This post was originally published on MommiNation.
I want to take a moment to discuss a very serious topic. A topic that the success of our children, future grandchildren, and even our nation depends on. Let's have an open dialogue about wealth in the black community.
According to a study completed by Prosperity Now, "If the racial wealth divide is left unaddressed and is not exacerbated further over the next eight years, median Black household wealth is on a path to hit zero by 2053." $0?!? That is in less than 35 years. Personally, my son will only be 47, and I, for certain, cannot let this become his reality. We cannot let this become reality!
Reflect on the concepts you learned growing up around wealth. Where did you learn those concepts? Most likely, you didn't learn anything about wealth in school. I'd be willing to bet that whatever you learned, good, bad, or indifferent, you learned from the examples within your family dynamic. Have you noticed the difference between the wealth of blacks vs. wealth of whites? I'm sure you have. But how can we close this gap and how can we blur the lines to make it impossible to notice this difference?
The answer is within our children.
It is our responsibility to teach our children about generational wealth. It is one thing to teach our children how to have a healthy relationship with money, but if we are not passing wealth on to them, we cannot be sure they will acquire it. It is time we break the generational curse of scarcity and start securing our legacies. We can disrupt the wealth gap, but we must be intentional and forward thinking. Generational wealth is not just about money passed down, it is also opportunities, support, and investments to generate more money.
Let's talk steps:
Self-Care
GiphySelf-care is not only about taking bubble baths, meditating, and working out. Self-care is about preserving your health, which includes your financial health. If you have mountains of debt, poor credit, no savings/investments, or unhealthy spending habits, that is what you will pass to your children. Before your child can become wealthy, your financial independence is required. This is the first step to setting your children up for generational wealth.
Multiple Streams of Income
GiphyWe are talking about building wealth, therefore having only one source of income will not cut it. Take all of your eggs out of that one basket and start spreading the wealth. It is almost impossible to depend on a 9-5 to build wealth when lay-offs, pay cuts, and unforeseen circumstances can storm through your life at any moment. Multiple streams of income not only provides security, but it also builds wealth. Many financial books (as well as the internet… and you know the internet is always right) proclaim that the average millionaire has seven sources of income. How many streams of income do you have?
No Fund Me
GiphyLife insurance is not to protect you, it is to protect your family. Life insurance is important for several reasons. The most important reason is to ensure that you do not pass on debt to your loved ones. Leaving funeral expenses, debt, and financial burdens to our loved ones must stop! If you take nothing else from this article, take this. Go get a life insurance policy ASAP! I cannot see another GoFundMe as a substitute for life insurance. In addition to covering your debts, life insurance can leave a substantial inheritance for your family leading up to the time that you have successfully built wealth yourself.
Credit
On the personal finance scene, there is a big debate around the use of credit. Personally, I feel like credit is a necessary evil. When your child is 16 (as young as 13 with some companies), add them to your oldest credit card with excellent payment history, utilizing 10% or less of the limit, and ensure the company is reporting to the credit bureau. Warning: This should ONLY be done if you are an extremely responsible credit card user. If you are not, DO NOT take this action and see number 1 on this list immediately. Please do not ruin your child's credit before they are old enough to ruin their own. Building your child's credit at an early age allows them to immediately obtain business loans, an auto loan with a low-interest rate, buy a home, get an apartment, etc. If you are successful at building wealth, which allows them to cash flow all expenses, they will not need credit. But, it will not hurt to have a 700+ credit score at the age of 18.
Investments
I could write an entire blog post about investments and how important they are (and actually, I probably will in the future). But for now, I'll keep it brief. THIS is the part where you build wealth. In order to pass down wealth, you want to pass down assets that will continue to generate more assets.
Retirement Account
- First and foremost, you should have a retirement investment account. This will prevent you from working the rest of your life while continuing to generate passive income. Once you leave this earth, your contributions will be transferred to your beneficiaries (your family).
Real Estate
- Investing in property is arguably the most efficient way to build and pass on wealth. Real estate is a tangible purchase you can make that will appreciate and become more valuable over time.
529 Plan
- Invest in your child's education. Now this is one I am passionate about because I have a massive amount of student loan debt that has prevented me from living my best life and also put me behind the curve of building a legacy for my child. Recent studies show that the US student loan debt is $1.5 TRILLION and black women hold $890 BILLION of this total. Whether college is necessary is debatable, but I can tell you as a person that hires/fires in corporate America and a person whose income has tripled because of a Masters degree, having a degree opens more doors than not. Take advantage of a college savings plan at a young age and prevent your child from falling in the student loan trap that will make it difficult for them to build and pass on generational wealth.
Stocks, Bonds, and the Likes
- Stash money into low-cost investment funds for your children at a young age. Let compound interest do its thing, and your child will be set when they enter adulthood.
The transmission of wealth is often accomplished much earlier in life and in less direct ways than inheritances during late adulthood. Securing your family's legacy will take intentional small steps that will make a substantial impact. Start now! Finish strong! And let's secure the bag our children will benefit from for generations to come.
Were you set up financially for generational wealth? Have you utilized any of these tips to set your children up for wealth? Or were any of these tips utilized to prepare you to receive wealth?
Written by Mykal Steen
Originally published on MommiNation
Kids need a village and moms need a nation! MommiNation serves the tea on everything about motherhood you never thought you needed to know by bringing together many of your favorite mom bloggers and experts all in one place.
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If there is one summer-themed myth that I absolutely cannot wait to die, it’s the belief that, so long as you have a lot of melanin in your skin, sunscreen isn’t necessary. As you’re about to see below, not only is that lies, lies and more lies, it would actually be a wise move to purchase one brand for your body and another for your face.
If sunscreen, let alone two different kinds, doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, let me plead my case — for the sake of the ultimate health and well-being of your skin this summer season.
What Is Sunscreen All About? Really.
GiphyI can’t say that the origin story of sunscreen is something that I’ve always wondered about; however, while I was sitting down to pin this, my curiosity was a bit piqued. What I discovered is that during the mid-1940s, a Swiss chemist by the name of Franz Greiter came up with the first modern kind of sunscreen. A couple of years before that, a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Green was out here mixing coconut oil and coconut butter together, and that ended up becoming the top ingredients for what we now know to be Coppertone Suntan Lotion. The more you know.
Anyway, the purpose of sunscreen is to create a barrier on your skin that helps to keep UV rays from damaging it — not just when it comes to avoiding sunburn but also skin cancer and premature aging. If you’ve ever wondered what the SPF is on the labels of sunscreens, what it stands for is Sun Protection Factor.
That said, if the label states that it’s a “broad spectrum” type of sunscreen, that means it can protect your skin from UVA and UVB rays (which is a good thing because both rays have the potential to cause skin cancer). If it says “SPF 30” (or higher), that means it’s the kind of sunscreen that the American Academy of Dermatology approves of.
Since sunscreen contains quite a few chemicals, you might be wondering if there are any that you should be leery of. Well, one that is a bit on the controversial side is oxybenzone, mostly because it is considered to bea hormone disruptor. Although research is still ongoing, many health experts say that it’s not an ingredient to be worried about overall.
There is also more data coming out that certain ingredients in sunscreen can actually be absorbed into your bloodstream, though (not to mention that CNN recently published a report that only one-quarter of commercial sunscreens work as well as they claim to). If the mere thought of that has you a bit stressed out, there are mineral alternatives that you can try. You can read about some of the pros and cons of those here.
As far as how to get the absolute most out of your sunscreen, you should apply it about 15 minutes before you plan on going out in the sun; you should cover your body from head to toe; you should be prepared to reapply it every two hours; you should keep in mind that sunscreen is not 100 percent waterproof (although the ones with the “water resistance” label tend to last for 40-60 minutes or so), and you should never forget that the shelf life for sunscreen is typically somewhere around three years.
Why Do Melanated People Need It?
GiphyAight, so now that the 411 on sunscreen has been shared, if, as a Black woman, you’re wondering if you need to apply sunscreen (especially on a consistent basis) — I hope that enough articles have been published at this point that you know the answer to that (even if you are low-key ignoring it): YES, YOU SHOULD. And yes, I am yelling it!
Although it is true that melanin does absorb a certain amount of UV rays and protects skin from sun damage, it’s not so good at it that we don’t need extra protection in the form of sunscreen.
Besides, it’s wise to always keep in mind that currently, 1 in 5 Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer at some point in their lifetime. Not only that, but sun damage can also come in the form of hyperpigmentation, dark spots, and again, aging.
On the aging front, sunscreen contains ingredients that help to deeply moisturize your skin, so that the sun isn’t able to dry it out (which can lead to fine lines and wrinkles) and it can help to keep the sun’s rays from breaking down the collagen and elastin that your skin needs in order to stay youthful looking.
All of this isn’t something that only the less-melanated people should care about — we all should (check out “Yes, Black CAN Crack. Here's What To Do About It, Tho.”). That said, a brand worth checking out is Black Girl Sunscreen.
Here’s Why “One Screen Fits All” Should Be Tweaked a Bit
GiphyOkay, so now it’s time to get to the actual title of this piece — when it comes to applying sunscreen, should you use the same on your face that you use everywhere else? Great question. Although it might initially seem that it really doesn’t matter if you apply the same product on your face that you do on your body — think about (for instance) the lotion that you apply to your body’s skin. Do you slather the same brand on your face, or do you use a moisturizer on it that’s specifically made for your facial needs?
The same point applies to sunscreen because the reality is that the skin on your face is thinner and more sensitive than the skin that is on the rest of your body. Not only that, but the sunscreens that are customized for your face tend to absorb quicker, are less oily, they reduce the chances of clogging up your pores, and they oftentimes have less (of the same) chemicals in them too.
As a bonus, if you go with a mineral sunscreen that is made for your face, you don’t have to worry about it stinging your eyes like the “regular” sunscreens can.
With all of this said, I ain’t got no lies to tell you — facial sunscreens are a bit more expensive; however, if you can apply certain ones, knowing that, for starters, your chances of experiencing a breakout are significantly lower, that alone should make it worth the cost of the investment, right? I would think so.
BONUS: DIY Sunscreen Is Not Recommended
GiphyOkay and if after taking all of this in, you’ve not only committed to wearing sunscreen but buying a different type of one for your face yet you like to use all-natural alternatives as much as possible, and so a part of you is like, “Hell, I’ll just make my own”? Umm…yeah…let’s not do that.
Articles like TIME’s “Why You Really Shouldn’t Make Your Own Sunscreen” explain, quite clearly why, if there is one thing where you shouldn’t take the DIY route, it’s sunscreen. For one thing, you probably won’t get the ratio of ingredients that you need right in order to thoroughly protect your skin. Also, many of the recipes that you see online, the SPF of them end up being extremely low, not to mention the fact some could lead to skin irritation and/or allergic reactions.
So, instead of risking it with a homemade sunscreen, come up off of a couple of bucks. Your skin will be forever grateful. Quite literally.
___
So yeah, this year, the next time you head out to pick up some sunscreen, make the concerted effort to get one that’s specifically made for your face, too. Anything that can help you to put your best face forward, even in the sun, don’t deny yourself, chile.
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