How Your Attitude About Race Affects Your Wallet

How Your Attitude About Race Affects Your Wallet

What happens when we fit our own stereotypes

By Stacey Tisdale

I once heard a presentation by Tiffany Taylor Smith, the founder of Culture Learning Partners, a company that helps organizations and individuals navigate cultural differences, discuss ‘inherit bias’ – attitudes we carry about race and culture that we are not aware of. 

I approached her after the program and we discussed how those biases play out in financial behavior. These biases are obvious when we think about the ways in which others treat us.  We’ve all heard or experienced stories of practices like predatory lending, in which equally qualified blacks get higher rates for things like mortgages and cars, from lenders, many of whom are probably not ‘conscious’ about personal prejudices.

The conversation Taylor and I had, however, was more about the ways in which the often-unconscious messages that play in our own heads play out in our experiences with money.

[Click HERE for a quick read and video about the investing habits of wealthy Blacks]

The Songs We Play In Our Heads

Think about it what comes to mind when you think about your racial, ethnic, even religious orientation, when it comes to money. “People like me always struggle.”  “People like me watch every penny.”  “Our people don’t invest in the markets.”

As Life Planner and founder of Compass Wealth Management, Martin Siesta once told me, “These expectations we put on ourselves and the outside messages we receive have a really strong influence on behavior,” said Siesta. “I would urge people to look at those influences and ethnic messages.  Ask: Is this how the world really is, or is this just how I see it? To create change, you have to be mindful of that, and follow your own common sense…Don’t let stereotypes weigh on your self-esteem,” he adds.

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Solve The Right Problem

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do I see people like me doing when it comes to money? What do I see them doing when it comes to saving?  Spending?  Investing? Debt?

2. What do I see people like me not doing when it comes to money? What don’t they do when it comes to saving?  Spending?  Investing?  Debt?

3. How messages am I telling myself about money? “People like me can’t afford to save.”  “People like me always have debt.”  “I can’t even think about retiring.”

4. How would those messages change if I were living my ideal relationship with money…if I were channeling my financial resources towards my goals?

5. How would I act differently and how would my choices change if I operate from my new messages?

Create a support system to snap you out of beliefs that don’t bring you closer to your goals and priorities.  Name them, write them, down, discuss them with friends, and literally rewrite those messages so that they state the highest vision you have for yourself.  

10 Tips for Side Hustlers: Stacey Tisdale Shares Advice for Side Hustlers

10 Tips for Side Hustlers: Stacey Tisdale Shares Advice for Side Hustlers

How to Make it in the New Gig Economy Side Hustle Ideas and Tips to Succeed

By Stacey Tisdale

The side hustle has been defined as an asset that works for you. It is part of the increasing gig economy in the U.S., a way to make extra money when the day job isn’t enough. Nearly 4 in 10 Americans have a side gig. The average monthly take — $686. Millennials are more likely to have a side hustle than other generations, with 68% reporting the extra cash as “disposable income.” Popular side hustle gigs are freelance writing, ridesharing, tutoring, and video editing. Here are additional ideas for a side hustle.

What are People Side Hustling?

• Create and manage social media ads for local businesses (Typical earnings: $1,000 – $2,000/month per client)

• Tutor kids online. VIPKid, is a popular service to teach children English. And you don’t need teaching experience, they provide you with the lesson plans. (Typical earnings $1000+/month)

• Sell products online. Etsy is one of the largest resources for selling handmade goods on the internet. We interviewed Arianna O’Dell, who started a business on Etsy and earned an extra $30,000 in a year.

• Sell services online. Fiverr helped give birth to the Gig Economy. Side hustlers are offering services like graphic design, digital marketing, and video editing. Although services start out at $5, some Fiverr sellers are earning six-figure-plus revenues annually.

• Work as a virtual assistant. There’s a growing demand from small business owners who need help on various projects from scheduling appointments and managing events to overseeing social media posts and website updates.

• Blogging, making YouTube tutorials, creating online courses.

• Sell used technology and goods on sites like Gazelle and eBay

If these sound like good ideas but you’re just not sure how to manage a side hustle, here are five tips to keep you grounded and focused.

5 Tips for Side Hustlers

• Stick to a schedule: Decide how many hours you think you can spend a day on your side hustle. Then add 25 to 50%. If you’re thinking 2 hours, make it 3 or 4. Then commit to that schedule.

• Don’t take on debt: Start a side hustle you can fund through savings — or better yet, that you don’t need to fund. Provide a service that only requires the tools you already have. Prove there is a market and you can serve it before you take on debt.

• Only spend money and time on things that make money: Don’t overspend on supplies before you have demand. You only make money when you’re creating your product. Spend less time planning and more time doing.

• Don’t spend money on things customers won’t see, like an office or fancy amenities. If your customer doesn’t see it, don’t buy it.

• Do something you enjoy: Think of your side hustle as ‘me time.’ It will make your life better and happier.

Stacey Tisdale and Angela Yee will share more about getting your side hustle on their monthly FaceBook live event Wealth Wednesday. They will be joined by side hustler Arianna O’Dell and Lamine Zarrad, the CEO of Joust, a new digital bank for the gig economy. All Wealth Wednesday events take place and are recorded at Juices for Life in Brooklyn, New York. Tune in to the Wealth Wednesday Livestream Facebook live event on Angela Yee’s Facebook page, with over 2.2M followers.

[Money] 3 Reasons Not to ‘Panic Sell’ in a Falling Stock Market

[Money] 3 Reasons Not to ‘Panic Sell’ in a Falling Stock Market

Keeping emotions in check and reaping the financial benefits of courage

By Stacey Tisdale

Fears that fast-moving Delta Variant of the coronavirus will put the brakes on a return to ‘social norms’ and economic recovery in the U.S. and abroad weigh is weighing heavily on stock prices.

A surge in new investors, courtesy of micro-investing apps like Robinhood, means many people are facing market turbulence and shrinking portfolios for the first time.

The Long Haul

It is important to remember that stocks are still the best game in town when approached as a long-term investment.  The average 10-year stock market return is 9.2%, according to Goldman Sachs

A good rule of thumb is to only invest money in the stock market that you will not need for the next 3 to 5 years.  That’s a lot easier said than done, however, when we see the size of ou

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Keeping Your Emotions In Check

That makes it imperative that we keep our emotions in check.  Keeping these 3 tips in mind may keep you from making a premature exit from stocks at the expense of future returns.

1. You haven’t lost a penny until you sell: It’s important to remember this when you see scary headlines or hear fearful ‘water cooler’ chatter about plummeting markets. Despite its ups and downs, The Dow Jones Industrial Average has had an average return of about 7.75% from 1921 to present. Ride out the storm, and give your stock investments time and space to do what they do best: Grow.

2. Don’t train your brain to make financial decisions based on fear: Fortunately for our physical safety, but unfortunately for just about everything else, the reptilian part of our brain is programmed to respond to fear in the ‘hear and now’ at the expense of logic. Money is so tied to our sense of survival that watching our portfolios plummet or our assets shrink on paper will literally throw our minds and bodies into a fight or flight response. Take a deep breath and reconnect with your long-term financial goals when you sense you’re letting fear run the show. Give your brain experiences that show it that you don’t have to give into panic.

3. Warren Buffett is right: Buffett is famous for saying It’s wise to be “fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” In other words, don’t follow the crowd over a cliff. Heed the billionaire’s advice, and see lower stock prices for what many of them are, great buying opportunities.

[Click HERE to Check out Our Short Blog & Video “What Wealth Blacks Can Teach Us About Investing]

Know Thyself – Master Your Fears

When it comes to investing, there are many things to consider. For example:

• Your tolerance for risk: You don’t want the markets keeping you up at night.

• Your time horizon: Many experts agree that money you will need in 3 years or less should be in less risky investments like bonds or cd’s.

• Your long-term goals: Today’s economic challenges make investing essential for many of us in order to create long-term financial security.

Our minds can’t tell the difference between real or imagined fear. It’s up to us to bring our powers of discrimination and reason into our decision making.

[Personal Finance] Simple Acts That Make Financial Goals A Reality

[Personal Finance] Simple Acts That Make Financial Goals A Reality

The ‘game-changing’ power of accountability

By Stacey Tisdale

It’s hard to stay focused on our financial goals when we’re worried about money. But that’s actually the time when goal-setting matters the most.

Neuroscientists have learned that when we set a goal, we set off a chemical process in our brains that create strategies to achieve them:  the ‘smarter’ your goals, the smarter the solutions.

Be $mart

When it comes to setting goals, make sure they pass the smarttest.

S-specific:  I will save 5 hundred dollars in an emergency fund by next December! Specific goals help you make better spending and savings choices.

M-measurable:  if you want to save 5 hundred dollars by December, you know you must save 50 dollars a month beginning in march and be at the $250 mark by July. Achieving that measurable mid-year success motivates your brain and builds confidence to keep going.

A-attainable:  researchers from New York University found that when our brains perceive our goals to be unattainable, our blood pressure and drive actually go down. So make sure your goal is realistic enough to actually reap the reward of setting one. Is $500 a reach or is it do-able?

Relatable:  you should be able to clearly share your goals with a friend or loved one. This accountability greatly improves your chance of success.

T-timely:  if you’re helping your child pay for college this year, it may not be the time to buy a new house, or even save an extra 5 hundred dollars. Timely goals eliminate financial stress.

[CLICK HERE to learn about the investing habits of wealthy Blacks]

Accountability = Success

Gail Matthews from Dominican University in California Matthews recruited a variety of entrepreneurs, attorneys, educators, artists, managers, and other professionals from different parts of the world and broke them into five groups:

• Group 1 was asked to think about their goals

• Group 2 not only had to think about their goals, but they also typed them into a survey

• Group 3 did all of the above and also wrote an action plan for each goal

• Group 4 did all of the above and had to share their commitments with a friend

• Group 5 did the same things but also had to send a friend a weekly progress report

The study looked at outcomes over a 1 month period.  When it was complete, Group 1 accomplished 43% of their stated goals.  Group 4 accomplished 64%, Group 5, the most successful accomplished 76%.

“This study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of 3 coaching tools:  Accountability, commitment, and writing down one’s goals,” said Matthews.

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Get Real

As Matthews and other researchers have proven, there’s a connection that’s made between the brain and the progress of where we’re going when things are written and we see it.

This is not a dress rehearsal. This is your real life. Take a few extra steps and make your financial goals a reality.

5 Things You Must Consider When Friends and Family Ask for Money

5 Things You Must Consider When Friends and Family Ask for Money

Making Smart Lending Decisions, While Keeping Relationships In Tact

By Stacey Tisdale

A few years ago, I conducted a workshop for a professional sports team about managing money. It was a bittersweet moment for this fan.  I loved this team, yet they were having a horrible season.

The evening before, I invited a friend who was a former pro-athlete, to join me for my presentation. I was hoping he could help me better engage what I feared would be a distracted audience after yet another horrendous loss.

Camaraderie 

Inviting my friend turned out to be a good move.  When I asked him to share what he found to be his biggest financial challenge in his professional career, he said without hesitation, the loans he made to friends and family. That quickly grabbed the team’s attention, with most heads and expressions signaling agreement.The entire energy in the room changed. 

In my work as a financial journalist, and my research in the financial behavior of pro-athletes, I was very familiar with the reality that most run into huge financial challenges - even bankruptcy - soon after their sports careers end.  

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According to Sports Illustrated, within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.  By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt.

Size Doesn’t Matter

The public is quick to blame this on extravagant and irresponsible spending, but in reality, many of them also fall victim to the pressure to lend, as well as support family, friends, and entourages.

Psychologist and psychotherapist, Dr. Jeanette Raymond, says part of it is also chemical. “We’re chemically wired to be drawn to situations where we can rescue someone. It’s very hard to stop”

“When we help someone in need, we get a rush of dopamine that is the same as the release when we feed an addiction,” she adds.

While this dynamic is exacerbated in athletes and celebrities, the pressure to lend comes up at some point for all of us - particularly in groups that experience financial challenges.  A survey by Prudential Financial finds that African-Americans are more likely than other groups to bear financial responsibility for friends and family members, due to factors such as higher incidents of unemployment and barriers to wealth building.

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5 Things To Remember

If a friend or relative asks you for financial support, be sure to consider the following factors:

1) Don’t be an enabler: Does this friend or family member often seem in financial crisis? If so, you could just be enabling bad behavior. If you chose to make a loan, make it with strings, and make them commit to changing their patterns. Make them get show you a financial plan, give you a repayment plan, or seek financial counseling before you hand over any funds.

2) Put your own needs first: If you’re having trouble making ends meet, have significant financial responsibilities on the horizon, or don’t have enough money in emergency savings to cover at least six months of living expenses, you can’t afford to lend money. If your loved one doesn’t understand that, you need to be having a different conversation.

3) Remember the person in the mirror: it’s you who must look in the mirror after you deny a sibling, parent, or best friend a loan. Think about how you will really feel. Be honest with yourself about what you can really live with.

4) Be Realistic: About two thirds of people who lend money never see it again. Don’t count on getting your money back, and talk to your accountant about the IRS codes for gift giving.

5) It’s not just your decision: Do you have financially dependent family members? Remember that it’s not just your financial well-being that’s at stake. You should discuss the impact on your family budget, and find out how everybody feels about making the loan. Make the decision together. You will be glad you are not solely responsible for the outcome.

Love Will Keep Us Together

Financial stress can send our minds and emotions into flight or fright mode, as our brains literally connect money with our ability to survive.  And as we all know, fear can often cloud judgement.

Remind yourself again and again to bring your attention to the connection you have with your loved ones hearts…Even when they have their hands are reaching for your wallet.