By John R. Schneider, III & David Auten
Cities across the country are showing their Pride this month, as queer people embrace our pride. But, taking pride in who we are is more than one parade a year. It’s a 365-day practice taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally and financially.
As for the latter, our community has two concerns: the need to pay off debt and the need to save for retirement.
Missing our Financial Pride
Prudential’s 2012 and 2016 LGBT Financial Experience Surveys show that over half of the queer community consistently maintains $10,000 or more of debt, slightly more than the general population. Likewise, LGBT respondents to the 2016 survey were “less likely to have started saving or investing for retirement, to have insurance products, and to have a will or estate plan than those [LGBT respondents] surveyed in 2012 or general population respondents.”
How We Can Have More Money Pride
It’s important for all LGBT people to take at least as much pride in our money as we do in being ourselves.
Build an Emergency Savings Account
If you don’t have an emergency savings account, save at least $500 before you do anything else. Once you do this, you’ll be better prepared to withstand unexpected emergencies or expenses.
When you do this, you’ll have money in case you miss work, get in an accident or exceed your data limit. This will benefit your physical, emotional, and mental well-being.
Get on a Debt Payment Plan
The most important step to take to pay off your debt, whether student loans, credit cards or another type of loan, is to get on a debt payment plan. Whatever interest rate you’re paying on your debt is too much.
Ways to pay down your debt include the Snowball Method, which says to pay off your smallest balances first and incrementally focus on larger debts. There’s the Avalanche Method that says to pay off your highest interest rate debt first. There’s, also, the Debt Lasso Method that says to gets your interest rates as low as possible, including 0% with some credit cards, and pays off your debt as fast as possible.
Contribute to a Retirement Account
Open a 401(k), 403(b), SEP or SIMPLE IRA through your company. These usually include a corresponding match of your contribution by your employer up to a certain dollar amount. Contribute enough to get 100% of your employer’s match.
Open a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs let you contribute up to $5,500 a year ($6,500 if you’re over 50 years old) with no lifetime maximum. Be careful of minimum balance fees.
Because of the additional and unique challenges the LGBT community faces, we must take extra care of ourselves and our financial lives. Pride is a celebration of who we are and a reminder of how far we’ve come. It’s, also, a good time to gauge how we’re doing individually and how we can improve in the next 365 days to achieve a whole new level of pride.
