Episode 104: How to Trade and Travel with Teri Ijeoma

Acquania Escarne 0:02

You are listening to the Purpose of Money podcast, a podcast where we talk about ways to build wealth and create more freedom in your life today. I am your host Acquania Escarne.

Acquania Escarne 0:17

Hello, welcome back to the Purpose of Money Podcast. I'm super excited today, we have a very special guest Teri Ijeoma who is the queen of trade and travel, we are going to talk about how you can learn to make passive income trading so you can travel and create more freedom in your life today. Most of you may know her as the woman who made over a million dollars trading Amazon stock. But she has many more accomplishments that we would love to highlight today. Teri Ijeoma is a master trader, a teacher, a philanthropist, a venture capitalists and the creator of the highest grossing online course in the world, trade and travel. Teri and I met in 2018 at FinCon, a conference where money nerds me, and I'm super excited to have her on the show today, where she's going to share more about her experience becoming a trader and how her course with over 33,000 students has changed lives. As someone who has been featured on Forbes Times Magazine, Bloomberg, Black Enterprise, NBC, CBS, and so many other platforms. I'm super excited to have Teri here today to share how she's not only changing the world and changing lives, but she's also giving in her ministry, she's given over $2 million to ministries and nonprofits and $2.4 million to help minority female owned and small businesses grow. So without further due, let's hop into this episode with Teri Ijeoma, the queen of trade and travel. Hi, Teri, how are you?

Teri Ijeoma 2:01

Hi, how are you? And I laughed a little during the introduction because I don't think I'm the highest grossing in the world. I think there's probably some people that have beat me but on teachable for the last few years, I was the highest grossing there at that company.

Acquania Escarne 2:16

You know what I'm claiming it because I know you're a believer, and when God puts on our hearts to do something who knows what's possible. So let's just say it's coming girl coming.

Teri Ijeoma 2:26

I love it. Amen, I name it. Jesus. Let's go.

Acquania Escarne 2:32

Teri, thank you so much for being here today. I don't even know if you remember me because I know you've met so many people in your life. But I want to let you know you changed mine in 2018. At FinCon. We sat in one of the events. I think it was the Ignite presentations. And you had a little rolly bag. And you sat down and I was like, Hi, how are you doing? This is my first FinCon and you were like, Hi, my name is Teri. And I trade and travel. And I was just like, really tell me more. So ever since we met that day, I've been really interested in learning more of your story. And I've definitely been supporting you over the years. But I didn't start a podcast until 2020. So I had some time before I could actually invite you to the show. But I'm super excited. You're here today. And we can talk about your journey. Right. So welcome. Welcome. Welcome. I didn't mention this in the bio, but you are a Texas, Dallas, Texas native. Right?

Teri Ijeoma 3:33

Yeah, yeah, later to Texas. And thank you so much for your story too, and saying that I impacted your life. It's so amazing, because you just never know who you're meeting who you're touching. And like, you say that I impacted you. But you also impacted me like I've seen your videos, and I've seen what you've been through. And I'm just so proud of you and your husband. So great.

Acquania Escarne 3:54

Thank you so much. Yeah, that's exciting, because you never know who's watching. But I'm on the show. We like to talk about money. We also like to talk about ways to create more freedom in your life today. And you have literally been able to do both. So before we hop into your story of trading and traveling and your multimillion dollar course, I would like to hear a little bit more about Teri and what money was like for you when you were growing up?

Teri Ijeoma 4:22

Sure. So I was raised in a household with three generations of women. So it was me my mom and my grandmother. And we were raised in a very much scarcity type of environment like you just have enough if you the only thing that you get at the grocery store is what's on the coupon coupon book, like we didn't have a lot but my mom made it work. And she did so much with so little like she worked for the Dallas housing authority for a little while. And so we actually stayed in the Dallas Housing Authority while she was still working for them. She's always worked in service service jobs, whether it was helping students as a student liaison at schools, and so I always saw that and I thought that, you know, a good life was where you're serving others, but you don't make a lot, a lot of money. Those kind of jobs, you just don't do. You know, you're not making billions and millions, but you're getting by, and you have just enough, but you're still enjoying life. And honestly, that's what I thought I would be doing up until 20..2017. When I quit my job as assistant principal, I was in the education world for about 10 years and in ministry too, serving people, but not really making a lot. So this has definitely been a big jump for me from how I grew up.

Acquania Escarne 5:40

Ah, understandable. But I'm so glad the opportunity was made available for you to try something new. What was the exact moment where you have that aha moment that you needed to get out of education and into trading? Was it a particular incident? Or was it a progressive decision to leave?

Teri Ijeoma 6:00

You know, I was actually just looking at some old pictures on my phone. And in 2016, I was in Washington, DC for the funeral of my friend John. And I was looking at like the pictures of our crew from Chicago, because we were we had like a tight knit crew went right out of college, we all just were embarking on the city trying to figure out our lives, and we would do everything together. And he had passed away in 2016. And at the same time, I was assistant principal at the elementary school, and I was really not enjoying it. Like, I was trying to do my best I was trying to give my best effort, but it just felt like everything I was doing was wrong. And I think that, that episode in my life of realizing that like life is too short, there's got to be a different way was a huge factor for me. And I remember like going home and writing in my journal, I know you've heard this before. But for others, like if I could do anything, Lord, I'm praying and writing, I could do anything, there would be trade stocks, just because I loved it. It was a hobby, and I loved it, and travel around the world. At that time, I had this random dream, where the house like I was in a building, and the place was on fire. And I was dying. This This is so crazy, but this was the dream. And and I got a chance before I passed away because the building was on fire and there was no exits, I got a chance to go sit with my mom and my grandmother. And they were talking to me about like, well, you know, what do you regret? Like, you know, if you could keep living like what what would you do, and I, I regretted that I didn't get a chance to see the rest of the world. Like that was the thing that that I was so sad that I would be losing out on. So that was my turning around moment when my friend passed away that I had that dream. And then on top of that, like it just work was crazy. That was when I was like there's got to be a different way. Something's got to be different in life.

Acquania Escarne 8:00

That makes so much sense. Like if you're going somewhere every single day and you don't enjoy it. And then you witness a young person. I'm presuming if you went to college together, this was not someone who you expected to pass away. So someone suddenly passes away, you are miserable at work, why not pivot into what you really want to do? Because honestly, now you are living your best life or at least that's how it seems on social. But I definitely think you're also serving a lot of people too. My dad has been a student in your course. And he just goes on and on about how you give to your students, and how much you are content continuing to do to build the community of trading cousins, which I love. So I'd love to know, now that you are a professional trader, you know, what does that mean? What does a day in the life of Teri look like? And when do you fit in trading and your course and your life? How does that all work?

Teri Ijeoma 9:06

So literally the last few weeks, I've been in a different city and state every week, which has been kind of crazy, but I've still been on coaching calls every Monday. I've been watching the stock market from my cell phones, I could do videos about what's happening. We had a Fed announcement and so I had to make a video about the Fed announcement we had you know there's a Congress meeting with tik tok so in my head I'm like how do I educate people on what's happening with tik tok so what my day looks like when I'm not crazy busy and traveling all around the world is I usually wake up around an hour before the market opens. So it depends where I am in the world on what time that is. And I looked at the pre market and then I tried to trade like the first two hours of the day, but I honestly can usually get my trade in in the first hour of the day. Lately I've been trying to to make at least one basis point when I am trading to try to make at least one basis point in an options trade. So it doesn't have to move a lot. But I just want to make sure that I'm consistently making small wins to grow my portfolio.

Acquania Escarne 10:14

Okay.

Teri Ijeoma 10:15

Yeah. Then after that, I go into meetings for trade and travel. So my assistant has kind of blocked off the morning from my trading. And then the afternoon is when I meet with my team, or try to check on my email or figure out if there's some content that I need to create. And then the evenings are for me. But that's usually what a normal day looks like. But then, like I said, sometimes there's not normal. So I'm about to go overseas for about a month. And I've already decided, You know what, I'm turning everything off. But that's because I can, it's a skill set, you can turn off and on, you don't have to trade every day, when you know how to trade, you can just you do it when you want to,

Acquania Escarne 10:53

Oh man, I love that I'm not going to ask you where you're going. Because I know that there are crazy people out there who will try to follow you. However, I love that you're able to have that freedom and really take the time to relax. And and if you want to, you can work remotely as well. But you have options. That's what it's all about. So I would love to know, what is your advice for someone who is completely new to the stock market, and they want to know how to get started?

Teri Ijeoma 11:22

Sure, I think the first step for me would be to download the CNBC app onto your cell phone. One thing I've figured out is that many of us are cord cutters. So we don't actually see a lot of news, we don't know what's going on in the bigger macro environment of the world. And it's going to be so important as a trader, that you are educated of just what's happening in the world. And then what's happening in the market. My favorite tool for that is CNBC. And you can download it on your cell phone, it'll give you little updates, but then also, if you do their appropriate Pro Plan, and I'm not like I'm not an affiliate or anything, that's just what I like. But if you do their Pro Plan, you can see their live stream. And you don't have to have a cable, subscription or anything like that. So I would say step one, download CNBC and start getting just acclimated to the finance world. Step two, is you're gonna have to open a brokerage account. And I used like, I have one that I've been using for a long time, but I don't know necessarily that there's still the best one. There's so many good brokers that have come up in the last few years, and they don't charge any fees. They have really great platforms, they have better customer service. So now the ones I've liked lately are TradeStation, which I've used for a while, but also TD Ameritrade is really good. E-trade is actually coming up in the ranks. Man four or five years ago, I've been trading now 13 years. So even my first my first account was in E-trade. And I had grown out of it. But now it seems like it's coming back around. So that might be a good one. And then Fidelity actually has won some awards. And I haven't used their platform before. But that's the next step. You got to open a brokerage account, and you've got to fund it. Because the thing is, as I as I teach you, or you start learning or going on YouTube, or whatever you do to learn, if you don't have the account open, you can't do anything anyway. So that's start researching online brokers and find one that you like, you probably have one or you might have one already attached to your bank. If your Bank of America they have Merrill Lynch Chase has one now. So open a brokerage account. I don't really recommend Robin Hood so much, but maybe they'll come up in the race too and surprise me. Then the last step, I would say is you do need some education. I started trading first my first six years, I was trying to figure it out on my own and I thought like I'm smart, I went to MIT, I can make my own algorithm. Girl I had all these plans in my head and all I was doing was losing losing losing. So I think going into some courses with some traders who actually figured out a successful plan is the is the next step like get educated first. After you're educated and you've been doing it a little while then you can start putting your own swing to it and your own like rules and and do our does a messing it up. Don't that's not it. But you know, I'm different. But at least first start with let me learn from some people because trading has been around for a long time. And that's one thing I learned. I learned out of pride. It was a mistake that I thought I was the only one that could figure it out. But people have been doing this for so long. Like go learn some tips from other people that have tried to figure out something and made some mistakes before.

Acquania Escarne 14:47

Yeah, I like that. What so I like it because so many people don't even really realize cutting the cord resulted in cutting other things too. And I think you're are so right to point out that we've disconnected from the news in a lot of ways. And we don't know what's going on. And it does impact what happens in the stock market. So it's good to be in a space where you're familiarizing yourself with the financial terms and what's going on, but then also staying abreast of what you need to know to make informed decisions. But I Yes, I completely agree with you. Education is key. And when you have the right education, you can make better decisions and better trades. So that's a good time to talk about trade and travel. So I have been a supporter of your course and an affiliate for your course for quite some time. And when individuals come to me, and they want to learn how to trade stocks, and you know, that's the course that I send them to, but you recently made some changes to the course and made it even better. Can we talk about what is trading travel 2.0? And why what you're offering in this new version of the course?

Teri Ijeoma 16:01

Sure. So I have to step into kind of like my business woman hat here. And I'm, I'm actually really proud of myself. I don't know if I just broke my business or what I did, because it's, it's definitely new. But at the same time, I'm proud of myself for kind of like, stepping out of my comfort zone and doing some things that are different. Because so, to tell you the truth, we haven't we started trad and travel in 2018. And there's some of those videos that I hadn't updated since 2018. So it's five years old. And there's some people who will do an online course, and they put it out that one time and they never make any changes. And what I realized is okay, I put it out, but I think I can do better. I think that I can teach it in a different way. I think that there's some things that my students still need that they don't have. So I just thought out to give them the best that I could give, like, if I could just put out one more version that was the best, what would it be? So I decided that there are some students who needed better help with just technical analysis, that's reading charts to find out what prices to get into the stock. You know, this, but just you know, for those who don't know, we had quite a few students that were still struggling with reading charts, we had some students that during the, during the pandemic, they were a little free to trade because everything was at their highs. And then during the bear market there, excuse me, the bear market, they were having trouble because they couldn't find a good stock to get into because everything looked unhealthy. It was on a downtrend. So it felt like okay, I need to give them a little bit more so that they can trade in any environment. Maybe we teach everybody how to short sale so that if it's going down, they can win. Or we teach everybody how to trade options. So if it's going up, they can win, you know.

Teri Ijeoma 17:50

So basically, trade and travel 2.0 is me reteaching the curriculum in a way that I feel like will best support everybody in in every different market. Now, I'll tell you the truth, though, my current curriculum is pretty good. And that's the one thing that I did find out, I was seeking to just like, Okay, I gotta revamp everything. And my students were like, um, but Teri, I like what you have before, can you can you not change at all. So it's a little bit new, a little bit of what we had before. But I'm just trying to teach it in a way that I think more people understand. So that's step one to point out, then we're also offering new product lines. So we realize that after people take the course, they don't want to leave. So the community at trade and travel is really strong. There's this like, wonderful alumni network of people who've been in the course for a long time helping each other. They're really encouraging. Right now we have a competition of the $1,000 in a day versus $10,000 in a day. So it's so crazy. When I first started, I had this goal of a million dollars in a day, if I could teach 1000 people to make $1,000 in a day, then that means that my community could make a million dollars in a day. And some people get on me because they're like, Well, some people are trading in their sim, hey, the goal is can I teach them how to do it, if they know how to do it, and when they get the money, then they can do it. So our goal was if we can teach people to make $1,000 in a day, and have 1000 of them, that's a million dollars. Well, our students started crushing that goal, like they hit 1000 had 1000 to $1,000 in the day club, and I think 2020 then more and more people started making the $1,000 in a day club, and then we have people starting to make the $10,000 in a day club. So now we have a brand new $10,000 in a day club and there's competition right now. And I think they're tired. I think it's like 10 to 10 right now 10 In the $1,000 in a day and 10 to $10,000 a day just in this cohort alone. That started like a couple of weeks ago, right?

Acquania Escarne 19:56

Yes, yes, march five or sixth around there. Wow, that's crazy. And you know, 2020 I remember when it happened because I was helping to, you know, tell people, hey, even though we're in a pandemic, this is the time to do digital courses, because you have time, right? We had time on our hands in the pandemic, and people were at home, why not learn something? So tons of people, Were watching you following you, and people like me promoting trade and travel. And I was so proud of you when you did that, because I said, how a million dollars a day and communities of color, where we need this type of generational wealth. And I was asking people, you know, like, what would you do with $1,000? A day? Would you pay off debt? Would you fire your boss? Would you travel? You know, it's just so many opportunities. I'd love to hear Teri, what is the most personal but rewarding thing you've been able to do? Thanks to trade and travel. I have something in my head that I think you're gonna say. But I'm curious to know, what is your your actual answer?

Teri Ijeoma 21:05

I think it's around around my mom. Like I helped my mom. Yeah. Mom retire. And then like, I bought a house and she lives in the house. So like, I feel like, I feel like a little bit of like, you know, the basketball players are like, Yeah, but my mom's house. And I'm like, You know what, I did that too. I retired my mom and I bought her house. And, and she actually, she, she started a new job recently. And she was telling me, she's like, Teri well, she calls me different names, because I'm a baby. But she was like, you don't know the freedom I have right now in knowing that I can walk away from this job at anytime. She's like, Baby, I'm about to cry, because she said they called me the other day and gave me some feedback that I didn't want. And I told them, I ain't gotta be here. She's like, but I have seven more years before, like Social Security. And like, all of those things could really kick in. So back in the day, she would have had to make it work. But now she doesn't have to, she can decide if she wants to stay or not. And that kind of freedom is is amazing. So I'm really thankful that I've been able to provide that for her. But then also, it seems for a lot of my students too they now have that same kind of freedom, like I can stay or I can leave.

Acquania Escarne 22:25

Um, yes. Yes, I absolutely love that. And that is what I was thinking. I remember, I think you were in South Africa and you traded in one day, and you made enough money to retire your mom or some somewhere around there. But I knew that it had to be related to family because being able to support our family and bring them to a level they have never seen and have those freedom and options to is my life's goal. It's my purpose for money. And I and I am so inspired by your journey and being public about that. I mean, most people don't share that part of their life as you were like, No, I've retired my mom like trading helped me retire my mom. And I think that's awesome.

Teri Ijeoma 23:08

Thank you.

Acquania Escarne 23:09

Yeah. So you use you had a conference, a really big conference last year in Miami, where you taught the trade and travel concepts and principles in person. Are you going to do another live event like that? Because people have been asking?

Teri Ijeoma 23:23

Yes, I am. Yes, I am. We just actually launched it. So I'm so glad you asked. So another part of 2.0 is that we're actually making that a more regular occurrence. Where before I said, I'm only gonna do this one time when when Miami came out, I was like, Y'all better get in now, because it ain't happening again. And it is like it's draining. Like, actually, while I go travel right now I'm planning to do some just endurance training, because I literally am teaching the whole eight week course in two days. But that means I'm teaching from like eight to five, all day. And it feels like some of my students because they're grown adults, right? They're like, I've never said anywhere for eight hours. I don't know if I can make it through. But they're like, we get through we push through the curriculum, they're still wanting more. Like we have so much fun. There's a DJ like we just really push through the whole trade travel curriculum. You learn how to trade from beginning to options in two days. So yes, we're actually about to have another one. I don't know if it's okay to say the date. So.

Acquania Escarne 24:28

Yeah, come on.

Teri Ijeoma 24:31

May 10th to the 13th. At the Gaylord Texan in Dallas, we're having another nother train travel conference.

Acquania Escarne 24:39

And let's get it let's get it don't worry guys. I'm gonna have links to get all of Teri's things in the description. So you guys can take advantage get to know Teri a little more. And if you want to trade and travel 2.0 By that, I love it. I love it. This is really really dope like, I am so excited, to have had the opportunity to talk more about your journey and how trading and traveling has changed your life. As an entrepreneur, I travel a lot as well, I started my career as a diplomat. And living abroad was a part of my journey in Haiti and Dubai and Ecuador and some other places. And now I'm trying to balance the trading, not the trading, but the traveling and the business. So I'm going to ask a selfish question here. How often do you travel in your business for you know, personally, but, you know, also managing the business? And how do you balance that all

Teri Ijeoma 25:37

2020 really messed me up. Because that year I was supposed to try. I was supposed to work a month, be off a month, work a month, be off a month, and I had already gotten all my plans. I was in South Africa. And then I was gonna go to Bali. And then I think India, I had it all planned out. And clearly .God's plan.

Acquania Escarne 25:58

Same same, I was supposed to hit 40 countries by by 2020. And I did not until this year, so it slowed us all down. I see that.

Teri Ijeoma 26:08

Well, congratulations on hitting your 40. I'm just getting back into travel to so this I went to I went to the Maldives last year, and that was like my first time going overseas in the since 2020, which to me was crazy. I had done a lot of traveling in the States, but I hadn't been overseas again. So this year, I'm glad to be getting out. Going more towards Asia. And just having a good time.

Acquania Escarne 26:33

Yes, good. That's good. I try to plan my travel. My goal is traveling once a quarter, and really disconnecting just like you said, disconnecting enjoying that experience and that culture and then doing whatever you need to do to make it happen again and next quarter. But I'm I'm prayerful that in my business as it grows, and my team is able to take over more of their responsibilities. And I don't have to be actively present every day that I can do more of those breaks. But I really appreciate that advice. That's super helpful. So the name of the podcast is called the Purpose of Money. And I asked all my guests this question, what is your purpose for money?

Teri Ijeoma 27:14

The Purpose of Money is to be able to empower the ministry of God. There was some ladies who actually were with Jesus, I'm I'm a Bible girl. But there were some that were with Jesus. And the Bible says that they funded his ministry out of out of their pockets, like all the things that they had. And I think that there's some of us that God is blessed with minute like big businesses and wealth so that we can help extend the ministry forward. So for me, that's my Purpose of Money. I know that there are some things that God wants to do in this world, and money is going to be helpful for it. So I'm just here as a vessel to not only build my own wealth, but then help other people build their wealth so that they can help other people too.

Acquania Escarne 27:58

I love it. I love it. And I'm super excited to see where you go from here. Teri, this has been amazing. Before we disconnect, please let everyone know where they can find you. How can they follow you on social media? Because I want you to get some new, loyal trading cousins from this podcast.

Teri Ijeoma 28:17

Thank you. I appreciate that. I see you're showing my website there, teriijeoma.com. But you guys can find me anywhere at trade and travel. So like we have well, and aqui en is gonna have all the links. The links, though? Oh, yeah, links below this video and click on them. Because yeah, you can find us on on YouTube. There's free webinars. There's the core. So yep, check all the links below.

Acquania Escarne 28:45

Awesome. Yes, yes. So use my links. Let's make this small business grow and learn how to trade and travel at the same time. I'm super excited to have had this opportunity to chat with you today. TerI, thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to be on the Purpose of Money podcast. Guys, please leave in the comments. What's the favorite tip you learned today? Are you currently in trade and travel? I'd love to know who her existing students are because we definitely had some in the audience today watching they have been commenting about how awesome you are Teri, so kudos to you again. And definitely make sure you like and subscribe and share this video with anyone that you think would benefit. Until next time guys keep building generational wealth.

Acquania Escarne 29:36

Thank you for listening to the Purpose of Money podcast. For more resources and information, check out my website, the purposeofmoney.com and while you're there, please sign up for our newsletter. So you'll have all the latest information on new episodes and blog posts. Until next time keep building generational wealth.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai