As a child of immigrants, Jaspreet Singh grew up thinking that success meant being a doctor or a lawyer. But while attending college and law school, the true meaning of success changed for him—when he experimented with launching several businesses, including an event planning company, and discovered a penchant for entrepreneurship. But after he was scammed by a marketing firm while launching his sock company making water-resistant athletic socks—costing him thousands of dollars—he realized the importance of financial education and set out to teach himself the ropes. Along the way, he started a YouTube channel called “Minority Mindset” to teach others how to avoid the same financial traps he experienced. When the patent for his sock was denied, he found himself at a crossroads, and chose to pursue his passion for financial education. Now, he’s turned “Minority Mindset” into a successful financial education brand with several companies revolving around media and investing. To date, his hit YouTube channel has 1.49 million subscribers who are attracted to Singh’s ability to make personal finance information fun, interesting, and digestible. As for Singh, he’s on a self-made mission to spread financial education and to help people get out of debt, start investing, build the wealth they dream of, and achieve financial freedom.
What excites you about starting a business?
The idea of helping people by delivering value is the most exciting thing about business for me. Our companies help spread financial education so people can make better decisions with their money, and that is more important now than ever.
When did you realize you could help others by giving out information and telling them about the mistakes you made?
At first, I just didn’t want people to fall for the same scams or mistakes that I did. But then, I saw there was a real need for financial education out there. The majority of people were either never taught about money, or were taught wrong about money, so I set out to change that in the only way I knew how.
Why are you passionate about sharing financial education with others?
We live in a culture where everyone blames money for their problems. It’s always, “if I could just get a raise,” or, “if I just had more money, then, I’d be happy.” The fact is, money is just a tool—the ones who know how to use it will benefit from having it, and the ones who don’t will suffer. I want us all to benefit, but that starts with understanding how it works.
What are the biggest dangers that can come from not having enough financial education or awareness?
When you never learn about money, you’ll end up spending more time making your banker or your credit card company or your mortgage company richer, while you continue to get poorer. But once you know how money works, you can escape the rat race, achieve financial freedom, and get your time back.
Can you explain the reason behind the name for your popular YouTube channel, “Minority Mindset?” What does that mean?
The Minority Mindset is all about thinking differently than the majority of people when it comes to money. It has nothing to do with where you come from or what you believe in, and has everything to do with how you handle your money. This mindset shift allows you to take control of your finances, instead of your finances always controlling you.
(Courtesy of Minority Mindset)
Have you found that the social media format makes this information a lot more digestible for viewers than the more traditional formats? If so, why do you think that is?
Absolutely! Finance is usually boring and we’re used to learning about it in books or in a classroom. But here’s the thing: If it’s boring and you’re falling asleep half way through, you’re probably not learning much. So, I try to make things fun and since people already want to learn on YouTube, I find it’s also a great way to reach people.
Why is financial education especially important for the younger generations who are often on social media?
Millennials feel like they’ve been financially screwed. Being a millennial myself, I understand the anger and frustration that most of the generation is feeling towards money, because I felt it too. Gaining wealth only gets harder the longer you wait, so financial education empowers millennials to make changes in their lives, before it’s too late.
What is your best piece of financial advice for the millennial generation?
That millennials don’t have to get financially screwed! We live in a time where it’s more accessible than ever before to invest and learn about finance. That gives us a huge advantage when building wealth that previous generations didn’t have. But it’s all about realizing that and taking action.
What is the top lesson in financial education that most people are unaware of?
Saving money doesn’t make you rich. In fact, if you save too much, it can make you poor. Sure, saving money has its purpose and it’s an important part of your financial plan. But if you truly want to be wealthy, you need to invest your money, not save it.
Financial education can be an overwhelming field for newbies. Where do you suggest they start?
Everyone is going to be starting from a different level of understanding and experience, but a good place to start is learning the role that money plays in each of our lives. Once you know its purpose, then you can understand how to manage it through a budget, and then, how to grow it through investing.
What is one thing about personal finance that you wish everyone knew?
Wealth isn’t about owning fancy cars or going on lavish vacations. True wealth is about financial freedom—being able to do what we want whenever we want to. Because at the end of the day, the greatest asset that we have is time. Financial education buys you your time back and financial freedom allows you to spend your time how you want to.
