Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

My name is Obi Nwankwo.

I am 23 years old and I live in Marina Del Rey, California.

I went to school at Boston College

and I was a Finance, Management, and Leadership major.

I was on the track and field team.

I ended up setting about 10 overall records.

I was named MVP my junior year.

I was on the ACC honor roll team all four years,

which is given for students who maintain a grade point average,

but also excel in sports.

So I got out of school and I started my own talent business

out of Los Angeles, California.

At my company, we manage a wide array

of clients from actors to actresses

to NFL athletes, artists.

We're really just helping to cultivate

just great talent overall.

On a professional level, I see myself

trying to grow my business as great as possible.

Only problem is, I'm broke.

[BELL DINGS]

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): Here are the facts.

The numbers are massive.

44 million people have borrowed over $1.5 trillion

in student loan debt, and it doesn't end there.

My name is Dan Rosensweig, and I'm

the CEO of the multi-billion dollar company Chegg.

This is my mission--

with the help of my financial expert, Danetha Doe,

we're going to help young people--

- The walls are closing in? - Yeah.

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): --who

are drowning in extreme debt--

Uh--

How many credit cards?

10, 11, 12--

12.

[SIGHS]

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): --to build a life

of financial independence.

I just want to get out of debt, and I want your help.

When the world is pushing down on you, it's very hard.

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): This is an economic crisis

of epic proportions.

I don't use that much.

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): And we have to fix it.

No, come on.

[SCREAMS]

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): They're going to hate it.

But when we're done, they're going to be on the road

to financial freedom.

You feel good about what we've done so far?

I do.

Thank you.

DAN ROSENSWEIG (VOICEOVER): This is "Going From Broke."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DAN ROSENSWEIG: As usual, another day,

another dollar somebody owes.

Who we going to see today?

We are going to go see Obi.

He's 23 years old, went to Boston

College, a fantastic athlete.

He ran track and field, broke 10 records.

He graduated with $75,000 in student loan debt.

Wait a minute.

So he was a Division I athlete, set records for the school,

and they still made him pay?

Exactly.

I'd be pissed if I were him.

If you take a D-I athlete who runs track and brings

in great recognition for the school,

they may get financial aid, but it will never

be enough to cover the expenses for school

and the expenses for living.

Unfortunately, Obi created more value for the school

than the school created for him.

It's not right.

He started a business, and he's making

$4,800 a month in income.

OK, hold on, you got a D-1 athlete,

$4,800 a month, has your own company at 23 years old?

Mm-hmm.

I don't get it.

Must've called for a reason, and I

think we're going to have to dig down and find out what

does it he's not telling us.

Something's not right.

Exactly.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

Hey, how are you?

DANETHA DOE: Hey. - Obi, nice to meet you.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Well, come on in.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Make yourselves comfortable.

So I have to say, we've met with lots of people.

I'm shocked we got a call from you.

On paper, you look great.

Yeah.

Most people would look at you and say,

how do I become that guy?

Yeah.

So you've got some blind spot that you're--

Yes.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: --need to share with us.

Why don't you tell us what it is?

Just to kind of break down how I see it.

I moved to Los Angeles, where the cost of living

is definitely significantly higher.

So that's a choice you made.

That's a choice, yeah.

Just paying bills, rent, paying a security deposit,

getting couches, getting chairs, like a new bed, room decor--

I just thought that all came with it.

[LAUGHS] Just in terms of the rent-- $1,600 a month.

Mm-hmm.

In terms of how much you're paying on your student

loans, how much is that?

OBI NWANKO: Roughly cover around $400 a month.

And then I have a little brother who

just committed to a prep school for high school for basketball.

And who's paying for him?

It's mostly, like, me and my mother.

DANETHA DOE: How much is that?

OBI NWANKO: About $600 or $700--

it usually varies.

Does mom know you're paying $1,600 a month for rent?

Yes, she wasn't happy with that when I first moved out.

But I wasn't living an ego life, so I

wanted [LAUGHS] [INAUDIBLE] like, live in a nice place.

understand because good-looking guys like us,

we have to struggle with that life.

OBI NWANKO: [LAUGHS]

So keep going.

So you got loans.

You got rent.

And between the two of them, that takes up $2,600 a month

so far.

You're a CEO of your company.

As I understand it, you're making $80,000 a year--

should not be a problem.

Mm-hmm.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: I'm going to repeat my question.

Why are we here?

Yeah, I would say clothes and I would

say entertainment, going out.

I would say that's where everything really goes down.

I want the shoes.

I want the clothes.

I want to go out and when people are out with me,

they're like, oh, yeah, like, they're with Obi,

who's going to spend money.

So I'm not going to go out unless I'm

going to call the car, I'm going to get the drinks,

meet a nice female.

I'm not going to do it unless it's on that caliber,

so it's not a really good way to think about things.

One my vices is definitely shopping, something

that at every internship that I ever had in the past,

I'd get the check and I'd spend it.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: So in your athletic career

and your academic career--

discipline, discipline, discipline, discipline.

Yeah.

Give you money--

Not so disciplined.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: --not so disciplined.

You were a star athlete, so you know what it takes to win.

Mm-hmm.

But you also know the high stakes of being an athlete

is you can put everything into it,

and it can all go away the next day.

What Obi needs to learn is to be successful in business,

especially when you're starting, he

needs to pay down his personal debt

and invest every other incremental dollar back

into his business.

If Obi's going to survive in the business world,

he's going to need a serious wake-up call.

As fast as you are, you can't outrun your debt.

Maybe Los Angeles isn't for you.

So you know what it takes to win.

As fast as you are, you can't outrun your debt.

And so maybe Los Angeles isn't for you.

It's just so sunny every day.

How sunny does it get when you're going broke?

That's very true.

You ready to go through the numbers?

Ready to go through the numbers.

Let's go sit down and do it.

My philosophy is very simple--

you have to be the CEO of your own life, which

means you have to run a large part of your life

like it's a business.

Have you ever done a full PnL on your life

before, and a balance sheet?

But you've done one for a company, right?

I've done it for my company.

You don't avoid it when you run your company, do you?

No, I make sure it gets done.

A PnL is known as the Profit and Loss statement.

And it's a way for you to measure and see exactly how

much money is coming in, how much money is going out,

and hopefully, there's some money left over.

It helps paint a clear picture of your

entire financial situation.

We did ask you to do some homework

and the numbers do not add up.

All these monthly expenses, including his $1,600 in rent

and minimum student loan payments,

add up to a whopping $5,500 each month.

And he's only bringing in $4,800 per month, which means instead

of paying down his student loans,

he's sinking $700 further into debt each month

and then paying interest on top of that.

So the first expense is rent.

Yeah, it showed me that I definitely spend

way too much money on rent.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: You know, you're paying

more in rent than most 23-year-olds

earn in their first year.

I'm just going to point that out to you.

Hm.

How much are you spending on enjoying yourself

being 23 in Los Angeles?

In the last month I was definitely bad.

I bought an $800 pair of shoes, which wasn't really necessary.

And that's--

DAN ROSENSWEIG: For anybody.

Yeah.

Smart guy, CEO, building a company, generating revenue,

and thinks $800 shoes are a good idea--

you must be competing with somebody.

So I hang around, I would say, like, more high-profile people,

so I always make sure my appearance

is on point wherever I go.

So--

DANETHA DOE: And you need $800 pair of shoes

to be able to do that?

I-- I--

I thought I did.

You know what would impress them?

A 23-year-old CEO that's paying down their loans.

A 23-year-old CEO that built a business from scratch that's

generating enough income for not only himself,

but other family members.

You're spending way over $1,000 a month

on entertaining yourself, which means by the end of the year,

you're not only going to have your loans,

but $80,000 a year that you're paying yourself

is not going to be enough.

DANETHA DOE: Yeah, let's paint a picture of if you continue down

this current path, how much you'll end up spending

paying back your student loans.

So right now, it would take you 20 years to pay off,

and you're going to end up paying $109,000 in interest.

$109--

DAN ROSENSWEIG: So let me explain the way banks work.

They don't want you to pay back the money fast.

They're minting money.

So if you just increase it to $600 per month,

so an additional $200 per month in payment,

not only will you be able to be done paying your student

loans in half the time, but also you'll save $33,000 in interest

by doing that.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: That's a choice.

Would you rather have a $800 pair of shoes every month,

or would you rather pay $800 more month to pay this down?

See, I need people like you in my life

because I studied finance and I did not even--

I don't know if--

yeah.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Look, you're not alone.

We've got a plan for you.

There's homework that we're going to give you so you can

stop wondering and start doing.

So the first step that you're going to take

is to start documenting your expenses.

Every dollar that goes out, you need to track it.

OK.

And then how much you want him to cut in the spending.

Cut out all of the going out when it comes

to entertainment and food.

That's money you're wasting instead of investing

in your own future.

Wow, that's definitely right.

Is that going to be worth your time?

All my time.

When this debt is paid, I can put my full

all into the business and so it can

grow the way it's supposed to.

But that student debt kind of makes things hard.

Sound like a deal?

Can we shake on it?

We can shake on it.

So this is the start-off to the day, at the barbershop,

'bout to get my haircut.

The haircut was about $40, and then I

wanted to get some new water.

It's called perfect hydration.

It is incredibly good for you.

So I'm already at $45 today.

So I'm at FedEx, shipping something to my mother--

almost, like, $20, so this is another expense for today.

I'm just scanning through all this--

all the junk food that's here and everything's really

overpriced, but I'm staying strong

and I'm not getting any of it. (SINGING) Starbucks.

Finished up the day, it's been a long day at work.

Today, I really focused on actually

documenting my expenses.

And it was pretty eye-opening because once you

write everything down, you actually realize

how much you're spending.

It definitely adds up, so definitely

shows me I have a lot of work to do, but I'm making the effort.

How do you separate your personal expenses

from your business expenses like Obi is trying to do?

First, separate your accounts.

You need checking for yourself, but you also need

checking for your business.

You should have a separate credit card for yourself

and for your business.

There are also a few good apps for keeping

track of business expenses.

One I particularly like is called Expensify.

It not only tracks your expenses,

it can track your mileage and your billable time,

and you can use it to scan receipts and sync up

with your credit cards.

If you can be diligent about using an app like this,

tax time is going to be a whole lot easier.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: When you think about which athletes have made

a successful transition over a long period of time,

one of the greatest mentors of mine and a Hall of Famer,

is Ronnie Lott--

four Super Bowl championships, a Rose Bowl championship--

OBI NWANKO: Hey. - How you doing?

How you doing, Mr. Lott?

All right, a real pleasure meeting you, man.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: --perfect situation

for Obi to hear his story so that Obi

can see there's a path.

Why don't we go for a little walk?

Yeah, let's do it.

First of all, Obi is a special young man.

He has that charisma that you need to have in life.

Think about winning, sometimes winning is also in saving.

Mm-hmm, it's true.

And I've heard that maybe you don't like to save.

[LAUGH] I like to win, but I don't like to save sometimes.

He's got to be very, very diligent around not doing

something that can hurt him.

We all learn.

We all have film.

We all look at the film.

And then when we look at the film,

we critique it with the idea of knowing

that we have to get better.

The first thing you do is you make

that sacrifice, doing something that you don't want to do.

Yeah, exactly.

Right?

If you're going to be a champion,

I mean, yeah, you look the part.

But now we got to talk about making a sacrifice.

Mm-hmm.

Everything that I really do is for my family.

I just want to set them up for a better future.

Yeah.

You know, hearing him is like hearing his soul.

And when you listen to it, you realize

that he really wants something.

I love that man and I cannot wait

to see how he is able to help his brother and his family.

I was a CEO when I was playing.

I was out there trying to protect my brand,

and I had to make sacrifices early on.

And I had to represent a lot of family, my mom and dad.

Yeah.

And I had to lace them up.

[CHUCKLES] Exactly.

And so here we are, we're talking about shoes, right?

And yes, shoes matter.

There are some guys that will tell you that they love

the fact that they had to go through what

they went through wearing the old shoes to get better.

Obi will win.

He now knows that one of the great tools is sacrifice.

He's brought it out when he's played sport,

but now he's going to bring it out and use

it as a tool in his life.

I want to hear about how you are saving

and how you are making sacrifices.

And if that means that that's giving up some shoes,

if that means that you got to do certain things to change

your environment, do it.

Yeah.

Do it.

It's a must.

And more importantly, man, when you see Dan, man,

get him to start running some laps.

- [LAUGHS] - Right?

DAN ROSENSWEIG: If Obi's going to survive in the business

world, he's going to need to learn to channel

his ego back into his business and not

into his personal spending.

That's how you get yourself in debt.

Today is the first step in getting out of it.

It's a cool-looking place.

Wow.

Got a lot of shoes in here.

This is the stuff you collect.

OBI NWANKO: Yes.

These are the babies.

I love them.

So let me ask you a question-- all the stuff that you

brought in here, everything--

I have some shoes in here, as well.

All right, so what'd you pay for all of it?

I would say about $2,000.

Probably a little more--

OBI NWANKO: Yeah. - --if you were being honest?

Give or take.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Let me ask you a question--

for what benefit to you?

This is as much an indication of who you want to be

instead of who you've been.

I'm ready for the change.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Tell me what works for you.

$1,000 mark.

All right, stay focused and be a CEO.

Yeah, confident.

We're going to negotiate and you're going to do it.

You ready to go?

Let's go.

Let's do it.

Hi, guys, welcome.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: How you doing?

Welcome to Zero's.

We specialize in, like, the limited, collectible,

unforgettable kicks.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: All right, so Obi

has an incredible collection of sneakers.

I definitely enjoy collecting shoes.

Sometimes I'll just buy them without really wearing them.

But I just wanted to have them.

Yeah, I'm guilty of that as well.

All right, so should we unpack?

Yeah, please.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: All right, let's do it.

Let's do it. ZERO: Thank you.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: You need help?

OBI NWANKO: No, I got it.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: All right.

ZERO: Well, starting here, these are NMDs.

These are pretty cool.

It is something that I carry and do pretty well with,

so I'll make you an offer on those.

This is something that you would exercise in.

This isn't really what I do here.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: We'll put it them back in the bag.

OBI NWANKO: So put them-- - Put them down for now.

OBI NWANKO: Put them down.

This is the Yeezy Beluga.

It's the original colorway of the V2.

It's, like, one of the most popular

silhouette in the entire game.

The Huaraches are cool, but again, in used condition,

it's not really something that is saleable.

This is just kind of a weird colorway.

It's nice.

I think I could probably do something with it.

These foam posits are really beautiful

and they're in great shape.

These are the brand new Yeezy 500 Supermoons.

OBI NWANKO: [INAUDIBLE]

ZERO: Yeah, these are fly as hell

and they are everywhere right now.

So this is the stuff that I'm genuinely interested in.

And in order to get it at the right price,

I'll take on these lesser pairs.

So 830 dollars total--

DAN ROSENSWEIG: OK.

--for everything.

And that's where I need to be to take this product on,

to be totally honest with you.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: So let me ask you a question--

ZERO: Sure.

--the ones on his feet.

I think he should be selling them.

ZERO: Oh, yeah, I saw them right when they walked in.

Yeah?

Now that's a different story.

Those could bump it up a little bit.

If you throw those on the table, I'll

give you an extra 400 bucks.

OBI NWANKO: $1,230?

DAN ROSENSWEIG: $1,230.

ZERO: Call it 1,200 bucks.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Talk to the man.

He'll give you 1,200 for the whole thing.

OBI NWANKO: I think for the whole thing,

I'll take about $1,333.

My final offer is $1,250 for everything

you see here on the table and what's on your feet.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Your call, my friend.

All right, I think you have a deal.

My man.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: A good CEO would sell

the shoes off his own feet.

They'll build his business.

And that's what you just did, so today marks

a big change in who you are.

That's a big-- that's a really big day.

Dan was amazing.

It just showed me the type of mindset you have

to have when you're successful.

Instead of spending my money so frivolously,

I could just erase my debt and just be completely debt-free,

and be able to do what I need to do in life where I can

be investing my money into my future

and not be worrying about things, that quite frankly,

don't really matter.

You all right?

Yeah, I'm just breathing.

[LAUGHS]

There you go, sir.

Thank you.

ZERO: Thank you so much. Thank you.

DAN ROSENSWEIG: Zero, thank you.

I appreciate you both coming in.

Thank you, Zero.

DANETHA DOE: Once someone like Obi

takes control of their spending in the present,

it's time for them to start thinking about their future.

That's where Acorns comes in with a feature called Roundups.

You just link your credit and debit card

to Acorns, and for every purchase that you make,

Acorns will round up to the next dollar

and invest those pennies on your behalf.

All that small change adds up so that you can change your future

without changing your present.

Hey, hey, hey, Dan.

[CHUCKLES]

How are you?

I'm great. Thanks for having me.

It's great to see you.

Darn, you look good.

Hey, I'm trying to look as good as you.

I was really excited to have Obi come on up so he can

visualize what his future might look

like by seeing our offices, and sitting down

and just talking CEO to CEO.

So catch me up.

Have you been doing your work?

Yeah, I definitely have been doing the work.

OK.

So I decreased my expenses--

Fantastic.

I found a new place.

You moved out?

Yeah, I moved out.

Because what you were paying was ridiculous,

and all to what--

to feel important, right?

Exactly.

And at the end of the day, that wasn't really helping you.

OBI NWANKO: Mm-hmm. - So that's great.

- And-- - And?

--I sold my shoes.

I sold some with you.

And I really feel bad.

I thought about it.

I was like, I actually asked you to sell

the shoes off of your feet.

But it wasn't just because they were the most valuable,

which they were.

Mm-hmm.

It was because, you know, if you're

going to found a company, you're going to be CEO,

you're going to put down a marker

and say this is the moment where I'm really going to change

my behavior, taking something off that you value

as much as you do, and say, I'm willing to sacrifice that

in favor of something better--

that's a big moment in any CEO's life.

Huge moment.

Honestly, very few people your age have come out of college,

started a company, moved across the country,

and generated as much income as you.

Your problem wasn't income generation.

Yeah.

Your problem was you wanted to live

larger than you had earned yet.

There's a time for that.

Now's not that time.

With Obi's new-found spending habits

and his downsized apartment, his expenses

have decreased to $3,400.

And at least this month, Obi was able to raise

his income to $6,050 by selling some of his sneaker collection.

That means Obi will have $2,650 this month

to put towards his student loan debt.

We all believe you have a chance.

You have a chance to be the guy that you said you wanted to be.

You have the right values.

You have the right work ethic.

You just got a little caught up. Thank you, man.

[INAUDIBLE]

It is great to see you.

OBI NWANKO: This whole experience with Dan and Danetha

has been extremely incredible.

Mostly, it's been, really, the awareness because now I'm

conscious of ways to actually save more money in the future,

ways to actually make more money in the future,

and really gave me the blueprint to do everything.

So yeah, it's been, really, a life-changing experience.

To check out how Obi is doing now and to get some helpful

tips on how to better manage your student loans,

visit goingfrombroke.info.

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