only ten minutes away. It told me an hour.
Could you watch my son too? So at one point I had two one year olds in the house and I was just like, what is happening for my life?
Something like a nightmare?
Why can you imagine twin? And I looked at like my Superman, and I'm like, yo, you are a twin. Twin boys, how did your mother? I don't know.
Let's hope that twin dream twin g passes you don't they skip a.
Generation or right, because if I have twin, I'm checking out, I'm getting my time card and i am checking out.
Oh my god. Babies are so evil, you know.
If you know what's so terrible about babies is that they're so cute that you're like, what are you Like, nephew would be like, oh, this cup half water, It sure does knock.
The babies are cute evolution because they would not survive if they weren't adorable creatures. We would have thrown them off the cliff already because they're crazy. That's the same reason that you know frogs have poisoned darts and stuff like that for survival.
I'm telling you it.
Just every time you just like I just can't take it anymore. That's when they smile and they're like, yes you can, like I just want to. And then when he slept, I'm like, now's your chance, take your nap, because you were always torn between should I do work now that he's sleeping or should I just sleep too and sleep usually one.
Nowt man, well, that sounds like a fun experience. At least you get to give him back.
Yes hoo, child. But then you miss them too. It's a weird thing because then I'm like, oh, I missed him. But then I was like, you forgot? Have you forgotten?
They're manipulative? I have to we have to talk about this. So I've been this weekend speaking of TV.
Uh.
I started watching the Netflix, the new Netflix show called The Crown. I feel like I'm gonna catch you up, and all the all the pop cultures.
Go to watch The Crown. Is it good?
It's good. It's like the new it's my new replacement for down Nabby. It's something about the British, British elite, just like Americans love it.
Oh my god, we're twins.
So it's about Queen Elizabeth or Queen Elizabeth. They call her a little bit.
Is that her fancy Nay?
I'm learning so much. It's very historically accurate. Her nickname was Lilibet. Lilibet. I had no idea. I didn't really know. I mean, I just always it's sort of like your grandma. You're born and you just think, well, grandma was always seventy five years old, and so with Queen Elizabeth, I'm like, oh, yeah, she was a young girl when she was made queen. Her dad King George, so whatever, he passed away. He died from lung cancer and she was suddenly thrust into, uh,
the the role of queen. And you know, she had been she had just been married and she you know, we talk about being the breadwinner in a relationship as a woman and how difficult to this imagine being the Queen of England and your husband is like a house husband. So it's really interesting. It goes into all the dynamics of their relationship and assuming The Thrones was all only like sixty years ago. It was the nineteen fifties, right
after World War Two. Anyway, just really good show. And but it got me thinking because this week, or the last week, Prince Harry, who is like her grandson, Prince Harry, you know, he's like the wild child. Apparently he's dating a mixed race actress. That's her name. I had never heard of her before. Her name is, she's bi racial. Her name is Megan Markle. You heard of her. She's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful white. I'm pretty sure she's black and white, but
I haven't done the digging. So but you know, British. British newspapers are way more like blunt with how they describe people of race. They're like, this is the headline on uh the Guardian, the Prince's new black girlfriend has set tongues wagging like geez. But anyway, sorry, go.
Ahead, I'm just saying, okay, does she have a career?
What's her name? She's a black girlfriend, but apparently so one. But you know, it's even more scandalous than her race in the British monarchy is the fact that she's divorced. That's what I learned from watching The Crown is how what a big deal divorce was? Like you couldn't marry a divorce person, Like, isn't that nuts? It's imagine that was the law now because it went against the Church of England's teachings. And of course the queen was like
the head of the church or whatever. But her own sister had to give up the love of her life because he had been divorced before and the British government wouldn't allow it.
Wow, isn't that why, Like Prince Charles couldn't marry Camilla Etards.
Yeah, I think it was a similar thing. Yeah, I don't know. We haven't caught up to the Prince Charles yet. He's just a baby.
No.
Now that I want to watch, Like that's gonna be my new Like, ooh, I don't want to do any work, let me watch.
Because I was looking.
I went on Netflix on my bar Netflix account because you know how I.
Do two and you know, the passport stopped breaking last night. Sendrique's cousin and I was like, can you text him? He's like, it's midnight, just text him though it's not watching anymore.
No no need to no alarm, you know. But I just.
It's Superman, so it's hit. So I'm always like, yeah, I will always have this login. We shall always only play for one person.
Do you do that? You cobble together the subscriptions with family and friends because so his cousin uses our Hulu and we use his Netflix. My little brother uses my Spotify. Actually he's a leech. I haven't he doessn't given me anything.
It's like, I mean, while your little brother has a has all of them, it's like it's given nothing.
And he didn't even tell he could. He just kind of like went on my account and just did it. He just added himself. I didn't even know.
Iretty figure out her login. There you go.
Well, I hope that the British newspapers don't mess up this relationship because we need more mixed babies in the world. Okay, yeah, especially royal ones. Come on.
No, So I'm excited, Like now I'm gonna I cannot wait. I'm gonna I'm probably gonna start watching Cromp tonight because it looks so interesting.
It's really good and it's like it's relaxing and I don't know, I love it and the accents are on point. Her accent is like it's different in the it's like so snotty British, like upper class. It's like, thank you for being herey'all. Was so happy to hobby y'all. It's it's all very like nasally, I'm doing a terrible job of it. But it's good stuff, good good stuff, and the outfits come on.
I'm super excited.
I saw some of the like review like you know, like the trailers, and I said, oh my god, she like I remember I think her husband said something like do I have to bow to the queen?
There's something Yes, he.
Didn't want to bow to hurt her coronation. That's what I'm talking about. Talk about being the breadwinner and how hard that is as a woman, and then like to oh, to rule a country. Uh yeah, it's I think that's one of the more interesting parts of the show is his reaction to her being the queen. It's I think it's in one sense, like you want to think, oh, he's just being a jerk. He should support her, but you almost kind of understand at the same time what
he's going through as well. But they make him look like a big douchebag, not gonna lie I want to see I want to see Prince Philip. Yeah, it's good stuff, good stuff. Well, alrighty anything else we want to cover buzzworthy?
No, I think we're good on buzzes.
Everybody's going to vote today, Yes, yes you shall. If you don't know where your voting precinct is, just google it. Google. Actually, just go to Gmail, because Gmail they have this really cool like pop up that asks you if you know where to vote, and it tells you exactly where to vote.
You just got to put in your address and like the address where you're registered and it will tell you. Because my my voting site changed.
Like a couple of years ago, and I was like going to the old one, like wait, this had a school, but it was it had a new school now, So I'm like, okay, now I know I'm working.
Earlier though, I had.
To drag my butt to Queen's not excited.
I know that's the ad job, my bet to Westfield. Clearly I have not lived there forever, but that's where at.
Least you can drag yourself in a vehicle. Yeah, and be dragging myself in an hour and a half of train rides. Oh man, all right, well let's move on because I'm really excited about today's guest, Eric Patrick, hip hop stock doc, and I think he's about to ring in. He's going to answer some questions, give some tips on how to start investing in the market. All right, Brannan
vissionfam you asked, we have listened. You've been asking us for months to bring on someone to tell you guys how you can get started investing in the market, and finally we found the perfect guest. His name is Eric Patrick. He's the founder of the Black Market Exchange. And Eric, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Thank you for having me.
I'm sorry that it's just me. Tiffany unfortunately has to do some big lady boss stuff so she's not here, so it just be us today.
Okay, so you know, much respect to her. But it sounds good and I'm ready to get this going awesome.
So Eric, tell me what is the Black Market Exchange and how did you get started writing and get curious about investing?
So, the Black Market Exchange is an urban investment education platform in by urban investment education. I simply just use hip hop in modern media to help explain finance and investing topics. So it could be a rap lyric, it could be a scene from a television show such as Empire or whatever it is that's a very relatable topic kind of mainstream media, and then I use that to relate it to something in financial markets, you know, particularly stocks.
And so that's what black market Exchange is about, just really trying to bridge that gap, especially for millennials, to really just be able to connect and really understand what investing is and make it just easier to do.
Well.
Let's talk about that. I mean, so, let me just read a question from one of our listeners. Her name's Ariel. She says she's twenty seven years old, and she's a New York City public school teacher, and I think that her question really sort of personifies the general feeling of hesitation from young people around investing. She says, I was wondering how can I responsiblely start investing and or purchase stock?
As someone who feels completely illiterate in terms of the investment world, I've always wanted to explore and see if there were any options for me. Like many people, I have a few financial responsibilities like rent and bills that I feel like are furthering my education. But I wouldn't be able to put much money into investing, but I would like to educate myself and I want to see what my options might be. So that's a question from Ariel.
I mean, what do you say to people when they're like, you know, I really don't feel like I know enough to start investing. Where do I even start?
I mean to start? Of course, you know, Black markets Change is a wonderful platform, but there are other avenues out there, you know, investor pedias out there, and I actually believe in, you know, some passive approaches kind of like how a Rosetta Stone works. So you know, networks like a CNBC, Fox Business or a Bloomberg even just reading on Yahoo Finance or a market Watch can really help someone to kind of understand the market's better simply by being in that element.
You know.
It's it's almost like if you I don't want to say exactly, but you know, if you go to sleep and let's say you just have some something going on in some headphones and it's about investing, you might pastly gain that information. And I think that that is really helpful for people to understand because one thing that I've come across from some of my audience is that the lingo is very hard to understand, and it's really just throwing around a lot of different terms, but they really
end up meaning the same thing. And so, you know, it's just a little bit intimidating at first. But if you can find something a platform that you're comfortable with, you know, regardless of where that may be at. There's several financial blogs out there and platforms that can really help people understand finances and investing at a very basic level. And so really it's just finding that one to connect with.
Well, let me interrupt you, because I feel like, you know, my younger brother included some young people I talked to, They're like, you know, I can't even think about investing, you know, I just want to save cash. You know, I saw my parents go through hell during the recession. I'm not willing to gamble in the stock market, so I'm just gonna put everything I have in the savings
account and just figure it out later. I mean, what do you say to people who aren't who feel like cash is a safer investment.
I mean, it's great to have, of course, and you need it for emergencies. However, when you look at something such as inflation that's going to eat away at that cash that's just standing idle. That's really going to hurt you in the long run. So you know, you mentioned the recession in the market going down. However, the market tends to be cyclical, so over time it's always going
to end up recovering. And you know, since the nineteen twenties, the market has returned on average about seven percent after inflation. And when I say inflation, I mean on average your money is worth or it has three percent less buying power than it did before. So say, for instance, if you say one hundred dollars this year, next year, it's really only going to be able to purchase something at about a ninety seven dollars price point, and that trend
is going to tinue on and on and on. So the more you continue to only save that money is going to be worth less in the future. And even though from a dollar value it seems like it's a lot, from an actual purchasing power, and what you can do with that money isn't to your advantage, and that's why investing is so important.
So it's sort of think of cash as money her saving for money that you're gonna need really soon, and investing is all about for the long term stuff that you'll need later, like retirement funds.
Right exactly, And it's always great to have. I mean, you're gonna want to have some cash when you are in retirement, but specifically that cash is going to be more so that you can dip into if you need it now. You know, if you think about real estate, if you have all your money tied up in real estate and you have an emergency, it's hard to get that money out. So that's why cash and even investments for that matter, are great vehicles because they allow you
to obtain that cash quicker. And that's what you're saving is really going to do. It's just gonna give you that safety net, you know, for the interim until you know you contain to build wealth over time.
Okay, so let's talk about the stock market for people who don't know what is this? Like, what do you What do people mean when they say the market, I'm in the market, the market's up, the market's down. What's the stock market?
So the stock market is actually in reference to just stocks, and so you might people might think that it's associated with bonds and you know, every other kind of vehicle, could be real estate, whatever. But really the stock market is specifically for stocks. Now, you might have something like in exchange traded fund, which is similar to a mutual fund, but it's kind of has more of the price friendliness of a stock. But traditionally the stock market itself is
about stocks. But then you can have the bonds market. You know, you can have a foreign currency or or the four x marketplace. So the stock market itself is specifically it's specifically about stocks. But since we're usually talking in a general sense, when someone says like I'm in the market, essentially they're just saying I'm investing in some form or fashion, and it's traditionally going to be related to stocks or bonds.
Now, stocks, what are those like? I'm trying to get to the questions that people are too afraid to ask because they think they sound stupid. What's a stock?
A stock is just ownership in a company. So you may have heard of the term equity before. So if you own shares of stock in a company, you have equity or ownership in that company, and that's all that it means.
Gotcha. One of the one of the things when people ask me, you know, I want to start investing, like where should I start trading stocks? And I'm like, whoa, woo woo whoo, whoa, why do you feel the need to trade stocks? Like people tend to forget that just simply opening up a four to one K is a form of investing. So, you know, what advice do you have for people who you know are kind of torn between should I open up before one K or should I, you know, get a fidelity account?
Well as far as your four one K goes, definitely looking to see if your company offers a match program. And by a match program, I mean that they might say for every you know, five percent of your check, will match it up to one hundred percent of that five percent. So if you put in, for example, one hundred dollars, they'll match that one hundred dollars and they'll do that every time you get paid. And that is
essentially free money. That's regardless of how the market is doing, if it's going up or going down, they're just matching your money. So in opening and getting a four one K, it's highly recommended as long at least if there is a match program in place. Now if you're if an employer doesn't offer a match program. Then you have other opportunities such as a traditional IRA, or which is an
individual retirement account a rough IRA. They essentially have different tax implications, which you know may be another talk, but those are ways for people to invest in for retirement without necessarily tying it to their employer. And that's where you know, a fidelity account will come into play, or you know, something like a TD ameritrade or something like that.
Yeah, and I'm sorry, I was just gonna say having an IRA. So basically, the IRA is basically it's just like a four oh one K, except for you own it yourself. It's not through your employer, so you take it with you wherever you go when you search jobs. Do you feel like everyone should have an IRA that they have opened so that when they switch jobs they can easily just like roll over their their four oh one K into that IRA.
It's always great to have options, even if you're just contributing you know, a little bit amount in there. I definitely think it would be good to all. It's kind of like life insurance. You know, when you have life insurance through your job. Technically that's not really guaranteed because it's tied to your job, so you kind of always want to have a little bit extra outside, and so I would look at getting an IRA in the same fashion.
You don't necessarily have to put, you know, exuberant amount of money in there, and you know, until you're really maxing out the full and K portion. However, it is good to have something in place already. That way, in the event something happens, that transition can happen quicker and more efficiently.
So when people are looking I remember my job in New York. Oh my god, I I knew nothing about investing or what a four oh one K was. I knew that we've I vaguely remember from orientation we had a four oh one K. It wasn't until I left two years later that I realized they matched and I hadn't been contributing a nickel and I basically left all that money on the table. But I didn't sign up
because I was so overwhelmed by the options. So for people who are you know, they know they have a four to one K or a four H three B and their employer is like, here's your investment options, and there's twenty of them, and they don't know what the heck, all those letters mean, I mean, what's your advice for someone who's just starting to figure out what's the right investment for them.
They should definitely look into see who's running their account. They can get that information from their human resources department, you mean, right, right, So you know, you might be employed by a company ABC, but they could be using a Vanguard or a Fidelity to help manage your four one K or four or three B and so you know, whoever's managing your money, there's always somebody that you should be able to get in contact with at that company, and someone should be able to assist you in regards
to choices. Now, usually when you are opening your full and care you know, a retirement account with their employer, they're going to give you, you know, kind of like a pans lit with all these different options in there, and that can seem overwhelming, and that's when you want to reach out to that financial professional at that company
to help you. I know, my current job, we were actually brought out by another organization and they had a representative from the financial institution come and sit down with every employee as they were setting up their account, kind of explaining everything. So you know, if you think about it, these different funds out here have fees tied to them, so you're paying for those services. A lot of times people just don't know that that comes with what you're
paying for. So, you know, the best thing that you can do is just ask, you know.
How do you feel about target date funds? Target date funds are basically your in according to your age, according to your projected retirement date, and they're supposed to be like a set it and forget it type thing. Like it's like it's like kind of going to a buffet where you get a little bit of everything, and it's supposed to be like the easy way for young people to get into investing. What's your take on target date funds and is that a smart move to make when you're just starting out.
I think target day funds are definitely a good move to make. However, you know, I wouldn't try to spread across so many different funds because I mentioned, you know, not too long ago, that there's several options that you may be presented with. Also, you don't necessarily have to look at just the target date based on you know,
one year when you plan to retire. You know, maybe look at a couple of different years and see what is within those funds, and if you do, you know, look into more than one fund at a time, just see what is in them, because you know, you may you may have heard of it. Where the younger you are, the more the riskier that you can be with your money or with your investments. So people tend to tend to be you know, stock heavy and not necessarily as
much as in bonds. And the older you get, the more that kind of shifts in the vice versa direction. And so really just looking at what is in those funds. Is it bond heavy? Is it is it stock heavy? Does it pay dividends out from the fund? These are things that you can look for with that fund. What is the performance history of that fund? What's the management
history of that fund? If you have ten managers in ten years, even though that might be the target fund for when you plan to retire, does that mean that it's a good fund because of that high turnover? You know, that's something to consider and once again that that's something that you know, the financial financial professional at that institution can really sit down with you and kind of explain
those different options and what they mean. You know, even just basic down to what is a stock, what is a bond, what is a dividend, what is an expense ratio? You know, just things of that nature, And so it can really be beneficial using a target day fund. Just make sure that you're not just only setting it and forgetting it. You want to read the fine print and kind of research a little bit more to make sure that it's going to be the right move for you.
And I know a lot of people like they think a target day fund like they should get a bunch of different ones. But a target day fund is meant to be an all in one solution, Like you just need one target date fund because it's already diversified within itself.
Right, Yes, yes it is, And that's what I was saying, Like it can have different variables in it. It's just what are those variables that are within it? And you know, how risk averse do you want to be or how tolerant are you? You know I mentioned about some could be more stock heavy, some could be more bond heavy, some might pay dividends, Some might have more exposure in international markets than others. So those are the things that
you want to look at when choosing one. And then you know, try to you can be diversified within one fund, just try to make sure that you have a nice balance within there.
I mean, why is it important for people to invest early? We talk a lot about young people. Why all the pressure to start doing it when you're so young.
I mean, we've all heard of the phrase compound interest. We know that that's the eighth winder of the world. So the sooner you start there, the more time you have to accumulate wealth. And by that, you know, if you're making on average, you know, a certain percentage every year. You have to think about it. You know, for example, ten percent of one dollar one year is less than ten percent of ten dollars the next year. And so the more you contribute, the more that your money makes
over time. That percentage amount might stay the same on average, but the amount it actually means in dollar value is going to be more, which is going to help you achieve your goal faster and get to retirement and live comfortably in retirement.
It's amazing what happens when you just like let time work. I wish I was twenty four when I started finally got my life together and started investing, And I think I just started putting away five or six percent and then eventually ten and eleven percent. When I was trying to you know, when I got a raise and I moved to a new job and I just checked my account, I have forty thousand dollars in only four years, four.
Or five years exactly. And a lot of times that's how it happens. You look up and you're like, wait a minute, where'd all that money come from? And it's it's you know, life insurance kind of works similar with whole life, and you think about cash value a lot of times. You always hear once you get about seven or eight years that cash value really kicks into your benefit.
And it just works the same way when you're talking about investing in the markets, and you know a prime example, I have an account for my daughter, she's two years old now, and I do savings challenges to apply money
in there. I invest in you know, particular opportunities, and by the time you know, she's in high school, my goal is for her to have a set amount in her account already, so that way when it's time to go to college, we have that option for money she wants to start a business, whatever it is that she wants to do now that the option is there, and then, of course I hope that when she has her children it just continue on and on and that generational wealth is really in place.
Also, she's really cute. You gotta go check out his blog. I didn't even mention the website, the the b m EX dot.
Com, right, yes, yes.
THEBMEX dot com, the Black Market Exchange, and real quick, let us talk about where to start. Okay, we talked a little bit about the four oh one K, but some of these companies, Vanguard Fidelity, Charles Schwab, they they require, you know, five hundred thousand dollars to open an account. What if you don't even have the money to open up an IRA right now?
There are several other options that have come about nowadays. I mean, if you look at a company like an Acorn's Betterment, they're allowing people to start investing with a little less five dollars and you know, maybe one hundred
dollars contribution. So those are they're definitely a lot of outlets available to people, specifically if you don't have those amounts, and you know that kind of goes to investing was always reserved for extremely wealthy well, there are a lot of firms that are coming out that are realizing clearly everyone is not extremely wealthy, so what can we do for the for everyone else? And you know, just a lot of opportunities are coming about to where people can
start investing. And it might not sound like a lot doing five and ten dollars here and there, but that compound interest is lovely when it kicks in over time. So you just have to be patient and just wait it out.
Now, exactly what I get this question a lot too. How much is enough? You know, five ten dollars is one thing, But what if you you know, you're you're getting a steady paycheck and you're you know, you have your little twenty percent for your your student loan payment or whatever. I mean, how do you decide how much you set aside for retirement or investing.
I would say, just just start with a goal and see what's comfortable within your budget. So maybe if you do start with five percent of your paycheck and you know, see how that goes for you know, a few months, if everything seems to be okay, you still have a little extra cash, maybe bump it up to you know, six or seven percent and just continue on in that process. It's similar to with the full one k that we mentioned. Usually when you start with the four one k, you
might start with the lower percentage of your paycheck. But as you grow older, you know your expenses are probably less and so you have extra money that you can start contributing more and more, and so it works the same way. However you plan to invest, just simply start within amount or you know, percentage however you want to look at it, and then just start increasing that as comfortable within your budget.
Just start period right, just like do it, don't wish exactly, don't wait until you're smart enough. Do you get that? I mean I feel like sometimes people are like, wo, I'm not an expert yet, Like I don't have a degree in finance, so I can't possibly start investing. But you really it may feel like that, but you don't. You don't have to know everything. You just need to know a little bit of the right stuff. And to that, man, I mean, if you're going to tell people that start
to interrupt. But if you're going to tell people, you know, here are the three or four websites or resources I would tell someone who's just getting started and wants to learn more about in sing where would you tell them to go?
Of course, black Market Exchange. Uh, they'll be mixed site. We get it, we get it, so of course. But but yeah, investor Pedia is you know, that's that's definitely an end all be all in terms of just definitions. They have a lot of videos on there. So invested Pedia is a great website. Yahoo Finance, Hey ya, Yahoo Finance. I almost consider that like the Holy Grail when it comes to just getting news and information. It's very easy there. I love their the app. It's just a great resource
to go to. And another I would say is MarketWatch. Market Watches is similar to a Yahoo Finance as well, and you know that's just maybe kind of a user experience kind of thing. But I would say investor Pedia, Yahoo Finance.
And.
Uh market Watch are great resources to go to for for information.
Excellent. Well, Eric, thank you so much for coming on and talking about investing. I feel like we just scratch the surface. But I don't want to overwhelm the people. I know what it can feel like, just get overwhelmed. But we'll definitely have you back on. This was really fun and interesting.
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity and I love what you guys are doing.
Mike Wise and everybody. You can go check out Eric. You can find him at the b b as in boy e m X. Wait was that right? No, let me do that again. You can find him at the b m e X dot com and on Twitter. He is hip hop stock doc here.
It is.
All right. So let's cap off the election day with some good news and some wins. If you want to go first, yeah, I'll go first. So it's actually I read a really sad headline. You know, I've been reading a lot everyone has about the refugee crisis happening in Syria. And I just saw today another boat full of people off the coast of Libya. Two hundred refugees drowned at sea. And that's just the start of it. Hundreds thousands, maybe
people have died trying to flee from their countries. And anyway, it got me thinking about the story I read about the founder of Chobani, you know, everyone's favorite yogurt. Oh yeah, And I didn't realize is that the founder he's actually of Turkish. He's a Turkish immigrant of Kurdish descent, and he bought the factory in New York and he employees two thousand people making all Greek yogurt. His name is Hamdi Ulukaya, And so I saw a story in the
Times about how he's Caughton. He's cotton. Wow, I'm educated. He's got a lot of flack from conservative bloggers and stuff because he's made an effort to employ more than three hundred refugees in his factory. He started a whole foundation to help migrants, and he's been traveling to Greece to bring awareness to the refugee crisis. Now there's been calls to boycott Chobani, like people a being that petty. I tried the boy some yogurt.
I just don't understand, like why people get angry when like non like when brown people are trying to help other people. I just don't understand, Like what is the why can't or not even that because I won't say brown, but like if you're what is so terrible about wanting to help people because.
They're taking our resources right, women and children.
It's just so crazy to me, And I'm just like, I just it's racism, Yeah, it is, honestly, that's just what it is. It's just like flat out.
I'm racist, and I don't want anybody to benefit that doesn't that doesn't believe in the same religion I believe in, that doesn't look like me, that doesn't.
I don't even know.
It's just so crazy to me. But I'm like, you know what you're losing, Like it's a losing battle tower records Sam Goodie, Like.
What is it by twenty forty two majority minorities in the United States? Like we come in, we're here, we out.
But because your son loves some jay Z and Beyonce, so he's looking for him, so crazy in love, and he's going to be going to break the cycle and you're gonna have a brown grand baby.
Everybody go buy some show. Banni. I wanted to. I just wanted to make him my win because I feel like, not only is it an immigrant helping other migrants, but it's just a it's it's the reason why we need people of diverse backgrounds in positions of power. He started this company from scratch, he employs two thousand people, and he doesn't have to go out of his way to give these these migrants jobs, you know, but you know, I think who better to understand what they're going through
than someone who immigrated here as well. And I don't know, I just thought that kind of counteracted all that. It's just it's really sad what's happening. I think people sort of feel powerless to help these people who are dying, you know, trying to flee to the United States. And I'm I'm it's unfortunate that people are trying to boycott a yogurt company now for trying to do some good
in the world. But I just wanted to say, mister Ulukayah, I'm going to go buy some shabani to support you, even though it has a lot of sugar and that's not good for you. But I mean, I'll get the non fat, sugar free one.
Well, mine is also a win.
I want to celebrate Mary Katani. I think I'm saying her name right. Katani thirty four years old of Kenya. She collected her third consecutive victory at the New York City Marathon on Sunday. I saw so many great marathon pictures and videos on my timeline and she's the first woman to do so since Greta Waltz in two thousand and nineteen eighty six.
Oh, where's she from.
She's from Kenya. Oh well, gret they don't say what where she's from. But Mary is from Kenya, which I think is so dope. And the fact that she did it three times. I'm in a row, which is really awesome.
What is it? What is it about Kenya?
Man?
Holy crap, did you just see swear? I've got to get out of here. I can't even. I'm a professional woman trying to do a podcast and my mother in law is yodling.
You can have singing, mother in law. We're now, we're even.
You know. What I've heard about Kenya is that the air, the air is thinner, so your your lungs begin learn how to be especially if you grew up there and you're you know, working out there, your lung learned how to be more efficient. So like Kenya and some other places with high altitudes like that, so when you're running in lower altitudes, your super efficient lungs work even better because it's like, well, we've worked hard with less, so we've got this. You know.
Oh that's awesome. Well, good for her. I love the marathon. This is the first year where I haven't known someone doing it, so I didn't go out there and spectate, but it's just fun. It's like, it's hard to be in a bad mood when you're watching people run that their hearts out and you just want to cheer for everybody. It's so hard what they're doing.
Like, you know, especially people for the first time last time. It's awesome to watch people walk. It it's just it's just I went to my first marathon, well I didn't write, but to support my friend Diessa. It was in San Diego and it was gorgeous and awesome and so much fun to see people of all different ages and races
and sizes. There was one guy in particularly, I remember he was kind of hefty and he had a T shirt on and when he ran back he said, yes, I know I'm fat, but guess who's in front of you.
I thought that that's good, and I was like.
Oh, cause, you know, I'm sure he's like people. You know, people are wanting to judg like, oh he's.
Big, Like yeah, but you're really the back and rusher.
I have a word for that, and I identify as this person as well, fat lead. I think you can be fatletic. I'm gonna trademark this because I am a fat leat Okay, I'm always the big girl and I'm not even okay. I understand, I'm self aware. I am not like big, big, big girl, but I am big enough to go to a pure bar class with all these like size negative zero women and feel like a whale and I and I feel like when I walk in every I get extra attention okay from the instructors
like are you okay? Are you gonna need just take your time like it's okay, And I'm like, Mitch, I'm running triathlon, I have hunter a mile bike tours. These thighs may be thick, but they have done work. I don't know what they're doing.
So skinny does not necessarily equal health. I know so many skinny girls who can you walk up a flight of stairs?
Yeah, you get like, you get underestimated. I think a little bit when you're when you're not like you know the picture of what people see on Sports Illustrated magazine. So I love that. I love that shirt. I want to make one.
I like that yup?
So yeah for for for what was your naming in? Sorry?
And with Mary, I can't say he'll like, can don't well? Mary? Hey? Mary?
Mary Marathon? Yes?
Mary, marathon of KNY.
Awesome. Well, that wraps up the show for this week. Guys, we hope you're out there voting doing your civic duty. Tweet us your pictures of your voted stickers. Do not take a selfie in the booth. That's illegal. You're heard it here first.
Yeah, so make sure you tweet us that Mandy would drop Mandy with I the Budget, Nista and the BA podcast.
It is the BA podcast right.
The BA podcast on Twitter. But you can find all our info at Brand Ambition podcast dot com.
Yep.
Until next week and hopefully we'll be celebrating next week because of the election.
Not crying fitfully.
Whatever happens tomorrow, just stay calm, get a bottle of wine and a hug a friend. It'll it'll be okay, I think maybe probably like ninety percent surily fine, I'm praying. Okay, all right, Well you have a level evening mis tiff you as well. Are you gonna bounce now? Yeah?
Because I have a call with Own So the Own network is doing a financial show.
They're like, we are interested and maybe.
Having Okay, that's important, yea, go do that call.
That's why I'm trying to go to the bathroom first.
Like okay, all right, but I have a good night, alright, you too. Good Bye,