Financial freedom is one of the most sought, yet easily compromised things in life. Decarius McClearn, along with his partners Farris McCrimmon, Lynis McCrimmon, Corey Allen, and James Sanders of FYF (Financing Your Freedom) educate both businesses and communities on how to not obtain it, but also ways to preserve the stability it brings.
Here are five things people in all, but especially black communities need to understand.
1. We need to avoid/manage credit card debt. Credit cards have a huge impact on our credit as well the debt to balance ratio.
2. We must resist the temptation of keeping up with the Joneses on a Smith’s income. Due to our lack of self-esteem, we often seek to bolster our self-Worth with acquiring things even at the cost of our financial well-being. The rich stay rich because they take pride in finding bargains and acquiring more for less. Many blacks don’t have that mindset.
3. We don’t understand our financial history in this country. Slavery was the most lucrative enterprise to benefit America and she still lives off the interest. We also do not study the many ways we have systematically excluded from obtaining wealth in this country. If we knew what happened to us, we may not be so keen to keep repeating the same mistakes generation after generation.
4. We need to budget! Wealth is not obtained without a plan of action and having a clear picture of where our money is going will inform us as to how to direct, save and invest our money.
5. We need to have a better understanding of wealth and taxes.
