We Asked Hypebeasts Standing Outside Supreme for Financial Advice

Supreme opened a new store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Thursday. And, as expected, hordes of hypebeasts from around the globe descended on the borough with the hopes of copping box-logo T-shirts and accessories. This meant insanely long waits in not one but three different lines. Some people were there to buy clothes that they planned to wear. But a good chunk of them were hustlers, focused on reselling the gear with insane markups. We figured we could learn a lot from their capitalistic ways, so we asked some of these micro-entrepreneurs for financial advice.

Mike, 28

VICE: Which credit card is the best?
I have never even registered my name. I don’t know.

Do you think buying a home is a good investment?
Definitely.

Do you see yourself buying a home in the next few years?
You trying to sell me a crib? I mean, within the next five years, I’m trying to be in that position.

What’s the best way to save money?
Don’t put it in a bank. Use a lock box or something.

A lock box?
Yeah, put it where you can’t get it. But don’t put it in a bank.

Tony C., 30

So do you think buying a home is a good investment?
Um, yeah. If you know the market, I guess.

Do you think it’s something millennials should be thinking about?
Definitely. If you can make a little money off owning property then, yeah, real estate is a good way to go.

Which credit card do you think is the best?
Right now, I use American Express. It has great rewards, the more you buy. Then you can get money, like credit for your statements. I really like it.

Do you think it’s better for a credit card to pay off the entire monthly balance or to pay off the minimum?
It’s better to keep up with your payments. I would rather pay everything because credit card [debt] builds up. Paying the minimum payment, it’s probably not going to be enough.

Do you have advice on a technique for managing money?
Don’t spend more than what’s in your checking account, I guess.

Mike L., 30

Which credit card do you think is the best?
American Express

What is the best way to build a good savings account?
Put money away everyday, loose change.

Do you worry about your credit score?
Of course

Do you think there are ways to improve your credit score?
Just make sure all of your bills are paid on time.

Would you ever use Bitcoin to manage your money?
Of course, of course

Do you think it’s a safe way to use your money?
Yeah, I have bitcoins. I bought them at $250, and now they’re roughly about $4300.

So it’s a good investment—
[To stranger] I’ll give you $1,100 for the clippers and the T-shirt!

Are you out here trying to resell?
I’m here for personal.

For personal?
We flew out here from LA just to get personal.

You flew out from LA just for the opening of the store?
Uh huh, just to get personal.

Do you think clothing is a good investment in the long term? You said you made money off of Bitcoin.
Oh, yeah, of course

Do you find that Supreme is another good investment?
It’s all a waiting game, just like anything else. You buy some shoes instantly, you can sell them right away, get some money. You hold on to them, just like art, it will only go up. A lot of people get impatient and start wearing the stuff. They end up selling it for $400, $500, not realizing what they have or whatever, but that’s them.

Warbux, 30

Would you use Bitcoin?
Absolutely. Why not?

Do you use it?
Uh no, not yet. I actually have to become educated on it before I actually want to touch something like that. It’s the same thing with stocks—you wanna know what the hell you’re doing before you invest in something like that.

Do you invest in any stocks?
Absolutely

Do you have any advice for young people wanting to invest?
First you want to watch market trends and see what is actually popular. You wanna see something that you might be interested in, like if you’re interested in sneakers and stuff. Then you wanna look at Nike stock, you wanna look at adidas stock, even though they’re a little pricey, you still want to watch the trend. If you notice that it’s going up, then you know what time would be good to invest, you know?

Do you think there is good way to pay off student loan debt?
Absolutely, if you have just a steady nine-to-five, that’s not gonna cut it. You’re going to have to find other means of hustling, find something that you’re good at. Whether it be standing in line to get a Nike shoe, an adidas shoe, or a Supreme. Not just that—anything that could produce revenue. You want to have multiple streams of revenue, or else it will never work out, you’ll never get out of debt.

Do you think buying a home is a good choice?
Uh, in the current market, if you want to buy a fixer-upper, probably. If not, I would suggest investing in smaller things first to build a portfolio of different revenue streams and go from there.

That’s good advice. What credit card do you think is the best?
Credit card? I have none.

Do you think a credit card is a good idea or a bad idea?
It could work both ways. Sometimes you might have an emergency that you might be able to use it for, so it’s beneficial. But for the most part people choose to use credit cards for idiotic things like shoes, clothes, and just trivial stuff.

Zohar, 16, and Simon, 17

VICE: Which credit card do you think is the best?
Zohar: AmEx

Is it better to pay off the entire balance of a credit card or to do so in smaller payments?
The entire monthly balance

What do you think is the best way to build a healthy savings account?
Every time you get paid, take like a small percentage of it and dump it in there, and never touch it. I mean, that’s if you get paid, you know, at a constant rate.

Do you worry about student loan debt?
No

Would you ever use a decentralized cryptocurrency like Bitcoin?
I used it.

Do you think it’s a good investment?
Yes and no at the same time, because I got robbed from my Bitcoin, like a couple of days ago. My wallet got hacked. It’s not very secure—unless you have like a hardware wallet.

What do you use Bitcoin for?
Just stocking up

Did you buy a lot today?
The bag is pretty full.
Simon: It’s still full.

Are you selling it?
Zohar: Most. I keep the hype items.

Like that shirt? Is that shirt really hype?
Simon: It’s for the body
Zohar: At the moment it’s going for $1.1–1.5.

Thousand?
Zohar: Yeah, and it’s a $34 shirt. Value only increases over time.

Andre, 25

Do you think buying a home is a good investment?
Like a house?

Like a house.
Oh yeah. Hell yeah. That was random.

What’s a good way to save money?
I take all my loose change, I don’t spend dollar bills. It don’t add up to a lot, but if you save every time, you spend a large bill, save the small bills. Only spend the big bills. It has been helping me out a lot.

What do you think the most effective way to improve your credit score is?
Paying it. If you use it on Monday, try to pay it by Friday. It’ll boost you up.

How can someone most effectively pay off their student loan debt, in your opinion?
Supreme

Chris B, 21, and Time Is Money, 30

Time is Money (TIM): I gotta make sure you’re not the feds. I’m gonna need to see ID before you do this.

I’m not the feds. Which credit card do you think is the best?
Chris: The Chase Freedom card.
TIM: Yeah, that’s what I got
Chris: It’s the best card.

What’s the best way to pay off the balance on a credit card?
Chris: Yeah, you don’t want to be in debt, you should pay it off.
TIM: Yeah, you should use that for backup. Credit cards are for emergencies.
Chris: You can’t just swipe, swipe, swipe, “Oh, I don’t have the money to pay this!” You got to have the money in your pocket to pay with a credit card.
TIM: Let me tell you the smartest thing to do with a credit card. Let me tell you what I did. If I’m going to buy $1,000 dollars worth of items, I’ll put it on the credit card to get the rewards points. Then, when the bill comes, I’m not gonna put the lowest payment. If the bill was $1000, I’ll put down $600. They get you on the interest fees.

Is buying a house right now a good investment?
Chris: Of course it is. Everybody needs somewhere to live. Rent is honestly making a lot of money right now. My boss actually owns three houses, and that’s what he’s making most of his income in.

Would you ever consider investing in Bitcoin?
I wouldn’t because honestly I don’t know what it is. I wouldn’t risk my money on something I don’t have information on.

What’s the best way to save money?
You always have to have income other than your job. So I resell on top of my other job, and that money goes straight to the bank.