Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll

Who is Curtis Carroll?

What we see here is that it is possible to positively change your life if you can find or create the opportunity to do better. Curtis Carroll grew up in difficult circumstances, in a low opportunity environment, and made huge mistakes which landed him in prison. He did not know how to read, he broke the law and committed robbery and murder.

We learn that he changed his life and turned his circumstances around. He discovered the stock market while serving his life sentence prison. He took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the stock market, became legitimate, financially literate, and where is he now?

Carroll scraped together hundreds of dollars by cashing in unused postage stamps he acquired selling tobacco to prisoners. His first investment was in high-risk penny stocks, making just enough money to keep investing. The whole process motivated him to learn to read. Now, Carroll makes thousands of investments. He maintains notebooks filled with the daily stock price fluctuations of hundreds of companies.

The life of Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll was raised by financial literacy, by the opportunity to participate in the stock market. Steemit offers these opportunities to all and people who are just coming out of prison or who are desperate to make money can make a few blog posts and immediately the barriers to entry are gone. A person who posts on Steem can use their earnings from blogging to become a cryptocurrency investor and do even better in crypto than they can in stocks.

"I can benefit by helping my family," Grimes says. "It still feels good to give back to my community even though I can't get out right now."

Yes crypto may be entering a bubble phase, but it also provides hope and opportunity to people who currently don't have any. There is value in providing hope and opportunity, and it has positive side effects. The Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll is a story of redemption, and this kind of story is the best kind for Steemit to have because it promotes the social benefits of Steemit and cryptocurrency.

• Only around half of Americans own stocks.
• Most Americans do not have enough money to retire.

References

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1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/190883/half-americans-own-stocks-matching-record-low.aspx
2. http://www.gallup.com/poll/182816/little-change-percentage-americans-invested-market.aspx
3. http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/09/investing/american-stock-ownership/index.html
4. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-so-few-millennials-invest-in-the-stock-market-2016-7
5. http://www.npr.org/2015/03/21/393556633/investment-guru-teaches-financial-literacy-while-serving-life-sentence
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbiggs/2017/01/18/are-half-of-americans-approaching-retirement-with-no-savings/#651b454040e5