Teaching Young Men to Invest, Mental Health at Work, and What Charlie Kirk Got Wrong (and Right)

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Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G.

This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind.

If you'd like to submit a question for next time, you can send a voice recording to officehours at profitmedia.com.

Again, that's officehours at profgymedia.com or post your question on the Scott Galloway subreddit and we just might feature it in our next episode.

I have not seen or heard these questions.

First question.

Hey, Scott, my name's Patrick, reaching out from Charlotte, North Carolina.

I'm a proud public high school teacher of 23 years, teaching a course for seniors entitled Economics and Personal Finance.

I'm biased, but it's the best class they can take in high school.

Your books are featured on my classroom bookshelf, with the algebra of wealth being my top choice for reference.

Thanks for always providing fantastic content.

Teaching is my passion in life's work, and despite the increasing challenges, my love for the profession remains unwavering.

One persistent issue I'm encountering is students struggling with investing.

I emphasize concepts like compound interest and the critical role of time, sharing my belief that investing is a marathon, not a sprint.

I illustrate how 8% annual returns from a low-cost index fund can make them millionaires when they retire if they start early enough.

Unfortunately, I'm losing some students, especially the young men, who are captivated by high-risk investment options like crypto and DraftKings.

What engaging strategies would you recommend I use to capture my students' attention, especially the boys, and help them see the value in patience and steady growth.

I'd appreciate any insights you can share.

Thanks again for everything you do.

Patrick, first off, thank you for everything you do.

You're doing real work.

I always feel a little bit like, I don't know, imposter syndrome when I say I'm a teacher because teachers do real work.

I feel like professors at, I don't know, at least at business schools.

I mean, even when I had a full load and I was teaching five courses, I was doing maybe, I don't know, 10 or 15 hours of podium hours.

And you're supposed to spend eight hours preparing for every podium hour, but I didn't need to do that because, well, one, I'm good at what I do.

and two, at some point you can just kind of press play and riff.

But what you do is exceptionally hard.

Anyways, thank you for your service.

So,

this is a difficult one because, I mean, there's a couple of things, and I think you need to teach young men why they are, one, more risk-aggressive.

Their prefrontal cortex isn't just as mature as a girl's, they don't understand kind of the gas-on, gas-off brink.

And some of that risk-aggressiveness is built into them for positive instinctive reasons.

And that is, the only way that we have survived as a species is that we need men that are, quite frankly, more risk aggressive and more violent.

That risk aggressiveness has been built into our species.

And in many ways, it's a positive part of masculine energy.

It has real downsides.

And that is young men are willing to take more risks than oftentimes are healthy.

And this also comes to investing.

So it's very, you have to teach them, one,

You are more risk aggressive and there's real downsides there.

Two, while you may think it's impossible to believe you're going to be, you know, my age or your grandparents' age, you will be, and also it'll go really fast.

So wanting to invest in risky assets, you are prone to, and it's understandable.

And to be fair,

over the last couple of years, because of a surge in the markets, high-risk bets have outperformed.

A portfolio of Bitcoin, gold, GameStop, and DraftKings returned 62% in 2024, more than triple the traditional kind of 60-40 stocks and bonds portfolio.

One in five men under the age of 44 own crypto, according to an NBC poll compared with single-digit percentages for women, Pew found, again, see above, more risk-aggressive, Pew found 42% of men 18 to 29 had invested in or used crypto versus 17% of women.

Meme stocks, gold, and political trading platforms also skew heavily male, right, because they're more risk-aggressive.

So research suggests that men feel they fall short of traditional masculinity are the ones that are most most likely to own crypto and meme stock.

They see it as sort of cosplaying manhood.

Nearly 10% of young men struggle with problems gambling, and that's four times the U.S.

average.

It also kind of hits that dopa around gambling.

So when you buy crypto, it's just more fun to see volatile assets go way up or even way down as opposed to investing in a low-cost Vanguard index fund.

The problem is over time,

essentially, alternative investments in these riskier assets underperform just investing in a large, diversified basket of funds.

In addition, see above that kind of evolutionary issue around not believing time is going to pass.

If you just get 9% a year, that means every 24 years, you're 8xing your investment.

And what I try and do is take them through these things they're fighting against and then say, okay, you want to have some fun?

Fine.

Day trade, buy crypto, buy meme stocks, have at it.

You'll learn about the markets.

It's sort of fun.

And there's something about consumption.

I go to Vegas a lot.

I'll take a certain amount of money that I can lose and it won't ruin my night.

And I go down and I wear a canary yellow jacket and sometimes it killed and I get fucked up and I enjoy it and it's fun and it hits those DOPA sensors.

Occasionally I buy options, which I know is stupid, but I don't do more.

I don't invest more.

It's not an investor.

I don't gamble more than I can lose without bumming me out.

And I have fun with it.

So fine, have at it.

Try and sequester it.

Teach them the basics of why their brain goes this way.

Teach them the advantages of compound interest, the power of time, and that they will be around for another 60 or 80 years.

And then say, okay, I get it.

You want to have some fun.

You want to learn about the markets.

Take $100 a month if you can save it from your job.

Start investing now.

It'll be eventually, you know, whatever that is, a million dollars by the time they're my age.

And take 30% of it and do whatever you want with it.

And see if you can outperform the market.

And over the medium and long term, start measuring the 70% that goes into low-cost index funds and your 30% of what I'll call sporting or gambling or dining-Kruger, where you actually believe you can beat the market.

and let it be a life lesson.

Have some fun and learn from it and learn about the markets.

But again, I think it's rooting in investing in basic psychology, evolutionary theory,

biology around the male brain, such that they understand what's going on with them.

And then don't kind of parent them or don't scold them and say, have some fun.

Thanks so much for your good work.

Question number two.

Hi, Prof.

G, this is Max.

I'm assumed to 32-year-old English undergrad at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

My college journey began way back in 2012 in Ohio.

So this Yankee has had a lot of stops and starts on the way here, balancing health challenges and family caregiving.

This term is a personal best.

I'm back in classes, a student worker in the humanities office, and if the Earth doesn't shift off its axis, will graduate in fall 2026.

I've really resonated with your compassion and advocacy around mental health.

In 2021, I went through a very dark period and made an attempt on my life.

Since then, I've been working hard on my health, leaning on counseling professionals, support groups, family and friends while I navigate my recovery.

Here's my question.

As I prepare to graduate with my English degree, I'm wondering, how do I represent myself to employers with honesty about my journey while keeping the focus on my strengths and potential?

I want to earn a good job, but also respect employers' time and boundaries and not overshare my personal struggles.

I appreciate you, Prof.

G.

Max from Bama, you know,

I think the truth has a nice ring to it.

And I think saying I went back to, you know, college late in life, I had a lot of my 20s was about

caregiving and some pits and starts and some of my own struggles.

You don't even have to say mental health, some of my own health struggles.

But I made my way back to Bama and I've graduated.

You know what?

I think that's a nice story.

You know, you're going to be applying to jobs with HR people and these are humans.

And

I mean, I can tell you, I think they're going to have a similar reaction as I'm having.

I'm thinking, I like Max.

I like the fact that you.

got your way back and decided you wanted to go to college.

And

also, you're just going to, in some ways, have more to offer than a 23-year-old graduate because you've had some life lessons and you probably have a little bit more empathy and a little bit more wisdom and a little bit more patience.

So, I don't know.

I think you come out of Bama in an especially attractive candidate or potential recruit for employers.

Your story is, this is, you know, like any other person interviewing for a job, this is why I want the job.

This is why I'd be good at it.

And let me just address the elephant in the room.

I am older than most of the grads you've seen.

I had some, you know, some issues in terms of requiring family caregiving.

I had some of my own health issues, got my act together,

decided to go back to college, and here I am.

I think that's a really nice story, Max.

So I just, I wouldn't be too self-conscious about it.

I think your story is actually puts you

in a better position than the undergrads you're competing with, because the reality is, you may feel

like you're old at 31.

You're not.

You're a young man.

You're You're about to be a college, soon to be a college graduate in English, which, if I haded to do again, I think I probably would have majored in English, just because the ability to communicate with the written word is still this incredible, I don't know, rare and powerful art, if you will, or science.

So, boss, you're going to be fine.

Enjoy your time at Bama.

Try and make yourself as attractive as possible to potential employers.

Maybe start publishing some stuff or

examples.

The bar will be a little bit harder for you because they'll expect you to kind of have your shit together by then, but it sounds like you already do.

And also, to the extent that you can be involved in, I don't want to say caregiving, but counseling or therapy, I just think what you've probably been through makes you more and more empathetic person.

But again, I'm good at running other people's lives.

But in terms of being self-conscious, just stop that shit.

Max, you're going to a great school.

You're going to get a great degree that's very utile.

You have a great story, and people are going to want to hire you as much or more than any other college grad.

Best of luck to you, Max.

We'll be right back after a quick break.

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Welcome back onto our final question, which is from FDUBSC on Reddit.

They say, hey, Scott, in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting, I found myself watching more of his content that he has put out throughout the years to see what made him so captivating to young people.

What has really been eye-opening to me is how his message about young people today struggling sounds exactly like what you have preached for so long.

So obviously, there is common ground between people who vote differently in this arena.

How can we as young people look to bridge this gap and join forces in fighting for a better future for young people regardless of political leanings?

Thank you for being an advocate for young people from a 26-year-old Connor.

Okay, so I didn't know much about Charlie Kirk.

I had seen clips of him, but I really didn't know much about him before he was murdered.

And a lot of people wrote me and said, are you upset?

You guys shared a lot.

And I never thought of someone.

I never thought of Charlie Kirk as someone I would have a lot in common with, but he talked a lot about young men.

I talk a lot about young men.

And

some of his messages were, in my view, very positive.

Take responsibility, be action-oriented.

While we shared that, I'd like to think advocacy for young men, kind of the solutions were much different.

And that is, to the far right's credit, and if you consider Charlie Kirk a member of the right, which I would, they found that a big component of the solution to the problem was taking America back to the good old days of the 50s and 60s, where women were most likely going to stay at home and it was more about kind of a patriarchy, elevating men to a certain status.

I don't think that's the solution, nor do I think it's realistic.

I don't think as hard as we try, we're going to go back.

There may be dips in the arc, but the arc or the curve bends towards justice as it should.

The thing that was, I think, most admirable, and like you, I started consuming more of his content after he was murdered.

The thing that was so impressive was, and ultimately led to his untimely death, unfortunately, was he was very brave and would go on campus and put up a tent and say, prove me wrong, and

was willing to engage in a conversation.

And I think this is so important on campus.

And unfortunately on campus, we have been trained or there's an orthodoxy on universities that The more woke you are, the more welcome your thoughts are.

And anything that's not woke or is conservative gets a gag reflex.

And you could tell that, or you could sense that in a lot of his encounters with students, that students would naturally gag on some of his viewpoints, but hadn't, couldn't put forward the critical thinking to counter his points.

Now, sometimes they could.

Sometimes they were back in his face with what I thought were excellent points.

But Charlie was both willing to take on students and have a civil agreement, civil discussion with them, and also willing to put himself out there and, quite frankly, sometimes be made the fool of because some of his content, I think, you know, when you're doing that all day, every day, you're going to get it wrong.

And I know that I know that firsthand.

But he was willing to put himself out there and go on campus into kind of hostile territory, sometimes behind enemy lines, and say, all right, let's have a civil conversation.

Let's have a debate.

And I think we need more of that.

I believe universities should be safe places physically and dangerous places intellectually.

One of the things that's really a shame about universities is for some reason, I don't know, social media or concierge parenting, we have a lot of kids who at least appear to be intellectually fragile.

And that is they just don't want to have a discourse around viewpoints that aren't their own.

I would argue that where the right,

including Charlie Kirk, sometimes got it wrong, was that they saw masculinity as being

that the assent of women was one of the reasons that there was a masculinity crisis.

I don't think that's true at all.

Thanks for the question.

This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez.

Our assistant producer is Laura Jannier.

Drew Burris is our technical director.

Thank you for listening to the Prop GPod from Prop G Media.

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