FINANCE IS COOL | Haley Sacks | TEDxGeorgetown
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF6sihouy3g Video ID: sF6sihouy3g ============================================================ what's up George now yeah thank you so much for having me I'm Haley and I am a financial pop star you might be like okay what is a financial pop star never heard of it do they have a degree for that so we're all I made up I was really confused about what money was how to grow it how to save it how to make it I was really bored by the content available to me to learn about it and I was and still am obsessed with celebrity gossip and pop culture so I started my own company to make Keeping Up with the Dow Jones is as fun as Keeping Up with the Kardashians yeah I was never obsessed with finance though to begin with you know I didn't study economics or work at an investment bank you know I but I wasn't a complete stranger to Wall Street either because I grew up with a dad who worked at an investment bank so when I was little like literally since I was 8 I would go down to Wall Street for take your daughter to work day and so I guess you can sort of say I've been putting the Sachs and Goldman Sachs like since I was a little baby okay I'm also like not to rag on my dad but he would do a lot of important phone calls in front of me and I feel like I was sort of privy to a lot of really really secret information so let's just all be grateful that I decided to take my career this way and that I didn't get into insider trading because it was a clear shot I also would write poetry about Wall Street as you can see on my slide you know sort of using the art of word smithing to explain what is Wall Street you know what goes on down there ring ring rig the phone is buzzing I hurry to pick it up clients yelling stocks closing stress so as you can see I was born for this life becoming mrs. Dow Jones was frankly my destiny and I was you know I was made to do something big and money but I just couldn't never have worked at an investment bank and I got it you guys like this is a TED talk I know like I'm not supposed to talk in limiting beliefs you guys can do anything you put your mind to like yes Queen but me personally I really could not have worked in an investment bank okay first of all the interview questions themselves would have killed me I have no idea how many golf balls could fit in a 747 let's go where do you even begin I don't know Google what I don't know also the outfits you have to wear on Wall Street like I'm sorry I'm addicted to a print I don't I don't think you could I don't think you wear leopard at goldman sachs and then say i actually you know got the job nailed the outfit rocked my interview you have to keep the job okay you guys know compliance would literally have been on me like white on rice there is no way I would not have crossed the line so you know I felt really boxed out because I wasn't this type a girl who was amazing at Excel and looked great in a blazer like obviously I look great in the blazer but the point is my dream of being part of the world of money was off limits just because you know I have this big personality and I had trouble with workplace boundaries so I got what I thought would be my dream jobs instead working and entertainment for iconic people like David Letterman and Lorne Michaels and it sounds really cool but honestly you guys it sort of sucked I think that's the t no I was doing like what I thought I wanted to do on paper creating content like you know work executing ideas but they were all in another brands voice and I've always had my own voice so it was really sad and inadvertently I had chosen this career that muted me put me in a box okay no yeah uh-uh and that was something I'd so feared about working a corporate job and yet it had found me and my other job too so that was pretty rude but at the same time because I was working for these entertainment bigwigs I was now being feast with the financial decisions of any full-time employee so you know like what's a 401k I don't know they're asking me my first a 401 K Roth IRA you want to you want to take out some money from your salary every month put it into savings automatically I don't know I was a Film Studies major okay okay it's not clear to me um so i did what i need self-respecting millennial would do i mean i'm jenn z but you guys are money in the and i went on youtube and much to my chagrin what did I find it was horrifying truly horrifying twelve minute long videos of these like men with their back turn to the camera just like not even connecting with the audience how dare they like and being so boring and the information was just impossible to understand and it was just the whole thing was horrible and you know I'm gonna take it there cuz I was not the only one who was struggling to grasp these concepts the US adult financial literacy rate is at 57% okay think about that 44% of Americans would rather talk about death politics religion than personal finance I wanted to live in a world where you could put your credit score on hinge and also no one was saving for retirement and I was just like okay you guys realize Florida is waiting for us and no one cares no one cares the gap between the rich and the poor is only widening and financial literacy is one of the factors that separates the haves from the have-nots also can we just talk about the fact that our financial futures are our literal futures like if you don't save for retirement then you'll literally just have to work until you die like that's just it's that obvious so it's important stuff so yes I started started an Instagram page called finances school which was undeveloped into mrs. Dow Jones as a way to sort of remedy this major gap in the content space and also to teach myself I had obviously no audience when I started but like I have one now what's up guys yes a hundred case strong that's what's good and even though there was a huge learning curve for me it didn't matter I was hooked I felt so inspired by my new financial knowledge like literally I was at brunch talking about a bit da with the same pizzazz I had once reserved for talking about Gigi Hadid you know suddenly a store closing on my block it was it wasn't just sad it was the end of brick-and-mortar and yes oh and then I also discovered blockchain and Kryptos and I like sorta became like Gordon Gekko like I honestly was in so many telegram groups like blowing up my phone trading altcoins setting alarms in the middle of the night so I could trade on the Chinese markets like I took it a little far but I was really really really excited and I felt like I had this new lease on life and they also sort of felt like hmm have I stumbled upon a secret is finance cool is business interesting I didn't know that was demystifying this culture like secretly what I was born to do like okay having a purpose I see you mm-hmm cuz well I may never have fit in at a big bank making content about the world of finance could not have felt more right oh and I didn't even tell you the best part yet well like I sort of did but it was in a jokey way but like she started to grown audience mm-hmm yup it happened and it was amazing and I was filling a need just by being myself and it just felt really great because I finally had purpose and was really interested in what I was doing and it just felt right when you know you know so that's my end just want to take a second right now you guys if you have a cell phone iPhone Droid you know maybe you have a tablet take it out don't be shy I know usually during these things got to put your phones wait not not today not in this TED talk take it out throw me a follow it's not nothing to be embarrassing my Deion's I know it I respond I know how many people are in here I better see those follows yes but that's not my point my point is mmm-hmm play until what makes you different okay you don't need to be a buttoned-up corporate type to you know add value and you also don't need to be a comedian you really really just need to be yourself and that will make anything that you do feel meaningful and also you never really know what will change your life like you could be right now you could be watching this YouTube video this TED talk right now having the same thoughts that I had when I was watching that weird man explain 401ks you never know what's gonna change your life so just keep your eyes open and I would love to stay and chat but I actually Jerome Powell and I are we're having lunch so I have to rhyme but I love you all and please follow and remember finance is cool stay rich and follow your dreams because they're the only thing that's worth following except for me [Applause]