$30M Banker Reveals Real Money Game

[0:00]Excuse me, sir. Sir. Huh? Question for you. I have a question for you. Sure. How did you become wealthy? How did I become wealthy? Yes, sir. Banking. Investment banking. Where are you from? Originally from Nigeria, but I grew up here. Yeah, like, yeah, I went to school in England. Did you ever run the company at any point in time, or you just worked in the business world? I'm, I own my company now. You own your own company. What type of business is it? Actually? Yeah. So like a hedge fund. You own a hedge fund. Yeah. That's why I can dress like this on a weekday. So what was the most amount of money that you made in a single year? 30 million. $30 million? Yes. Did you come from a rich family? Yeah. Relatively. Relatively rich. Yeah, not rich, but yeah, my father's a doctor, so. Why didn't you want to be a doctor like your dad? Two of my brothers ended up being in medicine. So you're kind of the black sheep of the family there. We all have different paths in life. Take me back to the most life-changing conversation you ever had. What's the greatest piece of advice that you received throughout your career? Wow. When someone says, 'No' to you, what they mean is, 'Try Harder'. I love that. I always like to say that. No, it does not mean 'No', it just means 'Not Yet'. Exactly. He just means to try harder. I've been to job interviews where, when I was younger, someone rejected me. Then the person that's sitting on the desk next to him, hired me. I'd never take 'No' for an answer. What's more important in the business world today? What you know or who you know? I think what you know, now. Yeah, but in the past, it was 'Who you know'. Well, because, if you think about it, the governor of the Bank of England was complaining that his daughter doesn't have a job. That wouldn't happen 20 years ago. Because nepotism, you know, that person would've got a job. So what is the lesson about money that banks don't want people to know? Every pound you deposit in the bank, the bank lends it nine times. Hey, they don't teach that in school, you know. They don't teach you that in school. Did you ever leverage money? 'Course, yeah. That's the only way to make money. You have to leverage. And I do an MBA. No one told me that the power of wealth is is about leverage. All these properties you see here, someone's leveraging. Everything you see around here, even this car is leveraged. Yes, I am. Yeah, married with two, two great kids. How long have you been married? Oh, I've been with my wife 30 something years. How long have you been faithful? 30 something years. Always, always. How old are you? Older than 50? Yes. No, just, I'm around 58. So if me and you die tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? The US has only been around for 300 years and look at what they've achieved. When the Queen died, the Queen had been alive for a third of the existence of the US. So get out there, the world is big. Compounding helps you. Whatever investment you make now, your children are never, ever going to tell you made. So don't sit there worrying about whether you pay 10% more or not pay. Pay, get in, and I think in 20, 30 years time, you're never going to regret it. Can I tell you something, sir? Sure. You have incredible advice. Well, we try. Thank you so much for your time.