WEBVTT - “Financial Freedom Recap” 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:06.640 Yeah, what's your family. It's your girl to make a 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.600 d Mallory, and it's your boy my son. In general, 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:14.680 we're your host of street politicians the place with me. 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:20.200 So it is Kwanza. Happy Kwanza, Mr Lennon. We are 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:25.120 observing and celebrating Kwanza right now. It's during this great 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.200 holiday season and we're getting ready for a new year 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.320 in a few days, a couple more days. Man, we're 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.640 gonna be in a new year. Three. You gotta be 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.920 ready and I'm ready for three. Shout out to rich Life, 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.080 you know, another black owned business. I'm minding my black 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:46.040 owned business, rich Life, dope. Dope got me feeling like, 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.640 you know, too ready for this new year. So you're 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.199 going to the three still not supporting Nike. Oh no, 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.960 I'm going into I'm going into thirty three not supporting naked. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.080 I ain't ad at you. I'm with you on that. 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.680 I won't be buying anything else from Nike. And you 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.959 know the thing about Kwanza and this holiday season, um 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.320 and what quanta means and in fact today is ujima 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.520 the collective work and responsibility. Wow, when you think about that, 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.520 like what it takes for us to come together and 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:28.760 work for the responsibility of our community. Tomorrow is ujima 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:30.840 as as you've been telling me. Make sure I say 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:37.640 it properly, um. And that one is about uh cooperative economics, right, 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.160 So all of this is about us bringing our money together, 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:46.120 focusing on on our resources, making sure that we as 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.640 a people take care of our own and that's why 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.320 Kwanza is so important. So whoever's out there, maybe you 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.560 don't know about Kwanza. You heard about it, but you 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.360 know it's not on the calendar, and they ain't talking 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.680 about it. That you're a job or whatever, so you've 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.560 not been exposed to it. Maybe your church doesn't really 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.040 observe Quanta. Educate yourself and teach the principles to yourself 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:12.799 and your children and your family and friends around you, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.560 because these principles that if we actually follow them, our 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.840 communities would be in a total different place. Um. You 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.400 know what I'm saying. So you celebrating Quanta right now? 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:25.840 My song, I'm all into it this yip man. You know, 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.680 I haven't really gotten into it other years, but this 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.440 year I'm getting into it. So I love it. I 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.440 just love to share and I love just the education 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.880 is is you could tell that it's our heritage, right 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.480 because we we love community, we love family, we love 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.839 things that have us interacting and learning at the same time. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.400 So it's definitely great to be celebrating quansa this year. Yeah, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:54.120 I've been my family. I mean, we we've always celebrated 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.680 and observed quanta um. But you're right, as we get older, 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.240 you really do start honing in on what's for you, 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.120 you know, or what you what's your interests, car And 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.040 I love that my grand baby is being raised in 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:10.360 a family that uh knows and that our parents now 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.240 also are exposed to quanza and they're teaching it. But 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:20.440 speaking of Tomorrow's principle around uh cooperative economics, Uh you Jama, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:26.519 this is critically critically important to us, and it has 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.880 been important throughout this entire year. We've been focused on 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:37.760 economic development, creating wealth, maintaining wealth, credit and all of 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.920 that and so forth. Today, rather than trying to find 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:45.480 a new expert, which there's so many, we want to 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:49.040 go back over some of the episodes we've already done. 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.160 Some of the episodes that you all have already heard 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.720 throughout the year. Maybe you miss one or two. You 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.760 might hear something today that triggers you to go back 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.960 and listen to the episodes. UM, we are really sort 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.880 of putting together a package where you can hear snippets 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.400 of all the individuals and not all, but a lot 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.160 of the individuals that we've had on the show UM 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.480 this year throughout the year of two who talked about 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.600 our financial health and wealth right, our financial wealth and 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.839 what it looks like for us to be a wealthy community. 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.800 So I hope that again it triggers you to say, 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.359 let me go back, listen to the entire interview and 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.279 share it with others, with your friends, your family. You know. 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.360 Earned Alsia obviously is one of those that you will 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:42.080 hear from. Listen, go sign up listening, go to some 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.640 of their classes online, and there's so many other individuals, uh, 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:52.279 that you should learn from. Because three, especially with inflation 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:57.200 and everything the financial crisis that we're in, three needs 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.599 to be about us one doing for ourselves, us being unified. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:03.800 Keep talking about it, let's actually put it in the 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:08.200 practice and about how we turn whatever little bit we 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.240 have into a whole lot so we can create generational 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.800 wealth for our families. It sounds like the plan. So 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.600 with no further ado, we want you to enjoy this episode. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.880 After this episode, it's going to be the new year, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.159 you know. So what are you gonna do for Make 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.440 sure that we are creating generational wealth, make sure that 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.400 we are educating each other. Make sure we're invest in 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.520 our money and we're not just throwing our money away. 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.400 This is the time for us to switch and change 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.520 the paradigm. That's why I've been focusing on black owned 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.320 businesses and US investing in US, because if we don't 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:47.240 invest in us and we don't educate us to nobody will. Absolutely. 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:55.560 That's if you have a constant downturn for a couple 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.040 of cycles or a couple of quarters. They said, oh, 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.640 we're in a recession. My non traditional take on that 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.799 is that a we most marginalized people have been left 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:12.520 out of the global and really the domestic wealth building conversation, 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.920 and so we don't really fall into the categories of 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:21.520 government spending, of export, of you know, big business. When 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.120 I say big business, I'm talking about these trillion dollar businesses. 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.680 We don't really fall into these categories, and so recession 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.440 has very little effect on us personally. It's like one 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.680 of the times in which we can actually just put 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.880 our head down and be like, that's y'all business, because like, 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.320 are y'all in a recession? Are we in a recession? 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.960 Because you may not be in a recession personally, right, 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.120 even though on a larger scale they're saying, oh, we're 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.000 in a recession, but like you know, is eighty percent 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:56.120 of your wealth wrapped up in government contracts or exporting 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.760 goods or services or even the stock market. Probably not 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.720 to the normal person, So you may not actually be 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:07.360 experiencing a recession. The real only space that you would 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.400 feel a recession, um, as kind of a marginalized person 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.600 is a in job loss. So to prepare for a recession, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.800 you should have a candid conversation with your employer and 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:23.120 find out their intentions. Are you all planning to lay off? Period? Right? 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:27.760 And then um, if your business, if you're an entrepreneur 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.840 or a small business owner, or just a business owner 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.200 in general, if you have business to business contracts, or 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.440 if you have you know, if your business relies on 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.720 government contracts, you might you will start to feel it, right, Um, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.200 It's very unlikely that you'll feel it in a housing market. 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:46.200 Right now, as the housing market declines, people are still 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.320 doing well. Um, and so it's only like those two 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.880 areas that personally people will likely feel a recession losing 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.920 a job, which we don't know because it hasn't the 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.840 huge layoffs has haven't happened. Right, we have the resignation, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:06.080 but the huge layoff situation hasn't happened, and COVID prepared 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.680 us for that. We're still in survival mode. So when 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.559 people got laid off during COVID, a lot of people 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.440 turned the entrepreneurship and things like that, and so COVID 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.160 kind of prepared us for this moment. And so it's 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.880 not gonna be such a slap in the face as 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.200 you know it would have been if you know, pre 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:27.720 COVID era. When I hear main media talk about recession, 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.080 I'm like, oh, welcome to the club. Welcome to the club. 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.600 I'm glad you guys are feeling it. You guys like, 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.160 when y'all are going through it, it's a damn recession. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.920 When we're going through it is laziness, Like make it 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:41.760 makes sense that when the math a math and for 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.160 y'all is a damn global crisis. But the math have 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.079 not been math and for us for a long time, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.880 and we've been stuck in the survival mode. So we're 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:53.040 gonna make it do what to do regardless because we 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:57.480 have no options. You know, we're gonna stay in that you. 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.840 We're gonna stay thriving our version of riving, whatever our 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.040 version of thriving is, We're going to stay there while 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.000 they are up in arms and trying to push their 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.520 fear on us. Let them have their fear, and we're 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.560 just gonna just continue to do what we've been doing. 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:15.800 My best friend told me, look, why don't you go 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.520 get into the mortgage business and be a loan officer. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.959 I said, what the hell is that people want to 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.040 buy a house, they need a loan, and the loan 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.400 officers doing who gets them alan? So I looked in 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:27.880 the paper. This is before you can go on the 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:29.760 internet and look for jobs like I really want in 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.840 the daily news. And I used to do customer service jobs. 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.880 I used to do salesman jobs, and I saw all 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.960 these jobs for loan officers and I'm like, damn, I 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.800 never noticed this. So I just picked the first three 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:41.800 companies that was close to my house, and I went 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.040 on interviews and I got hired, and I've been doing 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:45.840 it ever since. So I didn't know what the loan 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.240 was when I first got in the business. No one 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.520 took teaches us about homeownership, no one teaches us about credit. 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.560 So I never thought this this was a fail that 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.720 you can apply for. I thought this was something only 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.840 the banker doing. You need to have a master's degreed 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.600 to wor in quote unquote banking. Everybody should explore getting 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.800 their real estate license or getting their loan officer license 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.440 because it's it's it's not expensive, first and foremost right 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.439 to get your loan officer license may cause you five 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.000 hundred bucks if that UM, you have to take a 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.120 twenty five hour class, you pass that class, then you 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.360 pass the federal exam, and then you can submit your 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.880 application UM to get up your license. But then you 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.280 have to get sponsored by a bank UM. And there's 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.040 plenty of banks out here, mortgage broker companies out here 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.800 that will take a chance with someone who wants to 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.000 learn the business, so it doesn't take too much time. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:37.760 And to get your real estate license, I think it's 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.080 seventy hours that you have to commit to and that's 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.880 a couple of hundred bucks as well. And you see 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.120 there's thousands of people with real estate licenses right, Um, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.680 but anybody can get licensed, right, that's the easy part. 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.240 I think To actually now perform and do well, let 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.080 your job and become successful, you have to dedicate the 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.080 time to educate yourself. You gotta take the time to learn. 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.319 You gotta study your guidelines because you're element people's livelihood. 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.199 You're dealing with their life and you don't want to 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.920 mess nobody up. So once you get your license is 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.720 one thing. But I think self education. You know Google, 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.960 Google's your best friend, YouTube University. You know, there's a 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.080 lot of paid courses and things of that nature where 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.640 you can um deepen your knowledge base of this business 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.960 to go out there and be successful. So how did 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.840 you also at some point realize that you needed to 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.640 learn about discrimination like redlining and all of that within 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.320 the industry as well, so that you could help to 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.719 overcome the barriers that black and brown people face when 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.920 they go for mortgages. To be honest, keep it a 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.400 bunk with you guys. Know, in the beginning, again, I 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.120 just wanted to make money. That's all I cared about. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.640 And you know the wild cowboy days is when I 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.240 came in this business to subpime crisis right, you needed 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.640 a post to get alone at that time. So for 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.120 me and I was taught by ex Wall Street guys 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.400 gods will I kicked off a Wall Street and they 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.120 could just go on the mortgage business because there was 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.680 no regulation. You didn't need a license at that time. 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.000 So we were taught. When I came in and I 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.440 was taught by savages to be honest with you. So 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.320 everybody was a dollar sign if I didn't care who 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.600 you were. My thing is how much money can I 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.600 make off the deal? Um. But when the market started crashing, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.319 I didn't have the education in the background to understand 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.319 what I was doing was actually wrong. Right, and karma 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.040 has no expiration date. I lost everything going to crash. 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:30.800 I lost property, I lost everything. I even lost my 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.440 mentor right. Um. At one point of time, I wanted 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.840 to kill myself because my existence at that time was 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.240 tied to its materialistic items. You know, you come from 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.040 the hood, you don't have no money. Then you're making 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.680 all this money buying cause you're buying bottles, you're going out, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.000 and then when you can't do it no more, it's like, damn, 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.000 Like what the hell is going on? I'm a loser? Yeah, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.600 I'm a loser now, right, So when I lost everything, 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.560 that was probably the best thing that ever happened to 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.120 me because it made me sit down and kind of 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.800 learn the business. So when I when I got my 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.160 I'm back, right, I started learning about redlawn, and I 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.559 started learning about discriminating. I started learning like, damn, how 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:08.640 could they even allow us to do these type of loans, 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.600 especially to people that look like us, knowing damn, well, 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.120 we don't even have the financial education. And I am 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.080 a person sitting here originating these loans and I don't 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.040 even have the education. I'm not even that qualified to 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.839 give the loans that I was given, right, Um, So 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:25.520 that's what really made me say, you know what, I 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.080 gotta do this business different. I gotta learn how to 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.320 deepen a relationship with the person. I gotta learn how 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.640 to um value their needs because it's not about the 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.040 money that I'm gonna make, It's about if I help 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.240 you reach your goals, the money is going to come. 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.120 So that's when I really started paying attention to the 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.440 history and things of that nature and started realizing the 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.640 wealth gap that our community has a real estate. And 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.080 now that's why you guys, when I'm talking about now 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.760 and stuff I was talking about ten years ago, just 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.439 to my client base of people who knew me, especially 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.280 to black people, because now I'm dealing with people who 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.079 are affluent. Used to work for Chase, and I was 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:02.960 on Wall Street, so I'm dealing with hedge fund guys 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:04.720 and that's not a third And I'm seeing how they're 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.840 structuring their loans and their business, and I see how 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.480 when my people come in, they're not thinking about having 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:13.000 all these different trust and things of that nature. So 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.240 I started taking the information I was learning on Wall 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.560 Street and just passing it down to my people, and 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.160 they still couldn't really understand what I was saying, but 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.960 I still was like I was talking about it. So 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:29.760 the discrimination and in our um time that we've been 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.800 on earth black people is just ridiculous, especially when it 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.760 comes to lending like the red line. And I mean 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.800 even look at the deeds back in the day. You know, 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:39.600 in the sixties and the fifties and the sixties, and 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.000 deeds were written in that people of color couldn't buy 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.040 in these areas, like and it was perfectly legal, like 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.960 it It's crazy once you start doing the history. So 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.640 I'm a homeownership advocate. I tell my people, look, I'm 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.200 okare if you rent, but you need to have a 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:55.000 plan to go out there and buy something, because there's 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.120 people that look like us that fought for us to 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:58.920 get to the point to where we are today to 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.800 be about to go out here and own and buy. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:03.720 You know, in the fifties and sixties they couldn't do 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:05.480 it as freely as we are. So why are we 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.280 sitting here not pushing ourselves to go out here and 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:17.720 on If we think about numbers, on average, the black 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:20.320 American had, the black American who has student loans has 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.960 about fifty thou dollars and student loans, whereas their white 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:26.400 our right counterparts only have about ten thousand dollars. So 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.560 when it comes to things like find our student loan forgiveness, 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.520 I find the lack of empathy and a lot of 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.640 people because they just don't realize the importance of what 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.880 college played in the black community. For so many we 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.840 were taught that that was the only way that we'll 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:47.760 be able to advanced socially, socially, socialdio economically. Um, you know, 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:49.760 we didn't have any other choices. It was either go 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.040 to college, go to the military or stay in your neighborhood, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.400 which was not desirable to a lot of us. So 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.320 school was you know, forced down our throat, be be 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.080 down our throats. And then so many people realize that 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.520 this American dream that we were promised as it pretending 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.120 to go to school, you know, pay your taxes, get married, 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.800 whatever it's not, it doesn't really pan out like that. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.280 So now they're stuck with mountains of debt of people 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.360 who have student loans doesn't even have a degree. So 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:17.280 what do you think of one of the biggest mistakes 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:20.960 that people make for credit, not building it and not 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.600 having a credit card. I can look at a thousand 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.760 credit reports or a thousand people who have under a 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.720 six hundred credit score. It is ninetent of the time 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.400 they either do not have a credit card or they're 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:36.360 utilizing their current credit cards too heavily. They go by 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.360 rule that we're taught to, you know, stay under for 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.600 your credit cards. That can't be further from the truth. 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.520 That will keep your credit score stagnant. Credit cards are 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.120 so powerful to your credit profile that if you just 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:51.640 reduce your utilization, your usage to under ten percent, your 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.560 credit score will literally skyrocket. So let me break it 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:59.040 down just for the art and say that are too important. 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.480 There are new important dates for every credit card that 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.600 you have, so you you need to just get a 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:06.840 spresheet to write down these two important dates. Write down 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:10.520 your due date, and then write down your statement date. Again, 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.280 your due date is when and you have to take 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.040 care of at least your minimum payments so that you 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.760 can avoid in late fees or any late payments. Right. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.440 The due date is really for your bank to see 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.639 how much interest that they can legally charge you, because 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.280 anything that you carry over past or do date you 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:29.159 are paid, you have to pay interest on. Right. So 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.280 your statement date again is when you're building cycle closes, 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.400 So any payments you make after that point, or anything 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.960 that you spend after that point is on your next 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.040 building cycle. Right, So what you need to do, because 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:43.960 it takes about two or three days to post any 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.720 payment for most credit cards, just to be safe, I 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.479 would always recommend to lower your balance below tem per 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:52.600 cent at least three days before your statement date, like 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.040 make sure you pay that because again some banks will 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.080 take about two or three days for the payments to post. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.080 Any pending charges will go on your next building cycle 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.040 or any pending payments will go towards your next building cycle. 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:05.600 So if you don't catch it at least two or 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.720 three days in advance, you may miss this payment of 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:11.920 the statement date. Statement date, and where do you find 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:13.119 your statement? And you all you have to do is 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.400 look on your credit card statement and look at the day, 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.520 the cycle date, the cycle end, the date, so they'll 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.160 have a span of thirty days wherever whatever month you're in, 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.400 it will say like this building cycle is from July 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.600 seven to August eight. August eighth will be your statement date. 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:32.639 I'm paying on August fifth or six, right, Yeah, that 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.680 two business days in events to give your time to post. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.920 Just so you're safe, do not spend anything on your 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.000 credit card the day before your statement date or your 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.240 statement date. So there's two days and in every month 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.439 that you got you you should not spend on the 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.120 seventh of August and the eighth of boy, don't spend anything. 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:53.919 Don't spend anything. Um Now, the next day you can 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.720 run your credit card to the absolute limit and as 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:58.440 long as you pay it back by the statement date, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.960 you your credit report will allays look like you are 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:05.080 the most responsible consumer ever. That is the trick. Do 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:06.960 that if you do that, or if you do that, 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.239 if you can't trustatement dates before they post next um, 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.200 you'll see that your your score, especially because it's been stagnant, 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:15.000 you will see that you'll get a few points. You'll 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:16.879 get a few points depending on what your utimization is. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.640 Now let's saying if it's around thirty. I'm just saying 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.600 for the average person, if they lower it from thirty 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.080 to ten percent. You know, of course it depends on 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:26.679 what else they have on their credit profile, but they 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.639 can be they can be up to thirty points alone, 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.119 depending on, like I said, other factors of your credit report. 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.359 But it's a really big difference if you don't have credit, 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:37.840 Like if you only have maybe one or two credit cards, 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.720 that's gonna make a huge difference in your credit profile. 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:45.720 For a long time, you know, people were making bad 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.080 decisions because they just wasn't fully educated. So it's like, 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.159 you know, you think that you have to you know, 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:54.479 sell drugs or you have to you know, risk your 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:56.440 life to make some money. But then you realize that 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.040 you can actually make more money by doing something legal. 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.359 It might take a little bit longer, but if you 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:03.840 had the information beforehand, then you might still be alive 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:05.600 or you might not be doing a twenty five year 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.400 prison sentence. So I think it's like life of death 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.760 financial literacy. Yeah, I agree, man, it's it's a life 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.359 of death situation, right. The information can actually free you 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:16.959 from the situation that you could put yourself in potentially 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.480 if you don't have it. That's kind of what we 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.639 started with it. And it's funny because you kind of said, like, 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.480 it's not hip hop. For us, it was hip hop, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.159 and it was like we were hearing messages in the 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.440 music and saying, like, that's a lesson right there. So 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:29.959 it reminded me of the first lesson that we ever did. 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.120 It was we used jay Z and when he said 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.119 all black Scott is sports entertainment, it was like we 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.840 really sat sat with that, like is that true? Like 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:38.800 if we look at all the people we ever looked 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:40.719 up to and if they were wealthy, it always came 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.720 from sports entertainment. And so that was a mission. But 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:45.600 there's always something inside the music that we were like, 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:48.080 all right, that can be a gateway. We know there's 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.040 something that is intense enchanted about the music because the 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:53.000 kids listen to it, and so if they're listening to it. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.399 Let's find something that we can actually teach from. And 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:57.320