052 The Truth about Trading with Teri Ijeoma

Teri Ijeoma: Why would you have one group of people who are killing the game, making billions of dollars because they are trading, but then tell the rest of the people you can’t trade, right?

Rachel Rodgers: Yes.

Teri Ijeoma: But I think the disconnect is that the people who we’re saying you can’t trade just don’t have the education. They need to be educated on how to do it well because the stock market is definitely a tool where people are building wealth. It’s just about learning how to do it right.

Welcome to the Hello Seven Podcast. I'm your host, Rachel Rodgers, wife, mother of four children, a lover of Beyoncé, coffee drinker, and afro-wearer, and I just happen to be the CEO of a seven-figure business. I am on a mission to help every woman I meet become a millionaire. If you want to make more money, you are in the right place. Let's get it going.

Hello you guys. I’m so excited about today’s interview with Teri Ijeoma. She is absolutely incredible. She is an investing coach and I absolutely love her. We actually met at the ConvertKit event. They’re a conference that they do every year called Craft and Commerce. In 2019 I was speaking and she came up to me and we talked millionaire to millionaire and it was amazing. And she’s such a bright and beautiful, delightful human being, so caring and so incredibly generous.

Wait until you hear her amazing story about how she went from being an Assistant Principal to making $300 a day on the stock market to making millions. And I can’t wait for you to hear the story. It is going to smash all of your beliefs about how much money can be made. There is so much more money available to us than you can even imagine. And Teri absolutely is going to school you in this episode. So get ready to smash your limiting beliefs about how much money you can possibly make. And please enjoy this incredible story with my friend Teri.

I would love to just start with how have you been feeling lately with all of this Covid-19 and Civil Rights Movement and an insane president? How are you feeling living in America today?

Teri Ijeoma: Man, how am I feeling? To be completely honest I have two feelings going on right now. One is stepping into this elevated stability that is kind of crazy. So how we say our ancestors never would have dreamed of this for us, to be someone with no debt, millions of dollars in the bank, able to never work again all of your life, funding your family because they’re working for you. Being able to give to charities and donate and all this because of I’m making money in the stock market.

That’s just something I don’t think any of my ancestors that worked in plantations on a field picking cotton could have ever dreamed of for me. So is this surreal, I can’t even – I haven’t even fully grasped it yet of the potential that we have or that I have. So I’m in that space right now, this like I can do anything type of space.

And then on the other side my mom was supposed to come up and visit me and she said she’s starting to feel sick. And all of yesterday my mind went to the farthest depth of well, what would happen if she has coronavirus? And I wouldn’t be able to go see her, what do we do? Do I need to go to the hospital? She should be here because we have better hospitals than where she is. She’s in Louisiana in the country. I’m like, “They aint got no good doctors.” So that part of me is still there is this piece of fear of uncertainty that’s also there.

And there’s a part that money can’t control that. Money can’t control your health, so really you’ve just got to make sure that you’re able to control your own time, because all you’ve got is time. So that’s kind of how I’m feeling right now, these really big surreal spaces that I’m trying to understand mentally, yeah. How about you?

Rachel Rodgers: I love that you’ve shared that because that is so real. It’s so funny, I know so many amazing Black entrepreneurs that are having a mega glow up right now. And it’s not even because, you know, I feel like there’s definitely more attention on Black owned business right now. But that’s not why, it’s because we’ve been here, we’ve been doing this and we’ve been having success. And it’s just weird to have this massive success, this being your ancestors’ wildest dreams and at the same time there’s so much to be dismayed about.

And there’s so much to be distraught about, so it’s like big polar opposite feelings all at the same time, that we’re learning how to navigate that and manage that, which is big. And it’s like you’ve got to take it day by day, some days you’re like, “Wow, my life is amazing.” And honestly, it’s not even day by day; it’s probably moment by moment. You’re like everything’s amazing and then you get a flash of the news on your phone and you’re like, “Oh my God, this world is a dumpster fire.”

Teri Ijeoma: Right, right. I was on a YouTube live the other day and somebody was like, “How do you feel about President Trump who said blah, blah, blah?” And I was like, “Well, the first two words of that just messed up the whole comment. I don’t feel no kind of way about anything he says right now.”

Rachel Rodgers: Exactly, how I feel, has he gone yet? Damn. He has to go.

Teri Ijeoma: It’s crazy, that’s truly the feeling.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, it is crazy. So first of all before we even start, how is your mom doing though, is she okay?

Teri Ijeoma: I think she’s okay, she’s one of those strong Black women, I’m a little nervous that she won’t tell me that she’s not feeling good until it’s too late. So I’ve been trying to tell her, “Go to CVS, get a test, get something because you’re not going to know unless you actually go get tested to see if you have coronavirus.” And I feel like a lot of the world right now is pushing forward like nothing’s going to happen and nothing’s wrong. But people are still getting sick and I’m in Texas, the cases are rising and we can’t pretend that that’s not true.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, exactly. And I was on the phone to my sister and she was like, “I’m just so tired of the monotony and of being in my house.” And I was like, “I totally understand and you know what, it’s not going to be gone because we’re tired.” It’s not going to be gone because we’re tired of sitting in the house. That’s just not how it works so let’s get on the same page and get focused on protecting ourselves and staying our asses home and doing whatever we have to do. But I will definitely say a prayer for your mom today and hopefully she’ll be just fine.

Teri Ijeoma: Thank you.

Rachel Rodgers: I do think this is the kind of time too where if you have a sniffle, if you sneeze you’re like, “I’ve got coronavirus.” We just don’t know.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, we go to the furthest degree because even me, I had a little sneeze and then my eyes started watering and I was like, “Is this normal? Is this a symptom? Is this a symptom of coronavirus?”

Rachel Rodgers: You don’t want to know how many times I’ve done the quiz on Google where it’s like, “Do you have this symptom? Do you have this?” Because there is a coronavirus quiz, I’ve done it three or four times.

Teri Ijeoma: I didn’t even know there was a quiz.

Rachel Rodgers: There is if you Google it.

Teri Ijeoma: Oh my gosh. Okay, that’s on the agenda for today, Google coronavirus quiz, I’m doing it, I’m doing it.

Rachel Rodgers: And it’s like, you know, it’ll tell you whether you need to go get tested or not or go to the hospital. And they’re like, basically the result is like, “Sit your ass down, you’re fine.” Every time I take it, so I’m like, “Oh no, my throat is scratchy. No, it’s this, it’s that.” We’re all freaking hyper paranoid. Then you start thinking, who came in my house, was it that, that, that person who dropped off a package?

Teri Ijeoma: I honestly think too, everybody’s going through the drive through and the person at the drive through has on gloves. But everybody still is giving you their credit card, so we’ve all got it because everyone’s credit card has touched your same glove. You’re good, but all of us…

Rachel Rodgers: No, the gloves are for her own protection, they’re not for us. Not for you, not for you at all. Exactly, exactly. And also the news changes daily about what we’re learning about this thing. So I mean I think at this point we do have a little bit more knowledge and know if we just wear our mask when we go out and try not to go to a party, because obviously parties are not safe. And stay in our houses more often than not we’ll be fine and make it through. And actually I just feel like, listen, Lord, I need to make it through because I’ve got things to do and this can’t be it for me.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, to be completely honest, that’s been my saving grace, I know that God has plans for me, I know that he has plans for my life and I have not achieved them all yet. So I’m like, “Well, Lord, I can’t die right now because I haven’t done all the things you said that you have for me. So clearly this is not going to be my day, we’re making it through this because you said that, “There’s this and this coming up in my life.” I’m going to be on stages and speaking into people and feeding your sheep, all this is to come.” So devil you lie, we aint going to be sick today.

Rachel Rodgers: Yeah, exactly, just take me right off the to do list, I’m not the one. You’ll have to find somebody else, or preferably not, but definitely not me.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. Okay, real talk, I’m going to tell you a real secret and you’re going to be like, “Teri, really, that’s your prayer.” So on a very consistent basis – in the Bible there is a time where Joab gets sick. And the Bible says though that the devil asked God for permission to test Joab. And God gave him permission. So my consistent prayer on a regular basis is, “Lord, when the devil comes and asks you, just say no. Lord, I’m going to need you to say no when the devil says, “Can I test Teri,” answer is no. No, that’s my child. No, you can’t have her.”

And you know what, I seriously believe the Lord is faithful, and that he’s like, “Okay, she asked a very specific question, so when the devil comes I will say no.”

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, I will be specific with you, your requests. I like it.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, exactly.

Rachel Rodgers: That is so funny, I love it. My husband was watching some crazy movie while I was doing other things; it was on in the background. But there was a conversation happening and the guy said, “In a short time this will be a long time ago.” And I was like I needed to hear that today. I put it on Instagram, I was like, “Yes, in a short time this will be a long time ago.” So it’s just kind of like we’ve just got to keep moving day by day.

And thank God for technology and the fact that we can still be doing this and having this conversation. We can still be interacting. And there’s so much of your social life that can happen on the internet. In the ideal world that’s not what we want, but right now thank God that we have it, that we have that tool available to us.

Teri Ijeoma: It’s such a blessing.

Rachel Rodgers: So I try and stay in the miracle and just remember that you are living through miraculous times. Be grateful for everything that you have, for the safety that you have, for the fact that you’re not sick today. Because I think we can get very caught up in future like, well, I could get sick or well, this could happen or that could happen or the economy or this or that.

And it’s like, well, what about today? Today you’re healthy. Today you’re okay. Today you’ve got money in the bank. Let’s focus on today and what’s happening in this present moment right now and stop worrying about the future.

Teri Ijeoma: And like you said, this has been such a great opportunity. So many of us have come up, congrats on your million dollar month, I’m so proud of you. You’re welcome. I’m striving for that now. I’m like, oh, okay, Rachel did it, okay, my other friend did it. Okay, clearly I go next. So I’m like, okay, how are we lining up these months for the rest of the year so we can get million dollar months every month? Yes. And we wouldn’t have had that opportunity had this not happened. This is just a prime time for all of us to be successful if we put our mind to it, I truly believe that.

Rachel Rodgers: I do too. I think recessions, clearly, pandemics, all of these kinds of upheaval moments in the world, those are opportunities. There’s always opportunity in that. It’s like we’re shaking things up. It’s like the snow globe. It’s being shaken up and things are going to fall in different places than they were. And a lot of that can be good because there’s a lot about the pre pandemic life that really was not working for us and continues to not work. So I’m good, I’m glad, it feels like there’s a time of awakening happening. So I think that’s a good thing.

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah. Okay, go ahead.

Rachel Rodgers: So, sorry, go ahead, go ahead. No, I want to get into all of the magic that you are. Because I know everybody’s ears perked up when you were like, “Well, I have millions in the bank and I never have to work again and just all these blessings.” And people are like, “Okay, wait, how? Tell me everything.” A bit like give me the 4-1-1-, the blueprint. Alright, so we’re going to break it down you all, because I don’t want to disappoint nobody.

But let’s start with – I actually want to start with what did you want to be when you were a little girl? What did you want to be, like what did little Teri want to be when she grew up? I want to hear about that because I feel like that’s always an interesting part of the journey, just to hear where you started really from little?

Teri Ijeoma: Little Teri wanted to be a CEO at a Fortune 500 company. And then middle school Teri wanted to be an architect. I wanted to design subdivisions. I love houses. I love real estate, so I wanted to design subdivisions. And then in college I came back to being, okay, if I’m not the CEO then I’m going to be a Chief Marketing Officer for a Fortune 500 company. So those are all the little trajectories of me.

Rachel Rodgers: That’s fascinating because what all of that says to me is investor. CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you’re like, “No, I’m going to own shares and I’m going to direct companies and then real estate.” That’s investing too, so to me that all does speak to investment, and leading and being powerful around money. So I feel like you’re doing it. I feel like you’ve nailed for little girl Teri. She’s not mad.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. You’re actually so right, so my Instagram name is I’m an Investor. People think it’s Imani Investor, but it’s I’m an Investor, because literally that’s what I thought, I’m an investor in real estate, I’m an investor in stocks. And then I’m an investor in people, I’m in ministry, but that’s really investing in people’s lives. So you are so right, yeah, I’m an investor, that’s my whole life story.

Rachel Rodgers: Absolutely. Yes, I love that so much, that’s so beautiful. Okay, so tell us, what was the trajectory, what did you study in school? What was the path to, you know, from wanting to be an investor or a CEO of a Fortune 500 company as a little girl to being the bad ass investor that you are today?

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah. So in college or excuse me, it started actually in high school. In high school I had that dream of being an architect. But then there was this program that took us to business schools, so they flew us out to – I say us, but it was minority students around the country who had done well. And they wanted to introduce us to business, so I was flown out to Northwestern University in Chicago, and this was my junior year of high school, going into senior year. And they were introducing us to all aspects of business.

And the part that I remember the most – I still remember the guy, I remember the building, I remember what I was wearing. We went and got to see the Chicago Stock Exchange. And I remember my mind was blown. And there was a Black guy who was talking about how, you know, he was like, “I bet you guys can’t guess how much I make?” And I think I threw out a number and it was exactly what he made. And he was like, “How is she guessing all these numbers right?” And I was like, “I don’t know, but this is cool.”

And I remember I had on this little cute blue and white business suit that was probably way too short for really going into the stock exchange. But it was so fascinating to me. In that senior year of high school, Google actually had their IPO. They came out for $83 a share and I remember going to my grandmother and being like, “Granny, we’ve got to invest in Google.” I didn’t come from any of this. So my grandmother was like, “What? What?” She was like, “Baby girl, first of all we aint got no money so we aint got Google money.”

And then the other thing was even if we tried we didn’t know how to start, we didn’t even know how to buy a share, we didn’t know, where do you go? We didn’t know do you open an account, how do you do it?

Rachel Rodgers: Do you go somewhere down the street to get stock?

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. And this is back in AOL days, so Google was just getting started. I didn’t even know how to Google? I didn’t know how to Google till college. My friend did it first for me and was like, “You can actually Google that.” But yeah, so my first introduction to stocks was in high school and then I ended up going to MIT and being in their management program, majoring in management and business.

And everybody was always like, “You are an engineer?” No, I said, “I’m going to manage all the engineers; I’m going to be their boss.” Clearly that was the better way to go. No, I’m just kidding.

Rachel Rodgers: Well, I mean you’re here to be a leader, we’ve known that since you were a little girl.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, exactly, exactly. So I went to MIT and then majored in marketing and also management, and interned at Morgan Stanley. So that was my second introduction to stocks. But I had said, “You know what, I don’t want to be in this building all day, 24 hours a day, I want to travel.” So I decided to go into consulting. That took me on this whole other trajectory into education, because one of our clients was Teach for America.

But I think it all plays so well today because I did 10 years in education, ultimately becoming an Assistant Principal of an elementary school. But I had traded stock on the side that whole time. So now it just really…

Rachel Rodgers: Wow.

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah, it just really all comes together. I’m like, “Wow, look at you guys, this is amazing.” Because now that’s what I do, I teach people how to trade, but it all started because I had this trajectory, I had this education background and then also this stocks background. And when my principal at the school started getting crazy, I quit, started trading full-time and traveling around the world. I was like, “Peace out, forget this.” And went to Thailand, went to Australia, went to South Korea for a month all just trading.

And that’s how Trade and Travel got started. People started asking me, “How are you affording to travel around the world?” And I was like, “I’m just trading stocks.” And they were like, “Teri, that’s not a normal thing, you say it like it’s normal, but it’s not normal.” And I was like, “Everybody’s not trading stocks and making $300 a day to afford your bills and pay for your trips.” I’m like, “You don’t do that?” And they were like, “No, we don’t do that. Teach us how to do that.” And that’s how I started teaching classes about how to trade and travel, how to trade stocks to afford your dreams.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, oh my God, so tell me, what was that like when you quit that job? Because I think we all dream of having that moment, or so many of us when we’re working jobs that are not the quite the right fit. It’s not a job that we love and something’s going on and we’re like, “I wish I could get out of here, but I need this paycheck.” What was that like, did you have money stacked, because you’d been trading stocks all that time? Or was it like let me try a little bit more and stack up a little bit more then I’m going to quit? What was that like, that quitting part?

Teri Ijeoma: To be completely honest it was really a journey because I started the school year thinking that I’m going to be at this school forever. Because I was one of the founding administrators, I was one of the founding Assistant Principals. I had seen the school being built from ground up. But then the principals started acting crazy, the students were acting crazy, I was stressed out. I was overeating. I had never slept because we were working all the time. So it just was a really toxic work environment.

And I realized, okay, this can’t be it. But I thought, but this is what everybody goes through. This is what life is going to just be like, until my friend passed away. I had a friend pass away, he was 31 years old, he had just had a one year old, and he passed away from strep throat. You’re not supposed to die from strep throat.

Rachel Rodgers: Oh Lord.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, yes, they gave him some medicine he was allergic to and his lungs collapsed, yeah.

Rachel Rodgers: That is devastating.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. And he was one of – man, he was a really, really great guy and he still is. He’s a great guy. But when that happened I realized life is too short. And what if something like that happened to me and I died today at this stupid job that people don’t care about me? And they’re just going to hire some other Becky that looks different and treat her different and she’s going to take all the work that I put in and capitalize on it and take all the credit. Your mind goes to all these places, right?

Rachel Rodgers: Yes.

Teri Ijeoma: But then I said, “You know what, I’ve got to start learning how to have an exit strategy.” And that’s when I actually started going into trading more in depth. I said, “If I could just make $300 a day I could replace my income. And if I could replace my income then I can leave this job.” So the rest of the school year I was practicing trading while I was still at work.

So for a lot of people, I really talk to them about how to use trading as a side hustle because for a whole year I was using it as a side hustle to just supplement my income. And by the end of the year I had enough money saved where I could actually quit.

Rachel Rodgers: Wow, that’s amazing. That’s really amazing. And that is fascinating to hear. Because I’ve always thought that if you wanted to do any kind of day trading or trading stocks to make money on a daily basis from stocks, other than the strategy of putting money in there and leaving it for 10 years, which is the other thing we’re taught about saving for retirement.

I always thought you had to have your eye on it. I thought you had to be glued to the laptop and be watching the ticker tape all day and you can’t step away, in order to be able to make money from the stock market. Is that wrong?

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah, that’s a myth. So that’s actually a myth that you have to look at your computer all day. The truth is that I actually look at charts. I’m a technical analysis trader. So I can look at a chart and look at the candles to see when to get into a trade and when to get out. But if you know when to get in and when to get out, you can actually set that up in advance.

So the broker I use, they’re called TradeStation, we can put in order types that are automated. So I can put in the order to get in, if the stock comes to this price, get me into the trade. If it then goes to this price, then get me out. Or if it comes down, take me out to protect me from losing. If you set those in advance then we call it a set it and forget it trade, you can go on about your business and not have to worry about it.

So yeah, so at the school what I would do is I’d make a meeting with myself when the market opened so at about 8 o’clock, I had a 30 minute meeting with myself because the market opens at 8:30.

And I would look at my phone because you can trade from your cell phone, so that way you can do it anywhere, trade from my cell phone, look at the stocks. Then at lunchtime I would peek again to see how they were doing. And at the end of the day I would peek again, but that’s how you can do it as a sidle hustle, the same way you would make time for any other side hustle, you just make time for this.

Rachel Rodgers: Right. This is fascinating and blowing my mind and definitely not anything that I thought. I’ve got to get me a side hustle, true, this sounds fun.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. Yes. Actually people don’t know that you can trade from your cell phone, but I actually traded – I was on the beach in Greece in Mykonos and I was on the beach, I made $20,000 from my cell phone on the beach. Yes, because you can trade stocks anywhere, yeah, but people just don’t know it. I think they really do think you’ve got to be in front of your screen just watching it. You don’t, you really don’t.

Rachel Rodgers: Yeah. And there is a lot of education that’s put out there and a lot of media messages out there to sort of scare us about the stock market. And to say, “Don’t put your money in there, you’ll lose it, you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t pick stocks, no one can predict.” That’s the party line that brokers say and everybody that teaches around it. It’s almost like they’re required or there is a rule that this is the language you’ve got to use and you’ve got to tell people, “You’re taking an enormous risk.”

And it’s all designed to scare the shit out of you so then you have no desire to even try because you’re like, “No, I’m going to get it wrong, I’m going to lose my money.” And especially if you don’t have a lot of disposable income to play with, you’re scared to get in there, why do you think that is? Are they just trying to scare us from getting in on the game or why is that?

Teri Ijeoma: Well, there is a couple of things. One, everyone thinks – I heard you say this, but there’s a myth that investing is a gamble. But the truth is you don’t actually have to gamble with your money. What I teach my students is we have a risk management plan. So there’s order types that you can put in to protect yourself from losing. There’s something called a stop loss, if the market comes down and hits that stop loss, it will take you out of the trade so you can protect yourself from losing.

So there’s part of it that’s like if you’re really afraid I’m going to lose all my money. No, you’re not; we’re putting stops in place so that you don’t lose more than you want. I tell my students, “Pick your risk tolerance. If your risk tolerance is I don’t want to lose more than a $100 on a trade. Then we’re going to set it up so that when your stock comes down and you’re down a 100, that stop loss is going to get you out of the trade. We can protect you, so that’s not a true factor.”

And then the other part is before each trade we’re going to calculate the reward to risk ratio. If you know what your risk is ahead of time then you actually can put in formulas to say, “I’m only taking this trade if my reward is three times my risk.” And with anything, business, any type of money generating thing, if you know your reward, of course it’s going to be a little bit of risk, but you can now make a calculated trade. And say, “Hey, there’s a chance that I’m going to make $300 and risk a 100, it’s worth it.”

So we can calculate our reward to risk ahead of time. And if you’re doing that, it’s not a gamble.

Rachel Rodgers: Yeah, it sounds like starting a business or buying real estate. Anything that you invest in there’s going to be some level of calculated risk in that. And you’ve got to be okay with risk and you choose what you invest in based on how much risk you can stomach. Because for some of us we need to breathe into a brown paper bag to take certain risk. And others of us can be doing crazy stuff, jumping off a cliff and be like, “Yes, this is great.”

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, yes.

Rachel Rodgers: So you’ve got to go with what you’ve got the stomach for.

Teri Ijeoma: It’s true. And you know what’s really disappointing to me, and I think that this is something that, it also comes up just when we talk about just equality in general. There’s always going to be something where they tell one group of people, “You can’t do it.” And then another group of people, “You can do it.”

And that really frustrates me because I think about if you look at the earnings reports from all the big banks lately, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, all of the big banks did exceptionally well during coronavirus. Why? Because they were trading, they were in the stock market. So why would you have one group of people who are killing the game, making billions of dollars because they are trading, but then tell the rest of the people, “You can’t trade?” But I think the disconnect is that the people who we’re saying, “You can’t trade,” just don’t have the education.

They need to be educated on how to do it well because the stock market is definitely a tool where people are building wealth. It’s just about learning how to do it right.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, oh my gosh. It feels very much like it’s by design. And I mean honestly, that’s how our country’s economy is largely built. These folks get to benefit and these folks, you know, we don’t want them doing nothing that rich people are doing. We want to teach them to do the opposite that rich people are doing because we don’t want them to become one of us.

And the truth is, and what I’m trying to prove with my business, and I feel that you’re doing the same is that you can be a completely ethical person, you don’t have to rob people or disadvantage people in order to build wealth. You can absolutely build wealth in a way that doesn’t harm others. And so I think that there is a way that we can all benefit and all work hard and create more for ourselves without damaging other people, without oppressing a group of people.

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah. And that’s one of the things that I do love about the stock market, I think it’s an equal opportunity platform. Everybody can be invested, you’re really only working against yourself, because you’re investing your own money and then you’re learning the techniques to be able to make that money grow. You don’t have to worry about a boss; you don’t have to worry about coworkers. There’s no other outside pressure, you can do it by yourself. But it’s one thing where everybody can get in, but we’ve just got to educate people so they know how to do it.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, for sure. Okay, so if you feel it’s a great equalizer, what’s the least amount of money that you feel like people could get in the game? What’s the least amount that they would need to get started?

Teri Ijeoma: Most of the better more robust brokerages do have a – you need to fund your account. So like I told you, most of my students we use TradeStation. At TradeStation you have to fund the account with $500. But once you fund it then you can start like playing in a simulated account. So that’s the cool thing, you can fund it with 500 then practice with fake money in a simulated account until you’re good.

So while they’re in class or while they’re in the Trade and Travel class, I’m teaching them in the curriculum then they’re practicing in the sim, so they don’t have to worry about oh my God, I’m going to lose all my money. No, practice makes perfect, you’re going to practice it with fake money and then move over to your real money.

Once they’re trading their real money I suggest that they try to get about $2,000 minimum. Because at 2,000 the bank will start letting them have bigger buying power, because there’s something called – and this is very risky, I know people are going to be like, “What, Teri, don’t tell them about margin.” But this is another one of those things where nobody tells you and you never know about it, but it’s so important. The bank will actually – if you’re a day or swing trader, certain banks will give you two to four times your cash amount to trade with, and it’s called margin.

So at TradeStation they give us four times our cash amount once you have $2,000 in there. So now you’re able to trade with $8,000 instead of just 2,000 and multiply your money a lot faster. So if you can get to that 2,000 level then I think then you’re in business.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, okay, so if you can gather together $500, which for some people is going to be a struggle, but others, it’s really not that hard. If you can gather together $500 then you can get started with trading in the stock market. That’s good to know, I think it’s good to put numbers around it because a lot of times we don’t know and so people will come up with these huge numbers. And it’s really – it doesn’t take a whole lot to get in on the game.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. And then I do want to say, whatever your cash amount is, when you’re trading, a good goal should be 1% of your cash amount. So if you’re making a trade and you have $2,000, then you’re going to try to make $20 on that trade or even my students will try to make a $20 a day at 1% a day. What that does, it sounds small, but what that does is if you’re consistently making 1% every day that the market is open, that’s a 20% return at the end of the month. So just think on, and what other investment is giving you 20%?

So you really can start building your wealth but just start trying to go for small bite size goals instead of big goals. I think the most people blow up their accounts and lose money when they’re trying to like, I want to be a millionaire in a day. And you’re only investing with $2,000, no baby, no, come back.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, let’s consistently get 1% a day. And with my students, we don’t accrue that, some people are like, “Well, 1% a day, if you keep accruing that, it’s going to be this huge percentage.” What we do is we say, “No, okay, if I’m trading with $30,000,” which is what I started with when I was a teacher, I rolled over all my 401(k) from past jobs. So if you start with $30,000, 1% of that is $300 a day. That’s $1500 a week, $6,000 a month, that’s huge money. Even with just $200 a day, that’s an extra $48,000 a year that you can make.

And you can move that over to pay bills. I paid off all my student loans with trading. I paid for a house with trading. You can just take that money and start using it for things.

Rachel Rodgers: I love that. First of all, I just want to point out how much of a G you are, because the fact that you were like, “Okay, so I took all of my retirement that I accumulated.” And I was like let’s get it poppin’, and you wanted to live off of the $300, is that right, you were living off of the $300 a day that you were making on your $30,000 retirement?

Teri Ijeoma: I was, yeah, I was living off the $300 a day and then I started working it up and started making a $1,000 a day. And I was like, “Oh shoot, okay.” And more lately I’ve been making a $100,000 a day and so it’s like whoa, okay, then start accelerating especially as you become a better trader, yeah. So it’s crazy, you can do so much.

Rachel Rodgers: I didn’t hear what that number was, I heard a $1,000 a day and then you said, “I started going up.” And then you froze, and I’m like, “Wait, what’s the number?”

Teri Ijeoma: Oh no. Oh no. Yeah, it froze on my side, too, oh shoot. But yeah, so I actually started making $100,000 a day. My biggest right now has been, I’ve made over $500,000 in trading.

Rachel Rodgers: So you were doing a $1,000 a day and you were like, “Hey.” Hey girl, because $365,000 a year, that’s a fantastic salary, that’s something people would only dream of, so that’s amazing. And then tell us where you went after the $1,000 a day.

Teri Ijeoma: And it’s actually, it’s a little less than 365 because the market’s not open on the weekends. So it’s more like you’re making 200,000. So if you’re making a $1,000 a day, then you’re making 20,000 a month. So it’s like 240,000 a year.

Rachel Rodgers: Wow, it’s still amazing.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. Yeah. I just didn’t want somebody to give us in the comments, “Well, it’s not really 365.” I get it, I know. It’s not trading on the weekends. But when I actually started continuing to grow, as you become a better and better trader you actually can start making bigger returns than just the 1%. And so as your account grows and then also as you become a better trader your returns will grow. So I actually recently did a trade where I invested $27,000 into a trade and made over 500,000 return on that one trade. And it was actually in one day, so yes.

Rachel Rodgers: That is amazing, oh my God.

Teri Ijeoma: So you can make really big returns, for a while, this year 2020 actually my goal was I want to make six figures in a day. And I’ve hit it so many times because the market’s been crazy this year. So during corona I had my first six figure day. And then I started building on that, I had a $200,000 day and then a $500,000 day. And it was like okay, this is real, I guess this is where we’re going.

Rachel Rodgers: That is absolutely incredible, I am blown away. Listen, now I’ve got new goals, forget a million dollar month, now I need a $500,000 day.

Teri Ijeoma: There we go, yes.

Rachel Rodgers: But the things that I love about this, Teri, is that you are really normalizing wealth. The way you talk about it is just like, yeah, of course I made six figures in a day, that’s how this works. And that’s really beautiful, because I want people to see that this is so within reach. This is not out of the realm of possibility for folks. So let’s talk a little bit about that. Tell us about your business and how you train people, because I think people would be really interested in learning more of how do you do that.

So with your skills and training you could have done this just for yourself, what made you decide to teach others, because obviously you do not need to teach anybody to be wealthy?

Teri Ijeoma: No. Yeah, for me myself, I’m good. But I also am in ministry, so really helping other people is just part of – it’s just part of who I am, it’s just in my DNA. If I were to kind of hoard this all by myself, I would be so depressed and sad because I know that my purpose is to help other people.

So how this all got started is when I was traveling, I told you I was traveling one month at a time, I was in South Korea for a month, and then I was in Thailand for a month, and then Vietnam. And in Thailand, some of the people I was traveling with started cornering me to go on coffee dates. “Hey Teri, can we go to eat, you know, have coffee. I want to hear about this trading thing.” And finally I was like, “Look, you all, I don’t even like coffee. Let’s just do a class and I’ll teach you how to trade.”

And so I held one webinar, this was in Thailand at the local co-working space, I said, “Hey, can I get a room and can I teach this?” And these other expats came and they loved it. And they were like, “Are you going to do this again next month?” And I was like, “I thought this was a onetime thing, what are you all talking about, do this again next month?” But I actually had enjoyed it too because I actually really enjoy teaching.

So the next month I said, “Sure.” We were in Thailand this time, went to another local co-working space and I held a session. And this time, not only the people that I was with, but more people came. And they were like, “Is this a series?” And I was like, “No, once again, this was supposed to be a onetime thing.” But then came home to the States and people had seen me post about those classes on my Instagram. So all of my friends here in Dallas were like, “We know you’re going to teach us, you just have to.”

So at the time I was in seminary and I was wrapping up my master’s degree and I went to the seminary and said, “Hey guys, can I just reserve a classroom? I’m going to teach a workshop on how, you know, intro to the stock market, do you know you all?” 71 people showed up and I was like, what, all these people are coming to this workshop. And then again, all my other friends from everywhere else, from Atlanta, from California were like, “Teri, we want to see it too. We want you to do a class here.”

So then I said, “Well, fine, I’ll do a webinar.” Did a webinar, another 50 people showed up. So this just started blowing my mind. And at this time I had heard Danielle Leslie on a webinar and she had said, “You don’t have to have it done yet, just sell it.”

So in one of the meetings I said, “Well, you know what, I have a course where I’m teaching people how to make a – well, how to trade, how to trade stocks.” And I sold it for a $1,000, it was 2,000, but I gave a 50% discount. And in my head I’m like, nobody is going to buy this, no one’s going to spend a $1,000 for me to teach them how to trade. Girl, do you know at the end of that thing, two people raised their hands and bought the course. And I was like, “Oh man, you guys, now that you’ve bought it I’ve actually got to go make this course.”

So it ended up, this is 2018, ended up making a course to teach these two students and it just started growing like crazy. So in October I started putting on Instagram, “Hey, I have this course.” 30 people signed up. I was like, “Oh my gosh, I have, I actually have a course, they’re here.” And then in 2019 it just started to grow, we went from, now I have over 2,236 students in my course learning how to trade stocks from me. I went from two, two years ago to over 2200, 2,000 students learning how to trade stocks. And it’s just been growing like crazy.

Rachel Rodgers: That is amazing. And that doesn’t surprise me at all that people were like, “Please, teach us everything.” And of course they raised their hand and said yes, they are smart people. They know a good thing when they hear about it. So I love that so much.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. And I think the coolest thing is, I haven’t had any super fancy websites. I’m still getting everything – it’s been two years, so I feel like I’m still in that startup phase and I’m now starting to really brand and get everything really nice and neat. But the biggest seller has been my students. Now we have this movement called The Million Dollar a Day Movement where I’m teaching a 1,000 students to make a $1,000 in a day. So that same trajectory that I had to learn how to make a $1,000 in a day, I’m teaching my students that.

And the students are learning, we have over 250 students that have hit that $1,000 in a day mark. I’ve had students now that are quitting their job and trading full-time, literally doctors, Chief Executive Officers, everything, quitting to trade full-time because I’ve taught them this new skill. And now they don’t have to go into work, they can manage their own time. They have quality time with their kids and their family. And it’s been just amazing to see how this education has really revolutionized my students, and just what’s possible with building wealth.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, I love that so much, that is amazing, that is so cool. Okay, so I have a couple of follow-up questions. One is what type of person is a good fit for this? Is there anybody that you wouldn’t recommend? Is there a personality type? Do you have to have certain types of strengths to trade stocks?

Teri Ijeoma: I will say trading stocks is emotional and it’s something that if you don’t have a plan then your emotions can get in the way. You’re staring at the screen, you’re like, “Oh my God, is it going to go up or down?” It can be very emotional, but that’s why I have a seven step trading strategy. It’s called The IWT Investing Method, that’s what I teach my students, it’s a seven step process. So the right type of person is somebody who can just follow the steps. If you’re someone who can like, if I give you the steps, can you follow the steps, then you’re good.

If you’re somebody that’s like, I don’t have any discipline, I can’t follow the steps then it might be a challenge, but I think you can still do it. It’s just like discipline is important but I think that’s in any type of job, discipline’s important. And you just have to be able to follow the stops I give, because I’ve gone through, I’ve been trading now 10 years.

I’ve gone through every mistake, literally people can halfway start their question and I can answer it because I’ve been there. “Yeah, that’s what you did, yeah, you did.” “You got in too high, that’s what that is.” “You had FOMO, fear of missing out, and you just got into that stock, that wasn’t a good stock at all.” “President Trump said this and you said, “I’m going to do that,” you believed him?” No, I’m just playing, but yeah, I’ve been through so much in trading. I’ve been through the mistakes. So if they can just follow the plan it just really helps them.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, listen to the teacher, follow instructions you guys. Okay, one other question I have for you is, what about money blocks, do you feel like – in this process I think sometimes when we make money quickly and we’re able to generate large sums of money. We can get imposter syndrome about that, or money blocks up, or we just start creating an income ceiling for ourselves because we’re scared, or we think we’re not worthy, or any of that. Have you experienced that? And do you see that happening with your students?

Teri Ijeoma: I think where that comes into play in investing is when you lose the value of money you can start actually taking on too much risk in an investment. So that happened to me recently. Now that I’ve been able to make these six figure days, then losing 5,000, losing 50,000 doesn’t feel like a big deal. So I may take a trade and I may have a $50,000 loss and in my head I’m like that’s nothing, because I’ve been able to make 500,000 in a day. I’ll be able to make that back.

But that really gets dangerous when you stop valuing money because then you start being too relaxed with your risk management plan. And in trading that means I’m going to take this trade but I’m not going to put a stop in there. So now you have unlimited risk because you took your stops off. Or maybe your head gets a little inflated and you’re like, “I know this trade is going to work because all the other trades have worked.” But that’s when you start making mistakes. So I think that really comes in when we stop valuing our money.

Also if anybody out there has been a trader before, I think this also happens, where you lose money but you’re like, “That’s okay, I know I’m going to get more money from my job, my full-time job so losing that money doesn’t matter.” That’s where you can get in some dangerous territories, because you’ll start losing a lot faster because you just don’t value money.

That’s when I say, “It’s important to go hangout with some people where every dollar is important.” If you get to that point then I want you to go volunteer at like a soup kitchen, volunteer with some kids, go to a low income neighborhood, volunteer with some kids go to a school.

Go somewhere where they are putting their pennies together to make sure that they can get lunch today. Or go somewhere where, like just remember the value of money because if you don’t, if you lose your touch or that knowledge of how important every dollar is, that’s when you can take on too much risk.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, that makes so much sense, where it starts to feel like you’re playing with monopoly money and it’s not worth it.

Teri Ijeoma: Exactly, exactly.

Rachel Rodgers: I can see that going not in a good way.

Teri Ijeoma: Yeah, there has been times for me where I had a trade and it lost six figures. And in my mind I’m like, that’s nothing, whatever. But then I had to remember six figures is a house. That is a year’s worth of salary for someone working 80 hours a week. Six figures, like you know, you have to start remembering Teri this is nothing to play with. You shouldn’t have lost six figures. And you have to remind yourself because sometimes it doesn’t feel like that big a deal.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes. And I mean I can understand it, the numbers on the screen versus paper in your hands. I even think using our debit cards can have the same effect, where you’re just are always swiping a card and it doesn’t feel like you’re really spending any money, sometimes without that physical reminder or finding another way to remind yourself. I think that makes a lot of sense.

Okay, so thank you so much for all of the education that you’ve given us. I’m so inspired by you and your story, I love how much you are teaching Black people and really so many people how to trade and make money without having to work for the man, if they don’t want to. Tell us what’s next for you? What are some of your upcoming goals? Because when you’re making $100,000 in a day, you need new goals.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, you really do. You really do. Because part of me just wants to go put my feet up and kick it and say, “Forget everything, I’m just going to be on vacation the rest of the year.” So one big goal that I have is someone challenged me recently to trade a million dollar account and then donate 1.5 million to a charity.

So in the fall that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take that million dollar account and then I’m going to do that 1% goal I was telling you guys about, so 10,000 a day is my goal. And with that 10,000 a day, that’s 50,000 a week, 200,000 a month, I’ll be able to generate a million in five months. So I’m going to trade that account and then after I generate that first million, donate it to a charity and then we’re going to keep going for a little longer till I’m able to donate 1.5 to a charity.

So that’s going to be a big deal, I’m super excited about that because it gives me something to stay accountable, something to hold me accountable. And then I’m still helping my students, our goal is to have a 1,000 students making that $1,000 in a day club. So I really want Trade and Travel students to be able to meet those goals. We’re a quarter of the way there now, so I’ve got some ways to do, so, hey, just really pouring myself into my students so that they can build wealth.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, I love that so much, and I love that incredible goal of being able to donate 1.5 million to charity. I could see that being totally addictive and be like, “Okay, how much more can we make and give away?” That is so fun, I love that so much.

And I know that people listening to this, their minds are blown. I know that you have helped them to start to blow past their limitations around money that’s in their mind because really there’s so much we have access to, it’s just we have to get the education. We have to choose a strategy and just go all in and be disciplined, as you mentioned.

Teri Ijeoma: Exactly, exactly. And it’s really just numbers. Sometimes we think of these salaries, but when you break it down by day it’s really not that much, $200 a day, $300 a day, that’s all you need to really replace your income, or at least have some good extra money on the side.

Rachel Rodgers: Yes, I love that. Tell them where they can find out more about you and start to learn from you about investing?

Teri Ijeoma: Yes. I have a free webinar on how to make a $1,000 a day at itradeandtravel.com. So itradeandtravel.com, that’s a great place to start, and then on all platforms, Trade and Travel.

Rachel Rodgers: I love it so much, that is fantastic. And we will link it all up in the show notes as well. Thank you so much for being here. I learned so much, I’m inspired. I need to go check out this webinar so I’m definitely going to watch it.

Teri Ijeoma: Yes, let’s go, Rachel, I want to teach you how to make your millions into multimillions, let’s go.

Rachel Rodgers: Oh my God, yes, let’s do it. Alright, thank you for being here.

Teri Ijeoma: Thank you.

Okay you guys, how freaking epic was that episode? My mind is blown and I need to go take Teri’s course because hello, we all need to be trading on the stock market. That sounds like a beautiful little side hustle to me. I hope that you were absolutely inspired and really got to smash some of your limiting beliefs around money in that conversation. I mean it’s amazing what is possible and how Teri took a chance on herself, she bet on herself, she gave herself exactly what she wanted, which was to trade and travel and I hope that you will check her out, learn more from her.

And really think about how do you want to invest in yourself, what risks do you want to take so that you can have more financial freedom in your life and build wealth? And I hope you really caught that conversation that we had about how rich people are taught to do a certain thing, but they keep that information as secrets. And so we’ve all been sold the line that you shouldn’t be day trading, that it’s dangerous, that it’s too risky. Everything is risky and yet this is a way that you can make a lot of money.

Building a business is also risky, staying in a job you hate and hoping that they give you a raise. Guess what, that’s a risk too. So you just have to choose what risk you want to take and what do you want to do, what is your purpose while you’re here on Earth? And figuring out what is the best path to get you to doing what you are meant to do in the world.

So I hope that you were inspired by Teri, I think she is absolutely incredible and amazing. And I hope that you will check her out and learn more about her. I will link all of that up in the show notes. Stay inspired my friends, and I will talk to you soon.

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