I was having this conversation with a work breh this morning
His child just got into one of those exclusive private schools
And that tuition
So I get what Kev is saying even sometimes it can be misconstrued as fork tongued speech
A lot of women(men as well) don’t have a full grasp on the numbers
Sure in certain cities you can be okay with $80-$100k a year
But I think where people lose sight of numbers
Is when it comes to things outside of necessities
Car insurance (if you live in places where driving is a must)
Full coverage on two cars
And don’t let one of your cars be a foreign
Got my wife’s X7 serviced
Then you factor in
With each child you have the cost of school activities, daycare, certain college prep programs, medical(even if you have great insurance, some of the copays
) dentist visits, etc
Occasional outdoor entertainment/dinner
Spent $200 easily at Turkey Leg Hut last weekend for 3 people
Clothing especially kids clothing
House maintenance(have three types of coverage on my house)
Groceries for the week
Gas for the week
Savings, investing, retirement
Child support
That money is gone before you know it
So I can understand the high numbers of $400,000 and up
And yeah it’s easy to say live within your means
But being a parent, you want your kids to have opportunities
You didn’t have
The prep for life you didn’t have
And it costs money
But the reality is many women never sat down and did cost analysis on themselves
Or ever really budgeted in their whole life
So the concept of money is foreign
They just know they can get it if need be
Where as most men gotta really get it out the mud on their own
Unless they were lucky to come from a one/two parent home
That set them down the right financial path
And many of us weren’t fortunate to have that knowledge at a young age
And I hate to put that on black women as a whole
I really do
Because non black women can be just as materialistic
But a lot can’t comprehend it
They know struggle but a lot don’t know how not go back to it
They may get the money so fast
They go right back into debt(black men have this problem too)
But the problem comes where women don’t understand gathering resources
You want men to build this economic strong hold but don’t want to share in the vision
Dual incomes is where it’s at
That’s how you build economic growth and community
But we are so far removed from that train of thought
Literally generations
It’s a hard concept for people to grasp and it’s sad
I think if a lot of women truly took the time
Looked at the data and numbers
And understood how inflation, globalization, greed
Have effected wages
And above all else
The systemic practices put in place to only allow a certain amount of black men to thrive in white collar America
shyt blue collar too
Their expectations would be more grounded or they would at the very least
Give men a chance that aren’t there yet
Or understand it’s a war on working people period
Nobody has it any better because of their gender
If you are not from old, robber baron, blood money
You are one pay check, illness, life defining situation from being back into poverty