Episode 487: Burnout, Boundaries, and The Risk Worth Taking w/ Teri Ijeoma

Teri Ijeoma 00:02

What happens when somebody who's been working for 1015 years all of a sudden finds out that their company is letting them go because their job is no longer needed because of AI, or you know, the government just pulls down your whole department, and I've been feeling like if those people knew how to actively invest, or even just invest. Period. Then they could last longer.

Speaker 1 00:25

T minus 10 seconds.

Intro 00:27

Welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast with your host, Jamila Souffrant. As a money expert who walks or talks, she helps brave journeyers like you get out of debt, save, invest, and build real wealth. Join her on the journey to launch to financial freedom.

Speaker 2 00:45

If

Jamila Souffrant 00:54

you want the episode show notes for this episode, go to Journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this episode in the show notes. You'll get the transcribed version of the conversation, the links that we mentioned, and so much more. Also, whether you are an OG journeyer or brand new to the podcast, I've created a free Jumpstart guide to help you on your financial freedom journey. It includes the top episodes to listen to, stages to go through to reach financial freedom, resources, and so much more. You can go to Journey to launch.com/jumpstart to get your guide right now. Okay, let's hop into the episode. Hey, hey, hey, journeyers, welcome to the Journey to Launch podcast. Today we have on a very special person, her name is Terry Ijioma. She's helped 1000s of people rethink what's possible when it comes to building wealth. She's a trader, entrepreneur, author, and financial educator who left a successful career in education to pursue trading full time and also, has created a movement out of it. She's the founder of the very popular course and trading system, Trade and Travel. It's an investment education company. She's taught 10s of 1000s of students how to trade. She holds a bachelor's degree in management science from MIT and a master's degree in media and communications, also she was assistant principal teacher, right? Terry, did I get that part right? Right.

Teri Ijeoma 02:26

Yes, it's a principal. I don't know

Jamila Souffrant 02:28

how you've had so many like roles and did so many things, right? Okay, and she's also the author of the new book, The Risk Worth Taking: A Story of breaking free and trading for the life you love. She's been on the podcast before quite a few times. We've now become friends, and I'm so excited to have her back on the podcast to share her journey. So, welcome, Terry.

Teri Ijeoma 02:54

Thank you, Jamila. I'm so excited to talk to you today. Like, you are the reason why I even wrote a book, I remember us at FinCon a while back, and you were so excited because you were about to have your book come out, and you were like, Terry, you've got to write a book, and at the time I remember telling you, no, I have a course, I've written trade and travel, I don't want to be an author, and you were like, no, just try it, and you actually hooked me up with Megan, the, I guess, what would her title be like? She put together the proposal for the book.

Jamila Souffrant 03:27

Yes, yes, she was like, I don't know, like a book coach, like there's a better word, I'm sorry, Megan, that we're not doing you justice, but,

Teri Ijeoma 03:35

but yeah, you were like, just talk to her, and just thinking about that opportunity, there's so many times where, like, the opportunity comes and we're not prepared. I was prepared when the opportunity came, because you had told me to talk to Megan, because I had talked to Megan, and then when an actual editor came around and was like, "Terry, we'd like you to write a book. We already had a proposal, we had everything in place, but it was just because you had told me to go for it. So, thank you, Jamila. Thank you for everything.

Jamila Souffrant 04:07

Yeah, you're welcome. I mean, I think over the years, too, right? I think when I looked up, Terry was on episode 154 and 172 and I believe both of those episodes came out in 2020 but we knew each other, I think, a couple years before that through FinCon, and so I just think when you meet people with it in the space, and then you see the kind of work they did, and especially because you know, I always say this, even in our, we collaborated, I was an affiliate for Trade and Travel, the course, and as for someone who is like not personally into trading and would prefer long-term investing, and the kind of boring stuff. When I met you, when I saw how knowledgeable you were, how much integrity you had around, and the honesty you had with what trading could do for someone, I was like, okay, maybe I don't want to trade, right? I mean, it's not something I want to learn right now. But I could tell, though, that it was a legit way for some people to earn money if they stuck to the principles and what you teach, and so I was like, "Oh, she could make me a believer that I know, because I don't like, trust, or collaborate, or, you know, feel that many people in that way. I was like, "Okay, I love her vibe, and you're so sweet on and off camera, like you're the same person. And again, I think being an educator, I always love the educators, because you know how to teach, you know how to meet people where they are. And so I knew when you had the platform and the story, I was like, you should be writing a book, like, you know, you, you, you got this. So I'm really happy, and we'll talk about the book and all what it's about, but you know, I'm really happy that you did it, and now the book is coming out.

Teri Ijeoma 05:46

Yeah, honestly, that's been the best feeling that I've had lately. This feeling of just completing something, you start, and we can talk about like what's happened over the last since 2020 Since 2020 the course did really well, was like the number one course on investing in the world for like three years on Teachables platform. I, as an investor, became even better investors, so like since 2020 I've had $100,000 trading day, a million dollar trading day. So I've become a better investor as a person, I think I've become just a better, like, daughter, aunt, I've taken care of my family, I've just enjoyed traveling more, just really grown as a person, but the one thing lately I hadn't had experience of is starting something new and seeing it all the way to completion, so that has been the feeling that I've enjoyed the most lately, of like, I did that, I completed something.

Jamila Souffrant 06:44

Yeah, and you know, I do want to just go back a little bit to your origin story. We've spent a couple minutes there, just because there might be someone who really doesn't know, like, know who you are listening, and so you just go back really quickly and talk about, if you can, right? Like, get it down to, like, a couple minutes, like, how you first started in your career to where you are now.

Teri Ijeoma 07:04

Sure, so I was in education for about 10 years. My last job was assistant principal of an elementary school, but it was a super toxic work environment, so I was stressed out, I was overeating, I was just, you know, having the worst experience, but I was crying in the bathroom every day, and I still felt like I couldn't leave because I didn't have any other options, like how would I afford my bills if I didn't have this job. So I started trading. I was investing in the stock market as a hobby, but I started doing it more often to try to see if I could just make $300 a day, because that's what I needed to replace my income as assistant principal. So I started working it up, trying to get positive at first, and then I said, okay, let me see if I can make $100 Once I did that, I finally made $300 in a day consistently, and I quit my job and started traveling all over the world. So I went to Seoul for a month, and Thailand for a month, in Korea for a month, and when I.. well, that's Seoul, Thailand, and Vietnam, and when I was traveling, I was trying to figure out how do I afford to live this life through investing through stocks, so I started learning how to trade to afford my travels, and then people started asking me to teach them, so I did it. I created a curriculum, and I turned the course into an online course called Trade and Travel, and then people started learning, and I started teaching. I've taught over 40,000 people how to invest for income. How do you just afford the things you love, the little things like the plane or the hotel or the right now I'm going to the World Cup? How do you afford those tickets using trading, active investing? So that's what I do, that's what I teach people.

Jamila Souffrant 08:42

Yeah, I love it. I think I saw you at a Knicks game, too, right? One of the next games,

Teri Ijeoma 08:47

but I've been trading to go to fun events, and it's been like live sports games, concerts, traveling to Singapore recently. Like, I trade to live right

Jamila Souffrant 09:00

now, and I just want to just get some clear definitions out the way, so when I talk about investing, I talk about long-term investing, usually in retirement accounts, non-retirement accounts, and keeping your money in there long term, so that you can see the accumulation and the compound interest on your money, and write out any ups and downs in the market, and hopefully that can lead you, after you know, takes a while to early retirement, or a way to opt out of the workforce, because you have substantial, or enough of a nest egg to feel comfortable to take more risk with your active income. Now, just quickly explain, when you talk about trading to earn money, what that means,

Teri Ijeoma 09:41

so trading is active investing. It means that you are getting in and out of stocks to make income that you can use right now. And I believe in both. I think you can long-term invest for retirement and have a little bit on the side to actively invest for the things that you enjoy,

Jamila Souffrant 09:56

right.

Teri Ijeoma 09:56

And actually, in the book, Aaron does the does both. Yes, so she has some long-term retirement that's sitting there for her, and then she's taking $10,000 and trying to actively invest with 10,000 to afford things,

Jamila Souffrant 10:09

right? Right. And I want to just go back, because you mentioned all the students she taught. I just remembered, like, my little sister and best friend, and a couple of friends have taken the course, and a lot of journeyers have too. So let's talk about your success, and where you've been since, like, you last came on the show. Every time I see you, and I'm like, okay, Terry, not only does she trade, and is a successful trader, because she follows her principles and sticks with it, so she makes money there. Then I know you're making money, like, through your course, and I always looked at you like you don't want to just chill and stop. Every time I saw you, or you just had, you know, you had ambition and goals, and you were doing a lot, and I was like, "Wow, like that's really cool. I was like, "If I was Terry, though, I feel like I'd like retire or chill for a bit. So, let's maybe talk about, like, what that looks like you reaching all this success and having what I just from the outside looking in, what seems like enough money, but then wanting to continue to do other things. Like, how does that work?

Teri Ijeoma 11:11

You're right, though, on the have enough money, just want to chill, sit by the pool, and do nothing. I have reached that point, however, I'm actually more driven by the mission of helping people. Right now, we have so many women and people in general that are losing their jobs. So, I've been driven lately by this idea of unemployment. What happens when somebody who's been working for 1015, years all of a sudden finds out through an email that their company is letting them go because their job is no longer needed because of AI, or you know, the government just pulls down your whole department, and now your job is no longer needed. So that's actually been driving me lately, and I've been feeling like if those people knew how to actively invest, or even just invest, period, then they could last longer. So, for example, what would happen if their severance check, they were able to make that work for them, and it gave them a little money to pay for their groceries, or what if their unemployment check, they could grow it a little faster and it allowed them to be unemployed longer, because right now people are having unemployment for longer. So I've actually been more driven by the mission of helping people than just sitting on the side by myself, you know, with my own own success,

Jamila Souffrant 12:26

right? Right. And one of the last times, or the big things we saw, well, the people who had followed your journey is that you had moved to Puerto Rico, and you had a beautiful, like, mansion. I'm so mad, I never got to come visit you while you were there, but

Teri Ijeoma 12:41

have another house, you can come down still, come on down.

Jamila Souffrant 12:45

Okay, so tell us about that, because I, so I think a dream for some people is, okay, what would it look like, even though the Porterfield is a part of the United States, but what does it look like to maybe move to a more tax advantage place, or a low, you know, geo arbitrage, where the expenses are lower, so not necessarily like Puerto Rico, but other countries, right? They have a dream, or I can move here and live this type of life. So I feel like you did that, and you have updates to share, and I just would love to hear your process on how everything turned out

Teri Ijeoma 13:18

for everybody that's dreaming about getting a second home, like a vacation home, go for it. It is the best experience you will ever have, because when you really want to unplug, you can go to that second place, and then find freedom. And I felt that in Puerto Rico, like it was my unplugged place. When I got to my house in Puerto Rico, I would spend a few days just not doing anything, and my whole nervous system would calm down, like, I mean, you know, from the Caribbean, the weather is beautiful, the trees just seem to swing a different way, because the wind is going, it's sunny, like, it's just so nice. And then I loved my neighbors in Puerto Rico, too, like, they're kind. My neighbor, oh, so one thing you don't know, Jamila, since 2020 I actually had an episode where I fainted in my house because I was dealing with some fibroid things, and that's something I've been talking a lot about lately. Just, I don't know what's going on, but it just seems like more and more people we've been dealing with, like female reproductive things, and I went through the same thing, yeah, and I didn't take care of my health enough. I was like, go, go, go at work, so I wasn't like, I didn't go to the doctor, I was like, "Oh, it's gonna be fine. And then one day I was in the house by myself in Puerto Rico, and I fainted upstairs, and I woke up on the floor, and the reason why I bring it up is because one of my neighbors had a key to my house, and basically she saved me. I was able to reach for the phone when I woke up and called her, and it was like 3am in the morning, but she happened to have a key, so she could come and get me. So, like, just praise God for beautiful neighbors that can, like, come and help,

Jamila Souffrant 14:57

and community, yeah,

Teri Ijeoma 14:59

community. See, so with the second house in Puerto Rico, that was something I loved, love, love, love, but I did end up having to come back home this year because that same community thing I was on out there by myself, and my family was like, "No, girl, we can't have you fainting anymore, let's let's come home so we can keep an eye on you.

Jamila Souffrant 15:20

Yeah,

Teri Ijeoma 15:21

but I loved having this.

Jamila Souffrant 15:23

Well, and it's interesting you mentioned this. So I just released an episode with Dr. Kemi Dahl, who was a physician, surgeon, researcher, and talks about the conditions, our wound conditions, like endometriosis, fibroids, and how they're not just like, yes, they're medical issues, but they also impact like how we work, how we feel, everything. And so I think that episode, if anyone wants to hear it, because she talked about how to take more control of your health and how to talk with employers when you need, like, you know, you were your own employer, pushing yourself. And then think about, like, some of the women who, like, they feel like they have to show up and do these things even when they are not feeling their best. So that was episode 483 If you want to hear that, just scroll through. But going back to you, I think it's interesting because we all have an idea of what we want to do, and sometimes we don't know that it's not the right time are not going to work, like at the moment it was right, but it doesn't mean that's it, like that's the period of your story, and you close the chapter, like the book, so you move into Puerto Rico, and having that experience, like, and then moving back doesn't mean it didn't work, it just meant for, you know, you were moving on to a new chapter of your life. I just think it's interesting, because sometimes we make decisions, or at least I will think of decisions as this is it, and that's like what I need to stick to forever. When it's like, no, it might be to make this decision, and you try it out to then understand what your next move is, not that it has to be the final one

Teri Ijeoma 16:55

exactly. You're making the decision for the version of you at that time, so the version of me, I moved to Puerto Rico in 2021 The version of me in 2021 needed to move to Puerto Rico because it worked for my taxes, it worked for who I was. I needed the growth of just making a quick decision, and, and now five years later, the version of me that I am in 2026 needs community, it needs to be around family, it needs a little bit more stability. So, this version needs this, you know, this move and this decision. I do believe you're right, as, as women, but as everyone, we sometimes think a decision is permanent and forever, and it's not. It can be seasonal. That was a season, and now I'm in a new season.

Jamila Souffrant 17:40

So, let's talk about this new season for you, and what that's like. So, you wrote the book, the book is coming out, but how are you with balancing work? Because I know that you worked a lot, you had, you had employees, and you were teaching, like, your classes still. I know that, like, that was there, was a lot going on. So, what does that look like? What does the work-life balance look like right now

Teri Ijeoma 18:01

I am so intentional about work life. Now I went through this season, especially like we think about 2020 but 2020 2021 for investing and finances was this huge growth, like so many people needed our help. We were always on, I say we because you and I both like our whole like FinCon community, like we were teaching nonstop to so many people, trying to just help when, when the world was falling apart, right? Yeah, and we've gone through those seasons. I reached a point where I kind of have had a bit of burnout, like I had 40 staff members, I was trying to be everywhere. I was on the phone all the time, and every single meeting, and I needed a break. And so I scaled down. I let everybody go, for the most part. I scaled down to about two staff members, just to get some more breathing room. I made my trade and travel course a self-study instead of coaching. Back in the day, we used to have coaching calls every week, like three or four coaching calls. I made it self-study, and that was a hard transition to make. When we think about seasons, that was a bit of an identity shift for me. What happens when I'm no longer available? Will people still think that the course is okay. What happens when we don't have as much income from the company, and I feel like a lot of people have gone through those shifts in their businesses lately, even with online courses and AI. Okay, what happens when AI comes and online courses are not needed as much, or people, you know, like just times are shifting. So, for me, right now, as I scale back up with the book, I'm intentionally choosing to make sure that I scale with fun included. So, for example, that Knicks game that you talked about, I was in the middle of podcasting, but I said, "You know what? If I have to go to a podcast, I'm also going to choose a fun event too. It was the Knicks,

Jamila Souffrant 19:59

yeah. Much were those tickets, though?

Teri Ijeoma 20:01

Girl, they were a lot, but you know what, they were cheaper than I thought. I got them super last minute, like I had literally got off a plane from Singapore, got in the Uber, and then my hotel was close to Madison Square Garden, so I looked up a ticket in the Uber, but I think because it was so close to game time, some of them had gone on sale, like so it wasn't as bad.

Jamila Souffrant 20:19

Okay, you don't have to share the number if you don't, but was it above 10 or below 10,000 It

Teri Ijeoma 20:24

was below 10. It was 110 It was like,

Jamila Souffrant 20:26

okay,

Teri Ijeoma 20:26

I'll tell you, it was like six. It was like 6000

Jamila Souffrant 20:28

Oh, okay, that's not too bad. So

Teri Ijeoma 20:31

it wasn't, it wasn't crazy, right? It wasn't, you know, $200 ticket, but it was crazy for a finals game. And now that game, they came back 30 points, so it was a really good game to go, that was that was worth, yeah. When we talk about the risk worth taking, that was that was worth taking.

Jamila Souffrant 20:49

Wow, okay, all right. So I do want to go, because you talked about two major like things within your business that you did, and like the identities behind that, and so going from 40 team members to only two, removing the coaching and showing up as much in the business from the course. So, how did you overcome that? Like, what were there any pushback from people, right? Because I think you know when you're thinking about, you know, people who depend on you, like, how did that feel? Like, how did you put yourself first, where you did what was right for you versus thinking maybe like expectations of others and what they want you to do, because I think a lot of us, whether we have a business or not, we're dealing with that pressure from family, friends, work, where we're just like, I don't know, I don't want to do this, but I can't stop doing it, because people depend on me, and or they expect this from me.

Teri Ijeoma 21:41

Yeah, to tell you the truth, it was hard. It was hard. I had a few people that were underneath me that started teaching my curriculum, and so I started seeing some of my clients go over to them, and that was difficult, because you know, I'm the one who's always served and always shown up, and how could you know, how could they be doing this to me? It felt like they were attacking me personally, but now looking back in hindsight, I'm so glad that they started teaching, because I realized I'm not the only one that can teach this. As long as the people were getting served and still learning, then it doesn't have to be just me, so to tell you the truth, it was difficult in the moment, I wouldn't have had a solution, but now I'll tell anybody. If you're worried about you stopping and the people below you not being served, I want you to start turning the focus away from yourself and more to the people. The question is not what happens when I stop? The question is, how do they still receive service without me? And when I started thinking like that, there were other people that can teach. There were other ways that they could still find, you know, financial information, and it didn't have to just be about me. And then I was able to rest. They're still going to be okay. They're still gonna learn it's okay if I spend some time thinking about myself. Does that make sense? Am I being clear to know it

Jamila Souffrant 23:07

is because I'm thinking about our ego, and sometimes we, you know, like if you're the overthinker who thinks, oh, this person is upset with me because maybe they're reacting a certain way, but it has nothing to do with you, they're just living their life, you happen to just be the person, and you know, in front of them, you make yourself more important than you are, even though we all are important, right? Like, sometimes it's that self-importance, and relying too heavily on our own, like that we are the center of our own worlds, but not everyone else's. And I think, like, understanding that and pulling away, and it's just a good exercise in how to then make choices that do center around you, because you be you show up then as a better person versus assuming that you know people can dictate or you can dictate what people do,

Teri Ijeoma 23:58

yeah, like one of the things that's coming up in my mind right now is Sarah Jakes just had to make an announcement that she has to cancel Woman Evolve, and it's because she has to have a surgery, and that's a huge conference. There's like 22,000 women that have already signed up to come, and what a hard decision to make, right? You have to decide between showing up because it's your commitment, right, you're keeping your commitment or taking care of yourself, and I was so proud of her for choosing to take care of herself, because if at the end of the day the goal is to serve women and to make sure that the women are okay, we can't do it if she falls apart, like that's a one-time thing, and people will be mad, I'm sure, but we want her to be around for many more years to come, and in order to do that, she's got to take care of herself. So I'm so proud of her, and I hope that people think about that too, like if you have to make a decision, whether it's you versus showing up for a one time thing, which one. Is the more lasting impact, which one will you be around to serve longer? And it's oftentimes going to be, if you choose to take care of yourself, you can show up better in the future, you can make sure that you'll be around longer, you won't burn out and completely, you know, go into a rut. So choose you so that you can later help more people, is what I'm trying to say,

Jamila Souffrant 25:22

and what's powerful is the times that I felt the most inspired and almost given permission to choose myself is when I see other people choosing themselves, when I see someone else saying, you know what, I just don't want to do this, or I'm stopping this thing, it's too much, or I can't attend this event. I have this priority. I love, like, even if it's the me that they're canceling on, or they can't. I'm just like, I actually love that for you, and that gives me the ability to say what I can do that too. So, I do think when we show up and we're honest, we allow other people to realize they can be honest too. And some, some.. what I would assume is some people get so upset about, you know, of course it's inconvenient, and if they paid for something like to be somewhere, it's because they usually show up and sacrifice, so they, you know, you usually expect everyone else, like, I don't, it doesn't matter, I show up when I can't, why can't you, and it's like, no, that's actually not the way it should be, like, you should be able to say, I need a break, I cannot do this. If you have the luxury of doing that,

Teri Ijeoma 26:24

yeah. And now that I've done it once, I feel like now I'm able to be in a better position now, like I'm planning ahead of time, so I don't get to that place where I'm burnt out. I'm planning ahead of time, you know, like, and I'm showing up in a different way, even on this book tour, because I had the chance to rest, because I could calm down for a little while and re get my priorities together and dream again. Now I'm showing up in a whole different way on the River Taking tour. So that's what I also hope people know, is that it's not like this is the end of the world. You make this choice to choose yourself, but it's so that the next time you do something big, you can fully show up, right?

Jamila Souffrant 27:06

right? You have the capacity, you have the capacity, and sometimes you're so afraid to let go of whatever responsibilities and burden that you're carrying, because you just don't know what's next. When you let that go, you have more capacity to move to the next thing that is going to fill you up and maybe make you more money or money in a way that feels good.

Teri Ijeoma 27:25

Yeah, yeah. I know we talk about risk with investing, but lately I've been thinking about smart risk with just everything, and transitioning and pivots are oftentimes smart risk. They feel risky at the time because you don't know, like we said, we don't know what's on the other side. You don't know how will I afford things if I do decide to quit this job, or how will I take care of my family if I go and pursue my passions? They feel really risky at the time, but oftentimes those are the risks that will change your life in the positive, like they will change the trajectory of everything if you just step into it. So I do hope people push, push through that to find their best self.

Jamila Souffrant 28:08

Hey, journeyers, if you are loving this podcast, then you will love my book, Your Journey to Financial Freedom, a step-by-step guide to achieving wealth and happiness. I wrote this book for you. This book is for you. If you want a clear and enjoyable path to having more money, options, and a rich life, this book is for you. If you hate your commute and the fact that you need to seek approval or permission from a boss, I hated that when I worked. This book is for you if you weren't born into wealth, you didn't marry rich or win the lottery, but you still want freedom. This book is for you if you're at a crossroads. A major decision or event is imminent, maybe a career change, marriage, starting a family. Pressures are reaching a tipping point, and the discomfort and the desire for more can no longer be ignored. And this book is for you if you find yourself zoned out at meetings, looking out the window, or daydreaming about the life you truly want. So, go pick up your Journey to financialfreedom.com so I can show you how to map out how to get from where you are today to where you ultimately want to be, and enjoy the journey while you're on the path. Head over to Your Journey to financialfreedom.com to see where you can pick the book up. It's available on Amazon, bookshop.org Barnes and Noble, your local bookstore, everywhere. Go to Your Journey to Financial freedom.com to get the book now. Well, I think this is perfect time now to talk about your book, The Risk Worth taking, and what it's about, and it's different from, like, a traditional investing how-to book, right? So, explain the book, and how it's different, and what you talk about.

Teri Ijeoma 29:51

Yeah, so what's crazy is I initially received an offer from a lady named Marion at Penguin Random House, and I always. Shout her out. I ended up going with a whole different publisher, but I shout her out because there was her husband's friend was in my trade and travel course and was making money, and she called me and said he told me I've got to get you to write a book. So originally it was supposed to be just trade and travel in a nonfiction, how to, how do you do technical analysis? How do you read charts? And you know, in trade and travel, we talk about, like, picking healthy companies, and then we go into risk management. How do you protect your risk? And then we go into charting, so you can know when to enter and exit, right? So I tried that. I tried really hard to make, like, a, you know, how to rigid book, and girl, I was so bored. I was reading my own book and was bored. So then, then I said, I'm gonna start all over, and how do I teach this in a fun way? And it took me back to the story I was telling you when I quit my job and started traveling, was trying to figure out trading on my own, and I said, well, what if I do that? What if I make a character named Erin? She's in a toxic work environment. She decides to quit her job and start traveling, and while she's traveling, she's learning how to trade, and the audience is learning at the same time. So that's what you're doing, you're learning about. She talks to her grandmother, and her grandmother gives her these 3c's so she's learning about clarity, and that's how do you find the basics, how do you buy a stock, how do you set your expectations, how do you get your mindset right. Then she learns about caution, because she has a loss, and she's trying to figure out how do I get back from this. So she's learning about risk management and stop losses, and she meets a cute boy. Oh, and he's so cute to me. In my mind, he is the cutest, cutest guy. He's got these curly hair, but anyway, I'll let y'all read that in the book. And then she's still, she like goes through that, she figures out how to protect herself, but then she's feeling like I'm still not that consistent. So then she goes and takes a class on charting, and she's learning about the basics of candlesticks, and and so you learn all this in a story, and you end the book with my seven trade, like my seven steps of my trade and travel trading plan. So you get like a simple trading plan of if you ever were to try to actively invest, like here are the basics, and you leave the book knowing the basics, right? But it's fun. I see somebody by the pool, by the beach, reading this book and enjoying it, and realizing at the end I just learned about investing, but this was fun.

Jamila Souffrant 32:29

Yeah. No, I love, I love that approach, and I think it's different. You know, there's so many, especially because we are in the space, like I just see so many books that do look similar and are talking about a lot of the same things, or in the same way. So, I think it's really creative to do it that way. So, can you just do the 3c again? That she kind of experiences in the book,

Teri Ijeoma 32:51

it ends up being 4c's It starts first with courage, so courage to take the risk, then clarity, caution, and then confidence.

Jamila Souffrant 33:01

Ah,

Teri Ijeoma 33:01

so she learned those 4c

Jamila Souffrant 33:03

right now. I know you apply it to trading, but also that I'm thinking that's just like you said, any risk and pivot in life, right?

Teri Ijeoma 33:10

Yep, I'm calling it a smart risk framework. Any risk that you're approaching in your life, that's a framework you can, you can use. Have courage to take the risk, get clarity on it. What's the basics and the ins and outs of this risk? Then caution, you know it's a risk for a reason, so what can you do to protect yourself on the front end? And then confidence. Confidence is when you find your edge, looking at other people that have done that risk well. So that's the smart risk framework.

Jamila Souffrant 33:37

Yeah, I like that. I like thinking about it that way. Tell me something else that, so you said she is traveling, she's learning how to trade, she meets a boy.

Teri Ijeoma 33:48

Yeah,

Jamila Souffrant 33:48

so I don't want to give the book away, so maybe I want to ask that question, but like for her, how much of what you experience is what she does, is it like the same, or do you kind of add more, more fiction in

Teri Ijeoma 34:02

it. Yeah, and when we think about smart risks that she's taking, so quitting her job is a risk that she's taking. She's deciding whether to travel with strangers, both of those I did take. She's deciding whether to travel, she's deciding whether to spend money on something that she likes. That was another risk that held her up, because she was like, this is too expensive, I don't want to do it, and her grandmother's like, so you really love it, but you just don't want to pay for it. Transitioning from her no season to her yes season is a risk. In the book, I gave a shout out to Tiffany Alicia, because Erin has been going through getting good with her money, and you know Tiffany has the get good money,

Jamila Souffrant 34:41

yes,

Teri Ijeoma 34:41

so she's been in a season of saving, saving, saving, saying no, no, no, just paying off debt and putting money aside for retirement, and now she's switching into this yes season of, okay, I'm gonna spend some of my savings to go do this trip that I really love, or I'm gonna put some money towards active. Best, you know, so, so that's a big risk. I went through all of those things. The parts that I didn't do is I didn't quit my job right away. Erin, she has a thing with her boss and ends up quitting right away. I stayed for a whole nother year and just tried to tough it out and cry in the bathroom. So I wish I was like her. I wish I had quit sooner. She also has this conversation with her grandmother and the 3c or the 4c framework. I didn't actually have that conversation with my granny, however, my granny did tell me, "Hey, I've been praying about this and I think you should go. So that was the extent of the conversation with my granny, but Erin has like a much longer combo, and then some of the interaction she has, like she ends up going to Australia. I went to Australia much later in my journey, so the friends that she has, I made those friends up, but I did have some cool people I traveled with, so those parts of the story are a little different.

Jamila Souffrant 35:55

Yes, I love that. And so now that the book is depending on when this episode comes out, it's either you're gonna come out a little bit before the ebook comes out, or right as it comes out. What are your goals? I know you want, I know, I think I've seen you online saying, you know, you want to hopefully make the New York Times a list, and what is your game plan moving forward to get this book to as many people as possible?

Teri Ijeoma 36:19

I would love the book to hit New York Times bestseller. I would absolutely love that, but I'm realizing now that you can't track the numbers with New York Times, so you have to have a bigger goal in mind. So, I'm really glad you asked me this question. My bigger goal is I want to normalize people taking risk and not having fear. What I realized is I can teach people all day about how to invest, but a lot of people still wouldn't take their trade because they were too afraid. So, if they can, if they come out and they're not as afraid of investing, that hands down I have done my job. Like, oh my god, like you're, you're not afraid of it. You feel like it's normalized, you feel like you can take risk, and that's normalized. Those are some of my bigger goals. And then this, the idea of they come out with my trading plan. I feel like a lot of people right now are investing, and they really don't know what they're doing, like they're just following somebody, telling them, like, go do this or go invest in this stock, but they don't know for themselves what they're doing. So I really want there to be just this whole generation, and just everybody. If, like, you know, my bit, my dreams are big, and everybody just had the basics, so they weren't just jumping in blind. And we got this book to, like, everybody at Robin Hood, or everybody who opens and opens an account at Charles Schwab, or Fidelity, and they had the basics of investing, so that they had the education that would be huge. Or another thing I've been thinking about is these Trump accounts are coming out, and we're giving money to kids, but we're not educating the parents. So, how, if we got the book to all the parents, so that they felt more educated with this money? Like, those are the things that that are on my mind.

Jamila Souffrant 38:03

Yeah, I love you connecting it to a bigger goal outside of just like getting on a list, and then also bringing it to the Trump account, because it is something that I've seen, and you know, it's not something I discuss much on the podcast. But can you please tell us, educate me and the audience on what it is exactly, and who can get it, and the benefits or cons of it.

Teri Ijeoma 38:26

Sure, so they're special accounts that the government is creating, and they are giving $1,000 from the US Treasury to basically newborns, kids that are born from January 2025 through December 2028 So right now kids that are about zero to one years old and the new newborns coming up have the ability to apply for an account, and then the US Treasury, if approved, will fund that account with $1,000 The cool thing, though, is because it's supported by the government, there's also work benefits that can match donations, and some parents can give additional money, so I believe it's up to 2500 additional, maybe up to $5,000 that you can, you can also contribute to the account for that kid. So a kid at the end of by one or two years old could have maybe $8,000 in their account, and then when we think about compounding for long term, by 18 that money could be 100,000 $200,000 So just imagine if by high school the kid was graduating with this lump sum of money. Now it allows them to have more options, they can decide to go straight to college and pay for that, they could pay for a house or they could take a leap year and go travel, or they could put money towards a business. So that's the thought here. I heard a guy, Michael Milken, talk about these accounts, and he was just so excited, because kids could come out of high school and have so many more options in life and. That's I think what they're going for now. The accounts are opened in Robinhood, so could you do this outside of the government? Yes, definitely. You could put $1,000 into, I think they're doing traditional IRA instead of Roth IRA, so a traditional IRA, and then let that sit for 18 years. Honestly, either way is fine. I just like the idea that you're putting money aside for the kids early and then letting it grow for a good amount of time,

Jamila Souffrant 40:29

and the benefit here is that the government is giving you the funding, the first 1000

Teri Ijeoma 40:35

yes, that's the benefit, you're walking away from free money if you don't open it with the government,

Jamila Souffrant 40:41

right? And I'm sure, so we obviously, this is like an overview. We didn't go into details and all, like the little nuances of the account, but it's something I wanted to touch upon. So, I always tell people, is this can apply to you if you are an expecting parent, or you just had a baby, and you're in that time frame that we're talking about, do some research to see if this would work for you, and I know for some people who just, the name is just yes, they just like nope, I don't trust it, I mean valid, but maybe not right, like do your own research, look into it, be curious, I think I tell my kids this all the time, be curious, ask questions, because maybe something isn't for you, but you don't know that until you dig a bit, until you click the hyperlinks, is what I say in my book of your life, and you just explore, because you just never know, and that's what, when I say things, I want, I always want people to just do their own research and ask questions to figure out if something may work for you, because it may or may not, but it may.

Teri Ijeoma 41:44

Yeah, and I also don't want a kid to miss out on this investment because their parent had, like, a just wanted to make a point, like, well, because his name is on it, I'm not gonna do it. You don't want to walk away from free money just because somebody's name is on it. Try to, you know, put that to the back of your mind. Just think, you know what, for my baby or my niece, my nephew, tell those parents we're gonna get this $1,000 for them and let it grow, no matter whose name is on it. You know,

Jamila Souffrant 42:12

right? Okay. So, okay, so far, I mean, this conversation is catch up. Terry has been amazing. I know that you're focused on the book right now, that's taken a lot of time, like promoting the book. What do you see next for yourself? So, like, the book was a big project, you have trade and travel, I'm assuming it's like the foundation. Are there other goals or things you have beyond those projects, and what you want to

Teri Ijeoma 42:36

do? I really want to be a better trader, like that's something that I can't wait to just spend more time on, as well. I have billionaire goals in mind, of okay, how do I get to a billion? And whenever there's a lot of time spent on something else, then you know, my money is long-term investing, or you know, just small, small, small. In Nigeria, I'm like, small, small, small, small gains, but I want to keep working on my craft. There's so much to learn as an investor, and there's so many different ways to invest. So, I've been doing more difficult options trades lately, like selling options, and they call it writing calls and writing puts, and I've been learning. So, that's my next thing. Okay, the book gets out, people learn, they know the basics, and now I go and I get to learn at an even higher level. That's what I love.

Jamila Souffrant 43:29

Yeah, I love that. You know, I'm thinking now about the people who.. so, how, like, how long do you.. would you say you spend on trading per day?

Teri Ijeoma 43:38

Per day, about an hour. I definitely will look at the market each day. I don't actually have to make a trade. Some of my trades are doing well, so like right now I'm in Meta and Robin Hood, and some of those just need time to sit and mature. I'm still an active investor because I'll probably do months in the trade versus letting it sit for years, but I don't have actually anything to press, I just check on it, see how we're doing. Are we still right? Is there a new opportunity? And then I move on to the next thing.

Jamila Souffrant 44:09

Right, I was gonna say, and I'm pretty sure people do that. We do this already, but you know, like streamers, like that's like the new.. it's not new anymore. I just feel old, but like streamers who constantly share what they're doing, and in like in real time, and how interesting it would be to watch someone in real time, like trade, or like you know, see what they're doing from a learning opportunity, and just validity, like to see that, okay, this is real, like this is actually something that a person is doing, and whether like making money or not, but it's a valid way that they can educate, it just came in my mind as an opportunity. Yeah,

Teri Ijeoma 44:44

I might do that for book sales, like if you buy so many books, then you get to watch me trade, but I also am a very, like, I don't like stress, that's one thing the money has afforded me. Money has afforded me that I get to choose what I want to do. There's nothing that I. I am forced to do, and that's stressful, having a ton of people like come and watch you watching now. All of a sudden, I feel like I'm gonna make a mistake. I have some anxiety, and I tried that a long time ago. I tried doing it for Karen Hunter, and every week we would get on and look at my account. I almost had a heart attack, so it's up to me, which it is, because I control my destiny. It's not, it's not my preference, and I know people want it, but I'm like, but I, we talked about what he was good for you versus what's good for everybody else. I don't enjoy that. I don't enjoy having to, like, you know, show up and perform for everybody in my account, like, no,

Jamila Souffrant 45:44

right? Right,

Teri Ijeoma 45:45

I might, for some book sales. We'll see, we'll see.

Jamila Souffrant 45:49

No, I respect that. And again, it's having like options, like you have like the option to say no, and I think this is what everyone wants to get to in life. I always say that the purpose of reaching or having financial independence and all the money, or at least enough money, isn't that you never work again, it's that you choose what you do and you choose how you spend your day and who you spend it with. I think that is the ultimate luxury and richness, right, and wealth of life, which you know so many people don't have, but I do think as they make their way towards unlocking more levels of financial freedom, whether that is through the basics, right, like budgeting and long-term investing, and then, and, or now supplementing their income with active trading, right, like these are the opportunities we have in life to help us to get to where we want to be, and we should be open and curious about these things that we hear about, obviously, I always say that, because there's so many I believe scammers out there that try to teach things like this, or try to promise, you know, like, oh, if you do this, it's a guaranteed, like, no, that's not how that works, nothing is guaranteed, but you know, just having the wherewithal and discernment, and the opportunities to learn about these things, I think it's a blessing.

Teri Ijeoma 47:02

Yeah, I really love your idea of just be curious and don't turn something away just because of a word. I feel like some people hear the word trading and they're immediately turned off, oh no, that's gambling, or oh no, that's too risky. Like that's the whole point of why I wrote the risk word take. It is a risk, you are right, it's risk, but sometimes there are risks that are worth it. Yes, yes. All right. Terry, please say the name of your book, where everyone can get it when it comes out, and anything else you'd like them to know. Sure. So the book is called The Risk Worth Taking. One more time, The Risk Worth Taking. If you put in a risk worth taking, you're going to get a romance novel. So the risk worth taking, and you can get it on any platform, you can get it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million. For my birthday, my birthday is june 19, so I'm a Juneteenth baby. We're encouraging people to buy it from black-owned bookstores, so if you go on Instagram on my page at Terry Geoma, I know that's hard to spell, but T E R I J E O M A. In our Link Tree, we actually have a list of black-owned bookstores too. If you wanted to do that for Juneteenth, you know, Freedom, but you can get it anywhere - Amazon, Barnes Noble, all the outlets. And yeah, the risk worth taking.

Jamila Souffrant 48:20

Yes, I'm actually excited to get my hands on it. It's such a beautiful cover, but if you haven't seen it yet, it's like a gold, yellow gold color. I love that it captures the chart and then the luggage on the cover. Yeah, it's beautiful.

Teri Ijeoma 48:36

It's kind of cool. If we were building it, I wasn't going to put Trade and Travel on the cover, and then I was like, oh yeah, but the suitcase and charting is trade and travel,

Jamila Souffrant 48:43

right? It's like it speaks to exactly what that is. So, I think it's, I think it's gonna do well, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. So, thank you so much again for coming back on the Journey to Launch podcast, sharing your journey, your story, and sharing all your wisdom.

Teri Ijeoma 48:59

It's always great to talk to you. Thank you so much.

Jamila Souffrant 49:02

Don't forget, you can get the episode show notes for this episode by going to Journey to launch.com or click the description of wherever you're listening to this, and you can still grab your Jumpstart guide for free to help you on your journey to financial freedom by going to Journey to launch.com/jumpstart if you want to support me and the podcast, and love the free content and information that you get here, here are four ways that you can support me in the show. One, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast wherever you listen, whether that's Apple Podcasts, that purple app on your phone, your Android device, YouTube, Spotify, wherever it is that you happen to listen, just subscribe, so you are not missing an episode. And if you're happening to listen to this in Apple Podcasts, rate, review, and subscribe there. I appreciate and read every single review. Number two, follow me on my social media accounts. I'm at Journey to Launch on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and I love, love, love, interact. Thing with journeyers, there three support and check out the sponsors of this show. If you hear something that interests you, sponsors are the main ways we keep the podcast lights on here, so show them some love for supporting your girl. Four, and last but not least, share this episode, this podcast with a friend or family member or coworker, so that we can spread the message of Journey to Launch. All right, that's it until next week. Keep on journeying, journeyers,

Unknown Speaker 50:26

you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai