Episode 21 - Dr. Eric Patrick of the Black Market Exchange

What Can Hip Hop Teach Us About Money?

If you take the time to listen to the lyrics, you can learn about real estate, property appreciation, interest growth, investing and much more from modern hip-hop music.  While I always take note of these nuggets of info, I never had the idea to combine hip-hop with money lessons. It was Eric Patrick that had that brilliant idea, and I have to say kudos to him, because he does a great job combining the two areas!  

Side Hustling to Financial Independence

Dr. Eric Patrick is a practicing pharmacist by day, but is also the Founder and Chief Investment Educator of Black Market Exchange, LLC.  He is also the Founder of Doc Designs - a social media marketing company that helps to grow social followings for brands, and boasts a 5 figure annual income.  Erik loves to use hip-hop and urban media to make investing fun and easy to understand.

Dr. Eric started The BMEX in 2014 after receiving investment questions from many of his friends and family members.  

“I knew that if I could link a rapper like Future to explanations on how to dominate the market, but still provide professional and valuable content, people would ride the wave to financial success.”

Through his educational site, BMEX, he covers everything from basic financial education like “what is a stock?” to expanding on the definition of REITS.

Eric does this through the use of his funny Youtube videos, but he also blogs about trendy investing apps, how to mix travel with investing (financial pleasure), and trends in the market that even the great Warren Buffett would take notice of. He has written for Acorns, BankMobile, Blavity, and Magnify Money. 

Eric’s Money Philosophy

Eric confidently states that money is a tool, and he is here to show you how to use it to its full capacity.  But his relationship with money wasn’t always so great. After attending Howard University for Pharmacy School, he was buried under credit card, and student loan debt.  

We all know that college is expensive, but pharmacy is one of the most expensive programs to pursue in the nation. Eric has made it a goal to keep tackling his student loan debt, but not at the expense of his investing strategy.

Eric loves using the snowball method for paying off debt.  His debt has grown, after he gave in to pressures to buy a home soon after college. However, he has plans to grow his income through side hustles, which will help with his debt pay off journey.

Find out more about the Snow Ball Method by reading this book: 

Growing Up - Money Story

Unlike many of our past guests, Eric’s parents work in the financial industry - both being bankers.  He was able to learn about interest from his dad, and about balancing a checkbook from his mom. He had to learn about investing and about other areas of money through curiosity and self-teaching.

He continues learning about money now that he has a family of his own!

Money and Family

Eric has always tried to make money in unique ways.  When he was in college at Howard University, he used to sell lunch coupons in the cafeteria!  

As a couple, his wife is the money manager at home and he is the offensive player - going out and making money moves. Every quarter they come together and adjust their spending, but they do quick check-ins as needed.

In terms of their two little girls, saving for them has become a big household goal as they try to teach their kids about saving money.  

One thing Eric does for the girls every year is the 52-week challenge.  Starting at week one and increasing for 52 weeks, you transfer a dollar amount that matches the week number to a savings account.  He counts up to 52 for one child, and down from 52 for the other! This makes it easier on the wallet.  Week one you would send $1. Week 30 $30, week 52 $52. Essentially, he is sending a combination of $53 every week into two accounts - one for each girl (around $1400 each).

All About Pharmacy Careers

Dr. Eric Patrick lets us know a little more about pharmacy as a career path!  A pharmacy degree is a doctoral degree, which means that when you complete the training, you are a doctor!  Pharmacy school requires immense amounts of memorization - as you are learning drug classes, interactions, side effects and systems of the body.  You have to be able to learn at a quick pace, and retain all of the knowledge.

Once completed, you can expect to make a starting salary of $85k - 105k depending on the area of pharmacy you work in, and your location within the United States.

Eric’s goal is not to tread water with a “decent” salary in a middle-class lifestyle - keeping [only] his nose above water.  He wants to lives very comfortably, with both his nose and mouth above water.   

Listen to our episode where he explains more about this concept. 

Money Prescriptions from Dr. Eric

Pay tithe each and every month - you have the ability - the average person has hundreds of dollars in “change” per month - seeping from their budget. Adjust your taxes so that you have more money for everything else - not just a lump sum at tax time. Be committed - you don’t have to be perfect you just have to be committed - like his 52-week rule for his kids.  Once he adds a few weeks to the “chain” of payments, he becomes committed to “not breaking the chain!” Don’t break the chain!  Stay focused and don’t stop! Most of his followers are actually women. Through working with other women he has learned that “Women tribes are powerful” Make more money - if three different people ask him three times about a topic, he finds a way to sell it.  (Can we drop one of Clue’s Bombs?)   

Eric Patrick on the final questions:

Money Lesson:

Money is a tool, use it as such and ask yourself, what can it allow me to do.  

Reading Right Now:

Ask, by Ryan Levesque - uses surveys to affect copy and content creation so that you can make something truly valuable.

Profit First, By Mike Michalowicz

The best way for people to find you: On his site, www.thebmex.com

Listen to our previous episode!

Stay tuned for Fin Con Fridays!  Wendy had the awesome opportunity to attend Fin Con in September.  In addition to learning a whole bunch about this industry, she was able to talk to several popular bloggers and podcasters.  On Friday, we will release the first of five live recordings from the floor of Fin Con.  These are fun and unedited amidst the hustle and bustle of 5000 other money nerds.  We hope you enjoy them.