It all started 5 years ago, when I was chillin’ at my mom’s house reading an Essence magazine article (similar to this one) on why you need a financial advisor. After reading the headlines, (You’d never try to play doctor and diagnose yourself when you’re feeling ill. So why wouldn’t you take the same approach and lean on experts when handling your hard-earned money?), the light bulb went off (ding, ding, DING!) and I said to myself that is SOOOOOO true! After reading that article I set out to find a financial advisor. Now don’t get me wrong, the husbae and I both knew how to save. Me, especially, since I grew up in a single parent JAMAICAN household watching my mother work 3…yes ‘TREE’ jobs all at once to send me to a private grade school and high school. Anyone with parents of Caribbean descent knows that education is PARAMOUNT. Because mommy work TOO HARD for you to be an eediat (aka idiot). So saving wasn’t anything new to me. I wanted to learn more about INVESTING, how to have my money work for me.
So now it’s around December 2015 and I received a call from my wedding photographer. Rich and I were at home relaxing when I saw the name, Bernard Hamilton, come across my phone. With a puzzled face, I looked at Rich and asked, “Babe, didn’t we pay him for the photos?!?” I started thinking to myself, it’s been 5 months since our wedding and we paid EVERYBODY. So, I hesitantly answered the phone and put Bernard on speaker, meanwhile, Rich and I are eyeing each other like WTH. We do the whole, “hey, how ya doing?” then Bernard proceeds to tell us he is a financial advisor; in addition to, being a photographer and asks if we would be interested in a free consultation. I let out thee BIGGEST sigh of relief as the BIGGEST GRIN came over my face. I exclaimed, “YES, I was just telling Rich that I wanted us to get a financial advisor. Look at GOD!!”
From there we set a date, February 27, 2016, to be exact, because I keep all my pertinent emails (aka receipts) for our 1st consultation. After that we communicated both in person and via email to provide Bernard with all the documentation and forms he needed, to put us on the road to enhancing our financial literacy. Here we are, 4 years later, with ZERO credit card and student loan debt, 9 months of living expenses saved in liquid cash and INVESTMENTS!
5 Reasons Why I Hired a Financial Advisor
- As a proud member of the black community, we are FAR behind in generational wealth. I have to do my part NOW to lessen the gap for my legacy.
- I don’t know everything – hiring a trusted licensed professional helped expand my knowledge.
- To be prepared for any life event: purchasing a house, having a baby, retirement and anything and everything in between.
- To ensure that my money was working for me. We’ve all heard, “it’s not about how much you make, it’s about what you DO with what you make.”
- I want (and will be…God already told me) a DECAMILLIONAIRE! I’m looking forward to the day Bernard says, “Congratulations. You’re a millionaire.”
Please feel free to check out my financial advisor, Bernard Hamilton, and tell him I sent you.
Do you have a financial advisor? Are you financially literate? Are you on a path to generational wealth? Leave a comment or money tip below.
