The Black Market

In between these past few weeks all three major indexes (DOW, NASDAQ, S&P 500) fell below 3%. The third worst slide of the year. The DOW closed under its 10,000 mark. This week it closed roughly 200 points above the 10,000 mark. One day WSJ reports the 300 point loss making it seem like the world is falling apart. Then the next week the DOW did an amazing 200 point jump, and the world is becoming better. The investors can stop pulling their hair. In my opinion, we don’t even know if we are in a bull or bear market.

No matter what major, there is probably only a hand full of African American students who could understand what I just said. And what I just said wasn’t even deep. At all.

I’ve been slowly reading up on the markets, figuring out how the market works and learning different investing tips. What it means to invest in mutual funds, bonds, and stocks. What will make me lose money, and what will make me some profit.
Reading up on the financial news sometimes gets me excited (nerd yes I know) but when I turn to find someone to talk to so I can get an opinion… I realize I have no one to talk to. We’ve become lazy in learning. If it isn’t in our books at school, why should I bother understanding anything else? I’m beginning to slowly learn that what has tortured us in this new generation is not the other races or our country, but ourselves. I don’t think we understand the fact that people who we think “get over on our race” do it with the strength of their minds. What they know. Using it against what we DON’T know. If you haven't learned, our nation and Wall Street work hand in hand. Whether we like it or not.

The richest people in the world make money off of investments. It’s almost impossible (unless inherited) to make millions without investing. And as hard as our African-American community works to do better and provide for their families, why do I feel like not even 5% of our race is living the wealthy life.

You know how they say “If there’s something you don’t want the black person to know, put it in a book.”? Well if you don’t want the black race to build wealth, don’t let them learn about the market and financial industry. Now I am definitely a beginner. Sitting at the front seat in this Investment 101 course. But in the very short time that I’ve taught myself the ways of this system, I’ve made over a grand. Now the motivation for most is money. I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t become interested in finance because of the money I can make. But in the middle of my researching I began to learn so much about our government, economy, and the businesses that literally control our nation. You begin to build your intellectual capacity about the country you live in. And just by understanding the American financial industry. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

What I plan to do about it? Since every criticism I chose to make should be put into action – I plan on obtaining my CPA while continually working for one of the top 4 accounting firms. So when I’m finished messing around with corporate America, I can come back and be of assistance to the black community. I plan on opening a private accounting and consulting firm for the middle class. Maybe even for the African-American upper class. Since many of the rappers, artists, and professional players we see have someone working their money for them… Which means they don’t know where in the world their cash is flowing.

I’ll continue this post after more research…

The link below is a research/survey done relating African American and their Financial Literacy level. Just a source to see how bad our race is against others in saving money, spending less, investing more, and even being knowledgeable in the field of money.

Financial Literacy of Young African-Americans



Written by: Aylin
[Leen Marie]