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Investing and Black Males: The Importance of Securing Futures.
By Meta J. Mereday
Saving money is always high on the agenda during an economic crisis for all families struggling to make ends meet when there is less. Unfortunately, with the increase in job losses and business closures, the concept of saving money and income investing to “build a nest egg for the future” has taken a back seat to more practical realities including keeping a roof overhead and food on the table for most families today.
Putting a little aside, which was a long held expression that meant taking some income and setting it a part from the money used for daily expenses, has been replaced with finding a side job to make the basic ends meet.
Income investing is not a priority in today’s economic depth chart, but it should be as a model of savings and securing futures even with a dismal economic forecast. In this context, we are looking at how families should invest income in long term formats that generate more benefit for themselves and their children.
Income investing requires a concerted effort on the part of the breadwinners to set a savings goal and to identify a number of ways to minimize their expenses in order to maximize their revenue.
Income investing is key to identifying how to develop and budget and to live by it in ones home, office or business. Families, especially Black families, have existed on a dual income basis and the income of the husband was traditionally used for the basic expenses including food, clothes and shelter while the income of the wife, if she worked outside the home, covered any additional expenses or was used towards her personal purchases. The modern family has taken on a variety of dynamics including the wife being the primary breadwinner and both incomes are used for the basic necessities and pooled for other items such as travel and luxury items geared towards lifestyle comforts.
With the increased usage of gadgets and a rising dependence on Blackberries and similar products, the idea of long term, income investing has been replaced by short term material gratification. The importance of income investing to provide a safety net to secure the future now plays second fiddle to the social network “flavor of the month” or the new technological advancement that requires laws to keep people from doing it while driving.
“The lifestyle of society seems to have abandoned the concept of income investing and the implications down the road will be significant,” comments Cedric Fisher, Project Manager, Strike It Up Tour. “We need to revisit the programs that bring a fresh approach to income investing and community empowerment and to give people a new direction to secure their future and that of their children. The Strike It Up Tour model is designed to bring together aspiring business owners, investors, community organizations, and others to partner and look at ways to increase income and invest in our communities.”
As the traditional family structure has changed, it is vital for Black males and females to work together to focus on income investing to solidify current infrastructures and to secure our future generations.
Mereday is a contributing writer for Regal Black Men's Magazine.
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