Ryan Mack Story

Personal Finance guru, cable news veteran and advocate for the “hard to employ”, Ryan Mack is never too busy to provide for those who seek knowledge. If you doubt this, try dropping him a line.

“You cut that card up, brother”, Ryan Mack said, in reference to the Rush Prepaid Card that he was asked about during a telephone interview; a telephone interview that was requested through the question/comments section of the Optimum Capital Management LLC website. He would graciously agree to this interview via email from his I phone hours later. The interview was in danger of not occurring due to a failure on the interviewer’s part to take time zones into consideration. A mistake about which Mack commented, “It’s all good, brother”. Mr. Mack’s patience and understanding is as welcome and appreciated as it is unexpected. As a financial adviser working with many famous clients across the US, and the winner of Tom Joyner’s “Hardest Working Financial Adviser Award”, his time comes at a premium. Consider his work with low income housing communities, colleges and universities, inner city organizations, non-profits and his partnership with District Attorneys’ offices to teach financial literacy to previously incarcerated inmates in an attempt to lower recidivism rates, and it sustains the notion that he is a busy man. This work, on the other hand, lends credence to the image of a patient and understanding man.  A graduate of The University of Michigan Business School, he has sought to improve the lives of others by sharing financial tips and strategies with them. Particularly with people that are likely to be unfamiliar with banks, lending, interest and other similar ideas. “It’s not a black thing or a white thing, it’s a money thing”, he said about companies like the prepaid card industry in Saturday’s interview.  He insists that these companies target people who do not have very much money and, subsequently, no reason to seek out financial advice. In a letter to Russell Simmons, published by the Huffington Post he says:

“Those who know the strategies to empower the community have a moral obligation to those, who may not be as knowledgeable, to fully inform them. There are other more efficient means to empower those in our communities than pre-paid debit cards and other financially destructive establishments such as check cashing facilities.”

Russell Simons is the Founder of both Def Jam Records and the Rush Prepaid Card and an activist within the black community. Ryan Mack continues to find Mr. Simmons activism and endorsement of the Rush Card, to be contradictory of one another. “I am going to do an interview on theglobalgrind.com—that’s Russell Simmons website—and I am going to present him with a challenge”, said Mack. “I am going to tell him to give me any person that uses the Rush Card and give me 30 days with him. 30 days, and I will help that person find a comparable card, such as a secured card that does not have the associated fees, but helps to improve his credit. If I can’t do that, I will maintain media silence for a year”. A year of media silence sounds like it would be easy enough to accomplish to most people, but to one of CNN, and Fox News favorite talking heads, it would involve a drastic change from what he is used to. It could prove to be a welcome change to his adversaries who are constantly the subjects of his media offensive; people such as Russell Simmons for what Mack perceives as the hypocrisy of being an African American activist who unfairly targets African American consumers with a product that “charges them to spend their own money”,  or  Suze Orman, another accomplished talking head and personal finance guru, who has released her own pre-paid debit card. In the case of Suze Orman, the charge is also hypocrisy. Ryan Mack issued a challenge to Suze Orman to come on CNN and debate him, or to discuss with him the reason that she would condemn pre-paid debit cards in her book and then suggest that everybody purchase hers. He suggested this on CNN during a media offensive that he had named “Suze Vs. Suze”. Mr. Mack insists that he is not particularly confrontational, but that he feels compelled to challenge things that are untrue, or claims that are made with the assumption that no one knows any better. “They prey on people who don’t have money. More importantly, brother, they prey on the public’s lack of knowledge”, said Mack.

As a person who has the knowledge, Mack feels that it is his duty to share it with anyone and everyone, regardless of their income, status in the community, position in the pecking order or how late they are for an interview.