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The Investing Starter Kit Blog


Step 9–Create a new money plan
Create a new money plan, preparing to start investing.

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Sep 15, 20231 min read


Step 8--Begin paying down debt
If you have been taking the first 7 steps of the MGB Investing Starter Kit process, especially Step 6 , then by the time you get to step 8, you're ready to begin paying down your debts, starting with unsecured debt first. Watch the video to get more informations, and here are links to describe the Snowball method , the Avalanche method , plus resources of PeopleJoy for student debt, and DA . Do you have any other resources that have helped you or others you know get out debt?

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Aug 30, 20231 min read


What is Term Life Insurance?
A financial strategy for people who have dependents, term life insurance is a useful way to consider to create peace of mind for parents...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Aug 24, 20231 min read


Step 7 —Add it up!
If you have been following along with the steps of the MGB Investing Starter Kit process, then you should have some information on your spending from doing Step 2 all this time--the Digit Tally . I posted about this before, but here's more clarity on the process--time to add up your expenses. Here's a free MGB Money Tracker on Google Sheets that you can use. The third tab has an example of a month of spending in different categories. How much does your life cost for a month

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jul 14, 20232 min read


Independence
Happy Fifth of July! So, I must admit, I found it harder to celebrate America this year with the Supreme Court ruling to dismantle...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jul 5, 20231 min read


What is a Bull Market?
When the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones, (or some other index or indicator), rises more than 20% from its 52...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jun 29, 20233 min read


"I'm Black Everyday"
In her latest newsletter, my brilliant friend Monica Coleman discusses why she doesn't 'celebrate' Juneteenth, and I thought I'd share...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jun 19, 20233 min read


"Bend, but don't break!"
The Blaze virtual conference is happening next week, and registration is free! The theme is the very appropriate "Bend, but don't break!"...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jun 16, 20231 min read


Step 6 —Assess debts
Happy June! The 6th month of the year, time to introduce step 6 in the MGB Investing Starter Kit process--Assess all of our debts including taxes. [Video was made before the orange skies took over! NYC is back to normal today, thankfully.] Use a spreadsheet like this free Debt tracker Count up all debts, which includes, as I mentioned in the video, taxes! (And here's the link to that story! ) Check your credit report , which some call the 'adult report card.' It may be over

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Jun 9, 20231 min read


Step 5–An Abundance Fund
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! We hope you have something nice planned. And we remember those who gave their service to our country so that we can feel free today. This step is about freedom, too--starting an Abundance Fund (what we used to call an Emergency Fund , but we have rebranded, thanks to one of you!) We recommend having $500 in cash available at all times. What do you think of having an 'Abundance Fund'? Let me know in the comments! And as always, thanks for reading t
![Writer: Hello MGB [MultiGenerational.Black]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bea955_adbac7a5cda54286b689f27ba5570828~mv2.jpg)
Hello MGB [MultiGenerational.Black]
May 26, 20231 min read


What is an ETF?
What the ETF? lol. An 'Exchange Traded Fund' or ETF for short, is just like a mutual fund, it's an investment that allows the purchaser...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
May 18, 20232 min read


What is an Index?
An index tracks the stock market.

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
May 12, 20231 min read


What is a mutual fund?
Instead of investing in individual stocks, another investment you can choose is called a MUTUAL FUND, which is an actively managed...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
May 4, 20232 min read


Step 4 -Get a "Check In Chum"
Step 4 in the MGB Investing Starter Kit process is to get what we call a Check In Chum. Watch this video to get more info! Get a Check in Chum! Here's a sample text you could send to your potential Chum: Hi friend! I took a class on investing, and the teacher suggests getting a ‘Check In Chum’- a buddy interested in increasing their financial fluency. Might you be interested in hearing more about this? Do you already have a 'financial fluency' friend to bounce investing ideas

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Apr 25, 20231 min read


America Will Be
April is also National Poetry Month in America. Here's one from Dartmouth professorof English, Dr. Joshua Bennett, PhD. AMERICA WILL BE...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Apr 21, 20233 min read


For Us By Us
FUBU founder Daymond John has this great interview with Marie Forleo, as he promotes his new children's book. My favorite takeaway is the...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Apr 13, 20232 min read


Kwibuka29 🇷🇼
Today we commemorate the lives lost 29 years ago in the Central African country Rwanda. It is a solemn day. 'Kwibuka' means 'to remember'...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Apr 7, 20231 min read


Financial April Fools Day 2023
When have you 'acted the fool' with money? We all make mistakes, we all make money mistakes, but somehow those feel worse than other...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Apr 1, 20231 min read


Senegal 🇸🇳
Hope you have all had a good month of March. I wanted to share about a family holiday I just took. SENEGAL. In West Africa. We stayed at...

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Mar 31, 20232 min read


Step 3--Increase Inflow
Step 3 in the MGB Investing Starter Kit process: look for ways to increase the amount of money flowing in. In order to invest successfully, we have to have enough disposable income, and one way to ensure that, is to find ways to allow more to flow in. Here's a video reminder of the exercise mentioned before --have you tried it? What's the most interesting idea you've come up with? Let me know in the comments! And as always, thanks for reading this! Quick Links: Step 1 is HERE

Leslie Lewis (she/her)
Mar 12, 20231 min read


Great TEDx Talk--Success
How do you define Success? Further to this post on my beloved late grandmother, here's a beautiful take on the idea, from one of our...
![Writer: Hello MGB [MultiGenerational.Black]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bea955_adbac7a5cda54286b689f27ba5570828~mv2.jpg)
Hello MGB [MultiGenerational.Black]
Feb 28, 20231 min read
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