Hardships often mold success. And from the most challenging circumstances often come some of our world’s most refined and battle-tested entrepreneurs. Last week, we explored a conversation between Natalie Brunell and her guest, financial television host Charles Payne, on a recent episode of her popular Coin Stories podcast. Payne opened up, sharing details of his childhood and early life, which propelled him to financial success and a fruitful and prosperous media career.
After hearing about Payne’s foundation, Brunell went deeper, asking him to share the secrets to his success and pillars of his investing philosophy.
“So tell me a little bit about how you ended up in the financial world,” Brunell offered to Payne. “Because you told these interesting stories about how in Harlem, people would play the lottery. And they would spend so much money to win just a couple hundred bucks. You saw all this power and potential in the stock market, and that’s an incredible story too.”
“The numbers were everywhere,” Payne recalls, discussing the illegal gambling operations in his neighborhood. “On my block, on the corner, there was a number hole. Around the corner, the pizza shop also doubled as a number hole. Around that corner, another corner, there was a big one. It was operating in plain sight. They had the booth and everything. By the way, it was illegal but they operated in plain sight. And I was really good. Oh my goodness! People would always ask me, ‘Hey Charles what do you like? Hey Charles, what do you like?’ All these adults, right? I was really good at picking numbers.”
Charles Payne remembered that first winter in Harlem, where his family had no heat or hot water. He picked up, or invented, odd jobs to bring in money to help the family. From washing car windows to working at a bodega, Payne did whatever he could to help ease the financial burden on his mother. Later in life, when he joined the Air Force, he says he often sent 80% to 90% of his check home to his mother.
“I said, I’ve got to find a better way. And then of course, like everyone, you equate wealth to the stock market. I mean, everyone does that,” Payne said. “And so I started reading the Wall Street Journal. And back then it was so hard because it was nothing but lines and numbers. Lines and numbers, just page after page. It took me a while, but I started to pick it up.”
At age 14, Charles Payne told his mother he would one day work on Wall Street. Decades later he indeed became a stockbroker and eventually parlayed that experience into a financial media career.
At 17, he bought his first mutual fund, with his mother acting as the co-signer.
At age 18, he joined the Air Force, opened a brand new Dean Witter account, and bought his first stock – MCI.
His choice for his first investment, in many ways, presaged his populist, against-the-grain investing philosophy that he would grow, nurture, and ride toward a life of accomplishment.
“Let me tell you why I fell in love with it. The guy who ran the company was a maverick. He was taking on the world’s largest corporation at the time, AT&T,” Payne recalls. “How was he gonna take them on? He was piggybacking off of rooftop antennas. We don’t have them any more. Young folks won’t know, but before cable and satellite, we had antennas on houses. This guy was piggybacking off of those to take on the largest corporation in the world. I said, hell yeah, I’m going with this dude!”
Brunell highlighted some of the major themes from Payne’s recently-released book, Unbreakable Investor, asking him why he implores Americans of all stages to invest in the stock market.
“It’s important because I want everyone to get a piece of the action,” Payne responded. “And it’s not just investing in the stock market. That’s just my forte. I think people have to find a way to make their money work for them. Some people do it through real estate. Some do it through other kinds of things. I’ve got small investments in gold. I’ve got small investments, I have real estate. I have collectibles. I have a Biggie Smalls doll I swear I’m going to sell for $100,000.”
Much to Brunell’s liking, Payne mentioned that his Bitcoin investment has appreciated as well.
Payne recalled a story that summarizes his love for investing and for teaching everyday people how – and why – they need to take control of their lives and their financial futures. In his books and on television, he spends ample time explaining the nuts and bolts. The fundamentals of companies. The how of investing.
But he remembered one specific night that explained his why. Why has Charles Payne spent his life doing what he does?
It was one time when it was his turn to take his family’s laundry to the neighborhood laundromat.
“One night we were eating dinner and I wasn’t eating much. And my mom said, what’s wrong?” Payne remembers, his voice quivering ever so slightly. “And I told her about a guy who was working in the laundromat. You know, cleaning up, mopping, sweeping. And there was a raggedy doll. All busted up. Someone ripped this doll. And he picked it up and he looked at it. And he was putting it back together. And he looked at me with a smile on his face. He says, I can’t wait to give this to my daughter. Even though we were as poor as he was, I felt so bad in my heart that this man had to find a discarded, ripped up doll to give to his daughter. I don’t like seeing people being poor.”
And Payne thinks anyone, from any starting point, can improve their financial standing in life.
“I just don’t think you necessarily have to be poor in the wealthiest nation in the world,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re all going to get rich. But I think with the right amount of sacrifice and the right amount of investing, we can change the trajectory for our future generations. And that’s why it’s so important to me.”
In his books and on television, Charles Payne has been an advocate for every man and woman. Urging them to get in the game, just as he did.
As exemplified in his conversation with Ms. Brunell, Charles Payne thinks we all have the opportunity to propel off our unique foundations and build the best future possible.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
