Think before you spend your money

In the Black community we are notorious for taking our hard earned income and spending it with businesses outside our community. In an effort to feel good about ourselves and our situations we often rush t spend our money with people who will never do one thing to help us, improve our situations or improve our communities. 

So I will ask anyone who reads this to think about the "Cost," not the cost of improving another community at the expense of your own. I am referring to the acronym "Cost" C.O.S.T.  

C - Contribute - Regularly you should contribute 5 - 10 % of your income toward some Black institution other than your church. Give to an organization that you believe in. Your role in giving helps sustain those organizations.

O - Ownership - Everyone in the Black community should own something before they reach the age of three years old. Teach your children the value of ownership so that they will have options as they mature and move into the working world.

S - Save and Invest - save your money so that it can save you; invest your money so that your money can work for you. Our society sends us millions of messages everyday telling you to spend, spend, spend; but they never encourage you to spend wisely. Well, I'm telling you to spend money investing in your future. Learn about stocks, mutual funds, real estate investments, gold, silver, savings bonds, etc. Build your future as opposed to your credit. People who pay with cash never have to worry about credit anyway.

T - Target - Your money is your power, don't be so willing to give away your power so quickly. Don't immediately go into consumer mode. Target your power to help empower other Black owned businesses, especially those that are helping your community.

You follow these principles and you will find yourself and your family in an empowered situation in the future. 

The information in this post is based on ideas and put forth by Dr. Boyce Watkins.