Three Money Must Haves Financial Literacy Doesn’t Tell You
This country was formed using human beings as currency; human beings as money.
Today in 2020, we want to help people who have historically been taken advantage of, or left out of, wealth generating opportunities so they are equipped and empowered to never again be used as someone else but knows how to use a collective tool as a value exchange.
Mandela Dixon, CEO and Founder of Founder Gym enlightened us all last Friday at our Assembly about decolonizing wealth and important lessons traditional financial literacy doesn’t tell us. Mandela feels that the more she is able to help people understand that money is nothing to be ashamed of, that it’s a symbol of the value you are creating in other people’s lives, the positive value you are bringing to the world… that’s her role in the decolonizing of wealth in this country.
Decolonizing wealth is reimagining the relationship we’ve historically had with what money means, what it can do for us, and why we should or should not want it. It’s a bartering tool. It’s a tool for human interaction.
Yes, it can and is used in ill-intentioned ways. But, it also can create a lot of positives.
What if Malcolm X was a millionaire? What type of world could he have created? What if more of us, womxn of color, were millionaires? What type of politicians would we fund? What type of policies would they enact? It really would change the world if different people learned to master this thing called money.
This is not fluff. This is the work that needs to be done.
- Money is a tool
Create a personal mission statement. What do you want your life to mean? What do you want your legacy to leave behind? When we gather at your memorial, what do you want to be remembered for? If you don’t know what your north star is, or you haven’t declared it yet, that is step number one. That is your driving force pulling you to understand how you need to master money so you can make your mission statement come true. Money is a tool to fulfill your personal mission. Periodt.
2. Trust the process
Do the work of revisiting your past. Reimagine your conversation with money. That energy you are giving off about money is either attracting it to you or repelling it from you. That may sound hippie but Mandela is coming from real experience and training founders all over the world. She knows that it works. You have to trust the process.
3. Have a savings account
No matter where you are, whether that’s already a bad ass entrepreneur or in a job you’re looking to get out of, one simple thing that we all should be doing is having a savings account. This is a small win you can do because it accrues interest. You learn how to put your money away, pay yourself first, and allow your money to grow.
Even this one thing is a simple reckoning that you don’t need to work harder to make more money. It’s about working smarter and putting your money into places that can grow for you. That simple act of understanding that so many of us are working so hard for a dollar. Instead of working so hard for that money, let the money work for you. That’s something all of us can do no matter where we are in our professional journey. It’s so important that we plan for things we can’t plan for.
This post was adapted from our Fireside Chat with Angelica Garcia, Performance Manager at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and Mandela Dixon, CEO and Founder of Founder Gym.
