Understanding how to manage your money and basic financial literacy can help many people escape poverty. That’s the message investment coach Wall Street Trapper preaches to his audience. Real name Leon Howard, he is an ex-convict who learned lessons the hard way. After decades of self-education, Wall Street Trapper has a net worth of $6 million.
Early Life
Leon Howard grew up in one of New Orleans’ tougher neighbourhoods. At 9, he witnessed his mother being shot. He never knew his father, and after his mother was later incarcerated and his grandmother passed away, he was left homeless as a young teenager and turned to street crime to survive.
At age 16, Howard was convicted of attempted murder and armed robbery and received a 10-year prison sentence. While incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, he met an unnamed white cellmate who changed the way he viewed money.
The man revealed that when his sentence was over, he would still have $2 million in the bank. He also told Leon that he wasn’t on the right track, educating him about the importance of investing and building businesses.
Achieving Freedom
As an inmate, Howard spent a lot of time learning about the stock market through reading books and watching CNBC. He was also chosen to be a prison laborer, cutting down trees, earning eight cents per hour.
After his sentence ended, Leon landed a job as an ironworker, setting up structural frameworks for buildings. The New Orleans native invested 70% of his income into stocks during this time.
Despite being a free man, he still had several financial setbacks. However, Leon was persistent and kept on learning, eventually transitioning out of ironwork to focus full-time on investing and financial education.
Becoming an Educator
Leon launched his company, From the Trap to Wall Street, to teach financial literacy to the average person. In 2018, he created the Wall Street Trapper YouTube channel to reach a larger audience.
He also created WallStreetTrapper.com to sell online courses, e-books, and merchandise. He has since expanded into a full paid education platform known as The Trapper University, which offers investing courses and resources for people looking to build wealth through the stock market. Apart from making his own content, he is a frequent guest on podcasts like The Breakfast Club, Lewis Howes, and Earn Your Leisure.
In interviews, the businessman became known for a teaching style that resonates with African-Americans in urban communities. This helped him attract over 718,000 YouTube subscribers along with a strong following on Instagram, X, and TikTok.
Net Worth and Earnings
Though he keeps his portfolio private, it is likely that Leon’s biggest income source is investing in stable stocks such as Apple and Microsoft. He also earns a considerable amount of income through brand deals, YouTube ad revenue, merch, courses, and The Trapper University.
Although he has an estimated fortune of $6 million, Howard has indicated that wealth can be hidden through trusts and LLCs. As he once put it on social media: “Once you get a certain level of bread, you learn how to hide it in LLCs and trusts. Own nothing, control everything.” This means his real fortune may be larger than public estimates suggest.
Personal Life
After meeting at a cafe in Alaska, Leon started dating fellow social media star Maria Gloria in 2015. They have a son together, and both have a child from previous relationships. The couple raises the three kids in Citrus Heights, California.
