Here at FIYUMONEY.COM, we like to examine the financial affairs of famous individuals in pop culture and history. We see what personal financial lessons we can gather from them and communicate it back to readers. The aim is not to use celebrities and famous people as a standard to aspire to. Instead, we examine famous individuals due to their recognizability to a wide audience of people. A reader may not be familiar with a local business owner in a town somewhere in middle America, but they may be more familiar with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. With that said, we don’t only take lessons from famous people, but when we do, it is due to their wide range of popularity. Today we will look at some opportunities money can provide and use rapper J. Cole as a case study. 

J. COLE BACKGROUND

J. Cole, whose birth name is Jermaine Lamarr Cole, was born January 28, 1985, on a military base in Germany and grew up in North Carolina. After high school he moved to New York City to attend college and pursue a career as a rapper. The move paid off tremendously because not only did he graduate from St. John’s University, but he also made the connection he needed to start his music career. To date, J. Cole has six studio albums and four mixtapes, has sold millions of records, and boasts a personal net worth of around $100 million U.S. dollars. 

J. Cole is receiving a lot of media attention for his newly released album, The Off-Season, released May 14, 2021, to great reviews. He is also receiving a lot of media attention for the professional basketball contract he signed with the Patriots–a professional basketball club in the African Basketball League. This could be a media stunt by J. Cole or a longtime dream to play professional basketball. His decision was met with controversy, with some criticizing that he is taking a spot from someone more deserving. While others champion the decision, saying that it will bring more attention to the African Basketball League. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on where you stand on J. Cole’s basketball career, he left the team on May 26, 2021, citing “family obligations.” He fulfilled his minimum three-game contract with the Rwanda Patriots with 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

What we see from the release of J. Cole’s new album and his short professional basketball career is that money provides him with the time to pursue these ventures, the peace of mind of not worrying about losing potential income to pursue a dream, and the freedom to do whatever he wants.

MONEY BUYS TIME

A great way to look at the capabilities of money is to think of not only the tangible things it can acquire, but also the intangible. An intangible asset that doesn’t get the attention of, say, a luxury car or a mansion is the time a person gains. This surplus of leisure time can be used to pursue multiple endeavors or nothing at all. The more money a person has, the less labor/time or effort they must put in to acquire more money. In other words, your money is working for you, which provides more leisure time to pursue interests.

In the case of J. Cole, his wealth provides him more leisure time, which provides the opportunity to pursue professional basketball temporarily. J. Cole’s wealth provides him the time to train and get in shape, which puts him in a better position to try out for a team. There are many amateur individuals that are capable of playing at a professional level but do not have the time to commit to training and trying out for professional teams. This is not to say that a person working 50 hours per week with a family lacks the aptitude to organize their time to pursue professional athleticism, but it is much harder. 

If we put aside determination and willpower–which are important factors in accomplishing any goal–we must consider what we are risking when pursuing any goal. Cole pursuing a temporary basketball career is less risky than it is for a person that is not wealthy. A person who is not wealthy is risking the relationship with his/her family and the quality of his/her performance at their 9-5. A person may not be happy with their spouse risking their livelihood to pursue a basketball career even if the payoff is lucrative. A person may lose their job because they are performing poorly at work due to the time they are committing to training. To some people, these risks are not worth jeopardizing their current lifestyle and the relationship with their spouse.

Money provides the power of delegation, which is especially important when pursuing multiple large goals simultaneously. Businessman, rapper, and producer Sean Combs, also known as Diddy, once said, “I pay everybody so I can do less work.” He also said, “You make enough money to pay everybody, so you don’t do s**t but be as happy as you can be!” Another way to look at it is that money provides you the opportunity to become the president of your life. As the president, there is a list of duties you have and goals you may want to achieve during your presidency/lifetime. It would be impossible for the president of the United States to fulfill his/her duties if he/she didn’t have a cabinet to delegate roles and responsibilities to. At the end of the day, the president gets the credit for a great or poor job done. Money provides the time and opportunity to delegate roles and responsibilities to others to help us pursue our goals.

MONEY BUYS PEACE OF MIND

Peace of mind is a tricky thing. A person can be very wealthy and live in constant fear of one day losing all their wealth. While another person may have meager means and have the peace of mind that their basic necessity will be met. If a person has a healthy relationship with money, it can provide peace of mind that can help a person make better decisions.

Making important decisions in a state of crisis can lead to adverse outcomes. A person that is living paycheck to paycheck with a family to take care of is less likely to make risky decisions even if the payoff is favorable. Taking risks is a necessary part of life, and we can sometimes lose out on great opportunities by avoiding risk. Financial hardship can put immense pressure on a person, leaving them to seek short-term solutions for long-term problems.

 In the case of J. Cole, financial hardship is not pressuring him to make fast, hasty decisions. Other factors, such as his temperament, may contribute to him making hasty decisions, but not financial hardship. He can rest assured that while he pursues basketball professionally–even just temporarily–it will not have any obvious adverse financial impact on his family.

Most of us do not have millions of dollars to provide peace of mind to pursue lofty dreams and ambitions without any financial consequence. What can we do if we don’t have millions to buy peace of mind? One suggestion is to determine your monthly expense. This may be different for different people. After determining your monthly expense, cut all excess and wasteful spending. Knowing this will help a person determine how much risk they can take without jeopardizing their lifestyle.

MONEY BUYS FREEDOM

Money affords people the ability to do what they want to do. In the case of J. Cole, that is pursuing a professional basketball career while releasing a studio album. It also afforded him the opportunity to leave when pressing matters came up. Whatever those “family obligations” are, not many people believe they have the luxury to quit a job without major financial consequences.

There is a limitation to the amount of freedom a person can buy with money. The limitation is based on a person’s self-confidence and what they believe they can and can’t do. Many people are free to do what they want to do–with consequences, of course–but they don’t believe so. Money empowers people to do things that they would not usually do without it, even if there is nothing standing in their way.

It’s important to know that J. Cole has a background in basketball. He played competitively in high school and college, which provides an added advantage. A person who is not wealthy can get comfort from knowing that money is not the only thing that can buy freedom. Self-confidence, being knowledgeable of personal finance, being aware of current events, personal accountability, a firm understanding that actions have consequences, and the courage to make hard decisions and live with the repercussions of those decisions are other factors that can buy freedom.

FINAL THOUGHT

We can learn a lot from how celebrities manage their financial affairs. We can learn what to do and not do when it comes to our money by observing the behavior of famous people. Most of us do not live the grand lifestyle of a celebrity or a famous person, so we have to scale down the lessons we learn from them to apply them to our lives. We learned from J. Cole’s recent actions that money can provide us the opportunity to pursue multiple interests at the highest levels. We also learned that money provides the power of delegation, which can help us achieve multiple goals simultaneously. We also learned that peace of mind and not being in a state of crisis can help us make better decisions. Last but not least, we learned that money can also buy freedom, but most importantly, we learned that money is not the only thing that can provide us with freedom. Self-confidence, courage, and being knowledgeable are powerful tools in accomplishing freedom.