LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the NBA playoffs last week by the Phoenix Suns. As expected, the LeBron haters were in full force on social media calling him overrated and a fraud. At 36 years old, LeBron James has been in the NBA for more than half of his life and is clearly on the downslope of his illustrious career. Few will argue that James is one of the all-time greats, but when it’s over most will not rate him higher than Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, or Kobe Bryant. Looking at his career decisions and his ventures outside of basketball, it now seems obvious to me that LeBron James didn’t really set out to be the greatest basketball player of all time; his goals were much higher than that. James has been criticized and revered for his outspoken political views, and unlike Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson, LeBron James won’t be remembered as a historical figure in a political sense. However, his leadership from a cultural and business standpoint could be even greater.
Over the last few years, LeBron has been building a media empire, producing films and television shows, and several other projects. He recently invested in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox and other sports properties. Ever since he was a teenager, James somehow understood the value of his brand and he cultivated it with the savvy of a Fortune 500 CMO. LeBron James may be an old man in the sports world, but he is a baby in the business and media world. My sense is we have only seen a glimpse of what he will accomplish in his life. If you’re looking for role models, not many people are born with the athletic talent of a LeBron James, so what he accomplishes off of the court should be an inspiration to even those who don’t follow sports. The fact that a guy who earns nearly $100M a year has been planning for life after basketball for years, is what stands out most to me. This guy always saw basketball as a stepping stone to his next career.
It makes me think about how important it is to have a second and third act in life. I’ve always believed everyone needs to have a profession that earns them money, a passion that fulfills them from a creative standpoint, and a business or two that will earn them money after they are done working. That’s great, but I’m not sure even that is enough. What if, similar to a professional athlete, we could no longer do what we do today in any capacity. What if we had to do something entirely different? How many of us would be prepared for that?
I like to think that my life and career have had several chapters. As the CEO of NAHREP, I am blessed to lead a great organization that is making a difference in the world. I am fulfilled, but fulfillment doesn’t always put food on the table. Over the years, I have acquired a ton of relationships in a variety of fields, and some of those relationships have led to other projects that have been fun and generated some additional resources for my family. I’m pretty sure if I could no longer do what I currently do, I would be fine, but it does have me thinking. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the future is not guaranteed. Life is short, and it’s never too soon to start thinking about your next act.
I was watching a podcast recently, and something about it rubbed me the wrong way — but it also got my wheels turning. In this episode, I talk about what I love most about being American, why the system that built this country deserves more appreciation than it gets, and why some of the loudest “love it or leave it” voices go strangely quiet when powerful billionaires openly criticize the very system that made their success possible. This is a conversation about America, double standards, and what real patriotism should actually look like.
This April, the Hispanic Wealth Project is launching its High Net Worth Boot Camp, a 10-week intensive built around some of the most valuable wealth-building education I’ve seen. In this episode, I talk about why so many of us need to shift from a worker’s mentality to an owner’s mentality, why economic success has to move from consumption to wealth building, and why building wealth takes knowledge, work, and discipline. The High Net Worth Boot Camp is designed to help close that knowledge gap with modules on securities investing, real estate investments, buying and selling businesses, asset protection, and tax strategies. If building real wealth has ever felt out of reach or unclear, this is the kind of education that can change how we think and what we build.
The data tells a powerful story: Latinos are driving economic growth in America. If Latino Americans were a standalone country, we’d be the fifth-largest economy in the world, and without Latino homebuyers, the number of homeowners in America would have declined in 2025. So why doesn’t it feel like we’re winning? In this episode, I talk about the gap between growth and perception, why we still don’t have enough strong voices shaping the national conversation, and why purchasing power alone is not enough. Growth matters, but wealth matters more. This is a conversation about leadership, visibility, and what it will really take for our community to turn momentum into lasting power.