It’s high time black kids start getting financial literacy lessons from home as soon as possible. You can’t go through life with bling-bling, BMF, always lit lifestyle and focus little on real estate, trust funds, businesses, and properties.
You know what, the showbiz is quite entertaining. So much so that most of us sitting on this other side of the screen, the viewers’ end, forget that it is just that; entertainment.
None of it is real, and yes even if they say it is reality television, much of it is controlled reality. A reality not exposed to real-life elements like loss of job, foreclosure warnings, racial bias, arbitrary arrests and shootings by trigger-happy cops.
Failure to Plan, is Planning to Fail
In most African American homes, kids are taught that their path out of poverty lies with going through the school system and securing a job. However, in reality, that school and employment system are riddled with racial biases, which eventually work to their disadvantage.
Also, the fact that employers have no loyalty to their employees, as one is easily replaceable and often times quickly dismiss-able. That said, it is quite clear that the path to financial freedom and security lies not in employment, but self-employment.
That is not to say one should not aspire towards getting employed. No, as a lot of times African Americans come from families where for several generations, family members have not been financially free and secured.
It might first be necessary to get employed, and then embark on savings, and over time invest those savings in wealth creation ventures.
Today’s Black Parent’s role in teaching Black Kids Financial Literacy
Information is power, and thanks to the current digital technology era, information is available to virtually anyone, anytime, and anywhere. Ignorance is no longer an excuse, for what you don’t know, you can probably find online.
It is high time that the multi-generational poverty chain is broken by instilling financial literacy in every member of the family. The earlier that begins the better.
Also, the community needs to drop habits and lifestyles that really has never helped the society. Things like gang banging, drug dealing, gang feuds, beefing need to stop. They not only lead to a lot of youths, mostly young black men, being incarcerated or dying by the bullet but also leave behind children without a role-model male figure in their lives.
SMARTs beats being COOL any day
It’s time the black community stops idolizing being cool and manifesting pop culture, bling-bling, and flashy lifestyle, and emphasize on mastering Compound Interest Law of 72.
Parents ought to begin stimulating the minds of their kids with helpful things leading to economic empowerment. It starts by teaching them why they should save a part of their allowance and to think about long-term investments. Rather than engaging in flashy lifestyles of news ‘kicks and Blowing Money Fast (BMF).’
Stop being just Consumers, and start being Producers
For far too long, the African American community has occupied the position of consumers; those who are producers are quite few and far in-between.
Yes, the last 15 years has seen an impressive rise in Black Business Ownership, but it is still not enough representation of the community on the producers’ side of the scale.
It is high-time the following basic concepts of financial literacy be a common thing across African American homes:
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- Savings vs. Expenditure – They need to strike the right balance between expenditure and saving from the income they receive
- Income vs. Debt – How not to have more debts than their income
- Gross vs. Net Income – Distinguish how much is their spendable income after all deductions
- Producer vs. Consumer – Which side of the scale are they sitting on with regards to being either a producer or a consumer
Afrikagora has covered much of these topics before, and you can get an overview of each of the mentioned financial literacy aspect by checking out our previous blogs.
Real Estate Tips: Buy Land NOW, they’re not making more of it
Biz 1o1 – What is an Asset, What is a Liability
How the Very Rich make their Money; Employment vs. Self-Employed vs. Big Business vs. Investing
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