Show me the money - role of money in the lives of African American women - Sisterspeak - Column

Ebony, March, 1997 by Laura B. Randolph

For the past few weeks, I have had money on my mind. Try as I might, I can't seem to stop thinking about it. I don't want to suggest that money is the only thing I have been thinking about lately. But I will tell you this, since I returned from a recent trip to the West Coast, I have been telling my friends -- in mock seriousness -- that I have adopted a new credo. Because it is hip and cute and funny I would like to say that I thought of it myself, but -- the truth is -- I heard it in the wildly successful movie Jerry Maguire. You probably know it. It's the line Cuba Gooding Jr. has made famous, the one he bellows to Tom Cruise early in the film -- "Show me the money!" -- and it has Hollywood insiders buzzing that it certainly is going to make Gooding a player, if not a star.

As funny and charming as Gooding's performance is (Sorry, Tom, all the Sisters I know say Cuba owns this movie, but you do get two thumbs up for the line: "I am Mr. Black people"), it isn't what has me thinking about the whole money subject. It began with a recent trip to Beverly Hills. While having lunch on Rodeo Drive with a friend one afternoon, something hit me. In the space of 15 minutes, I saw more Rolls-Royces than I have seen in my entire life.

"Commonplace," said my L.A.-born friend, as I pointed out a Jag, a Benz, a Ferrari and a Bentley turning into a parking lot crowded with more of the same. "Welcome to the only street in America where the parking meters take American Express and the women take seriously the lesson of The First Wives Club -- "don't get mad, get everything."

This led to a discussion of the kind of money ("major") and women ("the haves and the have-mores") who live in Beverly Hills, and the role ("sacred") it plays not just in the lives of the beautiful, the famous and the polished, but in the lives of all women. Because money is such a sensitive subject, experts say we rarely talk about what its presence or absence can mean in our lives. Especially Black women. We may tell each other every juicy detail of a romantic date or a marriage going south, but when it comes to money, we rarely say more than "I got it on sale." There are a lot of reasons for this, says Cheryl Broussard, a registered investment advisor and author of the book, The Black Woman's Guide To Financial Independence.

Says Broussard: "Among Black women, there's a real fear that we really don't know anything about building wealth and achieving financial security." But it is the reason Broussard offered that left me speechless when I asked her why so many smart, successful Sisters don't bother to learn how to manage, invest and grow their money. "Even in 1997," Broussard told me, "far too many of us are still clinging to the belief that Mr. Right is going to come along and take care of us."

Now there's a scary thought. It would be easy to trot out a lot of statistics about why this type of thinking is as unlikely as it is unhealthy (e.g., the ratio of Black men to Black women; the one in two divorce rate; the fact that more Black women than Black men are seeking advanced degrees and so are likely to make more money than their men). But I think the wisest thing I can say on the subject is this: We'd all be a lot better off -- emotionally and financially -- if, instead of waiting for Prince Charming to come along and save us, we heeded the advice an elderly Jamaican woman once gave me. "Child," she said, shaking her finger in front of my face, "save money and money will save you."

I was not about to argue with an 82-year-old Black woman who, island legend has it, can do roots. Besides, she has a point. Whether we want to admit it or not, money matters. A lot. Our financial situation can mean the difference between a wearisome existence and a wonderful life. There, I've said it. It's a fact of life we rarely admit or acknowledge. We're not supposed to say it out loud because we're afraid it will make us sound shallow and superficial and selfish. Like we're saying money can buy health or happiness or love. Obvious, it can't buy any of these things, and I'm not suggesting it can. But it can buy a lot of other stuff that is wonderful and worthwhile -- e.g., a child's education, a secure retirement, a comfortable home in which to raise a family.

It may not be fair, but it is a fact -- with money comes security, and when the car dies and the baby needs shoes, nothing makes you feel more secure than the knowledge that you can walk into a store or showroom and pick up new ones.

The bottom line -- it is time for all of us (married, single or searching) to do a financial reality check. Black women work too long and too hard for our money not to learn how to make our money work for us. The good news is you don't need an MBA to learn to play the money game. All it requires is a sense of discipline and a commitment to do it.

Getting started is surprisingly easy .There are literally dozens of easy-to-understand books on money management and personal finance. Some, like Broussard's The Black Woman's Guide to Financial Independence and Brooke Stephens' Talking Dollars and Making Sense: A Wealth Building Guide For African Americans, are written by financially savvy Sisters just for us. As Stephens points out in the introduction to her book, she discusses all concepts from credit card debt to investing in the stock market in simple, basic terms that don't make you feel as if you've wandered into a Wall Street boardroom.