3 Ways To Jumpstart Your Financial Goals In 2024 According To This Financial Literacy Entrepreneur
With every new year comes new goals or resolutions that people want to accomplish, and usually, they fall in either the fitness/ health category or the finances category. When it comes to financial goals, USA Today reports that 55.70% of people are saving for a rainy day, followed by 52.90% of people saving for retirement, and so on. To hit those goals, budgeting comes into play. However, it can be hard to know where to start. Ebony Beckford of Fin Lit Kids created a financial literacy platform for kids and parents who want to teach their kids about the importance of the dollar. After becoming a mother, the entrepreneur was inspired to give her daughter Madison a head start by teaching her about financial literacy, which was something that she wasn’t exposed to in her childhood.
“My mother passed away when I was 18, and my sister had passed the year before her. And my sister had three small children and I obviously was pretty young myself. And so when I got pregnant with my daughter Madison in 2019, I started to reflect on that period in my life where I was trying to figure out the world without any adult supervision,” she tells xoNecole. “And I started to reflect on like, the things that I wish I would have known and could have done differently. And at the core of all of my issues following the death of my mother and my other family members really was that I didn't have money. It was economics.”
That’s why it was important for Ebony to build Fin Lit Kids because educating people while they are young is the best way to change the landscape and mindset surrounding wealth in our communities. However, you can still get a jumpstart on your financial goals today through three key things, and Ebony explains how below:
Ebony Beckford with her daughter Madison.
Photo courtesy
Budgeting
Oh, budgeting. Some people love it, others despise it. But if you want to meet your financial goals, this is usually the first step, no matter your lifestyle. “It goes back to our values. Figuring out what matters to you most, right? Obviously, we have the essentials that we need to focus on. So pay your bills first. Get the things you need first, but after that, you have to ask yourself, what do you value?” She says.
“Because, like I know, people say, have your emergency fund. Which is important. And I know people say investing, but I think understanding what that means to you. So, investing for me right now is building my business, right? It's not necessarily investing in the stock market, which I do have that, right? But it's figuring out what is going to get you through the next year, right? And then the next year.”
Changing Your Mindset Around Money
Another reason why people may struggle with meeting their financial goals is due to having a negative mindset about money. It can be due to a number of things such as your upbringing. “I grew up in the Bronx. I grew up poor, and I considered myself to be just a poor girl from the Bronx for years after I had built a life for myself. So that was completely different, right? So, I started to realize me and like being poor became a part of my identity,” she shares. “I wasn't walking around being fabulous or not even wanting to be seen because my identity was a poor girl. So I had to do a lot of work within myself to be like no girl, you, your parents, the circumstances that you know your parents were feeling when you came into the world has nothing to do with who you are and what you come from. You come from so much.”
Investing in the Future
Fin Lit Kids tagline is “restoring generational wealth” and one of the ways Ebony suggests people do that is by investing in their kids with not only money, but time. “I think a lot times because of the things that have been done to us it feels like we come from nothing, but we come from immense wealth. And so what we're doing now is not building generational wealth we're restoring it and the key way to restore it is financial literacy,” she suggests.
“And so I think what people, I don't want to say doing wrong, but I think there's a hyper focus on assets, right? Building and creating and generating assets. And so you have parents who are super focused, they're working like crazy. They're not available to their kids because they're trying to make enough money to pass it on to the kids. And then they pass it on and their kids, they blow it. They don't know what to do with it. And so I think people when thinking about building generational wealth, we have to also understand that like financial literacy is a key component of that, as well as the time that we spend with our kids and investing in them and making them understand what our values are and why things are important.”
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image by PeopleImages/ Getty Images
London Alexaundria is the contributing editor for xoNecole. She is an alum of Clark Atlanta University, where she majored in Mass Media Arts and has worked in journalism for over ten years. You can follow her on Instagram and TikTok @theselfcarewriter
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Rihanna Talks Shedding Expectations And Finding Balance As A Mother
Since becoming a mother in 2022, Rihanna has defined parenthood by her terms and hopes to pass that sense of autonomy on to her children.
For Vogue China’s April cover story, Rihanna shared her perspective on raising her two sons with A$AP Rocky, and how she hopes to preserve her children’s uniqueness, devoid of societal expectations.
"The most beautiful thing...is that [children] come into the world with their own individuality and sincerity, without any logic or conformity,” she told the publication. “Which usually makes you feel that you must fit into a certain group."
The “Work” artist, known for her trendsetting style and captivating persona, expressed her desire to support children in fully embracing their individuality and encouraging them to be whoever they want to be. "It's really beautiful to see and I want to continue to help them navigate that and make sure that they know they can be whoever they want to be,” she says.
She continues, “They should embrace it completely, because it's beautiful, and it's unique. I love them just that way."
From shattering music charts to shaking up the beauty industry, Rihanna has forged a path that has since created the “dream” life we see today. One that she says has made her parents proud of.
“I’m living my dream,” she continued. “My parents were very proud of that because they just wanted me to be happy and successful. So, I think the key thing is to find some kind of balance. Yes, balance is important. Do this and you get the best of both worlds. You can write your own life the way you want, and it will be beautiful. Sometimes, you just need to let go of everyone’s expectations and start living your own story.”
Rihanna, who shares sons, RZA, 23 months, and Riot, 8 months, with rapper A$AP Rocky, recently shared her vision for expanding her family in the future in Interview Magazine.
When stylist Mel Ottenberg asked about the number of additional children she hoped to have, Rihanna replied, "As many as God wants me to have.”
"I don't know what God wants, but I would go for more than two. I would try for my girl,” she adds. “But of course, if it's another boy, it's another boy."
Featured image by Neil MockfordWireImage