Actor Michael Rainey Jr. is opening up about the financial literacy his mother passed down to him.
The “Power Book II: Ghost” star, who plays Tariq James St. Patrick in the franchise, recently appeared on Forbes’
“New Money” podcast, where he applauded his mother for helping him save money from an early age. Rainey was lucky to kick off his acting career at the age of 9 after being discovered by a talent agent.“She literally just walked up to my mom and said, ‘Your son has a great face for acting or modeling. Does he do any of that?’” Rainey shared. “And she was like, ‘No.’ And then, like a week after, they had a meeting in the office, and after that, they just started getting me auditions.”
After small gigs on “Sesame Street” while modeling, Rainey landed his first acting role in 2010 in the film “Un Altro Mondo (Another World).” Four years later, the rising star landed his breakout role playing James St. Patrick’s eldest child, Tariq, in Starz’s “Power.” He was just 13 years old and earning big bucks from the supporting role.
However, Rainey had no idea how much he was making thanks to his mother, who would take his checks and save them for when he got older and more financially responsible.
“Obviously, I’ve been working since I was young, but my mom always did a great job of helping me save my money since I was a kid,” he said. “I didn’t really know what kind of numbers I was pulling in until I was like 17, 18. My mom really did a good job of putting money away from me.”
Rainey continued, “Obviously, at a young age, I don’t really know what I want to do with that money. She really did a good job of just making sure a lot of it was put away for when I reached the age where it’s like, ‘Alright, I can do this with my money. I can do that with my money.’”
Now, at 23, Rainey is wise and ready to manage his money on his own. With the financial management he received from his mom early on, the TV star has been investing his money into land ownership, bitcoin, and Ethereum.
He’s also started to venture into entrepreneurship with his production company, Jamaica-based restaurant Catch 22, and ownership stake in a dispensary called Herbs Jamaica.
“Right now were moving locations to a bigger space, and I’m super excited about that,” he shared about his dispensary.
He even has enough to spend on material items some would consider “dumb purc
hases,” but Rainey is proud of the Porsche 911 Turbo S he has in his driveway. It’s part of his passion for cars that he plans to capitalize on with the new car channel he’s set to launch.“I’m going to be featuring the craziest car builds from all over the world,” he said.
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