WEBVTT - Money & Wealth w/ A-Rod 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.000 Welcome the Money in Wealth with John Hob Bryant, a 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:15.840 production of the Black Effect Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. This 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.120 is John Hope Bryant and this is Money and Wealth, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:21.920 and I'm honored to be here with a new friend, 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:27.600 Alex Rodriguez. Men he would know him as a Rod. 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.840 Let me give you the part that's easy for all 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:36.520 the baseball fans. You may or may not know that 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:42.080 he came from the Dominican Republic. His family were immigrants. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:49.120 Victor Rodriguez's father and Lord is Nellie Nevado Mellow. I 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:53.480 hope I said that right his mother. They came from Well, 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.320 he came. It was born in nineteen seventy five in 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.640 Washington Heights section of Manhattan and came to this country 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:05.840 with a dream. He was raised alongside his siblings Joe 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:11.360 and Susie, and achieved incredible things in his professional career 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:16.039 that started, as you know, playing twenty two seasons in 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:21.480 Major League Baseball. That's the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:27.160 the New York Yankees, and of course later as chairman 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.960 CEO of a Rod. But we're going to get into 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:34.040 that because it actually wasn't later. It was actually almost 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:41.759 right away. But I'm getting ahead of myself. And he 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:48.680 has been passionate about business and sports and community. And 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.080 I will say, from my own perspective, I would say 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.920 the maximization and unleashing of untapped human potential at scale. 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.520 We'll talk about a little bit about that about with 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.600 regard to how he treats his employees. Alex and I 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:07.120 spent some time in the community a few months ago 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:13.160 here in Atlanta at Clark Atlanta University. He showed up 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.760 very simply for no compensation, because he was asked to. 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:24.280 And so this is an important conversation about things that 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:30.200 matter most at a time where everything matters. And I'm 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.799 honored to be with my new friend Alex Rodriguez John. 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:35.760 Great to be here, man. We've been looking forward to 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:36.480 doing this together. 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.600 We have. We have, And the story of your sports 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:46.720 success is a topic of obvious legend. And I don't 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.840 know if you get tired of talking about it or not, 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.560 but I want to talk about your sports success from 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:59.679 a different window, a different vantage point. I want to understand. 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:06.600 Was this always about you aspiring to do more? My 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.680 guess is initially you were passionate, absolutely passionate about baseball, 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.120 that was when you were in the Dominican Republic. That 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.120 was something that you obsessed on, Is that right? 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.120 Yeah? Look, ever since you know, I was born in 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.639 New York. I was born in the shadows of Yeshiba 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.880 University right around one eighty third, nineteen seventy five, very 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.280 close to Yankee Stadium. My father owned a shoe store 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:32.680 in our apartment. And very much like my father, ever 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.360 since I was ten years old, I've always wanted to 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.680 be a baseball player and a businessman, and I was 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.000 fairly good with numbers. My father was too, and I 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.600 had a passion for it, and ever since I was 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.320 a rookie and I got drafted in nineteen ninety three 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.160 by the Seattle Mariners with the one pick overall in 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:53.880 the first round, I was thinking about life after baseball 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.000 because I've seen enough examples of players that have gone 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.560 like me, from rags to riches back to rags, and 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.560 I didn't want to be an addition to that, you know, 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.600 unfortunate number or statistic. So that was my passion early on, 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:11.200 was to have a path to have a good life 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:12.280 post baseball. 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.520 You were inspired by that balance initially from your day, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:20.320 Is that right? Yep? Yeah, and mom is where you 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.160 got the self esteem. She poured the love in you 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:24.960 and said, you can do anything. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.320 Is that right? Yeah? You know. My father he passed 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.200 some years ago, and he left us when he was ten. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.280 And I never saw in those ten years my father 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.839 raise his voice once. Even though he was an alcoholic. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:41.920 He would drink twenty twenty four beer cans a day, 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.320 Budweiser I'll never forget, and two packs of cigarettes a day. 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.080 So my mind is a ten year old John. I 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.440 thought my father's going to be dead by the age 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.400 of thirty. There's no way that anyone can live this 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:55.000 type of lifestyle. But never saw him drunk, even though 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.120 I'm sure he was. But he was an acting alcoholic 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.200 and very functional. And amount of cigarettes he was smoking 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:05.480 my house was like intoxicating. But my mother. I got 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.159 my toughness and my grit and my work ethic from her. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.479 She worked at General Mortars for over twenty years and 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.599 then when dad left, she had to pivot. Once we 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.200 arrived in Miami at the age of nine, and I 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.080 joined the Boys and Girls Club. She was a secretary 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:23.960 of the morning and surf table at night, and I 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:29.080 remember her coming home after twelve hours of working around midnight, 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.359 sometimes eleven o'clock at night, and I would just be 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.880 watching finishing, watching the Mets game, watching Kinner's corner, and 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.680 I would give her a big hug, and I would 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.520 take her pouch where she had her tip money, and 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.760 I would start counting that money. And you know, on 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.120 Thursdays and Mondays, Tuesdays it was thirty two twenty eight 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.599 dollars twenty nine thirty. But Friday and Saturdays with the 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.680 big ticket nights, and she would come home sometimes with 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.880 fifty eight fifty nine sixty bucks. I said, boy, we're 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.960 richer than Warren Buffet. We made it big. But then John, 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.960 she did something interesting. She would then take that pouch 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.120 and put that money out and put it in an 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.760 envelope yep. And then she would say, son, help me 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.640 pick up the mattress. And I remember, like an eleven 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:16.280 year old boy, like everyone's yesterday, she would take that 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.200 envelope and put it right under that mattress. And I said, Mom, 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.680 but wait a minute, there's banks all around our neighborhood. 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.960 Why don't you go put the money there? And being 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.480 an immigrant mother and not trusting banks, she goes, Son, 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.320 we don't trust banks, we trust cash, and we trust 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.360 our mattress. So that was the start for me where 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.880 I said, financial literacy is going to unlock my future 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.120 and hopefully get me out of this neighborhood. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.320 You and I have a lot in common. The more 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:42.679 I hear about your story, the more we relate to mine. 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:44.640 My mom told me she loved me every day in 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.440 my life, just like your mother told you. She worked 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.880 as a seamstress. My dad was a business owner and 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:54.080 had issues. He had other problems, was an alcohol but 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.560 had other challenges that but deubled him. I could relate, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.320 and I'm very proud of how you have how you 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:07.799 circumnavigated that entire situation and found always that sweet spot 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:10.400 of what was most important. And so now I'm going 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:15.240 to pivot back to something I said earlier, which is, yes, 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.640 you're passionate about baseball. Killed it for twenty two seasons, 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:24.480 became a legend in baseball. I'm sure lived your dream 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.440 made everybody proud, both in New York and in the 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.800 Dominican Republic, maybe even all of Latin America. But you're 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.120 dreaming also parallel about business, and I understand it your 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.760 first at the time, you're the largest contract of anybody 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.040 who signed a baseball contract. There was over two hundred 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:46.480 million dollars at the time. As I understand it, your 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.360 first call was to Warren Buffett. 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:54.280 Yeah, but you know, one hundred percent right with one edition. 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.520 Pre setting that big deal, I didn't have a lot 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.600 of capital. I was just a young kid that I 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.400 entered the big leagues at eighteen, and somewhere on twenty 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.920 one or twenty two. Before I got paid, I made 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.600 my first investment and that was a duplex and that 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.240 duplex was about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars right 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:16.280 around Miami Arena, right there on fis Gain and I 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:18.560 had a forty eight thousand dollars down payment and that 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.760 was the start of basically what is now called a 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.880 Rod Corp. And once I got my contract with the 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:29.960 Texas Rangers, I was naive enough to think, well, if 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:35.480 Warren Buffett, who ensured my contract, and that got back 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:37.320 to me, I said, well, now we're partners, so let 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.160 me call him and make sure that I'm going to 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:40.880 let him know his money is safe with me because 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.600 I don't plan on getting injured. And of course I 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.200 send an email. I thought I would never get an 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:49.320 email back, and he sure responded about you an hour 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.280 later and I said, if you're ever available, will love 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.240 down to come down to Omaha and have lunch with you. 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.280 And he said, how's October And I said, well, we're 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.640 not going to the playoffs, I'm totally free. And that 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.839 started a series of about five to seven years of 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.200 me going there every year postseason one to make sure 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.200 that the insurance money was good because I was looking 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.240 healthy and good. And second he became a mentor where 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.160 he would basically look at all my businesses and give 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:15.960 me great advice. 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.560 He ensured your contract through one of the businesses that 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:21.199 he has. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.920 Is that right, yeah? Or I mean he probably did 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.120 it from his balance sheet, right. It was he was 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:28.959 trying to get the We were trying to share the 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.480 last third of it of a ten year contract because 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.000 it was such a new thing of a contract that long. 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.280 There wasn't any precedent, right, So we got the first 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.800 seven years insured, but the last three were having a 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.480 hard time because it was hard to forecast that far out. 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:49.839 But one basically said, yeah, if you sent me this check, 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.280 I'm sure the last three years and that was the 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.480 end of it. And thank goodness, we cement to the deal. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:56.760 So I don't think, and I don't want to presume 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.880 or assume, Alice, that the audience understood what we just said. 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.640 They just see you playing baseball, They see their favorite 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.920 athletes just doing what they do, and they just assume 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.680 that the check, you know, is coming in the mail, 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:14.120 and like they get the check to their employer. Now 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.520 you just unpacked the whole other situation, as they say 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:24.800 in my neighborhood, where a contract is underwritten for insurance. 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.079 Can you explain that just a little bit before we 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:27.640 go first. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.000 Sure. Essentially, John, let's just say that, you know, I 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.679 give you a one hundred million dollar contract and it's 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.679 ten years, and it's ten million dollars a year. Right, 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.840 it's one hundred I'm going to have to go ensure 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:44.960 that contract, meaning that if in year three John breaks 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.000 his knee injures himself, well he can no longer play 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.320 for the rest of his career. I'm still, as the 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:55.640 owner on the hook for seventy million dollars. I have 0:10:55.720 --> 0:11:00.760 an insurance policy that, let's just say I paid two 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:05.600 million dollars for that premium, would essentially take care of 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.720 the seventy million dollars and now I'm off the hook. 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.520 John has paid his balance of seventy million dollars and 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.080 the insurance takes it on the chin. But in most cases, 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:19.959 John is going to remain healthy and that two million 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.240 dollars premium basically goes to the wayside on my end. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.559 But you and I can sleep at night because the 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.880 contract is insured and the insurance wins in this case. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.400 So before I ask you the question about who paid 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.200 the premium, there's an interesting take on it, whether you 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.880 as a contractor or the owner of the team. But 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.600 for the audience, what do you just describe? Think about 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.560 an insurance premium for your house. Think about an insurance 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:49.280 premium for a life insurance policy are your card. That 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:53.719 premium is a small fraction of the value of the insurer. 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.520 They hope that they you never call them with a claim. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.160 And this is how people not all claims. Is how 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:03.280 the insurance company makes a profit. And you want the 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:06.320 insurance company to make a profit in this that's way 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.080 capitalism works. And there's too many claims. Of course, they 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.360 could go out of business. Uh So, in this particular case, 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.400 there was a premium. Alex Is, the corporation this is 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.480 this is this is separate from a rod This is 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.079 Alex Rodriguez, the professional athlete, has got a two hundred 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:27.040 million dollars contract, and he is the product and is 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:32.200 a premium for the underwriting of insurance for that contract. 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.480 Now else who paid? But I hope not getting into 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.920 your business. Now, let me put it another way. Was 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.920 this sponsored by the owners of the team? 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.120 Yeah, so it is the responsibility of the owner to 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.920 ensure the contract because obviously, as I just explained, if 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.960 you have one hundred million dollar contract and things go 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.280 the wrong way and you get injured, I, as the owner, 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:57.720 don't want to be on the hook for that seventy 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.080 million dollars because John's not available to play. So the 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.320 owner in this case. In this case it was Tom 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.280 Hiks who was the owner of the Texas Rangers. He 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.439 wires the money to warm buffet. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.840 Right. The reason I asked the question is, you know 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.280 you could, as entrepreneurial as you are in your mind 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.480 if the owner said, look, I'm going to do five 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.880 years of this or three or five years of this contract, 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.959 I'm not going to ensure ten years of it. I'm 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.120 thinking the entrepreneurial Alex and I know would say, well, 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:25.640 let me go to Lloyd's of London. Let me go 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.640 someplace and see if I get the back end insured myself. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:33.079 I'll write the premium check and there's a small price 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:37.000 to pay to know I've got the guarantee of all 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.600 the money. So there's a number of ways to cut this. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.800 But in this particular case, they felt so strongly about you, 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.120 and of course you were such a wonderful negotiating position 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.800 that you got the entire contract he is guaranteed. Is 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:49.200 that right? 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.440 Yeah, you're spot on, John, So let me add to that. 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.560 So a lot of times and I did this exactly 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.719 what you just described, that the team is trying to 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:03.200 ensure that contract for protection of a downside event of 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.720 an injury the player, me or you. In this case, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.040 you can go to Lloyd's of London and say, look, 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.600 if I'm supposed to be playing for fifteen years, but 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.520 I get hurt and I'm only allowed to play for 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.120 five years, then Lloyd's of London will give you an 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.000 additional check to John. Now, assuming that you play those 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.880 ten years injury free, the John insurance that you paid 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.440 to Lloyds to London that goes away. You lost that money, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.080 but you made the hundred and the team is very 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:35.360 happy to lose two million because John played incredibly well. 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.400 So double ways of insurance and by the way, you 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.000 can also ensure your house a couple different ways than 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:42.000 just one. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.080 And for those we unpack everything on this podcast. We 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.120 make things simple so you understand it. But nobody ever 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.240 talked to you financial literacy like Alex mother and my 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.200 mother taught me in the beggar of my classroom. So 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.720 we want to there's no silly questions. There's nothing that 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:11.880 is that is off limits. By the way, doctor King 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.920 in the middle of the civil rights movement try to 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.160 get his life insurance and try to get a million 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.560 dollars of insurance for his family. And Andrew Young pastor 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:22.760 Andrew Young as we know now and him went to London, 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.520 literally going to London. It ran around. No one would 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.240 insure him Alex. They thought he was just too much 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.840 of a risk, and he was only you know, he 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.760 was thirty something years old. They just figured, you know, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.920 the chance of something happened to you is extremely high. 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:37.800 He's a guy about to get the Nobel Peace Price. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.480 They finally got one of the million dollars they finally 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:44.240 got one hundred thousand dollars. Premium was very high because 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.840 the perception of risk was very high. Just because you're 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.040 on the front page of the newspaper doesn't mean that 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.760 you automatically get a yes to your answer. But underneath 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:57.120 a lot of these things are insurance policies, and older 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.600 you get the most expensive that policy gets. If you're 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.440 getting a life insurance policy, it's very cheap to get 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.520 one at twenty thirty years old. Try to get into 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.240 life insurance policy at seventy years old for your life, 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.600 the premium is going to be astronomical. And you can't 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.600 be mad at the companies. If you want to distribute 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:13.880 money like a socialist, you got a first collected like 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.960 a capitalist. So we want companies to find a way 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.360 reasonably to make a profit so they can afford to 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.320 get back and reinvest and take care of their employees. 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.160 And on the topic of taking care of his employees, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.360 I want to gut into that in a minute, but 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.720 I want to commend you also, Alex. I don't know 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:31.920 that if anybody set this to you in this way, 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:34.880 but my sense is that you're the only or the 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:41.600 first Latino billionaire entrepreneur from professional sports in America. I 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.640 don't think there's anybody else who has that Moniker. First 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:47.880 of all, I don't know another Latino a billionaire in America. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:51.640 I'm sure they exist, but one that came from sports 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.920 to business. There's no question in my mind that you 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.400 check that box. And I think you just got into 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.000 the billionaires club late lash year. So assuming I'm correct 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.520 of all that, on all that, congratulations. 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.000 Well thank you John. And you know what, again, I 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:11.160 started from literally like ground zero. I'll never forget John, 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:12.960 And I think I told you this when we had dinner. 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:15.720 You know, I was twelve years old, and you know, 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.399 Dad had left a couple of years ago, and we 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:20.960 were at Publics, a supermarket down in Miami, and I'm 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.040 with my mom on one of the rare nights that 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.000 she didn't work. It was probably like a Sunday night 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.800 or something. And as we're trying to pay for the bill, 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:29.920 the bill might have been like seventy five bucks or something. 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.760 We had like a couple of cars of food and 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.159 cereal and all of that, and as she's kind of 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.639 shuffling through her purse, some funny money comes out and 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:40.359 I said, Mom, that money's read, well, it looked like 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.800 monopoly money. What is that? And she was very embarrassed 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.640 and ashamed and kind of looked down, and she goes, well, 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:48.600 you know, the government's given us some help. And my 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:51.240 heart stopped. You know, even as a twelve year old, 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.640 my instincts were too, very very protective of my mother. 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.240 And to be where I am today, play for almost 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.800 twenty five years and be very fortunate to be part 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:06.639 of an ownership group. You also have to commend, you know, 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.959 Adam Silver in the NBA that he's opened up the 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.679 floodgates to have folks like you and I sit at 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.800 the very top of the chain as governors. It's extraordinary. 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.080 And I know that Adam and the NBA has great 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:25.040 ambitions to continue to promote diversity and more folks like us, 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:29.000 people of color to the owners group. 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.680 No doubt. And I'm an owner of part of Centennial Yards, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.359 which is right across from State Farm Arena, as a 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:40.359 partner with Tony Wrestler who owns Atlanta Hawks, and Tony 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.600 is a big who accommodations definitely, the Adam Silver who's 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:47.159 a part of financial literacy for all, Tony is a 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.639 big booster that civil rights. Modern civil rights is in 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:52.320 the suites, not the streets, and the color is green. 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.600 It's about education, access the capital, low cost capital, an 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.680 opportunity for all. It's Michael mill And would say, this 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.440 is where we I think we originally where we physically 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:08.679 met our friend Michael. Intelligence is equally distributed, but opportunity 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.919 is not. And so we are at these tables and 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:13.760 we should not take it for granted. And thank you 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:17.240 for doing this podcast to help to spread the message 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.760 of unpacking the memo. We unpacked a little bit about 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:23.360 insurance and about how you underwrite a long term professional contract. 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.240 I'm sure the audience didn't know that we're going to 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.119 get into it. Well, here's another get. There is no 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:34.159 billionaire who came from professional sports or entertainment who's a 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:39.040 person of color, who didn't go over the bridge of business, 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.800 particularly corporate. I'll say that again. There is no professional 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.000 athlete that you're listening that you're thinking about right now. 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.520 Our entertainer, think jay Z, think whoever you like who 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:56.440 went from performing, playing whatever into the boardroom and became 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:01.800 a billionaire without coming into corporate. So this is a 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:05.960 pathway that everybody needs to understand. We've got to go 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:10.240 from the streets to the suites, from protesting to prosperity, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.440 and there needs to be a business plan for that. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.600 So your obsession, your dual obsession with being smart at 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.520 the baseball diamond, then smart as a diamond in your brain, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.240 and then getting into real estate, which was a really 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.960 smart move, biggest business in the world. What was your 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.320 motivation there? And then treating your employees your second biggest 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:35.280 asset the right way is I understand it. You make 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:40.120 employees shareholders in your dream as well, because nobody washes 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.960 rental cars. What's your mindset there? And I'm now getting 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.480 into the most valuable thing we have, Alex. It's not 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.440 the money, it's not the assets, it's not the real estate. 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.439 It's our mindset and our relationship capital. The way we 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:56.640 treated each other, way you and I treated each other 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.919 when we first met set the stage for everything. I 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.000 asked you to come to Atlanta originally your office set. 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.640 You didn't have time, and you didn't and I said 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:09.760 this was for the people. Now, only one would know 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.320 this unless I said this is for the people. This 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.800 is no commercial there's no commercial anything in this. And 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.080 you just said, yes, I'll do it. And you came 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.440 here at your own expense and spent several days with us, 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:24.639 pouring into the people. And I think that's going to 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.879 pay dividends, not only in Heaven, it's gonna pay dividends 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.840 here because whatever it goes around comes around. But that's mindset, 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:35.680 that's character, that's integrity, that's how you treat people, treat 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.200 them how you want to be treated, and that carries 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.199 over how you treat your employees. Talk to me about 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:44.800 your mindset to win and why you think it's important 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:45.720 to bring others with you. 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:49.520 Yeah, great question. And we had a phenomenal time and 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:52.919 boy was at an impactful day when we were at 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.679 that university and talking about some of the history around 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.080 some of the Black college and the history of of 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.639 what has done for so many people. And very proud 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.160 to be there and thank you for that invite. Look, John, 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.160 the way I look at this is like financial freedom 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.439 comes from two things. It comes from knowledge and the 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:17.000 power of knowledge, and equity and ownership. And it's kind 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:21.399 of what the rich that poor dad teaches, Right. I 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:24.359 get excited when I get to invest into equity, and 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:26.960 I think most people get scared. And the truth is 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.040 if you're scared and you don't know, it's probably better 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.320