Leaving Wealth & Power Behind: The Inspiring Story of John Singson | Digital Social Hour #22

All right, welcome to the Digital Social Hour.

I'm your host, Sean Kelly, and I'm here with my guest today, John Singson.

How are we doing?

Hey, man, doing good.

Nice to meet you.

Pleasure to be here.

It's good to have you again, man.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, last time we didn't get to dive into your story, could you give everyone a quick intro on who you are i'm john singson for you guys that uh don't know me i came from a very political family in the philippines but i didn't want to shadow on that success so i came here in 2008 and um

start it started here in the united states and you know um start making my money here and my own footprint here nice yep so your grandfather was nicknamed the kingmaker the the gangster governor how long was he running the philippines he did a lot of um um terms.

I think I don't remember the exact numbers, but he's been a governor there for a long time.

And his brother's serving now.

But we have 20-plus family members that are in the government currently sitting right now.

Wow.

Yep.

They call it a dynasty, but I wouldn't say that.

It's just like whoever's performing well and that's good for the government.

It doesn't matter if it's dynasty or not, you know?

It could be an undynasty and

like a fucked up government.

Right.

And you mentioned it's super dangerous there.

One of the things you started building out is bomb-proof vehicles, right?

Yes, yes, yes.

So it could literally take a bomb straight to the vehicle and it wouldn't.

It could straight to the vehicle.

It won't explode.

It wouldn't even move.

Wow.

It won't even move?

It wouldn't even move.

So you could shoot an RPG at the vehicle, right?

Yeah, we could try it.

Let's try it when I go over there.

It's tried and tested.

Yeah.

That's insane.

Maybe it moves an inch or two.

That's still crazy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I've heard of bulletproof, but bomb-proof is like another level.

Yeah, it's a bomb-proof vehicle.

Another thing your grandfather does is hunt.

Yes.

So he would go to Africa.

He would hunt animals.

He would get permission, of course.

Yes, of course.

And I guess regions were facing overpopulation issues, right?

Yes, yes.

So he would go there.

What animals have you seen him hunt?

Oh, I've seen him hunt the top five.

Rhino,

lion, tiger, elephant, and hippopotamus, I think.

Whoa.

Yep.

And

How do you take down these massive animals?

He's weighed thousands of pounds.

I think he uses a couple of shotguns and different types of balls.

So he gets close.

Yeah, he gets pretty close.

Yeah.

He actually waited five years to be on the list to be able to hunt in that type of dimension.

Did he have any close calls where he almost got screwed?

No.

No.

Okay.

No.

And then you take the dead animals and you put them in a museum in the Philippines, right?

Right.

We have our own museum right behind our backyard where he lives and all the stuffed animals are there.

Wow.

The ones he killed.

Have you gone hunting with them?

No.

Sounds pretty dangerous, man.

It is.

He goes there alone?

Like no backup?

No, there's

tourists, of course.

I mean, like hunters that tours you in there.

And it's like a, it's a, it's actually like a program they have in Africa, but only

the people that's like exempted.

I don't know how they manage that, but it's picked, you know.

Not everyone gets to go i think even angelina jolie and brad pitt waited longer than my grand grandpa did wow yeah so they went and did the hunting as well they did the hunting as well yep i don't know about angelina but i think uh brad pitt and his crew did right and you also have some interesting pets that i want to get into oh yeah so you own a liger right liger yeah it's a mix of a lion and a tiger how did you get one of those um that was also from africa okay yep yep yep so how did you how did you fly the animal back to the philippines We actually chartered a plane.

I mean, we have our own planes, but we had to rent like bigger planes to get them in there.

Wow.

Yep.

And your grandfather owns six private jets, right?

Yeah, six private jets.

That's insane.

So you guys got a lot of wealth over there.

Yeah, I mean

it's it's it's up there.

But you left that life.

I'm curious why you left your family and all that wealth to move to the States.

Well, for me, it's like building my own legacy, right?

I didn't want to shadow on their success.

And like I mentioned before, it's when everything collapses, only you can help yourself.

I mean, the more spoiled we get, the dangerous it is for us.

So I kind of like, you know, managed my own thing here in the United States and go from there.

So you said it was dangerous.

Were you facing a lot of sketchy situations when you were living over there?

Of course, yeah.

Because being in the political world, political family,

I wouldn't say we were targets, but you know, when your rivals are also in the politics, it could be dangerous.

But I'm lucky not so far, so good.

Wow.

So, people are making threats at you, basically.

Oh, yeah.

Yep.

There was one time that

they were threatening me.

I don't know how they got my phone number, but they were telling me, like, hey, we're just around the corner.

If I were you, don't go out.

I'll be like, okay, let's see.

Where are you at?

They never showed up.

I mean, a criminal would never do that, right?

They They wouldn't give you a heads up.

Yeah, they wouldn't give you a heads up.

Yeah.

So, you know, for me, I'll give, I'm going to give them a heads up, too, that I'm coming.

So your grandfather had 20-plus girlfriends, over 40 kids.

Yeah.

What did you learn growing up around that environment?

I learned growing up about that environment, I would say, is

if you can provide, why not?

But at the same time, I mean, it's up to the girl too, right?

If they're giving permission, I mean, there's nothing wrong with it.

I mean,

I feel like having open relationships is going to be the new thing in 50 years.

Not for me because I'm parent, but, you know, it's going to be like a good ratio for people doing that.

So you're an advocate for open relationships.

You think they could work?

I think they could work for some certain people because it's already going on right now with certain religions,

right?

Which religions?

I think Buddhism, you know, and

some uh i didn't know they allowed the interest muslims because christians believe in monogamy right yeah they do they do so

um it's certain certain areas yeah i don't know which ones but i had a couple of friends that uh perform it like that and they uh they're healthy they're they're they're in a healthy relationship and um

i don't see myself doing it but you know if uh

If it ever comes down to it, I could see like,

I feel like it would be more problematic for me, you know, know i just see so much drama yeah so much drama negative energy yeah and like you know things can go wrong and

imagine your girlfriend being banged by another woman i mean by sorry sorry by another man i mean if it was a woman it'd be okay

possible yeah i don't know it depends on the woman depends on the woman

if it was a man definitely not though yeah yeah yeah yeah definitely not yeah definitely not um but yeah you mentioned like they'd be at the same dinner table with with each other yeah so they all knew about each other yeah sometimes I would just come over and they would just eat all together wow you know getting along and they're all provided for they're they're they all have each uh their own houses all his kids go to like very nice private schools and like I said if you can provide it's

you know you're not leaving the child in the street but it's better right yeah so that makes sense yeah you also own 27 giraffes Yeah, 27 giraffes.

They also came from Africa.

Actually, it was like a five-year wait.

Our family, well, my grandpa ordered them, but we had to wait a long period of time for them to get shipped because they were being hunted.

And also the permits and stuff and the licensing, it's not a joke.

So this is all legal.

Yeah, yeah.

It's all legal.

I'm curious, how do you feed a giraffe?

You feed them with trees.

So you have to actually

buy trees and then plant them.

Exactly.

So in our backyard, people, the tourists, the people that we have there, our guests we welcome,

they can feed them wow it's kind of like an africa style sometimes we have like a breakfast um area in our hotel and the giraffe would just put his head in the window and then you could just feed it while you're eating breakfast too that's crazy yeah it's pretty nice yeah i've also seen you pet a lion so you have pet lions as well yeah and you don't get nervous when you go to pet it not really no wow nope Because I just feel like they could snap at any moment, you know?

Yeah, I'm more scared of a Black Panther too.

Black Panther.

Because it could be like it's really unpredictable.

I've never seen one of those.

Yeah.

It's a rare breed.

Interesting.

Yep.

What's your next animal that you want?

For me,

I don't know.

I haven't thought of that yet.

I don't know.

We have almost everything in our zoo.

That's crazy.

So you also helped bring Miss Universe to the Philippines, right?

How did that happen?

Yeah.

So in 2016,

we negotiated it with certain countries, and my grandfather put like a million dollars down, non-refundable, and they could still back out, you know, but after that, it went through.

It almost didn't go through because I don't know what was going on then, but

what year was this?

2016.

Okay.

So he was called, he had a sash, you know, saying Mr.

Universe.

It was cool.

Yep, yep, yep.

It was one of the biggest events in our family, in our life, because we're big advocates of tourism.

We believe that if we did that, which we did,

it would bring back a lot of money.

And the more money we have, the more capacity of help we could do to the community.

Right.

Yep.

Would you say it's safe living in the Philippines outside of the political scene, just in general?

As long as you have a bomb-proof vehicle, you know.

I don't think anyone could get that.

No, no.

It's safe.

It's It's pretty safe.

I mean, with the president now and the recent president,

they run the country pretty well.

And certain areas, it's just like here.

Yeah.

You know, it could be anywhere.

It could be in Beverly Hills and blow your house up, right?

Right.

But Philippines is a third world country, but it is the happiest country from what I know and what I feel and what I see.

I think I'm going to retire there.

Nice.

Yep.

Yeah, it's interesting.

Certain parts of the world have a lot of happiness, even though they don't have wealth.

Exactly.

Like my story, you know, my dad's side, I'll be up front, they're very, very wealthy.

They have all this crazy background and unlimited wealth.

But then my mom's side, she grew up kind of poor, like just an okay, you know, and sometimes.

I'd feel happy just hanging out with my mom versus my dad, my grandfather.

Sometimes the president might just be coming over and I have to, you know, act a certain way, get dressed and be stiff yeah but with my mom as long as we eat three three times a day you know we're good you valued family yeah so um i see that uh as a blessing you know both sides and um being in the middle gave me that equilibrium but yeah so how do you want to raise your kids do you want to be the strict parent or do you want to be like your mom more lenient um i want to be like the strict parent to a certain extent but also give them the opportunity to you know discover themselves because a lot of us don't even know our capacity and who we are right that's why we limit ourselves on the daily yeah so I want them to just be who they are and discover themselves later on yeah sometimes I don't even know myself you know I'm still trying to figure figure out what my capacity level is I keep pushing every day right and sometimes you feel like This is your level and you can only be at this level.

But the more stress and the more business that come come your way the following days it makes you stronger and you didn't think you could survive right you know that's why problems are good i agree i like putting myself in uncomfortable unfamiliar territory exactly the more comfortable most people run away from it exactly exactly i think comfort leads to depression yeah for sure it does it does that's why i try to do like uh

try to be uh manageable in different ways yeah yep i want to talk about how your grandfather built up up Manny Pacquiao's legacy.

Mm-hmm.

Can you walk me through that story?

Oh, yeah.

So when Manny was young, of course, he didn't have money.

He was poor.

He was in the streets selling what he could sell, like fish,

like different, I think, newspapers or

cigarettes, whatever he could sell for like a peso, two pesos, three pesos.

And that's like maybe half of a cent here in America.

Wow.

And sometimes he would just have water to sleep because there's not enough money for food.

So I salute Manny Pacquiao very much because he's one hell of a fighter in and outside the ring.

And he had, he weighed so light, I think 98 pounds or something.

And there was a tournament that was, I think you have to be 105 or 102 or something like that.

So he had to put little metal pieces in his shoe to qualify.

Wow.

Yeah, that's how hungry he was for boxing.

And that's all he knew how to do.

And, you know, growing up, my grandfather would help him connect to the higher-ups and

sponsor him in many fights.

Wow.

And from there, we just stayed connected with him.

And now

they work in the government before because Manny's the senator.

Yeah.

And my grandfather was the governor.

Wow.

And

yeah, that's good.

How did he find him?

Just on the streets, right?

Yeah, just like maybe Manny's team looking for, you know, sponsors and money and just being connected to the right people.

And they just bonded.

And from there, they just clicked.

Wow.

Yep.

He went on to become one of their greatest boxers.

Greatest boxers.

That's why I'm at the MGM a lot.

MGM Mansion is where we stay.

And

yeah, it's a nice place.

What about Ryan Garcia?

How did you get close with him?

Ryan Garcia, his team reached out to me because I'm very good friends with Mike Tyson.

I invested in Tyson Ratch,

which happened to be like a

little bit of challenge.

But we started the weed company, right?

Yeah, but we earned the relationship.

And from there, they reached out to me because they knew I knew a little bit of celebrities.

So

when they were setting up the podcast, I was just kind of bringing guests in there.

And from there, we just

clicked.

Nice.

Yep.

Tyson and I have been friends for maybe, I think, 2017.

How did you become friends with Mike Tyson?

Investing in Tyson Ranch.

Okay.

Yep.

So how did that investment come on your desk?

It was brought to them by their team.

I got got an email from a sphere of influence and I met them that day.

A week later, I studied the numbers and

the numbers didn't make sense because me doing real estate, I'm used to fast money.

But I invested because of the relationship.

It's worldwide.

So

that's how that happened.

Yeah, deals like that, you'll make way more just having the relationship

than off the actual deal.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A lot of people would pay millions just to know, like, let's say the Prince of Saudi Arabia and not expect anything back.

Yeah.

But, you know, what that'll give you in return is way more than your money.

Yeah.

So a lot of your friends own private jets, but why did you decide to own a private submarine instead?

The submarine, man.

That's a, I don't even know.

Like, you know, we're, we're just like, we just buy things and every time we

get some type of money, it's just, you know, our hobby.

Yeah.

Have you been in it?

Yeah, I've been in it.

Underwater in it?

No, not underwater.

You don't trust it?

No, I don't trust it.

It's like a cubicle.

I can't breathe.

It's not too big, but a submarine is one hell of a different vehicle that can,

it was pretty cool.

But I've never been it.

Yeah.

Underwater.

I would get anxiety, I think.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

It's kind of like flying, but worse, because I'd rather...

Because if you die while you're flying, it's going to be instant.

Right, right.

But if you die under there, you're going to drown to death.

That's what my wife always say.

You know, if the plane's going to crash, and this is a weird prayer to Jesus, but she always pray, crash it in the mountains, not underwater.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, so that's probably one of the worst ways to go out to drown.

Imagine that, because it takes you at least, what, 10, 15 minutes of pain.

Yeah.

Right.

Rather than just blow up and done.

I mean, it's crazy.

I mean, wow.

I wonder.

I want to touch up on the real estate stuff because that's how you make a majority of your income, right?

Right, right, right.

So how did you first get started in it?

First, I got started in it by,

well, growing up, I see my dad's side, you know, building a lot of developments in the Philippines.

And it motivated me to like, oh, wow, you know, real estate is really the key because that's how they got rich, you know, our family.

And from there, I got my license in California.

And every time I would buy real estate, I would just flip it in the market and keep it on going, keep it on going.

And then I would just diversify it and invest it in different other things

and businesses.

So, yeah, I started with flipping houses.

So, like quick flips under a year?

Yeah, quick flips under a year, like I mentioned before on our podcast.

And were you buying the house in full or were you putting 20% down?

Some of it depends on the price range.

20% down, mostly in the beginning, but later when I had money, it would be cash.

Wow.

Because you'd get a bigger discount.

Yeah, of course.

I mean, you're paying 10 points a year, two points up front when when you get the loan.

Right there, you're 12 points down the drain.

And if your margin is only 30%,

you're already giving away half.

Wow.

So, you know, cash is really king.

But, you know, that sounds common, but

nothing beats cash.

But cash in the bank is trash.

Right.

It depreciates.

Yeah, it depreciates.

Yeah.

And now there's some banks going bankrupt, too.

Oh, yeah, exactly.

Because cash is trash.

Yeah.

So what's your strategy with this upcoming recession?

Do you see it hitting the real estate market hard?

I think so.

It's going to hit it hard.

I mean, we have brokers meeting almost every other day.

And

my strategy is to keep my reserves, keep my reserves.

Because, I mean, what are the odds for the past 60 years?

I mean, 40 years maybe?

With the studies we did, recessions only last two years.

You know, if you already know your certain bills every month for your mortgage and for all your expenditures, right?

And you already made the money prior to that,

life will come easier, you know, because it won't catch you.

You already have money for the future.

So

that's my strategy.

Kind of like

be conservative on the investment side.

But again, if I see a good deal,

the rates for me doesn't really matter, you know, because you could buy a property in the shitty market, but as long as the price is right, you know, you're good.

Are you scared of the US dollar collapsing?

No,

because it'll teach me where to put my money.

You know, it's just like saying, are you scared of the weather or like the rain?

When it rains, I'm going to get my umbrella.

Yeah.

You know, so that's how it goes.

So you're not worried that China dropped it, a few other countries dropped it?

The more they drop it quicker and sooner, the more we could strategize.

So if we have to buy gold, we buy gold.

We have to buy Bitcoin, we buy Bitcoin.

Yeah.

You know?

What are some good investment opportunities you see over the next few years other than real estate?

AI.

AI.

AI.

I think that's going to be number one.

It's going to damage us a lot in a certain way, but I think that will be for the next 20, 30 years.

What are you doing with AI currently?

Nothing.

It's just like the things that I see right now that gives convenience to a lot of people.

The more convenience you sell, the more money you make.

And I see it help a lot of people and it created a lot of

diversity too with other investors that want to invest in that space.

And

I think robots will beat humans.

It already is.

In what sense?

As far as being tired.

Can you work 24 hours a day?

No.

That's what I mean.

Facts.

Yep.

Are you scared of AI entering the real estate space and taking over?

Again, if it takes over, I'm going to diversify into different things that I think I can make money on.

Real estate's not the only thing out there, right?

So I've seen people like you, right?

You made a lot of money on the mass.

And you never thought when you were, what, 15 years old, you never thought you would do that.

Right.

So it's just the adjustment when the storm comes.

And

adjustment is very, very important to my life.

And I could adjust pretty well.

That's why I try to make all the money now.

So later on, whatever happens, I have that backup to, you know, diversify and attack it in a different strategy.

Right.

So

we'll see.

It's just like, you know, for example, I'm a boxer fighting a UFC fighter.

I'm not going to do that.

I mean, but if I train UFC, I can beat them.

It's just adjusting.

Right.

Yep.

I noticed you said a lot of your family went to private school.

Yeah.

Do you plan on sending your kids to public or private school?

They're already in private school.

Okay.

and why did you decide that?

Because I feel like

that's a good question.

That's a very, very good question.

I feel like it.

I want to have them surrounded in,

how do I say this?

Better community,

I guess.

Because, you know, people in private schools, obviously, their parents have better jobs, better careers.

And if my kids are around that atmosphere, it'll help about 20, 30%.

I mean, it's still who they become when they are adults,

but at this young age, it's very important for them to be at a certain habitat.

Right.

And how did you vet the school you sent them to?

How did I what?

How did you research the school you sent them to?

Oh, we did a lot of research with different private schools just online.

Okay.

And picked the ones that are top rated.

Got it.

You know, and we'll see how it goes.

You know,

sometimes I, the only thing I don't like about school systems are, you know,

they tell your kids when you can't take vacations or, you know, when you can.

So, I was considering doing a

private school all the way, but they've been to private tutors too.

But we're still weighing our options.

Got it.

Yep.

Yeah, public school, I mean, I didn't learn much.

I went to public school and then I went to university, which is a whole nother debate that's really expensive.

And I'm not a fan of it, to be honest.

Why not?

It's

you learn at the the same pace as everyone around you, right?

But some kids learn quicker.

Some kids learn slower.

Some kids have different learning styles entirely.

Like I'm a very hands-on learner.

So I learn better with like a mentorship or actionable stuff.

I don't like learning from textbooks.

Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

And I like learning from videos.

So I just didn't learn much in school.

And also the topics they teach are not relevant to business.

Yeah, yeah, they're not because they try to keep you in that gray line.

Yeah.

You know, that's why teachers are like, like, man, they're they are the government.

You know, if they teach you how to make money, there won't be any student loans.

How are they going to make money?

Yeah.

So they have to keep you in that certain bound, you know?

But for me, I like going out of bounds.

Yeah.

You know, it's like I try to become on the gray line and, you know, try to be like not manipulative, but I can kind of like

strategize.

Yeah.

You know, in a different way and try to adjust.

Adjusting is number one.

Like I mentioned.

Exactly.

Yeah, that's why I dropped out of college too.

I wanted to go out of bounds a little bit.

Wow.

What were you taking?

So it's funny.

I couldn't get into the business school because my GPA was too low.

Wow.

So I was really?

Yeah, I was in the arts school.

That's crazy.

And arts school.

Yeah.

You thought it was going to be an easy way out?

It was the only one.

Because it says art.

It was the only one I could get into.

So I was trying to transfer into the business school, but I couldn't pass calculus.

Oh, my God.

You need to pass that to transfer.

That's insane, man.

And then last year, I did a talk to all their marketing students.

Wow.

So everything happens for a reason, yeah.

That's crazy.

Did you go to college?

No.

I'm not a believer of school either.

You know, but I feel like for our kids, the fundamentals and the foundation in the beginning and the discipline, like, you know, it's good.

I mean, but, but as far as what they teach, yeah, it's not, I mean.

Why does a doctor have to go to art school when they were young?

They could just be like an expert of what they've been doing since, you know, day one, but they have to be a certain program where the government can make more money.

Right.

Because, you know, the more money they make on the student interest loan, the better for them.

That's how we

live this life.

We're revolving on debt.

Yeah.

Imagine.

The country has so much debt, right?

Yeah, so much debt.

So I feel like, imagine this.

They're giving you a job.

Let's say a teacher policeman.

They're going to give you a job that pays you $70,000, $80,000 a year, but then they put you in a $300,000 student loan.

It doesn't make sense.

It's going to take you years to pay that back.

At the same time, it's, you know,

the control is there.

The government has to control you because once you become uncontrollable, you know,

they don't like entrepreneurs because we pay the least taxes.

Right.

Right.

Trump paid like zero.

Zero.

Yeah.

He might get a refund.

Let me give him a call, ask him real quick.

Are you worried about social media and the media's influence on your kids?

Of course.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How do you balance that?

I balance that, but right now I'm not allowing them to use social media.

At four and five, they don't even know anything, you know.

So you won't allow TikTok, Instagram?

It depends.

It depends.

If it's monetization, why not?

You know, there's a lot of people that became a doctor that makes three, $400,000 a year.

And there's TikTokers that make a few million dollars dollars a year.

If they're making it in a in a good way, you know, why not?

That's that's still a good thing to teach the kids how to utilize social media in a correct way.

Right.

But right now, there's a lot of kids that's using the social media for with a slutty way.

You know, they post their ass, their tits, their

whatever they have their piercing on, and they get they get paid by that.

They're selling the soul.

But if it's correct marketing and it's formal and decent why not they can they can monetize it yeah do you believe there's certain celebrities and powerful figures that have sold their soul oh yeah i believe so i'm not going to mention

because it'll keep me in trouble

but you know it's very obvious you know once they sell you your soul to the devil they deliver this message through the radio through their music get money back through that and you know they keep influencing our children with that wow you know that's scary man it is it's very scary i've heard a lot of uh a-list celebrities have done it yeah this microphone right here is worth trillions of dollars imagine talking like this to 500 audiences everyone can hear you you can make money after that but imagine talking with this

it can only reach one person right so this microphone the camera can keep you in danger but at the same time it can make you a lot of money you saw it happen to tate yeah yeah yeah that's uh, that's insane.

Yeah, what do you think about Andrew Tate?

Um,

um, I've heard of him only, but I don't follow him like that.

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, he uh, he just got out of jail, I think, but he looks yeah, he served right, and they said there was no proof of like of what they were trying to blame him for, yeah.

But his voice is so huge, right?

So, that's why they try to keep the microphone off for the truth, yeah, yep.

Well, what are you working on next, man?

Right now, I'm working on many, many things.

Uh, Real estate will always be there, but

a lot of different things with the government and real estate developments and working with these fighters and other businesses I try to focus on.

Love it, man.

Any closing words of wisdom for the audience?

What should I say?

No, no closing.

Where can people find you?

They could follow me on Instagram.

The John Singson, Facebook, John Singson.

They can see my projects there and what's going on with my daily life.

All right, you heard it here, guys.

Digital social hour.

Thanks for tuning in.

See you guys next week.

See you.

Thank you.