Everyone Who Tweets Is An 'Idiot' - And Other Insights From Charles Barkley
Outspoken NBA hall of fame member Sir Charles Barkley joined CNBC's Maria Bartiromo on the "Closing Bell" for a tremendous interview.
We've included some of his insights on jobs, the market and life below. He also weighed in on the George Zimmerman trial and agreed that he should have been acquitted.
On the only jobs in the world that count:
"Well, Maria, no disrespect to you. There's only five real jobs in the world — teacher, farmer, policemen, doctor and somebody's who's in the armed service. Everybody else can just shut the hell up and enjoy life. You know, I think those five jobs are really important and significant. If you don't have one of those jobs, you shouldn't take yourself that serious."
On investing in the market and protecting your wealth:
Barkley: "I do have money in this market. The key, when you have money, I'm not bragging just blessed to have money, you probably want to risk only 20, 25% of it. You know 70% you just want to put in safe stuff. You know 70% of professional athletes go broke."
Bartiromo: "That is amazing. I feel like the more money you have, the more risk you are to lose it." Barkley: "The more free loaders you have, actually. You just have to learn to tell your family and friends 'No.' Once you start giving people money they never stop. You become an enabler. Once you start giving people money, they never stop. It is not like you say, 'Hey, let me give you money,' but they keep coming back. You have to learn the magic word 'No, I'm not giving you money.'" Bartiromo: But you have to put your money in the market for long-term investment games. Barkley: Well, the key is singles and doubles. Most of the time, you probably get a hundred investment plans and opportunities a week. Most of them start out saying, 'I have a way to make a lot of money.' Very seldom do you have an investment to make a lot of money. Not very often do you hit a home run. Just a lot of singles and doubles. I've been blessed to make a lot of money for a long period of time. I just want singles and doubles. On why people who Tweet are idiots: "I would never Tweet. The thing about being in the lime light, you're like the homecoming queen, all of the ugly girls hate you. When you are successful, there is animosity toward you. It doesn't matter what you say. Half of the people like it and half of the people dislike that. I choose not ot give those that don't like me ammunition." On why we should appreciate the smart kids in high school: "...Going back to '84 when I first got into the NBA and became somewhat known, there's built-in animosity toward people who are successful. When I was in high school, me and my friends hated the smart people because we were dumb. We didn't know we were idiots for being dumb. We should have appreciated those kids for being smart and being successful. And like I say, dumb people don't like smart people. Poor people don't like rich people. Ugly people don't like good looking people. Psychologically, there's a disadvantage...I don't need the haters." Watch the rest of the interview below: