Black Women: You Need Your Own F*** You Money
Financial power starts with you
Years ago, model and business mogul Tyra Banks told us, “Women need their own f*** you money!” You may be wondering what exactly is f*** you money. Well, in loose terms, f*** you money is money women accrue on their own to be able to not just have a say in a situation but to have the say in a situation. It’s power, king me energy, having a set of balls in the room, sitting at the head of the table as the ultimate decision maker.
At the time she said this phrase, I was a twenty-something still delusionally optimistic about my time in corporate America. I figured I had plenty of time to get ahead and make a lot of money to safeguard myself. Now just two months shy of my 35th birthday, I often daydream about how different my career choices could have been if I actually listened to Tyra.
The need for Black women in corporate America to have their own f*** you money is immensely vital. Far too often we are dealing with disparities in the workplace that not only affect us but also our families as well. Getting wrongfully fired over issues like discrimination, racism, harassment, bullying, and abuse are still stark cold realities for us. Of course, there is also the incessant need to fill the wealth gap too. According to a recent article found on Yahoo! News:
“Black women earn 58 cents for every $1 a white man earns, or 42 percent less (that’s 21 percent less than white women).”
F*** you money is financial wellness. It’s being able to create opportunities that can lead to an overall better and healthier life. And for Black women, there are three areas where that can be the most beneficial.
Promptly leave the job/ role that you hate
Have you ever fantasized about just walking away from a job you hate? No two-week notice, no sappy goodbyes to coworkers you can’t stand, no more attacks on your mental health — -just leave.
That’s never been a reality for me and the main reason why is because I have never placed f*** you money as a top priority. I have always told myself, “I’ll save later” or “I’m just going to live my life and it will all work out.” Meanwhile, I was being lulled into a false sense of security that my job was safe or that things would get better. Newsflash: a toxic job doesn’t get better. It’s a slow decaying cancer that eventually destroys you.
The horrendous things I have gone through in the workplace, which I know many Black women have too, could have been a completely different chapter in my life if I placed value on ensuring I had the financial power to quickly exit a situation that was no longer serving me.
Become an entrepreneur
There is nothing that quite compares to being your own boss. The complete control and power to birth a business and have the opportunity to nurture, grow and move it in a way that you see fit is a huge advantage of having f*** you money.
In fact, it should be of no surprise that Black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs today. In an article found on the Fast Company website, the numbers surrounding this profound statement don’t lie:
“17% [of Black women are] in the process of starting or running new businesses (versus 10% of white women and 15% of white men), according to research published in Harvard Business Review.”
Undoubtedly, having the proper funding to begin a new adventure such as entrepreneurship can catapult you into spaces where your dreams and ambitions can truly flourish. Being able to fully chase your own passions and not focus on nurturing someone else’s can change your life in a way you never thought possible.
Invest
You can take your f*** you money and invest in the stock market (it currently looks a little bit scary right now I know but honestly getting in while it’s down is major key). You can also invest in yourself by going back to school to further your education by obtaining a degree or certification, which can be huge steps towards moving on to bigger and better levels in your career or business.
Investing f*** you money can also look like taking an actual break for yourself or taking time to care for your family. Society treats Black women as constant work machines that should always be in production. Very rarely are we able to just say we can’t meet the needs of what is being asked of us. However, with f*** you money, the option to invest your time and energy can look very different. Pushing yourself to the limit doesn’t have to be something you accept.
Black women having their own f*** you money doesn’t always have to be connected with leaving a bad situation. It can also be the beginning of a powerful new experience of complete self-exploration. We deserve that too.
