WEBVTT

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I was 14 years old

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inside of a bowling alley,

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burglarizing an arcade game,

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and upon exiting the building

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a security guard grabbed my arm, so I ran.

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I ran down the street,
and I jumped on top of a fence.

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And when I got to the top,

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the weight of 3,000 quarters
in my book bag

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pulled me back down to the ground.

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So when I came to, the security guard
was standing on top of me,

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and he said, "Next time you little punks
steal something you can carry."

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(Laughter)

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I was taken to juvenile hall

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and when I was released
into the custody of my mother,

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the first words my uncle said was,
"How'd you get caught?"

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I said, "Man, the book bag was too heavy."

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He said, "Man, you weren't supposed
to take all the quarters."

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I said, "Man, they were small.
What am I supposed to do?"

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And 10 minutes later, he took me
to burglarize another arcade game.

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We needed gas money to get home.

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That was my life.

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I grew up in Oakland, California,

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with my mother and members
of my immediate family

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addicted to crack cocaine.

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My environment consisted
of living with family, friends,

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and homeless shelters.

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Oftentimes, dinner was served
in breadlines and soup kitchens.

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The big homey told me this:

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money rules the world

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and everything in it.

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And in these streets, money is king.

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And if you follow the money,

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it'll lead you to the bad guy
or the good guy.

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Soon after, I committed my first crime,

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and it was the first time
that I was told that I had potential

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and felt like somebody believed in me.

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Nobody ever told me
that I could be a lawyer,

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doctor or engineer.

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I mean, how was I supposed to do that?
I couldn't read, write or spell.

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I was illiterate.

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So I always thought
crime was my way to go.

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And then one day

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I was talking to somebody

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and he was telling me
about this robbery that we could do.

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And we did it.

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The reality was that I was growing up

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in the strongest
financial nation in the world,

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the United States of America,

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while I watched my mother
stand in line at a blood bank

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to sell her blood for 40 dollars
just to try to feed her kids.

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She still has the needle marks
on her arms to day to show for that.

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So I never cared about my community.

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They didn't care about my life.

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Everybody there was doing what they
were doing to take what they wanted,

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the drug dealers,
the robbers, the blood bank.

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Everybody was taking blood money.

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So I got mine by any means necessary.

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I got mine.

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Financial literacy
really did rule the world,

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and I was a child slave to it

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following the bad guy.

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At 17 years old, I was arrested
for robbery and murder

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and I soon learned that finances in prison
rule more than they did on the streets,

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so I wanted in.

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One day, I rushed to grab
the sports page of the newspaper

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so my cellie could read it to me,

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and I accidentally
picked up the business section.

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And this old man said,
"Hey youngster, you pick stocks?"

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And I said, "What's that?"

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He said, "That's the place
where white folks keep all their money."

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(Laughter)

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And it was the first time
that I saw a glimpse of hope,

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a future.

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He gave me this brief description
of what stocks were,

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but it was just a glimpse.

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I mean, how was I supposed to do it?

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I couldn't read, write or spell.

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The skills that I had developed
to hide my illiteracy

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no longer worked in this environment.

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I was trapped in a cage,
prey among predators,

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fighting for freedom I never had.

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I was lost, tired,

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and I was out of options.

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So at 20 years old,

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I did the hardest thing
I'd ever done in my life.

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I picked up a book,

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and it was the most agonizing
time of my life,

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trying to learn how to read,

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the ostracizing from my family,

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the homeys.

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It was rough, man.

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It was a struggle.

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But little did I know

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I was receiving the greatest gifts
I had ever dreamed of:

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self-worth,

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knowledge, discipline.

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I was so excited to be reading that I read
everything I could get my hands on:

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candy wrappers, clothing logos,
street signs, everything.

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I was just reading stuff!

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(Applause)

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Just reading stuff.

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I was so excited to know how to read
and know how to spell.

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The homey came up, said,
"Man, what you eating?"

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I said, "C-A-N-D-Y, candy."

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(Laughter)

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He said, "Let me get some."
I said, "N-O. No."

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(Laughter)

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It was awesome.

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I mean, I can actually now
for the first time in my life read.

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The feeling that I got
from it was amazing.

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And then at 22, feeling myself,

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feeling confident,

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I remembered what the OG told me.

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So I picked up the business section
of the newspaper.

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I wanted to find these rich white folks.

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(Laughter)

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So I looked for that glimpse.

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As I furthered my career

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in teaching others how to
financially manage money and invest,

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I soon learned that I had to take
responsibility for my own actions.

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True, I grew up
in a very complex environment,

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but I chose to commit crimes,

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and I had to own up to that.

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I had to take responsibility
for that, and I did.

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I was building a curriculum
that could teach incarcerated men

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how to manage money
through prison employments.

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Properly managing our lifestyle
would provide transferrable tools

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that we can use to manage money
when we reenter society,

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like the majority of people did
who didn't commit crimes.

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Then I discovered

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that according to MarketWatch,

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over 60 percent of the American population

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has under 1,000 dollars in savings.

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Sports Illustrated said that
over 60 percent of NBA players

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and NFL players go broke.

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40 percent of marital problems
derive from financial issues.

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What the hell?

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(Laughter)

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You mean to tell me
that people worked their whole lives,

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buying cars, clothes,
homes and material stuff

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but were living check to check?

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How in the world were members of society
going to help incarcerated individuals

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back into society

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if they couldn't manage they own stuff?

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We screwed.

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(Laughter)

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I needed a better plan.

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This is not going to work out too well.

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So ...

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I thought.

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I now had an obligation
to meet those on the path

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and help,

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and it was crazy because
I now cared about my community.

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Wow, imagine that.
I cared about my community.

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Financial illiteracy is a disease

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that has crippled minorities
and the lower class in our society

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for generations and generations,

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and we should be furious about that.

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Ask yourselves this:

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How can 50 percent
of the American population

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be financially illiterate in a nation
driven by financial prosperity?

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Our access to justice, our social status,

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living conditions, transportation and food

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are all dependent on money
that most people can't manage.

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It's crazy!

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It's an epidemic

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and a bigger danger to public safety
than any other issue.

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According to the California
Department of Corrections,

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over 70 percent of those incarcerated

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have committed or have been charged
with money-related crimes:

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robberies, burglaries,
fraud, larceny, extortion --

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and the list goes on.

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Check this out:

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a typical incarcerated person

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would enter the California prison system

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with no financial education,

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earn 30 cents an hour,

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over 800 dollars a year,

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with no real expenses and save no money.

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Upon his parole, he will be given
200 dollars gate money and told,

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"Hey, good luck, stay out of trouble.
Don't come back to prison."

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With no meaningful preparation
or long-term financial plan,

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what does he do ... ?

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At 60?

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Get a good job,

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or go back to the very criminal behavior
that led him to prison in the first place?

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You taxpayers, you choose.

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Well, his education
already chose for him, probably.

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So how do we cure this disease?

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I cofounded a program

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that we call Financial Empowerment
Emotional Literacy.

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We call it FEEL,

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and it teaches how do you separate
your emotional decisions

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from your financial decisions,

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and the four timeless rules
to personal finance:

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the proper way to save,

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control your cost of living,

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borrow money effectively

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and diversify your finances
by allowing your money to work for you

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instead of you working for it.

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Incarcerated people need these life skills
before we reenter society.

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You can't have full rehabilitation
without these life skills.

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This idea that only professionals
can invest and manage money

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is absolutely ridiculous,

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and whoever told you that is lying.

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(Applause)

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A professional is a person

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who knows his craft better than most,

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and nobody knows how much money
you need, have or want better than you,

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which means you are the professional.

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Financial literacy is not a skill,
ladies and gentlemen.

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It's a lifestyle.

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Financial stability is a byproduct
of a proper lifestyle.

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A financially sound incarcerated person
can become a taxpaying citizen,

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and a financially sound
taxpaying citizen can remain one.

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This allows us to create a bridge
between those people who we influence:

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family, friends and those young people

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who still believe
that crime and money are related.

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So let's lose the fear and anxiety

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of all the big financial words

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and all that other nonsense
that you've been out there hearing.

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And let's get to the heart
of what's been crippling our society

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from taking care of your responsibility
to be better life managers.

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And let's provide a simple
and easy to use curriculum

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that gets to the heart, the heart

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of what financial empowerment
and emotional literacy really is.

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Now, if you're sitting out here
in the audience and you said,

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"Oh yeah, well, that ain't me
and I don't buy it,"

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then come take my class --

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(Laughter)

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so I can show you how much money
it costs you every time you get emotional.

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(Applause)

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Thank you very much. Thank you.

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(Applause)