On a daily basis I see personal finance takes that range from why don’t people pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Or, if people would just work harder! Or, those reasons that you brought up about XYZ don’t impact people’s money. I’m so over these lazy financial takes on money that oftentimes are influenced by people’s individual biases. The Zinn Education Project shares a list of race massacres that impacted the financial lives of African-Americans. This conversation was a challenging one for me to have. But, my guest wants readers of his book and listeners to this conversation to know that we can rebuild and grow Black wealth. It’s my hope that you give this episode a listen and support Kevin’s work.
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Show Notes
- Tulsa, Oklahoma native Kevin L. Matthews II introduces himself
- He shares his experience being an intern on Wall Street one summer and his complete confusion that summer.
- Never seeing a Black Financial Advisor until 4 years later. He created his business “Building Bread” as a result of this experience.
- Chief Economist named Gene was the only person who made sense to Kevin at the time.
- I wonder how Kevin figured out who to talk to and the concept of “Back Testing” fueled his imagination.
- The question became “Why did his parents miss out on investing?” and how many other people of color missed this opportunity too?
- Kevin worked at a gas station before the internship adding to the confusion.
- It’s now 2021 and he’s grown into his expertise. I ask Kevin to share the project that he worked on and released recently.
- “From Burning to Blueprint: Rebuilding Black Wall Street after a Century of Silence“ His newly self-published book.
- Being a Tulsan and not knowing about this atrocity. His dad didn’t know of the Tulsa Race Massacre until he was 30 years.
- Oklahoma City Bombing was the reason why the conversation about the Tulsa Race Massacre was brought up.
- I ask Kevin to explain more in depth what the Tulsa Race Massacre was.
What was the Tulsa Race Massacre?
- Red Summer after World War I-Black men returned from the war: trained, armed and organized.
- May 30th, 1921 Dick Rolland (Black man) entered an elevator and apparently tripped and frightened Sarah Paige (White woman).
- The report was he attacked her.
- Thousands of White people gathered to lynch him and they’d lynched White people before in the town.
- Black men went to the court house to protect him.
- There was a struggle and one shot was fired. Black people were outnumbered 20-1. 300 African-Americans died. Tulsa City council passed a law that basically kept people from rebuilding.
Why did Kevin Publish this Book?
- This is a story that still needs to be told.
- Atlanta 1909, Wilmington 1898, etc.
- Kevin shares a clear plan on how to develop Black generational wealth in today’s economy within the context of this story.
- He self-published this book and was a student in my course.
- Kevin was intentional about publishing his book during the Centennial. He had to say what he had to say.
- I reflect on what Ms. Viola Fletcher shared about the impact of the Tulsa Race Massacre on her finances.
- Before that day her family was fairly well off.
- Two ways to build Black wealth.
- Government policy
- SIP System=Save, Invest, Protect
- Investing seems to be the least discriminatory of all of the asset classes
- Accessibility has broadened due to FinTech and other easier to use tools.
- Bias is still an issue that we need to be concerned about within algorithms.
- I share why I like Taxis vs. Lyft and how FinTech operates similarly.
- Kevin shares how he and his wife strategized to get a taxi to go to the airport from Harlem
- Financial advisors used to cost tens of thousands of dollars creating an issue with access
Kevin Shares Some Additional Insights
- Kevin gives feedback on two very confusing pieces of data
- Black and Brown folks have been decimated by COVID that our income parity date has pushed out.
- Black investors under 40 are investing at the same rate as their White counterparts.
- In 2020 we saw the biggest jump in African-American investing occurred. But, the amounts we’re investing is less than our White counterparts.
- We’ll continue our conversation and talk about building his online business on my new podcast The Brand Building Lab.
- Why is this book important?
- Rosewood, Florida
- I push harder “Why is this story important? Why should we care?”
- Kevin breaks it down and brings up the point that we’re making the same historical mistakes.
- Why is the rise in POC personal finance influencers so important?
- And breaking down the data we’re given is so important.
Follow Kevin!
- Instagram: Building Bread
- Twitter: Building Bread
- Youtube: Building Bread
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