The Transformative Money Lessons I Learned From My Family

In honor of Black History Month, I reflected on the financial wisdom passed down to me from my parents and other family members. I am a proud first-generation Black American.

My mom immigrated to the States from Jamaica and my dad’s family is from Liberia. I am deeply connected to my Caribbean and West African roots. My heritage has provided a strong foundation for my solid financial success and true happiness.

An oldie, but goodie, family photo.

Black Americans and Financial Success

Despite economic racism in the U.S., Black Americans are making huge strides. Between 1971 and 2021, Black adults made the MOST progress in income gains of any racial group, with net increases in income ranging from 12 to 14 percentage points.

One reason for our financial success may be the financial lessons Black parents pass down to their children. According to a 2020 survey by T. Rowe Price, more Black kids relative to white kids say their parents talk about money with them.

The money lessons I learned from my family

One of the ways I’m celebrating Black History month in 2023 is to honor the legacy my parents and other family members have passed down to me. I was blessed to be raised by parents who are ambitious and astute. Their high financial and emotional intelligence helped form the foundation of my success. Thankfully, I still have them both around to properly give them their flowers.

In no particular order, below are three people from my family who had a profound impact on my professional success and personal joy.

Money lessons from my father

My dad is a former Wall Street exec, retired Economics professor, and my go-to for all business financial questions.

me and my daddy.

When I landed my first interim CFO gig, he was the first person I called to ask, “What the hell do I do with these accounting systems?” 🤣

While his financial wisdom was super helpful, the biggest lesson I learned from him was about life.

One day, I called him crying. I had just graduated from college and was working a job I hated.

I felt so bad. My parents had paid for my expensive a** education and now I was being a brat crying about a job.

But, I was depressed. I called my Dad fully expecting him to tell me to remind me that my grandparents didn’t immigrate to this country for me to cry about a good paying job.

Instead, he was very quiet on the phone. After he gave me space to share my feelings, he said:

“You’re too young to feel this way. If you don’t like your job, you shouldn’t be there. You should be happy.”

Of course he went on to say that he and Mom weren’t going to give me any money (LOL), but I had his blessing to pursue my dreams.

At the tender age of 20, he taught me that money meant nothing if it didn’t come with JOY and PEACE.

Thanks, daddy for all your sacrifices and the lessons you continue to teach me.

Money lessons from my mother

My mom immigrated to the States from Jamaica and earned a degree in Accounting. She made the difficult decision to put her awesome career on pause to raise her children.

me with my mom and sister.

My mom managed the household finances and, in doing so, showed me how to maintain my personal power in a hetero relationship.

But, the biggest lessons she taught me were about self-love and trusting my intuition.

In 8th grade, we moved from Houston to a small town in Indiana. In Houston, I was usually the only non-Latino kid in classes. I loved learning Spanish and picked it up very quickly.

But, in Indiana, I started getting poor grades in my Spanish class. My confidence plummeted because I thought I was a bad student.

My mom felt something was wrong and asked two of my friends to come over and share their graded Spanish quizzes.

We realized that the answers I got “wrong”, were marked as correct on my friends’ quizzes. Same conjugations, tilde placements, everything. 😯

The fierce Jamaican in my mom went into full gear. She pulled every quiz from the beginning of time and compared all the answers. By the end, all the administrators at the school knew her name. My grades were corrected. The teacher was later fired.

Throughout the situation, my mom talked to me about the importance of self-love and trusting my intuition.

But, what we didn’t talk about was the racism. In Indiana, I was the only Black student in a sea of white kids. The teacher was a white woman.

I used to wish my mom had talked more openly about racism with me. But, I had to learn that on my own.

And that was the second biggest lesson I learned from my mom. As a Black woman, the lessons I’ve learned in solitude are the ones that established a steely grace. And an unshakeable inner power.

Thanks, Mom. You’re the true Queen.

Money lessons from my late Uncle

my uncle, affectionately known as “rev”.

Affectionately known as Rev, my Uncle immigrated to the States from Jamaica. He earned his MBA and later a PhD in AI (he was studying AI while y’all were still wearing braces.)

He was a former VP of IT for Chemical Bank and a systems security consultant for major tech companies on the East coast.

He later launched a very successful multi-million dollar software company in Oklahoma. He sold it around 2000 to move back to Jamaica to be the founding Pastor of his church.

When I was eleven, he took me to Paris. I got to miss two weeks of school to visit fashion shows, the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. I ate duck for the first time and devoured crêpes glazed with brandy lit on fire.

Paris was an incredible trip. But, the biggest gift my Uncle gave me were the lessons he shared about the power of an abundance mindset.

In Paris, I learned about visualization. He said anything I wanted could be mine, I just had to visualize it.

When I was in high school, he added to his teachings and encouraged me to visit open houses. And I did! As a high schooler, I’d get all dressed up and visit open houses. 🤣

He always lived in gorgeous homes and he said he had them because he would visualize them first. He would cut out images of items he wanted in his home and put them on poster boards.

He told me to visit open houses because “your dream home can only be as nice as what you know is possible.”

And that’s the biggest lesson he taught me. That the mind is a powerful tool. If you want to live abundantly, you have to nourish it with wealthy images.

Thank you, Rev. You’re an incredible ancestor. I hope I’m making you proud. ✨

Love,
Danetha