In this episode, Jasmine and Ellis Suazo, founders of The Wealth Academy, talk about the impact their business has in building wealth for the African American community.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:16 --> 00:01:56 Music.
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 Hello, welcome to another moment, Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:13 And today, I have a couple who I equate to doing the Lord's work in trying to
00:02:13 --> 00:02:17 build wealth in the Black community.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:23 So I'm going to spend a lot of time talking to them, and I hope that you gain
00:02:23 --> 00:02:28 something from that conversation, and I hope that inspires you to do something to help you,
00:02:29 --> 00:02:33 your family, or your community, especially in the black community,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:38 to take steps to build wealth,
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 right? Because that's very vital.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:51 And a poll came out and said that 83% of the people who did not vote don't like
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 the current administration.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 So after the interview with my guest, I'll get into that a little bit.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 So let's go ahead and have a good show.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 And as always, we kick it off with a moment of news with Grace g.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:18 Music.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 Thanks, Erik. Severe storms in the eastern U.S.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:25 Caused 42 deaths, widespread power outages, and destruction across multiple
00:03:25 --> 00:03:29 states, with Missouri, Mississippi, and Arkansas among the hardest hit.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:35 A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated Trump's ban on DEI programs in
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 federal agencies and contractors.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:42 A U.S. judge ruled that Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil must stay in the U.S.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:47 While his challenge to his pro-Palestinian protest arrest moves to a New Jersey court.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:53 The Trump administration defied a court order by deporting 238 alleged Venezuelan
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 gang members to El Salvador.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:01 Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rebuked President Trump for urging impeachment
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 of the federal judge over that deportation ruling.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:09 A Rhode Island doctor was deported to Lebanon despite a judicial stay,
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 with authorities citing ties to Hezbollah in her phone records.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:18 Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that Trump administration policies,
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 notably import tariffs, have contributed to slower U.S.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:25 Economic growth, temporarily higher inflation and heightened uncertainty.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:31 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned of potential economic adjustments and
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 recession risks amid market volatility linked to Trump policies.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:39 President Trump revoked Biden's federal contractor minimum wage order,
00:04:39 --> 00:04:45 lowering pay from $17.75 to $7.25 per hour for new contracts,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 reversing a policy affecting 20% of the U.S.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:54 Workforce. The Trump administration rescinded a 1965-era ban on segregated facilities
00:04:54 --> 00:04:59 for federal contractors and dismantled equal employment and anti-discrimination
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 policies through an executive order.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:07 The White House withheld $175 million from the University of Pennsylvania over
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 its transgender athlete policies.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:15 Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwandan leaders with Qatari mediation pledged
00:05:15 --> 00:05:19 an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo's escalating conflict.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:25 And NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely returned to Earth
00:05:25 --> 00:05:30 via SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, ending a prolonged nine-month mission.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:34 I am Grace G., and this has been A Moment of News.
00:05:34 --> 00:05:41 Music.
00:05:41 --> 00:05:45 All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:54 And now it's time for my guests, Jasmine and Ellis Swazzo, better known as the Wealth Academy.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:58 Jasmine and Ellis Suazo are the founders of the Wealth Academy,
00:05:58 --> 00:06:03 a leading insurance agency in the United States focused on empowering individuals
00:06:03 --> 00:06:08 to achieve tax-free wealth through innovative strategies in the life insurance industry.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:14 Established in 2018, the Wealth Academy has rapidly expanded from its startup
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 roots to become a prominent national financial firm,
00:06:17 --> 00:06:23 boasting a network of over 2 licensed agents and operational offices spanning
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 Chicago, Dallas, and Atlanta.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:31 Together, they impart invaluable coaching and mentorship to aspiring entrepreneurs
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 seeking to thrive in the insurance sector.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:38 Their commitment to innovation, inspiration, and impactful leadership shine
00:06:38 --> 00:06:43 through in all facets of their careers and personal philosophies.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:48 Ladies and gentlemen, it's my distinct honor and privilege to have as guests
00:06:48 --> 00:06:56 on this podcast, Jasmine and Ellis Suazo, the founders of the Wealth Academy.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:07 Music.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:11 All right. The Wealth Academy is in the house. I have Ms.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:18 Jasmine Suazo and her husband and co-partner, co-conspirator,
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 however you want to do it, Ellis Suazo. How y'all doing? Y'all doing good?
00:07:22 --> 00:07:30 Yes, sir. Phenomenal. Amazing. Well, I'm honored to have y'all on because y'all
00:07:30 --> 00:07:35 talk about something that I think a lot of us need to talk about, and that's money.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 So, and y'all are in the business of trying to help people make money.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:51 So before we get into the deep dive into that, I do an icebreaker phase for
00:07:51 --> 00:07:56 the interview. And so the first icebreaker is a quote that I want either one of y'all to respond to.
00:07:57 --> 00:08:03 It comes from Proverbs 13, 11, and it says, dishonest money dwindles away,
00:08:03 --> 00:08:07 but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 What does that quote mean to y'all?
00:08:11 --> 00:08:19 Well, yeah, go ahead there. I can definitely take a stab at that because the
00:08:19 --> 00:08:23 quote is from my favorite book in the world, which is the Bible.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:29 And so it's two sides of that. I think any time it's dishonest money,
00:08:29 --> 00:08:35 it's income earned that lacks integrity. and oftentimes maybe even lacks transparency.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 Meaning what are the motives behind?
00:08:39 --> 00:08:43 Did you acquire that wealth through manipulation?
00:08:43 --> 00:08:49 Did you acquire wealth? And even sometimes, you know, through selfish motives,
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 and I know all of us want to provide for our families, I don't think that's
00:08:52 --> 00:08:56 a selfish motive, but I think stepping on communities.
00:08:57 --> 00:09:01 Taking advantage, marginalized, disenfranchised folk,
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 that's dishonest you know and then
00:09:04 --> 00:09:08 I think when you say little by little you
00:09:08 --> 00:09:15 know the one thing Ellis and I have come to know is 100 true is that wealthy
00:09:15 --> 00:09:21 people have this one single trait in common and that is delayed gratification
00:09:21 --> 00:09:27 they oftentimes you know be becoming rich is instant gratification.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:31 You know, let me go make it big in the stock market. I'm just looking for that
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 one big break at the casino.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:38 I'm looking for this one quick trend or fad to hit for me, you know,
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 and let me make a quick seven-figure check.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:47 But building true wealth, generational wealth, Bible talks about blessings that
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 extend for generations beyond the seed sower.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:56 That takes time, that takes sacrifice, that takes strategy, that takes resilience and commitment.
00:09:57 --> 00:10:02 And so, and when you say little by little, you know, just kind of day in,
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 day out, plants and seeds, little by little.
00:10:05 --> 00:10:10 And also, you know, eventually that little will become what in God's hands? A lot.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:18 And so for me, that's how I am, I guess, my interpretation, but there is a difference
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 between information and revelation. And so I'll let Ellis kind of chime in.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:26 Sure. I think that was wonderful, Jas. It's something that I think about when
00:10:26 --> 00:10:32 I'm hearing that proverb is just reminded of what God tells us,
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 that everything works together for his goodness. Right.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:40 And so everything that we go through in life from a kid to adulthood to high
00:10:40 --> 00:10:45 school, you know, working career, everything that we go through is a learning
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 experience for us to become better.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:51 Right obtaining knowledge having revelation and
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 eventually things come together for us to begin to
00:10:54 --> 00:10:58 multiply our income our wealth and
00:10:58 --> 00:11:03 just reminding people that you know even in this proverb is saying stop looking
00:11:03 --> 00:11:07 for shortcuts stop looking for get rich quick schemes you know just in a very
00:11:07 --> 00:11:13 plain you know hey this is not going to happen overnight but if you truly believe
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 and you take your time and you learn,
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19 then wealth will come your way and it'll come in a good way and it won't be
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 taken from you so quickly.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:26 We've seen enough movies, you know, of people rising to the top,
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 you know, quickly stepping on people like Jasmine said, taking advantage of
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 communities or people that are not educated.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:37 And sometimes it'll last for a while, but eventually it all comes down crashing
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 and burning. And so don't do that.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 Plain and simple, how I take it.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:47 Yeah. Go ahead, Ms. Jasmine. I'm sorry. No, sorry. There was another.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:54 Since we're in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 10.22 is probably my favorite.
00:11:54 --> 00:11:58 You know, just talking about the blessings of the Lord make it rich and add no sorrow.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:03 And so when God brings wealth, it doesn't bring his wealth.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:09 His blessings don't bring birth attached to them. And so, I just wanted to add,
00:12:10 --> 00:12:15 you know, at any time God has blessed me, his blessings have never been a burden.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 Have you stretched my capacity? Sure.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:22 At times I felt overwhelmed and needed to learn how to trust him and surrender.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 And, you know, I am not capable, which is why I need him.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 And so, yeah, we started with a good book, but you'll get me going on God's word for hours.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:39 Well, no, I mean, you know, and I understand your background a little bit,
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 and we'll dive into that a little later.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:50 So there's a game I play called 20 Questions. So I want y'all to pick a number between 1 and 20.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:56 And this might be the most political question I ask you, but you'll actually
00:12:56 --> 00:13:00 choose your own. So give me a number, please.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 Seven. Seven. All right.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:09 So what do you consider the best way to stay informed about politics,
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 current events, health, et cetera?
00:13:12 --> 00:13:18 For me right now, it's been social media. It's been X. It's been Wall Street Journal.
00:13:18 --> 00:13:23 It's been Apple News. You know, those are the ways that I get my my information quick today.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 Yeah, I would agree. I would say anything dealing with the economy,
00:13:29 --> 00:13:33 the economy, stock market, Wall Street will tell you what the government is about.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 Because make no mistake about it, we live in a capitalistic country.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:45 And so the law, the legislation, the government is there first and foremost
00:13:45 --> 00:13:51 obsessed with power. than every elected official primary desire is to get re-elected again.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:56 And I don't say that from a judgmental point of view. I think most people don't
00:13:56 --> 00:13:57 want to get fired from their job.
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 And I think when you do a good job, you should be re-elected.
00:14:02 --> 00:14:08 But when it comes to, for me, I love analyzing what's happening in the market,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 because it doesn't just speak to our current rate of inflation,
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 our current, the ways in which consumers are impacted.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:22 But it also speaks to the future. What new companies are emerging in the marketplace,
00:14:22 --> 00:14:27 how that could impact federal legislation, how it could impact state government.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:32 And so gentrification, education, housing, I mean, we've seen it.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:36 So I love to start with the market because I think numbers are unbiased.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:42 And the numbers tell the truth, regardless of what political party you affiliate with.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:47 And then, you know, from there, you can, through reading books,
00:14:47 --> 00:14:50 you know, published by economists,
00:14:50 --> 00:14:55 through reading just all different types of books that paint the picture of
00:14:55 --> 00:15:00 what's happening within our economy and how that leads out into social justice,
00:15:00 --> 00:15:05 how it leads out into funding for a myriad of government agencies.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:11 So for me, social media sometimes can be filled with everyone's opinions and
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 criticism, but I love starting with the numbers.
00:15:16 --> 00:15:21 Yeah. All right. So what is the Wealth Academy and how did it get started?
00:15:22 --> 00:15:27 So the Wealth Academy is a national life, wealth, and health brokerage attracted
00:15:27 --> 00:15:32 to training, developing, and licensing the next insurance brokers in America.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:36 How it came about was out of necessity, to be quite honest with you,
00:15:37 --> 00:15:41 simply because I was told growing up, go to traditional route,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 go to school, get good grades, get a degree.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:48 Before I did that, I got an electrical engineering degree. I moved to Chicago
00:15:48 --> 00:15:52 after I graduated from the greatest HBCU in all the land, which is Southern
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 University. Here we go. Here we go.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:04 So I got my degree, moved to Chicago, pursued my career there,
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 you know, became successful, worked my way up the corporate ladder,
00:16:08 --> 00:16:12 found myself working 60, 70 hour work weeks and student loan debt.
00:16:12 --> 00:16:18 You know, I'm sure this sounds like pretty much every millennial out there who,
00:16:18 --> 00:16:22 you know, went that route and just hit my ceiling really, really quickly.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 I was making about $150 as a senior consultant.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 And, you know, pretty much I was told that was it. There was no more upward mobility.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:34 I had to figure things out. And, you know, even though people would say,
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 man, you were making great income, that's not what the mortgage was telling me.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 That's not what two daughters were telling me. that's not
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 what the student loans was telling me you know and so
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 I said well I got to find something else and so
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 I said if money is the problem that's affecting us
00:16:49 --> 00:16:53 so much then I need to go into something and learn more about finance so it
00:16:53 --> 00:16:57 was really more about a personal journey of learning how to understand money
00:16:57 --> 00:17:01 more and obviously also to make more because it was like man there's got to
00:17:01 --> 00:17:05 be a better way and essentially I was led into the financial service industry
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 from a friend, and that started seven years ago,
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 you know, and I just dived into the insurance industry.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:17 My wife eventually came along, joined me, and we started our company together.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:22 All right. Ms. Jasmine, you want to add something to that or that's good?
00:17:23 --> 00:17:29 Yeah. You know, we were created to elevate this point, truly because,
00:17:29 --> 00:17:34 you know, we were making decent income, having six-figure careers in corporate America.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:42 Following society's traditional route toward the American dream and found out it wasn't our dream.
00:17:42 --> 00:17:47 In fact, it was our nightmare, you know, and we started to ask these questions
00:17:47 --> 00:17:53 that I don't think we get encouraged to ask in high school or even college critical
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 thinking questions like, how does money work?
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 What are the rules to the money game?
00:17:58 --> 00:18:04 What are the wealthiest vehicles? I'm sorry, what are the vehicles wealthy people,
00:18:04 --> 00:18:08 wealthy communities are leveraging to build wealth and not just build wealth,
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 but generation after generation pass wealth down?
00:18:12 --> 00:18:16 And we realized we didn't know that. And, you know, in our community,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 we tend to kind of stick within our environment.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:23 And when you don't know how money works or you're trying to climb the corporate
00:18:23 --> 00:18:27 ladder, you go to your parents or maybe your closest friends,
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 sometimes college professors.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 And what you realize is everyone is saying the same thing.
00:18:33 --> 00:18:38 Sometimes it helps to step outside of the community just to see,
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39 hey, what are you guys doing?
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 Being more inquisitive. And so I think the first step, Eric,
00:18:42 --> 00:18:51 is we were very honest about what we didn't know and change started from that place of honesty.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 Of, man, we don't know how money works. We've been taught how to make it.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 We've even been taught how to keep it. We've never been taught how to build wealth.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 And I'm here to tell you, you know, we tried for many years,
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 but you can't save your way into wealth.
00:19:06 --> 00:19:11 And so we needed to know what vehicles were being leveraged to investing,
00:19:12 --> 00:19:16 you know, and also what were the four homes of money, which are bank,
00:19:16 --> 00:19:20 stock market, real estate, and the insurance industry.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:25 Most Americans are only ever exposed to three out of the four homes of money.
00:19:25 --> 00:19:30 And so we had no clue. When it comes to money, there's something called a laser
00:19:30 --> 00:19:36 test, which wealthy people use to dictate how they prioritize their investment.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:42 And so the L in the laser test is for liquidity. Have an access to your money
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 whenever you want it. No penalties, rules, or restrictions.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 The S in the laser test is for safety.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:52 The R is for rate of return, interest, and the T is for tax advantage.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:58 And what I realized is that we were exposed, Eric, to three out of those four
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 homes of money literally just by simply navigating adults.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:07 First job, after college, our bank on day one, we were told that our checks
00:20:07 --> 00:20:11 would be deposited into the bank. Well, that's the first home of money.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:16 On day one, we were also told that we would be enrolled into the company's retirement
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 plan, which is 401k that lives in the market. Well, that's the second home of money.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:25 After 10 years worth of brainy job, many of us desire to own a home.
00:20:25 --> 00:20:28 We no longer want to rent. Well, that's the third home of money.
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 And so for many of your listeners listening, what I love about our story is
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 that it's not an anomaly.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:41 We don't come from, you know, a fluent community where at the kitchen table,
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 we would always talk about investment principles.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 None of that. It came out of necessity.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:51 Yeah. So that segues into the next question.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:58 So, and these numbers come from 2022. I guess these are the latest numbers you could get.
00:20:59 --> 00:21:06 The median wealth of a white household in America is $284.
00:21:06 --> 00:21:12 The median wealth for a black household is $44.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:18 There are four factors that have contributed to this wealth gap,
00:21:19 --> 00:21:25 historic discrimination, income inequality, inheritance and access to resources.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:33 Would it be fair to say that your role in changing this dynamic falls under access to resources?
00:21:34 --> 00:21:40 Yeah yeah i would i would say access to resources there is no pay inequality.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:45 You know and and definitely helping people grow there so you know as you were saying that,
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 i'm glad you gave those updated numbers because the last i
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 was actually looking for that because the last one that i saw was
00:21:52 --> 00:21:55 from 2016 and it was 171 000
00:21:55 --> 00:21:58 for white families and it was 17 000 for
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 black families so we grew a little bit in the
00:22:01 --> 00:22:05 last what four or five six years there from
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 the 2022 to 48 000 but also
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 so did the caucasian families grow up to
00:22:10 --> 00:22:20 you said 285 basically 284 310 yeah so man 285 and so one of the biggest contributors
00:22:20 --> 00:22:25 to that obviously all of the four things but there's one thing that a pinpoint
00:22:25 --> 00:22:28 said and that was access to real estate and so So,
00:22:28 --> 00:22:31 you know, our lane obviously is in financial services and insurance,
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 but through studying, you know.
00:22:33 --> 00:22:39 Different things, we found that the reason why that gap has been so big is because
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 we weren't allowed to get real estate, right?
00:22:43 --> 00:22:47 And then we had bad deals and, you know, anytime a major interstate needed to
00:22:47 --> 00:22:52 be created, like the Dan Ryan in Chicago, that cut through, you know,
00:22:53 --> 00:22:57 black communities. And, you know, so people were kind of pushed out of their homes.
00:22:57 --> 00:23:01 It was taken away or they were given, you know, pennies on a dollar for the
00:23:01 --> 00:23:02 value of their real estate.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:08 And so, as you stated, inheritance. And so those pieces of property and homes
00:23:08 --> 00:23:13 were passed on to the next generation and they just continued to grow in value.
00:23:13 --> 00:23:17 People were able to take lines of credit out against their homes and,
00:23:17 --> 00:23:22 you know, put their kids through college and keep the flow of income going.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 And we didn't have that. And so...
00:23:26 --> 00:23:30 That's something that I talk about a lot, and that is one of the key areas of
00:23:30 --> 00:23:35 the Wealth Academy is to provide the resource and the information and the way
00:23:35 --> 00:23:40 to make the income and the way to grow the money so that you can begin to invest in other things.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:45 And so, you know, one of the biggest things for us is teaching the foundation
00:23:45 --> 00:23:49 to a portfolio, which is something safe, guaranteed and secured,
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 which can be done through insurance products.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:56 And then from there, you'll be able to invest in real estate,
00:23:56 --> 00:24:00 invest in the stock market, have your money in the bank, because we're not against
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 any of those things. is we need all of them.
00:24:02 --> 00:24:06 And I think sometimes as a community, when you meet a real estate guru or you
00:24:06 --> 00:24:11 meet a stock market day trader or ETF or crypto, they all want to tell you that
00:24:11 --> 00:24:15 their way is the way. And that's the only way. And that's not true.
00:24:15 --> 00:24:20 We need all of them. But the first thing is that you would not build a house on sink and sand.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24 And you will find, just go to the Rockefellers.
00:24:24 --> 00:24:27 Just go see what they've been doing for seven generations.
00:24:28 --> 00:24:32 It's called the waterfall effect. They've been utilizing insurance products for generations,
00:24:33 --> 00:24:38 seven generations to be exact, of how they've been able to maintain their wealth,
00:24:38 --> 00:24:43 grow their wealth, and keep a lot of their wealth from out of the hands of Uncle
00:24:43 --> 00:24:46 Sam, paying taxes, inheritances, and all of those different things.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:50 And so, yeah, you know, that's a nerve right there for me, man.
00:24:51 --> 00:24:59 Yeah, so I guess I'll add by first letting everyone know what the mission of the Wealth Academy is.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:03 Earlier, Ellis explained who we are.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:08 We are a national financial agency specializing in life insurance,
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 supplemental health insurance, and retirement plans.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:17 And what we do, Erik, is we attract, train, and develop the next generation
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20 of licensed brokers within our industry.
00:25:20 --> 00:25:26 But our mission is to close the racial wealth gap by equipping middle market
00:25:26 --> 00:25:32 America with the knowledge, skills, and ability to live a life of prosperity and purpose.
00:25:33 --> 00:25:37 And I think the first part of that is the knowledge. And before we get to the
00:25:37 --> 00:25:42 resources, we must place a heavy emphasis on the financial education that's
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 lacking within our community.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:48 We are not taught the four homes of money. for your listeners.
00:25:49 --> 00:25:56 The four homes of money is a concept that is widely known among economists, among Wall Street.
00:25:56 --> 00:26:00 Everyone knows the four homes that every single person in the world,
00:26:00 --> 00:26:04 over nearly 8 billion people have all of their money.
00:26:04 --> 00:26:10 We all have our money in one of four places. And so why aren't we being taught
00:26:10 --> 00:26:16 in school how to properly leverage these vehicles so that we can also win the money game.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:22 And so when you think of resources, I think the first step is educating people,
00:26:22 --> 00:26:26 right, and then teaching them how to leverage the resource to build wealth.
00:26:27 --> 00:26:31 So for most African-American communities of color in general,
00:26:31 --> 00:26:36 when we hear two words, insurance, we are taught, we immediately think deaf.
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 Would you agree there? That is exactly what people think.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:46 And yes, there are communities of people in this same country who the many days
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 of life insurance think wealth.
00:26:48 --> 00:26:55 And it's because, well, and here's an interesting stat, 56% of Black Americans own life insurance.
00:26:56 --> 00:27:00 So we are actually the most insured demographic in the country.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:05 And so then the question begs, why aren't we properly leveraging the vehicle?
00:27:06 --> 00:27:10 Well, you just answered it because we think it's just another monthly bill.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 And in order for you to win, you got to lose.
00:27:13 --> 00:27:20 We've never been taught that insurance is a non-traditional investment strategy,
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 investment vehicle where people are building tax-free wealth,
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 where you can build tax-free wealth.
00:27:26 --> 00:27:31 And so 56% of those Americans, I want to break that number down.
00:27:32 --> 00:27:37 50% of them, if I want to be clear, only have life insurance protection through their employers.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:41 And so when they are answering this poll, do you have life insurance?
00:27:41 --> 00:27:46 They're going back to, again, the trajectory of the American dream,
00:27:46 --> 00:27:49 first day on the job, sit down with human resource.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:53 You enroll into the company's benefits package. And what does the HR person say?
00:27:53 --> 00:28:00 Well, thank you, Mr. Erik, for joining XYV company. we will provide you dental,
00:28:00 --> 00:28:03 health, insurance, vision, right? These are your benefits.
00:28:03 --> 00:28:08 Well, that's actually not a licensed agent who can properly and fully educate
00:28:08 --> 00:28:12 you on how to leverage the industry. They're simply telling you where to sign.
00:28:13 --> 00:28:17 But for many of us who are bogged down with several competing priorities,
00:28:17 --> 00:28:21 I remember I was one of them, whether you're a wife, a husband,
00:28:21 --> 00:28:25 a parent, community member, a son, a daughter, you have a host of obligations.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:29 So in your spare time, Maybe you haven't, you don't Google, right?
00:28:30 --> 00:28:32 Well, how do I leverage insurance to build wealth?
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 So now that's your knowledge of
00:28:34 --> 00:28:38 it. You check it off of your box of being responsible. I have insurance.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:44 And so when we talk about resources, the first step of what we do is bring the
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 knowledge, equipping middle market America with the knowledge.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 Actually, life insurance has nothing to do with death.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:54 That's actually the third benefit of life insurance. Every policy should have
00:28:54 --> 00:29:00 living benefits that allow you to withdraw monthly income from the policy while you are alive.
00:29:00 --> 00:29:05 If you ever get sick, hospitalized from COVID, bad car accidents,
00:29:05 --> 00:29:10 cancer, stroke, heart attack, several qualifying medical conditions.
00:29:11 --> 00:29:15 And then there's also an investment vehicle built inside of your permanent policy
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 that allow you to build cash value.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:24 And so what we do is first bring the education and then we bring the services.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 And I think my favorite part is that it's free.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:33 You know, all of the carriers that we represent, they pay us if and when we
00:29:33 --> 00:29:37 find a suitable service, a suitable product for our clients.
00:29:37 --> 00:29:42 But we're able to cross-reference multiple companies to ensure that our families
00:29:42 --> 00:29:48 are receiving the best policy, the best financial plan that is in alignment
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 with their long-term goals.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:57 So I want you to kind of expand on that in a minute, but I want to go back to
00:29:57 --> 00:30:02 something that Ellis, he had mentioned cryptocurrency and forex trading.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:09 What are y'all, Ellis basically said, you know, he didn't really have a problem
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13 with it, but what do y'all think about that?
00:30:13 --> 00:30:19 Because there's a lot of folks, you know, now we've got, we might actually have
00:30:19 --> 00:30:23 a crypto savings fund at the federal level, right?
00:30:23 --> 00:30:29 So what do y'all think about that as far as, because like Ellis said,
00:30:29 --> 00:30:36 a lot of people want to say this is the only way, right?
00:30:37 --> 00:30:43 And, you know, kind of Ellis, if you want to expound on what you meant by that, and Ms.
00:30:43 --> 00:30:46 Jasmine, if you want to add into it as well.
00:30:46 --> 00:30:51 But just your thoughts, because, you know, I'm in a black community,
00:30:51 --> 00:30:57 So, you know, if if it ain't the crypto emails, I'm getting this to Forex email.
00:30:57 --> 00:31:02 Yeah, you know, I think and look, man, you know, to all the listeners out there,
00:31:02 --> 00:31:07 I was just like you at one point, just like against it in the sense of like.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:10 And the reason why we're really against a lot of things is just because we don't
00:31:10 --> 00:31:12 have understanding. We don't have enough knowledge.
00:31:12 --> 00:31:18 And it just boils down to there's just not enough people that look like us that's
00:31:18 --> 00:31:20 talking about the information. Right.
00:31:20 --> 00:31:24 Or, you know, you'll see a lot of people pop up and then you begin to go check
00:31:24 --> 00:31:28 their background and you like, what did this person do before this?
00:31:28 --> 00:31:32 And then all of a sudden you can't find any history to that person. You're like, scam.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:34 That's the first thing that you just really think of.
00:31:35 --> 00:31:38 And so that's one of the problems that we're having.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:42 You know, just any time something new comes about and there's a change,
00:31:42 --> 00:31:47 people fear change in general. And so but what the wealthy do is that they don't
00:31:47 --> 00:31:50 fear change. They take calculated risk.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:53 And so, you know, one of the things that Warren Buffett has always,
00:31:53 --> 00:31:59 you know, says some of his sound advice is, you know, don't be afraid to invest money.
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 Don't be afraid to lose money. But the money that you do invest,
00:32:03 --> 00:32:04 it can't be what you need.
00:32:05 --> 00:32:08 Right. It can't be like this is my life savings and I'm going to bet it all
00:32:08 --> 00:32:12 on black and then be upset that it didn't work out because then you needed it.
00:32:12 --> 00:32:16 So that's not sound financial planning
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 or investing But just to get back really to
00:32:19 --> 00:32:22 the question of crypto I think it all starts on
00:32:22 --> 00:32:27 making sure that you are following Or have some advice from a person that's
00:32:27 --> 00:32:32 been doing it for a long time They have found financial backing already They've
00:32:32 --> 00:32:37 done successful in other things And so they're not just giving you something
00:32:37 --> 00:32:40 off the whim Because they just learned it, you know what I'm saying?
00:32:40 --> 00:32:40 And so they're not just giving you something off the whim.
00:32:41 --> 00:32:44 That's really the first thing. And then if you can't afford to put a little
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 bit into something and see how it works for you, then do that.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:49 You know, but don't go bet your house on it.
00:32:50 --> 00:32:54 You know, don't go bet your retirement savings on it because someone said you
00:32:54 --> 00:32:58 can get this put in here. You can make 30 percent and you'd be a millionaire overnight.
00:32:58 --> 00:33:00 You know, that this sounds wrong altogether.
00:33:00 --> 00:33:05 And I don't think any person that has any financial sound investment strategies
00:33:05 --> 00:33:10 would ever tell you to do something like that. So that's really just a high
00:33:10 --> 00:33:13 level general statement around anything that comes up that's new.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:17 You want to make sure you're getting advice from people who have history of
00:33:17 --> 00:33:23 being successful, credible in their industry, giving you enough information,
00:33:23 --> 00:33:28 and they're not afraid to answer the questions and they don't glaze over questions that you ask.
00:33:28 --> 00:33:32 So if you're dealing with someone that's not wanting to give you a direct answer,
00:33:33 --> 00:33:37 then you should run from that person, just to be quite honest with you.
00:33:37 --> 00:33:42 And so that's kind of my thing on anything that comes up new when it comes to
00:33:42 --> 00:33:46 crypto, ETFs, Forex trading, things of that nature.
00:33:46 --> 00:33:51 And also remember that the government is slow to move on new things because
00:33:51 --> 00:33:52 they want to see how it pans out.
00:33:53 --> 00:33:58 And they're also strategizing and watching to see if it's going to be beneficial for them.
00:33:58 --> 00:34:02 And I'm going to tell you, in the long run, crypto is going to be something
00:34:02 --> 00:34:07 that the government is going to move on because they want to capitalize on it too as well.
00:34:08 --> 00:34:13 And Eric already said here, hey, they're already talking about having reserves in crypto.
00:34:13 --> 00:34:16 So just know, it's coming. Right.
00:34:16 --> 00:34:20 I mean, you know, three, four generations ago, there wasn't money.
00:34:20 --> 00:34:25 All right. It wasn't money printed. And now we today we have money printed and
00:34:25 --> 00:34:29 now we've even moved away from money printed to more. So it's digital currency.
00:34:30 --> 00:34:35 You know, our economy is no longer based upon a goal that sit in Fort Knox.
00:34:35 --> 00:34:39 You know, so, you know, there's a lot of things when it comes to money that
00:34:39 --> 00:34:43 people have to be aware of and not be afraid of, but be smart.
00:34:44 --> 00:34:49 Yeah, yeah. I think back to that education piece, I think all of us,
00:34:49 --> 00:34:53 sometimes, you know, in our community, Black folk are so skeptical.
00:34:54 --> 00:34:58 And by the time we finally buy into something, it's too late, right?
00:34:58 --> 00:35:02 That vehicle has already been leveraged to build wealth and the billionaires
00:35:02 --> 00:35:04 are already celebrating or millionaires.
00:35:04 --> 00:35:08 However, there are three ways that your money can grow. Fixed accounts,
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 which are safe, no growth.
00:35:10 --> 00:35:15 Variable accounts, which can grow, but no safety. and then index accounts.
00:35:15 --> 00:35:17 Index vehicles provide the best of both worlds.
00:35:18 --> 00:35:21 There's a floor and a ceiling. You have protection, but you also have growth.
00:35:22 --> 00:35:27 Crypto is a variable vehicle, and so it's relatively a risky investment,
00:35:27 --> 00:35:29 no matter which way you slice it.
00:35:30 --> 00:35:34 Generally speaking, high-risk investments should make up a small part of your
00:35:34 --> 00:35:35 overall investment portfolio.
00:35:37 --> 00:35:43 And so I always say one common guideline is, you know, take your age and that's
00:35:43 --> 00:35:47 how much at this point you should probably always say.
00:35:47 --> 00:35:52 So if you're 25 years old, 25 percent of your portfolio, your investment strategy
00:35:52 --> 00:35:55 should be in vehicles that are guaranteed safe.
00:35:55 --> 00:36:01 You're young. So if you want 75 percent of your portfolio to exist in a risky
00:36:01 --> 00:36:07 market or volatile market, Maybe you have longer to make up for market fluctuations,
00:36:07 --> 00:36:09 but the longer you live, if you're 50 years old,
00:36:09 --> 00:36:14 50% of your investment portfolio should be exposed to market loss.
00:36:15 --> 00:36:17 50% should absolutely have guaranteed protection.
00:36:18 --> 00:36:22 And so that's a rule of thumb in the world of finance.
00:36:22 --> 00:36:29 But it's interesting because the government and social media quietly missed
00:36:29 --> 00:36:36 the 2018 cryptocurrency crash, also known as the Bitcoin crash and the great crypto crash.
00:36:36 --> 00:36:41 When we saw the sell off of most cryptocurrencies, I think that started in like
00:36:41 --> 00:36:48 January 2018, it was an unprecedented amount of the price of Bitcoin fell about 65%.
00:36:48 --> 00:36:52 And so to Ellis's
00:36:52 --> 00:36:55 point you know we've seen a con of
00:36:55 --> 00:37:02 crypto has been we've seen extreme price fluctuations and and so again any anytime
00:37:02 --> 00:37:07 there's a new investment vehicle or strategy our rule of thumb is to always
00:37:07 --> 00:37:15 give it 20 years to to withstand market fluctuations and see how it performs and for most.
00:37:16 --> 00:37:19 For all intents and purposes, crypto is just too new. Bitcoin is too new.
00:37:20 --> 00:37:25 Let's kind of give it a 20-year window where we can look back and examine how
00:37:25 --> 00:37:27 it performed during recession.
00:37:28 --> 00:37:32 You know, one of the things we educate our clients on is studying the history
00:37:32 --> 00:37:34 of recessions in this country.
00:37:34 --> 00:37:37 And you'll notice that there's never a matter of question of if,
00:37:38 --> 00:37:41 always a question of when the next recession will happen.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:45 And the government is very intentional to not call it a recession.
00:37:46 --> 00:37:52 We called it the dot-com crash in 2001. We called it the housing market bubble in 2008.
00:37:52 --> 00:37:54 We called it COVID in 2019.
00:37:54 --> 00:37:59 We called it crypto, the great crypto crash. These are all recessions.
00:37:59 --> 00:38:05 If your money exists within a variable account, you lost money every time the
00:38:05 --> 00:38:06 market corrected itself.
00:38:06 --> 00:38:11 And so we don't know what the next one will be called, but it is coming.
00:38:11 --> 00:38:15 And again, if a bulk of your money exists inside of a variable account,
00:38:15 --> 00:38:17 it is subject to market volatility.
00:38:18 --> 00:38:24 Yeah. And so y'all kind of touched on, well, Ms.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:28 Jasmine, you touched on a question I wanted to flesh out a little bit.
00:38:28 --> 00:38:34 As far as what role that insurance and annuities play in building wealth in black households.
00:38:35 --> 00:38:42 You know, you talked about how we just look at life insurance as like making
00:38:42 --> 00:38:48 sure that our kids are, you know, our loved ones are taken care of when we leave this planet.
00:38:48 --> 00:38:56 How do, and you were kind of getting into how people can do that without giving
00:38:56 --> 00:39:00 a whole seminar, which I'll do on a regular basis,
00:39:00 --> 00:39:06 just talk about how important insurance and annuities can play in building Black
00:39:06 --> 00:39:11 wealth or building wealth in Black households.
00:39:11 --> 00:39:13 I'll summarize it.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:19 So I will start with our annuities. We specialize in not fixed annuities or variable annuities.
00:39:20 --> 00:39:23 I spoke earlier about three ways money can grow, but we specialize in fixed
00:39:23 --> 00:39:28 index annuities, which provide our clients, number one, with safety.
00:39:29 --> 00:39:34 Number two, they receive interest. And so their rate of return is connected to an external index.
00:39:34 --> 00:39:40 And so the performance of the market can enhance and positively impact their principal.
00:39:40 --> 00:39:46 Number three, lifetime income. Many of us know that pensions are nearly extinct.
00:39:47 --> 00:39:51 Pensions used to be the primary source of funding for retirees.
00:39:51 --> 00:39:55 The problem is we started living too long and retiring too soon.
00:39:56 --> 00:40:03 And so companies lobbied the federal government to replace pensions with IRS tax code 401k.
00:40:03 --> 00:40:09 And so now we have a need for lifetime income. Average retiree can only afford
00:40:09 --> 00:40:12 to not work after they retire for three years.
00:40:13 --> 00:40:17 And so there's a need, so pensions provide you, I'm sorry, annuities provide
00:40:17 --> 00:40:21 you with a private pension that you own where we bring back lifetime income.
00:40:21 --> 00:40:25 And then there's an optional benefit of long-term care writer.
00:40:26 --> 00:40:30 Many of us, my grandmother is Louise Jenkins in Bellwood, Illinois.
00:40:31 --> 00:40:36 She is 98 years old in just a month. She'll be 99 years old.
00:40:36 --> 00:40:41 And I'm watching my mom and a few of my other aunts on a seven-day rotating
00:40:41 --> 00:40:43 schedule to take care of her.
00:40:44 --> 00:40:49 She doesn't want external nurses to come in and the toll that it's taken on
00:40:49 --> 00:40:52 their physical health, their finances, their time with their families.
00:40:53 --> 00:40:55 And so, you know, just how do
00:40:55 --> 00:40:59 we have an additional stream of income to support us in our later years?
00:40:59 --> 00:41:03 And so that's what an annuity is. It is the technical term, a contract between
00:41:03 --> 00:41:09 an individual and an insurance company to provide you with one of two things,
00:41:09 --> 00:41:14 a lump sum payment at the time of retirement or a continuous stream of payments
00:41:14 --> 00:41:16 for the rest of your life once you retire.
00:41:17 --> 00:41:22 And so I love annuities. I've seen their wealth-building transformative power.
00:41:23 --> 00:41:28 I've seen some of my clients, instead of investing $10 into a fancy baby
00:41:28 --> 00:41:33 shower, the minute that child has a social security number, they make a one-time
00:41:33 --> 00:41:37 investment of $10. by the time that child is age 60.
00:41:37 --> 00:41:42 And this is just general numbers. Obviously, we would need to run the calculations for everyone a day.
00:41:43 --> 00:41:49 But let's say, for example, by the time this child is 60, they have access to $29 million.
00:41:50 --> 00:41:56 Or they can say, I want lifetime withdrawal. So that can be broken down to like 1.2 million a year.
00:41:57 --> 00:42:03 That's the retirement, the annuity side. And then you have the life insurance
00:42:03 --> 00:42:05 side, cash value policy.
00:42:05 --> 00:42:12 Walt Disney started Disney World from pulling cash value out of his life insurance policy.
00:42:13 --> 00:42:18 The Rockefellers have leveraged insurance as an investment strategy for generations.
00:42:19 --> 00:42:24 And so when you get a permanent policy that accumulates cash value,
00:42:24 --> 00:42:29 whether that is universal or whole life, in short, every month you pay that
00:42:29 --> 00:42:32 monthly premium, a portion of that premium is accumulating interest based off
00:42:32 --> 00:42:34 the performance of the market.
00:42:35 --> 00:42:43 And Eric, I've seen clients literally have $500, a million dollars supplementary
00:42:43 --> 00:42:47 retirement income inside of their life insurance policies when they retire.
00:42:47 --> 00:42:52 I have numerous clients who are sending their children to college with no student
00:42:52 --> 00:42:56 loan debt, pulling out cash value from their life insurance policy,
00:42:57 --> 00:43:01 putting down payment on home, investment property, starting businesses, you name it.
00:43:01 --> 00:43:07 And so those are just some of the key strategies we teach our community and our clients.
00:43:08 --> 00:43:11 Ellis, is there anything you wanted to add to that or you're good?
00:43:11 --> 00:43:15 I think Jasmine, she pretty much covered everything right there, man.
00:43:15 --> 00:43:20 But I think just another thing to add to what Jasmine was saying to everyone
00:43:20 --> 00:43:24 that's listening is just to make sure that you understand that building wealth
00:43:24 --> 00:43:26 takes time. It's not overnight.
00:43:27 --> 00:43:33 And you want to make sure that you are committed to these things to get done, right?
00:43:33 --> 00:43:36 To, you know, buying houses, you know, putting your kids through college,
00:43:37 --> 00:43:41 making sure that you can share generational wealth with the next generation,
00:43:41 --> 00:43:43 that it is not overnight.
00:43:43 --> 00:43:47 And I believe, you know, you know, Erik, you shared that right from the beginning
00:43:47 --> 00:43:52 with the proverb that you shared. And so that is a reminder that it's not overnight,
00:43:53 --> 00:43:56 but it can happen and it will happen for you if you take the step.
00:43:56 --> 00:44:00 I think the biggest problem in our community is that we learn information and
00:44:00 --> 00:44:05 say, oh, that was great information and never act upon the information and never take the first step.
00:44:06 --> 00:44:10 And, you know, people out here are giving the information away for free to say,
00:44:10 --> 00:44:12 go do it. Just go take the first step.
00:44:13 --> 00:44:19 Yeah. So let me, I'm going to try to get a couple of questions,
00:44:19 --> 00:44:20 a couple more questions in.
00:44:21 --> 00:44:25 The chair of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Secretary of Treasury both expressed
00:44:25 --> 00:44:27 concerns about the economy.
00:44:27 --> 00:44:32 We know over these next few months, the cost of living is going to be higher
00:44:32 --> 00:44:36 after we have just started to recover from COVID-fueled inflation.
00:44:37 --> 00:44:42 How do you advise your clients or people in general to navigate through these
00:44:42 --> 00:44:43 tough economic moments?
00:44:44 --> 00:44:49 Well, I just met with a family of like five yesterday.
00:44:49 --> 00:44:55 And all of these individuals were, let's say, boomers.
00:44:55 --> 00:44:59 Yeah, they were baby boomers, maybe one or two of them. They were some older Gen Xs, right?
00:44:59 --> 00:45:02 And they were all complaining about
00:45:02 --> 00:45:06 their their portfolios and how their
00:45:06 --> 00:45:11 brokerage account you know their savings their retirement was taking a hit you
00:45:11 --> 00:45:15 know and the individuals that they were working with were just telling them
00:45:15 --> 00:45:20 hey just ride it out it'll come back don't worry about it and so many of these
00:45:20 --> 00:45:25 financial advisors are just telling their clients to just sit tight hold tight don't do anything.
00:45:26 --> 00:45:32 And we have the ability to say, no, you don't have to accept that.
00:45:32 --> 00:45:37 You can put your money in another vehicle, whether it's an insurance policy
00:45:37 --> 00:45:41 or an annuity that Jasmine was speaking of to say, hey, you don't have to keep
00:45:41 --> 00:45:44 taking the hit of the market because when you're beginning to get older,
00:45:45 --> 00:45:47 you don't want to take any more losses.
00:45:48 --> 00:45:51 For example, I helped an individual will roll over some money.
00:45:51 --> 00:45:55 And from Friday to Monday, by the amount of time that her check was cut,
00:45:55 --> 00:46:00 she had lost one to two months of, you know, of payment, you know,
00:46:00 --> 00:46:03 of income that she would use to pay her bill.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:07 And so every day is a critical day when you're worried about,
00:46:08 --> 00:46:10 is my money going to make it? Is it going to last?
00:46:10 --> 00:46:14 And we provide that security. We provide those guarantees, you know,
00:46:14 --> 00:46:16 to help people move their money into a secure vehicle.
00:46:17 --> 00:46:21 And so that's frankly what we're telling our people right now you know if you're
00:46:21 --> 00:46:24 younger like that's in the beginning of your 20s you can afford to take a little
00:46:24 --> 00:46:29 bit more risk because you're younger you have potentially more time to let the
00:46:29 --> 00:46:32 market recoup and gain interest back again but again,
00:46:32 --> 00:46:37 everyone should have in their portfolio some form of guaranteed and protected
00:46:37 --> 00:46:44 growing vehicle which is provided through insurance products yeah oh go ahead
00:46:44 --> 00:46:49 no i i i if you want to if you want I added that, that's fine.
00:46:49 --> 00:46:54 I was, I was going to let you close out with a, with a, with another question,
00:46:54 --> 00:46:57 but if you, if you want to add onto that, that's fine.
00:46:58 --> 00:47:05 No, go ahead. So I wanted you to close out with friend of yours stated that
00:47:05 --> 00:47:07 y'all's work is a ministry.
00:47:07 --> 00:47:10 Do y'all agree? Do you, do you all agree with that assessment?
00:47:11 --> 00:47:16 I do, 100%, because we were created to be the head, not the tail.
00:47:16 --> 00:47:20 We were created to be the lenders and not the borrowers. We were created to
00:47:20 --> 00:47:22 leave an inheritance to our children's children.
00:47:23 --> 00:47:25 So God's been speaking about wealth since the beginning of time.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:30 And so one of the things that we find in addition to, you know,
00:47:31 --> 00:47:35 ministering on the finance side, it's just encouraging people and reminding
00:47:35 --> 00:47:36 them who their creator is.
00:47:36 --> 00:47:40 And to be very specific, who the creator is, I'm speaking about the God of Abraham.
00:47:40 --> 00:47:43 All right jesus that came to this surgeon sacrifice his
00:47:43 --> 00:47:46 life but i don't need anybody getting confused on
00:47:46 --> 00:47:50 who i'm talking about and so i lost
00:47:50 --> 00:47:54 my train because i could go down a rabbit hole with that one but we remind people
00:47:54 --> 00:47:57 too that hey everything that we have in our life too as well is a testament
00:47:57 --> 00:48:03 to our creator so if you remember in the word moses was a murderer he was a
00:48:03 --> 00:48:08 stutterer you know and god told him hey go back to egypt and free my people and he was like God,
00:48:08 --> 00:48:12 I am not qualified to do these things.
00:48:12 --> 00:48:16 And it's just amazing to see how many unqualified, non-qualified people guide
00:48:16 --> 00:48:19 you throughout what we would consider, right?
00:48:19 --> 00:48:23 Because his ways are, you know, not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts,
00:48:23 --> 00:48:27 but how we would consider people non-qualified to do such great things.
00:48:27 --> 00:48:31 And you take a look at two kids like me and Jasmine, you know,
00:48:31 --> 00:48:34 today where we started, we were both teen parents growing up.
00:48:34 --> 00:48:39 Everyone counted us out when we were 16, 17 years old, right?
00:48:39 --> 00:48:41 I was in New Orleans, she's in Chicago.
00:48:42 --> 00:48:46 You know, we wind up finishing school, getting a degree and little did I know,
00:48:46 --> 00:48:51 I learned this years later, but 98% of people who are teen parents who enter
00:48:51 --> 00:48:53 into college don't finish college.
00:48:53 --> 00:48:57 And so how did me and Jasmine wind up finishing college? I don't think there
00:48:57 --> 00:48:59 was anything more special about us.
00:48:59 --> 00:49:06 It was just that we made a decision to not let our circumstances create our future, right?
00:49:07 --> 00:49:10 And so, you know, we all I'm always explaining that, hey, guys,
00:49:10 --> 00:49:13 you know, I didn't get this way because it was all on me.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:17 You know, I was an introvert. I was not into sales. I wasn't the best communicator,
00:49:17 --> 00:49:19 not the best public speaker.
00:49:19 --> 00:49:23 And God presented me with this opportunity that I thought never in a million
00:49:23 --> 00:49:24 years that I would get into.
00:49:24 --> 00:49:29 But he he would say, hey, you can do it. You can help other people to Alice
00:49:29 --> 00:49:32 who are stuck in the nine to five, who are stuck and feel hopeless.
00:49:32 --> 00:49:36 It's people that don't think that there's anything else out there for them to
00:49:36 --> 00:49:40 be able to succeed and win because corporate America and society is telling
00:49:40 --> 00:49:41 them, hey, you can't win.
00:49:41 --> 00:49:44 You can't do this. You come from here. So, no, you can't win.
00:49:45 --> 00:49:46 This is your background. So,
00:49:46 --> 00:49:49 no, you can't win. You don't have a college degree. So, no, you can't win.
00:49:50 --> 00:49:53 So, you're not you're not good in calculus and communication and this,
00:49:53 --> 00:49:55 that and the third. So, no, you can't win.
00:49:55 --> 00:49:58 And it's like everything in the Bible contradicts that when it says,
00:49:59 --> 00:50:02 no, you can win. And I've had so many examples of doing so.
00:50:02 --> 00:50:06 And we're just another example of that because we weren't qualified.
00:50:07 --> 00:50:10 We weren't financial professionals. We didn't come from wealthy families.
00:50:11 --> 00:50:14 You know, I come from eating government cheese, bologna sandwiches.
00:50:14 --> 00:50:17 I couldn't do the powdered milk, y'all. But I did cut that canned cream with
00:50:17 --> 00:50:22 some water and a little sugar and put it in the fridge and cockroaches in my home growing up.
00:50:22 --> 00:50:25 So I know what it's like to grow up poor, you know.
00:50:25 --> 00:50:30 And so, no, I was not qualified at all whatsoever. And so that's why we believe
00:50:30 --> 00:50:35 that what we do is a ministry, because ultimately we are looking to save people
00:50:35 --> 00:50:38 from what's happening and leading them back because they're like,
00:50:38 --> 00:50:39 well, where are you getting this from?
00:50:39 --> 00:50:44 And just leading them back to our pastor and our teaching and people who's helping
00:50:44 --> 00:50:47 us in that way, you know, to get that in their lives.
00:50:48 --> 00:50:51 Yeah. Ellis did such a great job there.
00:50:51 --> 00:50:57 I don't know how to, but I guess I'll speak from, you know, for me,
00:50:57 --> 00:51:02 ministry is something that you wouldn't necessarily choose for yourself,
00:51:02 --> 00:51:04 but, you know, you've been called to do this.
00:51:06 --> 00:51:11 I was heading to law school. I come from a background of political science,
00:51:11 --> 00:51:12 graduating from Howard.
00:51:12 --> 00:51:17 And when I got a master's in public policy, spent some years working on corporate
00:51:17 --> 00:51:21 at Capitol Hill and then just working my way up that corporate ladder.
00:51:22 --> 00:51:24 And I thought I had life figured out.
00:51:24 --> 00:51:27 You know, I thought I had everything mapped out.
00:51:27 --> 00:51:34 My plans for my life seemed pretty fancy. and God came as he often does and
00:51:34 --> 00:51:40 he disrupted those plans and I fought it quite a bit.
00:51:40 --> 00:51:44 When I first got licensed in the industry, I thought I would make an extra $400
00:51:44 --> 00:51:48 a month and maybe I could pay my car loan.
00:51:49 --> 00:51:56 One of the ways I know that this is a ministry is that because it's never been about deep income.
00:51:56 --> 00:52:00 Income has always been a by-product for Ellis and I at Impact.
00:52:01 --> 00:52:04 And, you know, I just thought, man, my card note at the time was $3.78.
00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 It'd be cool if I made, make an extra $400 a month.
00:52:09 --> 00:52:15 And my first 10 months of building out the Walt Academy, just educating communities,
00:52:15 --> 00:52:19 protecting families, and helping them secure their retirement,
00:52:20 --> 00:52:25 God blessed us to earn over $100 in 10 months with full-time careers and
00:52:25 --> 00:52:28 children and a host of competing obligations.
00:52:29 --> 00:52:32 And I remember being very nervous when God
00:52:32 --> 00:52:36 first informed us to walk away from
00:52:36 --> 00:52:40 our careers and go into this full-time and I said Lord we're leaving behind
00:52:40 --> 00:52:45 our good benefits package and we have children who are dependent on us and we
00:52:45 --> 00:52:51 have a mortgage and he just you know that I'm sending an army of people your
00:52:51 --> 00:52:54 way of people who need this information and so.
00:52:55 --> 00:53:00 I always say I'm grateful that we were obedient. It didn't mean we always understood.
00:53:00 --> 00:53:05 But he positioned the Wealth Academy for such a time as this.
00:53:05 --> 00:53:11 The U.S. is currently undergoing what financial experts call the greatest wealth
00:53:11 --> 00:53:13 transfer in the history of mankind,
00:53:13 --> 00:53:20 in which a colossal amount of assets right now are changing hands from baby
00:53:20 --> 00:53:23 boomers to millennials to Gen Z.
00:53:23 --> 00:53:26 And it's setting off a major chain reaction.
00:53:27 --> 00:53:35 You now have boomers who have done what their human resource directors informed
00:53:35 --> 00:53:39 them to do, what their financial advisors encouraged them to do,
00:53:39 --> 00:53:42 which was just wait it out. The market will come back.
00:53:42 --> 00:53:46 And now you have baby boomers and investors and wealthy people who are asking
00:53:46 --> 00:53:47 really smart questions.
00:53:48 --> 00:53:51 I don't want to wait it out because it's not just about the money.
00:53:51 --> 00:53:55 It's about the number of years that it took for me to accumulate that wealth.
00:53:55 --> 00:53:59 It may just be $30 to you and that could just be peanuts.
00:54:00 --> 00:54:07 But if it took me 10 years to build that $30, these are the questions consumers are now asking.
00:54:07 --> 00:54:13 I no longer want my portion of wealth to live inside of a market that can go
00:54:13 --> 00:54:17 up and down based off of what a few people on Wall Street decide.
00:54:17 --> 00:54:24 And so right now, we are sitting inside of a great wealth transfer where an
00:54:24 --> 00:54:32 estimated $84 trillion will switch ownership from boomers to millennials to Gen Z through 2045.
00:54:33 --> 00:54:37 And they're looking for safe vehicles.
00:54:37 --> 00:54:40 They're looking, they still want their money to grow, but they don't want their
00:54:40 --> 00:54:45 money to be exposed to market law. Right? And they want tax efficiency.
00:54:45 --> 00:54:47 They want tax deferred growth.
00:54:47 --> 00:54:50 They don't want to pay cost anymore every time.
00:54:51 --> 00:54:55 Advisor moves your money, they're making money off of your money.
00:54:55 --> 00:55:01 And so again, you know, I think the ministry part simply comes through obedience
00:55:01 --> 00:55:06 and surrendering because never in a million years did we come into this thinking
00:55:06 --> 00:55:09 we're going to build a million dollar agency.
00:55:09 --> 00:55:14 I just was looking to see if I could pay my card note, get a state license,
00:55:15 --> 00:55:20 maybe help one to two people. And through that obedience, we now serve over
00:55:20 --> 00:55:24 50 clients annually, and we've been in business for seven years.
00:55:24 --> 00:55:29 We have three physical locations, Chicago, Illinois, our flagship.
00:55:29 --> 00:55:32 Well, let me be clear, Erik, since we from the Chi, Oak Brook,
00:55:32 --> 00:55:38 Illinois, Dallas, Texas, and as of March of last year, Atlanta, Georgia.
00:55:38 --> 00:55:44 And so that is, I wish I could sound super sophisticated and say that's always
00:55:44 --> 00:55:47 been the goal, but it has not. The goal has always been obedient.
00:55:48 --> 00:55:53 And through that obedience, we're starting to approach upon the promise.
00:55:54 --> 00:56:00 Yeah. And, you know, real quick, that's, you know, when I was younger,
00:56:00 --> 00:56:06 we, you know, we talked about the prayer, Jabez, and the anointing about expanding territory.
00:56:06 --> 00:56:11 And that's basically what faithfulness is all about and i'm not going to get
00:56:11 --> 00:56:17 into a sermon either brother ellis but i just you know that's i wanted that to be highlighted so.
00:56:19 --> 00:56:24 Let's let's let's get to the favorite part of mine about the interview and that's
00:56:24 --> 00:56:30 y'all plug how people can connect with you all you know about you know the wealth
00:56:30 --> 00:56:31 academy if somebody wants to be,
00:56:31 --> 00:56:36 you know, work with y'all or somebody just wants to be a client or just want
00:56:36 --> 00:56:40 to pick y'all's brain like we're doing today? How can people get in touch with y'all?
00:56:40 --> 00:56:47 I'm real easy to find. Instagram, Mr. Wealth Academy. So M-R Wealth Academy.
00:56:48 --> 00:56:52 Jasmine's the same way. M-R-S Wealth Academy, Mrs. Wealth Academy.
00:56:52 --> 00:56:55 I'm on Facebook. My name, Ellis Suazo.
00:56:56 --> 00:57:00 Our Instagram for our company is called Wealth Academy Network.
00:57:01 --> 00:57:05 You know, we're real easy to find, never hard to get in touch with us.
00:57:05 --> 00:57:09 We'll always respond to our DMs, people just reaching out to us.
00:57:10 --> 00:57:14 Well, Jasmine and Ellis Suazo, I greatly appreciate y'all's time.
00:57:14 --> 00:57:19 Y'all gave me a lot more time than I anticipated, but I think this is going
00:57:19 --> 00:57:21 to be beneficial to people and
00:57:21 --> 00:57:26 hope that the listeners explore the opportunities and get with you all.
00:57:27 --> 00:57:30 And I agree that it's a ministry.
00:57:30 --> 00:57:37 A lot of people don't make that correlation, but when you're obedient, then you see abundance.
00:57:37 --> 00:57:41 So I'll just leave it at that. And I just thank y'all for coming on the podcast
00:57:41 --> 00:57:43 and sharing with us today.
00:57:44 --> 00:57:50 Thank you so much. All right, guys, we're going to catch y'all on the other.
00:57:50 --> 00:58:08 Music.
00:58:09 --> 00:58:17 All right. And we are back. So I want to thank Jasmine and Ella Suazo for coming on.
00:58:17 --> 00:58:23 And please reach out to them if y'all are interested, the Wealth Academy.
00:58:23 --> 00:58:31 Please reach out to them if you're interested in either their products or being an agent.
00:58:32 --> 00:58:39 They're continuing to build, and in the process, as they continue to build,
00:58:39 --> 00:58:41 they're trying to help us build wealth.
00:58:42 --> 00:58:47 Excuse me, so I really am glad that they took the time to come on,
00:58:48 --> 00:58:54 and I'm so glad that I was made aware of their existence, because anybody that
00:58:54 --> 00:58:58 is trying to help Black folks getting well,
00:58:58 --> 00:59:03 it really is doing the Lord's work in this country.
00:59:04 --> 00:59:07 So I want to thank them for that.
00:59:08 --> 00:59:17 I had something else lined up for you all today, and I'm kind of upset because it did not happen.
00:59:20 --> 00:59:24 And I really hate it. It's something that, you know, you plan.
00:59:24 --> 00:59:30 And most of the guests that I have on, we kind of planned this out months in advance.
00:59:31 --> 00:59:36 And when it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But we're working to see if we
00:59:36 --> 00:59:38 can get it for the next episode.
00:59:39 --> 00:59:41 And if we can do that, cool. If not.
00:59:44 --> 00:59:44 We'll see.
00:59:46 --> 00:59:51 But anyway, so I just wanted to acknowledge that because I'm feeling some kind
00:59:51 --> 00:59:54 of way about it. I'm just being honest with you.
00:59:55 --> 00:59:59 I mean, it was like right there to happen, and it didn't.
01:00:00 --> 01:00:07 And I guess that's a good way to segue into what I want to close out with.
01:00:07 --> 01:00:18 Because, you know, in the 2024 election, we were really, really that close to saving our democracy.
01:00:18 --> 01:00:24 We were really, really that close to maintaining a sense of normalcy.
01:00:24 --> 01:00:37 And 1.5% as far as the popular vote and merely thousands of votes in certain swing states.
01:00:39 --> 01:00:45 And now we've got this air of surrender that's out there.
01:00:46 --> 01:00:55 We've got Republicans surrendering to their leader and we got Democrats surrendering.
01:00:56 --> 01:01:01 You know, you got a few folks trying to stand up for stuff, but the leadership
01:01:01 --> 01:01:04 is not ready. It's just not.
01:01:06 --> 01:01:07 And that's really, really disappointing.
01:01:09 --> 01:01:13 This was a moment. This was a moment to really show where we are.
01:01:13 --> 01:01:18 And, you know, and the American people are not stupid, right?
01:01:19 --> 01:01:24 So there was a poll that came out, I guess NBC did that, and said that the Democrats
01:01:24 --> 01:01:30 have a 27% approval rating. 27.
01:01:32 --> 01:01:38 That's the lowest a political party, at least the Democrats for sure,
01:01:38 --> 01:01:44 It's the lowest a political party has ever been in a poll as far as approval rating.
01:01:44 --> 01:01:50 Now, Congress usually gets, as a whole, usually hangs out around in the 20s.
01:01:51 --> 01:02:01 But the Democratic Party is at 27% approval rating, which is lower than President Trump.
01:02:01 --> 01:02:04 And he's in the 40s.
01:02:04 --> 01:02:06 He's below 50%.
01:02:07 --> 01:02:14 So that means that the American people don't see anything or anybody because
01:02:14 --> 01:02:18 Elon Musk is like in between the Democrats and Trump, right?
01:02:19 --> 01:02:23 They don't see anything or anybody worth getting excited about,
01:02:24 --> 01:02:26 worth following, worth listening to.
01:02:28 --> 01:02:32 Everybody's pretty much got their head down, right? Now, there's some of the
01:02:32 --> 01:02:36 people paying attention, but it's just kind of like, you know,
01:02:36 --> 01:02:39 I think people feel there's nothing they can do.
01:02:39 --> 01:02:43 And the ultimate proof is that there's this group called Atlas Intel.
01:02:43 --> 01:02:48 I guess they're a polling firm. I never heard of them until they released this
01:02:48 --> 01:02:52 poll saying that of people who did not vote.
01:02:53 --> 01:03:00 Hear me. People that did not vote, 83% of them do not like President Trump.
01:03:01 --> 01:03:05 Again, that's frustrating, right?
01:03:06 --> 01:03:11 It's frustrating for those of us who engage in the process every election,
01:03:11 --> 01:03:16 whether we're running or just voting, period. Just taking time out today.
01:03:17 --> 01:03:21 If you're in a state where you early vote, get that out the way so you won't
01:03:21 --> 01:03:23 be caught up in the lines on Election Day.
01:03:23 --> 01:03:26 But even if you wait till Election Day, people stand in line.
01:03:27 --> 01:03:33 You know, you had half of the American population take the time out to vote.
01:03:33 --> 01:03:41 We've been steady seeing around anywhere from 140 to 160 million Americans voting.
01:03:42 --> 01:03:46 But we're a population of 330 million and growing.
01:03:47 --> 01:03:52 Right. We'll see what the next census is. We forgot about what, five more years?
01:03:53 --> 01:03:58 Because the way things are going. People are trying to get up out of here, right?
01:03:59 --> 01:04:03 Even if they're just trying to go to Canada or Mexico, people are trying to
01:04:03 --> 01:04:06 get up out of here. The people, they're trying to kick people out.
01:04:06 --> 01:04:12 So it'll be interesting to see what the census is in about five years after
01:04:12 --> 01:04:16 putting up with all of this, right?
01:04:16 --> 01:04:21 But 83% of the people who didn't even bother to vote are like, what are we doing?
01:04:22 --> 01:04:30 Which I think in their minds justifies why they're not voting because they don't feel,
01:04:31 --> 01:04:36 that they can make a difference, but they're not naive to the point where they
01:04:36 --> 01:04:39 don't understand what's going on. And so they don't like what's happening.
01:04:40 --> 01:04:42 So let's do some math, right? Let's.
01:04:44 --> 01:04:47 The majority of people who didn't even participate don't like what's happening,
01:04:47 --> 01:04:52 and the alternative is not liked at all, right?
01:04:53 --> 01:04:56 The loyal opposition is at 27%.
01:04:57 --> 01:05:05 And when they had a moment to shut the process down and take a stand, they cowered.
01:05:05 --> 01:05:09 They didn't walk out during the address.
01:05:10 --> 01:05:18 10. They needed, what was the Republicans needed, 8 votes to get the budget passed, and they got 10.
01:05:19 --> 01:05:23 One of their own people didn't even vote for it, and the Democrats gave him
01:05:23 --> 01:05:29 10, including the leader of the Democrats, Chuck Schumer, on the Senate side.
01:05:29 --> 01:05:34 And, you know, he's been on the TV, and every time he comes on,
01:05:34 --> 01:05:39 I cut it off, because there's no way to explain that to rational people.
01:05:40 --> 01:05:47 You know, we don't process information the same way as Trump supporters do.
01:05:48 --> 01:05:56 We understand that you dropped the ball, and there's no way you can talk your way out of that.
01:05:57 --> 01:06:01 There's no way that you can lie your way out of that.
01:06:01 --> 01:06:05 There's no way that you can charm your way out of that. You dropped the ball.
01:06:05 --> 01:06:12 And that's why 27% of the people, only 27% of the people, like the Democrats.
01:06:12 --> 01:06:15 So that means what, boys and girls?
01:06:16 --> 01:06:22 73% of Americans don't like the Democrats, don't approve?
01:06:23 --> 01:06:28 They either don't approve or don't care. You can't win elections like that.
01:06:28 --> 01:06:35 You cannot. Now, 83% of the people said they don't like what's going on,
01:06:35 --> 01:06:39 but they're not going to vote because there's nothing to vote for.
01:06:40 --> 01:06:42 There's no option for them.
01:06:43 --> 01:06:51 So close, so close to building on the successes that President Biden was able to do.
01:06:52 --> 01:06:59 So close from disinfecting us from Trumpism and the Democrats dropped the ball.
01:07:00 --> 01:07:07 That hurts me, you know, because unlike a lot of people, you know,
01:07:07 --> 01:07:14 I actually was engaged. I was a leader in the Democratic Party in my state. I was on the DNC.
01:07:14 --> 01:07:18 I've given speeches for candidates in other states.
01:07:18 --> 01:07:20 I've done that in my life.
01:07:21 --> 01:07:31 And it almost seems like it was a waste of my time because the people that are
01:07:31 --> 01:07:37 trying to do the right thing within the party are being shut down by the cowards,
01:07:37 --> 01:07:41 which is absolutely amazing how that works. Right?
01:07:42 --> 01:07:47 How do we get to a point in America where people that are small-minded,
01:07:47 --> 01:07:54 people that are cowardly, people that are not leaders,
01:07:55 --> 01:07:59 how are they in positions of power?
01:08:00 --> 01:08:06 Now, money. Money in politics. Excessive money in politics.
01:08:07 --> 01:08:12 Everybody got their hand out to get paid. and the people that are getting paid
01:08:12 --> 01:08:17 don't give a care about us anymore.
01:08:18 --> 01:08:22 When I say us, I can mean black folks. I can just mean Americans altogether.
01:08:22 --> 01:08:29 They don't care. They have ideas. They think this is the way we should portray a message.
01:08:29 --> 01:08:32 They believe this is a particular message they should get out.
01:08:33 --> 01:08:37 And they try to force feed it. And it doesn't work.
01:08:38 --> 01:08:44 Whereas the other side has effectively taken advantage of people who may not
01:08:44 --> 01:08:46 totally understand what's going on.
01:08:46 --> 01:08:51 But they've created this whole ecosystem, echo chamber system,
01:08:51 --> 01:08:56 where they don't trust anybody else that has a different opinion,
01:08:57 --> 01:08:59 let alone like them, right?
01:09:00 --> 01:09:05 And so they just, you know, they think they're right.
01:09:06 --> 01:09:12 And so they just go ahead and vote accordingly and act accordingly, right?
01:09:14 --> 01:09:19 Then there's this incredible insecurity that's out there, right?
01:09:20 --> 01:09:26 That for some reason they think that those people who they have oppressed all
01:09:26 --> 01:09:28 these years are going to oppress them.
01:09:29 --> 01:09:36 Now, it's getting to a point where that nightmare may come true because people
01:09:36 --> 01:09:44 are tired of being ridiculed and abused and discriminated against and marginalized
01:09:44 --> 01:09:47 and not being heard. People are getting tired of that.
01:09:47 --> 01:09:55 You know, the pot is boiling. You cut the fire off. You don't slam the lid on harder.
01:09:55 --> 01:10:02 Right. Because the more pressure builds up, everything in that pot's going to blow out.
01:10:02 --> 01:10:05 Then you got a mess to clean up.
01:10:06 --> 01:10:13 You know, I have really been stressing that we need American leaders.
01:10:14 --> 01:10:19 We need people to understand that people matter, right?
01:10:20 --> 01:10:25 That these everyday struggles that we are dealing with, government can't solve
01:10:25 --> 01:10:29 all of them, but they can lift the burden off a lot of them.
01:10:30 --> 01:10:37 A black kid should not have to worry about driving their car and being indiscriminately
01:10:37 --> 01:10:40 stopped by police and having their rights violated.
01:10:41 --> 01:10:44 And the ultimate rights violation is their life being taken.
01:10:45 --> 01:10:47 You shouldn't live in a society like that.
01:10:48 --> 01:10:53 A Latino person shouldn't have to worry about going to work and folks just showing
01:10:53 --> 01:10:58 up and saying, hey, all y'all getting a bus, kicking you out of the country.
01:10:59 --> 01:11:02 They shouldn't have to feel that way, right?
01:11:03 --> 01:11:07 There's this guy, one of the shark tank guys, I can't remember his name,
01:11:08 --> 01:11:10 Kevin Leary, Levy, something, I don't know.
01:11:11 --> 01:11:15 I don't watch the show, so I've heard about it, but I don't watch it.
01:11:17 --> 01:11:20 Understand that he is of Lebanese descent.
01:11:21 --> 01:11:27 And he made a comment on CNN, and somebody challenged him on the comment,
01:11:27 --> 01:11:33 and he said, oh, well, you know, it's like, am I a second-class citizen?
01:11:34 --> 01:11:39 If I would have responded, I said, whatever you speak, it'll come into existence.
01:11:40 --> 01:11:43 You know, He doesn't identify as Lebanese, he identifies as white.
01:11:44 --> 01:11:46 So let's get that clear, right?
01:11:48 --> 01:11:56 But, you know, that projection stuff, that's almost like a disease here in America,
01:11:56 --> 01:11:57 especially in the political discourse.
01:11:57 --> 01:12:02 You say, well, you must be saying that. No, I'm repeating what you're saying.
01:12:03 --> 01:12:09 So if you say that I'm second class, either by inference or directly,
01:12:09 --> 01:12:12 if I throw it back at you, then yeah.
01:12:13 --> 01:12:16 If that's the way you interpret it, then that's what I'm saying.
01:12:18 --> 01:12:22 Because, you know, at this particular point, you can't, we've tried to be really
01:12:22 --> 01:12:25 nice. I would like people to have intelligent discussions.
01:12:25 --> 01:12:28 That's why I have this podcast, to have intelligent discussions.
01:12:29 --> 01:12:35 So far, I've been doing pretty good. But everywhere else in the atmosphere,
01:12:36 --> 01:12:43 not necessarily podcasts, but because podcasters have more control over content
01:12:43 --> 01:12:49 than people that work at network television or cable news, whatever,
01:12:50 --> 01:12:52 or newspapers.
01:12:53 --> 01:12:55 They have more control of the content.
01:12:55 --> 01:13:00 So they know what kind of guests they can have. They can set the tone.
01:13:00 --> 01:13:04 And if the guest doesn't comport, the episode doesn't air, right?
01:13:05 --> 01:13:10 Just shut it down, keep it moving. You have that freedom as a podcaster.
01:13:11 --> 01:13:15 These people do not have that freedom. And so they put people on like this Kevin
01:13:15 --> 01:13:20 Leary guy or this Scott Jennings or whatever the idiots you want to put on.
01:13:21 --> 01:13:25 And I say idiots because, you know, you might know something.
01:13:27 --> 01:13:32 That doesn't mean you know everything. I would never accept an invitation to
01:13:32 --> 01:13:34 go on a show that talks about neurosurgery.
01:13:35 --> 01:13:38 Did not go to school for that. Did not train for that.
01:13:39 --> 01:13:45 Barely even knows that, you know, that profession exists. Never had to have one.
01:13:46 --> 01:13:50 I've known a couple of people that are into it, but I couldn't be on a show
01:13:50 --> 01:13:54 and have an intelligent discussion about neurosurgery.
01:13:55 --> 01:14:00 I can't have an intelligent discussion about politics, but there are some people
01:14:00 --> 01:14:03 that are in politics that shouldn't
01:14:03 --> 01:14:08 be on a national panel either because they've been able to get by,
01:14:09 --> 01:14:12 but they don't have total comprehension, right?
01:14:12 --> 01:14:17 But, you know, you're sticking a lot of people on there. They're loud and they
01:14:17 --> 01:14:20 look good on TV, so you stick them on there and they have no clue what they're
01:14:20 --> 01:14:22 talking about, you know?
01:14:23 --> 01:14:26 We don't need sycophants on TV.
01:14:27 --> 01:14:32 You know, not unless they did something like storm the Capitol building or something like that.
01:14:33 --> 01:14:38 You might want to ask them why they did that. But as far as like discussions
01:14:38 --> 01:14:42 on issues now, because, you know, they're no different.
01:14:42 --> 01:14:46 It's it's just like a sports bar, right? You go to the sports bar,
01:14:46 --> 01:14:54 you may run into a person that actually played the sport at a professional level, but very rarely, right?
01:14:55 --> 01:15:01 And if you engage in that conversation, I usually defer to that person.
01:15:02 --> 01:15:07 I may not agree with what they're saying because it may have a negative impact
01:15:07 --> 01:15:10 on the team I'm supporting or whatever or the point I'm trying to make.
01:15:10 --> 01:15:15 But I have to respect their opinion over mine because they actually played the game.
01:15:16 --> 01:15:21 Now, if you actually had a bunch of them, say four or five of them in the discussion,
01:15:21 --> 01:15:26 and they all played the game, oh, well, that's going to be an intelligent discussion.
01:15:26 --> 01:15:28 And there's going to be different viewpoints.
01:15:29 --> 01:15:36 And everybody will learn something from it because all of them have expertise, true expertise.
01:15:37 --> 01:15:43 It doesn't matter if they rode the bench or they were like an all-star.
01:15:44 --> 01:15:46 They all made it to that level.
01:15:47 --> 01:15:51 So they all have valuable input. But, you know, you put me in a conversation
01:15:51 --> 01:15:56 with guys that are in the Hall of Fame and I'm trying to tell them about their sport.
01:15:56 --> 01:16:02 Yeah, that's not how it works. As a fan, I have my opinion and I root for who I want to root for.
01:16:04 --> 01:16:08 They have the expertise. And it's kind of like where we are now.
01:16:09 --> 01:16:15 Even though every citizen should participate in politics, but not everybody
01:16:15 --> 01:16:19 that participates is an expert in politics, right?
01:16:20 --> 01:16:25 Because if they were experts, the 83% that weren't pleased with Donald Trump
01:16:25 --> 01:16:30 would have voted and would have voted against them.
01:16:30 --> 01:16:36 But they didn't even, And their thought process was so jaded that they didn't
01:16:36 --> 01:16:40 even think that just voting for the alternative would make sure that that guy's
01:16:40 --> 01:16:44 not in, even if they didn't like the alternative.
01:16:44 --> 01:16:47 They're not that politically sophisticated. They're not experts.
01:16:47 --> 01:16:53 I do not want those people on a panel talking about issues like pertaining to
01:16:53 --> 01:16:55 how to elect people because they don't vote.
01:16:56 --> 01:16:59 Now, I do want to talk to them about why they're not voting.
01:16:59 --> 01:17:02 I do want to talk to them about things that are going on in the day-to-day life
01:17:02 --> 01:17:04 because they are experts on their life.
01:17:06 --> 01:17:08 So what kind of struggles are you going through?
01:17:09 --> 01:17:16 Is it because of the job? You're not getting paid enough? Are you on some kind of disability?
01:17:17 --> 01:17:22 Are you being discriminated against? I want to know those kind of things about their personal being.
01:17:22 --> 01:17:26 But I'm not going to put them on national television and have a discussion with
01:17:26 --> 01:17:32 people about designing a budget in Congress because they have no clue because
01:17:32 --> 01:17:33 they don't even participate.
01:17:34 --> 01:17:36 They don't even vote for the people that make the decisions.
01:17:37 --> 01:17:38 Y'all understand what I'm saying?
01:17:39 --> 01:17:45 You can't just stick. We can't just keep sticking faces in places.
01:17:46 --> 01:17:50 And we can't assume because people make a lot of money that they're smart.
01:17:51 --> 01:17:55 That all the time about this Elon Musk dude, and even this guy,
01:17:55 --> 01:17:58 Kevin Lear, these people are not smart people.
01:17:59 --> 01:18:03 I'm going to tell you the truth. The reality of the world is there are smart
01:18:03 --> 01:18:04 people and there are rich people.
01:18:05 --> 01:18:10 That's the world we live in. And the rich people can come across as being smart
01:18:10 --> 01:18:12 because they have access.
01:18:13 --> 01:18:17 But if you put them in an environment where you took away their money and had
01:18:17 --> 01:18:22 them next to really, really smart people, they'll be exposed.
01:18:22 --> 01:18:27 They could not survive. If they didn't have the money that they had, they could not survive.
01:18:27 --> 01:18:32 If they did not get that lick to propel them in a class where they could live
01:18:32 --> 01:18:34 comfortably, they couldn't survive.
01:18:35 --> 01:18:39 Could not make it at all. Would be lost.
01:18:40 --> 01:18:44 Probably be wards of the state. That's how bad I think some of them are.
01:18:45 --> 01:18:50 If they weren't born into affluence, if they weren't given a break based on
01:18:50 --> 01:18:55 privilege, they would not be, they would not have access.
01:18:55 --> 01:18:59 They might not be. They might exist.
01:19:00 --> 01:19:07 You know, because that's how things work, unfortunately, here.
01:19:08 --> 01:19:12 We got to get out of that notion that people that have money are smart. They are not.
01:19:12 --> 01:19:17 They might be good at making money, but that's it.
01:19:17 --> 01:19:22 If it's not about business, I don't want to hear Kevin Leary's opinion about
01:19:22 --> 01:19:24 immigration. I don't care.
01:19:25 --> 01:19:28 Especially somebody who's in self-denial about their immigrant heritage,
01:19:28 --> 01:19:31 except when they want to use it and weaponize it.
01:19:31 --> 01:19:39 I don't care, right? Because if you come from people who emigrated into the United States.
01:19:40 --> 01:19:46 Should understand that immigration is vital to the United States and you shouldn't
01:19:46 --> 01:19:49 be holding up a sign saying mass deportation.
01:19:49 --> 01:19:55 You shouldn't embrace that philosophy because of America here to that philosophy.
01:19:55 --> 01:19:59 You wouldn't even be here to have that discussion. You'd be in Lebanon trying
01:19:59 --> 01:20:02 to negotiate between Hezbollah. Right.
01:20:03 --> 01:20:07 I mean, that's my frustration.
01:20:08 --> 01:20:13 We got too many people. given too many platforms.
01:20:14 --> 01:20:20 And when I say too many platforms, which, you know, in the vernacular now,
01:20:20 --> 01:20:23 it's like platforming, well, it's my right to speak.
01:20:23 --> 01:20:25 No, platform means elevated, right?
01:20:26 --> 01:20:31 Space. You have space to say what you want to say.
01:20:31 --> 01:20:36 Platform means that it's at a level higher than the rest of the folks.
01:20:36 --> 01:20:40 You got to stop giving people platforms. We can give them all the space they want.
01:20:41 --> 01:20:48 Freedom of speech is tantamount for this country and this democracy to exist.
01:20:49 --> 01:20:55 But we control who has platforms, whose speech is elevated, whose speech is
01:20:55 --> 01:20:59 highly regarded more than anybody else's. We do control that.
01:20:59 --> 01:21:04 And we've got to be more judicious in how we give that control out,
01:21:04 --> 01:21:06 who we give that designation to.
01:21:07 --> 01:21:13 Some people don't need a platform. Some people just should be happy with space.
01:21:14 --> 01:21:18 You want to talk to me at the water cooler, at the golf course,
01:21:18 --> 01:21:22 at the sports bar, it's fine.
01:21:23 --> 01:21:26 But I don't think a lot of y'all should be on TV.
01:21:28 --> 01:21:33 Basis. I just don't. Because you don't know what you're talking about.
01:21:34 --> 01:21:39 And if the Republicans didn't give you the talking points to talk about it,
01:21:39 --> 01:21:41 you definitely wouldn't have anything to say.
01:21:41 --> 01:21:46 Your opinion was not important 10 years ago to the point where it should be platformed.
01:21:47 --> 01:21:53 And there's nothing that you have said that would make me think that you should have been elevated.
01:21:54 --> 01:22:01 Nothing, you know, and it's like your behavior shows that you shouldn't be able to bet it.
01:22:02 --> 01:22:07 Inappropriate touching of female guests, interrupting people while they're in
01:22:07 --> 01:22:11 the middle of a point, whether you agree with it or disagree with it.
01:22:11 --> 01:22:13 I mean, just everything.
01:22:14 --> 01:22:20 The whole demeanor shows that you are not ready for prime time.
01:22:20 --> 01:22:25 Not in that setting. On Shark Tank, you can do what you want to do. That's your show.
01:22:26 --> 01:22:31 I'm not coming on Shark Tank and trying to tell you investment strategies. I'm not doing that.
01:22:32 --> 01:22:35 Which means that you shouldn't come in my world and try to tell me about politics.
01:22:36 --> 01:22:41 Because it's clear you don't know. You have an opinion and you should have space
01:22:41 --> 01:22:46 for your opinion, but you should not have a platform. You should not be elevated.
01:22:47 --> 01:22:51 You shouldn't be on people's TV screens where millions of people can watch you night after night.
01:22:52 --> 01:22:56 You don't deserve that. And the content that comes out of your mouth is proven.
01:22:57 --> 01:23:01 Same with Scott Jennings. Even though he has a political background,
01:23:01 --> 01:23:05 he is not an astute thinker. He's not.
01:23:06 --> 01:23:12 There are people who are actually out here trying to put issues out,
01:23:12 --> 01:23:18 give both perspectives of the issues to educate the general public.
01:23:19 --> 01:23:23 They're offering themselves as a resource so you can go and say,
01:23:23 --> 01:23:27 OK, well, OK, I agree with that point. I disagree with that point.
01:23:27 --> 01:23:31 But the points are evenly presented. it.
01:23:32 --> 01:23:37 So you can make that choice in your space, right?
01:23:37 --> 01:23:41 And in your sphere of influence, whether it's your family, your friends,
01:23:41 --> 01:23:48 whoever, school you attend, you can espouse that, right, to that group.
01:23:49 --> 01:23:52 But it's because you've been given the information.
01:23:52 --> 01:23:57 And as long as the information is presented and you decide to make a choice, that's fine.
01:23:58 --> 01:24:01 Whether I agree with the choice or not, That's fine.
01:24:01 --> 01:24:06 At least I can tell you were informed because not only do you make your point,
01:24:06 --> 01:24:10 but if you understand the other side, it helps you make your point better to
01:24:10 --> 01:24:12 challenge the other point.
01:24:12 --> 01:24:20 If you understand, understand both sides of the issue, then it makes your defense of the issue stronger.
01:24:21 --> 01:24:26 Live in that world. That's why they want to destroy the Department of Education.
01:24:26 --> 01:24:30 They don't care about education. They don't want, that's why they're trying
01:24:30 --> 01:24:31 to shut down universities.
01:24:33 --> 01:24:41 How evil can you be to deny your alma mater $175 million because you disagree
01:24:41 --> 01:24:46 on the fact that they actually had one transgender athlete?
01:24:47 --> 01:24:51 You would deny, you're the most powerful person in the world politically,
01:24:51 --> 01:25:00 and you would deny your alma mater $175 million and then wonder why they don't
01:25:00 --> 01:25:01 invite you to speak at the graduation.
01:25:02 --> 01:25:08 I'm just saying, that's how warped and evil these, and if we don't engage,
01:25:08 --> 01:25:12 if we don't find motivation to vote, if we don't find,
01:25:13 --> 01:25:16 reasons to participate in the
01:25:16 --> 01:25:22 process, dummies continue to get elevated because, see, the pool shrinks.
01:25:23 --> 01:25:30 When people are not engaged, then the people who are, that's the pool you have to choose from.
01:25:30 --> 01:25:34 And there's a lot of people who have platforms who are engaged that should not be.
01:25:36 --> 01:25:41 I just I'm trying to comprehend it,
01:25:43 --> 01:25:48 I have a narrow lens because I am a black man so I'm thinking,
01:25:49 --> 01:25:53 that most of this stuff especially in the region of the country that I live
01:25:53 --> 01:25:58 in most of the support for this president comes from the fact that you don't
01:25:58 --> 01:26:02 like people like me doing anything.
01:26:03 --> 01:26:08 Me to exist. And if I do exist, I need to stay in my place.
01:26:09 --> 01:26:14 So your support for this president is a testimony to that thought.
01:26:15 --> 01:26:21 And I really haven't seen or heard any argument otherwise. I haven't seen any
01:26:21 --> 01:26:26 action by this president that would make me think otherwise, right?
01:26:27 --> 01:26:31 And definitely not from the richest man in the world who is now the,
01:26:32 --> 01:26:34 I don't know what he is, co-president,
01:26:35 --> 01:26:41 best friend number one, I don't know, sidekick, I don't know what he is and
01:26:41 --> 01:26:42 why he has all this access.
01:26:43 --> 01:26:49 But he definitely comes from an upbringing and a background and a mindset that
01:26:49 --> 01:26:54 he thinks less of me just because of the content, I mean, the color of my skin.
01:26:54 --> 01:26:58 He could give a less than a damn about my character. He doesn't want to get to know me like that.
01:26:59 --> 01:27:07 But because 83, that's because, well, people didn't vote, and then 83% of people don't like who it is.
01:27:07 --> 01:27:15 You know, it's a terrible statistic, this eye-opening, but you abdicated your
01:27:15 --> 01:27:16 power when you didn't vote.
01:27:17 --> 01:27:19 And it's just really, really tough to deal with.
01:27:22 --> 01:27:30 And, you know, it's tough to support people who look at a number and say we're
01:27:30 --> 01:27:36 at 25, 27 percent approval and not doing a damn thing to change it.
01:27:36 --> 01:27:43 It's tough. You know, in professional sports, if your team sucks, you trade players,
01:27:44 --> 01:27:51 you sign new players, you fire coaches, you do something to stop losing. You shake things up.
01:27:52 --> 01:27:57 We've even heard the term rebuilding. We're in rebuild mode.
01:27:57 --> 01:28:00 If you're below 50 percent.
01:28:02 --> 01:28:07 Polling, dealing with politics need to rebuild. You need to shake some things
01:28:07 --> 01:28:09 up. Stop doing what you're doing.
01:28:10 --> 01:28:14 Find a better way to make it happen. Listen to some other people other than
01:28:14 --> 01:28:16 folks that you pay to pat you on the back.
01:28:17 --> 01:28:22 What's the difference between President Trump hiring an administration of yes
01:28:22 --> 01:28:31 men and yes women and a Democratic Party that only hires yes men and yes women. What's the difference?
01:28:31 --> 01:28:36 Like I said, I'm really, really upset. I'm frustrated.
01:28:38 --> 01:28:48 And my only outlet is to reach out to people and just let people know this podcast is my therapy.
01:28:48 --> 01:28:55 I am not ashamed to tell people that because I love politics.
01:28:56 --> 01:28:59 I love American government.
01:29:00 --> 01:29:05 I love the concept of a nation that takes care of its own.
01:29:05 --> 01:29:10 I love the concept of a nation that is representative of every nation in the
01:29:10 --> 01:29:18 world where people can coexist and achieve and be all they really can be.
01:29:19 --> 01:29:24 And I like people that fight for that. I like people that understand and are
01:29:24 --> 01:29:26 willing to go the extra mile to make it happen.
01:29:27 --> 01:29:32 I like people that achieve in spite of obstacles being thrown in their way by
01:29:32 --> 01:29:35 paranoid, cowardly people. I love it.
01:29:37 --> 01:29:44 And I will do anything within reason and within legality.
01:29:45 --> 01:29:48 Always got to throw caveats in in this day and age.
01:29:48 --> 01:29:54 To make sure that not only does that ideal of mine survives,
01:29:54 --> 01:29:59 but thrives and expands and gets in the mindset of the majority of people.
01:29:59 --> 01:30:04 We can disagree on how to build a road, but we must agree that a road needs to be built.
01:30:05 --> 01:30:06 We got to get to that point.
01:30:08 --> 01:30:14 We know that the road for freedom is not easy. Most of that is based off of
01:30:14 --> 01:30:17 those of us who understand our spirituality.
01:30:18 --> 01:30:23 Because, like I tell people all the time, the devil thought he was in a negotiation
01:30:23 --> 01:30:26 and Jesus thought he was being annoyed, right?
01:30:28 --> 01:30:32 You know, we can't continue to negotiate with evil.
01:30:33 --> 01:30:36 We have to be annoyed by it, and we have to act like we're annoyed,
01:30:36 --> 01:30:41 and we cannot continue to give these people platforms.
01:30:41 --> 01:30:42 We cannot.
01:30:44 --> 01:30:49 The most radical thing we can do, every citizen, is vote.
01:30:50 --> 01:30:57 Now, let me take that back. The most basic radical thing we can do is vote. Don't participate.
01:30:58 --> 01:31:02 Don't let these people who have no empathy, to have no soul,
01:31:03 --> 01:31:13 to have no clear cognitive thought be rewarded with leadership because we stay at home.
01:31:13 --> 01:31:19 We seclude ourselves. We distance ourselves from the fray.
01:31:19 --> 01:31:25 We can't afford that anymore. If America is going to survive and get better,
01:31:26 --> 01:31:28 then we have to be engaged.
01:31:29 --> 01:31:33 Canada allowed a Kevin Leary's and the Scott Jennings and the Elon Musk and
01:31:33 --> 01:31:36 the Donald Trump to have their way.
01:31:36 --> 01:31:41 Steve Bannon's and the Steve Miller's and any other Steve that has evil thoughts.
01:31:43 --> 01:31:48 We can't let them have their way. We cannot. We have to fight back.
01:31:49 --> 01:31:52 As inconvenient and painful as that may sound.
01:31:53 --> 01:31:58 If you want to live the life you want to live, then you got to get people out
01:31:58 --> 01:32:01 of the way that are trying to restrict it. End of discussion.
01:32:02 --> 01:32:07 You definitely do not want them in levers of power where they can restrict it.
01:32:07 --> 01:32:12 They can talk about you all you want to. They can troll you on social media all you want to.
01:32:12 --> 01:32:16 As long as they don't stop you from doing what you want to do, let them talk.
01:32:17 --> 01:32:24 But if you give them power, Then you got a problem If you give them platforms You got a problem,
01:32:25 --> 01:32:32 So for those people who did not vote And are not happy Vote For the Democrats,
01:32:33 --> 01:32:38 27% is not a goal It's a stain Do better.
01:32:40 --> 01:32:47 If you are invited to be on a national program and you don't know how to comport
01:32:47 --> 01:32:50 yourself in a discussion where millions of people are going to watch,
01:32:51 --> 01:32:52 don't accept the invitation.
01:32:53 --> 01:32:57 Stay at home and learn from people that know what they're doing.
01:32:58 --> 01:33:01 Yeah, you know, they're going to pay you. OK, great. You know,
01:33:02 --> 01:33:03 not all money is good money.
01:33:04 --> 01:33:07 Especially if you don't know what you're talking about. Especially if you don't
01:33:07 --> 01:33:13 know how to act on TV. If you don't know how to sit next to a woman and have
01:33:13 --> 01:33:15 an intellectual discussion, don't go.
01:33:16 --> 01:33:23 And I understand people want ratings, but not all ratings are good ratings.
01:33:25 --> 01:33:29 Stop giving these people platforms. They don't deserve it.
01:33:30 --> 01:33:34 The people that deserve it are the ones that really get ignored.
01:33:34 --> 01:33:39 And one of the reasons why I do what I do is to give people who are really doing
01:33:39 --> 01:33:42 the work in the community, who are really trying to build community up,
01:33:42 --> 01:33:47 who are really looking out for their neighbor, they don't get invited to those shows.
01:33:47 --> 01:33:52 You know, they might have like some kind of special, some around Thanksgiving,
01:33:52 --> 01:33:56 and only five of those folks are going to be recognized out of the thousands
01:33:56 --> 01:33:59 that are doing really, really good work.
01:34:01 --> 01:34:05 So as long as y'all continue to support this podcast, I'm going to keep trying
01:34:05 --> 01:34:07 to elevate the people that deserve a platform.
01:34:08 --> 01:34:12 And I will criticize those folks that shouldn't.
01:34:14 --> 01:35:04 Music.
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