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The Calum Johnson Show

How A 25 Year Old Dad Built A $300,000 Portfolio From His Phone! | Dontez Akram

Watch our episode with Dontez on how to take control of your life and grow. About the video @_therealtez started investing in 2019, with just $20 and made it a routine.

Dontez AkramguestCalum Johnsonhost

Dec 16, 20241h 50mWatch on YouTube

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CHAPTERS

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Chapter summaries

Weekly investing rule, overcoming fear, and the cost of procrastination
Dontez describes a simple routine of investing consistently—adding more on dips and less when prices are hot. He frames most non-investing as fear of the unknown that turns into avoidance and procrastination. The tone is blunt: the real problem is not having “enough money,” but not doing the learning and follow-through.
- •Invest consistently each pay cycle and adjust contributions based on market conditions (more on dips, less when overheated)
- •Fear of investing is often fear of not understanding it, which Dontez calls ignorance
- •Downtime spent on entertainment could be redirected into learning via videos and research
- •Putting off action (“tomorrow,” “Monday,” “next week”) becomes a repeating cycle
Calum sets the stakes: Dontez’s investing results and episode disclaimer
Calum introduces Dontez as a returning guest and frames the episode around investing in stocks and crypto. He cites Dontez’s reported results and emphasizes that the episode is not investment advice. The goal is to share Dontez’s experience and how small, consistent investing can scale over time.
- •Calum introduces Dontez as a frequent returning guest known for openness and vulnerability
- •Calum cites Dontez’s claimed investing results (portfolio gains and dividend income)
- •Calum contrasts traditional long timelines with faster-moving opportunities in tech and crypto
- •Clear disclaimer: listeners should do their own research; this is not investment advice
Investing as identity: fear of losing money and thinking five years ahead
Dontez explains that investing became part of his identity, initially driven by fear of losing money after earning more at a young age. He emphasizes acquiring assets so money can “grow with you.” His core framework is making present sacrifices so a future version of himself benefits.
- •Investing began from fear of repeating stories of people who made money but couldn’t keep it
- •Assets are framed as the path for money to grow alongside personal growth
- •Dontez says he habitually thinks five years ahead and acts for his future self
- •The “power of investing” is gratitude from the future self for today’s decisions
From feeling ‘lost’ to becoming obsessed with learning
Dontez describes feeling insecure in school and believing he had to work harder than others. He reframes learning after school as choosing subjects that fascinated him—money, sales, investing—and using online education to close the knowledge gap. He argues that information is what enables wealth to last across generations.
- •School identity and performance made him feel behind, pushing a “work 10x harder” mentality
- •He discovered a new learning lane after high school: sales, money, investing
- •He binge-watched YouTube to gain financial education and reduce ignorance
- •Generational wealth requires passing down knowledge and wisdom—not just assets
Letting doubt and ‘haters’ become fuel: rock bottom, accountability, and urgency
Dontez says being counted out and talked about became motivation, especially after being kicked out and living in Section 8 conditions. He describes having “nothing to lose” except time and taking full accountability as a father-to-be. He explains why he chose to obsess early rather than delay until responsibilities grew.
- •Other people’s doubt became a driver rather than a deterrent
- •He describes rock-bottom conditions (sleeping on the floor, unreliable car, being broke)
- •Fatherhood created urgency and a mindset of total responsibility
- •He chose to binge-learn early to avoid trying to “catch up” later with more obligations
Becoming a dad at a young age: fear, disappointment, and rebuilding identity
Dontez recounts being scared and disappointed when he found out he would be a father, especially given his mother’s warnings. He speaks emotionally about regret around creating a broken family structure and the limits of money to solve that pain. He also explains how fatherhood pushed him to cut off old habits and even change his appearance to be taken seriously in work settings.
- •He felt intense fear and self-disappointment when he learned he would become a father
- •He describes ongoing pain about not having the family structure he wanted for his child
- •He says his daughter became the reason he went harder and “started over”
- •He cut off people/habits and even cut his hair to be seen as more hireable and credible
Mindset shift and the ‘lonely chapter’: visualization, sacrifice, and patience
Dontez explains a perspective change fueled by motivation content and vivid visualization of the life he wanted. Calum frames the in-between period as the “lonely chapter,” where many people quit before results appear. Dontez describes resisting easy bad habits and leaning on patience as a core principle.
- •He used visualization to compare current behavior with the person he wanted to become
- •He emphasizes balance across health, spirituality, and money rather than money alone
- •Calum describes the lonely in-between phase where many people turn back
- •Dontez names temptations (smoking early, wasting days, hanging with misaligned people) and stresses patience
Why you must invest: inflation, ownership, and starting with small amounts
Calum transitions into investing specifics, highlighting that many people avoid investing because they think they don’t have enough money. Dontez explains how curiosity about banks led him to learn how money is used and why leaving cash idle feels like losing ground. He emphasizes small beginnings, education, and consistent action over excuses.
- •Calum highlights the common barrier: believing you need lots of money to start investing
- •Dontez describes researching how banks use depositors’ money and pay low returns
- •He calls out the cycle of fear, ignorance, and procrastination that prevents action
- •He argues investing includes investing time to learn what to buy, when to buy, and when to sell
How Dontez started investing: fractional shares, dollar-cost averaging, and buying what you use
Dontez details how he began with a few hundred dollars, especially once fractional shares made expensive stocks more accessible. He outlines dollar-cost averaging using an “apple” analogy and emphasizes buying companies you understand and personally use. He frames the goal as beating inflation by moving money from idle cash into assets over time.
- •Fractional shares enabled ownership without needing the full share price
- •Dollar-cost averaging: buy consistently regardless of price; buy more when it’s ‘on sale’
- •Distinguishes price drops from a company’s underlying value necessarily dropping
- •He uses examples like Apple products, Nike, and Shopify to explain investing in what you understand
The investor mindset: rotating ‘hats,’ buying discounts, and shifting from consumer to owner
Dontez describes investing as adopting a new persona—switching hats from employee or business owner to investor. He says dips are discounts, not reasons to panic, if you understand the asset. Calum emphasizes the identity-level shift from being a consumer to becoming an owner through consistent investing habits.
- •Investing requires switching mental ‘hats’ and thinking long-term
- •Red days and pullbacks are framed as buying opportunities when you understand the asset
- •He uses everyday examples (Home Depot, Nike) to illustrate ‘owning a piece’ of what you buy
- •Calum highlights consistent paycheck-based investing as both financial and identity-building
“Is it too late?”: crypto skepticism, transparency, and why understanding matters
Calum raises the common objection that people are “too late,” especially when prices are high. Dontez responds that people either learn voluntarily or get forced to learn through change, and he frames crypto as part of a broader shift toward speed and transparency. Both emphasize that understanding fundamentals changes how you think about timing and conviction.
- •Dontez says ‘too late’ thinking comes from not understanding what’s happening
- •He frames crypto’s appeal around transparency and faster global transactions
- •He contrasts fiat uncertainty with blockchain visibility of transactions (wallet-level transparency)
- •Calum reinforces learning fundamentals of money to see the larger shift, not just price
Finding signals online: Dontez’s crypto origin on Twitter and his research workflow
Dontez says Twitter sparked his early crypto curiosity, even before he fully understood what he was buying. He lays out a step-by-step research path: see it on social feeds, follow networks of credible accounts, then verify through deeper sources and repeated learning. He repeatedly stresses personal responsibility: don’t buy just because someone else says so.
- •He discovered early crypto discussions by curating Twitter around money and investing content
- •He describes a ‘follow the network’ method: find one strong account, then follow who they follow
- •Research progression: social feeds → YouTube learning → verification tools and finance sites
- •He refuses to tell people to buy if they don’t understand the asset, to avoid blame and panic-selling
Case study: why he got bullish on XRP and how he weighs bullish vs bearish information
Dontez uses XRP as a recent example of long-term conviction that started years earlier, including holding through negative headlines. He explains using analyst articles to build a “why,” while also reading skeptical pieces to understand downside risks. He also describes “following the money” by observing what large asset managers hold.
- •He began buying XRP in 2020–2021, including through a period he saw as negative (a lawsuit)
- •He says conviction came from revisiting earlier bullish narratives and newer developments later
- •He builds a thesis by reading analyst articles for both pro and anti viewpoints
- •He emphasizes tracking where large pools of capital are allocated as a signal for risk management
Crypto explained: established coins vs altcoins vs meme coins, and what drives risk
Dontez defines cryptocurrency as digital currency aiming to speed transactions and reduce friction across borders. He breaks the market into tiers: more established coins at the top, then mid-level projects, then meme coins with higher volatility. He explains meme coin moves as community-driven and often tied to culture and social momentum.
- •Crypto is framed as faster, easier cross-border value transfer with potential fee/time advantages
- •Top-tier coins are compared to ‘blue chip’ stability relative to smaller tokens
- •Altcoins and meme coins carry higher downside risk but can move faster upward
- •Meme coin demand is often fueled by community and social virality rather than deep fundamentals
Risk management and charts: stop loss, price targets, and ‘price has memory’
Dontez explains risk-to-reward thinking through stop losses (how much you’re willing to lose) and price targets (planned profit-taking levels). He describes scaling out of positions rather than selling everything at once. He then explains “price has memory” and why chart history can signal likely support and resistance areas, while still recommending long-term consistency for most people.
- •Stop loss: pre-decide the maximum loss you’ll accept before exiting
- •Price targets: pre-decide levels to take profits, sometimes by trimming partial positions
- •Charts: prior price behavior can repeat, creating common areas where buyers/sellers step in
- •He reiterates a simple routine for most people: keep buying consistently, add more on dips, and ‘tax yourself’ from each paycheck
Hard lessons, FOMO control, and closing: balance, daily habits, and ‘stick to your script’
Dontez shares a painful experience buying Coinbase at IPO without proper rules and how it shaped his approach. He and Calum discuss how investing reveals emotional patterns, especially FOMO, and why patience and discipline matter. In the closing stretch, Dontez outlines habits that keep him grounded—faith, family, gym, selective inputs—and ends with the message to stay committed to your personal “script.”
- •He recounts a major loss around the Coinbase IPO and learning to wait before buying new IPOs
- •He describes FOMO as a major threat and emphasizes waiting for better prices while staying consistent
- •He outlines grounding habits: gratitude to God, family check-ins, meditation, gym, low-negativity relationships, and managing social media time
- •Final message: write your goals, create rules, don’t get too high or low, and ‘stick to your script’

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