0:00 [Music] And welcome back everybody to another episode of Careful Boys where we got Steve Chen blessing. [Applause] >> Oh my goodness. >> You you already through through absolute discipline, grind, and hustle became a millionaire even while you were still teaching >> at 17 years old. Can you believe that? >> I don't know if that was it wasn't exactly the fact, but we're going to leave that. We're going to leave that. How old were you when you became a millionaire? >> Uh, I would say well I mean it fluctuates, right? Cuz your net worth is like my net worth is in the markets. >> Like we're like 33 34. >> Big up. Big up. Well done. Let's go. >> Be like Steve. >> 33. >> We were millionaires for like a week or something. Anyways,
0:52 >> we were five. Don't forget that ████ So uh that all all this eventually led to call to leap >> and which uh again even on your IG you got over 2 million uh followers um and you basically have what financial programming to teach people how to like reach the financial independence and >> modernday non-scammy Richard Kyosaki rich dad poor dad >> thanks >> just buy a gold mine dude >> he's all thanks >> seems like he took it as a big compliment. >> He's like, "Wow, that's so honor." >> But yeah, let's talk about Call to Leap, how that developed, how you thought about that, how it's doing, how it blew up, all that. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, we started back in 2020. Um that's when we just >> When you say we, who is that? >> Oh, just me and I had a couple of
1:43 friends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then we >> I was like, "Okay, yeah, like we I can start this whole thing. Maybe start some videos." I was looking at Instagram and Tik Tok and trying to like figure out how to like make videos and go viral and everything and make carousel or not carousels just like posts. So when I was in So I told my parents in 2019 I was going to do this and then funny enough uh I was going to tell my co-workers and all my my my teachers that I was going to quit but actually co happened in 2020. So then I just remember everything just shut down. I had to te to uh teach all my students on Zoom and then I was like, "Oh, this is kind of nice segue to for me to just leave my job." And then cuz uh for teachers, we end our school year in May, last last week of May. So then I told all my teachers, I remember
2:33 I wrote this letter to them. I was like, "Hey guys, you know, thanks for, you know, all the years of support. I love you guys." And I wrote, "I'm going to my goal right now is to teach finances to everyone. I'm going to be on this platform called Tik Tok. Uh, and then on YouTube and I'm going to do all this stuff and yeah, but thank you. I love you guys. And I just signed off. >> And then I I sometimes look at that letter that I wrote. I'm like, "Oh my gosh." Like I kind of I did it. >> I actually did it. Yeah. >> You have like a hit list of like Mr. Belvadier, your eye roll. >> Belvadier. >> ████ you, ████ >> Mr. Chavez, >> you snark. You snarky little ████ I you all gonna see me one day now. What's up, folk? >> PS, people don't forget. >> That's one of the three devils that he has on his shoulders talking. >> That was all three of them. >> No, everyone was super happy for me.
3:24 But, you know, like we we did this or I started this and then uh we launched in July 4th, 2020. And then we made videos. We're just like trying to figure this whole thing out. And then yeah, I just blew up on Tik Tok on uh Yeah, because everyone was just watching looking at their phones at that time, right? One or two, >> so many eyes. Yeah, >> great timing. >> Literally on July 4th of 2020, I was like, "Okay, I'm going to press the launch button." And then boom, I posted everything on all the social media platforms and we had I had zero followers on all platforms and now we have like four or five mil. >> Holy moly. That's cool, man. Independence for you and independence for America on the same day. >> For real. >> Yeah. >> But I saw the problem. The problem that I I encountered was, you know, like I
4:14 worked with a lot of parents and I saw that they struggled a lot, right? Like financially, they're always working until like 6 7 8:00. And I resonated that myself cuz my parents worked super long hours too. And I also see all these stats where we all know like 50% of Americans they live paycheck to paycheck. >> Yeah. It's crazy. >> And a lot of people once they hit 59, 60, 65 years old, a good chunk of them don't have enough for retirement. So it's really sad cuz I mean three things happen. They either have to uh downsize their lifestyle. They have to ask for their parents or their kids, sorry, for support. I'm sure like we have like friends or maybe you guys like support your parents. And I like I pay for things for my mom and dad. And then third, they have to go back to work at the age of 65 67 years old. I I just had a client call yesterday. I'm I'm not going to say names, but
5:05 yeah, just she was telling me that she was trying to get an interview uh for another job and she was like 65 67 years old and she's trying to find another job and she like does not have enough saved up. >> So I I'm like on this call I'm like oh my gosh like I feel so like >> I feel so heartbroken just hearing that. Yeah. >> So, I mean like all these stories that I hear and just like the personal things that I I've seen from other people's lives, I'm like, "Okay, I really want to share financial literacy to everyone cuz in the public school system, I went in as a like a bright like young adult like, oh, I want to change the public school system. I want to change the way we teach and pedigogy and everything." But I felt like I was just like a small little thing out of this whole big puzzle piece that I couldn't I couldn't change. But then if I could control my own channel, I could you know do this. I had I was like the boss of like you know like I could share everything with all
5:56 the entire world. I would I felt like I had more leverage. I had more impact. Right. >> So yeah that's why we started I started uh developing all these videos and I was also I wanted to come from a place of more empathy too. >> That's so cool >> cuz I didn't want cuz I know there's like people online they kind of like yell at you like you got to do this and you Dave >> Ramsey like >> you don't yell that much. He doesn't yell. >> He calls you stupid if you buy dumb things. With a southern accent, though, so it's a little sweet. >> If that lady at 65 told me, I would have been like, "Why did you spend so much?" >> Yeah. >> Why? >> Or like the Caleb Hammers, you know, where he's like yelling. >> Oh, he's funny. >> He's Yeah. >> I do like Dave Ramsey, though. >> Mhm. >> Well, yeah. I just I I felt like I wanted to do a different approach where it's like, okay, like this has happened. I don't want to make them feel even worse. they're already investat
6:57 process of like how do you get out of debt, you know, go from negative to zero and then how do we go from zero to positive? And then once we go from positive, like you're, you know, you're being able to save like 300 bucks, 500 bucks a month, like how do we now shift that into investing so that your money can work for you? So my whole thing is like I want to provide as much free value as possible to like everyone attainable very step-by-step baby steps for people to follow. So yeah, so that's where we are with Call to Leap and I'm very grateful to have like everyone follow us. I can't believe we have like four or five million followers. >> That's crazy. >> Crazy. Yeah. I mean I sometimes like I'm in bed I'm like >> oh my gosh like I can't believe I got all >> That's how many people want help though, dude. That's that's like and then it's like the crazy thing is there's so many creators out there that are kind of
7:48 giving similar information but people still have an appetite for this stuff and they're like I'm trying to learn I don't know what to do cuz if you think about like um who was it Graham Stefen he has his own stuff um our our buddy from uh was it minority uh >> minority mindset minority mindset um >> and then I feel like there's so many people communicating very similar things, but then it still needs to reach a bigger audience. I feel like it's still not enough. >> I feel like out of all the things you learn in school, the most important part is left out. >> Like, who gives a ████ about ████ photosynthesis and all that ████ it's like you need to spend below your means and when you make money, save for when you can't work anymore. >> I feel like that needs to get hammered
8:38 in like starting maybe even first grade or whatever. So you understand? >> Yeah. The two things that are the most important that aren't taught but are too touchy is actually health and finance. >> Yeah. For real. >> And then Yeah. Our school system sucks. They're all like, you know, the the the um you know, our school food system is a racket too. >> Yeah. >> Like the way that it runs. And then like also I don't know if this country will be as profitable if there aren't if there are too many financially sa savvy people because most of the economy is ran on like you know debt >> consumerism >> and consumerism and credit. So if you have I don't know like Japan is not a debt economy right? So they have cash they don't use credit but they don't make as much money through the financial system because of that reason. No one
9:29 wants to take a loan out. So I'm like, well, yeah, you have responsible, financial savvy people, but like they're not rich as America. Maybe that's I don't know that maybe that's like the the catch 22 here is like you have to have some people that are kind of dumb that you can make money off of, but it can't be the whole country wising up. I don't know. >> But if everyone in the country invests in S&P 500, is that beneficial for everyone? >> The market, right? Well, it's beneficial for everyone as long as not everybody cashes out at the same time. >> I don't know. I would like like everyone to have general finance IQ. That would be really nice. Yeah. >> Yeah. But everyone needs to have a Switch too as well. >> Yeah. It just came out. I got to get the new Mario Kart. I get this. >> But you if you think about it, like if
10:19 people do just save, they it's not like we can't. >> You know what I mean? More people can actually be able to buy it. >> It's the behavior aspect. Everybody Everybody can indulge with a percent of their earnings if they've already taken care of the responsible percentage of their investment. >> People got different responsibilities. >> Yeah. It's just Yeah, that ratio is just different all across the country. So, of course, we're going to have very very financially ill people. Steve, when you're when you're working with your your students, all that, like do you have to talk about like behavior change, things like that, because like I feel like people understand the X's and O's of like what they should be doing, but to actually put that in action is probably the biggest part, right? Like the hardest part for most people like So, do you cover that stuff in your curriculum or >> Oh, yeah, definitely. So, I I tell people like, you know, you can follow like the $25 rule. Okay. So, just before even that, the mindset of it all, everyone knows what to do, right? It's
11:10 not like rocket science like you you you spend less earn more and that that's it right like fitness you you you move more you eat less as long as we do this we can solve most of life's problems I feel right >> so before even with this >> true >> but it's not easy for everybody Anthony >> it's not as simple but not easy for sure >> um so it's a lot of that behavioral change so it's it's like how do we make it attainable for people so there's like these little rules I make I go okay we can do the $25 rule where you save $25 a month, right? And then slowly you can increase that by like another $25 the following month, like $50 and then 75. So it doesn't feel so like, oh my gosh, all of a sudden I have to save all this money. So it's just it's like pain. It's like more there's not that much pain,
12:00 right? It's like a little progressive overloader, right? Whatever, right? >> So, uh, we do that. And then also like I feel like community is very important for people if they are surrounded with people who are constantly spending >> uh you know >> like Vietnamese friends or something. >> Sure. >> No man pay for everybody dinner. >> I'm going to go out to eat with that guy. >> But community is definitely like an important factor right of of how people look at finances. you see everyone, all your friends and family members just going out and spending and spending and going into debt, then that becomes like the norm for them. >> That's true. My parents were horrible with money. >> So I I we have the we have a community, right? So it's like, oh, okay, then you can plug yourself into a community. You can talk to people. We all have the same
12:51 strategies like, oh yeah, we have wins. Like we go, oh, I paid off my debt this this week, or oh, I saved $200 this week. And the more you see it from everyone else, it becomes like a normalized thing, right? And if people who are introverts like myself, they don't want to like talk to people, then that's okay, too. I refer there are a lot of great books out there, too. I feel like the more books that you read, it's like there's more like, okay, uh I I'm getting a lot of these affirmations from every every book confirmation like this actually works, right? Oh, this person said you got to save. This person says you got to save. This person says you got to invest. I guess I got to do that, too. >> What What are some of like the main books that you feel like are >> are good >> game changers for a lot of people? >> I think everyone Harry Potter, >> Prisoner Basketball. I think everyone should read um I really like Secrets of a Millionaire Mind. Uh I like uh some of like Tony Robbins stuff too
13:41 like Unshakable. Uh there is Atomic Habits by James Clear. There is Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Uh there's uh Psychology of Money. >> Wait, are there are there pictures in these books? >> Yeah. >> No, they're not pop-up books. >> Psychology of money is famous. >> That one's pretty good. >> That one is Morgan Hel. >> Morgan Hustle. Good. >> Uh there's uh I really like Scott Galloway's um algebra of wealth, right? They all talk about the same thing like you just start little by little just invested into S&P 500 and live below your means. That's the >> main um I've been looking for a book that touches on the sub on this subject and I haven't found one. Maybe you might know of one, but like what I realized in my own financial investing journey, it's kind of like you have to like um I feel like total investing and finance is almost like being an MMA
14:31 fighter. Like you have all these disciplines, right? But there's people that are millionaires in real estate or stocks or whatever and retirement, learning how to leverage a retirement account to do other things or crypto or whatever. And I feel like they're all kind of separate disciplines. And I was trying to find a MMA book of all of it so that I could have a very big macro mindset. Um, is there a book out there that kind of like goes if you want to go into investing this is the way to look at all of them and then then you dive >> investing for dummies. >> Is there one investing? >> No, literally they lay out everything that's general, but you probably know it all generally. >> Then they they know like tax codes and like stuff like that too or different retirement options. Like it's kind of like introduction to real estate, introduction to stocks, all your options. So it's like to if you want to know what your options are like I'm
15:21 talking about someone who's doesn't know anything about finance. >> So yeah, what I'm asking for I guess is like I guess through my journey would be like um let's say with real estate for example, right? You go cool, I want to buy this home. You're like ████ I don't have 500,000. Then you learn about loans and you're like oh okay cool. So if I put 20% down I'm buying the price for today. um but I reap the benefits of the appreciation 30 years later and you're like that's pretty cool. Then you realize, oh wait, um I can you I can deduct the interest on my taxes. So now it starts crossing, you know, like different barriers, right? Like you have real estate, then you learn about leverage, then you learn about tax codes. And I'm like, I wish there was one that kind of like taught me the MMA of all of it where like you cuz they all do end up bleeding together. Um, but there's not one that like teaches you how to. And then I found out later on if
16:12 you have a retirement account, you technically can pull this money out penaltyfree if you're going to buy real estate, you know? So there's like I'm like, I wish there was a book that encompassed all of that. So I don't have to go step by step cuz what I feel like what I learned in my investing journey is I go here and I'm like, well, if I would have known this, I would have done this. I'm like, okay, I learned a little bit. Ah, but then if I would have learned this and I would have So every step is if I would have learned. So, I feel like I have to get my ass kicked 10 times um before I go, "Oh, I could have just done this and then combined all 10." Is there a book that kind of like helps you like kind of bridge the gap between every single >> everything? I'm being catchy PT. >> Or I guess I guess that's also why >> I guess that's also why maybe like programs like call to leap work for certain types of people because >> somebody walked through those steps, got
17:03 their ass kicked and burned every single way. So they found out so then they could be like if you pay this much per month for my course, let me just do this. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So like Barb, in in a couple years after you got your ass handed to you so many times, that's exactly why everybody's going to start paying you to teach them because they're going to be like, I don't want to go through that. >> And there's it seems like there's so many options like what type of things to invest in like whether it's stocks or crypto or whatever. And then there's so many experts in each field. >> Yeah. And there's so many there's such a specialty element to it too. That's why like even like you know having our CPA and stuff like that now it's like the tax code changes every presidency or every couple years and you're like >> I can't specialize in that. I actually just need a professional to tell me that happened or this should this is something I should think about so that I can generically look at my personal
17:54 investments and stuff. But >> cuz it depends on the goal too, right? Like how like what you're going to actually go for, what the actual endgame is cuz I feel like that changes everything, right? cuz you're trying to blend lifestyle with what ROI you want and how safe the investment is and your risk tolerance and like you're trying to put it all together, but it's not a one-sizefits-all for the person that's reading the book. >> And it's so overwhelming, which is why you should sign up. Call to Leap. >> Our boy Steve Chen over here. >> Don't end up like me. >> He's going to be nice to you, too. He's not going to yell at you.
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