Two Jacquelyn Members, Decades of Experience, and one Shared Conviction: the basics are everything.
The best coaches in any sport will tell you the same thing: master the fundamentals before anything else. Two Jacquelyn members have spent their careers saying the exact same thing about money.
Wornel Simpson and Jay King arrived at their work in financial literacy from different places and are now focused on using their knowledge to help people gain financial freedom. Simpson spent more than 40 years as a financial advisor working with individuals and families from every walk of life. He also spent years coaching student-athletes, “The parallels between sports and money are undeniable,” Simpson said.
Jay King, Founder and President of the Greater Sacramento Financial Literacy Group and President of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, came to the work in a unique way: by recognizing what he didn’t know. Reflecting on his early investment strategies, he says simply, “I happened to be in the right place at the right time, but with the wrong knowledge.” He now shares his knowledge with this group and beyond, helping others find financial freedom.
During our interviews, both men reached for a sports analogy when asked to explain why the basics matter most. “Footwork, conditioning, teamwork, communication, and repetition of the fundamentals are the same building blocks you find in a solid financial plan,” Simpson says. King echoes the approach. “You don’t have to rush into it. A little bit at a time. Just do some reading, studying, research.” Start small, build the habit, and scale from there.
That philosophy shapes Wornel Simpson’s book, Being Brilliant on the Basics, a guide built not around advanced strategies but around the foundational understanding that most people never receive. “Being Brilliant on the Basics matters even more than advanced investment strategies,” he says. “It’s the foundation of financial freedom.”
Jay King’s Greater Sacramento Financial Literacy Group operates from the same premise, bringing together more than 1,000 members across the country who meet virtually twice a month to learn, ask questions, and invest alongside one another in everything from stocks to startups.
For both men, the conversations have always been bigger than money.
Simpson puts it directly: “It’s about people. It’s about relationships. It’s about trust. Wealth is connected to community, whether we acknowledge it or not.” King frames it on a national scale. “Financial literacy is important overall for America. It needs to be part of our elementary, middle, and high school curriculum.”
The stakes are not abstract. According to a 2025 YahooFinance! article, “Half of Americans have less than $500 in savings, with 39% having $250 or less in savings.”1 And another published in 2025 explains, “40% of workers making $300,000 a year say they are living paycheck to paycheck.”2 These are not fringe statistics. They are a call to action.
What both men are offering, ultimately, is a reframe. Financial literacy is not a luxury skill or a subject reserved for the wealthy. It is the difference between daily anxiety and genuine confidence in finances. “A strong level of financial literacy replaces uncertainty with understanding,” Simpson says. King describes it as waking up without dread, knowing that when things get hard, you have something to pull from.
Simpson’s four starting points from Being Brilliant on the Basics: leverage expertise, keep learning, establish clear and concrete goals, and take a holistic approach to financial wellness. King’s are just as accessible: buy partial stocks, start asking questions, and invest in your retirement accounts early. “The compounding interest over time… it’s going to add up. We say that like it’s a long way away, but it’s really not.”
The basics aren’t beneath anyone. For Wornel Simpson and Jay King, they’re the whole point.
“There is a quiet power in mastering the fundamentals. In a world that moves fast whereheadlines, trends, and technologychange by the hour. It is easy to forget that greatness is built on small, disciplined steps repeated with excellence and intention.That’s what being brilliant on the basics means. “
– Excerpt from Being Brilliant On The Basics
1 Olya Gabrielle. “How Much Money Do Americans Have in Their Bank Accounts in 2025?” finance.yahoo.com, January 12, 2025, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/much-money-americans-bank-accounts-120105182.html. 4 March 2026. 2 “Some 40% Of People Earning More Than $300,000 Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck, New Goldman Sachs Study Says” finance.yahoo.com,October 18, 2025, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/40-people-earning-more-300-223237023.html. 4 March 2026.
