Welcome to another engaging episode of Money Talk with Tiff! Today, we're thrilled to have Dr. Hans Boateng join us to unravel the complexities of digital assets, NFTs, and the broader spectrum of investment diversification. If terms like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and blockchain sound like a foreign language to you, then you're in for a treat. Dr. Hans offers a deep dive into the potential of these digital assets in our investment portfolios and how they can significantly impact wealth-building strategies, especially within our community.

We'll explore the rollercoaster world of cryptocurrencies, the average returns versus the S&P 500, and discuss the inherent risks involved in chasing higher gains. Furthermore, Dr. Hans illuminates the concept of NFTs beyond just the quirky pictures of apes and penguins and shares his innovative approach to NFTs with The Royals project—a cultural milestone connecting the African diaspora through blockchain technologies.

Tune in as Dr. Hans demystifies investing in the digital age, the value proposition of NFTs, and how they authenticate ownership in ways far transcending the current hype.

Remember, this is not investment advice but an insightful conversation to empower your financial knowledge.

About Our Guest

Dr. Hans is the ideal person to teach you about investing. He was able to climb the ladder of financial success from the bottom 10% to the top 1%. He is an accomplished professional with a wealth of knowledge and experience in finance and investing. He holds an MBA with a Path of Distinction and a Doctorate degree. He grew up in Ghana, West Africa; when he arrived in the US, he recognized the lack of investment literacy in immigrant and minority households. This fueled his passion for teaching others how to build wealth. He spent 13 years mastering the subject of money and has worked with over 10,000 members. Dr. Hans has been featured on Bloomberg and Business Insider and is trusted by the communities he serves.

Connect with Dr. Hans

Royals Experience: https://www.ghanaroyalgala.com/

Instagram: @theinvestingtutor

Facebook: The Investing Tutor

Twitter: @investingtutor

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Timestamps

[00:00] Diversification essential for catching up in investments.

[05:45] Upside potential comes with downside risk awareness.

[07:55] NFTs: Unique digital tokens, not interchangeable items.

[10:32] Authenticating ownership via blockchain, accessible to all.

[14:22] Token holders had invitation to visit Ghana.

[18:00] Black identity, NFT potential, and African heritage.

[24:02] Ankara NFT offers big discounts on travel.

[25:56] Thankful for conversation about tech investments and connections.

Key Themes

• Digital assets in investment portfolios
• Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin returns
• Understanding and managing investment risks
• Introduction to NFTs and their function
• Authenticating ownership with blockchain technology
• The Royals NFTs and cultural representation
• Lifetime access through NFT membership benefits

Additional Links & Resources

• FinCon 2024: Atlanta, October 23-26, 2024
• OpenSea
• Making Sense Of Cryptocurrency, CBDCs, FedNow & More | Ep. 244
• What is Cryptocurrency?

Support this Podcast

Copyright 2024 Tiffany Grant

You know what it is. That's right. It's time to talk money with your money

nerd and financial coach. Now, tighten those purse strings

and open those ears. It's the money talk with Tiff

podcast. Hey,

everyone. I am so excited because I have Doctor Hans on the line

now. We met back in 2022 at Fincon, and

his expertise is in digital assets and

nfts. And so I wanted to bring him on, on the podcast to kind of

talk about that with us because I am no expert. I'm

just gonna be real. So, hey, Doctor Hans, how are you?

Oh, very, very well, Tiffany. So, so, so great

to. To be on here. Yes. Thank you so much for coming

finally. Yeah, it's been a long time in the making,

so let's just hop right in. My first question for

you is, what are your thoughts on the role

that digital assets and cryptocurrencies and nfts and

all these different things that we hear about plays in an investment

portfolio? Yeah. You know, when I

came into

understanding wealth building and investing, right, I

noticed that the general kind of

education or advice out there was, you know, get

a. Then just invest in the

S and P 500, right. And obviously, that is

a broad basket of the top 500

companies in the US at any given time. And historically,

this has been the main benchmark for

investment returns. Right. It's been averaging about 10%

year over year for the past 80 to 100 years. So

most individuals view investing as, this is how you diversify, get the S

and P 500. Right. What I noticed, though, was

that there were some individual companies

within the S and P 500 that had phenomenal

returns. And like Apple,

right. For the past 15 years,

Apple has been compounding at about

31%. Right? So that is three times the

returns of the S and P 500.

And with digital assets, bitcoin, it's been averaging

150% for the past 13 years.

Even last year, bitcoin was up 150%. Now, I'm not

saying it's 150% every single year.

That's the average. You could have some years where you

will have a drawdown or a pullback. So

when I saw this, I was like, okay, S and P 500 averages about

10% in some individual stocks, if they are

good companies and they have incredible growth, can average

anywhere between 20% to 30%. And you have digital

assets and crypto where you can get, like, upwards of 100%. So

for me, diversification is just making sure that I have

exposure to all of these different types of

vehicles, whereas most investment kind

of educators and advisors will say, oh, just buy an index fund. And the truth

is, that is the safe

and ideal way to go

if you just want to steadily build wealth. But

for people in our community, often we're catching up, right? We're

behind as it relates to the wealth gap. So I

view it as we cannot just go with the status quo. We need to give

ourselves an edge. Right? So then when an individual is able to

combine, you know, the S and P 500 with

individual stocks, and then you kind of sprinkle some cherry

on top. Right. That's your digital assets and crypto

that can exponentially make a huge

difference. And I'll just share this one example. Let's say

$500 invested over 20

years. If that $500 is compounding at

10%, you'd end up with about

$300,000 over a 20 year period.

If that $500

compounding at, let's say,

25%. Now, if you remember the examples I

gave you, I said s and p was 10%,

stocks, somewhere around 30%, 20 to

30, and bitcoin has been averaging 150. So when I

say when I use an average of 25%, even though it might seem

high to the average investor, when you combine these

three, it doesn't seem kind of impossible, like looking at

historic returns. So at a 25%

compounded return over 20 years, you're looking at $2

million. Right. So that's the edge that

I look at. And I say, you know, I cannot just settle for just a

10% average return. Yeah. And, you know, when you

put it like that, it makes complete sense. I do want to throw out there

really quick, a little disclaimer. This is not investment

advice. We are just providing information for educational and

entertaining purposes. So treat it as.

But you make a really valid argument

for why you would want some diversification as it comes

when it comes to individual stocks,

cryptocurrencies, things that are not just the

index funds. Yeah. Have that as your base, but then kind of

diversify, you know, outside of that. Now, what if people are

listening? They're like, okay, I hear you, Doctor Hans, but what about the risk?

Yeah, there is risk for anything that

has the potential for an upside return. It has

equally a similar potential for a downside

return. Right. So, in essence, if you have an

asset that can be up 150%,

if the economy is not great, if

liquidity in the financial system isn't there, meaning that

banks aren't really lending a ton of money,

the Federal Reserve isn't really pumping money

into their system, or let's say the Federal Reserve

is increasing interest rates, so it's tightening the economy.

In such an environment,

you could have these kind of risk assets that do really, really well,

like bitcoin. And certain stocks, like growth stocks,

fall, you know, 50, 70, 80%.

So an individual just has to understand that,

yes, the same assets that can build you exponential wealth

in economic environments that are not favorable, you could see

significant pullback. So just mentally

understanding that and educating yourself. Right, to

know what you're getting into and positioning yourself

for the long term, instead of trying to kind of day trade

or look for some kind of short term

money, right? And that's why I give the example of 20 years.

And that's why I was, when I spoke about bitcoin, I said for the

past 13 years, it's been averaging

150%. But each and every year,

it kind of depends on the economy, how it's doing,

liquidity and things of that nature. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Okay, so now I want to dive into Nfts a little bit,

because personally, I'm so confused on how all of this

works. So first of all, what are

they, how do they work? And how would one buy, what could

they possibly look like too? And then how does one go about

buying them? Yeah. You know,

when most people think about nfts or they hear

nfts, right? They just think about pictures of

apes, right? Because bored apes was the most popular

NFT, and at a certain point it was worth

over $400,000, even though originally they

were purchased for about $250.

So most individuals think about nfts as

images of some kind of animal, right? Apes,

monkeys, zebras, penguins.

And I saw that happening kind of in their space.

And I said to myself, people in my community

are not going to take their hard earned money to buy

pictures of animals, right? It didn't make sense to me.

So I wanted to create something

that would, um, speak

to individuals in our community. But before kind of

diving into how I personally used nfts, let

me take a step back and kind of share with you the definition of an

NFT. So the simplest way to think

about an NFT is, is that, well, NFT

stands for non fungible token, which means a unique token,

a special token, right? It's, it's pretty much one of

a kind, right? Non fungible means you can't

interchange it. So the

simplest way to think about an NFT is that it is

a token, right? We've already said it's special and unique. So it's a

token that shows

ownership of something or another way to say that is,

it's a token that authenticates

ownership. And the reason why this is so important is

because it takes away all of the hype

and it allows you to understand exactly what it does.

So, for example, in the future, let's say an individual

buys a ticket to a Beyonce concert, right?

Well, those tickets can be issued as nfts.

Why? Because individuals can be given or sent

special tokens to their phone, and because that token is unique

to them, right. If they show up to the concert

with that NFT, we know that, okay. Yes,

you're able to attend, right. It's a unique token, and

it authenticates that you are the owner of that ticket.

So in the real world right now, the way we

authenticate ownership is via paperwork.

If you go buy a car, you have to fill out documents

at a dealership. If you buy a house, you have to fill out

documents, a deed, all of these things. So,

pretty much paperwork kept at, you know, some kind of

company in a database authenticates ownership.

Nfts allow you to authenticate ownership

using the blockchain, because all of that data is

stored on the blockchain, which

is globally accessible to everyone. So another way

of saying that is that you can authenticate who owns

something, and that information is available for

everyone to see. And it's a powerful

concept, because all of a sudden, when

you own something, let's say you own a token that

represents a picture, right?

Now, that token can also represent a house, it can represent

a car that you just purchased. It's just that that is so far in the

future, it's not happening right now. But it's a much better way

to authenticate ownership. When you own that thing, it

means that you have the power to be able to sell

it because you own the token, right? So then

I want individuals to think about NFTs as a way

to authenticate ownership. In terms of how to buy

nfTs, an individual will need to educate themselves pretty

much about how things work in their crypto ecosystem. They'll need to know

about metamask, which is a wallet. They'll need to know about Opensea.

I kind of teach about all of these things.

But going back to that example

of images of monkeys selling for hundreds of

thousands of dollars, you might ask, why is

it that it was worth hundreds of thousands? And the simple answer is,

because other people were willing to buy it from

you for that price. It became kind of like the cool thing.

It's almost like it was a status symbol. And if you ask me

why, I have no idea. It was one of

the first NFts that were created. So it's like if you have it,

it proves that you are an OG. Like you were in

this ecosystem very early and

for some reason people were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for

it. So I was looking at all of this going on and I said

to myself, no, no, no. There has to be a better use of this

technology. And that's where the idea of the royals came to me.

And it was, I want to

create an NFT that

represented african culture. As you can

imagine, there wasn't any representation of

us in this kind of a crypto

ecosystem. A lot of the things out there didn't represent kind

of minorities or

Africans or different cultures. So I just

wanted to make sure that similar to how the

Internet took off back in the day, and you didn't really

have a lot of individuals in our communities

participating in building the Internet. When Google and Facebook

and all of these companies, Amazon's, were being created, PayPal's, you

didn't see us represented. So I just wanted to make sure that

we were represented or we are

represented. And that's what led me to create the royals. So the royals is

the first NFT to showcase

Africa's royal culture. And every single

token holder, right, had an

invitation. When we launched that year,

2022, they had an invitation to

actually visit Ghana and their

token allowed them to have a one week experience in

Ghana leading up to what we call the royal

gala. So, yeah, we had almost 300

to 400 royals join us for our royal

gala in 2022. We had an absolute

blast this year. We're going to be going back in

March. And the individuals who had

the NFTs, depending on the type of NFTs that they

had, you either get a discount on this year's

trip or you can actually attend the royal gala for

free this year. So we're looking forward to continue

to use this NFT as a way for individuals

to experience the african continent

and hopefully in the future, even beyond Africa.

Yes, yes. And y'all, he is not telling a lie.

I saw all the stories and the videos and

the pictures. I had some serious FOMo because I knew a few people

that went as well and they said they had a blast. So I'm looking forward

to the next one so I can participate. But I

love how you took the NFT concept and

moved it to more of experiences versus just a

picture of a monkey or, you know, I see the penguins all the time, or

pictures of penguins. It's more of something that

people will have a lifetime memory of doing this

thing. And it was well worth it. You know what I'm saying? Yes,

yes. I like to say we, we

created a royal family on the blockchain, right?

One that it brings us together and we have experiences.

And I wanted to also create something that when some, like before

a person purchases it, they can kind of almost determine the

value. Right. Because we had two

nfts, the Ankara NFT,

which there were about 2800 of them, was about

$200. So imagine you pay dollar 200 and you

get to experience like a full week

in Africa. Mind blowing,

right? Absolutely. And we had the kinte

NFT, which, you know, kinte fabric is

like the official royal fabric in Ghana. Like,

you only wear kinte when you're going to, like a wedding or like a

very prominent event. Right? So the kinte NFT,

that was a $2,000 price point. But

the kind of benefits or perks that come with that kinti

NFT is an individual who has the kinty. And we

only created 200 kinte nfTs.

With the kinti NFT, you can visit any

of our future royal galas completely for free.

So it's just before an

individual purchased that NFT like this, we wanted to create

something that allows individuals to be able to kind of

know the value and also have

a digital asset that represents them, especially

for us. Right. We

need, we wanted to focus on retelling our story,

right. As, you know, an immigrant, and I know

there are other cultures, but for blacks, Africans,

African Americans, it's like other people are telling our story, but

we know our story. We are from

a royal background. We are royalty. And I just wanted to put

that as the forward facing message

in this ecosystem. So I continue to believe that

in the future, right, over the next two to

three years, I'm confident Apple or

Google will make access to NFTs

in their smartphone devices and it will make it even simpler to

buy and sell. And once that

happens, I believe individuals will look back at,

oh, what was the OG

project, right, that represented

african culture? And I honestly believe royals would be one that they look

back at and say, wow, it's this. I

could absolutely see that myself as well.

And one thing I just wanted to, you hear me stumbling over my words because

I'm over here, I want to get to this question, which is, you mean

to tell me $2,000.01 time, or is this like

a recurring or one. Time the kinty

nfts one time, $2,000 purchase? Yeah.

Wow. And then you have access to all of the royals trips

going forward. So what it sounds like to me and how I'm kind

of formulating

this in my mind to kind of make it to something that I do know.

Right. Yeah. It's like a membership. Kind of. Exactly.

So, like you can get in at this price. It may go up later

on, but you're still grandfathered in and it's

only a one time charge. And then, you know, later on

maybe the price increases, whatever, but you are still

in because you bought that membership at that time.

100%. But it even gets better. To

remain a member, you need to have and own the token.

Right. So let's say you had plans to sell one. Let's say you had

plans to remain as a member, but

you purchased two or three nfts. And it could

either be Ankara or Kinte. It doesn't really matter. Right.

Because you are saying to yourself, I feel like others might want

to be members in the future. Right. So then let's say you bought three

nfts in the future.

You are the only individual that can determine what

price you are willing to take for those tokens or those

membership spots. Does that make sense? Yes. Yes.

So kind of like,

for instance, like in the stock market, there's only a certain amount of

stocks out there. The reason you can buy them is because people are selling them.

And so with this, you're like, okay, our limit is

200. Whoever gets it, gets it. And then later

on they'll just have to purchase from the people that already bought it.

Exactly. Exactly. Got it. Oh,

interesting. Okay. Well, I hope there's some of the some

left because, you know,

also what I'm equating it to and not saying that this is what's gonna happen,

but you know how people buy up tickets and then they start scalping them, you

know, outside because they can sell it for more.

Exactly. And I would honestly compare NFTs to

tickets, honestly versus

stocks. And the reason is because

when you are buying, let's say, a ticket, you know that you're going for an

experience. But imagine you buy a ticket that gives

you lifetime access to that type of

event. So the question is, if you had the opportunity to buy, would

you buy just one or would you buy several because

you know that others might want it from you. Does that make

sense? So, yeah, it

provides that opportunity.

But you also want to own an

NFT where you believe that the individuals that

issued it are going to stay true to their word. Right.

Because if they, you know, if it just,

they don't host any other events, it just disappears. Which

unfortunately happened to about 95%

of NFT projects. Then you are left

holding something that's worthless because no one else would be interested

in it. That is a good point. And that was something I

had thought about too with these pictures and stuff.

And even in this case, what

is stopping someone from saying, well, you know what, I'm going to just take them

all down or people, it won't be

worth anything anymore. I'm glad you bought that point

up. But I hear in this particular

situation that as long as you make it to one,

you at least get your money's worth. Exactly

right. 100%. As long

as you make it to one, you get your money's worth. Absolutely,

absolutely. I envision royals

honestly as cause it's a total of

3000 NFTs. 2800 Ankara 200

Akinti I just envision it as just kind of this group of

individuals who are,

they appreciate, you know, african culture.

They want the world to know that Africa or

african culture represents royalty and they also love to travel, have

experiences, right. And the

goal honestly is to continue to offer these

experiences and with the Ankara NFTs

provide incredible discounts. Like so for example, this year an

Ankara NFT would get you anywhere between five

hundred dollars to one thousand dollars off of our

packages. And the packages include like you

wanted hotel stays and things of that nature.

So if you can imagine, you bought the NFT for $200 you're getting

$500 to $1,000 off of a travel

package. That's amazing. The kinty NFT, once you have it, you

can attend the royal gala and any royal gala that we have in the future

without having to pay anything for the gala. But once again, if you

wanted like hotel stays and things of that nature,

kinte members get even a higher discounted

rate off of those reservations.

Gotcha, gotcha. Well, this was enlightening for me and I'm glad

that you put it in terms where I could understand and

therefore my audience can as well. And so I have a better understanding. I can

leave this conversation and say, I know what nfts are now

and. You'D be one of the very few,

right? Less than 1% of

individuals truly understand it. They view it as some kind of fad or

like you know it. But at the end of the day, an NFT is

just a token that authenticates or confirms that you own

something. That's it. Gotcha, gotcha.

So thank you so much for sharing all this information.

And you know, we say a low percentage now,

until they listen to this episode, I

understand it. So make sure you all are sharing this. But thank you

so much, Doctor Hans, for coming on the show today and teaching us

about nfts and the importance of diversification. Now, if

people were interested in learning more about you or the royals

experience NFT, how could they find you?

Yes, thank you so much for having me. I feel like more

of this conversation will be so, so helpful because often with our community,

we miss out on, you know, developing

or up and coming tech

opportunities investments. And when I say investments, I'm not

even specifically referring to the royals. I could be referring to, like, bitcoin and

other digital assets. So I think this dialogue is so, so, so

important for those listening that want to connect with me.

You can find me on Instagram,

heinvesting tutor, and also on

Twitter or x if

you're on threads. I'm at the investing tutor there as well, and my

website is theinvestingtutor.com

dot. I'm sure the links and the information will be placed

in the show notes, but yeah, it was just such an incredible

conversation. Thank you. Yes, yes. Thank you for that. And I

will definitely have this in the show notes. And y'all, I'm over here scrolling

through the different Kente nfts available and they

all are like different colors. And I'm like, oh, she looked cute. I want

her, you know, that type of thing. So we, we

put a lot of thought in that, right? We're like, what, what do our

people care about? We're like, we want to look good, you

know? So we had different outfits and different

expressions. It is something that I just

believe is going to represent us so, so, so well

in, in this digital ecosystem. And

yeah, thank you so much for having us discuss it.

Yes, I love it. I love it. Well, I hope you have a wonderful rest

of your day. You as well. Bye. Thank

you for listening, joining and being a part of the money talk with TIFF podcast

this week. You can check Tiff out every Thursday for a new Money

talk podcast. But if you just can't wait until next week, you can

listen to previous podcast

episodes@moneytalkwitht.com or

follow TIFf on all social media platforms at Moneytalk

with T. Until next time, spend wise by

spending less than you make a word to the money wise is always

sufficient.