For Ryan Leslie, being a millionaire seems to come easy. After all, this is the man whose career was launched into the stratosphere when he worked on various Bad Boy Records projects while attending Harvard University. Remember Cassie’s “Me + You”? That was a Ryan Leslie creation.
But, as he previously told Complex Magazine, he really started making his bones when he got a mentor to teach him the ropes about investing.
“I remember a conversation I had with my mentor,” he said. “I said, ‘Hey look, man. I took your advice and man, $100,000 to $350,000. I’mma cash out and get something nice for my mom.’ And he gave me the ultimatum at that time– he said, ‘Ryan, listen. You can go ahead and cash out, give something nice to your mom. We’ll shake hands and I’ll never teach you anything again. Or, you figure out a different way to give something nice to your mom and hold onto that investment, and we’ll check in every single year around tax time and we’ll see what it grow[s] to.’ And when we checked in this year, that $100,000…was just under $16 million.”
Now, Ryan Leslie is taking that invaluable lesson and passing it on to others with his ELITE WealthPlan system. If you can afford $500 and about 12 months of your life, the award-winning producer can mentor you the same way he was mentored into long-term investing success (And, yes, crypto and real estate are also included in part of the plan, if you so wish).
The goal, he says, is to help everyone retire as a millionaire — and he does that not with get-rich-quick schemes or pie-in-the-sky promises but with proven and effective mentorship.
“A great mentor makes all the difference in developing a life-changing relationship with money and the markets,” he said.
AfroTech recently had a chance to sit down with Ryan Leslie to talk about the importance of his ELITE WealthPlan. Let’s take a look at how easy it really is to retire as a millionaire.
Editorial note: Portions of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ryan Leslie Says Everyone Can Retire as a Millionaire
Some people believe that retiring as a millionaire is an impossible dream, one that can only be achieved by children of the rich or those who marry into wealthy families. But for Ryan Leslie, everyone can retire as a millionaire — all they need is a little knowledge on how to do it.
“Retiring as a millionaire isn’t a far-off dream or a closely guarded secret,” he shared with AfroTech. “But in order to do it, you just need a little bit of knowledge and a road map with discipline. Understanding how money — and debt — works, and how to work it, is the key to being successful in the goal of retiring as a millionaire. And you don’t need millions of dollars to do it, either. My plan helps people from all walks of life.”
He Says The Key Is To Meet People Where They Are
For some people, mathematics — and numbers in general — come easy. For others, it’s a lot more difficult. Some participants in Ryan Leslie’s program have advanced degrees and white-collar jobs — others are “regular” people with 9 to 5s and making ends meet. But Leslie says both people can benefit from his program — and his reasoning is simple.
“The key is to meet people where they are,” he said. “Speak their ‘language,’ if that makes sense. Put it in ways that everyone, regardless of their status, can understand. That gives them the sense of confidence they need to not only trust you but to trust the process. And I can’t say enough how important that crucial step really is.”
It's Also Important to Overcome Cultural Boundaries
There are some people who simply don’t trust things like the stock market and mutual funds, amongst other investment opportunities. And, in some cases, the resistance is rooted in cultural differences. Ryan Leslie gave the example from his own life and explained how some immigrants from the Caribbean are resistant to investing in the United States. Still, he said that it was important to address those objections, as well.
“Again, it’s important to meet people where they are,” he said. “In this case, try to understand why they feel the way they do. Show them with facts, for example, how investing just $500 can easily turn into a consistent weekly trading income of at least $1,250 and annual returns of 30 percent-plus on long-term investment accounts.”
