Ep 43 | Einstein of Wall Street and His One Rule for Money
He’s the most photographed stockbroker on Earth and his story is as wild as the trading floor itself. From Studio 54 nights to shaving his head on the NYSE for charity, Peter “Einstein of Wall Street” Tuchman has seen every market cycle (and hairstyle) imaginable. In this episode, Priya Malani sits down with the Wall Street legend to talk ego, resilience, and the timeless money advice that never goes out of style.
Guest Bio:
Known worldwide as the Einstein of Wall Street, Peter Tuchman has spent nearly four decades on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. With his expressive face and electric personality, he’s become the most photographed stockbroker on Earth - appearing everywhere from CNBC and CNN to the front pages of global newspapers.
Beyond trading, Peter is a partner at the NYSE and co-founder of the Wall Street Global Trading Academy, where he and fellow trader David Green teach thousands of students technical analysis, risk management, and real-world trading discipline. A sought-after speaker and educator, Peter brings humor, heart, and hard-earned perspective to every conversation about markets, mindset, and the psychology of money.
Takeaways:
Why “invest in stocks, not stuff” might be the smartest financial advice you’ll ever get
What the chaos of the 1980s trading floor can teach us about discipline and mindset today
How Einstein’s wild path - from Studio 54 doorman to Wall Street icon - shaped his view on risk and reward
The simple math behind turning $250 a month into $1 million
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Transcription
I recently had a wonderful time with Marshawn Lynch. You know who he is? It’s okay, I didn’t know either, but he’s a famous football player. He’s known as “The Beast,” and apparently he came down to the stock exchange to do something. They had sort of spoken to him for a while, and then they realized that maybe they should toss him over to me. He grabbed me and we sat down on the floor, and we started doing this “beat your chest” like Wolf of Wall Street.
Who the fuck am I to tell you what to do with your money? My name is Priya Malani, currently managing millions of hardworking dollars. Enough foreplay, let’s talk money. Welcome to The F Word: Smart Money.
Hi everyone. Welcome to The F Word. I’m Priya Malani, and today I get to record from the absolutely historic and stunning New York Stock Exchange. This is so cool to be here. I’m on the balcony overlooking the trading floor, and the bell rang just a few hours ago. Today I get to introduce you to somebody insanely impressive—someone who I’ve known for over a decade—the most photographed stockbroker in the entire world. Ladies and gentlemen, my friend, the historic and also stunning, photogenic Einstein on Wall Street.
Thank you so much for being here.
Oh my God, you’re so amazing. I’m so happy.
So just before we get into the good stuff—how long have you actually been here?
I’ve been here for 137 years. I actually went to high school with Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. They’re both buried over at Trinity Church, and I’m still here.
You’re holding down the fort.
I just celebrated 40 years. It’s funny, they just put up a photograph from when Ronald Reagan rang the opening bell, March 28th, 1985. It turned out that was the first day I started my summer internship here.
So speaking of Ronald Reagan—so many amazing people have walked across this floor, from Serena Williams to Snooki, from Betty White to Nelson Mandela. You’ve gotten the chance…
I always say it’s about the DJ. That’s my thing.
Okay, so on that note, who is the most exciting person you feel you’ve gotten to meet?
There are a lot. I would say Sean Connery for me. James Bond—one of my celebrity crush-type people. He was amazing. He was a little bit drunk and that was kind of fun. You know, James Bond—it doesn’t get cooler than that.
Oh, it does not.
Then I would say we’ve had some really fun sports people, personal mentors. I always have fun interactions—some of them know who I am, some don’t—but I’ll just lay the groundwork out.
Like Donny Osmond, for instance. He came down here and didn’t know who I was at all. I wasn’t as well known back then, but I just walked up to him and said, “Donny, I love you,” and gave him this big kiss. He was completely thrown off, but he went with it. We hugged, laughed, and had this fun moment.
I can’t tell if you’re more excited to meet all these celebrities or they’re more excited to get photographed with you.
You know what, some have been one way, and some have been the other. I got Christie Brinkley and I doing a no-big-deal dance from Studio 54, Robert Downey Jr.—that was super exciting. And then some people are just a little self-impressed.
I recently had a wonderful time with Marshawn Lynch. He’s a famous football player known as “The Beast.” He came down to the stock exchange to do something. They talked to him for a bit, and then they tossed him over to me. He grabbed me, we sat on the floor, and we started doing this beat-your-chest thing like Wolf of Wall Street. If you Google me, you’ll see it—it’s in the thousands already. So many fun actors, CEOs, celebrities, and sports figures—it blows my mind.
You get to meet amazing people. You’re also famous—you’re known as the most photographed stockbroker in the entire world. What is the thing you’d say you’re most famous for?
You know—my hair. Yes. Aaron Burnett on CNN and Mark Haines from CNBC were the first to call me Einstein. They stood outside the stock exchange every morning, and if I was having a good hair day, they’d say the market was going up. So my hair became this barometer for the market. If I had a good hair day, the market went up or down accordingly.
My hair has always been important to me. When I was 18, I had hair down to here—an 18-inch ponytail. It’s been a big deal. But there was a time my hair was more than Wall Street was willing to accept—back in the 80s they told me, “It’s time you cut your hair.” I said, “If you raise $25,000 for charity, I’ll shave my head on the floor.”
Mistake. Never test the people on the floor of the stock exchange. They handed me $25,000 the next day, and they made me shave my head on the floor. There used to be a barber here named Gino—a little Italian guy who didn’t speak a word of English. He shaved my head, we filmed it, and I gave the money to UNICEF and other charities.
Besides being traumatic, it started a tradition. Others began shaving their heads for charity, and together we raised almost a million dollars.
That is awesome.
Okay, take us back. How did you end up here? Did you have a degree in finance?
My parents came here in 1949. They survived a concentration camp, fell in love in a displaced persons camp. My father went to medical school in Germany after the war, came to America, and had me and my brother. I grew up on the Upper West Side of New York.
I went to Riverdale Country School. My first degree was in agriculture—don’t ask me why. I’d lived in Israel for a year and got into it. Then my older brother, a big Wall Street guy, told me, “Enough of this agriculture stuff—you’re a Wall Street person.” So I got a degree in international finance and business. I hated accounting and flunked economics.
After graduating, I moved back to New York, started trading commodities at home, opened a record store, and managed jazz bands around the world. I was always a hustler—selling T-shirts at Grateful Dead shows, doing all kinds of things. I was also getting my master’s at Baruch and working as a doorman at Studio 54.
All of that eventually crashed and burned—it was the 80s, a wild time. So I left. A friend ran an oil company in West Africa, so I went there. Computers were just starting. I pretended to be a computer specialist. I read Lotus 1-2-3 on the plane and showed up as an expert. I did that for about a year and a half—it was amazing.
Then it was time to come back to New York. I was 25. My father had a patient who was a partner at Cowen & Company, a firm on the floor. He and a few others helped me get a summer job as a teletype operator on March 28, 1985—the same day Ronald Reagan rang the opening bell.
It was the heart of the open-outcry era—7,000 people in the room, four trading rooms, chaos. I thrived on it. The energy was perfect for me. That was the beginning—40 years later, the rest is history.
That is such a cool and colorful story.
This podcast is for ambitious professionals who want to get their financial shit together in their 30s so they don’t have to play catch-up in their 40s. If you could give your 30-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Not only am I a trader, but I also mentor young people. I run an academy with my partner David Green teaching people to trade. One of my favorite lines is: stop buying stuff. Invest in stocks, not stock.
We’re the greatest consumer generation—we love to buy things we don’t need. If every time a new iPhone came out, instead of buying it you bought shares of Apple, you’d be rich. Everything we buy loses value; stocks can grow.
If my 20-year-old self had put money into the market every week instead of spending it on things, it would have changed everything. An urge to buy lasts about 20 minutes—walk around, eat some chocolate, sleep on it.
If an 18-year-old put $250 a month into the S&P 500, by 60 they’d have over $1 million. The $1M part is sexy—even if the 60-year-old part isn’t.
Slow and steady wins the race. Don’t buy Nike sneakers—buy Nike stock.
That is tremendous advice.
So people want to get involved with the Wall Street Global Trading Academy—where do they go?
Before COVID, you needed to be an “accredited investor” to trade—meaning you could afford to lose everything and not affect your lifestyle. When COVID came, apps like Webull and Robinhood removed that barrier. Everyone with an iPhone and $100 could trade.
My partner David Green and I saw that 50 million new retail traders had entered the market. None of the trading apps offered education, so we built one—Wall Street Global Trading Academy.
It’s a 21-hour course with coaching and mentoring. We run bootcamps, record sessions, and have over 400 hours of archived content. You can go to wsgta.com.
We’ve partnered with Apex Trader Funding, a futures platform. For $33 you get $50,000 simulated dollars. If you earn $3,000 within a month, you get a paid account and can keep 90% of your profits. They’ve paid out half a billion dollars over five years. Anyone can start.
That is awesome.
We always end with a segment I call Best Bite. I’m a huge foodie, so I want your recommendation—something you’ve eaten lately that’s to die for.
There’s a restaurant in Brooklyn called Taku Sando. It’s a Japanese sandwich place—amazing. They have four sandwiches: crispy chicken, Japanese egg salad, wagyu beef, and codfish. Each comes on soft white Japanese bread, cut into fours so you can share. The owner, Hea, delivered it himself. Incredible.
The other thing—Oishii strawberries. They’re hydroponic strawberries grown in the U.S. They’re like $3 a berry but absolutely delicious. My new addiction.
Those are my two bites.
I love that, and they’re both in my area!
Thank you.
Thank you guys for joining The F Word. Please like, share, and subscribe. We’re trying to grow the show so we can bring on more awesome guests. Not a lot of people talk about money—so share this with your friends and get your financial shit together in your 30s so you don’t have to play catch-up in your 40s.
We’ll see you next time.
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