Best Of Full Interview: Alex Rodriguez & John Hope Bryant Talk Money Mindset, Yankees Baseball, Ownership, New Podcast +More

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Best Of Full Interview: Alex Rodriguez & John Hope Bryant Talk Money Mindset, Yankees Baseball, Ownership, New Podcast +More"

Released on January 3, 2025 by iHeartPodcasts' "The Breakfast Club," hosted by DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God, this episode features an insightful conversation with former MLB superstar Alex Rodriguez and renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist John Hope Bryant. The discussion delves deep into financial literacy, wealth-building strategies, sports ownership, and the importance of mindset in achieving financial success.

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1. Introduction of Guests

The episode begins with DJ Envy introducing the special guests:

• John Hope Bryant: Founder of Operation HOPE and a leading advocate for financial literacy and economic empowerment in Black and Brown communities.
• Alex Rodriguez: Former baseball player turned successful entrepreneur and investor with significant ventures in real estate and sports ownership.

Notable Quote:

DJ Envy [00:53]: "You have a lot of money, a lot of intelligence between y'all, too."

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2. Alex Rodriguez’s Financial Journey

Alex Rodriguez shares his upbringing in Washington Heights, highlighting the financial struggles his family faced. He recounts how his father's departure and his mother's hard work instilled in him a strong work ethic and an appetite for both baseball and business.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [04:07]: "One day we're at Publix, which is a supermarket down in Miami. I was about 12 years old...and she goes into another pocket in her purse and grabs what I call funny money...she said, son, the government's helping us out a little bit this month. And it changed my life."

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3. Importance of Financial Literacy

Charlamagne emphasizes that financial literacy is the civil rights issue of the current generation. Both guests agree that understanding money management is crucial for building and sustaining wealth, especially in marginalized communities.

Notable Quote:

Charlamagne Tha God [02:30]: "Financial literacy because it's the civil rights issue of this generation. When you know better, you do better."

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4. Investment Strategies and Real Estate

Alex discusses his early ventures into real estate, starting with a duplex purchased for $250,000. Over two decades, he expanded his portfolio to include multifamily apartments, hotels, and single-family homes, amassing approximately $5 billion in assets.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [24:12]: "We've gone from little mom and pop to mid-cap to institutional level. I have five direct reports in my company, and the good news about them, they're all way smarter than I am."

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5. Personal Experiences: Mistakes and Lessons

Alex candidly talks about financial mistakes made during his 20s and 30s, emphasizing the importance of learning from errors and building a competent team. He shares a personal anecdote about pulling out of a stock market investment during a downturn, which led to significant losses but also taught him valuable lessons about market volatility and strategic decision-making.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [37:04]: "I invested three and a million dollars...I put my money in the account. January 2022, I had lost $500,000 in three months."

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6. Advice for the Community

Both guests stress the necessity of surrounding oneself with knowledgeable mentors and peers. They advocate for proactive financial education from a young age, suggesting initiatives like providing children with bank accounts during kindergarten to foster early financial habits.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [10:34]: "It's the power of proximity to greatness or proximity to intelligence is so powerful in baseball."

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7. Empowerment and Role Modeling

Charlamagne underscores the importance of role models who embody financial success and integrity. He highlights how shows like Shark Tank educate and inspire viewers by blending entertainment with financial education.

Notable Quote:

Charlamagne Tha God [12:11]: "Black and brown wealth... how do black and brown create some green and at scale?"

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8. Sports Ownership and Future Plans

Alex reveals his passion for sports ownership, particularly his involvement with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Nancy Lynx. He discusses the challenges and excitement of transitioning from player to owner, expressing dreams of bringing championship glory back to the Yankees.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [17:43]: "Most people, men and women. So that was a big issue. And then one of the biggest mistakes..."

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9. Discussion on Current Baseball Trends

The conversation shifts to the state of baseball, with Alex expressing optimism about recent changes aimed at speeding up the game and enhancing its appeal. He praises the Yankees and Dodgers as premier franchises with immense global influence.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [19:24]: "Baseball has needed this moment for at least a decade. I'm so tired of people saying baseball's born and old."

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10. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In the closing segments, the guests emphasize that financial success is accessible to everyone through disciplined habits, smart investing, and continuous education. They encourage listeners to take proactive steps towards financial empowerment and to leverage available resources like Operation HOPE for financial coaching and support.

Notable Quote:

Alex Rodriguez [53:58]: "I would tell your son, pause. In that restaurant, who's the best restaurant people in the world?"

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Key Takeaways:

• Financial Literacy is Crucial: Understanding money management is essential for building lasting wealth, especially in communities that have been historically marginalized.
• Proximity to Mentors: Surrounding oneself with knowledgeable and successful individuals can significantly impact one's financial journey.
• Invest Wisely: Diversifying investments, particularly in real estate and stable markets, can offer substantial returns over time.
• Learn from Mistakes: Acknowledging and learning from financial missteps is vital for growth and future success.
• Early Financial Education: Introducing financial concepts to children can set the foundation for a financially secure future.

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This episode of "The Breakfast Club" serves as an empowering guide for listeners, blending personal anecdotes with actionable advice to inspire financial growth and responsible wealth management.

Transcript

[Jason Alexander]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the really Know really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions, like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor. What's in the museum of failure, and does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead, the Really no really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up early in the morning.

[Charlamagne tha God]

The Breakfast Club.

[Jess Hilarious]

Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy Jess. Hilarious Charlemagne, the guy we are the Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave, so Lauren LaRosa is filling in. And we got some special guests joining us back in the building.

[DJ Envy]

Yes, indeed.

[Jess Hilarious]

We got the brother John Hope Brian. He's back. Welcome, Brock.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Honored to be here.

[Jess Hilarious]

And also a Rod. Alex Rodriguez, welcome.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Great to be here.

[DJ Envy]

A lot of money, a lot of intelligence between y'all, too. Okay. How did this happen, this connection?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Well, whenever you try to make smart sexy, you know, it attracts, you know, like. Like attracts like, you know, on mindset, you know, this is. All of us are up from nothing, by the way. All of this story is the same thing. You can go from the bottom to the top, legally, ethically, honestly, pay your taxes, do your stuff, go from. From cashing a check to write in the check. And so Alex story in mine are very similar. Like, we had very strong mothers who are great influences our lives. We're both extremely nosy, you know, Quincy Quincy Jones, how'd you get so smart? I'm just nosy as hell. I want to know everything about everything. So, you know, we're nosy. And when he got his first check, you know, in baseball, he wouldn't ask Magic, like, okay, how do I. How do I turn this from a check to some. To some wealth? And so we start talking to the folks on the. The front row at the team at the games were business people, and he would trade his influence for lunch. I'll go to lunch with you. I just need to ask you a bunch of questions. That's what Magic used to do. I just saw him last week, and it was just brilliant because he gained a business acumen from that, got a base in NBA while he is playing baseball, and use that to then buy some real estate and then buy some more. I think you worked the first piece of real estate Yourself didn't.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, a duplex. Duplex for 250,000.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So we did a financial literacy episode on money and wealth, which, you know something about us on the Black Effect network.

[DJ Envy]

That's right. Make sure you subscribe to that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, it's actually episodes out this week. We did this episode together on financial literacy because we both believe it's the civil rights issue of this generation. When you know better, you do better. And we're talking about black and brown wealth. How you. How do you. How does black and brown create some green and at. At scale? And it's a conversation that many folks don't have. Most athletes go broke, by the way. 70%.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Of all NBA and NFL players bankrupt within five years of retirement and divorced. So this brother, just defying all the odds. He's cool. He's a. He's a humble dude. He wanted to meet you guys. You've been up here before.

[Jess Hilarious]

Ain't Rob been up here before?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, yeah, but he wanted to get into it. He wanted to. He wanted to. Yeah, he wanted to get into it, go to another level. And so it's a. It's a. It's a beautiful family re. Reunion.

[Jess Hilarious]

Well, let's. Let's jump right into it. So, you know, what gave you the mindset to say, I want to learn more about investing and making sure that I have wealth after retirement? Was it the fact that you've seen so many athletes go broke? Was it the fact that you said, I'm never going back to where I was? Or was it. What was it that said I want to be different from 70% of those other athletes?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah. Thank you. I would say I was a kid here, born in Washington Heights, 1975, July 27th. And I grew up right on the block, right by Yeshiva University. And my father was a baseball player and an entrepreneur. And both my parents are Dominican. I'm first generation immigrant. And I had this great appetite for two things, baseball and business, because I. My father was a money guy, and then my father left my mom and my two siblings when he was. When I was 10.

[DJ Envy]

What'd your father do, if you don't mind me?

[Alex Rodriguez]

So he was in our apartment in Washington Heights. We had a shoe store. And it was before iPhones, obviously, it was like late 1970s. And they used to call him, like the human calculator, because obviously we didn't have the phone, the calculator, and all that. So, you know, woman will come up, get four shoes, and he'll be like, boom, boom, boom, plus tax minus. 10%. Boom. And every time he was right because then they would get the calculator out. But he usually had a calculator out. But it wasn't for him. It was for usually the women so they can count and make sure that all the numbers were right. So I always had that. And then once he left, I saw my mother worked at General motors for about 12 years. She would have the early shift at 3:00 in the morning to 2, come home, nap for two hours, and then go serve tables at night to midnight. And I saw this for years and years and years, and I think my life changed. One day we're at Publix, which is a supermarket down in Miami. I was about 12 years old, and the bill is about $75. And I see her grab some of her tip money and she's got like $56 or whatever, and I see that she's missing like 20, 25 bucks. And she goes into another pocket in her purse and grabs what I call funny money. And I said, mom, what is that funny money? It's like red. I've never seen money like that, only Monopoly. And she kind of, with shame in her face, looked down and she goes, son, the government's helping us out a little bit this month. And it changed my life. I mean, I can feel it today. And I know so many families out there have felt this. And that's kind of where my ambitions grew.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Is that what we used to call food stamps?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Food stamps.

[John Hope Bryant]

Remember, they were paper?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah. But I never seen it because it wasn't green. Right. And I think she would hide it from me. We were probably in food stamps for years. She just never, you know, disclosed that with me. And then, like John said, I met with one of my heroes and mentors and great friend now, Magic Johnson, about 30 years ago. And he was going out to dinner with Cookie and it was near LA Rodeo Drive, I think Mastro over something. And it was supposed to be a 30 minute, you know, we were in the back room, supposed to be like a little 30 minute meeting. We met for three hours. He called Cookie and said, I'm not coming home. And years later, I said, magic, why'd you give me like three hours? And I left with nine notes of paper that I still have today. He said, because you're one of the few athletes that came in all business on time.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

No phone. And you were taking notes. So you were engaged. So I engaged with you. So that's my message to the next generation. It's just like the reason why I played baseball for so long is the fundamentals. Whether it's Jordan or Tiger or LeBron or Magic or Bird, whoever is fundamental in sports that makes you great. The same thing as in business. You got to know the rules of engagement. And our young folks, while they're getting better, there's a lot of room for growth to understand the way that money works and the relationship with money and financial literacy.

[DJ Envy]

So from day one, did you blow any money? Like when you first got your first, your first big check, did you blow any of it?

[Alex Rodriguez]

I was fortunate. I played for almost 25 years. So I would say from age 20 to 30, I made a bunch of mistakes. And then what I realized, like sports, when we won the championship with the Yankees in 09, we had a squad and we were as solid as anyone. And in business the same thing. You got to create an incredible team that are way smarter than you. They have complimentary set of skills, but at the end of the day you're the quarterback of that team. So then I put my lessons behind me and it's been pretty good ever since.

[Jess Hilarious]

What was the dumbest thing you bought when you, when you first became and made all that money in major league baseball?

[Alex Rodriguez]

I'm from Miami. So boat a Benz and a Rolex. If you're from Miami, you need a Rolex. That's the goal.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So by the way, me, him and Don Peoples who's been on the show a few weeks ago, the three black men I know, black and brown, same thing. We're all same family who have a couple hundred million dollars in loan facility for real estate on as you know, this non recourse basis which means there's no personal guarantees. That's credibility and that's where we need to go. Like you make money during the day, you build wealth in your sleep and, and too many of us have hooked on that. I want to be that dollar. I get that cash. When get that book. Can we get that bag? It's useless. It's called literally cash flow. Cash will flow. And if your outflow sees your inflow, then your overhead will be your downfall. And if you don't understand financial literacy, somebody's going to separate you from your wallet. There's just more zeros attached to it the first year. Every athlete spends everything they got.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, it's natural if you look at baseball. To answer your first question, I was 18, 19 years old and this article came out called Broke and then I think 30, 30 did a shot, right? And you saw the guys were having a bunch of kids and it was really sad, right, to see. And when you looked at the Data in baseball, three numbers that jumped off the page was one, the average career in baseball is five and a half years. You make 90% of your money from age 20 to 30. So then what happens in 31 to 80? And then the last one is less than 5% of almost 800 players in the big leagues, less than 5% have a college degree.

[Jess Hilarious]

Right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So when you look at those three data points, I would short the stock, meaning that I would bet that most guys would run into financial problems.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Most.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Most people, men and women. So that was a big issue. And then one of the biggest mistakes. John, I know we've talked about this. Whether it's athletes or just people like my mom and my dad that grew up, I would say more like my mom. They don't really understand the difference between an asset and a liability.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So when you say, what was the first stupid thing you bought? I mean, one of them would be a plane, a boat, you know, cars, you know, assets would be multifamily apartments, a business that throws off cash and things that are going to appreciate over time.

[Jess Hilarious]

I was going to ask, jump into what you were saying. You know, growing up in Queensland, there was nobody around me making money. Right. We were all the same. We didn't know anything about financial literacy. Right. My son goes to University of Miami, calls me yesterday, him and his friends about to buy a restaurant, which is crazy to me because at 20 years old, I wasn't thinking about that at all. But it's the mindset and the people that he's around. So for people listening, and they might not have somebody around him that is knowledgeable in business. They might not have somebody around him that knows where to put money or what to invest in or how to do it. What do you tell those individuals coming from, you know, Washington Heights? I'm sure that besides seeing your dad, there wasn't too many people around you that you could get advice from. So what do you tell those people to say? Okay, I'm in this situation. I don't have a magic to speak to. You know what I mean? I don't have a. A rod to say, let me sit down with you. I don't have a. A John. To say. This is what I have and what I do. So what do you tell those individuals?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, first, because I know this one includes. John. It. It's the power of proximity to greatness or proximity to intelligence is so powerful in baseball. I wanted to be around Cal Ripken, Keith Hernandez, Doc Good and Strawberry because they had sets of skills that I needed and I wanted. And great athletes can copy and paste better than anyone in baseball. Skills in baseball. Now you go over, now it's business. And it's the same exact drill. I want to be around John Hope because every time I'm around him, I get better. He inspires me. He gives me more hope. He gives me, no pun intended, he gives my self esteem rises. Our community, black and brown, the number one issue is self esteem issue. And they don't want to engage. They don't want to engage in a business conversation because they don't want to be embarrassed. We're some of the most prideful people in the world, but we pay our rent on time. We're hardworking people. We have tremendous heart and grit, but we don't want to be embarrassed. That's why Shark Tank works so well. You get an education while getting entertainment. And America gets an MBA from Shark Tank. That's why people say, when I walk around, oh, there's the Shark Tank guy.

[Jess Hilarious]

I love Shark Tank.

[Alex Rodriguez]

That's what I'm getting.

[Jess Hilarious]

Watching Shark Tank is amazing, right? They learn so early.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So. So your job as an American citizen, as a youngster, right? Man, boy, whatever you are, is to be around proximity of greatness. So if you find a great mentor from age 20 to 30, forget about the money. 20 to 30, go work for John. Go do an internship at a Rod corp. Go work for Magic. Paid nothing. Pay whatever you got, get a roommate. But 20 to 30 is your extended education. And then once you get into the 30s, you open up that, that black book, how we say your relationships, right? Because when you're 85, right, you look back, your net worth is going to resemble your network.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Amen.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Right? So start. I had a mentor say, if you don't have a breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day to talk about money, you're falling behind because your competition is doing it. That's right.

[DJ Envy]

And another thing too. You said when you said you sat with Magic and you was just there with notes for three hours, don't be too afraid. Don't be too proud to ask questions.

[Jess Hilarious]

Ask questions.

[DJ Envy]

If I'm around somebody that's doing more than me and got way more than me, I want to know about everything that, that person.

[Alex Rodriguez]

But you know what happened with Magic? It was. I still have his notes and I saw him last week at the Dodger game and he, I mean he's, he's such a goat. I love that guy so much, and he's done so much for our communities, but it was the proximity. I can touch him. I can touch him. But here's a man who was great on the court and then put on a business suit and was a hall of famer also. And I said, well, wait a minute. If magic can do it, why can I? We look alike. And I can't do that just with a general white guy, because I don't look like that guy.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So to answer your question, very specifically, Great answer. I loved all that, by the way. My job is to become the public's capitalist. That's my job. You know, black lives matter, but black capitalists matter, right? We got to make smart, sexy. We got to make this. That's what you guys are doing. By the way, ladies, guys are doing on this show, you're making intelligent thought, interesting and fascinating by putting it where people can. Can relate to it. And this book, financial literacy that I introduced when you introduced when I was on the show last, it's still number one. That's black and brown people buying that book. It's number one in business finance, not black history. Business finance, nationwide of all books. That makes me very proud. When I go to the airport, like last night, TSA Agent 670.

[DJ Envy]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Credit score. Yo, yo, man. 670, 800. I mean, the people taking this stuff seriously, we're starting to change the game. So, one, get the book, mark it up. Write, make comments. Have a family meeting once a week with your family, talk about. I joke about this, but I'm serious. You go to club and you meet somebody, she's fine. He's handsome. That's cool. Oh, yeah. What's your credit score?

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And I'm only partially kidding. Because if you get serious about that person, that's your business partner for life. That's right. The looks are gonna fade, the body's gonna drop, Right? But that person better have common sense. If two plus two does not equal six, eight, or ten in a relationship, what the heck are you doing? If you're not better together, what are you doing? I could do better all by myself. Dr. King once said. He said, I refuse to finance my own oppression. And Quincy Jones quote, again, the only thing worse than being alone is wishing that you were so. If you're not in a relationship with somebody who adds to you, even if it's a casual relationship, what are you doing? Get the toxicity out of your life. If you hang around nine broke people, you'll be the 10th. Understand you're an eagle surrounded by buzzards and turkeys. Eagles don't fly in packs. So start looking at your posse, your group, and then be really nosy. When you walk down the street in Manhattan, all these buildings, those are not. That's not JP Morgan Chase. That's a dentist's office. That's an attorney's office. That's an accountant's office. You can get to those people. Go, I know it sounds crazy. Go knock on the door. I'd love to be an intern. I love 15 minutes. Who's gonna give you. Who's gonna deny you 15 minutes? And all you wanna do is listen. God gave you two ears and one mouth. You listen twice as much as you talk. I'm nosy as hell. I don't wanna know everything about everything. You know. You know, my man Charlemagne, he's nosy. I call him, ask him about stuff, he'll call me. Okay, tell me about this so and so. You know, we're not afraid of the facts. We're not afraid of knowledge, Right? You know, he's talking. He's mainstreaming mental health right now. That's a topic we all need to be talking about, right? So by. By. By a rod, making this. Talking about his family, talking about everything didn't go well. Talking, Being humble, having a humility about it. Well, that it allows everybody else to have permission to. To begin to role model that, right? So we need to. We model what we see. We need to start role modeling folks who are. Have the capacity to write a check, not just cash it. Who build wealth, not just make some money making a living. That's literally making a living is what is. That's all you're doing. You're not building a life. So this stuff is so easy. But no one's ever taught us there's nothing wrong with us.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

We're not dumb and we're not stupid. When the rules are published and the playing field is level, we kill it. Professional sports, the arts, politics, music, music, entertainment, music, business, now, church. Well, we're starting with business. But where the rules are published and plain to his level, we kill it. We have not been told the rules on free enterprise and capitalism. That has to become all of our roles. And when you write that, you get this book, if you finish with it, go donate it under your family's name to the local library. Go to a Title 1 school. Your name's in the book now. And you donate it to that, and you go and teach in that classroom. And now you're the role model and the hero. In Shero, we can start a whole new movement. Not in the streets, in the suites.

[Alex Rodriguez]

My favorite question, to your point, is about asking questions. I'll stop a meeting and I'll say, wait, wait, stop. Explain that to me slowly, like I'm a third grader.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

And you should not be embarrassed to ask that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

You should be embarrassed if you don't ask that. And if a business plan I can't really understand in five minutes, then I'm out. I want simplicity. Simplicity is your best friend.

[DJ Envy]

And what's crazy is the person you talking to, they know you don't know. So why sit there and act like. Just ask the question. Like, what that mean? Like what? Why not?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Who got you into the franchise game?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Which one?

[DJ Envy]

Well, the rumor now is that, you know, y'all got the cash ready to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Oh, yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Full ownership.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So this, by the way, there's some things that he can't talk about today because the legal situation, he'll. He'll answer the question. He can answer. By the way, I loved, by the way, there was like, which franchise he owns so much.

[John Hope Bryant]

That was a flex.

[Alex Rodriguez]

I heard that.

[John Hope Bryant]

I caught that.

[DJ Envy]

I should have said sports.

[Charlamagne tha God]

He's like, which one? But there's some things he won't be able to talk about today.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Just high level. I mean, just kind of my passion for sports. I think if you talk to most athletes and you do a Secret poll, probably 90% or more will tell you, I would love to own part of a team someday who doesn't want to convert from player to owner. Right? That's the American way. We took a long run at the Mets, and we came in second to Steve Cohen. Thank God, because he's doing a phenomenal job. And we're having a great time with the Tim Bulls and the Lynx. Lynx almost won a championship a couple of days ago. Came up a little short, but very proud of our. Of our young women. Look, this is the ultimate dream. To be in room with Adam Silver and, you know, 30 other owners. It's pretty spectacular. And I look at that and talk about imposter syndrome. You're seeing Mark Cuban, you've seen Jim Dolan, you're seeing Tony Ressler, you're seeing guys like Marc Lazerie, people that I've looked up and admired and studied my whole career, kind of adult life. And now you're in the room with them as colleagues. It's really an incredible feat. And yeah, I've been dreaming about it probably for a long time and finally made the move.

[Jess Hilarious]

I just got to ask a sport question. Since we own sports. How about them damn Yankees?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Oh, man.

[Jess Hilarious]

How does it feel to see what has taken so long to get back to and what do you think about the Yankees now? It seems like Yankee, not Yankees. The baseball is more exciting now. I'm watching the games more. The games are a lot faster. It's fast pacing. So what is your, your thoughts on baseball now?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, I'm so excited. This is. I can go on and on about this, but I'll keep it tight. I would say that baseball has needed this moment for at least a decade. I'm so tired of people saying baseball's born and old. And look, we went through a little bit of stuff.

[Jess Hilarious]

It was, it was boring for a little bit. Got boring.

[Alex Rodriguez]

But give commissioner Rob Manford and Tony Clark the head of the union of the players and they came up with the clock, right? And made it a lot better pace, made the bigger bases. Now they look like Domino's Pizza, right? Base. And it's a game that's driven by markets and superstars in tradition and history. And this World Series here has it all. This is two franchises that have the two richest franchises in revenue and star power. Global Yankee may be the number one franchise in the world. Dodgers may be top five. And I'm talking about all of sports. Football, soccer, you name it.

[DJ Envy]

Cowboys, number one, baby.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, yeah. Number one Cowboy fan. The Yankees are in that top five, right? And when you look at the Yankees conglomerate is well worth over 10 billion. When you look at the Dodgers, well worth over 10 billion. Okay, I would say there's Ohtani and judgers two biggest stars as you can have. You're going to have probably 15 million people watching Japan, another 15 or 20 watching here. The fan bases. Very interestingly is interesting when you go to Dodger Stadium, there's three type of fan bases. You have the corporate financial institutions in Hollywood, you have the Mexicans that, you know Fernando Vale who died, he was a big pioneer in that movement. And then the other third is now Japanese. And they're printing money like it's no one's business because Ohtani and obviously the success they've had with Mark Walters, Todd Bowley, they have an incredible ownership, just.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Traded his ball for four and a half million dollars.

[Alex Rodriguez]

But they've had one championship in 37 years. The Yankees have one championship in 24 years. So both franchises are going to be Starving. Tickets, I told Sean today, are going for $40,000 behind home plate. One ticket.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's crazy.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So if you want two, that's 80 grand. 80 grand a beer is probably 4,000. So it's going to be the most watched World Series since the Cubs.

[Charlamagne tha God]

And you won, right?

[Alex Rodriguez]

The last one was 09, so we haven't been there in 15 years. So bring the glory days back to the Bronx. Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

Is Ohtani the best baseball player ever? Let me say why I have never seen in my life that I watch baseball. A pitcher as a designated hitter to hit that many home runs, to steal that many bases, and a manager allowing the pitcher to do it. Because usually you're scared, because you don't want the pitcher to get hit by a pitch. You don't want him to hurt his arm while he's sliding. You don't want him to hurt his leg while he's running. But he does it all, and he's amazing doing it.

[Alex Rodriguez]

You know what's amazing? He's also 6 foot 5 and is the fastest guy on the field, and he also goes 100 miles an hour. But I would say this. He's. I don't know if he's the best because it's too early. I mean, Barry Bonds was the baddest son of a bitch I've ever seen on a field. I mean, he is one bad sucker. Right. And the uniqueness about Ohtani is he's Barry Bonds married with Roger Clements, and he's one. So is he the best hitter? I would still put Barry Bonds probably a bit ahead of him. Is he a better pitcher? I would still put Clement on top of him, but combined is only a class of two. Ohtani and Babe Ruth. Jesus.

[John Hope Bryant]

My question, I don't. I don't know much about the players. It's not about the players. My question is about. It's back to the family stuff you were talking about. My first thought was, so that moment with your mom changed your, like, thoughts on money and building money and family. How do you keep. Now you got all these franchises and all this stuff. How do you keep. Like, you take care of a lot of people, but how do you set your boundaries where it's like, no, because you got to keep the money to make the money. But you also grew up watching so many people not have, like, what's that battle like for you?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah.

[Jess Hilarious]

And you from uptown. So everybody was calling you.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, it's a great question. So in our company, look, we started with one little duplex about 20 plus years ago. And then we bought a fourplex and an Apex. And over the last 20 years, we bought about $5 billion of multifamily apartments, hotels, single family houses. So we've gone from little mom and pop to mid cap to institutional level. I have five direct reports in my company, and the good news about them, they're all way smarter than I am. So we vet things and we talk about what are the things that are important to us. We only play in places where we bring more than capital. Right. As an example, baseball would be a place that we bring more than capital because we have a certain expertise there. Basketball is just another, you know, sports. Right. So we were good there. But the circle of competence is very small. And if it doesn't hit that bullseye, we're not looking at it. Because the number one thing you have to have in business is discipline. Understand who you are and what you do and do it over and over and over and over again until you're bored with it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I think she was talking about family.

[John Hope Bryant]

Yeah, I'm talking about personally, like with grandma or, you know, from family to date. Like, you're, you're. You're also the celebrity. Right? Right. And people, their family, your booze, they don't understand what you're saying. The discipline. They just see what they need and they call you. How do you be like, no, I can't do that. That makes no sense.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Got it. Got it.

[John Hope Bryant]

For my discipline.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So first of all, I'm almost 50 now, so I've had a lot of learning experience. I would say when I was in my 20s and 30s, I was a lot more challenging. Right. But now when you're running businesses, you can give people opportunities where they can win. So as an example, my sister does on my personal real estate. So if I'm buying a house for, you know, a dollar, she's making, you know, 3% on that or 6% on that, and my brother does.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But they got to be competent now.

[Alex Rodriguez]

They know it's not a giveaway. No, no. They know my. I don't play that game. You got to be by the book. There's no nepotism. I'm a very tough boss. I would say that. But here are the rules. Rules of engagement. If you play by them, you're going to get first bid. And if you perform, I'm going to come back to you over and over again. If you don't perform, I have no problem quickly pivoting quickly. And it's not personal, it's business.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Now when my mom calls, I surrender.

[DJ Envy]

Mom can get whatever. But was there ever a time where you had to explain to people the business meaning, like they just reported Alex Rodriguez gets $100 million contract and somebody comes to you and asks you for something like, bro, I got to pay taxes. I got to pay managers. Do you have to explain that?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Now, thank God for me, I guess is I don't have a huge family. It's really. We're a family of five, right? My mom, cousin and my. The three of us, we're all the siblings. So we keep it tight. And they've grown with me and they do great work and they work hard. And I'm really blessed to have people that really understand money and they have great work ethic. Comes from my mom. And on that aspect, I've been pretty fortunate.

[DJ Envy]

Can you expound on something, John, that a Rod said? He said bringing to the situation more than capital. He want to be with situations. You want to be involved in situations where you bring more than capital.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah, well, most. I mean the word capital comes from the word. The Latin root word capitas, knowledge in the head. The word credit comes from the latter word. Credit though, which is credibility has nothing to do with money. Banking actually is a trust business. It's nothing to do. It's about do I trust you? Do I. Do you have credibility? And do you have the knowledge? Do you have the understanding relationship? Capital is really the real capital. I mean, what's a country club? Why do you go to Harvard? Is Harvard going to make you smarter than the state university? Maybe, maybe not. The class of 2024 is going to hook each other up for the next 40 years. So that's why you go to a country club. That's why you go to a private club. That's why, that's why any, any hook any small group is that's why you go to college other than the education. Is that, that so you got to figure out what your capital is. You got to figure out who your circle is. That's why I said earlier, if you hang around nine broke people, you're gonna be the 10th. So you've gotta, you know, you look at who a Rod's hanging around. He didn't mention a bunch of people he mentioned. We both mentioned, we both saw him last week. Magic. Magic's wearing a business suit these days. Anybody in sports or entertainment now, which is a canvas, everybody who comes through here, anybody in sports and entertainment with a B in front of them. Billion did it in business.

[DJ Envy]

That's Right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

They translate, you can't sell enough. You cannot sell enough concert tickets. You cannot get enough, a big enough contract to become a billionaire. That's not the way income works. You got to translate that into business. Every, literally every athlete and every entertainer. Jay Z business.

[Jess Hilarious]

Michael Jordan.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Michael Jordan business. Dr. Dre beats beat business. My man has got a billion dollar portfolio. That's why he can just be so cool and just, you know, understate. You don't need to scream and holler. When you have the power, you don't need to use it, right? So it is about getting your mind right. All poverty, Charlemagne. Beyond sustenance. Poverty, roof over your head, food on the table, reasonable healthcare. All other poverty is mindset. That's why I say there's a difference between being broke and being poor. Being broke is economic, but being poor is a disabling frame of mind, a depressed condition of your spirit. You must vow never to be poor again. We need the first thing you gotta do is get your mind right and then the money will follow.

[Jess Hilarious]

Now, for parents listening, now when is a good time to start getting their kids involved in financial literacy?

[Charlamagne tha God]

When you start breathing. So when you start spending money, I mean, you're spending money 24 hours a day. When you sleep, you're spending money. The bed sheds. The government didn't buy the bed sheets. The government didn't buy the alarm clock. You did that. The government's not paying for your light bill, right? So check this out. We have a kids account in Atlanta public schools, Operation Hope. By the way, everybody can go get financial coaching scholarship from the Breakfast Club call. Operation Hope will give you $1,000 free scholarship just because you mentioned Breakfast Club to get coaching and counseling, get your credit score right? So we have, with Mayor Andre Dickens in Atlanta, we have a kids account in kindergarten. 50 bucks in the kids account. Now you may say, what's the big deal of that? If you have a bank account at kindergarten, you're 50% more likely to go to college. Hold on a minute. Watch. Check this out. JMB. If you have $50 in that account in kindergarten, you're 75% more likely to graduate from college. Because now you're connecting education with aspiration. The kid, the lights on the kid's head. Now you're talking about stocks and bonds and investment. And I mean, don't create an investment account. Don't get a rod of me or you, you know, to come. You know, don't DJ envy. Go in and talk about cars. You know, talk about. Because really, it's technology these days, right? Talk about it. But through that, it's investment. Now. Now the now. These kids, you hooked them, right? So it's about role modeling. It's about the language of money at the earliest age. Because this is the aspiration generation. We. We can literally build the next generation of America. We have to, by the way, because we're going to be a majority of minorities, literally. If we don't do that, this country is done. But we can do that at kindergarten with a $50 Hope Savings Agreement.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Let me add to John's answer, and I agree with everything he said. I'll give you a real life example. So I remember I have two daughters, Natasha and Ella. Natasha is a sophomore at Michigan today. Ella's a junior in high school. I remember when they were in kindergarten and second grade. And I said, all right, girls, here's the deal. Every day, Pops drives you to school. I'm gonna give you three business lessons. And on Friday, be ready to pick your five companies for a portfolio. I'm gonna put $1,000 in each one of your accounts. And they were confused. And I said, well, you're overthinking it. Give me five products that you use every day. I use my phone, Apple. Are you on Instagram? Not yet, but I know what that is. Okay. Meta, Social media, Google. Cause I Google things. They wanted to get cvs. Cause that's where mom takes them. And one more, maybe Disney. And I put $1,000 every year. So it's not really about big numbers. Is really about the practice of the habit of honing your craft. You look to today, both their accounts got over 150,000. Right? And they've outdone the performance of some of the smartest hedge fund people in the world because they kind of didn't overthink it. They thought really fundamentally about what they used. But they now, by the way, by the time they were freshmen in high school, they're like, dad, no more business. And we're done. We're sick. But now I hear them as, you know, many adults, and they're repeating my language that they learned in first grade, second grade, third grade. Although they were fighting it, they were absorbing it.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Jess Hilarious]

You know, the biggest thing my. I'm sorry, the biggest thing that my son, who's nine, the thing that I love is my son watches Shark Tank. So he's nine. So he doesn't know you for baseball. He knows you from Shark Tank.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh, that's deep.

[Jess Hilarious]

And then, like, I was talking on the phone, we Was talking to business to somebody, and he started asking me questions that I know that he got from someplace else. I said this the other day. He was asking me, so, dad, how much equity do you get in that deal? I'm like, where the you getting that from?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Whoa.

[Jess Hilarious]

And then he was like, well, what about? He was like, well. I said, well, where did you hear about equity? And he's telling me Shark Tank. And he was like, yeah, I want to know what royalty fees are and this, that, and the other. And at 9, I was like, I just want to play baseball. But, you know, it was just. It was great that they have these type of shows on there. And I know you gotta go. I know you had a question.

[John Hope Bryant]

Yeah, I do have a question. So y'all are talking about your families and your kids, and these two always talk about how when they locked into their marriages, everything, like, flourished for them. You talk about your baby girls a lot. Last time you were here, you were talking engagement with JLo. I know you're right. Now, dating Jacqueline is engagement. Marriage. Is that a conversation for you right now? Like, how does that. Where does that fit in all this business and the portfolios?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Well, I'm very lucky to have an incredible person in my life. Jack's Canadian. She's right outside of Detroit, which is very beneficial because my daughter goes to school in Michigan, So I get two for the price of one. So I'm already cutting a good deal. So she's 20 minutes from Detroit. She's a former nurse. She's transitioned her nursing to an incredible business called Jack Fit, where she helps out thousands of women online, get a better life. I personally lost 30 pounds because of her. I haven't really thought about that. This is really the best place I've been in my life. I'm very fortunate, grateful to be where I am. I'm helping out tons of people involved, like you said, with the Timbals and the Lynx and doing my Fox deal with the Yankees and the Dodgers. And I'm open to anything. But right now, I'll let you know if there's some big announcement coming. Maybe I'll come back.

[DJ Envy]

I would think it would be difficult for you to trust anybody in a real. You know what I mean? Like, romantically, just because you are a rod. So the celebrity, but then the money, like, it's hard.

[Alex Rodriguez]

It's hard for sure. But, you know, you take your time. You try to surround yourself with people that are better than you, and. But there's no question it's difficult.

[DJ Envy]

Now that man is married John O'Brien.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Oh yeah, Shades room. And you know, I've known her for 25 years. We've been married for six. She has no agenda. She just loves me like. And you can feel it, right? And it's hard to trust people because, you know, you're not a person to them. You're. You're just an opportunity. You're a cash register. And I've had people try to take me down because they didn't get what they wanted.

[Jess Hilarious]

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[Charlamagne tha God]

Available Features Compatible device service and consumer activation of Nissan Connect Services package Required use only when safe and legal. Subject to third party service availability. For more information, see nissanusa.com connect legal Apple CarPlay is a trademark of Apple Inc. Intelligent all wheel drive cannot prevent collisions or provide enhanced traction in all conditions. Always monitor traffic and weather conditions. NowTaxes is 100% free when you file in the TurboTax app. If you didn't file with us last year. Oh yeah, yeah. Just do your own taxes in the app by 2.

[Alex Rodriguez]

18.

[DJ Envy]

What if I have lots of forms?

[Charlamagne tha God]

All good. All 100% free.

[John Hope Bryant]

What if I had three jobs?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Still 100% free.

[John Hope Bryant]

What if I once saw big that.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Has nothing to do with taxes. So still 100% free. That's what I'm talking about. Now this is taxes. See if you qualify in the TurboTax app excludes TurboTax Live. Must start and file an app by 2. 18.

[Jason Alexander]

I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the really Know really podcast. Our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions. Like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell? Signal the astronauts who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us.

[Charlamagne tha God]

How are you?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Hello.

[Jason Alexander]

My friend Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. WAYNE Knight, welcome to really?

[Charlamagne tha God]

Not really, sir. Bless you all.

[Jason Alexander]

Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Really?

[Alex Rodriguez]

That's the opening. Really?

[Charlamagne tha God]

No. Really?

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yeah, really?

[Charlamagne tha God]

No, really.

[Jason Alexander]

Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win 500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign Jason Bobblehead.

[Alex Rodriguez]

It's called really? No, really.

[Jason Alexander]

And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charlamagne tha God]

But, you know, if you have the right relationship, as I said earlier, two plus two equals six, eight, or ten. It really does enhance your life and root you and ground you and they love you no matter what. Ups and downs, by the way. And so that. But that goes back, Charlamagne, to what you said about your circle. You know, as your world gets bigger, your circle should get smaller. That's right. As your world gets bigger, your circle should get smaller. I would love to talk about very quickly a mistake that I made because people heard about all these wins and we're doing this and doing that. We don't, you know, they can't necessarily relate to that. You know, I made a mistake since I saw you last. But you didn't in business. I sold a company. So technically it wasn't before I saw you because I saw the Promise Homes company two years ago. But I just realized I made a mistake in the last month. So I invest just real talk. I've never said this before, but I invested three and a million dollars in an investment account I put in the market. And I tell people, let it sit there. And I messed up. I didn't take my own advice. The market went crazy. 1-20-22. Interest rates are going up 20 by. By March and April, interest rates were still going up. Stocks were taking a beating. I just put my money in the account. January 2022, I had lost $500,000 in three months. So what did I do?

[Jess Hilarious]

Pulled it out.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I pulled it out and put it in treasury bills. So I said, take me to cash. I took it all and put it in treasury bills and just let it sit there. And so what happened? I asked my broker Broker Rockefeller Capital Management is a family office. I asked him two weeks ago. So I'm just curious, what would have happened if I had left it in. Well, you would have lost another $200,000. So I'd have been down $700,000, which is, you know, hold on to your butt cheeks. Right. But if you. But, but DJ Envy, if you had kept it in, just let it sit there. This is the magic of markets. If you. This is. This, this hurts.

[John Hope Bryant]

Don't repeat this.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Don't.

[DJ Envy]

Listen, John, you gotta stop that edit is gonna be crazy. Cause he said, hold on to your butt cheeks. DJ Envy, you just let it in.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You just let.

[Jess Hilarious]

Then you say it hurts.

[DJ Envy]

Thank you, John.

[John Hope Bryant]

I had your back. I. I say don't, repeat.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Don't.

[John Hope Bryant]

Don't repeat that.

[Jess Hilarious]

We're like children. I'm sorry. We're children.

[Alex Rodriguez]

We're children.

[DJ Envy]

There's got to be another way to say it.

[Jess Hilarious]

We understand what you said.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Go ahead.

[Charlamagne tha God]

If you just. Charlemagne.

[John Hope Bryant]

Oh, no. They gonna know. He.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You out of this completely.

[Alex Rodriguez]

I'm out.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So. So this really hurt because the guy told me if I had just done nothing, just let it sit there, let the markets do its thing, that I'd have made the $700,000 back and another $700,000 on top of it. Wow.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Wow.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'd have doubled my money over the losses if I did nothing. This is the magic.

[John Hope Bryant]

Why did you do that? You got it to just let it sit.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So if I had had. So, by the way, you lose it all. I don't beat myself up about this decision, because if I had had money in the market in that account, it had made some profits, so it wasn't house money.

[John Hope Bryant]

Right. Okay.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I would have left it in there. Because if I lost my profits, and that's fine. This was. This was core capital. My goal for this core capital was just to let it sit. And it was. The goal of this money was to be safe. So somebody might be thinking about a 401k plan they've got at their employer, or they got $1,000 in that savings account. They don't want anybody to touch that. Right. So think about that in that example. So this was for me, that. So I didn't need to make any money. I just didn't want to lose any on that particular investment. If I had made something, I would have left it there. So in hindsight, statistically, I made a mistake. But from a. From a. My what my priority was, which was safety and security, not return. I'm completely cool with It, I'm just, I'm just saying that as an investor, I tell people put it in the market. What I say about homes, buy it and don't sell it. Right. It'll just go up in value. I'm just giving, I'm telling you. Here's a guy who is pretty good at the investment in business game and here's an example where recently made a mistake, I made a mistake and pay for it. And the magic of markets, you make money during the day, you build wealth in your sleeve.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's right.

[John Hope Bryant]

I was gonna ask why would you put safe money on the market like that? Because they also tell you too if it's something that you want to keep safe and to not let like you don't want to lose it, you don't play with it.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Like this is a great conversation. And, and right. If you have an example or please weigh in. There's three things have never gone down in American history. I'm so glad you asked. This gdp, gross domestic product of this country, the income, real estate values and stock market value, it goes up. There's a recession. All recession means it recedes. It recedes and if you stick with it, it corrects above the line. What people who are financially illiterate do, they get freaked out and they ah. And they sell it. Right. I had a townhouse in LA. I bought it for 220,000, went down 100 some odd thousand dollars in 2008. You know my, all my friends were telling me sale, get rid of it. They're broke. So I didn't listen to them. I kept it. It said 7122 Latte Hare. Somebody listening to this know exactly what I'm talking about. Latte here in airport. I kept it. It was 1500 square feet.

[John Hope Bryant]

Oh yeah, I know what I said.

[Charlamagne tha God]

You know what I said? I rented out to a police officer who didn't pay rent on time. But, but I, but he paid. Ultimately he paid me. I paid the property taxes. I forgot about it. Five years later I'm trying to buy a property for $750,000. I'm like where can I get 750 from? I call my, my, my broker, black real estate broker in la. I want you to sell this condo for me. Mind you, I bought it for 220. It was, last time I checked it was 150, 180. What can I get for that 750. All I did was let it sit there and it just went up in value. So I did a 1031 tax free exchange. Took the home in, in, in on Latte Harris sold it for 750, bought the other property for free with no tax impact. So you just don't go wrong investing in the biggest economy, the sole superpower in the world. The flight equality people in China talking mess about us. They're investing here. Folks in Russia talking, messing about us. They're investing here. Iran, all these places talking mess about us in front of the camera. All of these folks, including Putin, investing in America. So we have this great thing in front of us called the sole superpower in the world and the biggest economy. And most of us are not taking advantage of it. So I love the stock market. Everything that you love is publicly traded.

[Jess Hilarious]

I noticed.

[DJ Envy]

I got two more questions.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Alex is not publicly traded yet, but maybe we can take you public.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Well, you know, what I was going to say is like, you know, Lauren, to answer your question is money's not emotional.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's it.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Money doesn't care who owns it or who, who, what pockets in the emotional ones are the humans. And what John Hope is talking about is something that 90% of Americans do is they panic when things go down. But when you see guys like Tony Wrestler, Warren Buffett or the greatest investor.

[Charlamagne tha God]

In the world, Tony's a friend of ours, a billionaire Tony wrestler.

[Alex Rodriguez]

I don't love Tony when, when John is selling that situation one. But Warren Buffett is buying and he's buying a lot of it. So if you can remove your emotions from investing, which is really hard to do and counterintuitive, it, money doesn't care about you. As long as you know that and you're playing the long game and know that along the long way, you're going to have some hiccups. How to emotionally, you're going to be prepared to do that and not overreact. Right. But when things go down, do you have, you know, the guts to kind of go in and making sure you understand the business and what you're doing right. I would suggest do this with a professional. But thinking about a philosophy, big picture before it happens is being prepared is like in baseball, I'm thinking if this ball gets hit to me, I'm going to throw it to Jeter or throw it to CC or whatever. Same thing with markets. If I have, you know, four or four million dollars or 400,000 or 4,000 and the market goes to 3,000, what am I going to do? Am I going to. You got to know that before it happens and anticipate and have a little bit more of a proactive approach.

[Charlamagne tha God]

By the way, on that example, to what again, he's 100% right? He's like double down on a good investment. At the same time I pulled out of that investment with the cash. I bought some real estate in another country, Turks and Caicos. I bought it for 2 million in the same time period it was, it's now worth 3.6 million. So I lost a little bit here on return, but I gained over here almost doubling my money on real estate, secured real estate. And so I achieved my objective. Just not in the way that, yeah, in different ways.

[Jess Hilarious]

I was going to ask for somebody listening, maybe possibly thinking about buying their first property, their first investment property or even their first house, or even thinking about refinancing the home that they have. What do you say to them? Do they wait until after the election? Because a lot of people are saying wait till after the election, this, that and the other. What do you say to somebody that's trying to buy a home right now? Interest rates shot up since COVID I'm sure we're never going to get to 2.9% ever again in life. So what do you say to those individuals listening right now that thinking about buying their first investment property, their first home or even refinancing at home?

[Charlamagne tha God]

I have a strong opinion, but go ahead, you go first.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Well, I would say, look, I have a different outlook when it comes to houses. I don't think houses is necessarily an investment. Is an investment to your lifestyle is an investment and for a lot of Americans it is your biggest investment. Right. Because is the biggest asset you own. And you got usually a 70, 75% mortgage or whatever it is. But I would say buy a home that you can afford. Buy a home, lock in your rates. So I like locking in for five or seven years. So I know ex renting the house. I know exactly where my, where my nuts going to be every month. Right. That's really important. And I would say buy a house that you're going to be happy in, they're going to be able to raise your kids, they're going to be safe and locking your interest rates and understand that you have to be able to afford these payments no matter what happens. Right. And give yourself a margin of error. Right. A safety net. But I do think that interest rates could lower. But I'm not into timing markets when it comes to my personal houses. But I defer to John.

[Jess Hilarious]

But to say that I would always say to people that are looking for their first property if they necessarily don't know enough, scared I always would say get a multi unit, right? Because that way they can rent out other units and make sure that they can pay their bills until they're more successful, take the equity out and get their own property. That's why I would say multi unit. What's your thoughts on that?

[Charlamagne tha God]

So the key. The key with what Alex just said was he said houses. Okay? So this is a whole other situation. That's why he's not all in houses as an investment. He's got houses, plural. That's a different tax bracket. Correct. The average person listening to this, please listen to me. As fast as you can buy a home, the number one way you build wealth in America is home ownership. The average African American, we have 41, 42, 43% of us own a home, compared to 75% of our white counterparts. That 30% Delta. That difference is massive home ownership. And prices are not going down. When I started buying those 700 homes from the Promise Homes company, by the way, Tony Resser was one of my partners and Michael Araghetti, who we've been talking about a couple here a couple times here. Good guys. I ran it up to $150 million of. Of assets under management. That particular portfolio I bought for 88,000. I sold them at 350,000. No one moved the house. There was no genius to it. It's a magic of compounding. And if you. And so if these. They're not growing any more land a lot. Most of places where we live are inner cities. What's an inner city? In France it's called Paris. What's an inner city? In Britain it's called the uk. Like, we have centrally located real estate and we're walking away from it to rent to some from somebody we don't know, to spend money we don't have to impress people we don't know. To talk about stuff that don't matter. Like knock it off by the worst house and the best block in the hood. D A hyphen H O D the hood adjacent. Buy it near transportation, economy, economic activity, activity in a vibrant environment. Buy it, rehab it, live in it, use equity in a couple of years later and buy. I know you know what I'm talking about here. DJ envy. Buy the second home three years later. You do that three times over five to six years is my mother's story. Worked in an hourly job. You're a millionaire and you can get the down payment through the earning income tax Credit. Right? You can go to Operation Hope that we can help you get qualified for EITC. If you're making $38,000 and have three children, the government owes you about $7,000 cash. So you just gave everybody listening to this, who makes $38,000 a check, and it's retroactive for three years. If you've never filed, that's almost $20,000. There's your down payment right there. Right? So we can get your credit score up, get your debt down, get your savings up, get into that house because it costs just as much to rent as it does to pay a mortgage payment. You're right. Interest rates at 2% are not coming back. That's fine. 4%, 5% is just fine. That's still very, very low. But prices are not coming down, people. Oh, I'm gonna wait. No, no, no, don't wait. It's gonna get worse. It's gonna get more expensive. Buy right now.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Why would I just add one thing to that? Because I think when it comes to finances, especially in our communities, people get foggy. And the listeners, they're so smart that they don't even believe, they don't even understand how smart they are. Problem is, America has kind of confused them with all these acronyms and, you know, ROI and all these, like, fancy terms, you know, and what they have to understand is their gut and their instincts is. Is the best asset they have, the best asset class is talent number one. But I'm going to do something here. What's your favorite basketball player of all time? Me? Yeah. Just name one. LeBron. LeBron.

[Jess Hilarious]

MJ Allen Iverson.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Okay, perfect. All right, so in this case, if we were to say, all right, we're going to go to the park and play 2 on 2 basketball, pick your partner, and you're gonna win a million dollars. Okay, you pick LeBron, you pick MJ, you pick Iverson. You guys are all solid. Okay, now we say the same drill, and we say, okay, now you won the million dollars. Okay, who are you gonna give it to? Oh, I grew up with a guy in high school, and I'm gonna give it to him. And I don't understand how in one case, you're so intelligent by picking your partner. But when it comes to controlling your personal finances, which is the single most important decision you make besides your wife or your partner, right? Is you go pick some high school guy that you know or some one that is basically a guy that didn't make it in Wall street or didn't make it in Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan. So taking the same approach as going to play basketball and picking the best of the best. Go find the very, very best. And it's okay if you pay him a little bit more. But you can't go wrong when you pick the very best. And I find too many times people don't pick the LeBron James, Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson to handle their money or to partner with. I would tell your son, son, pause. In that restaurant, who's the best restaurant people in the world? I have a great platform. I'm your dad. Let's go see if we can put 5,000, because they're putting in 5 million and put a shoulder to shoulder and don't cover me fees. Just let me. And if that 5,000 becomes 15,000, then I can run it back and run it back. So the competitive advantage we all have to identify is in with complete self awareness is what is my weakness, my blind spots, and what are my assets? Well, for all three of you, you have an incredible platform. So if I have a company that needs eyeballs, I may come to you and say, hey, you guys want to throw in 25 grand? Don't worry about big numbers. It really pisses me off because it's what, what kept my mother out of investments. Right. And what we're trying to do is democratize this whole thing and simplify it both in opportunity and in verbiage. So if you have $2,000 and somebody like Tony wrestlers put in 20 million, say, hey, Tony, can I put in 2,000? And I guarantee you a guy like Tony will find a way.

[Charlamagne tha God]

That's right.

[Alex Rodriguez]

To bring you along.

[DJ Envy]

I want to ask a question because I think sometimes we have these conversations and we have these conversations from our perspectives, right? Well, y'all in a different tax bracket, but I'm just saying everybody here for the most part, has money. What about people who have no money, people from our communities who have $0? How do the poor even get to the middle class?

[Alex Rodriguez]

I got you there. I mean, he's the master. But I'm just going to give you like really simple, right? Money is the easiest part to get. And I know this sounds crazy to the folks listening, right? Money. There's over a trillion dollars sitting on the sidelines looking for great deals. So if you don't have money, can you find deal flow? Can you hustle? If you find me an asset that costs $10 million and you bring a mate, you bring it to me for eight, you basically own $2 million of that 100%. So if you bring me a $10 million deal, right, and I can buy for eight you say, hey, give me a million dollars on that. I'll give you. Because I'm still getting a million dollar discount. I'm paying 9 for a 10 million dollar asset, so I'm getting a discount. So. So looking for opportunities, understanding where the train is going. And you as an entrepreneur says, how do I get in the way? So when that train goes by, I can jump on and jump on that bandwagon. Right? It's creating opportunities. If you find deals, you got money.

[DJ Envy]

Is that possible for everyday people to.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Yes, absolutely.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yes, yes, yes. You know, you can buy a, you can open a fractional stock account and put in $25 to buy some stock. Now you've spent that on Starbucks. Uh, you can, you can do, you can do ten ducks. You can do five bucks of fractional stock on any stock that you want. So there's no excuse if you want to get in this game. Operation Hope will help you again. If you're listening to Breakfast Club, we'll give you a scholarship for coaching and counseling. We're gonna get your credit score up. The average credit score for black people, by the way, is 620. Latinos are a little above that notch more. But you're like, that means half of us are locked out of the free enterprise system. You can't get a decent home loan at anything below 700. Can't get a decent auto loan below at 650. You can't get a business loan at all unless you're 700. Better because it's risky credit. So we think the issue is racism or discrimination. It might be, but it also might be that you don't understand there's a game, there's a credit box and you're not in it. So the bank is like, you're just not a good credit risk. So what we've done is we know to get your credit score up, your debt down, your savings up with Hope. So the bank will say yes at midnight. The bank, the computer doesn't know what color you are. That computer will say yes. Somebody's listening to this and saying, is he talking about debt? Yes, it's called good debt, bad debts, financing jewelry. Good debt is financing a home mortgage, financing a business. Right. Going into an investment, a rod to do a multifamily apartment building, which is his bread and butter. That. So good debt is tied to something that might appreciate. Bad debt is tied to something that will depreciate. Every billionaire you know has used good debt. Every city or country that grows, including this one, has used good debt there's nothing wrong with debt as long as you're intelligently using it. The question about, can any person win? I can make almost anybody a millionaire if you follow. Again, he talked about basically good habits, being disciplined. If you come to Operation Hope and you follow our plan, within five years, you're a working class person making $48,000. We will give you a plan and make you a millionaire in five years. It's not complicated, but you have to have discipline. You have to live below your means. You have to understand this game. You've got to be financially literate and everybody can be a winner at this game. I'd love to come back at some point. We need to talk about this whole thing, relationship capital, which you talked about a little bit. Like behind all of us is a backer.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

A partner that we're not talking about. Magic has it. I know who they are. I mentioned. I love talking about Tony Ressler and Michael arrived. Right. They backed me $80 million and I paid him back plus 7%. Right.

[John Hope Bryant]

That's important because our community feel like capitalists. You said, talk about making smart sexy. They feel like that's a bad thing. A lot of people, not everybody, but a lot of people in our community feel like capitalism is a horrible thing. Having people back you is a horrible thing as well, too.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Yeah. So people say, let's go and step further. Oh, I hate rich people. No, you don't. You hate rich people till you become rich. What you hate is a game system. To your point. What you hate is a system that's rigged so that you don't think you can succeed. The money's not evil. It's the love of money that's evil. It's the greed. Ambassador Andrew Young says that men and women fail for three reasons. Arrogance, pride and greed. What did Malcolm X say? We've been bamboozled. We've been tricked. We've been fooled. We've been hoodwinked. We've been hoodwinked on this topic, black people. I'm picking on black people because I'm black. We have never had an economic infrastructure in the history of us being here. That's our problem. Government's not going to save you. Even if you want to distribute money like a socialist, you got to collect it like a capitalist. So we have got to. What's the entertainment business? The business of entertainment. The sports business is the business of sports. What we don't understand is the business. I'm going to give you a. I've never said this and it builds on Alison, what you were saying. I'm going to give everybody here free game. Jay Z's did basically a financial literacy album called 444.

[DJ Envy]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

So I'm going to give you a million dollars worth of game for 999. This is no 99. There are about $100 trillion about to co hit the market in the next 10 years. All these baby boomers are retiring at the same time. They don't give their cash and their stock to their kids. They're going to give their house to their family. Kids don't want the business. Those businesses have cash flow, client list, real estate, a brand. They're sitting. What it what Alex say to you a minute ago, Bring me an asset for 10 million that I can get for 8 million. And you have the upside between 8 and 10. So these business. So if you come to me and say I have a startup idea, give me a million dollars, get out of here, right. You come to me and say I've got a business that's got a million dollars of cash flow, that's got a, that's got a valuation of $10 million. Will you finance that? The acquisition? So one time, one time cash, so revenue. $10 million. In this example, it says $10 million of revenue. Well, you've a $9 million acquisition. The answer to that is absolutely yes. Non recourse meaning no personal guarantee. Wall street does that all day. It's called private equity. So you got literally trillions of dollars worth of businesses that are about to hit the market. And people listening to this can go become capitalists right now with an existing cash flow business, existing assets, existing employees, not no risk, but low risk because it's already successful. So we need to stop being self employment projects because 96% of all black businesses don't have an employee. I don't know what the Latino numbers are but. But you, but again you build wealth in your sleep. It's compounding. This is a huge opportunity.

[Alex Rodriguez]

So if you have in sports is so easy. I always use sports as a great metaphor because it teaches about life and business. Right. If you say, you know who's a better basketball player, Shaq or John. Well, they walk in the room immediately, 100% will say shock, right? Business. Exact opposite. Like if let's say you have 4,000 billionaires in the world today. 4,000 just for a number. And you say everyone press delete, everyone goes to zero. The math would tell us and the science would tell us. The data will tell us that in 10 years, you'll have basically the same 4,000 be billionaires again. Because what it is like, Shaq is a set of skills and is an ear and is a rewiring of the brain. So all of us here walk into opportunities every single day, but it's taking your eyeballs and your brain and your ears to think about opportunities when you hear them. So you hear opportunities all the time. You know, poor guy and a rich guy go through a bad neighborhood. The poor guy goes, God, what a terrible neighborhood. I would never want to live here. The rich guy goes, let's try to see if we can buy all this up on a cheap, because in 10 years, you're going to be different. You go to a barbershop and you hear through a terrible divorce, and you hear this gossip all the time. And you guys are here. Man, what a terrible situation to have to sell their house. I have to sell their car. If you're an entrepreneur in the ear, you hear, oh, that might be an opportunity. Well, maybe I can. Not to take advantage of anyone, but if you have to sell your house quickly, maybe I can provide a quick buy and sell for you off market. And there goes that $7 million deal for 10. Right? So it's about a rewind of the brain and looking at opportunities and not looking at problems, because problems is really opportunities.

[Jess Hilarious]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, John Hope Bryant.

[DJ Envy]

Alex Rodman, and the Hope Global Forum is happening December 9th to the 11th in Atlanta, Georgia.

[Alex Rodriguez]

Man.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

I'll be there.

[Jess Hilarious]

That's right.

[Charlamagne tha God]

Absolutely.

[Alex Rodriguez]

We'll give you a minute.

[Jess Hilarious]

I'm sure he'll come back before that.

[Alex Rodriguez]

All right.

[Jess Hilarious]

Well, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.

[DJ Envy]

Wake that ass up early in the morning.

[Charlamagne tha God]

The Breakfast Club. Foreign.

[Jason Alexander]

Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden, and together our mission on the really Know really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions, like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor. What's in the museum of failure? And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win 500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition sign. Jason Bobblehead. The really no Illy Podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.