EPS 33 – Looking for a Man in Finance Because finding Mr. 6’5 Finance Bro isn’t simple math

The viral “Man in Finance” song may be catchy, but what are the real chances of finding a 6’5”, blue-eyed finance guy with a trust fund? In this episode of Pink Money, Jerry Williams crunches the numbers—looking at how rare those traits really are—and dives into what working “in finance” actually means, from investment bankers to financial planners.

Jerry also explores the reality of trust funds, professional licenses like the Series 7 and CFA, and why having money isn’t the same as keeping it. Along the way, he shares thoughts on the TikTok creator behind the trend, her sudden record deal, and the tax pitfalls that can bring even the tallest, richest finance bro down to size. A lighthearted but insightful take on love, money, and the myths we chase.

💬 Have a question or comment? Contact Jerry here

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:01

So,

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

Hello and welcome to the Big Money Podcast. I'm your host, Jerry Williams, and we talk about all things related to money from a gay perspective. And today I thought it might be kind of fun to take a look at one of the most popular songs of the summer. I'm looking for a man in finance and look at the actual numbers and maybe the probability and likelihood of actually finding such a person. So if you don't know exactly what I'm talking about, so the song became sort of a a global sensation after it was created by the TikTok girl on the couch. That's her TikTok handle. And she created this phrase and it's become a song. It's also, you know, lots of dance troops have danced to it and there's been lots of remixes. But again, I was thinking, you know, what are the actual numbers behind finding such a person? And I thought it might be kind of fun to look at it. So to begin with, I'm going to play you a little bit of the song so you get a rough idea of what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_03: 1:35

Six five, blue eyes. I'm looking for a man. I'm looking for a man. I'm looking for a, looking for a, looking for a, looking. Finance. Trust fund. Six five, blue eyes. Finance. Trust fund. Six five,

SPEAKER_00: 1:47

blue eyes. Okay, you get the idea. I'm looking for a man in finance. So, the whole idea behind that, like I said, I think she was just having fun and I believe she said she just created it sort of out of the blue. But, you know, the funny thing about it is it just maybe registered with a whole lot of people. And I was thinking about it and I thought, you know, when you take a look at the criteria, you know, it might be a little bit more daunting than just maybe you know, going into your local bank or something or hanging out on an investment plaza, you know, where a lot of investment bankers work and, you know, running up to somebody. But, hey, what do I know? My sister, she met her husband and she was sitting on a park bench and he just strolled up to her and introduced himself and next thing you know, 20 years later, you know, they're still married. So, anything can happen. But, When you're taking a look at, let's just start off with men in general, if you're talking about half the population, then we're talking about roughly 160 million men. So that's a whole bunch, and that's all ages too, right? So I don't know what age you're actually looking for, but let's say you're looking for someone in their 30s and 40s, possibly 20s, but let's just stick with maybe 30s and 40s, but all depends on what you're looking for. And if you're looking at someone who That's probably going to be one of the most challenging things because only 1% of men actually are 6'5". So that's a pretty tall dude. And with blue eyes, a little bit more common, but also not as common as you would think. Only 17% of the population are people with blue eyes. And especially when you're talking about men who are 6'5 with blue eyes, that is a very, very And then when you're talking about adding the additional criteria of a trust fund, only 2% of men who are 6'5 with blue eyes have an actual trust fund. And that of those who work in finance, that actually drops this down to 6'5 blue eyes trust fund, 341 guys. So that's not a whole bunch of people. And, you know, they could be anywhere, right? You know, I'm just kind of saying that's not a very large population to draw from. And when you're talking about finance as well, you know, there's just not one group that is in finance per se because it's a very basic general category. And, you know, when you're looking at someone who works in finance, there's just a whole bunch of different type of careers they could have. because there's when you're again looking at somebody who could be an investment banker that's a totally different job than someone who let's say is a financial analyst or someone who is a financial planner but there's all kinds of jobs out there like asset management, corporate finance, private equity, hedge funds, commercial banking, risk management, insurance, accounting, auditing. So, you know, there's just a whole bunch of people that work in finance, but that is a good thing because that also increases your likelihood of maybe finding someone, but they just are really spread out. So you'd have to sort of drill down maybe and look at, hey, the guys who work in finance, what are they actually doing, and that makes them actual money. Now, if you are talking about someone who, let's say, is an investment banker, then that's somebody who's going to have a real specific set of skills. And one of the skills that they're typically, skill sets that they're going to have, and along with all their credentials and education, you're looking at a minimum, somebody with an undergraduate degree, most likely a graduate degree, maybe an MBA or a master's in finance or economics or maybe quantitative finance. And then along with those criteria, there's also licensing that generally comes along with that. And especially if you're talking about someone who's an investment banker, then they are going to have what they call a Series 79. And the Series 79, again, is a FINRA license that means that they have passed the criteria set forth that give the public the belief that this person knows what they're doing. That's what I'm trying to say. So when you pass this exam, which is challenging, right? They don't make it easy, but you know that someone who has at least this license has a pretty good idea of what they're actually up to. So you can go and try to find out when you're talking with someone. Let's say if they do say, hey, what do you do for a living? I'm an investment banker. Oh, do you have your Series 79? Then he'll be able to tell you, yeah, yeah, I do. Or, no, I don't. And then you would be able to say, oh, okay, well, what do you do then if you don't have a Series 79? But, you know, it's not the be-all, end-all. But it's like generally... When someone goes to work in finance, let's say a financial advisor, then they're going to have to have, at a minimum, a Series 7 license, along with their bachelor's degree. Because you typically have to have... that education behind you. Most institutions are probably not going to hire you if you don't have at least a bachelor's degree. Whether that's right or wrong, I don't know. I know that at the very beginning of my career, it wasn't a hard and fast rule that you needed a bachelor's degree, but as time marched on, yeah, it became a prerequisite, and you really did have to have it, or you really wouldn't be able to get hired. So you can still find people who don't have it, but It's pretty rare these days. But if you get the Series 7, you know, that's pretty common. And along with that, they usually need like the Series 66, which is the rules, regulations. But the Series 7 is just sort of a broad securities registration. And again, it's the qualification that's administered by the FINRA, you know, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. And there's, I believe... There's, let's see, well, there's probably about 130 some odd questions and you have about three and a half, maybe four hours to complete it. And you have to get at least a 72% or higher to pass. But There's a lot of people who have it, but a lot of people who fail it as well. But you won't be working in the industry if you don't typically have a Series 7. And then many times a financial advisor will not only have the Series 766, but they will also have additional certifications depending on, again, what they do, maybe in wealth management or maybe it's in retirement. It's hard to say, but if, again, you're looking for somebody who has a real high income it could be someone who's maybe a portfolio manager or maybe somebody who again is an investment analyst and then There are certain certifications that give them even greater specialty and they become pretty challenging to get as well. Things like the CFA, which is the chartered financial analyst, and there's three different parts to it. The first part is, you know, not it's challenging, but not the most challenging. The second one is considered probably the hardest. And then there's the third exam, which is if you pass the first two, then you're got a good chance of passing the third. But that's not something that's easily obtained. Very few people really have this CFA. And again, they don't really need it unless they're doing actual analysis of companies. But nevertheless, it could be something like the CFP, the Certified Financial Planner designation. And that's just one that, again, gives you the registrant that set of letters behind their name that says they have reached a certain standard that allowed them to use those specific letters and that title, certified financial planner. But, you know, you can ask all these questions of anybody that you meet and they should be able to tell you, you know, if you say, what is your background? What is your education? Do you have any certifications or licenses? They should be able to quickly rattle off what they have. But, you know, everybody's different and not everybody has to have exact same things. But, you know, like I said, what's most common is at a minimum, a bachelor's degree could be pretty much in any field. Some are real specific, like in finance or business, but it doesn't really have to be because again most people have a graduate degree as well and that is going to be a lot more specific like mine is in personal financial planning so once you have that then if you it depends on what role you're going to take again whether you're going to be a customer facing, you will then need something like at a minimum, the Series 7. If you work in the mutual fund industry, or maybe you sell variable annuities, you may only need, you know, something like the Series 6. And it's not as difficult to obtain the 6 as a 7, because the 7 encompasses a lot more things. But, you know, it just really depends on your role. If you're an actual stockbroker, you're working for a brokerage firm, and you're doing a trades for people or just pretty much giving advice in that realm, then you're going to probably, you will need the Series 7. So that's just how it goes. If they're a registered broker dealer, yeah, they have to have the 7. And again, they have to adhere to state laws as well. And there's the series 66, which covers the blue sky laws and gets into the do's and don'ts and what the states require, what the penalties are, how you have to provide certain documents at certain times. And it just goes through all the nitty gritty and the lawyer kind of stuff. And that can be really one of the most challenging ones as well. A lot of people don't find it as hard as the 7, but it is also one that is challenging because there's so many rules that you have to go by. You know, one of the things as I say all that, you know, when you're working in finance, you know, generally again, you have a pretty high set of skills and you've gone through a lot to get to that level. And that's one of the reasons why that, you know, people who work in finance get paid pretty well. Because I'm not saying that if you're a plumber or HVAC worker or anything else like that, that your skills are not valuable. Of course they are, right? If you got a leak in your roof and it is going to ruin your house, you need to get someone out there, ASAP, someone who knows what they're doing. And as long as they can do it, they don't need a bachelor's degree, master's degree, certain certifications, et cetera, in a field that doesn't pertain to them. You just need someone who has the skills, expertise, capabilities of fixing that leak. But just as you, when you hire someone who is a certified tax advisor or somebody like that, you just have the ability when you don't know who you're working with to identify again there's certain skill sets if you know what to look for and that's one of the things you just want to ask when you are interviewing people that you want to work with and you're asking about their background and you know what their education and licenses and certifications are and that just gives you a certain level of understanding of if it's someone that you think you know has put in the time and the effort to get to the level that you feel like they really are an expert in what they do. But of all the people in the United States that have an actual graduate degree, it's only about 14% of the population. And that's people who are actually 26 and older. And people with a... just a bachelor's degree, is around 41%. So it's a lot higher. More women actually have a bachelor's degree and master's degrees than men. But that wasn't always the case, but that seems to be the direction that the population is going in these days. And when you're talking about men, Only about 13% of men actually have, again, that type of education. So that's just going to narrow your base down pretty substantially. And then when you're talking about the type of role, then especially when it comes to what they do you know they could be on the entry level they could be mid-level they could be seniors or they could be in management or they could run their own company a lot of different directions they could go in especially let's say they're working in mergers acquisitions or private placement or maybe again they're working as an investment banker analyst then usually they're going to be working for a lot larger company and They're... especially when those companies, they're a grinder. They really are. You go in there and you're going to be working some 12, 13, 14-hour days, and that's just what you've got to do to get your foot in the door and to really learn the ropes. And, hey, it is what it is. If that's what you want to sign up for and you want to make that kind of money, you're going to be easily earning six figures, easily. And then it depends on, again, the type of work that you produce. But it is something that is definitely out there, something that you could look for. Now, also, when it comes to a trust, hardly anybody really has a trust in the grand scheme of things. Trusts are common but uncommon, meaning you don't need a trust if you really don't have a lot of money or reasons to put it in a trust. They can be expensive to set up. Generally, you need, of course, there are certain roles in a trust. There's a beneficiary, the person who receives the benefits of the trust. There is the actual trustee themselves. Then there's the trustor, people who put the money or assets in the trust. There's just a lot of different roles. ins and outs of the trust. And so because of all that, there's the cost of developing it, then there's the cost of maintaining it, and then there's the cost of distributing. And all of those take time and effort, and you have to stay on top of it. Can you do it yourself? Of course, right? Would you? Most likely not. Even if you're running your family trust, that's going to be pretty daunting because when you place assets inside of the trust, let's just say you're putting stocks and bonds in there, but you could have houses, you could have any kind of... Private placements, you can have a whole bunch of things that could go inside of it. It just really, really depends. And a lot of times, you know, law firms or trust companies, they actually will take over the administration and they can even serve as a trustee. Usually have one or more people as a trustee, could be one though, because if that person dies, you need to have a backup trustee. And again, there are certain distributions that are required and that depends on the assets in there but you don't want to get in trouble and you have to really look at the trust document and go by what it actually says and especially when the beneficiaries are demanding money or it could be a young person who isn't able to handle the money yet there's so many in and outs to that so again someone who has a trust is pretty uncommon and if they're also working in finance they may have had a trust gifted to them by let's say their grandparents Even their parents. Maybe there are just certain assets that went in there. And when they reached 25 or when they graduate from college or when they got married or so and so, then there may be those milestones that are included in the trust. And that may be at the point that they do receive, you know, the bulk of their inheritance through the trust. And the trust just maintains the money in this secure environment until they actually get to receive it and spend it or save it or whatever else they want to do. But, you know, the trustee also has to make sure that the assets in the trust are handled appropriately so they have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that they're doing the right thing. You don't want to open up the trust, let's say, and there's nothing in there or all the money has dwindled away because of poor investment choices. They can get sued. And that does happen because a lot of times the trustees don't know what they're doing, make poor investment choices, or they just let something... know remain in there and just turn a blind eye to it and then you know everything just went bust that definitely happens so not something that um in a professional world is really going to happen but if you don't have a professional trustee it can definitely happen so again the um a trust is uncommon The licensing is difficult. Six, five, not too common. And then working in finance, also small population. And out of all the men, you know, you're, again, talking about a very, very small population. But, you know, on top of that, so we already then have said it's a small population that you're actually going to be dealing with. But let's just take a look at, you know, some of the other parts that would be relevant if, let's say, you're even in You know, girl on the couch and you decided that, hey, let's see what I can make out of this because they've already started to, like I said, make something from it, whether you are participating in it or not. So let's see what happens, you know, to you. someone who decides, like her, girl on the couch, that she's actually gonna go on tour. Let's see what

SPEAKER_03: 21:35

happens. Two and a half months ago, I made the Man in Finance song. Here's a little reminder. You remember that, right? That earworm of a song. I was also signed to a record label. Casually. Extremely casually. And they're sending me on a world tour. starting today and by world tour i mean a european tour but still sick today i must kiss the ground of the united states of america soil and must bid her adieu because i'm going to germany spain france belgium you better believe i'll be shaking my little tushy on all those stages in all those countries So I hope to see you all there. Yeah, but I'm not gonna lie. Traveling stresses me the fuck out. So I'm like literally peeing my pants because like I hate flying so much. And yeah, I cried a couple of times, but I am so dumb because I am so lucky. So some internal battles right now. Just wanted to give you guys the heads up. Oh, and to all you mofos who are like, oh, your 15 minutes is up. It's been two and a half months.

SPEAKER_00: 22:51

Okay. I don't know. Not too humble, right? But, yeah, that's my opinion. But you know what? Let's just take a look at, again, just for the fun of it. If you put yourself in her shoes, then what could happen?

SPEAKER_01: 23:14

Yeah, but has he paid his taxes? I've seen the IRS take a 6-5 guy down to, God forbid, 5-11. I've seen trust funds go poof from not disclosing foreign accounts on an F-bar. I have seen liens and levies decimate the money that you can earn from a carry. So, finance isn't enough. Those eyes can get darkened by the IRS. Make sure he's paid his taxes.

SPEAKER_00: 23:40

Well, there's some good advice right there, right? And, you know, that just proves my point that you really need to know what you're doing. There's a lot of in and outs. And just because you say, you know. I need to find a guy who has a trust fund. You know, finding him is one thing, but you know, again, is he in trouble and is he smart with his money and is someone professionally managing it? So, you know, not all the questions that you need to ask, but it is something just to be aware of. And as always, you know, seek competent tax advice, seek competent legal advice and seek competent financial advice. The, all the things that are important, but again, I think that we'll leave it right there because I think we all got the general idea. And, you know, whether this turns out beneficial for her or not, I frankly don't care. She's not someone I think, I don't know. She's just, again, not so humble that I would really be rooting for her. That's just my opinion. Anywho, let's close it out, and I'm going to leave you with a remix that I found from one of the guys, and I think it's pretty fun. It definitely took the whole looking for a guy in finance in a different direction, and it actually makes it kind of fun. So, let's see.

SPEAKER_03: 25:03

It's only

SPEAKER_04: 25:16

right to make this as rapey as possible.

SPEAKER_03: 25:32

just like