How I learned to read - and trade stocks - in prison | Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll | TEDxSanQuentin 2016

Financial literacy isn't a skill — it's a lifestyle. Take it from Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll. As an incarcerated individual, Caroll knows the power of a dollar. While in prison, he taught himself how to read and trade stocks, and now he shares a simple, powerful message: we all need to be more savvy with our money. Curtis “Wall Street” Carroll overcame poverty, illiteracy, incarceration and a lack of outside support to become a stock investor, creator and teacher of his own financial literacy philosophy. Carroll grew up in Oakland, California surrounded by poverty. In 1996, at 17 years old, he committed a robbery where a man was killed. He turned himself in and ended up in prison with a 54-to-life sentence. While in prison, the stock market captured his attention, but he was illiterate. Finally motivated to learn, he taught himself how to read at 20-21 years old, and then he started studying the stock market. Carroll's role models changed from drug dealers and sports figures to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. He wanted others to learn this new way of making money. When Carroll arrived at San Quentin in 2012, he met Troy Williams, who helped him start the Financial Literacy Program. Together they created the philosophy F.E.E.L (Financial Empowerment Emotional Literacy) that teaches people to recognize how their emotions affect their financial decision, and how to separate the two.