Brian Sullivan wasn't always financially savvy.
On his new CNBC show, "Last Call," which premieres March 8, the Emmy-nominated journalist says he'll unpack today's pressing culture, policy and business news "from a money perspective." But his financial expertise doesn't come from an economics degree, he says.
Rather, it comes from a lifelong drive for knowledge, stemming from a childhood where money was a huge issue for him and his family. Sullivan's mother dropped out of high school and his father was in the U.S. Navy, so his family constantly moved around to make ends meet.
"We moved from California to Virginia when I was starting high school for money reasons, which was: We didn't have any," Sullivan tells CNBC Make It. "My dad lost his job, and we were starting over — I mean completely broke, stuff in our car, driving across the country."
"I lived in 13 houses in my first 18 years of life," he adds. "[There were times when] we had a little money and we didn't have any money. And we had a little money [again], then we didn't have any money at all. So I've seen the ups and downs of it."
That experience motivated him to explore a career first in trading and later in money news, despite lacking any formal education in economics or finance.
After getting a bachelor's degree in political science and government from Virginia Tech, Sullivan secured a "semi-Wall Street" job at Mitsubishi International trading chemical commodities. He later earned a journalism certificate at New York University, and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School as something "to fall back on," he says.
But his news career really started when he landed a four-day temp job in Bloomberg's IT department, which he managed to parlay into a role "cutting tape" at the media outlet — the "lowest level" job in news, he notes.
"I think that my lack of formal training has maybe helped me a little bit because I just kind of come at it from my own way," Sullivan says. "I don't know if that's good or bad. We'll find out. I'm on year 27, still learning and still trying to figure this thing out."
Sullivan worked his way up to become an anchor on Bloomberg Television and then Fox Business News before joining CNBC in April 2011. Over the past 12 years, he's anchored CNBC shows like "Street Signs," "Power Lunch" and "Worldwide Exchange," all focused on market coverage and business news.
His best advice for climbing the career ladder is just four words: Say yes to everything.
"Nothing that makes you feel uncomfortable, but if somebody asks you to do a professional assignment on a Sunday morning, [don't say], 'Well, I don't want to go. It's Sunday morning,'" Sullivan says. "Just go. Take the opportunity. That's when people thrive."
Watch "Last Call" on CNBC, premiering Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
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