American Consequences - November 2017

Kevin O’Leary

A CONVERSATION WITH...

because think about this: The average salary in America is $52,000, and if you were to take 10% of your paycheck each week at the age of 21 and put it away and put it into the stock market and become an investor, the market gives you generally 6% or 7%, on average, over a long period of time per year, even on those up-and-down years. But teaching people how to invest is not easy. But the point is, if they did, and they just put 10% away, they’d have $1.2 million or more when they’re 65, and so many of us don’t do that. And I just tell these kids, “Listen, there’s something you’re about to buy today that’s a piece of crap that you don’t need – another T-shirt, another pair of sneakers or running shoes – you don’t need it. Look at what you’ve got in your closet already. Instead, put that into the market.” that’s a piece of crap that you don’t need – another T-shirt, another pair of sneakers or running shoes – you don’t need it. Look at what you’ve got in your closet already. Instead, put that into the market.’ And then a few years ago, someone said to me, “Well, how can I do that, Kevin? If I only have $50 a week to invest and I want to buy Apple that’s $150 a share, how am I going to do that?” And then it hit me: If we could do ‘Listen, there’s something you’re about to buy today

fractional-share ownership, we could allow people to put $20 or $30 or $50 to work each week and buy a fraction of Apple, a fraction of Microsoft, a fraction of a company they like, and they’d own the stocks and watch them grow over time and mark-to-market. And they’d watch them going up and down every day on their cellphones, because that’s what those kids use. I’ve done that with an app called Beanstox . I partnered with DriveWealth, a dealer- broker. It’s become very popular in universities, and I say to the kids, “Put $5 to work this week. Put $10. Put $2. Put whatever you’ve got and start investing. There are 1,000 stocks on Beanstox, there are 200 ETFs. You can build an international portfolio $20 at a time.” That’s what I’m all about, and I tell these kids something else: “If you start thinking this way now, every month, put something away, you’ll be a millionaire when you retire. And that’s the best thing you can do for yourself.” And one last thought for everybody... I tell everybody, “What matters in life, whether it’s your marriage or whether it’s your business partners or how you treat people, just tell the truth. Think about it in the context of this: You fall in love with your significant other. The first time you lie to them, you lose 50% of the equity in that relationship forever. Forever and ever and ever. You can never get it back to where it was. So why don’t you just tell the truth every day, no matter how hard it is to say that?” That’s what my brand is all about.

76 | November 2017

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