Everyday Entrepreneur - Jaden Sterling - Sterling Stock Picker - S2 E5

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Everyday Entrepreneur here on the Popery Plays podcast show. I'm your host, Paul H. Flowers Jr., and today we've got the Wolf of Wall Street himself. No, I'm just kidding, that might not be the best connotation, uh, but Mr. Jaden Sterling is here and he has an incredible story about leaving all the chaos and fuss and really creating something of value that the everyday person can utilize in order to accumulate wealth and at least have an understanding of how to get into this seemingly confusing market. So Jalen Sterling, excuse me, Jaden Sterling, again, CEO of Sterling Stock Picker. Welcome to the show. How are you, my friend?

Hey Paul, I'm doing great, thank you very much. Yet not Wolf, but Wizard of Wall Street.

Beautiful, beautiful. I love it. And you know, with that, there's some magic in your world that took you from where you were to where you are today. So let's talk about that, you know, give the audience a quick snapshot. And again, I'm not saying quick like a rush, by all means take your time, but let us know where you're at today and how your journeys got you to this point?

Yeah, that's a great starting point. And thanks for letting me share. First of all, I, I had an epiphany at 14. This is really where my, my story started, my journey. And if you've ever had an epiphany, you know, like time stands still. And I just knew something very powerful on the inside. I'm not sure if I heard it or I felt it, but it was just a very clear message. And the message I got was I was basically told 3 things. I was told that I was going to be speaking on stages around the world, that I would be teaching about money, more importantly, how people can be empowered by money, not enslaved by it. And lastly, I was told that I would be teaching from personal experience, not from a book I read or a course that I took. So you can imagine, you know, at such a young age, getting your life purpose downloaded to you. It It was awesome, but it was also a huge responsibility. And I followed it to a tee. Like, I went to work on Wall Street in my 20s, studied finance at American University, and learned by working on Wall Street, not so much from the brokerage firms, but more from my wealthy clients who came in with their multimillion-dollar portfolios. They were the ones that taught me how to build real wealth. In stocks, in real estate, and things like that. So, I've been fortunate where I've built real wealth in 3 areas, one in business, secondly, in stocks, and thirdly, in real estate. And each of those, it's worked out really well. And I'll share with your listeners how I did that and what I used when I used my assets to kind of roll into the next thing and how that worked out.. And so that's my mission. My mission is talk about money to assist people. And I take it very, very personal. It's a very personal mission, but it's also a huge undertaking. But it's led me to do what I do today. And that's why I'm a money coach, a money mentor, and software developer, like you mentioned, with our software.

So excellent, excellent. What I talk about a great beginning. It's power-packed with a lot of things to touch upon. So Jaden Sterling, and that reminds me of Merlin because you said the Wizard of Wall Street. Uh, let's talk about that. And just for our listeners, we're gonna talk about this in a few ways because we are looking to make sure that we can embrace everyone where they are. So to the CEOs out there, those folks already with 7, 8, and 9-figure portfolios, Jaden's got something for you. And also for our individuals that might be working at a 9 to 5. Or 8 to 4, 10 to 2, whatever the case may be, Jayden's got something for you. So we're gonna touch on things at various levels and just make sure you're taking a really close listen, pen and paper if need be, picking up some notes and nuggets. Again, because he's not gonna gatekeep, he's just gonna share what he can in this timeframe. And again, we'll make sure that we know how to get in contact with him at the end of the show for additional information and coaching. So Jayden, let's hop right into it. Okay. You transition from Wall Street again to your own advisory, right? Your own practice in terms of taking that information that you'd gotten effectively from your clients and utilizing that to build wealth. Now, side note, listeners, Jayden didn't know this about me, but I'd also had my Series 6 and 63 registration. So I've got my CRD number. I'm FINRA registered, or I was previously. And that was an interesting time in my life. An interesting part of the business, if you will, when it comes to finances and wealth management, where, like you mentioned, it wasn't really the company that taught you how to get wealth. And this is for my, all my advisors out there. Uh, Jayden, if you could explain a little bit more what you meant when you said it was really the clients that showed you how to accumulate the wealth. In those various areas.

Yeah, it's exactly right. My clients came in with a handful of stocks, 6 to 8 companies in their portfolio. We were told to liquidate those stocks and diversify the portfolio amongst mutual funds, unit investment trusts, managed money bonds, all this other stuff that, you know, and that's why I'm very passionate about what I do because I know what works and what doesn't. And I often say friends don't let friends buy mutual funds. And that is highly controversial. Like, there are going to be people who are going to be like, what is he talking about? And just, oh yeah, you have ears to hear and listen to what I have to say. I think it'll make sense to you. So, during the decade of the '90s, when I worked for Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, I worked for two major, the largest brokerage firms in the world.

Yes.

We were told diversify clients' assets. Now, when I realized, Paul, that if I had just held— if those clients held on to those stocks, you know, it was like John Deere, IBM, it was the big, big companies back in the day. And if they had just held on to their individual stocks, they would have outperformed. They would have done so much better than when, you know, the Wall Street firms say sell your stocks and buy these packaged products. People have to understand that you don't go to a broker to make money, and brokers will not make you wealthy. You know, we're— I can tell we're speaking the same language, aren't we?

I'm glad to hear this out loud. So like, I'm getting goosebumps to hear this from somebody else. So yeah, please continue, continue.

Yeah, so, uh, how, how it works is, uh, there's even a term for it. It's called velocity. Brokerage firms track how much money they make off of your portfolio, not for you. I mean, it's tracked. It's, it's a, you know, you get spreadsheets, uh, once a month on this. And I'm sure this is back in the '90s. I am certain it still happens today.

Absolutely.

Okay. Yeah. So given that and me recognizing what my clients are doing, I did the same. I bought one stock during the decade of the '90s. It was the parent company Travelers Insurance, and, uh, the stock tripled, and I turned $70,000 into just under a million within that 7-year period, like, uh, until the year, uh, 2000. And then I got out of the business because I realized I am 30 years old, I'm a millionaire, I don't need to work for corporate America. Didn't feel like it was really good for my health or my soul And when I recognized what was going on within the industry, I just, I had to get out. I didn't have a choice. So, you know, when I realized true wealth is made in a focused, concentrated way, whether you're focused in stocks or you're focused in real estate in a certain direction or in business, you know, you can't— Paul H. Flowers Jr., if I were to say to you, man, I'm just going to give you 100 new products tomorrow to sell, you'd be like, What? What do I do with 100 new products? But mutual funds have several hundred individual stocks in them. So, they're overdiversified and they're geared to make sure people don't make a lot of money. Wall Street says it all the time. They're like, "Don't expect to do anything better than the averages." And when I hear that, my blood boils because I'm like, if you had a kid, and you told that kid, don't expect to be anything but average, you need to be fired as a parent.

Absolutely.

You know, you want to, you want to instill in that child, in that young person, confidence, and you want to instill in them greatness and that they can do whatever they put their mind to. And money is just the vehicle to help people have a better life. I mean, that's the reality. It's not to be put on a pedestal. It's not to be, you know, but it's also not to be thrown away. It's not to be disregarded. So when we hold money in a level of respect, it always matches the respect that we have for ourselves. So now we're getting a little deep here, Paul, because we're getting into what it really takes to build real wealth, and that is a tremendous amount of self-respect, self-discipline. It takes discipline to have real wealth, and it takes self-respect. So when you start to really respect yourself, you respect those around you. Everything is energy, we hear that. And we start to be respectful of the money that we have to put to work, actually get it to work. A lot of people are under this spell of they can— they only have to work for money. And that's not the case. Once you have a lot of money built up, or even a little bit, doesn't matter your starting point, What matters is, is that you really start to recognize the power of money and what it can do for you. And when you work hard for money and you have money coming into your bank account or your brokerage account, you need to say to that money, all right, now it's time for you to work for me. So you, you put it to work, you actually invest it in a way you get it to do something. Now, this requires something of a skill set that's super important, and that is the ability to be comfortable with risk.

Yes, yes, yes. So let's, let's talk about that. Again, we're talking to a very diverse audience here. So as far as a person getting started, let's say, in investing, what type of risk profile would you look for, or would you guide or advise, again, if you're taking on that capacity? But what type of risk profile would you say might make for an ideal way to get started for a person that's making, let's say, between $50,000 to $100,000 a year?

Yeah, that's a, that's a great place, starting point. And I think the ideal risk profile is someone who is not afraid to take risk, who is maybe an entrepreneur, someone who is out there maybe working in a J-O-B, which, by the way, stands for just over broke. And so they're, they're in there slogging it for a purpose and a reason. And I respect that. We all have been there and have done that. And now it's a matter of saying, okay, I'm ready to put my nest egg, to put the money I've set aside, I've earned, that's doing nothing in a bank, and I'm ready to start getting that money to work for me. So that's what I find. The real— the people who do the best in investing are the most relaxed. They're the most calm. They don't freak out, you know, with the gyrations in the market because the reality is that's what we have to work with. That's our landscape. We have a highly volatile equity market and it's not going to change. That will continue to be the case. And the good news is you can make money in an up market or a down market. Doesn't matter. It just needs to be volatile. And we've got that.

Excellent. So really good point that you mentioned when it comes to markets. Again, we realize that it can go up, it can go down, it can stay flat. When you're talking to a person, let's say, that's got a significant portfolio, at what point do— would you advise them to say, hey, go ahead and get in, right? This is the time to get in. Because some people say, hey, you can get in at any time, but is there really an ideal time to invest a large amount of capital into the marketplace?

I think it's a great question, and I think the ideal time to invest is when you have money to invest. If you have a large amount of capital, you never want to invest it all at once because that means you only have one cost basis for the— for your stock portfolio. What you want to do is you want to split that money up into, let's say, tenths, and invest a tenth of that money every month for the next 10 months. And then it doesn't matter what happens in the equity markets. It can go up, it can go down. And if it goes down, you get to buy more shares. So you, you dollar— it's called dollar cost averaging into the market. You just put your money in each and every month slowly.

Beautiful, beautiful. Now let's talk about your development. And how you actually choose the stocks that yourself and your clients would be advised to— and I got to be careful with that word, the, uh, side note, this is not stock advice. We're not telling anyone to take any particular positions, etc., and so forth. You know, you know the legal jargon. Um, but in regards to your service, right, you have a stock picking software, and how would you— and when, you know, without obviously giving up any of the IP, How does it work? How does it, how does it advise a person on what to look for and when?

I'm happy to give up all of the IP because I am nothing but transparent and I will share everything I can with your audience if it's going to help someone. And so I always suggest start in your own backyard, go with the companies that you already do business with personally and you really like their products. You know, you like their customer service because if you like their products and services, so will other people, and revenue equals market cap. So start with, like I say, people, you know, if you like, if you work out a lot and you like Lululemon leggings and shirts, then great, look at buying shares of Lululemon. So start there first, start in your own backyard and start with what you're familiar with. You know, who's your Who's your utility company? Who do you pay your, um, you know, who's your cell phone provider? Like, who are you paying money to each and every month? Because there are other people doing that. And then you ask yourself, in the event everything goes south, what's the last thing I'm going to cut from my payments? It's probably going to be a cell phone. You know, most people are so connected to their phones. It's recently— I think it's why TELUS did so well last week. It The stock was up 15%. TELUS, a utility, like basically a utility company, right? So, so there's, you know, there's a method to the madness here. You start, start with what's familiar with you. And then I always say become a first-class noticer. Notice what's going on around you. You know, what are people doing? What are people talking about? What are they using? Where, where are they spending their money? And then see if that becomes— if that's a publicly traded company. If it is, you get to buy shares of it. If it's privately held, there's a good chance you won't be able to invest in it. But, and then lastly, invest in alignment with your values. In our software, we start through our pick stock feature. The very first place we start is personal values. So, you select 5, you know, like your top 5 personal values. We've correlated every single stock in our database with a personal value.

Okay.

So, it's going to show you companies that you, you know, that you vibe with, that you can really get behind energetically because we think that's really important.

Well, you mentioned a really key word there, energy. So I'll akin that to intuition, right? Getting that hunch when it comes to what's a good idea, and maybe even listening to people and getting a hunch or that intuition to say, hey, like you said, becoming a first-class noticer, that, that might be something that I'm interested in. So tell me, what role does intuition really have? Maybe not in your— but, you know, I'll say in yours, we're just keeping me and you here. Uh, what role does intuition play in your stock picks and How do you teach a logic-based person to, to trust their gut?

Great question, man. Intuition plays the biggest role for me in other than any other aspect. It plays to the point. I mean, I'll share with you, when I retired from corporate America, I, I transitioned to real estate and I invested in multifamily properties. And I got to the point where, you know, when you're buying a lot of— I bought 125. It was a busy time. I bought a lot of properties in a 7-year period, built a very big company out of that, and I was super busy. So, I created a system where if I knew a property was for sale or if I got a phone call, "Hey, come look at this building," before I looked at any of the numbers, I would go to the property and I'd stand in front of it. And if my body moved forward, I knew that property was for me. If my body moved backward, I knew I was out. Like, I didn't have to look at the numbers. I didn't have to waste any time. It was just such an easy, elegant solution to figure out if a property was right for me or not. And it worked great. It was just one of the best methods. And that was truly my intuition. But it's not woo-woo. This is pure science because the more they study the brain and the body connection, The more that is understood that we have in our gut little things called brain eels and little tiny brains that send information to the big brain in order to— like, it's like why, you know, you're satiated, you're full when you're eating. It's one of, you know, it performs that function, but it also allows you, you know, if you have— you ever said to yourself, I just have it, I just can feel it in my gut.

Absolutely right.

Like, yeah, so that is, that is the reason why you have that sensation, because there's a sensation going on, it's connecting in with Truth with a capital T, and it's shooting that information up to the big brain to process. So most people think that we, you know, we go from our big brain down through the body. It's not the case at all. So when you start to really learn how you're built in terms of mind, body, spirit, you can really connect in with. I think intuition, frankly, is a superpower. Like, I know, you know, a lot of people say of a woman's intuition, but everyone's got it. It's not man, woman. It is— we all have a pineal gland. That pineal gland sits at the center of the brain, top of the spinal column, and that is the gateway to your intuition. The key is to make sure that you're living somewhat of a healthy lifestyle so your pineal gland doesn't become calcified. When it becomes calcified through like drinking sodas and smoking cigarettes and things that are really bad for your health that hopefully none of your listeners are doing, when it becomes calcified, then you lose that superpower. But if you can keep that superpower, you know, totally like cranking, open, connected in with the universe, that is when literally you become a money wizard, because you're going to know things very clearly, even if it's to the point where you just know a yes or no within the body. That was what my body was telling me. Is this property— is this a building for me? Yes, moving forward. No, moving backward. And you can notice, you can train your body to tell you what's a yes for me or what's a no. And most financial decisions frankly, can come down to a yes or a no. Like, is this for my highest and best? Am I going to make money with this type of investment? And then when you tune into it rather than tune out— most people want to tune out, they want to have external validation for everything they're doing. I suggest just tune right in, you know, and you're going to get that clear message as to, you know, if this is the right thing for you or not.

And I, when I say that I am so thankful, Jaden, that we were able to connect and get you on. And again, the listeners know, I don't have long drawn out discussions with any of the guests prior to, we just get on here. And I think that there's a sort of esoteric gathering of the minds. So I'm amazingly thankful, because the right guests come on at the right time, I'll say for the right climate, both personally in my own life as well as in and around me in the space. So again, Jane, I'm really thankful for you coming on. Now, you mentioned again something that kind of, you know, it floats in that esoteric space, right? So we're, we're talking about something that is hard numbers, data, right? We've got to talk EBITDAs, we got to talk deltas, and we need to know all of these things, or at least, you know, we did in the series world. FINRA-registered space. But, but that has— it has its place. And like we just talked about intuition, that seems to have a place in this space as well. So tell me, how do spiritual principles, principles like gratitude or, or manifestation even, and how do those influence your market decisions in a tangible way?

That's such a good question. Gratitude brings you into the energetic frequency of good things. So whatever you're grateful for, whether it's money, your family, your children, your life, your business, your health, whatever you're grateful for, you're going to bring more of that back. I call it the boomerang effect, because you're, you're putting out gratitude for that specific thing. And it's coming right back to you. That's why, that's why whenever you think about other people, and I always say like, what you wish for others, you create for yourself. So, you know, not only do you want to have gratitude for your life and everything you're doing, but also for those around you, your friends, family, community, business partners, business adversaries, You know, your competitors, like, have gratitude for them, wish them all the best, because what you're putting out for others, you're totally getting back for yourself. And I've always said a good life is the best revenge. So, you know, when you talk about spiritual principles, I believe it's everything, absolutely everything. And every year I come out with a stock pick, I always come out with my number one pick for the year. And last year, my— I would say my team in the non-physical dimension. That's what I call my— we all have spirit guides. Like, we couldn't— look, we could not be here on this earth without them. You know, this, this incarnation into a physical meat suit is way too challenging and difficult if we didn't have spirit guides, right? Uh, huge believer in it. Like, I've recorded so many guided meditations connecting people with spirit guides and that, all that good stuff. So It's very real. Anyway, so I talked to my team and I said, hey, give me my pick for the year. So last year was Palantir, and beginning of the year, stock was at $19 a share. It closed at about $109 for the year. It was up 360%. I mean, it was just incredible. And, you know, like, there was no me reading any balance sheets or looking at EBITDAs or anything. It was okay. I trust the information I get. That's the other part of, you know, the other side to it. When we receive intuitive guidance, we've got to act on it. Because so many people receive it. And here's the thing, and you know this, Paul H. Flowers Jr., and anyone listening to this who's, who's aligned with this vibration, is it's so subtle, you know, it's like an idea will just drop in, but it leaves as quickly as it drops in. So unless you're doing something, like you said, right before we started talking, you know, take notes, like, unless you're capturing that information, like in the beginning, I said, just walk around with index cards and a pen. And I would write down all the ideas that came into me. And, you know, there were some that I would— that were phenomenal ideas that I would act on, others I disregarded because I wasn't ready, but the universe is finding people to bring in ideas and concepts to, and you're not the only one. So if you're getting a phenomenal idea, so are maybe 100 other people, because eventually 1 out of 100 is going to take that idea and run with it, and it's going to become a real thing. So always be aware of what is being dropped in around money opportunities. And I've always said there's a million ways to make a million dollars. It's just a matter of what is in vibration and alignment with you, right? Like, how are you? I mean, there's people who have built a million-dollar business clipping coupons. There are people who have built a million-dollar business refurbishing furniture. There are people who have built million-dollar business on writing ebooks. I mean, you name it, it's been done, right? And if it's been done, it can be done again and again, but it has to be in alignment with you. And, you know, our listeners out there, when, when you're sorting through some things and you're looking at your money situation, you're like, oh, you know, this seems so challenging. I, I rise above that. Like, you are not meant to— your incarnation here on this earth is not meant to worry. You're not meant to worry about money. I mean, let's face it, right? Like, money is a tool, and it's a great tool, and it will serve you at the highest level if that's what you bring to it. When you let go of your money worries, it shifts energy dramatically. And what happens is the worry energy gets replaced by opportunity energy, and you're going to— someone's going to come across your path or they're going to say just the right thing and it's going to just open up a door for you that you never even knew existed.

Oh, man.

Does this make sense?

Oh, you're speaking the language. And again, I'm just in this state of gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, again, I'm just consistently in a state of gratitude when I have these conversations. And when you're talking, it's like, you know, we're truly one. And this voice that's coming out of you is just like resonating so much. Oftentimes I get goosebumps during the interviews. And of course, nobody can see it, right? Unless they're on YouTube and they've got like a microscopic camera. Now, but it's a real thing that happens when that connectedness exists between individuals, regardless of where you are on this wonderful planet. Again, we talk about gratitude, and you mentioned your spirit guides. So I got a quick story, and it's 30 seconds, and I got some questions for you still, where I'm realizing that my grandmother, my mother's mother, my maternal grandmother, as she was aging and began to lose some of her faculties, would always say, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Right? We'd bring her food because she was living with us at a time. And for the smallest things, she was just so damn grateful. And, and admittedly, as a teenager, it almost got annoying because it's like, why the hell are you always saying thank you? Right? And I get it now. And it's funny, one time, and just about every morning I wake up, first thing I do is say thank you. And just give that gratitude out loud. One time I caught myself saying it multiple times in a row. And I just looked up and I chuckled like, there's Grandma, right? There's Grandma. So in terms of that, that, that whisper, that, that person, that guidance, right, that's there, I'm now learning again in my adult life now how important gratitude is. So again, thank you for elaborating on that. And really seeing and showing that that does have a place in the financial world and investment world as well. So you've got the guides, you've got the, the team, if you will. Tell us about a time where maybe that, that inner whisper of yours contradicted some of the data that you might have come across. And you actually listened, right? And you know what happened from there?

You know, the only issue I've ever had with the guidance from my inner wisdom is not following it. I mean, my team will give me ideas. Like, like I say, it's very subtle. So if I'm in the middle of something, doing something, I don't pay attention and I miss it. And I miss— I might miss buying a stock, or I might miss buying an option. I invest quite a bit in option contracts. And, you know, they'll tell me, it's like, I just get the feeling, okay, now it's time to buy a put. Sell the call, buy the put. And if I miss that, and then I notice, I go back to my computer, I'm busy doing something, I go back to the computer like, oh man, they were so right, that stock took a nosedive. It just, you know, I just thought it was going up and up, and then it took a nosedive. That put would have been worth a lot of money. So that, that's the only time. I've never had a situation that things went south by following my intuition. We— I think what happens is we get in the egoic mind, the conscious thinking mind, and hey, we're taught this. We're told, you know, analyze things carefully, right? You know, you've got to carefully consider this, and you really gotta, you know, be cautious. And I mean, it is just instilled in people to not be successful, because money loves confidence, money loves action, money loves fast pace. So I, I tell people, you know, like, be quick with your money thoughts. Like, you know, we've heard the phrase fail fast. If you're in something that's not working out, get out of it. Whether it's a marriage, it's a job, it's a, a business, whatever that is, don't let it suck all the life out of you and your money on top of it, because then you're in a bad position. So I think you just cut losses fast, be okay with that. You know, especially like I talked to— I'm on a lot of investment podcasts of like active traders, you know, and they're like, tell us your best tips. I'm like, okay, my number one best tip is get comfortable losing money, right?

It's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen, right? You're not gonna hit the, the ball out of the park every single time. But if there's resistance to that part of the process, it will always lead to resistance to making money. So because then you'll do something like revenge trade or, you know, like, oh, okay, I lost this money, but I'm going to make it up over here. And yeah, energetically, everything is at par when you engage with money. Like, I had a client a long time ago. He said, he said he inherited money from an uncle who was not on the up and up. Like, I don't know what nefarious activities the uncle was involved in, but it just wasn't on the up and up. And he got this money, and he did everything he could to lose that money. Like, he was like, like, I'm just gonna just, just burn this money. I'm just gonna lose it. He just did stupid stuff, right? And, and when, when I felt into that, and it was an interesting idea, it's like, oh, he related inheritance with this nefarious activities, like it was like blood money or something, you know, that type of thing. But here's when I felt into it. My guide said very clearly, energetically, when money changes hands, it changes energy. So once he inherited all that money, all that negative connotation, everything associated with it, attached to it, was gone. It was just gone. Like, like you get us, you get this do-over thing. When money comes to you, right? So you— so that was a very interesting lesson, uh, you know. I, I— he had since like left my world, so I never even had a chance to even share this information with him, but I get to share it with all of your listeners now. It's like, just, just know, like, and some people be like, you know, they might, um, they might really just like have this grunge job and they can't stand it, but they're in it because they have bills to pay. And that's that person, because they have such a negative connotation with the work associated with the payment, their paycheck, that money doesn't have an opportunity to work for them because they're in resentment about the money, about getting the money. So if they can just do their best to have gratitude for that job, have gratitude for the money in their account, that clears the energy. Then you start new, and then you get to lean into, okay, universe, show me an opportunity that's gonna double my money. Show me an opportunity where I'm gonna turn a dollar into 10. You have to be, I think, very specific in your ask and request with the universe when you talk about money, because money likes that. Money likes to be put to work. Money likes to be able to grow. Like, who doesn't? You know, like we all are geared to grow, to move. We're not geared to be complacent or stagnant.

Well said. Well said. So let's talk about these— I'll call them myths when it comes to investing. There are things that people think about the stock market that are absolutely the case. You know, like you said, you want to be comfortable for those that are getting ready to invest. Be comfortable with the idea of losing money, right? Because you won't hit it out of the park every time. Spot on. Spot on. What would be one of the biggest myths that you've come across with regard to the stock market that I'll say you're on a personal mission to, to break?

Yeah, the biggest one is diversification. Um, I am on a personal mission to break that myth for people. Diversification does not— Warren Buffett said it best. He said diversification is a tax that people pay when they don't know what they're doing.

Hmm.

You know, like when you hear that coming out of the mouth of one of the most successful investors in the history of the world, you have to listen up, right? Like, okay, so if we know diversification is a tax that you pay when you don't know what you're doing, then you just figure out something that you want to do well and lean into that. Take the risk. So as I mentioned, very first thing we talked about in this podcast is get comfortable taking risk. Most people shy away from it because it's embedded into them. Oh, don't— careful now, you know, you might, you know, careful. Like, look at little kids, careful, you might fall. Well, a small child has, you know, how far to fall? Very, you know, the body's so nimble at that age, like the bones aren't even solidified yet. They're just like this little rubbery little thing. But we understand because we do it out of love. You know, we do it out of love. And then we hear from our parents, Well, if you want to be successful, you go to school, you get a good job, you get married, you have 2.3 kids, whatever. I never figure out that kid thing. How do you do— how do you get the point something or other? Um, and then you pay your bills the rest of your life. Like, never in the history, I think, have I ever come across— I've worked with thousands, tens, probably at this point tens of thousands of people, and I've never had one say, oh yeah, my parents said, you know what, do your own thing, follow your bliss, Live your dream, go, go after it in a big way. In terms of what your intuition is telling you. We just don't hear that.

Interesting. You bring up the parent-child dynamic. We're talking about things at, I'll say, a pretty high level to a degree, right? For most of the listeners, I'd assume that the comprehension is spot on, right, that everyone's getting picking up what you're putting down, so to speak. But if we were to break it down to, let's say, you're walking into a room full of 8th graders, um, how would you teach financial literacy or the, the building blocks of investing to, to that group of people?

Great question, man. So 8th graders, I would say to them, okay, um, tell me your favorite restaurant. Like, what, what's the favorite place that you like to go to? And they'd say, I don't know, Paul, what would they say? Pizza Hut. Okay, they like Pizza Hut. So I'd say, all right, now let's look at Pizza Hut. There are people who work there for money. They're trading their time for money. There are people who eat there, so they're giving their money for that product, right? And then there are people who actually own shares of that business. So it has to be a publicly traded company. And they participate in the revenue growth of that business. They actually earn money off of the business without working. Which do you want to be in that scenario?

Oh, now that's really good. So, of course, you know, I've got to play the child that doesn't know. They say, well, Pizza Hut's my favorite food. They're my favorite company. So, I, you know, I think it'd be great to eat there and even work there because You know, owning it sounds so tough. Why, why would I want to own it? Like, how, how would you break that down? Again, we're talking 13, 14-year-olds that may or may not have, uh, love money.

They want money. 13 and 14-year-olds are tuning their vision into how do I get money? Like, what is my first job? They're babysitting, they're mowing lawns, they're shoveling driveways, they're doing everything they can. I know when I was 14, I was bussing tables at Bennigan's, you know, like, like I was doing everything I could to get money. And, and I think most are geared toward that way. And I think if you put it that way, you basically have three. You're either a consumer, you're a doer, that, that worker bee, you know, trading your time for money, making someone else rich, or you're earning, you're getting your money to work for you rather than you working so hard for it. So, I would do my best with that 13 or 14-year-old and just maybe they missed something that I had just said, but I would start to like, hey, when I met my wife, the kids were 6 and 8 years old. She had 2 children with a previous marriage. And right at 6 and 8, I just started talking stocks with them at dinner. And I would give examples like that of Burger King or whatever, McDonald's, whatever it is. I'm not into fast food, so I don't really know the chains, but you know what I'm saying? Those types of situations. Situations, right? And I got them thinking about that. And then by the age of 12, they were investing on their own, and they bought Apple shares because, you know what, they love all their Apple devices and they love that product. So now they are 23 and 22— or 21, she'll be 22 at the end of the summer— and that those investment dollars have paid for their college.

Wow.

I mean, it's been a huge, beautiful journey to watch them, but I, I have to think that it was all those times at dinner, those conversations around money at such a young age. They were like sponges. You know, they were like, "Oh, we love," you know, "We want to know more. We want to know more." And I would just freely share and talk about ideas. And then when they bought Apple stock and held it for 7 years, that stock did so well. And God bless Apple, it put him through college. So, it's been a really amazing experience. And I encourage all parents to start talking to your kids like that, like give them sound advice around money and what's worked for you. And then so you can even say to them, you know, I've had a job for— I've been in the job market 20, 30 years, however long someone's been in it. And, you know, yeah, I've earned a paycheck and everything, but I've paid taxes, which I think, frankly, are constitutionally illegal. Illegal. But anyway, we're still required because the system is set up. But they've had to pay taxes on that money. So that's dwindled the— their buying power. And with the dollar that keeps continuing to drop and become weaker by the minute, by the printing presses being fired up, we now find ourselves in a situation that is economically one of the most challenging we will hopefully ever have. And if we want to make it better for the next generation, we really have to be mindful about these money moves that we're making. And now more than ever, when you invest, you have to do it in a way that you're outpacing inflation, right? Because, you know, like studies show, what is it, 85, 90% of our dollar has eroded ever since the dollar got taken off the gold standard. Like, it's just become almost worthless. And we make— we want— so, so therefore we have to really get into it investing. We don't have a choice anymore because the banks aren't going to pay you enough interest on your money to outpace inflation because then you're taxed on that. Yeah. So you need to do things like that, you know. So I'll give you— I'll give your listeners a really cool thing I ended up doing with a real estate deal early on. I, I found an 8-unit apartment building that I wanted to start with. That was my, like, my first building that I wanted to buy. And it was, it needed work. It was next to another property that I owned, which was a 4-unit, because I started, actually, I started the 4-unit as my personal residence, because if you buy 4 units or less, it's not considered commercial and you get to buy it in a just easier financing. Right. And so then the building next to me was 8 units. I was like, oh, I just like, I had my sights set on this building, you know, and I would talk every time I saw the owner, I'm like, hey, Don't forget, if you want to sell that building, I'm your buyer. And every— all the time I saw him, year after year, I would say that to him. And finally, he came to me and he said, I'm ready to sell. And I said, great, great, I'm your buyer. And I'm like, oh geez, because I had bought a few other things. So, I was like, how am I going to do this deal? And I realized I had an IRA. I rolled over my IRA from my 401 when I was working for Citigroup. And so, I had this IRA, but I didn't want to take money out of it because then I'm taxed, right, and penalized. I was like 33 years old. So I said to the bank, look, I want to buy this building and these are all the things I'm going to do to fix it up— new windows, new doors, new paint, new roof, like— and then I'm going to increase the rents because he had tenants in there for a long time paying below market rents. And so I said, if I give you my IRA and I do everything I say I'm going to do, and in 6 months I get the property reappraised and it meets your criteria of like, you know, 30% higher than where I bought it today, will you give me back my IRA? And they said, yeah, we'll do that. So put my IRA up as collateral. I didn't have to put any money down. In fact, I got money back at the closing because I rolled in a construction loan to make all the improvements on the building. So I went away from that deal with money in my pocket, did everything I said I was going to do, raise the rents, to just normal market rates and got my IRA back and had a phenomenal investment for many years. So, when you think about your asset base, think about how can I use this to do the next thing, like parlay into the next thing as leverage, right? Because we don't have to, you know, people are so fixated on, you know, Gotta do it by the book. Gotta come down, come to the deal with 20% down. It's like, no, you don't. You don't. There are so many other ways. You just got to get a little creative. And, you know, in order to have real financial success.

Well, that was the key word. And what a phenomenal story to share with the listeners. And as we begin to land the plane here, Jayden, just a couple of quick rapid-fire questions. I want to again preface this one. With the fact that I ask it to everyone. And again, I can't make you the exception, Jayden. We got to know, what's your middle name?

I don't have one.

Ah, so the wizard himself has no middle name. Well, that's an easy one to go by. All right. Interesting there. And I come across that every so often that there's a guest that just doesn't have a middle name. Some have 2 or 3, some have multiple first names. So, okay. Well, appreciate that when there's a space in there for it. Next question. This is really just for you. A minute or two of your best advice, wisdom, whatever you have there for the listeners. Just go ahead and speak to them. And, and again, I don't want to prompt it. I just want to give you that space to talk to the listeners as you'd like.

Yeah, I mean, we've talked about so many ideas and concepts. Do something. Just do something today. One thing, one thing that is going to make a difference in your life. Today. Don't wait till tomorrow. There's a sign that hangs in an English pub that says free beer tomorrow. Does anyone ever get free beer? They do not. We only have today. So right now I'm going to encourage you, stop what you're doing unless you're driving home or something or, you know, whatever. If you're working with heavy machinery, keep, keep doing what you're doing. But when you have a quiet moment, I want you to sit and pen to paper and write down one idea that you're going to take action with to improve your finances, to start with one thing, and then every day do something on your behalf that will make your finances better.

Excellent. Amazing words of wisdom. Thank you so much, Jayden, for gracing the show, gracing the audience. How can our listeners reach out to you, connect with you, learn about what you're up to and support your— again, you.

Well, thanks for asking. We're doing great things over at sterlingstockpicker.com. Uh, Sterling, just like Sterling Silver, Sterling Stock Picker. And that's what we do. We help people, novice investors all the way to experienced investors, pick winning stocks that will make a positive difference in your life. You only need 6 to 8 companies in your portfolio to grow your assets and make a meaningful difference in your finances. So connect with me over there. We have a platform, thousands of subscribers, a very close-knit community. I'm in there 3 or 4 times a week answering questions that people have. And I live stream through there each Monday, so connect in with me there.

Okay, perfect, perfect. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been another amazing episode of The Everyday Entrepreneur here on the Pope Replays podcast show. Again, this was a phenomenal time with Mr. Jaden Sterling, and I'm of course your host, Paul H. Flowers Jr. Until next time, we're thankful for you. We love that you're listening. You can be anywhere in the world, but you're here with us. So again, Jaden, thank you for your time. Listeners, thank you for yours. And until the next episode, bye for now.