Joseph Ruzendo

There are conversations and training that many people need to get right, particularly about money. This is considering the general fact that black people, poor people or the middle-income-earners around the world have a toxic relationship with money, largely because money was introduced to them in a traumatic way. Through colonisation, the land was taken away, exploitation. Some were forced to work as slaves, getting paid peanuts, and those peanuts were not enough for shelter or transport.  This led many people to take on consumption debt. 

The relationship most people have with money is traumatic and toxic.  Robert Kyosaki, in his book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” emphasised the importance of understanding money and building business that can sustain you passively. We need to read more literature and books to understand the history of money and the economy. To give a practical example, the Jews speak about money everywhere. Indians get their children to work in their businesses from a young age in order to understand money. Hence, part of the reason we struggle with money is because we refuse to have money conversations.

The reality is that money is a game. Money is numbers, and numbers are straightforward. The problem is that most of us (blacks) are forced into this game; we are forced into a game as losers. You are forced into a family that is already in debt and possibly financially draining. With a family that lacks financial literacy and all negative space, you need to take a little bit of money to pay for the expense of schooling and sustain yourself and then go and find a low-paying job, if you are lucky. 

The job is going to shackle you for the rest of your life with a 20-30 year bond, and with six-year car instalments which come with balloon payments. This consumption is bad debt, which you will never get out of.

Our families are still not honest about money, besides the fact of having experience in which money can disappear. Therefore, the following two books are recommended for financial education: (1) The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Grahman and (2) The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. We need to talk about money!