A purpose-driven life, wanting to do something bigger than oneself is what Derek Ferguson envisioned. From his humble beginnings in the Bronx to going to an Ivy League school at 16, and now helping people retire with grace at TIAA, his goal has been achieved.

Ferguson discusses the early days and going “all the way Bronx,” on Financial Freestyle with Ross Mac. On July 1st, watch the full version on Yahoo Finance and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

This post was written by Jimi Corpuz

Video Transcript

I did really great in school.

Uh you know, graduated high school when I was 16, uh you know, went to the Wharton school, which, which we know, honestly showed up there.

I had no idea where I was, you know, and uh at 16, middle of Philadelphia as a teenager, Bronx, Bronx born, I came with that.

I'm gonna take you way back.

I, I showed up on campus with Bell Bottom Lees with my name on the, on the bottom of them.

So, yeah, I was all the way, bro.

Uh So, uh no, so it was just an incredible experience.

And again, my comfort zone when I got in that environment was just numbers.

Like I was always just good with numbers.

So once I got some numbers in front of me, I was, I was comfortable, you know, majored in accounting and then went on to the Harvard Business School.

And uh so for me, you know, my focus really, my journey has been around just one, mastering everything I try to do.

Uh but always keeping a mindset around like, how am I impacting the world?

Like I felt like I was so honored and privileged to be in the places I was in that I had to have impact and I had to do something that was bigger than me.

That was, that was something that would impact the community.