Transcription
[Music] This video is not sponsored by Liquid Death. I need to turn you up; I can't hear you.
You can't hear me?
No, I can hear you now. It was low on my end; I had to turn you up.
Oh, okay. I was going to say, turn me up in my microphone. How are you?
That is such a loaded question today.
Um, I know, right? See, how would I answer that? I would say I'm on one. How are you?
I think the feelings are definitely mutual. I think the feelings are definitely mutual. If only people could see sometimes the background of our pre-production meetings, how we put it together, and how, for example, today's episode came to be. The magic!
Well, it all started, kid. It all started with, "Well, yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here," right?
But no, like, on the real, I've been busy, ready for 2024 to come to its close for sure. There's a lot of things in this chapter that need to close. But yeah, I mean, it's been a trying year. I've sat back and watched a lot this year, and you know, it's kind of great that we're doing this episode because we're kind of getting this vibe where it's kind of like we're watching the party die—not only just in Kendrick Lamar's world but also in our world too, our multi-different universes. So I think that it's going to be pretty cool to sit down and have this conversation.
And so for those of you guys that are new to the Come Up series, Jolan, welcome! Thank you for joining us this evening. I am Mark Monroe, accompanied by my wonderful co-host, co-producer, and co-creator in all things galactic. And of course, she's the G CEO. Give it up for none other than the wonderful—you know it's me, Jolan GC!
And I don't know if this is the place to be, quite frankly.
It will be, don't worry. By the time this episode ends, I guarantee you, the vibes will feel different.
All right, so if you haven't subscribed yet, go ahead and subscribe. There's a ton of content there. Feel free to like this video because it gets it out to folks who probably don't even know who the Come Up series is but probably do need to know who the Come Up series is.
We got a lot to get into today, but I'm going to start it off in the sense of how this episode came to be. We were just kind of sitting down and having a conversation, and Jolan and I kind of felt the same vibe where it was just like, you know, we really need to sit down and have a real conversation with the people.
And you know, it's things that we've been seeing for quite some time, and it's been the antithesis. A lot of folks who know me personally hear me say this all the time: this generation's cooked—like flat out, with no seasoning, just literally flat out cooked. And we're literally watching somebody burn the food over the stove. I think it's time for us to have that real conversation where a person helps them take it off of the stove to kind of clean this up.
So there's a lot of angles that we're going to literally approach it by, but ultimately the goal is not to seem like Debbie Downers, but it's going to feel somewhat like that. But it's the honest-to-God truth. So honestly, if you know somebody that really needs to hear the truth going into 2025, please share this with them. Send it to them via text, whatever it is, because we're about to have some hard-nosed truth conversations.
And this is not just towards Gen Z and Gen A—no, Millennials, you can get this too. Everybody gets it. This smoke is rated E for everyone, so it's definitely about to be that episode. But hopefully, it's like you just don't see it in the sense of Debbie Downer; you see it in the sense of, "Okay, hey, from the data points we're pulling and everything else," that essentially you could say, "Okay, hey, there's opportunity here."
I put a poll out, Jolan, before the episode started. I did, and I said, "Are Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha cooked?" So on the stance of economic education, social, and financial—do you want to know what the poll is now, or do we want to wait till later?
Let's see what it is now and then check back in.
Okay, so I put the poll out on our YouTube channel so people can see it in our community tab on the Come Up series. So if you want to vote, go there.
Let's see here, and I guess we can make the link available for folks to literally cast their ballots.
Yes, I think we can on this.
Okay, I mean, I feel like I was looking at one of the comments that one of the cousins left, and she was saying, you know, it's okay. And there's another comment about, you know, the market being great. And this is bigger than just the market. The market is going to do what the market does, y'all. We are talking about the grand scheme of things, the bigger picture.
And right now, in this moment, before we get into 2025, there will be some decisions that we need to make moving forward. And it's like ringing the bell, you know? That's the type of time we're on for real. And so while we can have, you know, the funny games and kiki and all that right now, right now though, it's a different type of energy.
Okay, so currently right now, 26% believe that this generation is cooked. 19% say not yet. 56%, though—56% say we can be saved.
Yeah, I'm always an optimist. I'm a realist too, but I think overall I'm an optimist. Like, how my brain works, and just like my life philosophy, I am a reframer. I will reframe something so that it fits the narrative that works for me, where I feel the most empowered.
But before you can even do that, it's important to tell the truth and get an accurate assessment of where we're at first.
Yeah, so before we get into all of that, I also posted something else, Jolan, on social media. And so before we get into the real stuff—well, it's all real stuff that we present, but I mean, remember this end-of-the-year 2026 playlist?
Yep, that was okay. So we've had a few things hit on this list, you know?
Pull that up; let me see.
Yeah, so as it stands, I think JP Morgan is at like 243. When I called this in July, it was at 212, 216. And then we have also Tesla that has now crossed the 400 marker, sitting at—excuse me—403. I think I made a bad decision with this Liquid Death, but I mean, we gonna find out.
And then I think that the next one that we're probably going to see that hits this is probably going to be Amazon.
All right, let me look up what—because Apple went well past the 30—or went well, they're at 2477 on their way. But Amazon—yeah, talk about it.
So Amazon is currently at 22.
Yeah, so the reason why I bring this up though, Jolan, is because if you look at—like, don't even look at the price; we don't even have to look at the price tags. We could just look at, say for example, the thesis that sits in between all of them. So for example, where I have Robo-taxi and logistics for Tesla, where I have Amazon AI chips become scalable for Amazon, and then now all of a sudden the news finally hit.
So if you think about it, I've been shouting to the mountaintop since like really, like as of May of this year about Amazon AI chips, and now that's coming to the fore. I mean, shoutouts to Google with their quantum chips, though, that they've been doing quantum chips for quite some time as it pertains to their TensorFlow chips that are in their Google Pixel devices.
So I think that they're just making a play towards, you know, "Hey, everybody, this isn't just for mobile and cloud. You know, if you want this, we could provide this to you as well."
And I think that the next frontier beyond LLMs are world models that I think Microsoft is going to have a play at. And I think the thing to pay attention to with Microsoft is pay attention to that lawsuit from Elon Musk because of OpenAI going from a nonprofit to a for-profit company, and Microsoft currently owns 49% of that company.
This conversation just changed for a whole different type of turn.
We also, like, let's keep in mind that this is for the end of 2026, so many of these are pretty close already, and we're not even to 2025 yet.
So there's that.
Yep, yep, so yeah, there's that. I don't have the other stocks I put up there, like for example, the Netflixes, the AMDs, and the metas of the world, though. I went through those at great length when I did my top five going into 2025.
But I just believe that honestly, these are going to be the major pillars as it pertains to industry moving forward. And the reason why I have JP Morgan in there is because I believe that JP Morgan finances a lot of these things to happen. So they have a major financial footprint embedded into each and every single one of these.
So that's the reason why I said JP Morgan is along for the ride. And little known fact: JP Morgan actually hires, I think, probably more software engineers than tech companies.
So yeah, let that think. That is a little known fact.
Yeah, all right, so there's that on the fluff piece.
Oh, I saw you lock them up.
Let's lock in.
All right, so let's start with the first thing. So is this generation currently—or are the generations currently right now cooked?
Now, there's a lot that can be said there, but so we're going to let you decide by the end of this show or this episode. There's going to be a few things.
I was going to say, let's get a common understanding of what is meant when we say cooked.
When I mean by cooked, I mean that you're in trouble. Like, you're definitely in trouble. I mean, somebody has definitely set the stove on fire, and essentially somebody needs to literally step up and take whatever is burning off of the stove very quickly. And you may have to order Domino's because what you're eating right now doesn't seem like it's going to be very edible.
And the reason why I say that is because of the fact that I'm seeing some significant warning signs that are playing out not only in education but also in economy, social, technology, finance—you name it.
And I think that a lot of people play that part. I think we all play a role somewhere embedded into this. But it's kind of like that wake-up moment that we across multiple generations need to wake up and literally say, "Okay, hey, it's time to literally come back to the table."
And literally, we need a factory reset—maybe a soft reset. I mean, we kind of got a reset as it pertains to generations being able to talk to each other, maybe a little bit during COVID. But now COVID's over, and now the conversation has kind of started to cease.
And you're noticing that things are transpiring, and they're not looking like they're headed in the direction where they're supposed to be. It seems like we're more so having regressive conversations versus having progressive conversations.
And I'm not talking about things like political, though a lot of times people will try to throw an underbelly on top of that. Like, for example, let's take the simple phrase "woke," where essentially it was ultimately something in which that you need to stay aware of what's happening around you, and now it's been weaponized into something—some political [ __ ] that essentially has nothing to do with its origin factor or the cause of what its original stance was in the first place.
Now it's looked at as like a slur. When you call, you say that somebody is woke, it's supposed to be a bad thing.
And so we're at a time now where we need to pay attention to what is presented by the culture and then demonized by mainstream.
Yep, that's the type of time we're in. You all have to look at the subtext of what's going on.
So we're going to hit every single one of these subjects, so strap up, lock in, take your notes, be ready.
And honestly, it's like be prepared to start having these conversations. I mean, we wouldn't be doing our part, y'all, if we didn't talk about these things.
It's easy for us to talk about the stock market; it's easy for us to talk about what the Fed is going to do. Like, for example, CPI numbers will probably come in line. All right, done, news over.
If CPI numbers are in line or if it's whatever, if it's higher, then there's no rate cut. If it's in line, then essentially you'll probably see a rate cut because it's regular schedule programming.
So again, you see how honestly how that's kind of becoming like a misnomer conversation. This one hits a lot closer to home because of the fact that it can affect not only you but the people around you.
And if you got kids, you really need to be paying attention to this one because of the fact that probably within the next five years, you're probably going to see the impact on your own home front.
So let's first talk about how we kind of get there across each subject.
So the first subject that we're going to talk about is education.
All right, education. Talk about it.
So the reason why we at the Come Up series did what we did was because of the fact that we saw that there was a huge gaping hole as it pertains to financial education. But let's look at education as a whole.
So I have my notes here on the side, so don't shoot me for reading them because we've prepared them for you.
So let's take some key talking points, shall we?
Jolan, let's look at the student loan crisis. Now, of course, we saw what the current administration has been trying to do to resolve that, and it kind of makes you ask the question, "Well, why?"
Well, look at it like this: Millennials owe an average of $40,000 in student loan debt. Gen Z is on track to surpass that, like, new record. Many choose degrees without analyzing the return on investment, leading to low-paying jobs and high debt.
So there's a lot of folks out there that are going into degrees today, you know, thinking that, "Okay, hey, I'm going to go get this degree," but it has a low return on investment.
So the way that you look at that is how much you spend versus essentially how much you plan on making post-college over that same period of time, and then you can kind of look at it as it pertains to return on investment: was it worth it?
So for example, a college graduate with a $50,000 degree in a low-demand field is probably going to be struggling to pay off student loans. I think that's a fairly easy thing to do.
And I think the thing is, is like we got to this period where—how did we get there? We started getting to this period where we're overvaluing advanced degrees.
So we reached this pivotal point where it got so overvalued. We pursued expensive graduate programs without clear financial benefits.
So the consequence of that was what was preached, though. You know, it was education, education, but it was education for the sake of education. There's nothing wrong with that.
And in fact, I'm not a believer that you should just run out and go and get some type of, you know, degree in STEM because if it's not balanced by liberal arts, if it's not balanced by this humanity component, then we're going to continue to be on the path to cooked.
You're just going to have a couple more dollars in your pocket, and we can't afford that.
That's interesting that you say that, Jolan, because it leads to the consequences. So I also went through and gave my notes as it pertains to consequences also.
Okay, so I said the consequences: you get six-figure debt for degrees that don't guarantee higher salaries. So I think that that's a fair assumption to say.
So then we also get like the third point to that, which is ignoring alternative paths.
So we went through this whole period where we were just literally completely scoffing at trades and stuff like that. You got electricians out there that are making six-figure jobs and everything else, the same as they're making just as much as, say, for example, a person who works in software.
And essentially, those are jobs that people are scoffing at, but you'll come to see that essentially those things are needed.
And I'll give an example a little bit later. Excuse me.
So trade schools and certifications are often overlooked despite offering a higher ROI—a better choice.
So focus on fields like tech and/or healthcare where certifications can lead to higher-paying jobs. That's been the thing that everybody has been doing.
But Mark, it has to be balanced, though. Again, you can go into those fields; you can make that money. But if you lack critical thinking skills, if you lack media literacy, financial literacy, if you lack any of those things, we will be in the same situation.
It'll just be a different recipe, but it will still be cooked.
I agree. I agree. Like, for example, and we'll probably have Vic come on and actually do an episode about it where, like, you know, he works in the business as it pertains to providing loans to people.
And the interesting thing about that is, is that, like, for example, even like high-paid athletes that make like well over seven figures, you know, a year are sitting with 450 credit scores and ultimately having to take out loans just to essentially pay off whatever debts that they owe that they were already in debt to before they even entered going into the league.
So now they're kind of like in the situation where they're kind of stuck. Kind of reminds me of the fashion industry, so it's a little bit PTSD there for me.
So let me just step away.
There's also some other pressures with that too we can talk about in the probably—
Oh, feel free, feel free.
I mean, so you have these athletes that, you know, make all this money; their credit scores are low. So you know that's an indication potentially of the lack of financial literacy.
So already you're going into a situation where you're coming into money, but you don't know how to preserve capital; you don't know how to build upon that capital.
Then there's the other pressure of, "Oh, you made it, so now you have to make sure that visually it looks like you made it."
And unfortunately, oftentimes that comes with a lot of flash that comes with cash down the drain because you're trying to keep up appearances.
And then also there's that other need where it's like, "Man, if you haven't had it, now you want to show that you have it, and you want to feel like you have it."
And oftentimes, retirement planning doesn't feel like you have it because it lacks the instant gratification.
But just like that book that we talked about in 2020 by Kramer, "Get Rich Carefully," we have to change the culture and our relationship to money.
I'm talking about as a culture in general. Yes, those STEM jobs are going to be opportunities for people to get money, but again, if you're in that field and you lack any of these other literacies, we are still going to be cooked.
And I'm going to keep saying it over and over again until I get tired of saying it, but go ahead.
Indeed, I think we don't woke up, butter.
So here's some shocking data, though. Do you know what the average repayment period is for student loans, Jolan?
It's a very long time; it's over a decade for sure.
It's 20 years! So 20 years is far longer than most borrowers expected.
So let's say that you go and get a four-year degree, right? The amount of time that the average person will end up being in their student loan for is 20 years. It's a 20-year sentence.
So we're producing debt slaves.
Let's go on to the economics part.
Yeah, let's talk about it. Because, you know, the thing that a lot of folks were talking about, which was like cost of living and stuff like that.
So let's talk about it. 56% of Millennials are living paycheck to paycheck. Now Gen Z is 55% living paycheck to paycheck.
Now, lifestyle inflation—so spending more as income rises—is very much so a thing, which has always been weird to me.
Like, for example, like the more you make, I'm like, it's kind of like, "Okay, the more I make, the more I should save." But it's like, it's kind of like this thing where it's just like, "Okay, hey, I go from making $100,000 to let's say making $150,000, but my expenses when I was making $100K was, let's say, after everything before taxes, so let's say I was spending about $80,000 before that. Now it's like my money that I'm getting paid now went from $80,000 to what I'm spending to like now $125,000."
So it's like discipline; you need discipline, and you need a money plan.
It doesn't make any sense.
It does. Here we are.
And so, yeah, that's a major part, whereas like a lot of folks spend towards their lifestyle.
Now, if you're going to have fun, like feel free to have fun, but it's like, you know, the biggest thing is just like the economics behind it, though, is most things—like I don't really know of schools that teach you to really be able to be a good steward of your finances.
Hell, I don't even think that a lot of—like even though that it's written even in scriptures, I don't think that a lot of churches even teach you how to be a good steward of your finances.
Down that building fund—the building fund's getting spent, but it's not getting spent on the building.
You know, I started on the trustee board, so again, I'm facing a little bit of PTSD here because I remember I went to a multi-million dollar church, and yet we still were paying for things that still hadn't been fixed.
But you know, yeah, the church—all the blocks in the hood—all of them, so that there can't be gentrification. But that's a whole other topic.
Yes, all right, so job hopping without a strategy.
Now this is—oh my Lord, I'm guilty of this.
I mean, maybe not job hopping, but like back in 2008, I just quit. I was like, "I'm out!"
Move without a strategy.
But we were in a different time, Mark. I had to find myself.
And then once I found myself, it was all good.
But you can't do that in today's economy. You can't just be out there all willy-nilly hopping from job to job with no strategy.
What's interesting, though, is it's like while job hopping can lead to higher pay, as we all know, of course you're trying to go and secure a higher bag, as the young folks would say.
Doing so without long-term planning limits career growth and benefits, actually.
So it actually limits you when you just try to move from one area to another, and then you wonder why essentially that you kind of hit the ceiling.
And it's like because you walked into a situation where it's like, "Okay, hey, the salary may be higher, but essentially that's all that you really get."
Because one of the things that you got to look at as it pertains to career moves is not only just in the sense, "Will it pay me now?" but also, "What do the opportunities look like? What does the growth opportunity look like? What kind of track are they putting me on?"
And let's just be honest, a lot of folks don't think about that because they only look at today and maybe tomorrow, but they don't look at next month; they don't look at next year; they don't look at, you know, two years down the road.
And the average person that typically stays at a company—the average time that you're typically spending, I can say within the tech space, is about two to four years before you jump companies.
You know, well, that makes sense.
But also, Mark, we don't—we're in a time where corporate loyalty—what's that?
We don't need that. That's not going to—because they're not loyal to the employee.
So corporate loyalty is out the door. That's why, instead of corporate loyalty, you have to have a corporate strategy.
If you're going to go the route of working a 9-to-5, you have to have the strategy because people will hire you when you are at another job.
But if you don't have a job and you're trying to get hired, oftentimes they're like, "Well, I don't know how come you're not employed right now."
So you actually bring up a very interesting point there, Jolan, because it's like, you know, baby boomers have always been known to be like your most loyal employees, like where they just stay at—they will stay at a company like, "Okay, hey, I'm here, and I'll just move up the ranks, and I'll make it do what it do."
The problem there is, is like, look, you guys can catch the smoke too.
So the problem is also there is that you can be loyal to a fault or stay there to a fault too long and then essentially not realize that, "Okay, hey, that oper—like I'm witnessing some folks that have stayed at companies for far too long and not realizing that it's not the company; it's the entire industry that's completely shifting and changing."
And then essentially you find yourself stuck when essentially it's like, "Okay, hey, well, layoffs and everything else," and you're looking over your shoulder like, "Okay, hey, is my number getting prepared to be called?"
You gotta have strong pivot game, not just in the market but in the job market too.
That P—you gotta, you know, Matrix on them. You got to know when to duck, you know, when to stick, when to move.
You got to know that they're not teaching that, and this is the reason why I say that essentially we need to bring back generational conversations, Jolan, where it's like because there's something that the younger generations can teach the older generation as it pertains to what they're seeing, what's trending, or what's happening.
And there's lessons in wisdom and sage advice that older generations can pass on to younger generations, and they can both interconnect and ultimately share information and share knowledge where you develop this knowledge transfer or this knowledge graph among people across generations.
That's currently not happening.
So I mean, I'm not going to give too much away, so let's keep it rolling.
I do want to say one thing about that, though, Mark, because even with that conversation of like the exchange of knowledge and wisdom between generations, that also requires a strategy.
It can't be a one-off thing. That's why the model of mentorship is so powerful.
Yep, it's so powerful. That's a regular conversation, a regular exchange, and not just, "Oh, let me just take you to lunch and quote-unquote pick your brain."
We're not doing the pick-your-brain thing, especially within our culture and our community. The exchange is what's going to accelerate us.
So just had an employee recognition celebrating folks 5 to 50 years of service. Dope!
Man, old people tired of talking to brick walls.
Listen, it's the hubris and everything else, but you know, sometimes it's like just remember—like just think about it like this, Uncle Charles.
Think about how long we've been doing the Come Up series, and think about how many times we've had to—like myself, I'll just say myself because I don't want to speak for Jolan—but think about how many times I've had to repeat myself in order to get the message across, where sometimes I called you frustrated, like, "Man, are people listening? Are they getting it?"
And then ultimately, it's like, you know, it takes time. Sometimes you may be the person that sows the seed, or you may be the person that waters the garden, but at least you started the conversation, hopefully.
Okay, so avoiding home ownership.
So rising housing costs have led many to give up on buying houses, which prevents wealth accumulation through property equity.
For example, recently, indefinitely renting instead of exploring first-time buyer programs.
Now, I'm somewhere kind of like in tied—like, you know, like I'm not a huge real estate kind of guy.
So like when people are like, "Oh, go buy up all these different types of real estate properties and everything else," that's not me.
I always looked at it in the sense of what does well is ultimately the barometer to everything is ultimately what I look at as it pertains to the stock market.
And if that can't outperform what is it that the stock market can provide, then ultimately that typically says a no for me.
But that's just me personally, and that's ultimately how I put together a strategy.
I don't literally downpour on anybody else if that's their strategy, but essentially, like, if you have a strategy, great.
But a lot of folks out there have no strategy, and I think that's the key part that I hope that you're starting to notice a trend here.
Yeah, is no strategy.
And make sure that when you do figure out, you know, the strategy for yourself, that's one of the most powerful things you can do because it'll be aligned to who you are as opposed to just copying the next person.
Like, "Oh, it worked for them, so I'm going to see if it works for me."
Well, really check in and see, you know, does this even align with who I am? Do I even want to be a landlord?
You might not even want to be a landlord or whatever when it comes to the real estate thing.
But if that's your thing, then that's your thing, and it's all good.
Now here's a shocking stat point, Jolan, as it pertains to all of that: Millennials own only 4% of all U.S. real estate.
So they represent 4% of U.S. real estate wealth compared to Baby Boomers at the same age, which was 32%.
So when Baby Boomers were, let's say, my age—or our age, I should say—our age, they owned 32% of the U.S. real estate versus us at our generation only owning 4%.
Yeah, I mean, also context—different economy, you know, policies, different times.
But at the same time, that is quite shocking, and many of them, you know, still own and will transfer that real estate to their Millennial grandchildren or what have you.
Now this is a sensitive topic that we're getting ready to run into, so I don't want you to, like, you know, kill—like, look, I don't have all the answers.
It's just that, like, look, I'm giving, like, just my insights as it pertains to what is it that I'm seeing from the data.
So this next one is social, with a key focus on mental health and cultural pressures.
Okay, now this is going to probably pierce some people, and honestly, like I said, don't shoot the messenger.
But I challenge you to, like, go back to your family and sit back and have a conversation on some of these topics.
So let's talk about social media addiction.
So Gen Z spends, on average, five-plus hours daily on social media.
Now let's put it into context, shall we? Average time in a day is 24 hours.
So there's 24 hours in a day. Time that you have in a day, the average time spent working is about eight hours, though that's questionable in today's society of whether or not they're actually truly working the full eight hours.
And then, so then, of course, like travel time between two and four to work, it could be anywhere from two to roughly four hours.
So you spend in transportation.
So then also, let's take into consideration five-plus hours a day that you spend engaging with social media and everything else.
Crazy, right?
It makes you ask, like, which one—who—which one is the best real estate? Is it the real estate of, say, for example, the ones in which that we—that was once formerly redlining, or is it the real estate in which that ultimately can map your entire genome and also your brain?
That part sounds like money to me.
Let me ask you this: which one has a higher—I'm going to ask the room—which one has the highest upside?
Is it owning the physical buildings, or let's say buying land, or would you rather say, "Okay, with the $500,000, would you rather have, like, the attention of, like, as it pertains to engaging attention as it pertains to active people—like, let's say 500,000 people?"
Well, first of all, which one's worth more?
That's a good question, and I feel like in this economy, it's going to be the attention.
The attention is going to garner, in the long term, and probably in the short term, actual dollars.
It's not going to be like this appreciation or, you know, this non-liquid dollars.
So in this economy, you need liquid; you need liquidity.
I noticed that the chat got real quiet, so I don't know if we're touching a nerve or not, but let's just be real.
If you said the minds, then you're thinking like pretty much every single one of the Fortune 500 CEOs out there, that their companies are worth the mega-cap stocks that are worth over a trillion dollars in market cap because that's ultimately how they did it.
They looked beyond, say, for example, the physical real estate, and then they ultimately said, "Okay, hey, how is it that we can literally take part in controlling the mind?"
And you want to know the interesting thing about this, Jolan?
I'm going to draw a parallel because once upon a time, there was a company by the name of McDonald's that their entire business, which made them worth billions of dollars, was the fact that it was a complete real estate play.
It wasn't the fact that they served a billion people every day. No, screw that.
It was the fact that ultimately they owned the real estate as it pertains to that whole franchising and everything else. They owned the land, and that ultimately became the thing.
Now think about it. Think about what McDonald's is doing now.
You got apps in which that they can engage you to ultimately send you notifications.
Like, what they do as it pertains to marketing and multimedia content, they make more money off of all those things as it pertains to just withholding—like, and we're not asking them—like, they're not asking to like literally control, let's say, 100% of your mind.
They're asking to like literally have a part of real estate parked inside your mind so then that way whenever you think fast food, the first thing that you think of is McDonald's.
When you think french fries or when you think that you need something quick or when you need to go get some food and think about it, it goes beyond you now because think about all those kids out there that wanted to just go get Happy Meals or go stop at McDonald's and ultimately will throw temper tantrums and everything else for their parents.
It's the real estate in which that it controls in the mind.
See the commercials, the social media, and everything else?
Look, it's not about the physical real estate anymore.
You can look across every single company, and the companies that matter are the ones that control the real estate in which that ultimately they have some form of percentage of real estate parked in your mind.
And like I said, it's all of us, so it's like I'm not exempt either.
I think that we're all impacted somehow, some way.
You see what D'Angelo said?
What did he say?
Oh, he said, "You got McDonald's money."
F has a new meaning now.
All right, so let's talk about it.
So everything that I just mentioned there, it kind of fosters the impulse of spending habits and worsens mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
You know, like for example, think about how many times back in the day when people would want to take selfies and how many different versions of that selfie they would have to retake in order for them to feel like it actually is a good photo.
Think about every single photo that you post up on your social media account.
Think about how many retakes that took.
Think about how many times you think about that photo that you post on whether it's Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, whatever social media platform that you use.
And you look at your profile—just go look at your profile picture.
How many of your profile pictures are actually pristine, perfect in your eyes that you're like, "This is the perfect picture"?
My pictures are cute!
So listen, I mean, look, I'm trying not to touch too many nerves, but all right, so delaying major life milestones.
Right, this could—like, that's another part. Half of Millennials and Gen Z believe starting families or buying homes is financially out of reach.
So here's the consequence of that: declining birth rates, loneliness, and less generational wealth transfer.
So you're trying to say socially we're cooked?
Look, I'm going to just say I'm going to throw on my last point, and then I'll give you some—I'll give you another data point.
All right, work-life balance over career growth.
So many prioritize flexible work schedules over career advancement.
Right, here's a consequence to that: that will lead you to slower promotions, lower lifetime earnings, and limited professional growth.
Right, because those strategies don't work in a corporate setting.
They just don't.
A flexible work schedule? That's not how the corporation is set up.
Like, the machine of the corporation in capitalism, that's not how it's set up.
Flexible? What? Flexible where?
No, those are strategies outside of it, though.
True, but here's the data point: 28% of young adults report worsening mental health year-over-year due to financial stress and social pressure.
So essentially, the pressure is that essentially that they're probably calculating themselves and aligning themselves to somebody else's barometer.
So like literally like setting requirements of all these things in which that you can't reach.
So for example, everybody thinks that essentially that in order to be considered rich and everything else, I have to be driving this car or living in this magnificent house and all this other stuff.
And in reality, the math just doesn't add up, though.
The math just doesn't align.
Essentially, where are the houses going to come from?
We're already dealing with a short supply as it pertains to housing as it stands.
So now you're talking about the housing as it pertains to housing supply, and then essentially you're also trying to assess yourself based upon what somebody else is living.
And then ultimately apply that to yours.
Why, Mark?
You know what we need to do instead of that?
You know, old adage of living below our means, we need to live below our stress levels.
You know what I mean?
Like if it can—I give a—can I give a better one?
Yeah, go ahead.
Just be yourself!
Like that's the number one thing that honestly that it's like you don't have to be all Hollywood; you don't have to be something that you're not.
You don't have to essentially like try to, you know, keep up with the quote-unquote Joneses and everything else because you don't make everything.
So essentially the idea is just simply just respectfully just be yourself, like honestly, and be comfortable with that.
But I think that that's for many people in this social media world, I think that's easier said than done.
Because many people will—the person that someone portrays themselves to be online oftentimes is online.
Like it's not—you’re not that same person if you're just sitting there alone by yourself.
That same person would not emerge.
It's like a stranger.
So yes, be yourself, but first get to know who you are first outside of all this.
Yep, all smoke and mirrors anyway.
Yeah, because those things don't define you, you know?
And the crazy part about it is here's a part that never really quite made any sense to me, Jolan.
So it kind of like—why is it that people do all these things to post that they are on to these places or to flaunt in front of—like people try to flaunt all their stuff to people that they don't like.
So it's like you're trying to impress somebody that you don't even like.
Why?
Whoa!
Like they don't like you; you don't like them, so why is it that you're trying so hard to impress them?
Right, speaking of that, Mark, it just reminds me how since we're talking about like social stuff, and when it comes to being cooked socially, it reminds me of how many of us have ops in our circle.
Go ahead, you can—I’m going to let you cook on this one because I've been cooking for a minute, so I need to calm down and let things cool off a little bit.
Go ahead.
All right, so what I'm noticing is, especially in 2024—and this has been a narrative that's been going on—but many of us, and I'll put myself in that too, have people around us that don't care about our success.
They're the ones who won't even celebrate with you when you reach a goal.
They're the ones who you have to think twice before you mention that you just got X, Y, and Z, or you got this promotion, or you made this impact, or you donated to this organization or whatever because they're the ones whose toes you would step on, but they're not even toes down for you.
They don't even care.
Right?
And so now we're to the point where I guess a strategy to not being socially cooked is looking into who's in your circles.
Who's in your inner circles?
I'm talking about the one who you can just be yourself.
You're not doing it for the gram.
You know, you can show up and really talk about like what it is that you are dealing with.
We were talking about the mental health issues and living below your stress levels.
That includes the people that are around you, you know?
And I'm just going to say it: it also may include family, unfortunately.
But that's the day and age that we live in, where this is a time where we have to start telling the truth.
If somebody is not for you, cut them off.
You cannot afford to be around someone that close in your circle that wants to see your downfall.
That's not the type of time we're on.
I guarantee you, especially if you're like hesitant to cut people off right now—and this includes some of y'all with them situationships that you know you need to cut off because they're not serving you—but that's a whole other topic.
Yes, coming into 2025, if you have one person who makes you feel like you have to be something that you're not, meaning you have to, you know, operate below who you really are, cut them off.
They got to go.
Why?
Because you will continue to operate with clipped wings.
You will continue to do so.
And the time that we're—every single episode, Mark, I feel like I have to talk about the time that we're on right now.
We do not have time for these games.
Look at the political structure; look at the culture right now—the lack of gatekeeping.
We have outsiders coming in telling us what's cool, what's not cool.
Don't even get me started on the music part.
We're not going to even go there.
We're going to keep it to—you got people who you don't even feel comfortable celebrating with.
That's number one.
You could just look at your SOA right now; that's a key indicator.
Look at your circle right now, and if you won, you know, or not even won—if you sold a, let's say you sold something, you sold some IP, some intellectual property, and you're looking at multiple millions of dollars, there are people that you would keep that from.
Why?
Because they're going to be asking for a handout because they ain't got nothing.
Because they're too busy not caring about what they have.
They're some people waiting for you to come up so they can ask you for something.
That includes family too.
We got people riding on coattails.
I'm telling you, you have to be with people that match your frequency, that align with who you are and who you are going to be—not just who you are right now, but who you're going to be.
And if they can't rise to the occasion, cut them off at the kneecaps.
Get them out of here!
A wise person once said, "If you want to soar with wings like eagles, you can't hang with turkeys."
You can't hang with the pigeons.
What?
You can't hang with turkeys.
And this goes beyond—this goes beyond money.
I'm talking about, you know, if you're around somebody—let's say you're a person who engages in, you know, 360 degrees of divine communication, and that's meditation and prayer, and you have people that aren't out here walking around.
They're not prayed; if they haven't meditated, what?
You can't be around them.
Their frequency is going to be too low, and you'll get to a point where as you recognize and you start telling the truth about how you feel about something, about what it is, those people will eventually fall because they're not going to be able to soar at the heights that you're soaring.
They just want—when you think about eagles, eagles fly so high that there are other birds who can't even match their fly.
I mean, match their fly, but then also match their fly, if you see what I'm saying.
So you really—you know something funny?
Yeah.
You know what's so funny?
Somebody asked in the chat, like, "Okay, hey, what happens to the money talk?"
This is actually like—if you can't spot the money talk within this, like this is honestly the conversation in which that ultimately when you go from like average to ultimately, let's say that you've accumulated wealth, like these are the types of things in which that this is the welcome to the plight of ultimately the wealthy.
This is where it's like—this is where it changes.
Like who said it? Who said it?
Where are they at? Where's their comments?
I got to pull it up because if you're not seeing money is made collaboratively—okay, yeah.
So—and I'm really talking about like wealth.
All right, so if you don't have the people in your circle that are on the same time as you, you will be broke.
Why?
Because you're going to have to fund their life.
And if you're not going to fund their life and you're going to be by yourself, you're going to have all this money; you're going to be lonely.
Money and wealth only—it only truly works when you have other people to share it with, when you have a legacy, when you can pass it down, when it can go further than what you can imagine.
So if the people that you're hanging around aren't even on the same type of time as you, you're not only going to die alone; you're going to be broke.
You're not going to be able to preserve your capital.
Who are you going to leave your money to after it's all said and done if you haven't passed down this information?
If you haven't had a money talk?
So if you think it's not a money talk, I challenge you to go back, review, take your notes, and come up with the thesis and tell me again why it's not a money talk, and I will break down every single point that you think you're bringing up.
So, so peel—it's like, it's not like to call you out or anything like that, but it's just more so in the sense of like, I'll speak from my own personal experience.
The conversations are very much so different.
What I'm giving you is ultimately the conversations in which that honestly that people from, let's say, a certain echelon can—that they definitely speak about that ultimately that the average choose not to speak about.
And then, as you can see, that there's differences as it pertains to the vibrations as it pertains to like, "Okay, hey, folks who are wealthy versus the folks who are not wealthy."
If you think about like non-wealthy households, they don't talk about money.
They don't talk about these types of things.
These are the unwritten taboo conversations.
Just think about it from 2020 where we opened up tons of conversations about money that also were taboo.
This is also the next phase because ultimately I strongly believe that a lot of folks are ultimately evolving.
And so as you evolve, we want your mind to evolve also as it pertains to be ready for these things that are going to come your way.
And if you're already there, if you're already on that type of time, then good for you.
But there's a lot of folks out there that are like—and I can truly tell you there's a lot of folks out there that are very much so what I'll call new money, where it's like they never had like the type of wealth; they never had the type of capital before, and now they've walked into the type of capital, and now they find themselves in the situation, and they're struggling.
I know you're not mad, but I'm just also like giving some context here because I find in communication that the breakdowns that we have is sometimes the missing context.
So I'm just giving you the empty context that ultimately that everybody else is probably like, "Okay, hey, where did this come from?"
And so I hate to use you as an example, but it's just more so in the sense that it's a great example because it opens up conversation and dialogue for us to have and also expand the conversation even further.
So that's the reason why we're having it.
It's not—we're not taking it personal; we're not mad at you or anything like that.
Actually, I'm passionate about this.
I am passionate about Black people building wealth, creating wealth.
I am passionate about that.
So if you're not having this conversation, then you got to ask yourself why.
Why isn't this a part of your money talk?
And I'm not saying you in particular; I don't even know who said it, but I'm not saying that individual, you know, just personally.
Like, don't take it personal.
Yeah, we get it.
This is all communal.
Anything that I say, I'm also saying it to myself.
Tonight, I will be looking through because I know I have some people in my life that are getting cut off.
They're about to get the boot, point blank period.
Yeah, so—and somebody said, "Is it possible to do alone, though? What if you haven't found your tribe?"
Yeah, I mean, there's a moment that you're going to go through, and it's like you're going to be—you're probably going to feel like you're walking it alone.
But I challenge you to like—I challenge you with this: you're going to mix and mingle and talk to people within your scope as it pertains to what is it that you're currently doing at this current point.
So for example, if you're, say, for example, just getting started, you're probably going to build a tribe with other folks who are just getting started.
Where I challenge you, though, is try to connect with folks who have already been in your shoes before.
And that's going to be a challenge, and that's also going to take some discernment as it pertains to, "Are these people right for you?"
As what do you mean by that, Mark?
People—what do I mean by what you said?
People that have already been in your shoes. What do you mean?
Oh, yeah, so like for example, somebody who's already walked the path, somebody who's already like seen a part of your journey before or even partly paved the way for your journey to happen.
You know, the reason why I attribute a lot of my success towards the people in whom wish that have not only like raised me but the folks in whom wish that have mentored me is because of the fact that they didn't—they've been down those paths before.
And so essentially, it's like I learned a lot from them in my process, and I really appreciate them.
Now, in some cases, some people will come in your life to teach you one thing, and that's where you have to use your discernment of like, "Okay, hey, are they here in this moment in time to just teach me a lesson, or are they more so becoming the root to my tree where they want to continuously see me grow?"
And they become like the root where it's like if you look at the roots of a tree, it doesn't really have that many roots underneath it, but the roots that are there, they're very strong.
And that's why I said you're going to have to use that type of discernment as it pertains to what's truly for you.
We got two more sections to completely run through, Jolan, so let's go through those real quick. Is that okay?
Yeah.
Okay, so this is where it gets interesting.
So like I said, if you haven't spotted the money conversations, I'm going to make it a little bit easier for you.
Let's talk technology innovation without direction.
So overconsumption versus creation.
I think that you may like this one, Jolan.
So Gen Z primarily uses technology for consumption—social media, gaming—rather than creation, coding, building businesses.
Consequence: missed opportunities to innovate or develop valuable tech skills.
So if you think about it and what happened with that is that when those things happen, it creates gaps within the opportunity space, and companies become very efficient as it pertains to filling those gaps—AKA AI, AI, AI.
So if you remember, Jensen Huang was like, "Well, we're getting to a place where it's like you won't have to go and study software engineering or study programming languages because essentially it's already going to be there."
Why do you think that's happening?
I'll give you an even better example.
I'll take it outside of tech.
Look at what happened within agriculture.
We took away agriculture, and ultimately—well, we didn't take it away, but we completely decimated it by getting rid of a lot of workers who were getting paid those jobs that were ultimately a lot of them were immigrants.
We essentially removed a lot of them, and then essentially we—a lot of those folks that were in agriculture, AKA food companies, since they didn't have the workers, they had to get creative.
And what did they go with?
They went with something that is cheaper.
So which means that they went with—they went with chemicals and putting that into your food just so that way your food can stay at the price point or ultimately they can keep it at a cheap price but also charge it at whatever price premium and then ultimately collect the profit.
Well, now you're starting to see that as it pertains to it affecting people's health.
You see how that domino effect like literally starts to stem across?
And not only does it affect you, but it affects the generations that follow you and so on and so on and so on.
So that's the best way that I can kind of like put it, like to make it crystal clear outside of tech.
And yeah, we are going to probably see the next thing within robotics where you're going to see where robotics will start to either replace things like, for example, retail or even food chains.
I mean, again, the people—the places in where people deign to work and where we have literally eliminated a lot of the folks who would have been working to keep those jobs alive, where like companies are now getting more and more efficient because that's their job to get it more and more efficient.
And essentially, you're going to see that those jobs will ultimately start to go to the wayside and be replaced by, say, for example, what is the next innovation.
So ignoring foundational tech skills.
So while 71% fear AI will replace jobs, many lack basic skills like coding or data analysis needed to adapt.
So it's funny because the majority of folks will literally sit back and talk about like, "Well, the fear," will preach the fear of all these things, but then they won't go and look—they won't go and look for the opportunity so that way they can be adaptable and also be ahead of the curve as it pertains to what's coming next.
So that way they can be hired for those next things, they won't do it.
So an example: enthusiastically using tools like ChatGPT but not understanding how they work or not even expanding outside of ChatGPT.
There's so many other ones.
Well, yeah, but that's just an example, right?
So again, you enthusiastically use AI tools like ChatGPT, but you do not understand how it works.
Like how does that large language model get constructed?
You better use ChatGPT and create a prompt to tell you how it works.
So you know what?
So there's this other thing what we call multitasking addiction, and I think that everybody is—even myself, I think that this is where I fall into it.
So constant device switching reduces productivity.
Multitasking leads to lower cognitive performance.
So better choice: adopt single-tasking techniques for focusing and being more efficient.
What does that look like for you, Mark, given that you're someone who does a lot of—I have a ton of devices and everything else.
So what I do is it's like when I'm in my office, I'm using my desktop, so there's no need for me to use my MacBook or my iPad Pro or even my phone unless I'm just taking a call.
I'm literally just using my desktop PC.
Now, if I'm out there, now that's something that I have to work on because I'm kind of like this person where it's like the freedom of wherever it is that I go, it's like this constant continuity.
But again, it can kind of play towards my productivity because what I can do on, let's say, for example, my iPad is not something that I can accomplish on and say, for example, using my MacBook.
And so if I'm having to switch devices because, "Hey, this doesn't make me efficient here," then I'm wasting time and everything else.
Okay, that's interesting.
So here's a data point, though.
Here's a data point: 66% of Gen Z multitask across devices daily, leading to reduced productivity and increased stress.
Live below them stress levels!
Okay, now we got—now this will sum up the financial conversation for everybody, so I hope that you've been sticking around long enough to pay attention because ultimately here we are.
We've reached it: finances—an unstable foundation.
Okay, you ready for this?
Yep.
One: avoiding investments due to risk aversion.
I mean, so only 24% of Gen Z demonstrate basic financial literacy, right?
And where the data is so widely available and democratized, only 24% of Gen Z demonstrate basic financial literacy.
If you ask somebody from Gen Z to literally balance a checkbook, could they do it?
Probably not.
It's not something that's taught; it's not required.
Who—I mean, do people still use checks? I don't know.
Listen, but that basic financial literacy piece—even if you're not investing, let's say you're not—let's say you're watching this right now and you're not an investor yet.
What you could be doing is increasing your financial literacy so that as the more that you know, the less risk you're going to feel like you're embarking on.
Because all of this is—the ones that are willing to take the risk, like startup founders, those ones that take risks, they may fail, but at some point, they keep going.
There's going to be a reward—a big one.
So in the meantime, increase your financial literacy.
We've been talking about this forever.
So here's the interesting thing, Jolan.
You know when I say like the basic financial literacy—like there's a lot of folks out there that are investing and everything else, and let's say that they do well in their investments, and then they don't prepare for tax season.
Taxes are the ultimate major killer that can kill your finances, and yet nobody talks about it.
Especially when you're doing well or like your business is doing well, and then ultimately it's the number one killer towards a lot of entrepreneurs and founders because it's like, "Okay, hey, I didn't prepare for that."
You know, there's a lot of folks out there that have skills and everything else, and they know that I got money that I could pay for it, but at what rate?
You know, and then on top of that, think about like the cost of capital.
Just because you have the money—and here's the crazy part to that.
Like imagine—like, and here's the part where it gets even scary.
You ready for this?
And I really—I don't like scaring people, but I also believe that essentially that it's time to let the truth out.
Stay.
So imagine that every single one of you—that there's 380 folks that are watching right now or something like that.
So let's say that each and every single one of you are watching this video, and let's say that you all become exorbitantly wealthy, right?
So let's say that you're wealthy now, and let's say that, for example, your—the next legacy that is to follow you does not have any of the basic financial literacy, but they just walk into the money in which that you worked your hardest—you worked your lifetime in order to build.
Though that the legacy starts after you, so you won't be able to live and see it.
Well, then what does that mean towards your family's name and the, like, you know, the name that you turned into an asset that literally goes from an asset to a liability overnight because of the fact that essentially that they don't even have the literacy to understand it?
Gone that fast!
They don't—it’s gone!
Like, you know, just imagine like you built all this wealth, and then next you know because of the fact that they just continue to spend, spend, spend, spend because they know that they can, then now all of a sudden that wealth is gone.
Now that the generation, the legacy, and everything else stops at your offspring.
It doesn't even go on to the next generation that follows—not even your—
And there's tons of stories in which that we're hearing this.
There's tons of stories.
Like, you know, when you think about gentrification, a lot of the—especially here in Washington, I could speak towards that—there was a lot of Black families that literally owned their homes in the Central District and ultimately sold those homes because of the fact that a loved one passed away, didn't do the necessary things to put it in place, or did do it, and then ultimately the person that they passed it on to just wanted to take the cash and not have to worry about the liability.
And then ultimately sold a house for way less than what it is worth now because most majority of those homes are now worth anywhere from a million to roughly $3 million, and they sold it off for easily $350K.
Like, see, that's what I mean by the basic financial literacy.
Only 24% of Gen Z demonstrate the basic financial literacy.
Many avoid investing altogether due to fear of risk, missing out on compounding returns.
So like there's also this other part where it's like the overconfidence—sorry, oh, the overconfidence in alternative investment.
So heavy reliance on volatile assets like cryptocurrency without diversification.
You know, consequence: high-risk strategies often lead to significant losses.
Like Christopher Bush actually talked about that alongside with him and Abby on the red line where it's like, "Okay, you're going to have drawdown periods within your portfolio. Are you well balanced? Are you prepared for that?"
You know, what's your strategy towards that?
You know, credit card management—we can go all day on this one.
But I remember when Q came on to the show and talked about credit cards and also how is it that you effectively use it.
But rising credit card debt is among Gen Z, 22% faster than Millennials at the same age.
You know, here's the consequence: high-interest debt limits their ability to save or invest.
So here's a shocking data point for you.
Ready?
The average Millennial has $78,900—$78,396 in consumer debt, including credit cards, personal loans, and car loans.
Like here's the thing, y'all: this is a wake-up call.
Like we've made choices that have put us into this position, but it's not too late to turn these things around.
So the folks out there that are saying that, you know, that we can be saved, you can.
The thing is, is that, you know, part of like a part of like that process is essentially just shining the light and having the conversation.
And there's a lot that we can go on about and everything else as it pertains to all the things that we see within social media.
But I think that I think that we hit the nail on the head as it pertains to like the generation will be cooked until essentially people start to wake up and realize that it's more than just having a conversation just about money.
The conversation has to have con—like the conversation has to extend into other areas in which that wealth touches.
Like wealth is not just the money; it's everything as it pertains to the lifestyle in which that you live in.
And if you don't, then it's just as worthless as, say, for example, the paper that you scored and ultimately got high investment returns on.
So the good news—there is good news.
There is!
I mean, good news out there: you're doomed unless you choose to be.
That's the biggest part; that's the good news.
So it's like now that you know these things, it's like the good news is that you have data points in which that you can pull from.
Like I challenge you, send this video to five people that you know that either need to hear this conversation or send this video to a person or literally invite people over and have them watch the video.
Pause the video anytime that you need to critique this video.
If you're a content creator, we have no problem in you critiquing us and giving your thoughts and everything else on it.
But essentially, we want to know what your thoughts are.
And the reason why is because we want the conversation to keep going.
Like that's the whole point: get the conversation going.
We started this conversation that was a very specific conversation in 2020, but we realize that essentially that there's more to this conversation that needs to be told, that needs to be shared amongst families, amongst friends, and whatnot.
And the only way that we can make that happen is if you choose to open it up within your networks and start having that conversation.
So if you can do that, then essentially people become more conscious.
Then essentially they become more conscientious of their decisions, and once they're conscientious of their decisions, it can change the way that their actions also play out.
It may not be 100% where they just change every single action and do everything right, but if you can do small little tweaks here and there, it can change everything.
One small move can literally start a butterfly effect of a whole different set of dominoes that literally get laid on the track, and that's all that we're saying.
Jolan, did I miss anything?
No, I mean, we just have to—I won't even say have to because you really don't.
You could just let it burn if you wanted to, but we get to make different choices, different decisions, even if it's just the one thing where you're going to have, you know, a certain conversation at dinnertime about something.
You know what I mean?
Like that's a start.
Or you're going to, you know, live below your stress level.
What does that look like for you?
Like we could say these things, but ultimately what does it look like for you and what you got going on in your life?
It's interesting.
So small, you can barely see light come through the hole.
It'd be like that sometimes, huh?
It really be like that.
But you know, the goal is that, again, if we want to see a better tomorrow, then essentially not only do we have to invest the dollars into the market, but we have to invest it into the people.
And that's the main part.
Like you're investing your time; you're investing your energy.
And sometimes it may feel like you're falling across—it's falling among dollars.
You know, imagine how many parents out there that think that what they're saying falls among dollars, and then 10 years later, the conversation comes back up, and then you see that they made specific decisions that you're like, "Oh wow, I didn't know that they made that decision. I'm proud of them."
See, that's where the progress comes into play.
So thank you guys for watching.
Hopefully, this was enlightening for each and every single one of you.
We will see you guys in two weeks from now.
In two weeks, we'll be talking about something different in two weeks.
So we will—so like, but we felt like the truth—we felt like this episode, the truth needed to have its stay.
It needed to have the conversation, and hopefully, again, that we can see that like it may not happen even within our lifetime.
Hopefully, it does, but ultimately it's like if we just play a major part to that as it pertains to things and change happening, then we've done our part.
But thank you for each and every single one of you that stayed with us and rocked with us.
Until next time, I'm Mark Monroe.
And I'm Jolan GC.
And I'll say I'm in the place to be.
We're not cooked, but Mark, we're going to be coming on New Year's Eve—I mean, not New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve, right?
I guess that's the next Tuesday, so yeah, I guess we'll see you then.
Peace!
[Music]
Y'all, it's coming!