What do you wish school had taught you about money?
I wish in school that they had taught us that making money on the margins and saving taxes and percentages and things like that is really the way to accumulate wealth. Anyone can earn money, but it’s about how you keep it and make it grow. We didn’t learn too much. We learned that money or that interest compounds and that it grows the longer you put it in, but in general it’s just a very abstract concept. I was like “What does this mean? What is maxing out your 401k?” I wish I knew how to decide whether to divide or rent. I’m trying to assess. I wish there had been a chapter about marriage and how to divide decisions and conquer when you’re married. I think that would have been very important. The one thing that I wish school had actually taught me about money and investing would be that’s probably the smartest asset classes to put your money into early on to compound that the best over time and get the greatest return, fixed income versus equities, the power of compounding interest.
What does wealth mean to you?
When I was younger I thought that being wealthy meant having a billion fancy cars and a big house and going on a ton of vacations. I think now wealth really means freedom. When you’re little you think of just a big house and what you see in the movies, but wealth means a lot more than just money at this point. The freedom not to have to worry about money, getting yourself into assets, putting those assets to work so that you’re making money off of your money, stay super healthy, have a work-life balance, enjoy your life, enjoy your time with your friends, not have to sweat the day-to-day. And so that’s what I think wealth is—safety means flexibility, optionality in life.
If you received a windfall of money, what would you do with it?
First thing I would do would buy real estate in New York City, can never go wrong. I would buy a house in Sagoponic. First thing I want to do with it is buy a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. Likely pretty conservatively put it into a bunch of index funds. I probably wouldn’t do anything with it at first because I wouldn’t know. I would need to talk to a tax accountant. I would invest, I’d put it in my company. I have a small funds that I trade electricity futures and that’s what I would put my money on. I have type 1 diabetes and I would invest in making insulin more accessible, thinking about different causes both within your family and within your community. Not necessarily because my parents have been very clear with me that they’re not leaving anything for me.
Probably buy a nice boat, really nice boat. I’d sail it to Italy. Traveling is the thing I enjoy the most with my family. I’d say probably buy some real estate. I think property in downtown Manhattan would be great too. Go to a farmers market and buy like $50 honey and eat spoonfuls of it in the kitchen without worry. Fancy honey. I would buy a boat and that would be the end of our wealth.
Who are you investing for?
I’m investing for my family, my future family, and just want to leave generational wealth, make sure that they’re taken care of. I think as we all establish our families and we think about school and investing in their education, we all think about how we want to live our lives and where we want to live and how we want to spend it. My goal is to gain a network and experiences to build a career and life that aligns with what I’m passionate about and that also pays for my lifestyle. Well I think about the future. I’m investing for a time where I’m no longer able to work as much or as well and then also for any sort of future people, whoever or however that form that might take. For those for them. I totally agree, my children and their children, myself and the opportunity to offer them great experiences for the next generation, for your kids, grandkids, your loved ones and whatever comes next.
Do you feel confident about your financial future?
I always feel nervous because the cost of living gets higher and higher, and I think that constantly makes me afraid. As of now I feel like I have the right tools, but as we said things are always changing and I feel like I’ll have to constantly update my toolbox to reflect that.
Do you feel like you have the information and tools you need to build wealth?
I think that it’s definitely good to have more information the earlier in life. Again the power of compounding interest is the eighth wonder of the world. The more you know earlier on, the more powerful that is over the long term. I feel like there’s a lot of information out there so sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming, but it’s out there. It just takes a little bit of digging. No I don’t. I am actually in the process of looking for an adviser at the moment and it does feel like a very difficult field to navigate some of those things, but I think that takes a long time to accumulate. Like your network, your advisors, your kind of philosophy to working with wealth takes time to develop all that. I feel like I do have the right tools and access to get there. I mean it’s all about network and just learning your craft really well.
Would you be interested in learning more about financial education?
Yeah potentially, it depends on obviously future circumstances but I think more information is always helpful, absolutely. I think that financial education is so crucial. It’s something that Harrison knows I’m really passionate about specifically with young creatives in New York who don’t have the same industry exposure, and it makes me really excited that there are more and more communities that are focused on teaching young people about wealth. Absolutely, I agree. I think it would be super helpful and I’m glad to be here and glad it exists. I could learn more about asset classes that I don’t know a lot about. So I work in the commodity space, energy space, so I know a lot about that but there’s asset classes like private equity and real estate, things that I don’t really have a lot of access to through other financial instruments that I would love to learn about. I love to even invest on. I think that’s very helpful in educating people whether it’s in high school or in college, the importance of saving and investing to grow long-term wealth.
