December 30, 2025 • 32 mins
On this week’s SoloPod, we get a financial education. Angela Rye talks with Ashley M. Fox about how to build wealth. No crypto scams or pyramid schemes, only tried-and-true methods of investing, and quick tips to help you begin your journey toward financial security.
Ashley Marie Fox is a former Wall Street Analyst turned financial educator. She is the CEO of Empify, a business dedicated to teaching adults and kids how to build wealth.
Follow Ashley @_ashleymfox on Instagram!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native lamdpod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome Home, Everybody. It is another solo pod. I'm your host,
Angela Raie or Native lamppod, and today I am I
don't know if I want to say nerve sighted, scar sighted,
eager sighted. I'm excited, but I also got some nerves
about this topic. Let me tell you why money is funny, mane.
It really just is. I want to be rich. I
(00:33):
have had some high moments, I've had some low moments.
I think, at forty six years old, I am so
ashamed about where I am financially.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I feel like I should be much better off.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I had a dream of where I would be at
this age, you know, probably when I was five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
twenty five. You know, like all of that, like so
many of us, and there are things that happen in
our lives where we feel out of control of our finances.
And I think, right now, in this environment we are
in this country, it's definitely one of them. There are
so many unpredictable factors that dictate our financial outcomes that
(01:10):
we're not in control of. So how do we gain
control of this space that we so desperately need to
have control over? And I got to tell y'all, this
ain't none of my business. It should be my business,
but this ain't an area where I excel. So I
called it in a lifeline. I saw this sister on
Instagram and I was so intrigued by what she was saying.
(01:32):
I have a financial advisor. He's done some amazing work
for me. He's grown my retirement account and all of that.
But I'm also someone that has withdrawn. Oh they hate
to hear that from my retirement account. You know, there
are places in life, For example, I talk about this
all the time in church, in law school, I would
tithe off of my student loans. That ain't my increase,
(01:55):
that's my decrease. What you're doing, sis, I don't know,
but I've been afraid to ask questions. My family did
well financially, but we didn't necessarily budget the best, and
so I've avoided the things where I've been afraid. As
we go in to twenty twenty six, I said, you
know what, self, We're gonna.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Turn over a new lead.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We're gonna ask the tough questions, we are gonna get
the good advice. And if we want to think and
grow rich, like my guy Napoleon said, we gotta talk
to somebody about it cause you ain't the one.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So there is someone who's the one.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And before we bring this sister on, I want to
roll this clip.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Did you know that dor in this holiday season, for
every pair of Airmaxes that you buy your family, you
can buy one share of n Video, a company that
has worth over four trillion dollars. And for every pair
of sunglasses that you buy your family during holiday season,
let's take a pair of givon Chi glasses, you can
buy three shares of Amazon, the company that everybody's shopping
at door holiday season.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And get this.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
For every Louis Baton, perse Louis Vaton Duffel you buy
your family, do you know that you can own LVMH,
Louis Vaton, Moa Hennessy and buy Oprah sixty shares of
this company and they own Louis Baton, Moet.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Hennessy, Celine, Lowave, Sophora, companies that a lot of people
are going to be shopping at door holiday season.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Listen, we are going to spend a ton of money
during holiday season.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But what if we give the gift of wealth.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
What if we start owning some of the companies We're
giving all of our money too. This is the way
for us to create ownership and create a financial legacy
for the people we love.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, just so y'all know, I still want to make
sure we supporting black businesses and all of that too.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I know she does too.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
We are thrilled to have joining native Lampid today Ashley M.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Fox.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
She is the founder and CEO of Emplify, and she
has become my ad hoc financial planner and advisor. She
doesn't even know now, I just gotta follow the advice.
So Ashley, help us to stay out and happy holidays.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Happy holidays. How are you doing? How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Oh man, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'm trying to be better though, So just so you know,
while we recorded this podcast, we know it's gonna air
a little bit later, but.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I paid played the power ball today.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You might not like that. You probably rather mea that
play my investments. We're gonna get that, right, Ashley, But
I just ain't gonna lie to you. It's one point
seven billion today. So I just sent my dad to
the store, my best friend to the store, my other
friends to the store. We just gotta see what happens.
By the time this podcast airs, we might be having
a different conversation.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
But I want to hear from you what you think,
what you think, what should I do? Help, help help?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I think I think the first part is the is
owning the fact that you know you deserve more help,
You own the fact that you have made mistakes. I
think I love that you are fearless and vulnerable. I
think a lot of times when we talk about money,
we're embarrassed. We don't talk about it as a taboo topic,
when in reality, we all deserve to have wealth. But
if we are just constantly spending our money, we are
(04:46):
always guaranteeing that we're decreasing our net worth. And I'm
not telling everybody that you have to go start a
business or quit your job. But every time you spend money,
somebody else is building wealth. So why not consider owning
the companies we're get even our money to we have.
We live in a world now where there are trillion
dollar businesses because of our consumption, and so it's really
(05:06):
about shifting our mindset where you don't have to go
build a big business. You don't have to start with
thousands of dollars. I always tell people my company, impithy, like,
you can start with five dollars. If we have the
five dollars, our way to a million. How about we
getting the habit of paying ourselves so while we go
and play the lottery ticket, I would also recommend paying
you because you.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Matter just as much as that lottery ticket.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, now here's a cool question for you. Had to
tell the truth. When was the last time you played
the lottery?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I've actually never played the lottery before.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay, Ashley in here showing out, y'all, she's showing out.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Okay, tell me why this is a good question. Tell
me why.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I guess it just was never on my to do list.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I didn't come from a family who played the lottery,
and I just if I'm being honest, Like I went
to Howard, I wanted to work on Wall Street, and
so when I got my first internship on Wall Street
making money, I'm around people with money, and so I
think I started to adapt to that environment and I
just wasn't around people who played the lot like I'm
pretty sure if my environment was surrounded by that. But
I was in an environment of people who invested, and
(06:10):
so I'm watching millionaires and billionaires and that'st their money,
so that's what I'm doing. So I think it's just
I am a product of the environment I was in
post Howard University and so much that you can't tell
me I'm not going to be a billion dollar CEO
because I'm around billionaires. I'm in their bank accounts, showing wealthy,
wealthy people how to protect their money, how to preserve it,
(06:30):
how to grow it. And I'm literally like, successful these clues,
I'm going to follow the blueprint. So I just wasn't
always around it, so I can't say that if I was,
I wouldn't. But in reality, I have the power in
my mind to create whatever it is I want to do,
however it comes to me.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So I love that. So talk about that blueprint.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What is the blueprint that you have learned and seen
from advising billionaires and millionaires on their path forward to
financial success and wealth?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
What is that blueprint?
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I think the first thing is you have to get
really clear on what you want. I think sometimes we
are afraid to dream because we base our future on
our current reality. So despite where you are, what you
look like, how much money or your credit score?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
What do you want life to look like?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
And so then reverse engineering get so we sat here
and think, Okay, how much money do I want coming
in every single month, whether I choose to work or
I don't want to work, how much is that? And
then getting to a point where you accept how much
money you have and make a decision to pay yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
When I say pay yourself, that doesn't mean using a
savings account.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
That means investing it, giving yourself the opportunity to grow
your network. And so one of the biggest things I
saw on Wall Street investing was a standard right like
they had multiple accounts connected to different goals. So when
I started working, I had a checking account and I
had a saving as account. But I'm in these bank
accounts and they have multiple accounts with multiple titles for
multiple reasons. And so I started to open accounts for
(07:54):
different purposes. So this is the account that I have
where I'm going to buy my house, This is my
travel the world account, this is my I am built
for this account just.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
In case something were to happen.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So I started to separate my money based off of
the purpose and the goal. So every account number you
have should be in alignment with a desire, a goal
that you have. And then also paying myself. And when
I say pay myself, I'm investing in my brokers account.
And I know you mentioned like your retirement account. You
have to really think about where you're going to need money,
when you're going to need it, and why you're going
(08:26):
to need it. Right, So I'm thirty six years old,
the government sells us to work until where sixty sixty
five years old and then wait for Social Security.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I mean, we also grew up in an era. I
know I did. You talked to go to school, get
the job.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You get the job, and you pay for school, and
if you're special, you get a government job. And we
now know nowadays government jobs aren't even safe. Right, So
we can't just rely on that college degree and then
just sitting mountains of debt. We have to do something more.
And so my more was yes, I had a job.
My more was yes I set money aside for saving.
(08:58):
But my more was also investing in these companies that
are literally making millionaires and billionaires every day, and their
network is growing because I'm consuming their products right, and
so really opening a brokerage account, which there is no
minimum requirement to start, and just starting with companies you know,
you use and believe in. And so I just saw
wealthy people investing in their brokerage account. I saw them
(09:19):
investing for their children in their brokerage account. So I said, look,
I'm gonna start with three hundred dollars. I'm going to
open a brokerage account, and I'm just going to start investing.
And that was literally years ago when I did this,
and I'm just continuously growing. And the other thing I
would say, as you make more, you pay yourself more.
So while you might start with twenty dollars a month,
let's say every ninety days you now at you put
(09:42):
twenty five a month, you go to thirty dollars a month,
and let's say you get that bonus. So I started
with three hundred dollars, but every time I grew or
my income grew, I invested more, so much that investing
no longer was just an option.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was like a bill.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
That I paid every single month, the same way I
pay my cell phone bill or my car note. I'm
actually paying Ashley so much that if Ashley never makes
money again, at least she has something working for her
on the side.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And I think that's what we need.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
To do, just starting with what we have, but getting
to the destination of who we want to be and
who we ultimately deserve to be.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I want to say this as a lawyer. Ashley is
not giving any of y'all financial advice. She is talking
about her own experience and sharing her journey. If you
try it at home, you try it at home, but
it is not on her one way or the other.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
If you win and lose or draw.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So, Ashley, I want to also ask you about this
because I think this is some of what happens for people,
and I'll actually own this. You're talking about a brokerage account.
I talked about a retirement fund the video that we
showed earlier. You talked about investing in some of the
companies that we know we buy bags from and kind
(10:53):
of luxury items.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Where do you think is the on ramp?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Like do people start with like an eye roth ira
to get started? Do they start with this twenty dollars
twenty five dollars set aside plan? Do they go get
a life insurance policy? If you're a young professional. I'm
not young anywhere. But if you're a young professional in
this space starting out, where do you recommend people start.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So it's a couple things.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
So the first thing most people know is their retirement
account at their job. So you're four to one K,
four to three B, and I recommend getting that account now.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
While you can't touch it till fifty nine and a half,
you want to.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Get that account because one, they're automatically taking money from
your check. I would challenge you to know the type
of investments the mutual funds in there. But if your
company matches you, that is a return on an investment.
That is free money. And that's one of the things
I did when I worked on Wall Street. I was
investing what they were willing to contribute. That is free money. Now,
although it is that long term strategy, if you are
(11:48):
let's say you're under forty or your thirties or your twenties,
if you don't want to wait till sixty to retire,
retirement is not an age.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's a dollar amount.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
So now I'm thinking, okay, yes, I'm setting money aside
for sixty and I'm in my twenties. I want to
retire at forty, so getting a brokerage account allows you
allows that flexibility. There's no age requirement, there's no minimum
or maximum to start with, and you're not penalized just
in case you need the money, so you're able to
start small, bill big. And those retirement accounts they have
(12:17):
income limitations, they have age restrictions, and their penalties.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
If you try to withdraw.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Not that it's bad, but you have to understand every
account you have is for a different purpose and for
a different season in your life. And the reason why
I like brokerage accounts is because you have flexibility.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Right Like, I've been kicked out of places before.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
When I left my Wall Street job, I got kicked
out of my Harlem apartment and I maxed out every
all my credit cards eighty thousand dollars in debt.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
But I had the stocks in.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
My investment account and I sold those and that's how
I was able to build my company Implify. There were
times where I had to sell my stocks to make
payroll in my business. So you have the flexibility to withdraw,
whereas your retirement accounts are just that set for you
to retirement. So I'm planning for my life now and
life and you want to be able to do both. Now,
when it comes to life insurance, that is more so,
(13:05):
how can I set my family up? That's the number
one reason you would get life insurance if you have
family that you want to pass down wealth to. And
I think everybody I encourage to put yourself in that
position to take care of your family regards, especially if
your family.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Is dependent on you.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
But there's other life insurance policies where you can build
wealth and extract that money while you're alive. But it's
a case by case basis, so depending on your age,
your health, your income. A brokerage account has no color,
has no credit score, has no gender. It looks like
all of us. We can build wealth, and we can
do so with a brokerage account. So whether it's my
(13:39):
eight year old niece who has a brokerage account, whether
it's somebody who's in their sixties or their seventies, it's
one of the most easiest ways to start with as
little but just in case you need it, it's liquid
enough for you to be able to withdraw without any
major rules or restrictions.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
So with the brokerage account, are there certain companies that
you like ranked and you check like these are the
best companies to do a brokerage account with? And why
and explain for people at home what is a brokerage account?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
So brokerage account is simple. It connects the buyer of
an investment to the seller. It takes five minutes opening accounts.
You don't learn anything from this session. If you aren't investing,
at least get a brokerage account right now. When you
open a brokerage account as an individual, you want to
make sure that you know how much you want to
start with. But I come from a Wall Street background,
(14:31):
so when I started investing in twenty eleven twenty twelve,
a lot of the new apps didn't exist. They weren't
talking about finance on social So the accounts that I
use are accounts I see the millionaires a billionaires using.
So when it comes to just even the members inside
of our WB app, I like Fidelity, I like Charles Schwab, I.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Like Vanguard, I like E Trade.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Now, if you're starting small, both Smart small meeting let's
say fifty dollars or less. Fidelity and Charles Schwab lets
you buy fractional shares, and fractional shares mean if the
share is the the cost of the stock, the investment
you would make is one hundred dollars, but you only.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Have fifty, you're able to get a half of a share.
Both Fidelity and Charles Schwab allow you to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I'm also the type of person when you have my money,
I like to call you at two o'clock in the morning.
I like to be able to have that customer service
access at twenty four to seven support. Now that's not
to say the newer apps are bad. You'll never hear
me talk bad about a person or a company. It's
just they're just new, so they might not have the
customer support, they might not have the access or all
the features. But those are the top accounts that I use,
(15:31):
My family use, the members inside of our app use,
those are the companies that you can utilize. Now, again,
it doesn't mean the newer apps are bad. They just
might not have all the features and benefits, but they
serve the same purpose for you.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, what about crypto. So there's been this kind of
crypto boom. People are like, oh, okay, well I don't
need to invest in stock now because now there's this
there's bitcoin and there's all of this stuff there.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
People buy trump Coin.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Like there are all of these these entities, famous folks
who are coming up with their own cryptocurrency. What do
you say to folks who are relying now on crypto
to make their money quick? And all of the influencers
online who've talked about how rich they become on crypto.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So there's two things.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
One, I'm not an expert in crypto, so I won't
even stay hearing a lot of you and tell you
what to buyer how to do it. The second thing,
I would say one of the words you said, and
you don't even realize you said it was quick. When
it comes to building wealth and just how I've learned
to do it, there is nobody that I worked with
that got rich quick.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And I think we for so long we may have
been without that.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Our desire to have money fast, we think that's what
we're gonna need, when in reality, you can't eat all
your food on a Thanksgiving plate quickly. So when it
comes to building wealth, this is a journey. That is,
it becomes a of who you are. Not saying that
crypto has not made people wealthy. I'm not here to
count anybody's pockets. But the one thing I can say
is not regulated. So if you are somebody who is
(17:10):
afraid of losing money or not being able to get
your money and things like that, it's not regulated.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's so new that it's not regulated, not that it won't.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
But just because something is sexy and it's hot doesn't
mean it's going to change your life right now and
might not satisfy your risk tolerance. So I can't speak
to how to do it, what to do, but I
can tell you that if you are not someone that
wants to take risk and you want regulation and you
want protection and all of that, it might not be
the best thing to start. Maybe as time progresses there'll
(17:38):
be a lot more regulation. But just because something is
sexy and hot the same day that is hot tomorrow,
everybody's talking bad about it. So but in reality, where
I spend my money and the companies I can't live without,
they've been around for years and I am more okay
investing at least in those as well as as an
Ashley Fox and in her business.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
But it's not an area that I can and speak to.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
But I can say, please be mindful of the risk
associated with something that is not regulated.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So let's compare this kind of new market to your
career trajectory. So you left Wall Street and you started
your company. Yes, what do you say to people are like, well,
you went and started something new. You bet on yourself
and even if they don't use crypto, that's fine. But
you went and bet on yourself. What do you say to,
you know, a potential customer, a potential client that is like, well,
(18:29):
why should we bet on you? Since you also you
went to learn from an old, established thing, so old
JP Morgan Chase.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
This is where I Bang Too benefited.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
From the slave trade, right, we know that it's so
old that it benefited from the slave trade. But you
left and you went and you bet on yourself, even
pulling out money from your own stock investment.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So the first thing I would say before you bet
on Ashley, I need you to bet on you because
anything that my company Emplithy does, anything that you see
me teach on social media, things are not taught, They
are caught. You have to be ready to receive information
so I can pour all day into you. But if
you don't think you're worthy of a seat at the table,
and don't choose you first.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
None of it is going to work.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
But I can also say my I'm also not somebody
who just woke up one day like I think I'm
gonna teach finance, Like I went to Howard, majored in finance,
worked on Wall Street, been in this industry for over
sixteen years. And also everything that I teach, I do right.
So everything that I teach that whether you see me
on the internet, you're in our app, you're taking our classes.
(19:31):
Everything is what I do for myself and my family.
Because I'm not a fan of reading finance books. They're
kind of boring to me. So it's a lot easier
to speak from my heart and to talk about my experience.
But I also believe too, I know what it feels
like not to have money. Like while I was on
Wall Street, I was the only black female on my floor.
I was one of the lowest pay people on my floor,
making good money. But in reality, when you're in a
(19:53):
room of millionaires and billionaires and your annual salary is
the fee that they pay in hundreds of their mutue funds,
just one of them, I can tell you I know
what it feels like to notice like I'm not good enough.
I know what it feels like to quit my job,
to bet on Ashley, to lose everything, to then have
to go live in my parents' college for two years.
But the one thing that kept me going was I
(20:14):
could not unsee the wealth that Wall Street exposed me to.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So everything that I do is because of what I saw.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
I'm pretty sure if I didn't see money, I wouldn't
believe we could create money. And so I just think
my experience is very diversified because not only can I
sit here and talk about a stock, we can sit
here and have an entire estate plan conversation because I
worked in asset management. So if you had at least
twenty five million dollars, you can't just go to a
regular bank. Right You're talking to hedge funds, You're talking
(20:41):
to private equity funds and state planners, capital advisors, investors.
There's an entire ecosystem that you need to surround your wealth.
And that's essentially when I left my Wall Street job,
I'm like, for something we're using every day, why is
it not taking.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Our school system.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You shouldn't have to major in finance work on Wall
Street to get this information. I didn't really start this
business to make money. I just found a way to
make money. But in reality, if I wanted to make
money out of stayed on Wall Street, and I wouldn't
have went through what I went through.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But I also know what it feels like to be
the people that I serve.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I know what it feels like to feel unworthy and
not have money and not be able to make credit
card payments because I'm trying to bet on myself. So
the return you see of Ashley Marie Fox today was
not the Ashley July twelve, twenty and thirteen when I
left my job. And I think it came from my
heart when I decided to do this, not.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
To make money.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I just found a way to create wealth, showing the
world how they can do it as well too.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I'm telling you now what I am doing while we're here.
In case you're like, what are you doing? Looking down?
I'm on your page unemplified and it can provide a
wealth Builder membership, and I'm getting that annual membership. Now
I'm betting on myself and the lottery. Hey, I normally
don't pay. You know what's so funny? You talk We
(21:59):
talked to about the lottery earlier, and I said, and
you were like, I'm not around people who played lottery.
My dad played the lottery so much. I'd be like,
you won the lottery right now, right, And I don't
know what it's been lately, Ashley, this dog gone powerball
meant so high. I'm like, okay, I didn't played twice
and that's the first time in my life. I literally
was on the phone my friend like what am I.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Supposed to ask for? Like I really didn't even know.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So I want to just I want you to know
that too, Like it's not normal for me, but I
do want to bet on myself. So you have an
annual membership for Implify, and I'm going I'm subscribing right now.
I got a code that was SI. So that's how
I'm investing in myself going into twenty twenty six. How
else would you encourage people who are watching to invest
(22:44):
in themselves, invest in their families, invest in their communities.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I think it's just about time we make this a standard.
I think we let go of the fear, we let
I mean, we live in a time where, like you said,
it's uncertain, but at the end of the day, I'm
not about to let let the next three four years
go by and be dictate what I see in the media.
Nobody has paid off my dad, nobody has started my business.
At the end of the day, the only person coming
to save us is the person in the mirror. And
(23:09):
until you start loving the person in the mirror, nothing
is going to change. Because it is possible for us
to create wealth. We are at the center of the
stock market. If we don't spend any money at all,
there is no market, there is no company, there is
no billionaire. So in reality, I'm not telling you you
have to go build a billion dollar business, but I
can tell you that if you choose to live in
this country, there are ways for you to build wealth
(23:30):
where you don't have to just be dependent on your job.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
But you have to understand you can't work or save
your way to wealth.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
The times are different, you are different, and you have
to let go of the fact that you're behind.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
You have to let go of the.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Fact that you can't do this, or that is scared
or everybody's trying to scam me, like you cannot afford
to not be better with your money at this point,
because we cannot rely on anybody. But ourselves and especially
those of you who have families like we have to
set the standard of what what wealth looks like.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
In our community. We have to start talking about it
at the dinner table.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
We have to start embodying, embodying it, talking about it,
immersing ourselves in this language so that we understand what
moves this economy.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And I think once you understand that it's a game
and that.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
You are the star player on the court, but you
know the rules, it's a lot easier for you to maneuver.
Just let go of the fact that you have to
have it all together. Every day I wake up trying
to figure it out. I too feel like I want
to be in a better place financially. But you also
have to accept the fact you did your best. You
did not come for money, you weren't blessed with this information.
(24:34):
It's not taught in our school system. But you did
your best. All I'm asking in twenty twenty six bet
on you this time? How about you fill your cup
and say, look, I'm paying me and I'm okay if
it's ten dollars. But I know if I start today,
the next five ten years of my life will be
totally different because we worked all these years, we worked ten, fifteen,
twenty thirty forty years.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
How about we just pay ourselves for one just one year?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
About we just.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Pay ourselves and create the habit of somebody who's a
wealth builder.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I love it. I wish that this had apple pae.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm doing this right now, trying to.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Hurry up and get this right. I'm being a wealth builder.
So let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
If you were to tell someone you know that may
not have the money to be a wealth builder on emplify,
what are three things that people can do going into
twenty twenty six, especially if they're like, Okay, my financial
literacy is really illiteracy. The narrative I have around money
(25:37):
multi generationally and my family says that I'm supposed to
be broke or it looks like I'm going to end
up broke. What are the things that you say to
people to say like, no, that didn't have to be
your story.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So the first thing so everyone wish she's referring to.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
We have a Wealth Buildings Community app, which is I
like to call like the Netflix of finance. It's where Angela,
You'll have access to over ten different boot camps from
buying your first stop to life insurance to retirement planning.
It's kind of like if you were to go to
a Harvard or finance where you can move at your
own pace and learn right. So it gives us in
the palm of your hand with the school system for
God to give us. Now, if in fact you are
(26:13):
not a member, there's a lot of free stuff you
can start with. The first thing is on social media.
I'm always teaching on social media, Underscore, Asking and Fox, but.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
She is That's where I found her, y'all, That's where
I found her.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
But also we have free classes, right, So if you
go to Amplify, emp Ify, dot Link, slash invest, there's
a free class helping you build your twenty twenty six glueprint,
starting from the basic to getting the first account open.
But just having those free resources I think helps as
you enter your way to getting better and more confident.
(26:44):
The other thing I would challenge everybody to do and
go look on the financial news, whether it's Yahoo, Finance,
CNBC and just find an article that intrigues you. Right,
I just challenge you twice a week because when you
think about becoming fluent in the language, you have to
read it. You have to speak it, you have to
be around people who are speaking it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Or you can't be fluent.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
So instead of trying to find complicated things to talk
about or read about, find an article about a company
you know, start to research, and start to immerse yourself
in the language of money. And the other thing I
would do is change your environment. Are you around people
who want to grow financially. Are you around people who
are committed to self development, Because sometimes you are a
product of your environment, and sometimes it takes you to
(27:28):
reach out to somebody to build that connection or to
put yourself in those uncomfortable spaces. I think one of
the best things that happened to me on Wall Street,
while I was the only black woman, while I did
feel not.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Good enough, it leveled my mindset up.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I started to travel because I'm around billionaires and I'm
seeing what they're doing with their money in life. And
so surround yourself in an environment that you might have
to go find. And I challenge you to control us
on your timeline, control us on your television, control what
you're reading, and allow yourself to become the person you
want to be. But sometimes you gotta let go with
who you used to be. To become the person you
(28:02):
deserve to be, and that's probably the hardest part. So
I would say surround yourself around a different group of
people and just immercer that. That's why we created our app,
because you can't talk about these things very rarely when
you find it on social media and you don't and
our families are not ready, and sometimes you have to
be the change maker in your family. You have to
be the one that starts the conversation. Like I was
(28:23):
the first person that opened the brokerage account for my family.
I got their life beloors, I got their brokerage account.
But I knew now they're doing it, but it took time.
But sometimes you have to be that person and sometimes
you have to do it alone. But I think those
are just some things that we can do. So there
are a lot of free resources Emplify, dot link, slash invest.
Also there's a ton of stuff on impify dot com
(28:44):
as well, But even outside of just emplify, you have
to make.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
A choice this year and choose you choose wealth, choose possibility,
choose I don't want lack anymore. I want abundance and
that is something you deserve to have. But you have
to choose use.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Abundance, and it's not gonna be given to you.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You know what I love the most about this conversation today, Ashley,
is there's so much of what you said that sounds
exactly like what we tell people about getting involved in
the political process. And so this is an opportunity really
for me to embark on this journey, humble myself and
do the thing that I tell people to do about politics.
Just read something, just start somewhere, surround yourself in a community.
(29:27):
I'm surrounded by people that do well with money. But
it's the part of the conversation I'm like, ah, and
I tune out. So this, I think is this is good.
So hopefully you can check on me periodically.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
And be like what you're doing doing all right over there? Yeah, i'mna,
I'm gonna check in.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I'mnna make sure my my my brokerage account is where
you say it needs to be. I'm gonna set aside money.
I'm gonna take your advice on what because I'm asking
you to give me some free advice on where to start,
and then you can hold me accountable to it. Yes, No,
I want to invest more than I spend.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Will be the go.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You just got to start investing. We'll get there, but
at least getting that.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
And she said my bar too.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Hi, y'all, it's okay to spend. I like nice things,
but I invest in too. You don't have to choose
this or that. It's this and that. We don't have
to sacrifice. We just got to make more money. Like,
let's just let's do what we want, but let's just
choose you and pay you, because if not, we're always
going to feel like we're working for the rest of
our life.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So now it's son to just give your money a
job description. That's all.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Absolutely, I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Well, thank you so much, Ashley in Fox y'all, she
runs implified, please go and check out the site yard
and signed up. I'm about to be in my little
boot camp and my stock boot camp. I'm gonna come back.
Sounded like a financial boss. It'll make sure I passed
Ashley's test first though. Thank you so so much.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I appreciate it bad to have it. Okay, everybody, welcome home.
I hope that y'all will join me on this journey.
I want to do better. I am too old to
be playing these kiddie games.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
With my money.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So if your money's funny and ain't acting right, y'all
join me on this journey and let us figure out
a pathway to pay ourselves. As actually said, because we
deserve it. We deserve abundance and every good thing. So
let us take that spirit into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Let us start from wherever we are, and let us
just go. Y'all.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Set a little money aside, and let's invest it. I'm
trying to get better. I hope y'all will join me
in it. And if you're judging me, you can send
me a comment and tell me. If you're not and
you want to join the journey, you can tell me
and send a comment. If you just want to figure
this out together, you can send me a comment or
whatever it is. Let's go, y'all. We have a lot
to do and not a lot of time, so let's
(31:40):
get started. What are your twenty twenty six resolutions? I
want to hear about them. Send me those two. Send
me videos you don't we like videos?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Y'all? All right, welcome home, see you next time.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Native lampod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Native lamdpod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome Home, Everybody. It is another solo pod. I'm your host,
Angela Raie or Native lamppod, and today I am I
don't know if I want to say nerve sighted, scar sighted,
eager sighted. I'm excited, but I also got some nerves
about this topic. Let me tell you why money is funny, mane.
It really just is. I want to be rich. I
(00:33):
have had some high moments, I've had some low moments.
I think, at forty six years old, I am so
ashamed about where I am financially.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I feel like I should be much better off.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I had a dream of where I would be at
this age, you know, probably when I was five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
twenty five. You know, like all of that, like so
many of us, and there are things that happen in
our lives where we feel out of control of our finances.
And I think, right now, in this environment we are
in this country, it's definitely one of them. There are
so many unpredictable factors that dictate our financial outcomes that
(01:10):
we're not in control of. So how do we gain
control of this space that we so desperately need to
have control over? And I got to tell y'all, this
ain't none of my business. It should be my business,
but this ain't an area where I excel. So I
called it in a lifeline. I saw this sister on
Instagram and I was so intrigued by what she was saying.
(01:32):
I have a financial advisor. He's done some amazing work
for me. He's grown my retirement account and all of that.
But I'm also someone that has withdrawn. Oh they hate
to hear that from my retirement account. You know, there
are places in life, For example, I talk about this
all the time in church, in law school, I would
tithe off of my student loans. That ain't my increase,
(01:55):
that's my decrease. What you're doing, sis, I don't know,
but I've been afraid to ask questions. My family did
well financially, but we didn't necessarily budget the best, and
so I've avoided the things where I've been afraid. As
we go in to twenty twenty six, I said, you
know what, self, We're gonna.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Turn over a new lead.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
We're gonna ask the tough questions, we are gonna get
the good advice. And if we want to think and
grow rich, like my guy Napoleon said, we gotta talk
to somebody about it cause you ain't the one.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So there is someone who's the one.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And before we bring this sister on, I want to
roll this clip.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Did you know that dor in this holiday season, for
every pair of Airmaxes that you buy your family, you
can buy one share of n Video, a company that
has worth over four trillion dollars. And for every pair
of sunglasses that you buy your family during holiday season,
let's take a pair of givon Chi glasses, you can
buy three shares of Amazon, the company that everybody's shopping
at door holiday season.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And get this.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
For every Louis Baton, perse Louis Vaton Duffel you buy
your family, do you know that you can own LVMH,
Louis Vaton, Moa Hennessy and buy Oprah sixty shares of
this company and they own Louis Baton, Moet.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Hennessy, Celine, Lowave, Sophora, companies that a lot of people
are going to be shopping at door holiday season.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Listen, we are going to spend a ton of money
during holiday season.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But what if we give the gift of wealth.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
What if we start owning some of the companies We're
giving all of our money too. This is the way
for us to create ownership and create a financial legacy
for the people we love.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, just so y'all know, I still want to make
sure we supporting black businesses and all of that too.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I know she does too.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
We are thrilled to have joining native Lampid today Ashley M.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Fox.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
She is the founder and CEO of Emplify, and she
has become my ad hoc financial planner and advisor. She
doesn't even know now, I just gotta follow the advice.
So Ashley, help us to stay out and happy holidays.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Happy holidays. How are you doing? How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Oh man, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'm trying to be better though, So just so you know,
while we recorded this podcast, we know it's gonna air
a little bit later, but.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I paid played the power ball today.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
You might not like that. You probably rather mea that
play my investments. We're gonna get that, right, Ashley, But
I just ain't gonna lie to you. It's one point
seven billion today. So I just sent my dad to
the store, my best friend to the store, my other
friends to the store. We just gotta see what happens.
By the time this podcast airs, we might be having
a different conversation.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
But I want to hear from you what you think,
what you think, what should I do? Help, help help?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I think I think the first part is the is
owning the fact that you know you deserve more help,
You own the fact that you have made mistakes. I
think I love that you are fearless and vulnerable. I
think a lot of times when we talk about money,
we're embarrassed. We don't talk about it as a taboo topic,
when in reality, we all deserve to have wealth. But
if we are just constantly spending our money, we are
(04:46):
always guaranteeing that we're decreasing our net worth. And I'm
not telling everybody that you have to go start a
business or quit your job. But every time you spend money,
somebody else is building wealth. So why not consider owning
the companies we're get even our money to we have.
We live in a world now where there are trillion
dollar businesses because of our consumption, and so it's really
(05:06):
about shifting our mindset where you don't have to go
build a big business. You don't have to start with
thousands of dollars. I always tell people my company, impithy, like,
you can start with five dollars. If we have the
five dollars, our way to a million. How about we
getting the habit of paying ourselves so while we go
and play the lottery ticket, I would also recommend paying
you because you.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Matter just as much as that lottery ticket.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, now here's a cool question for you. Had to
tell the truth. When was the last time you played
the lottery?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I've actually never played the lottery before.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Okay, Ashley in here showing out, y'all, she's showing out.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Okay, tell me why this is a good question. Tell
me why.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I guess it just was never on my to do list.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I didn't come from a family who played the lottery,
and I just if I'm being honest, Like I went
to Howard, I wanted to work on Wall Street, and
so when I got my first internship on Wall Street
making money, I'm around people with money, and so I
think I started to adapt to that environment and I
just wasn't around people who played the lot like I'm
pretty sure if my environment was surrounded by that. But
I was in an environment of people who invested, and
(06:10):
so I'm watching millionaires and billionaires and that'st their money,
so that's what I'm doing. So I think it's just
I am a product of the environment I was in
post Howard University and so much that you can't tell
me I'm not going to be a billion dollar CEO
because I'm around billionaires. I'm in their bank accounts, showing wealthy,
wealthy people how to protect their money, how to preserve it,
(06:30):
how to grow it. And I'm literally like, successful these clues,
I'm going to follow the blueprint. So I just wasn't
always around it, so I can't say that if I was,
I wouldn't. But in reality, I have the power in
my mind to create whatever it is I want to do,
however it comes to me.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So I love that. So talk about that blueprint.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
What is the blueprint that you have learned and seen
from advising billionaires and millionaires on their path forward to
financial success and wealth?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
What is that blueprint?
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I think the first thing is you have to get
really clear on what you want. I think sometimes we
are afraid to dream because we base our future on
our current reality. So despite where you are, what you
look like, how much money or your credit score?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
What do you want life to look like?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
And so then reverse engineering get so we sat here
and think, Okay, how much money do I want coming
in every single month, whether I choose to work or
I don't want to work, how much is that? And
then getting to a point where you accept how much
money you have and make a decision to pay yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
When I say pay yourself, that doesn't mean using a
savings account.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
That means investing it, giving yourself the opportunity to grow
your network. And so one of the biggest things I
saw on Wall Street investing was a standard right like
they had multiple accounts connected to different goals. So when
I started working, I had a checking account and I
had a saving as account. But I'm in these bank
accounts and they have multiple accounts with multiple titles for
multiple reasons. And so I started to open accounts for
(07:54):
different purposes. So this is the account that I have
where I'm going to buy my house, This is my
travel the world account, this is my I am built
for this account just.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
In case something were to happen.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
So I started to separate my money based off of
the purpose and the goal. So every account number you
have should be in alignment with a desire, a goal
that you have. And then also paying myself. And when
I say pay myself, I'm investing in my brokers account.
And I know you mentioned like your retirement account. You
have to really think about where you're going to need money,
when you're going to need it, and why you're going
(08:26):
to need it. Right, So I'm thirty six years old,
the government sells us to work until where sixty sixty
five years old and then wait for Social Security.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I mean, we also grew up in an era. I
know I did. You talked to go to school, get
the job.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
You get the job, and you pay for school, and
if you're special, you get a government job. And we
now know nowadays government jobs aren't even safe. Right, So
we can't just rely on that college degree and then
just sitting mountains of debt. We have to do something more.
And so my more was yes, I had a job.
My more was yes I set money aside for saving.
(08:58):
But my more was also investing in these companies that
are literally making millionaires and billionaires every day, and their
network is growing because I'm consuming their products right, and
so really opening a brokerage account, which there is no
minimum requirement to start, and just starting with companies you know,
you use and believe in. And so I just saw
wealthy people investing in their brokerage account. I saw them
(09:19):
investing for their children in their brokerage account. So I said, look,
I'm gonna start with three hundred dollars. I'm going to
open a brokerage account, and I'm just going to start investing.
And that was literally years ago when I did this,
and I'm just continuously growing. And the other thing I
would say, as you make more, you pay yourself more.
So while you might start with twenty dollars a month,
let's say every ninety days you now at you put
(09:42):
twenty five a month, you go to thirty dollars a month,
and let's say you get that bonus. So I started
with three hundred dollars, but every time I grew or
my income grew, I invested more, so much that investing
no longer was just an option.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
It was like a bill.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
That I paid every single month, the same way I
pay my cell phone bill or my car note. I'm
actually paying Ashley so much that if Ashley never makes
money again, at least she has something working for her
on the side.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And I think that's what we need.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
To do, just starting with what we have, but getting
to the destination of who we want to be and
who we ultimately deserve to be.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I want to say this as a lawyer. Ashley is
not giving any of y'all financial advice. She is talking
about her own experience and sharing her journey. If you
try it at home, you try it at home, but
it is not on her one way or the other.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
If you win and lose or draw.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
So, Ashley, I want to also ask you about this
because I think this is some of what happens for people,
and I'll actually own this. You're talking about a brokerage account.
I talked about a retirement fund the video that we
showed earlier. You talked about investing in some of the
companies that we know we buy bags from and kind
(10:53):
of luxury items.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Where do you think is the on ramp?
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Like do people start with like an eye roth ira
to get started? Do they start with this twenty dollars
twenty five dollars set aside plan? Do they go get
a life insurance policy? If you're a young professional. I'm
not young anywhere. But if you're a young professional in
this space starting out, where do you recommend people start.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
So it's a couple things.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
So the first thing most people know is their retirement
account at their job. So you're four to one K,
four to three B, and I recommend getting that account now.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
While you can't touch it till fifty nine and a half,
you want to.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Get that account because one, they're automatically taking money from
your check. I would challenge you to know the type
of investments the mutual funds in there. But if your
company matches you, that is a return on an investment.
That is free money. And that's one of the things
I did when I worked on Wall Street. I was
investing what they were willing to contribute. That is free money. Now,
although it is that long term strategy, if you are
(11:48):
let's say you're under forty or your thirties or your twenties,
if you don't want to wait till sixty to retire,
retirement is not an age.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's a dollar amount.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
So now I'm thinking, okay, yes, I'm setting money aside
for sixty and I'm in my twenties. I want to
retire at forty, so getting a brokerage account allows you
allows that flexibility. There's no age requirement, there's no minimum
or maximum to start with, and you're not penalized just
in case you need the money, so you're able to
start small, bill big. And those retirement accounts they have
(12:17):
income limitations, they have age restrictions, and their penalties.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
If you try to withdraw.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Not that it's bad, but you have to understand every
account you have is for a different purpose and for
a different season in your life. And the reason why
I like brokerage accounts is because you have flexibility.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Right Like, I've been kicked out of places before.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
When I left my Wall Street job, I got kicked
out of my Harlem apartment and I maxed out every
all my credit cards eighty thousand dollars in debt.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
But I had the stocks in.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
My investment account and I sold those and that's how
I was able to build my company Implify. There were
times where I had to sell my stocks to make
payroll in my business. So you have the flexibility to withdraw,
whereas your retirement accounts are just that set for you
to retirement. So I'm planning for my life now and
life and you want to be able to do both. Now,
when it comes to life insurance, that is more so,
(13:05):
how can I set my family up? That's the number
one reason you would get life insurance if you have
family that you want to pass down wealth to. And
I think everybody I encourage to put yourself in that
position to take care of your family regards, especially if
your family.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Is dependent on you.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
But there's other life insurance policies where you can build
wealth and extract that money while you're alive. But it's
a case by case basis, so depending on your age,
your health, your income. A brokerage account has no color,
has no credit score, has no gender. It looks like
all of us. We can build wealth, and we can
do so with a brokerage account. So whether it's my
(13:39):
eight year old niece who has a brokerage account, whether
it's somebody who's in their sixties or their seventies, it's
one of the most easiest ways to start with as
little but just in case you need it, it's liquid
enough for you to be able to withdraw without any
major rules or restrictions.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
So with the brokerage account, are there certain companies that
you like ranked and you check like these are the
best companies to do a brokerage account with? And why
and explain for people at home what is a brokerage account?
Speaker 4 (14:09):
So brokerage account is simple. It connects the buyer of
an investment to the seller. It takes five minutes opening accounts.
You don't learn anything from this session. If you aren't investing,
at least get a brokerage account right now. When you
open a brokerage account as an individual, you want to
make sure that you know how much you want to
start with. But I come from a Wall Street background,
(14:31):
so when I started investing in twenty eleven twenty twelve,
a lot of the new apps didn't exist. They weren't
talking about finance on social So the accounts that I
use are accounts I see the millionaires a billionaires using.
So when it comes to just even the members inside
of our WB app, I like Fidelity, I like Charles Schwab, I.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Like Vanguard, I like E Trade.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Now, if you're starting small, both Smart small meeting let's
say fifty dollars or less. Fidelity and Charles Schwab lets
you buy fractional shares, and fractional shares mean if the
share is the the cost of the stock, the investment
you would make is one hundred dollars, but you only.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Have fifty, you're able to get a half of a share.
Both Fidelity and Charles Schwab allow you to do that.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I'm also the type of person when you have my money,
I like to call you at two o'clock in the morning.
I like to be able to have that customer service
access at twenty four to seven support. Now that's not
to say the newer apps are bad. You'll never hear
me talk bad about a person or a company. It's
just they're just new, so they might not have the
customer support, they might not have the access or all
the features. But those are the top accounts that I use,
(15:31):
My family use, the members inside of our app use,
those are the companies that you can utilize. Now, again,
it doesn't mean the newer apps are bad. They just
might not have all the features and benefits, but they
serve the same purpose for you.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, what about crypto. So there's been this kind of
crypto boom. People are like, oh, okay, well I don't
need to invest in stock now because now there's this
there's bitcoin and there's all of this stuff there.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
People buy trump Coin.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Like there are all of these these entities, famous folks
who are coming up with their own cryptocurrency. What do
you say to folks who are relying now on crypto
to make their money quick? And all of the influencers
online who've talked about how rich they become on crypto.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
So there's two things.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
One, I'm not an expert in crypto, so I won't
even stay hearing a lot of you and tell you
what to buyer how to do it. The second thing,
I would say one of the words you said, and
you don't even realize you said it was quick. When
it comes to building wealth and just how I've learned
to do it, there is nobody that I worked with
that got rich quick.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And I think we for so long we may have
been without that.
Speaker 4 (16:47):
Our desire to have money fast, we think that's what
we're gonna need, when in reality, you can't eat all
your food on a Thanksgiving plate quickly. So when it
comes to building wealth, this is a journey. That is,
it becomes a of who you are. Not saying that
crypto has not made people wealthy. I'm not here to
count anybody's pockets. But the one thing I can say
is not regulated. So if you are somebody who is
(17:10):
afraid of losing money or not being able to get
your money and things like that, it's not regulated.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's so new that it's not regulated, not that it won't.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
But just because something is sexy and it's hot doesn't
mean it's going to change your life right now and
might not satisfy your risk tolerance. So I can't speak
to how to do it, what to do, but I
can tell you that if you are not someone that
wants to take risk and you want regulation and you
want protection and all of that, it might not be
the best thing to start. Maybe as time progresses there'll
(17:38):
be a lot more regulation. But just because something is
sexy and hot the same day that is hot tomorrow,
everybody's talking bad about it. So but in reality, where
I spend my money and the companies I can't live without,
they've been around for years and I am more okay
investing at least in those as well as as an
Ashley Fox and in her business.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
But it's not an area that I can and speak to.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
But I can say, please be mindful of the risk
associated with something that is not regulated.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I love this.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
So let's compare this kind of new market to your
career trajectory. So you left Wall Street and you started
your company. Yes, what do you say to people are like, well,
you went and started something new. You bet on yourself
and even if they don't use crypto, that's fine. But
you went and bet on yourself. What do you say to,
you know, a potential customer, a potential client that is like, well,
(18:29):
why should we bet on you? Since you also you
went to learn from an old, established thing, so old
JP Morgan Chase.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
This is where I Bang Too benefited.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
From the slave trade, right, we know that it's so
old that it benefited from the slave trade. But you
left and you went and you bet on yourself, even
pulling out money from your own stock investment.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
So the first thing I would say before you bet
on Ashley, I need you to bet on you because
anything that my company Emplithy does, anything that you see
me teach on social media, things are not taught, They
are caught. You have to be ready to receive information
so I can pour all day into you. But if
you don't think you're worthy of a seat at the table,
and don't choose you first.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
None of it is going to work.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
But I can also say my I'm also not somebody
who just woke up one day like I think I'm
gonna teach finance, Like I went to Howard, majored in finance,
worked on Wall Street, been in this industry for over
sixteen years. And also everything that I teach, I do right.
So everything that I teach that whether you see me
on the internet, you're in our app, you're taking our classes.
(19:31):
Everything is what I do for myself and my family.
Because I'm not a fan of reading finance books. They're
kind of boring to me. So it's a lot easier
to speak from my heart and to talk about my experience.
But I also believe too, I know what it feels
like not to have money. Like while I was on
Wall Street, I was the only black female on my floor.
I was one of the lowest pay people on my floor,
making good money. But in reality, when you're in a
(19:53):
room of millionaires and billionaires and your annual salary is
the fee that they pay in hundreds of their mutue funds,
just one of them, I can tell you I know
what it feels like to notice like I'm not good enough.
I know what it feels like to quit my job,
to bet on Ashley, to lose everything, to then have
to go live in my parents' college for two years.
But the one thing that kept me going was I
(20:14):
could not unsee the wealth that Wall Street exposed me to.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
So everything that I do is because of what I saw.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
I'm pretty sure if I didn't see money, I wouldn't
believe we could create money. And so I just think
my experience is very diversified because not only can I
sit here and talk about a stock, we can sit
here and have an entire estate plan conversation because I
worked in asset management. So if you had at least
twenty five million dollars, you can't just go to a
regular bank. Right You're talking to hedge funds, You're talking
(20:41):
to private equity funds and state planners, capital advisors, investors.
There's an entire ecosystem that you need to surround your wealth.
And that's essentially when I left my Wall Street job,
I'm like, for something we're using every day, why is
it not taking.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Our school system.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You shouldn't have to major in finance work on Wall
Street to get this information. I didn't really start this
business to make money. I just found a way to
make money. But in reality, if I wanted to make
money out of stayed on Wall Street, and I wouldn't
have went through what I went through.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
But I also know what it feels like to be
the people that I serve.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
I know what it feels like to feel unworthy and
not have money and not be able to make credit
card payments because I'm trying to bet on myself. So
the return you see of Ashley Marie Fox today was
not the Ashley July twelve, twenty and thirteen when I
left my job. And I think it came from my
heart when I decided to do this, not.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
To make money.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
I just found a way to create wealth, showing the
world how they can do it as well too.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
I'm telling you now what I am doing while we're here.
In case you're like, what are you doing? Looking down?
I'm on your page unemplified and it can provide a
wealth Builder membership, and I'm getting that annual membership. Now
I'm betting on myself and the lottery. Hey, I normally
don't pay. You know what's so funny? You talk We
(21:59):
talked to about the lottery earlier, and I said, and
you were like, I'm not around people who played lottery.
My dad played the lottery so much. I'd be like,
you won the lottery right now, right, And I don't
know what it's been lately, Ashley, this dog gone powerball
meant so high. I'm like, okay, I didn't played twice
and that's the first time in my life. I literally
was on the phone my friend like what am I.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Supposed to ask for? Like I really didn't even know.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So I want to just I want you to know
that too, Like it's not normal for me, but I
do want to bet on myself. So you have an
annual membership for Implify, and I'm going I'm subscribing right now.
I got a code that was SI. So that's how
I'm investing in myself going into twenty twenty six. How
else would you encourage people who are watching to invest
(22:44):
in themselves, invest in their families, invest in their communities.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I think it's just about time we make this a standard.
I think we let go of the fear, we let
I mean, we live in a time where, like you said,
it's uncertain, but at the end of the day, I'm
not about to let let the next three four years
go by and be dictate what I see in the media.
Nobody has paid off my dad, nobody has started my business.
At the end of the day, the only person coming
to save us is the person in the mirror. And
(23:09):
until you start loving the person in the mirror, nothing
is going to change. Because it is possible for us
to create wealth. We are at the center of the
stock market. If we don't spend any money at all,
there is no market, there is no company, there is
no billionaire. So in reality, I'm not telling you you
have to go build a billion dollar business, but I
can tell you that if you choose to live in
this country, there are ways for you to build wealth
(23:30):
where you don't have to just be dependent on your job.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
But you have to understand you can't work or save
your way to wealth.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
The times are different, you are different, and you have
to let go of the fact that you're behind.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
You have to let go of the.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Fact that you can't do this, or that is scared
or everybody's trying to scam me, like you cannot afford
to not be better with your money at this point,
because we cannot rely on anybody. But ourselves and especially
those of you who have families like we have to
set the standard of what what wealth looks like.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
In our community. We have to start talking about it
at the dinner table.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
We have to start embodying, embodying it, talking about it,
immersing ourselves in this language so that we understand what
moves this economy.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
And I think once you understand that it's a game
and that.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
You are the star player on the court, but you
know the rules, it's a lot easier for you to maneuver.
Just let go of the fact that you have to
have it all together. Every day I wake up trying
to figure it out. I too feel like I want
to be in a better place financially. But you also
have to accept the fact you did your best. You
did not come for money, you weren't blessed with this information.
(24:34):
It's not taught in our school system. But you did
your best. All I'm asking in twenty twenty six bet
on you this time? How about you fill your cup
and say, look, I'm paying me and I'm okay if
it's ten dollars. But I know if I start today,
the next five ten years of my life will be
totally different because we worked all these years, we worked ten, fifteen,
twenty thirty forty years.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
How about we just pay ourselves for one just one year?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
About we just.
Speaker 4 (24:59):
Pay ourselves and create the habit of somebody who's a
wealth builder.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I love it. I wish that this had apple pae.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I'm doing this right now, trying to.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Hurry up and get this right. I'm being a wealth builder.
So let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
If you were to tell someone you know that may
not have the money to be a wealth builder on emplify,
what are three things that people can do going into
twenty twenty six, especially if they're like, Okay, my financial
literacy is really illiteracy. The narrative I have around money
(25:37):
multi generationally and my family says that I'm supposed to
be broke or it looks like I'm going to end
up broke. What are the things that you say to
people to say like, no, that didn't have to be
your story.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
So the first thing so everyone wish she's referring to.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
We have a Wealth Buildings Community app, which is I
like to call like the Netflix of finance. It's where Angela,
You'll have access to over ten different boot camps from
buying your first stop to life insurance to retirement planning.
It's kind of like if you were to go to
a Harvard or finance where you can move at your
own pace and learn right. So it gives us in
the palm of your hand with the school system for
God to give us. Now, if in fact you are
(26:13):
not a member, there's a lot of free stuff you
can start with. The first thing is on social media.
I'm always teaching on social media, Underscore, Asking and Fox, but.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
She is That's where I found her, y'all, That's where
I found her.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
But also we have free classes, right, So if you
go to Amplify, emp Ify, dot Link, slash invest, there's
a free class helping you build your twenty twenty six glueprint,
starting from the basic to getting the first account open.
But just having those free resources I think helps as
you enter your way to getting better and more confident.
(26:44):
The other thing I would challenge everybody to do and
go look on the financial news, whether it's Yahoo, Finance,
CNBC and just find an article that intrigues you. Right,
I just challenge you twice a week because when you
think about becoming fluent in the language, you have to
read it. You have to speak it, you have to
be around people who are speaking it.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Or you can't be fluent.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
So instead of trying to find complicated things to talk
about or read about, find an article about a company
you know, start to research, and start to immerse yourself
in the language of money. And the other thing I
would do is change your environment. Are you around people
who want to grow financially. Are you around people who
are committed to self development, Because sometimes you are a
product of your environment, and sometimes it takes you to
(27:28):
reach out to somebody to build that connection or to
put yourself in those uncomfortable spaces. I think one of
the best things that happened to me on Wall Street,
while I was the only black woman, while I did
feel not.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Good enough, it leveled my mindset up.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
I started to travel because I'm around billionaires and I'm
seeing what they're doing with their money in life. And
so surround yourself in an environment that you might have
to go find. And I challenge you to control us
on your timeline, control us on your television, control what
you're reading, and allow yourself to become the person you
want to be. But sometimes you gotta let go with
who you used to be. To become the person you
(28:02):
deserve to be, and that's probably the hardest part. So
I would say surround yourself around a different group of
people and just immercer that. That's why we created our app,
because you can't talk about these things very rarely when
you find it on social media and you don't and
our families are not ready, and sometimes you have to
be the change maker in your family. You have to
be the one that starts the conversation. Like I was
(28:23):
the first person that opened the brokerage account for my family.
I got their life beloors, I got their brokerage account.
But I knew now they're doing it, but it took time.
But sometimes you have to be that person and sometimes
you have to do it alone. But I think those
are just some things that we can do. So there
are a lot of free resources Emplify, dot link, slash invest.
Also there's a ton of stuff on impify dot com
(28:44):
as well, But even outside of just emplify, you have
to make.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
A choice this year and choose you choose wealth, choose possibility,
choose I don't want lack anymore. I want abundance and
that is something you deserve to have. But you have
to choose use.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Abundance, and it's not gonna be given to you.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
You know what I love the most about this conversation today, Ashley,
is there's so much of what you said that sounds
exactly like what we tell people about getting involved in
the political process. And so this is an opportunity really
for me to embark on this journey, humble myself and
do the thing that I tell people to do about politics.
Just read something, just start somewhere, surround yourself in a community.
(29:27):
I'm surrounded by people that do well with money. But
it's the part of the conversation I'm like, ah, and
I tune out. So this, I think is this is good.
So hopefully you can check on me periodically.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
And be like what you're doing doing all right over there? Yeah, i'mna,
I'm gonna check in.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I'mnna make sure my my my brokerage account is where
you say it needs to be. I'm gonna set aside money.
I'm gonna take your advice on what because I'm asking
you to give me some free advice on where to start,
and then you can hold me accountable to it. Yes, No,
I want to invest more than I spend.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Will be the go.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You just got to start investing. We'll get there, but
at least getting that.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
And she said my bar too.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
Hi, y'all, it's okay to spend. I like nice things,
but I invest in too. You don't have to choose
this or that. It's this and that. We don't have
to sacrifice. We just got to make more money. Like,
let's just let's do what we want, but let's just
choose you and pay you, because if not, we're always
going to feel like we're working for the rest of
our life.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So now it's son to just give your money a
job description. That's all.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Absolutely, I love it.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Well, thank you so much, Ashley in Fox y'all, she
runs implified, please go and check out the site yard
and signed up. I'm about to be in my little
boot camp and my stock boot camp. I'm gonna come back.
Sounded like a financial boss. It'll make sure I passed
Ashley's test first though. Thank you so so much.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I appreciate it bad to have it. Okay, everybody, welcome home.
I hope that y'all will join me on this journey.
I want to do better. I am too old to
be playing these kiddie games.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
With my money.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So if your money's funny and ain't acting right, y'all
join me on this journey and let us figure out
a pathway to pay ourselves. As actually said, because we
deserve it. We deserve abundance and every good thing. So
let us take that spirit into twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Let us start from wherever we are, and let us
just go. Y'all.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Set a little money aside, and let's invest it. I'm
trying to get better. I hope y'all will join me
in it. And if you're judging me, you can send
me a comment and tell me. If you're not and
you want to join the journey, you can tell me
and send a comment. If you just want to figure
this out together, you can send me a comment or
whatever it is. Let's go, y'all. We have a lot
to do and not a lot of time, so let's
(31:40):
get started. What are your twenty twenty six resolutions? I
want to hear about them. Send me those two. Send
me videos you don't we like videos?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Y'all? All right, welcome home, see you next time.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Native lampod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts, from iHeartRadio, visit the
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Hosts And Creators
Tiffany Cross
Andrew Gillum
Angela Rye
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