It’s time to wake up from the American dream
A four year college degree used to be the stepping stone to the American dream.
We played the game, checked the boxes, outperformed our superiors and according to the rule book, we arrived. Only to be disheartened to realize that this couldn’t be it.
My grandmother and aunt raised me for the majority of my adolescence. When I went off to college, graduated with a Civil Engineering degree and landed a well paying corporate role as Pipeline Engineer, you couldn’t tell me nothin.
I was making more money than anyone in my immediate family. I had great medical insurance with a 6% company match 401k program. I was hired into the engineering leadership program so I was getting groomed for upward mobility opportunities. I was living the dream!
Until I woke up.
I was 24 years old. It was a Thursday afternoon when I was to meet with my supervisor to discuss my annual performance review.
I did what any ambitious and hungry for more millennial would do.
I documented all of my achievements over the past 6 months, aligned those efforts with how they not only impacted the department but how they added value to the organization at large. I came up with a few questions to discuss what next step opportunities for me would look like so that I could get clarity on where I needed to focus my efforts now.
I wanted a seat in the C-Suite. I wanted my ambitions to be known. And I wanted to make sure I understood what was required to get there so I could put in the work.
The meeting was a success by most people’s standards.
I was showered with recognition and applauded for my efforts. I was rewarded with a raise… of 2.9%.
I was told that this percentage of growth was rare and that it was on the higher end of what anyone in my department had received. *holds breath and controls facial expressions* I held my composure, expressed my gratitude and ran back to my desk to grab a calculator.
If this was the creme de la creme of compensation increases, I wanted to see how much extra was going to show up on my next paycheck.
Whew Chile, when I tell you my balloon was deflated when the calculator came back with an extra $44.61 to be expected on my weekly paycheck. Please tell me what we gone do with an extra forty-four dollas every week… go to Olive Garden and indulge in the endless breadsticks and soup?!
I was stunned.
The engineer in me continued to run the numbers. What would this type of growth financially account for over the next 40 years of my corporate career?
$80,000 salary
Let’s assume I receive on average a 3% performance increase.
That would mean I would retire with an annual salary of $238,818.
For many, this would be something to delight in. For me (and probably for you) all I felt was that this couldn’t be it. I had $75,000 in student loan debt. No assets to my name. Meaning, ya girl had a negative net worth and was not a fan of ballin on a budget.
I felt like I had no control.
Everything seemed to be subjectively dictated by whomever my boss was at the time. And let me be honest, my lifestyle preferences far exceeded these salary projections. I had goals of living in an ocean front property, first class flights and elaborate 5-star wellness retreat vacations. I didn’t want those goals to only live on my vision board.
My legacy desires turned out to be much bigger than what was promised to us as the American dream. The vision we have been fed accounts for a good life. I wanted a GREAT one!
I didn’t want the system, that was never designed for me to succeed in the first place, to be the primary denominator that determined my earning potential.
And let me be clear, when I’m referring to “the system”, I’m referring to the intentional and institutionalized barriers that were legally put in place, societal accepted norms, and inherited advantages which reduced economic mobility to a snails pace for black and brown folks.
This was the catalyst of my drive for change.
If I couldn’t save my way to financial success, that just meant I had to make more. But how?
I realized that my job dictated my salary but that it did not have to dictate my earning potential. My career was my biggest client but it didn’t have to be my only client. I assumed the position of the CEO over my own life.
Now before I go any further, I want to be clear. This is not a protest to encourage you to put in your resignation. I’m not out here saying that we should all start our own businesses and become entrepreneurs.
This life ain’t for everyone. It’s why so few survive in it.
Employees are needed for our world to go round. Employees are valuable assets to every corporation. Shoot, even Jesus had his disciples. We all need to be on a team. It’s important for you to think about what you’re willing and committed to doing, then assuming the role of that position.
In order to advance in this world, you must be willing to advocate for yourself, to your self and to the outside world. No one was going to come save me (I’m still waiting on Jesus to return) so I decided I was going to save myself.
I woke up.
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