Episode 52 : The Racial Wealth Gap
February 14, 2022
Shehara Wooten is a fee-only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, is a career changer. She graduated with a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering and her first job out of college was with an industrial manufacturing firm. Learn more about The Racial Wealth Gap in this episode.
Michele
Welcome, welcome everybody. This is Michele Heyward here, and today you are in for another great treat. I have sure Shehara Wooten here with me today, she's a Certified Financial Planner. And in a previous life, she was an engineer. So she might tie for people, we nerd a lot, right? She's still adieu to numbers. But today is really special because she is going to be talking about or we're going to be having a conversation about the racial wealth gap. And it's really important as we're in a transition here, not only in the US, but globally, talking about economics. And we're seeing different types of inflation here in the US. Different things are going on economically. But when you look at the racial wealth gap, it has been built in in so many levels. And how do we deal with that? So I'm so happy to have you here. Can you share with everyone a bit about yourself? You told me you used to be an engineer, which, you know, I'm excited about, but what are you excited to share with everybody? Absolutely. Well, first of all, I just want to thank you, Michelle, it's been so good to see you here. And thank you for having me on your platform. And I'm really excited right now to talk about our conversation where we're talking about the racial wealth gap. Like Michelle said, I am an engineer by training, electrical and computer engineer, is where I got my degree from The Ohio State University. And, and it's funny, because I noticed Michelle, she really stuck out to me when I noticed that we used to work at the same company years ago, I don't think we work there at the same time. But we we have worked at the same company. And that's not the nice thing. LinkedIn will, will do that you guys share a company and so. So from that point forward, we connect it. And I focus mainly on STEM professionals, women professionals, I think I was just drawn to women and STEM professionals just because of my background. And it seems that, you know, obviously, there's still a lot of work to be done. A lot of people come from backgrounds where they might be the first that to graduate into, you know, make the kind of income they're making. And, you know, and just need that kind of assistance and help. And I just the reason why I got into this and change careers was I looked at, you know, 25 year old Shahara. And when I was 25 years old, I was an engineer working in Philadelphia, and I remember going to an urban lead young professionals event. And there was a financial empowerment meeting. And at that meeting, there were insurance agents, there were financial advisors, I'd never really seen that before. And I was curious. And I knew that in my mind, like, there were things I wanted to do, you know, with my money. So immediately, when I saw this bank, and I saw this financial advisor behind the table, I said, You know what, I'm gonna go up to him, and I'm going to tell him, I'm interested in doing this. And I said, I want to retire by 30. I was 25. Mind you. So I was 25. I knew five years was short. And I also thought 30 was old. So
Shehara
I know much better now. You know, deep down inside 30 was never owed, but in my head at 25, it just seemed like, you know, yes, it is a good number, but the person just really didn't help me. So there's a whole long story behind that. But that really whet my appetite to really take control of my own financial narrative. And I learned and got information and then finally just decided I wanted to change careers and start helping people as well. So I always think about that 25 year old shoe hair and want to help others like that. And that way,
Michele
I love it. So often, it's those types of experiences that for us to really make impact and change in other's lives. So I love that story. Like I came here I'm gonna get it like five years, like Yes. Yeah. At least they didn't say go play the lottery, I guess.
Shehara
Exactly. Right. Yeah, it well, we just never even opened it accounts even started at you know, even 100 bucks a month. It was really strange. So, so now I just know, I know that either he was incompetent, or he just didn't want to help me. But I'm here in a position to be able to help somebody if they do come to me at 25 I want to retire by 30. Because you know, that's ancient. I can help us, you know, understand what the goals are and understand how to make it realistic for them. I'm not going to discourage them, but we're going to see What we can do, you know, so and I can help them now?
Absolutely love it. Absolutely love it. Okay. We aren't getting the help we need right there. So so let's get into the conversation, racial wealth gap. And we're focused specifically, right now, let's say on black communities, black Americans, what are we looking at a comparison of the baseline of white Americans to black Americans when we're talking about wealth?
Shehara
Yeah, great question. So, in 2016, there was a study, and the numbers have updated, but they're still they still have the same impact. Basically, black wealth in 2016, averaged around $17,000. And then White wealth, or white families wealth, black family, white family, was 171,000. So I mean, that is a huge difference. And it just was really this hearing those numbers. It's just like, what, what is going on? Why is this happening? And, you know, just the, and then just being in working with people working with all types of cultures and backgrounds and ages, I started to see that there is a trend there, there is a trend, and it's not that everybody in the black community is that 17,000 And not everybody in the white community is that 171. But the fact that that is on average, that, you know, the baseline, I really started to look at what are some of the factors and there's also prosperity now it they did a white paper, it's an organization and they did a white paper that said black wealth is a there's a wealth gap of 228 years between black families and white families, they also stated that by 2053, Black wealth is predicted to go to zero. So 70,000 is horrible. 171 may not even be what you're looking for, you may think that's not even good, you know, but zero, so that really, really made me feel like, like, what is there to do? What can we do? And obviously, there's a lot of factors, you know, there's redlining, you know, I mean, we can go back to enslavement. And it's amazing that many of my people, I'm a, I'm a descendant of American slaves. And it's amazing that I'm here, you know, and have been able to do things without having necessarily the support the economic supportive of other cultures. But that, you know, but in the meantime, and that's why I wrote my book, it's called, in the meantime, you know, we have all this, these other exterior forces that have caused that racial wealth gap. But my my goal is that in the meantime, until reparations are taken care of until economic justice is served, what can we do to make sure that we own our own financial narrative? And what can we do to in our personal, our families, to build wealth, and to make sure that we're making creating a legacy for generations to calm until we until we get, you know, the justice we, you know, we deserve?
Michele
So in the beat, I love that in the meantime, you know, what is it? So what does it look like? In the meantime, what are some things we should be doing? We can talk about reparations, but I want to talk about in the meantime, because we've done so much in the four generations, post enslavement, and what does that look like for five generations? And what what have we done as far as accumulating and a lot of people don't realize how much we have done walking away with nothing, right sharecropping? Yeah, dying of hunger and different things like that to having to overcome after centuries of enslavement to even be at this wealth gap is still have so many another 10 generations to try to catch up and just isn't even mathematically. So what are we doing in the meantime to kind of quote to try to close that gap?
Shehara
Yes, so my my goal and my book i It's called In the meantime, I think I might have mentioned and own your financial narrative. So I do talk about the history so that people can understand or have a vantage point of you know, why things are going the way they are maybe why things may seem a little difficult, you know, sometimes but what I how I start off is I talk about building in my intro, I talk about Black Wall Street so I get into that because I really, I think they're a great model of what it was like to be able to Just build wealth. Like they were just such a model, they had stores they had, they had hotels, they had schools, all those things, all that creativity that we have, we can use that to help build wealth and to build the community. And they they use, they really utilize the power of community. So I really highlight that, but there were four there four sections, one called Build, live, save and give. So my build section I talk about net worth, I talked about values. So what are your values deep down inside? You know, do you value independence? Do you value leaving a legacy do you value, accountability, security, if these are the things you value, then we need to make sure that we have some of those basic foundational things like an emergency fund. Um, if you want to leave a legacy, I talk about how we need to make sure that we have an estate plan, that we have a way to pass on wealth that we're creating that way to do that. So whether it's insurance, all of those things that may seem like the, you know, they're more the appeal, so to speak, but you got to get back to the your values. And so that is the first chapter where we're talking about what are your values? What's your mindset around money? What does money mean to you? So I'm a big proponent, you know, obviously, we both are, in this, we came from scientific fields and backgrounds. But the net worth equation, we got to know that equation, you know, net worth equals assets minus liabilities. So are we measuring our net worth? How are we doing that, and if you have liabilities and they're more than your net worth your assets, then that's a negative number. Focus, though, on eliminating those liabilities, which are the debts and things like that, so that you can increase that net worth. So, so that's where they're coming with that wealth number, they're using the net worth equation. And we have to start to think, Okay, how many assets? Do I have listed all that out? How many, you know, liabilities? Do I have? If I have a positive asset situation? How do I continue to increase my assets and grow those? You know? And then what, what do I do even with cash flow? So the beauty is we're bringing in good cash flow, especially STEM professionals, you're bringing in great cash flow, money's coming in, money is going out, that's what cash flow is all about. But how are you controlling the money coming in? Do you feel like, oh my gosh, I don't know where the money's going, I make all this money do I know where it's going? So, you know, so I put some strategies in there, like, you know, bucketing things out, you know, making sure that you know, okay, these are the expenses that I'm going to make sure are cover for my savings, for my investments, for my utilities, all those things that are considered your, I must take care of, you know, put that in that bucket. And then you have your lifestyle, your fun bucket, like your groceries, put that money in a different bucket, you know, the gifts and things like that. And so I'm big on some of those practical tips, because, and that accountability, because sometimes when I started when I was 25, I didn't know everything about how this all worked, you know, I knew to sock away on my 401k. And that's what I was doing. But, but I didn't know about an emergency fund. You know, I didn't know that I needed to fall back on something like that. And depending on who's in the audience, you probably already knew about that. But some of us don't. You know, I remember one lady told me that she had graduated from college had a great job working at a nice chemical engineering firm. But because she didn't realize that she had the money to buy furniture, she went ahead and just did like the rent a room furniture, and then got herself in a situation that she didn't even need to be in, you know, um, so she furnished her whole house, but she ended up having having to have that dock against their credit and, you know, because she leased it when she could have actually bought the furniture. So there's things that you know, that happened because we just, we just don't know.
Michele
Absolutely. I want to go back to the emergency fund. Yeah, before that, you know, think about maybe our grandparents having a rainy day fund or grandma keeping always socking a little a dime or a nickel away for when something happened and when something happened. Where did the money come from? Sometimes your grandma like here you go, this should cover it like wherever you get this from making pancakes and but it was very interesting how a lot of generations part As understood and came from hardship, and we talked about that in certain ways about generations, the harder is the way you set up to be prepared for adversity. It because you've, you've been through so much, so many adverse things today have an easy, and they have less types of adversity that we've encountered. And I think we have to go back sometime. And teach them. The reason why we did this is so that when you encounter this, and so you don't see it, because we, we've already built that barrier. And so I like doing something called a rainy day fund. But my grandparents had that in some way guys knew how to go about and get get it. And what we do today is pull out a credit card, it's not the same thing.
Shehara
It's not the same thing. Yes. And they, you know, they would take the time to build up. So if they wanted something they would build up to get it, you know, and one of the things that I'm big one, a big proponent of is not so much just building up and saving up only, but bringing in other income streams. But when you think about it, when you look at grandma, granddad, and all of that they were working multiple, you know, income stream, they had that, but the thing that, you know, I think this conversation does is it highlights the lack of conversation, right? We don't talk about money enough. So our grandparents, our great grandparents, may have done all these things, but they they may not have thought to you know what, I'm gonna sit her down and talk to her about this and how I'm doing this because we didn't they didn't talk about money. Yes. And then did they even have time with all the stuff going on, you know, they had to make sure the house was taken care of the bills were paid go to work. So they may not have just, they just, you know, just watch me and figure it out, just like I figured it out. But what we're trying to do is we're trying to have more conversations about money and make it more of an open discussion and not just something under the rug, you know, so Exactly, yeah.
Michele
And I guess, for my family specifically, I'm the, I call myself the favorite aunties and my nieces and nephews. Like we can't have a favorite auntie. But if we do, it's not you. So don't listen to them. I'm the favorite auntie. But anyway. So some days I've done especially I have an older nephew, oldest nephew is 29. And I'm just 30. So you know that one year, right? I'm
like, wow, that is amazing.
So what I did for him was teaching finances and buying certain books. And I remember texting him a year or two ago. He's like, Yeah, I need to go back and do my budget again. And go back. When was the last time you did so about six months ago. But that's what we had, I had a different roommate, and I had a different job. So I'm making more money now. And, and he's an actor, so he has a day job. So he's taking voice lessons, he had to get headshots and stuff like that. He needs to know where his money is. And so we always he, he knows now to keep up with that. But that was me starting with him at 18. Or even earlier talking about money. With my younger niece, my younger nephew and his system very different. She will spend it all like borrow. And it's like, okay, this is $30 I need 85 to get X, Y or Z. Mom, what can I do around the house to make more money? Yes, I love it. So it's really interesting. They're like, Y'all raise What is it like? And so you don't know what the outside influences are. But one really gets the impact of the dollar and saving and waiting to be gratification the other like, she's like a hole in my pocket.
Shehara
Right, right. I gotta get this money out. Yeah, and it's so interesting how everybody has these different mindsets, these different stories around money. And I do talk about that too. Because there is a place for spending, there's a place for saving I've done I've talked to so many people and and they're like me, I'm one of those that I don't want to I'm a good I love saving where I don't want to spend but then I know that there's a balance, you know, because I do like new things. I like certain things. And so I got to make sure that I know that it's okay to spend and that's some of the things that that I talk about too. But then you also got to know there's the other side, you got to make sure you're saving and you just, it's really about putting systems in place. It's about putting a system in place to save and it's about putting a system in place to spend and know that it's okay. Because I know people and I and I've been one of those people who feels like is it alright for me to spend this. So for y'all for you guys out there because we always you know, rag on the safe on the bed. But there's those of us who don't like to spend and Yeah, exactly. And then you're like, Was that okay? Was I you know, is that okay for me to spend? Is it gonna come again? And so what is what is that mindset like that is causing you to think if I spend this will there be anything left? Or, you know, am I being too frivolous? Am I being irresponsible? There's there's both sides of the coin and it's okay. You know, so you just got to find that harmony between the two.
Michele
Absolutely. I agree. And it's funny, my parents it my parents perspective, my mom was to say, your your dad always started with spending money and shopping fruits, please you like it was five kids, you're growing? Like, you can't were to say that you weren't months ago, you right? When the eight you know, 12 months to 15 months, whatever. Absolutely. And then on other side, my dad, like, didn't didn't like spinny anything. Like if he could drive a car for 50 years ago and drive that car for 50 years, it didn't matter. What floorboard. And it was like the Flintstones is they have very different dynamics of finances. And so it's really interesting growing up, where my mom liked nice things, but she paid cash. My dad liked nice things, but he wouldn't go buy them.
Shehara
Rather somebody buy it for maybe they he liked people to buy it for him. No, he didn't want that.
Michele
Oh, wow. Like my dad was the person he wore a uniform to work your days off. He already.
Shehara
He can't live simple.
Michele
Your dad's always working like no, he's always wearing a uniform.
Shehara
That is a good one. I love those stories. I love those stories. And that's the kind of thing that I did within the book. Because you can't really I didn't want to just do a basic like, okay, these are all the things you have to do I do and sprinkle that in. But there's amazing stories in there of people who have overcome people who are, you know, like one lady Antoinette Monroe, she pretty much bootstrapped her, her becoming a real estate investor. And, um, you know, and so it's just interesting hearing how people do it. And, you know, and how they actually make things happen. She grew up poor, but then she always loved real estate, and just, you know, decided I'm going to do this. And then I had a man who used to work at Dow Chemical Engineer, and he just decided at 30. I want to retire, you know, at 40. And he went ahead and found, he found his people, you know, he found the right people, you know, and so he got his tax advisor, his financial planner, all of them helped him he did multiple businesses. And then when 40 came around, he didn't want to leave work. He enjoyed it so much. So he had all these multiple streams of income. But what it gave him and that's the question to ask everybody is What does financial freedom mean to you? Because what it gave him was his ability to define what financial freedom meant to him and what it meant to him. He realized when he got to 40, he didn't want to retire, didn't want to leave his job. But he realized that it afforded him the the opportunity, the choice to leave if he wanted to. So he had those different streams of income coming in. And when it when it came around, he was about 48, the company he worked for, decided to lay do layoffs, or you had to move somewhere. And he didn't want to pick up his family and move somewhere. So he just said, Okay, well, this is my time, this is my time to stop doing this, and do something else. And he was able to still provide for his family and keep the lifestyle that they had been used to, without having to pick it up. Because he didn't want to move so. So what is, you know, what is your definition of financial freedom? That's the question to ask what you know, what is enough money for you? And how are you progressing forward to make that happen? So I, I, you know, there's so many different things that we do with our money and ways that we look at our money, but it's not always just about money. It's about the choices that you can give yourself.
Michele
I love that I can say when you're debt free and you walk into work, you have a different type of swagger. A different kind of way Yes, of money in the bank, and you're not waiting for payday to hit. Yes, it is. It is a different way you carry yourself like you know how you have the little mind to say, how do I say this in a professional way, like not professional today? It is completely different. So I just want to say that. Yes, it keeps you hype, and you can still be humble But it is, trust me it is a different,
Shehara
yes, it is debt free. And then and then having a good positive net worth, you know, but having all these assets, I think that is so powerful, you know, to feel that way, oh my goodness, it is it is a blessing to have that. And that's, that's what we want to get to, you know, we can still own our own financial narrative. You know, in the meantime, we can still work through this. And there is a there's another statistic I'm gonna provide right now too, because spinning in the black community, as you guys have taught heard of, there's just not a lot of circulation right within the black community. The we have a $1 trillion, over $1 trillion in spending power. One of the things that I say is that if we could take $1 trillion in spending power, and I got this from another certified financial planner, he was actually the first black Certified Financial Planner LaCount Davis. And he said that if we could take that spending power moving into investing power, what How amazing would that be? You know, how can we balance that out, you know, and do those kinds of things where we can just start to understand that community increase our net worth, grow, and just be free.
Michele
Just be framing. I'm glad you brought that up being in tech startup space. And there's always the conversations about the percentage or lack thereof, of venture capital investment. And in Hispanic founders. One of the reasons for crowdfunding, tech companies pre IPO, early stage is because then you put $250 $1,000, hopefully, you can afford to lose it because you know, but it gives the opportunity of growing wealth in a different way, at smaller weight at smaller intervals. So that $1 trillion, buying power. And people if we change even 10% of that to investment power, right? Yes, it really does change your trajectory of where we are. And we talked about how, like the places like re wood, Black Wall Street are no longer there. But in a virtual space, they still do exist. And so we're able to take those same black dollars, right, and invest them in businesses that support us that are making change for us or they're not they're doing things on a global level, or they're just straight technology, they impact positively impact the lives of everyone, we then are able to circulate dollars in a different way. And so while I love to be able to circulate it in a small town, where we virtually we can still circulate that $1 trillion. Absolutely, yeah.
Shehara
I mean, there's so many ways out and and it's funny because I'm a foodie, right, but, and it's funny, I'm a foodie, that can't eat all that food. So, so I watch a particular channel on YouTube, a guy named JLG up, I don't know if anybody's heard of him, but he goes around Philly, and Delaware and New Jersey. And it's just an example I'm gonna share about how he's able to make that kind of impact where you are using your spending power, using your influence to be able to help others. And he'll just go and try different places. And because of his following, he's been able to promote these businesses and mostly small businesses, but because of that area, it's mostly black owned businesses. But there's white on small businesses, Latino Mexican, I mean, there's so many Cambodian, Vietnamese, so he has this whole it's just really cool to watch how what he's doing. And there's a story that's recently come out where there was a business, a restaurant, and he stopped by a couple years ago, they were struggling, and they had $500 is what they were making, they were struggling practically a day, after he went and share that business with the rest of his community. He they now bring in about $2,000, you know, $2,000 a month or a day. So things like that, how can we uplift others, you know, just by using our circle our networks. I mean, it doesn't take a lot to share someone's post, it doesn't take a lot, you know, much any money at all to comment and, and just get people out there. So I just, you know, I think that there's so many ways that we can do this, whether it's in the tech space and supporting and the venture capital type space, or just doing it with our own communities.
Michele
I love it. I love it. I'm sharing a link. Do you want to tell people Yes, yes, it's for
Shehara
Absolutely. So when you go on that link, I am actually I have a book out so that we're talking, that's what we're talking about. That's the context. It's called, in the meantime, super excited it published in August here. And in that link, there is an Amazon in this link, there's an Amazon link where you can buy the paperback if you want to buy a signed copy. But, and you can buy the Kindle. So when you click on the Amazon, but it's on Barnes and Noble, it's also one what other Amazon Barnes and Noble Books a Million. So if you have, you know, your preferences there, it's on a lot of different sites. And, on top of that, I'm also starting a Money Mastermind. So we've talked about the power of community. And I think that that is really important to expand upon that. So I know that there's a all of us, it's going to take many people to make this happen. And to make sure that 2053 Black wealth does not go to zero, I'm just doing my part. So if you want to, if you're interested in joining my next Money Mastermind or learning more about it, feel free to click on the link that says the confident money method. And we can talk and you can learn more about it. And so that that those are the two links in there that I would say are the most important to this conversation. Your story financial.com/links that HTML?
Michele
I love it. So yes, changing what the racial wealth gap takes a group effort. And so I love what you said about there, but definitely go and check out the book. I personally want a signed copy. Because, you know, yes.
Shehara
I know some people love I signed copies of my next my next thing is I'm working on the hardcover. So there's people who just love hard covers, and then I'll be doing an audio book too. So the the hardcover should be out before the years out. But then the, the audio will be out next year. So for those of you like your audio books, check that out. That'll come to, I might listen
Michele
to an audio book or two while I'm out walking. So yes. I like all the things don't Yes. I love it. Yes, yes. So any final words, anything else that you want them to connect with you on social, so they'll know where to find you?
Shehara
Yes, I am most active. I know we're on LinkedIn. So you can definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. It's linkedin.com/i n slash ahera. I tried to keep it a little simple with a Shahara. Just rather than doing all the other stuff, but then Instagram, that's my other spot. Money and moves is my instagram handle. So please follow me at those places. And then like I said, we'll be starting the next Money Mastermind here, the next cohort on November the 16th. And I will need to have everybody and and matriculated in by November 7, just to make sure no, November 7 or the ninth just to make sure we're getting everybody in. And so if you're interested jump on that call. And we can talk to see if that's a good fit. But those are the things I want to leave and just want everybody to understand that it's important to own our own narrative, it's important to just take the time, don't take a blind eye, you know, if you've been not wanting to deal with your finances, this is the time, this is a great time of year as we move into 2022 to just get things right, you know, get things set up. So whether it is you're already, you've already gone past debt, you know, you're debt free, that's awesome. Maybe you need to build an emergency fund, maybe you're new, you need to focus on investing, you're saving so much, but you don't know where to where to put it. Let's talk about that, you know, let's talk about you know, just really balancing things out making sure you're protecting your wealth. And then, like I said, my last chapter talks about giving because it's really important to give back and and in my research, I was super amazed at how how much tough philanthropic black Americans are. So we do give so we're spending but we're also giving as well. So I want to you know, put that out there. But we can do this guys, we can do it. And we can own our narratives and it, the change will happen because of us. And because of what we want to do and helping each other as a as a community.
Michele
I love it. So we're the next generation of great aunties and grandmothers with the safety net, but also building wealth. And so thank you so much for joining me today. Excited about the book. Can't wait to grab a copy. Be sure you're connecting with Sherif all across social And if you're like, I don't know get on the phone and talk about like, I like to go Black Friday shopping. She didn't say you remember she said you can word yourself. Yes, I need to find some coupons or so you can write every Monday. But I will tell you probably like November's probably before the holidays, shopping starts, really to take a look. You may have been doing better than you thought or during the pandemic, but really take a home ownership of it now is to do it, the better your feel. So I do a 5g to do it now. Don't wait to 2020 to do Absolutely.
Let's start now. So yes, I agree or Michelle I'm sorry. Yeah, Misha.
Michele
Everybody, have a great week and I will talk to you later. Bye
Welcome, welcome everybody. This is Michele Heyward here, and today you are in for another great treat. I have sure Shehara Wooten here with me today, she's a Certified Financial Planner. And in a previous life, she was an engineer. So she might tie for people, we nerd a lot, right? She's still adieu to numbers. But today is really special because she is going to be talking about or we're going to be having a conversation about the racial wealth gap. And it's really important as we're in a transition here, not only in the US, but globally, talking about economics. And we're seeing different types of inflation here in the US. Different things are going on economically. But when you look at the racial wealth gap, it has been built in in so many levels. And how do we deal with that? So I'm so happy to have you here. Can you share with everyone a bit about yourself? You told me you used to be an engineer, which, you know, I'm excited about, but what are you excited to share with everybody? Absolutely. Well, first of all, I just want to thank you, Michelle, it's been so good to see you here. And thank you for having me on your platform. And I'm really excited right now to talk about our conversation where we're talking about the racial wealth gap. Like Michelle said, I am an engineer by training, electrical and computer engineer, is where I got my degree from The Ohio State University. And, and it's funny, because I noticed Michelle, she really stuck out to me when I noticed that we used to work at the same company years ago, I don't think we work there at the same time. But we we have worked at the same company. And that's not the nice thing. LinkedIn will, will do that you guys share a company and so. So from that point forward, we connect it. And I focus mainly on STEM professionals, women professionals, I think I was just drawn to women and STEM professionals just because of my background. And it seems that, you know, obviously, there's still a lot of work to be done. A lot of people come from backgrounds where they might be the first that to graduate into, you know, make the kind of income they're making. And, you know, and just need that kind of assistance and help. And I just the reason why I got into this and change careers was I looked at, you know, 25 year old Shahara. And when I was 25 years old, I was an engineer working in Philadelphia, and I remember going to an urban lead young professionals event. And there was a financial empowerment meeting. And at that meeting, there were insurance agents, there were financial advisors, I'd never really seen that before. And I was curious. And I knew that in my mind, like, there were things I wanted to do, you know, with my money. So immediately, when I saw this bank, and I saw this financial advisor behind the table, I said, You know what, I'm gonna go up to him, and I'm going to tell him, I'm interested in doing this. And I said, I want to retire by 30. I was 25. Mind you. So I was 25. I knew five years was short. And I also thought 30 was old. So
Shehara
I know much better now. You know, deep down inside 30 was never owed, but in my head at 25, it just seemed like, you know, yes, it is a good number, but the person just really didn't help me. So there's a whole long story behind that. But that really whet my appetite to really take control of my own financial narrative. And I learned and got information and then finally just decided I wanted to change careers and start helping people as well. So I always think about that 25 year old shoe hair and want to help others like that. And that way,
Michele
I love it. So often, it's those types of experiences that for us to really make impact and change in other's lives. So I love that story. Like I came here I'm gonna get it like five years, like Yes. Yeah. At least they didn't say go play the lottery, I guess.
Shehara
Exactly. Right. Yeah, it well, we just never even opened it accounts even started at you know, even 100 bucks a month. It was really strange. So, so now I just know, I know that either he was incompetent, or he just didn't want to help me. But I'm here in a position to be able to help somebody if they do come to me at 25 I want to retire by 30. Because you know, that's ancient. I can help us, you know, understand what the goals are and understand how to make it realistic for them. I'm not going to discourage them, but we're going to see What we can do, you know, so and I can help them now?
Absolutely love it. Absolutely love it. Okay. We aren't getting the help we need right there. So so let's get into the conversation, racial wealth gap. And we're focused specifically, right now, let's say on black communities, black Americans, what are we looking at a comparison of the baseline of white Americans to black Americans when we're talking about wealth?
Shehara
Yeah, great question. So, in 2016, there was a study, and the numbers have updated, but they're still they still have the same impact. Basically, black wealth in 2016, averaged around $17,000. And then White wealth, or white families wealth, black family, white family, was 171,000. So I mean, that is a huge difference. And it just was really this hearing those numbers. It's just like, what, what is going on? Why is this happening? And, you know, just the, and then just being in working with people working with all types of cultures and backgrounds and ages, I started to see that there is a trend there, there is a trend, and it's not that everybody in the black community is that 17,000 And not everybody in the white community is that 171. But the fact that that is on average, that, you know, the baseline, I really started to look at what are some of the factors and there's also prosperity now it they did a white paper, it's an organization and they did a white paper that said black wealth is a there's a wealth gap of 228 years between black families and white families, they also stated that by 2053, Black wealth is predicted to go to zero. So 70,000 is horrible. 171 may not even be what you're looking for, you may think that's not even good, you know, but zero, so that really, really made me feel like, like, what is there to do? What can we do? And obviously, there's a lot of factors, you know, there's redlining, you know, I mean, we can go back to enslavement. And it's amazing that many of my people, I'm a, I'm a descendant of American slaves. And it's amazing that I'm here, you know, and have been able to do things without having necessarily the support the economic supportive of other cultures. But that, you know, but in the meantime, and that's why I wrote my book, it's called, in the meantime, you know, we have all this, these other exterior forces that have caused that racial wealth gap. But my my goal is that in the meantime, until reparations are taken care of until economic justice is served, what can we do to make sure that we own our own financial narrative? And what can we do to in our personal, our families, to build wealth, and to make sure that we're making creating a legacy for generations to calm until we until we get, you know, the justice we, you know, we deserve?
Michele
So in the beat, I love that in the meantime, you know, what is it? So what does it look like? In the meantime, what are some things we should be doing? We can talk about reparations, but I want to talk about in the meantime, because we've done so much in the four generations, post enslavement, and what does that look like for five generations? And what what have we done as far as accumulating and a lot of people don't realize how much we have done walking away with nothing, right sharecropping? Yeah, dying of hunger and different things like that to having to overcome after centuries of enslavement to even be at this wealth gap is still have so many another 10 generations to try to catch up and just isn't even mathematically. So what are we doing in the meantime to kind of quote to try to close that gap?
Shehara
Yes, so my my goal and my book i It's called In the meantime, I think I might have mentioned and own your financial narrative. So I do talk about the history so that people can understand or have a vantage point of you know, why things are going the way they are maybe why things may seem a little difficult, you know, sometimes but what I how I start off is I talk about building in my intro, I talk about Black Wall Street so I get into that because I really, I think they're a great model of what it was like to be able to Just build wealth. Like they were just such a model, they had stores they had, they had hotels, they had schools, all those things, all that creativity that we have, we can use that to help build wealth and to build the community. And they they use, they really utilize the power of community. So I really highlight that, but there were four there four sections, one called Build, live, save and give. So my build section I talk about net worth, I talked about values. So what are your values deep down inside? You know, do you value independence? Do you value leaving a legacy do you value, accountability, security, if these are the things you value, then we need to make sure that we have some of those basic foundational things like an emergency fund. Um, if you want to leave a legacy, I talk about how we need to make sure that we have an estate plan, that we have a way to pass on wealth that we're creating that way to do that. So whether it's insurance, all of those things that may seem like the, you know, they're more the appeal, so to speak, but you got to get back to the your values. And so that is the first chapter where we're talking about what are your values? What's your mindset around money? What does money mean to you? So I'm a big proponent, you know, obviously, we both are, in this, we came from scientific fields and backgrounds. But the net worth equation, we got to know that equation, you know, net worth equals assets minus liabilities. So are we measuring our net worth? How are we doing that, and if you have liabilities and they're more than your net worth your assets, then that's a negative number. Focus, though, on eliminating those liabilities, which are the debts and things like that, so that you can increase that net worth. So, so that's where they're coming with that wealth number, they're using the net worth equation. And we have to start to think, Okay, how many assets? Do I have listed all that out? How many, you know, liabilities? Do I have? If I have a positive asset situation? How do I continue to increase my assets and grow those? You know? And then what, what do I do even with cash flow? So the beauty is we're bringing in good cash flow, especially STEM professionals, you're bringing in great cash flow, money's coming in, money is going out, that's what cash flow is all about. But how are you controlling the money coming in? Do you feel like, oh my gosh, I don't know where the money's going, I make all this money do I know where it's going? So, you know, so I put some strategies in there, like, you know, bucketing things out, you know, making sure that you know, okay, these are the expenses that I'm going to make sure are cover for my savings, for my investments, for my utilities, all those things that are considered your, I must take care of, you know, put that in that bucket. And then you have your lifestyle, your fun bucket, like your groceries, put that money in a different bucket, you know, the gifts and things like that. And so I'm big on some of those practical tips, because, and that accountability, because sometimes when I started when I was 25, I didn't know everything about how this all worked, you know, I knew to sock away on my 401k. And that's what I was doing. But, but I didn't know about an emergency fund. You know, I didn't know that I needed to fall back on something like that. And depending on who's in the audience, you probably already knew about that. But some of us don't. You know, I remember one lady told me that she had graduated from college had a great job working at a nice chemical engineering firm. But because she didn't realize that she had the money to buy furniture, she went ahead and just did like the rent a room furniture, and then got herself in a situation that she didn't even need to be in, you know, um, so she furnished her whole house, but she ended up having having to have that dock against their credit and, you know, because she leased it when she could have actually bought the furniture. So there's things that you know, that happened because we just, we just don't know.
Michele
Absolutely. I want to go back to the emergency fund. Yeah, before that, you know, think about maybe our grandparents having a rainy day fund or grandma keeping always socking a little a dime or a nickel away for when something happened and when something happened. Where did the money come from? Sometimes your grandma like here you go, this should cover it like wherever you get this from making pancakes and but it was very interesting how a lot of generations part As understood and came from hardship, and we talked about that in certain ways about generations, the harder is the way you set up to be prepared for adversity. It because you've, you've been through so much, so many adverse things today have an easy, and they have less types of adversity that we've encountered. And I think we have to go back sometime. And teach them. The reason why we did this is so that when you encounter this, and so you don't see it, because we, we've already built that barrier. And so I like doing something called a rainy day fund. But my grandparents had that in some way guys knew how to go about and get get it. And what we do today is pull out a credit card, it's not the same thing.
Shehara
It's not the same thing. Yes. And they, you know, they would take the time to build up. So if they wanted something they would build up to get it, you know, and one of the things that I'm big one, a big proponent of is not so much just building up and saving up only, but bringing in other income streams. But when you think about it, when you look at grandma, granddad, and all of that they were working multiple, you know, income stream, they had that, but the thing that, you know, I think this conversation does is it highlights the lack of conversation, right? We don't talk about money enough. So our grandparents, our great grandparents, may have done all these things, but they they may not have thought to you know what, I'm gonna sit her down and talk to her about this and how I'm doing this because we didn't they didn't talk about money. Yes. And then did they even have time with all the stuff going on, you know, they had to make sure the house was taken care of the bills were paid go to work. So they may not have just, they just, you know, just watch me and figure it out, just like I figured it out. But what we're trying to do is we're trying to have more conversations about money and make it more of an open discussion and not just something under the rug, you know, so Exactly, yeah.
Michele
And I guess, for my family specifically, I'm the, I call myself the favorite aunties and my nieces and nephews. Like we can't have a favorite auntie. But if we do, it's not you. So don't listen to them. I'm the favorite auntie. But anyway. So some days I've done especially I have an older nephew, oldest nephew is 29. And I'm just 30. So you know that one year, right? I'm
like, wow, that is amazing.
So what I did for him was teaching finances and buying certain books. And I remember texting him a year or two ago. He's like, Yeah, I need to go back and do my budget again. And go back. When was the last time you did so about six months ago. But that's what we had, I had a different roommate, and I had a different job. So I'm making more money now. And, and he's an actor, so he has a day job. So he's taking voice lessons, he had to get headshots and stuff like that. He needs to know where his money is. And so we always he, he knows now to keep up with that. But that was me starting with him at 18. Or even earlier talking about money. With my younger niece, my younger nephew and his system very different. She will spend it all like borrow. And it's like, okay, this is $30 I need 85 to get X, Y or Z. Mom, what can I do around the house to make more money? Yes, I love it. So it's really interesting. They're like, Y'all raise What is it like? And so you don't know what the outside influences are. But one really gets the impact of the dollar and saving and waiting to be gratification the other like, she's like a hole in my pocket.
Shehara
Right, right. I gotta get this money out. Yeah, and it's so interesting how everybody has these different mindsets, these different stories around money. And I do talk about that too. Because there is a place for spending, there's a place for saving I've done I've talked to so many people and and they're like me, I'm one of those that I don't want to I'm a good I love saving where I don't want to spend but then I know that there's a balance, you know, because I do like new things. I like certain things. And so I got to make sure that I know that it's okay to spend and that's some of the things that that I talk about too. But then you also got to know there's the other side, you got to make sure you're saving and you just, it's really about putting systems in place. It's about putting a system in place to save and it's about putting a system in place to spend and know that it's okay. Because I know people and I and I've been one of those people who feels like is it alright for me to spend this. So for y'all for you guys out there because we always you know, rag on the safe on the bed. But there's those of us who don't like to spend and Yeah, exactly. And then you're like, Was that okay? Was I you know, is that okay for me to spend? Is it gonna come again? And so what is what is that mindset like that is causing you to think if I spend this will there be anything left? Or, you know, am I being too frivolous? Am I being irresponsible? There's there's both sides of the coin and it's okay. You know, so you just got to find that harmony between the two.
Michele
Absolutely. I agree. And it's funny, my parents it my parents perspective, my mom was to say, your your dad always started with spending money and shopping fruits, please you like it was five kids, you're growing? Like, you can't were to say that you weren't months ago, you right? When the eight you know, 12 months to 15 months, whatever. Absolutely. And then on other side, my dad, like, didn't didn't like spinny anything. Like if he could drive a car for 50 years ago and drive that car for 50 years, it didn't matter. What floorboard. And it was like the Flintstones is they have very different dynamics of finances. And so it's really interesting growing up, where my mom liked nice things, but she paid cash. My dad liked nice things, but he wouldn't go buy them.
Shehara
Rather somebody buy it for maybe they he liked people to buy it for him. No, he didn't want that.
Michele
Oh, wow. Like my dad was the person he wore a uniform to work your days off. He already.
Shehara
He can't live simple.
Michele
Your dad's always working like no, he's always wearing a uniform.
Shehara
That is a good one. I love those stories. I love those stories. And that's the kind of thing that I did within the book. Because you can't really I didn't want to just do a basic like, okay, these are all the things you have to do I do and sprinkle that in. But there's amazing stories in there of people who have overcome people who are, you know, like one lady Antoinette Monroe, she pretty much bootstrapped her, her becoming a real estate investor. And, um, you know, and so it's just interesting hearing how people do it. And, you know, and how they actually make things happen. She grew up poor, but then she always loved real estate, and just, you know, decided I'm going to do this. And then I had a man who used to work at Dow Chemical Engineer, and he just decided at 30. I want to retire, you know, at 40. And he went ahead and found, he found his people, you know, he found the right people, you know, and so he got his tax advisor, his financial planner, all of them helped him he did multiple businesses. And then when 40 came around, he didn't want to leave work. He enjoyed it so much. So he had all these multiple streams of income. But what it gave him and that's the question to ask everybody is What does financial freedom mean to you? Because what it gave him was his ability to define what financial freedom meant to him and what it meant to him. He realized when he got to 40, he didn't want to retire, didn't want to leave his job. But he realized that it afforded him the the opportunity, the choice to leave if he wanted to. So he had those different streams of income coming in. And when it when it came around, he was about 48, the company he worked for, decided to lay do layoffs, or you had to move somewhere. And he didn't want to pick up his family and move somewhere. So he just said, Okay, well, this is my time, this is my time to stop doing this, and do something else. And he was able to still provide for his family and keep the lifestyle that they had been used to, without having to pick it up. Because he didn't want to move so. So what is, you know, what is your definition of financial freedom? That's the question to ask what you know, what is enough money for you? And how are you progressing forward to make that happen? So I, I, you know, there's so many different things that we do with our money and ways that we look at our money, but it's not always just about money. It's about the choices that you can give yourself.
Michele
I love that I can say when you're debt free and you walk into work, you have a different type of swagger. A different kind of way Yes, of money in the bank, and you're not waiting for payday to hit. Yes, it is. It is a different way you carry yourself like you know how you have the little mind to say, how do I say this in a professional way, like not professional today? It is completely different. So I just want to say that. Yes, it keeps you hype, and you can still be humble But it is, trust me it is a different,
Shehara
yes, it is debt free. And then and then having a good positive net worth, you know, but having all these assets, I think that is so powerful, you know, to feel that way, oh my goodness, it is it is a blessing to have that. And that's, that's what we want to get to, you know, we can still own our own financial narrative. You know, in the meantime, we can still work through this. And there is a there's another statistic I'm gonna provide right now too, because spinning in the black community, as you guys have taught heard of, there's just not a lot of circulation right within the black community. The we have a $1 trillion, over $1 trillion in spending power. One of the things that I say is that if we could take $1 trillion in spending power, and I got this from another certified financial planner, he was actually the first black Certified Financial Planner LaCount Davis. And he said that if we could take that spending power moving into investing power, what How amazing would that be? You know, how can we balance that out, you know, and do those kinds of things where we can just start to understand that community increase our net worth, grow, and just be free.
Michele
Just be framing. I'm glad you brought that up being in tech startup space. And there's always the conversations about the percentage or lack thereof, of venture capital investment. And in Hispanic founders. One of the reasons for crowdfunding, tech companies pre IPO, early stage is because then you put $250 $1,000, hopefully, you can afford to lose it because you know, but it gives the opportunity of growing wealth in a different way, at smaller weight at smaller intervals. So that $1 trillion, buying power. And people if we change even 10% of that to investment power, right? Yes, it really does change your trajectory of where we are. And we talked about how, like the places like re wood, Black Wall Street are no longer there. But in a virtual space, they still do exist. And so we're able to take those same black dollars, right, and invest them in businesses that support us that are making change for us or they're not they're doing things on a global level, or they're just straight technology, they impact positively impact the lives of everyone, we then are able to circulate dollars in a different way. And so while I love to be able to circulate it in a small town, where we virtually we can still circulate that $1 trillion. Absolutely, yeah.
Shehara
I mean, there's so many ways out and and it's funny because I'm a foodie, right, but, and it's funny, I'm a foodie, that can't eat all that food. So, so I watch a particular channel on YouTube, a guy named JLG up, I don't know if anybody's heard of him, but he goes around Philly, and Delaware and New Jersey. And it's just an example I'm gonna share about how he's able to make that kind of impact where you are using your spending power, using your influence to be able to help others. And he'll just go and try different places. And because of his following, he's been able to promote these businesses and mostly small businesses, but because of that area, it's mostly black owned businesses. But there's white on small businesses, Latino Mexican, I mean, there's so many Cambodian, Vietnamese, so he has this whole it's just really cool to watch how what he's doing. And there's a story that's recently come out where there was a business, a restaurant, and he stopped by a couple years ago, they were struggling, and they had $500 is what they were making, they were struggling practically a day, after he went and share that business with the rest of his community. He they now bring in about $2,000, you know, $2,000 a month or a day. So things like that, how can we uplift others, you know, just by using our circle our networks. I mean, it doesn't take a lot to share someone's post, it doesn't take a lot, you know, much any money at all to comment and, and just get people out there. So I just, you know, I think that there's so many ways that we can do this, whether it's in the tech space and supporting and the venture capital type space, or just doing it with our own communities.
Michele
I love it. I love it. I'm sharing a link. Do you want to tell people Yes, yes, it's for
Shehara
Absolutely. So when you go on that link, I am actually I have a book out so that we're talking, that's what we're talking about. That's the context. It's called, in the meantime, super excited it published in August here. And in that link, there is an Amazon in this link, there's an Amazon link where you can buy the paperback if you want to buy a signed copy. But, and you can buy the Kindle. So when you click on the Amazon, but it's on Barnes and Noble, it's also one what other Amazon Barnes and Noble Books a Million. So if you have, you know, your preferences there, it's on a lot of different sites. And, on top of that, I'm also starting a Money Mastermind. So we've talked about the power of community. And I think that that is really important to expand upon that. So I know that there's a all of us, it's going to take many people to make this happen. And to make sure that 2053 Black wealth does not go to zero, I'm just doing my part. So if you want to, if you're interested in joining my next Money Mastermind or learning more about it, feel free to click on the link that says the confident money method. And we can talk and you can learn more about it. And so that that those are the two links in there that I would say are the most important to this conversation. Your story financial.com/links that HTML?
Michele
I love it. So yes, changing what the racial wealth gap takes a group effort. And so I love what you said about there, but definitely go and check out the book. I personally want a signed copy. Because, you know, yes.
Shehara
I know some people love I signed copies of my next my next thing is I'm working on the hardcover. So there's people who just love hard covers, and then I'll be doing an audio book too. So the the hardcover should be out before the years out. But then the, the audio will be out next year. So for those of you like your audio books, check that out. That'll come to, I might listen
Michele
to an audio book or two while I'm out walking. So yes. I like all the things don't Yes. I love it. Yes, yes. So any final words, anything else that you want them to connect with you on social, so they'll know where to find you?
Shehara
Yes, I am most active. I know we're on LinkedIn. So you can definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. It's linkedin.com/i n slash ahera. I tried to keep it a little simple with a Shahara. Just rather than doing all the other stuff, but then Instagram, that's my other spot. Money and moves is my instagram handle. So please follow me at those places. And then like I said, we'll be starting the next Money Mastermind here, the next cohort on November the 16th. And I will need to have everybody and and matriculated in by November 7, just to make sure no, November 7 or the ninth just to make sure we're getting everybody in. And so if you're interested jump on that call. And we can talk to see if that's a good fit. But those are the things I want to leave and just want everybody to understand that it's important to own our own narrative, it's important to just take the time, don't take a blind eye, you know, if you've been not wanting to deal with your finances, this is the time, this is a great time of year as we move into 2022 to just get things right, you know, get things set up. So whether it is you're already, you've already gone past debt, you know, you're debt free, that's awesome. Maybe you need to build an emergency fund, maybe you're new, you need to focus on investing, you're saving so much, but you don't know where to where to put it. Let's talk about that, you know, let's talk about you know, just really balancing things out making sure you're protecting your wealth. And then, like I said, my last chapter talks about giving because it's really important to give back and and in my research, I was super amazed at how how much tough philanthropic black Americans are. So we do give so we're spending but we're also giving as well. So I want to you know, put that out there. But we can do this guys, we can do it. And we can own our narratives and it, the change will happen because of us. And because of what we want to do and helping each other as a as a community.
Michele
I love it. So we're the next generation of great aunties and grandmothers with the safety net, but also building wealth. And so thank you so much for joining me today. Excited about the book. Can't wait to grab a copy. Be sure you're connecting with Sherif all across social And if you're like, I don't know get on the phone and talk about like, I like to go Black Friday shopping. She didn't say you remember she said you can word yourself. Yes, I need to find some coupons or so you can write every Monday. But I will tell you probably like November's probably before the holidays, shopping starts, really to take a look. You may have been doing better than you thought or during the pandemic, but really take a home ownership of it now is to do it, the better your feel. So I do a 5g to do it now. Don't wait to 2020 to do Absolutely.
Let's start now. So yes, I agree or Michelle I'm sorry. Yeah, Misha.
Michele
Everybody, have a great week and I will talk to you later. Bye