Lishay Mack had just finished an amazing workshop for my co-workers at the Summer Journalism Institute (SJI). The workshop was about financial literacy or, in better words, financial empowerment. SJI provides teens the opportunity to express themselves through writing while getting paid for it by the hour. For many teens it is their first job, so there is much to learn about making smart decisions with money. Mack’s workshop’s had a profound impact on SJI because teens were getting good money advice for them to avoid mistakes others have made.
Mack grew up poor in the Bronx. She comes from an African-American and Hispanic household and was influenced to choose to be a doctor because it is a job often tied with security. This led Mack to gain a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. However, the pandemic showed Mack that being a doctor didn’t provide the security she wanted since doctors and nurses were losing their jobs if they didn’t take the COVID vaccine. Mack was also falling out of love with a career as a doctor since she wanted a work-life balance. As a result, Mack started to brainstorm other career paths that fit her wants and needs. Mack learned that she personally liked talking about money habits and building wealth. After doing some research into the career, Mack went on to take finance courses and found her spark. Furthermore, a career as an financial advisor checked all the boxes for Mack since she would be able to create her own schedule, guide people on their financial journey, and would learn and teach others about good money habits to grow their wealth.
Even though Mack changed careers, her motivation didn’t need to change. Mack remarks, “I wanted to help people. It didn’t mean that I had to be a doctor.” Finance is an important aspect of life that often decides a person’s quality of life. Good money habits can help you lead a healthy, secure, happy life. Nevertheless, the majority of people don’t have good money habits.
Even though Northwestern Mutual is listed as Mack’s workplace, Mack is a business owner within Northwestern Mutual and Northwestern Mutual is the broker dealer. Mack holds her office out of Northwestern Mutual, but she has the responsibility to build her own clientele to make any sort of income. Since Mack has control over how much money she can make, there is no cap, so her income is dependent on her work ethic. She is able to build her own schedule that protizes her personal life and then blocks off time when she wants to see clients. Moreover, Mack is an entrepreneur in the financial services industry.
Despite the prevalence of the term “financial literacy”, Mack prefers the use of “financial empowerment”. Financial literacy implies that someone can be illiterate in finance, but Mack remarks that “a person doesn’t know what they don’t know. You can only talk about your own experiences. You don’t know about the bad things until they happen.” Financial literacy implies that one approach to finance works for all people; financial empowerment gives people the ability to learn from their mistakes and grow individually in their finances.
Mack utilizes her skills as a financial advisor to give back to the community. “We got to have those conversations…Community work is very important to me because it’s my community.” Mack contributes to her community through financial workshops for others to gain knowledge of good money habits. In present day America, there is a wealth divide between white and Black households because everybody does not start at the same starting line. Even though slavery and Jim Crow were a while ago, the impacts of discrimination black people have faced over the years can be seen in the wealth divide in america. White households tend to hold a greater amount of wealth than black households. Financial empowerment can bridge the wealth gap in society since it can help individuals develop better money habits. Mack notes on the domino effect by noting, “So if a person doesn’t know these things, but now they do, what do you think they’re going to teach”.
For Mack it was unforeseen for her to become a financial advisor. At first it was hard just like it is for anyone starting a business. Overtime, Mack got the hang of it and saw the earning potential. On the other hand, if Mack doesn’t get any new clients in a month then Mack doesn’t earn anything. Macks recognizes the change in her life through saying, “ I went from, like living paycheck to paycheck to being alright, I’m comfortable,” Mack is able to be there for her kids so she doesn’t miss anything at school or a gymnastics meet since her daughters are competitive gymnasts. Overall, a career as a financial advisor has benefited Mack in so many ways.
Through the choice of being a financial advisor, Mack recognizes that, “I’m the first that’s gonna build a legacy.” Mack’s knowledge of finance is a skill that can be contributed to her community to further diminish the wealth divide between people of color and white people.
