Understanding and participating in the stock market is more crucial today than ever before. The stock market is often perceived as something only for the wealthy and the financially elite; however, it is actually accessible to everyone.
With the current economic uncertainties and the increasing cost of living, learning about the stock market can equip individuals with the knowledge to build and secure their financial futures.
It has been proven repeatedly that those who participate in the stock market are much richer than those who do not.
A CNBC headline reported a study that said, “The Stock Market is America’s Great Wealth Equalizer.”
The average white family has 30% of their wealth in the stock market, while the average Black family ONLY has 4% of our wealth in the stock market. If those numbers do not change, we are doomed to always be behind, and the wealth gap will continue to increase.
So why aren’t we as Black people, participating in the stock market more?
My company, FLip That Stock, has been in business for 12 years, educating our people on the stock market. Here are the Top 5 Reasons our people say they do not participate in the stock market:
- “That’s for wealthy people.”
- “It’s too complicated.”
- “I don’t have time to sit in front of a computer all day and learn and watch complicated stock charts.”
- “I don’t have any extra money to put in the stock market.”
- “It’s gambling and I don’t want to lose any money.”
I can assure you that if we keep believing these reasons, it will keep us financially sliding further and further behind other groups of people who are participating in the stock market.
So, what exactly is the stock market and how does it work? Here is a simple analogy: just like you would go to a grocery store to buy groceries, the stock market is a place (online) where you go to buy shares or slices of ownership in publicly traded companies.
Think about all the billion-dollar companies you shop at like Walmart, Target, Apple, and McDonalds to name a few. We contribute to them becoming and staying rich and wealthy by shopping and buying their products and services.
There are thousands of companies that offer people the opportunity to become owners by purchasing shares of stock in them.
The great news is that you don’t have to work for the company to have the opportunity to make money. That’s right, you heard me correctly. You don’t have to work for the company, you simply buy ownership in the company based on different factors, but you are not responsible for working at the company.
How would it feel to “own” pieces of companies and when the company’s stock increases in value after you purchased your shares, your wealth increases, without you having to “actively” go to work?
This is one of the ways the wealthy become wealthy and stay wealthy.
This is why every Black person should learn how the stock market works and be actively involved.
Now you may be thinking, it must be expensive to buy shares in these multi-billion-dollar companies!
Well, think of it this way, when you go into most stores, they have items in the store with different price ranges and that’s the same for when you are shopping to buy shares of stock in different companies; the prices can range from a few dollars per share to hundreds of dollars per share to a thousand dollars per share, but there is something in everyone’s price range.
You may also be thinking, “This sounds great, but won’t I have to spend hours every day looking at complicated charts and doing research!”
With advances in technology, now you can do all that on your smartphone in a matter of minutes.
My company, FLip That Stock, has partnered with The Baltimore Times, to educate, empower and lift our people to new financial heights that we need and deserve to live our best lives!
Join me February 22, 2025, at The Inner Harbor for my LIVE Seminar “A FUN and EASY Way To Learn The Stock Market and Shop and Buy Stocks.”
VISIT https://www.flipthatstock.com/flip-that-stock-events for details and to purchase a ticket.