Happy 2022 in The Black

 Hello my Peoples,

I hope everyone is staying COVID free to start the New Year. I am worried because I am seeing too many black folks walking around with no masks and listening to too much conspiracy bull crap on the internet. I know that the Black Frugal group is following the science and staying safe and healthy. I cooked a healthy batch of Collards this Christmas( no ham hock), well, after I burnt the first batch. Take a note from me when cooking Collards, never take a nap during cooking without a timer. Ha ha. From my wife, you need white wine, cayenne pepper, a little sugar and a pinch of salt. I also watched King Richard and Harlem.

During 2020-2021, I have done the following:

- created a workout area in my basement for under $300

- increased my wealth

- paid off all vehicles 

- sent two kids to Europe for a week

- improved my golf and tennis game

- renovated a kitchen on the cheap

- built a Little Free Library 

- also, update on my Hisense Flatscreen, it lasted 8 years, not bad for $300 50 inch, but the speakers are terrible. The good deals now are the Samsungs.

So, for the Black Frugal group, I hope you have stayed invested in the stock market. With all the gas increases, viruses and mutations, the Dow has gone from 28000 in 2020 to 36000 at the end of 2021. You should still keep most of your money in mutual funds and stay away from anyone trying to sell you annuities and crypto for now. Hey, you can spend a few hundred on Dogecoin or Shiba and see what happens, but it is too volatile to anything except dabble. The only good things coming from this pandemic is that we have learned that we were wasting too much money on materialistic items, eating unhealthy and paying preachers too much damn money. The online sermons really separated out the theologians from the prosperity preachers. 

This is still a good time to buy a home and for my black peoples we need to upgrade to neighborhood where our property can appreciate like the whites. I know we love our black hoods but until real estate companies and cities stop marginalizing our communities our wealth in assets will never build like them. Remember never buy the most expensive house in you neighborhood, if you do you are already at the top price point and your house will never appreciate in value at a profitable rate. I believe interest rates are going to rise over the next year. We are no longer in our grandparents generation where you bought a house in a black neighborhood and never moved. Our black neighborhoods now are degrading at a much faster rate and we have not learned the keys to gentrification of our neighborhoods like the whites have. You just can’t run the drug gangs or predators out, you have to price them out and put city power on the slum lords. Now, many of you may disagree but again that’s my two cents and like my mom used to say opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

Peace out for now,

Frugal Frank OTBS

I am an Advocate for Public Education Part 2

 So here we are again my peoples. I have been away for far too long and I apologize for abandoning you during this ongoing Pandemic, but self and family care took priority. 

I am revisiting an earlier Blog several years ago where I discussed public education vs private education. I did take a little heat for saying that you could send your kid to a public school and rather than pay the high private school tuition, use less money and supplement your child’s education with additional resources and opportunities, and by doing so could get your child in the same elite colleges as the private schools.

Well, today, I can let you know that I was right. I have one daughter who went to one of the top women’s colleges in the country and another who is going to an Ivy League college. These schools with their billion dollar endowments are unmatched for the resources and opportunities they can provide to your student. They both attended public schools and trust me they got no pass or benefit for the color of their skin. As most of you know now, middle class black kids get no breaks unless you are first generation. I did put them in sports like golf, tennis, swimming. They excelled in all three and learned discipline and resilience. What I found out along the way is that even after the William Sisters and the Woods, this sports are still 99% white. The movie “King Richard” does not over exaggerate the obstacles or the elitism in these sports. Everyone is nice until your kids start beating theirs. It is mainly about access and changing our mindsets from the traditional avenues to forging new ground. As I always say during this time, the best gift a black parent can give their kid is a golf membership and some lessons. It will change their whole perspective. Trust me. You can blog back at me and I can guide you through the process of all three sports because no one will help you, except maybe a few Asian parents. Now, I am not stereotyping just speaking from experience. 

I have to put up some Christmas lights and the Little Free Library that I built( I am becoming a true New England Granola eating Liberal). I will blog more later. I have many topics about the economy and money to catch up on so get ready 2022.

Frugal Frank from the Blackside