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Gas is over $5. Amazon is adding tariff fees. Delta is raising baggage costs. The economy feels chaotic — and people are panicking.

📊 FINANCIAL LITERACY SERIES - PART 2 OF 4:

In Part 1, we covered the foundations (emergency savings, budgeting, insurance). In Part 2, LP is back to help you navigate economic chaos without losing your mind or your money.

🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE:

LP (Rollins Breion) is the founder of TRG Financial and co-owner of The Hive. He manages individual and institutional portfolios, and he's walking us through what to do when the economy feels like it's falling apart — tariffs, inflation, market volatility, and all.

💭 WE EXPLORE:

Why pulling your money out of the market during volatility is a mistake (you're pricing in your losses). The difference between market gains and inflation (and why your pockets don't feel richer even when stocks go up). How tariffs and trade conflicts are already affecting everyday consumers (Amazon fees, Delta baggage costs, gas prices). What "rebalancing your portfolio" actually means (international equity, emerging markets, sovereign debt explained). How to audit your spending during uncertain economic times. Why the people who make money don't like to lose it (and what that means for the market). How capitalism creates millionaires during crises (COVID example: Zoom, Microsoft Teams). Why you should stop watching American cable news for economic information (it's entertainment, not facts). LP's trusted news sources: Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Malcolm Nance's Black Man Spy. Teaching your kids about spending habits (they're watching and copying everything you do). The psychology of the checkout line and why 90 cents adds up to hundreds a month. Why coffee shops, convenience fees, and impulse buys are wealth killers. How to balance quality of life with financial discipline (you don't have to martyr yourself). LP's final message: Money doesn't have a side stop choosing sides and start making strategic decisions.

THE TAKEAWAY:

The economy is volatile. The news is designed to scare you. But panic is not a strategy. LP's advice is simple: don't pull your money out of the market, rebalance your portfolio for the times we're in, audit your spending to make sure you're not bleeding money on convenience fees and impulse buys, and stop watching cable news that treats economics like a reality TV show. Get your information from unbiased sources. Make strategic decisions. And remember crisis creates opportunity if you're paying attention.

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FINANCIAL LITERACY SERIES - PART 1 OF 4:

April is Financial Literacy Month. Over the next four episodes, we're breaking down the money lessons most Black men never learned from emergency savings to investing, credit to generational wealth.

🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE:

LP (Breion Rollins) is a financial advisor, founder of TRG Financial, co-owner of The Hive podcast studio, and a man who lost everything in the 2008 market crash, then rebuilt from scratch. His story isn't just about finance it's about the gap in financial education that keeps Black men stuck, and the three core strategies that actually build generational wealth.

💭 WE EXPLORE:

Why LP walked away from HR to study finance after losing it all in 2008. The three financial principles every Black man should know: real estate, term life insurance, and emergency savings. Why your tax refund isn't a win (it's an interest-free loan to the government). How consumerism and marketing drain the Black community faster than anything else. Why DoorDash and Uber Eats are financial traps you need to avoid. The real difference between term life and whole life insurance (and why most people get it wrong). Why you should never buy a new car off the lot (25% depreciation the moment you leave). The 60/30/10 budget breakdown: needs, wants, and nice-to-haves. LP's three-bucket strategy for managing money (taxable, tax-deferred, and working accounts). Why your 30s are the hardest financial years of your life (and how to navigate them). How to teach your kids about money before they make the mistakes you did. Why finding your community and making a plan is the only way through chaos.

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Some losses you never "get over." You just learn to carry them differently. My friend Michael Blackshire knows this better than most.

🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE:

Michael Blackshire is a special education teacher in Dallas, a Grambling State graduate, military veteran, and one of my longtime friends. We met back in 2011 at Grambling, went through the military together, and built a friendship that's lasted over a decade. In 2017, Michael lost his daughter Leighton to SIDS at 6 months old. His story isn't just about grief it's about the friendships that refused to let him face it alone, and what it looks like when brothers show up for each other in the darkest moments.

💭 WE EXPLORE:

The instant transformation of becoming a father and why Michael needed a daughter first. Waking up to every parent's nightmare: losing Leighton to SIDS. What it's like when investigators walk through your home asking if you're feeding your child while your baby is at the hospital. Why some family members held him to impossible standards while our friend group filled his apartment for months. The difference between coping (alcohol, partying, avoiding) and healing (therapy, sitting in the pain, community). How grief reshapes itself: from "I lost my child" to "What would she be doing now?" Why Black male educators are essential for young Black boys. Moving to New Orleans as a reset and why sometimes you have to leave home to heal. The guilt of living a full life after losing a child. Why therapy became non-negotiable four years after her death.

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