Complex relationship between black people, investing and Social Security benefits
How racism affects the health of black people, lowers their life expectancy rate
I’d just finished unpacking after returning home from my college graduation. I knew I didn’t want to be in my parents’ house long, but I needed to find a job in Illinois after leaving my one-bedroom apartment in Missouri. (Side note: I love my parents. I spent 10 days at my childhood home over the 2023 holidays, not including the additional week I dog sat while they went to Jamaica. But even hanging out for the holidays, I knew I had the freedom to go back to my mortgage and my own bed any time I please.)
Recommended Read: “First lesson in housing money management: Moving out of dorms ~ Why parents should prioritize financial planning before their kids head to college”
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When my mother sat a big box in front of me and told me it was a college graduation gift, I wasn’t sure what was going to be inside. I ripped the paper off and looked at a brand new laptop. My mouth formed into a frown.
“Can I have the receipt for this?” I asked. “I’d rather use the money to pay off my student loan.”
The look on her face made me instantly regret my question. At the time, I honestly just didn’t want student loan debt. As a Geriatric Millennial, I saw no use for owning a stupid computer. The first time I’d even checked the Internet was in 1997, and I wasn’t impressed.
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Although my first college’s tuition included a laptop rental and my second college’s computer lab seemed to never close, outside of doing school work and downloading music from Napster, I had zero use for a computer. MySpace wasn’t even around until three months after I graduated in 2003, and Facebook hadn’t popped up until 2004. What did I need this thing for? I could use the money elsewhere.
Backwards way of financial planning
Let’s temporarily set aside the fact that I became an Assistant Copy Editor who was always working with the Library of Congress, on top of becoming a Digital News Editor and lightweight HTML coder a couple of years later. I have now spent 18 years in the journalism and publishing industry almost exclusively on a computer. That gift became 98% of my career, but I didn’t know that then.
There was another thing I was hardheaded about too. I spent my entire college career ignoring every single thing my grandfather told me about investing in certificate of deposits (CDs), stocks, bonds and savings accounts. Although I was working at my mother’s credit union since my elementary school days, I ignored all of her advice about Christmas Club accounts and “Gone Fishing” savings. I was folding hundreds of statements from black people who were saving on an everyday basis, and I’d written it off as “for seniors.”
Recommended Read: “Marriage and money: When should women talk about it? ~ Best practices for women discussing marriage while dating, retirement planning”
I had no problem making money, from $2 per item on Olympia Sales Club to an after-school radio research job in high school. But the idea of just letting money sit in an untouched account like canned goods in a pantry seemed ridiculous to me. Spend it now. Pay bills now. Pay off debt now. Stop saving for retirement.
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Social Security benefits was not my priority — although it should have
Around the age of 30, I stopped blocking my ears from hearing about 401(k), 403(b) and Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). Still, there’s a part of me that will always understand why people are more invested in living now versus saving for later. And I thought about that while reading Roger Chesley’s post “Black men’s lower life expectancy a factor in starting Social Security” in Virginia Mercury.
