The dfree Global Foundation is a nonprofit working to improve the total financial status of the African-American community by addressing the root causes of financial issues. Its 2022 leadership retreat and conference promises to equip African-Americans with the strategies and resources to live a financially empowered life. Tamika Stembridge, executive director of the dfree Global Foundation joined Cheddar News to discuss.  

Opening Bell

 Dfree improving the financial status of African-Americans 

So here to discuss is Tamika stine Bridge, executive director of the D. Free Global Foundation. Tamika, thank you so much for joining us. I love the concept you have here. But can you explain a little bit more about the mission of the Free Financial Freedom Movement and what does the Foundation offer? Absolutely thank you so much for having me. D free, really is about helping people take a holistic approach to financial management. So we preach everything from understanding your mindset around money, your heart around money, um and then taking that into action around your habits. And so we really consider ourselves to be a transformational lifestyle movement versus just a financial movement because we know our money is doing what our life is doing and so we provide everything from content curriculum, access to resources, industry professionals to really help people address their needs from a holistic point of view. Okay, so what can attendees at the leadership retreat and conference expect and why is it important for african americans to take control of their financial future? Listen, we offer everything from inspiration to information, we know that people need to be encouraged in this time and most times around finances and so we're gonna be bringing industry experts a little bit of entertainment, of course, some inspirational messaging, talking about topics and everything between the connection between health and well being, to planning and adjusting your budget to long term planning and how our current economic, you know, situation is going to impact you in the long term. And so we have experts from the industry including prudential robert, wood johnson Barnabas health, which is the biggest health care system in New Jersey to really bridge that gap for people and help them to understand what it is that they need to do. Either coming out of this kind of post or long covid era is what we're calling it. And how do they address their finances? Um given everything that's going on right now, given everything that's going on, we still have been able to make strides in the african american community towards improving financial status. But what are some of the things that still need to be done? Listen, you can always go back and review your budget. It doesn't matter what your money or your life is doing. Your budget is the backbone of how you're going to manage that month to month. So we recommend that you do that. But in tandem you also do a lifestyle assessment, what do you need to adjust with yourself or with your household to make ends meet or to make ends expand? Are you starting a new business? Are you going to cut back on your spending? Are you going to only get your hair done once a month as opposed to every two weeks? Making those adjustments really have big financial impacts? And last but not least we recommend that you ask for help and that could be going to your creditors or your debtors and asking, you know what kind of resources that you have available to make things a little bit easier or going to meet with a financial professional to say, okay, how do I adjust my long term plan or how do I create one? And so we really think that at any stage that you're at financially doing those three things will consistently help you to continue to grow financially. And you talked about those adjustments which are all great but d free also helps people take the steps to change some of the financial behaviors that we were either wrongly taught or just never perfected ourselves. So what are some of those behaviors that we should change? Like telling my wife to not shop on amazon every single day, but you go ahead, you're the expert, what should we change? And some of the things we're doing? Listen, it's really about understanding your money story, amazon didn't just happen when amazon got here. Like I think about myself, I learned how to shop for my grandmother, she told me to save money, but she took me shopping on saturday. So when I got grown, I learned how to earn money during the week and shop on saturday and it really is a lot of our financial habits stem from either our childhood or our personal influences the people we follow on social media. You know if you're like, most people, they're following celebrities and famous people that have incomes far past what you're earning every day. And so you have to think about what's influencing your financial decisions and really take stock of that? Is this the reality that I'm living in? Is this the reality I want to be living in and then making those adjustments? Alright. So we love tips. So what are some other tips that people can use to sort of navigate the economic uncertainty and you know, the potential recession that's looming, realize that things are actually uncertain. You know, a lot of times we get into our routine, you know what's coming in, you know what's going out. But when something changes, it's normally a shock to our system understand that we've already been shocked and so you need to start making adjustments. You should be saving a little bit more for a rainy day, You should be a little bit more conservative around how you're spending. You should be thinking about again, those lifestyle assessments, what do you need to adjust to make sure that ends our meeting and that they may extend understanding that the circumstances were in, they're uncertain right now. But we also don't know how long they're going to be uncertain. And again, I can't stress it enough. Your budget is the backbone of your financial well being and it changes every month if you have household things that you need to take care of that's gonna affect your monthly budget. You have day care things that are gonna change? We're in the middle of the summer if you're taking a vacation, are you borrowing for that? Are you using a credit card or are you going to have the actual money that you're going to need when you get back? And so it really is about consistently looking at those three things and again, don't be afraid to ask for help. Well, I'm glad people will be able to get as much help as they need and resources at your conference. Tell us where we can sign up for. How do we get involved? Absolutely. You can visit the Free Foundation dot org to register for the conference to learn more about our work. We're on social media at my d free on all platforms. And we'll be posting the event is located in New Jersey, but we're gonna be completely virtual all week so feel free to register, join when you can and will also release the recordings afterwards. So www dot d. Free foundation dot org. I'm writing that one down. I need to get some of those recordings for myself. But what's next for you all after the conference then what we continue to offer webinars on a weekly basis. So if you need some continuous encouragement, we'll be doing that the rest of the year. We're also gonna be putting together new content and curriculum. We have an online academy that allows you to take our curriculum for free again is accessible via the website. So if you need some consistent training on how to get your money together, visiting the Free Foundation dot org will get you there. We're also going to be focused on our billion dollar challenge. We're trying to help african americans pay down a billion dollars in debt and so create your plan. You need help figuring out how to pay off debt. You can use that website and it is completely free. So I just encourage people to stay connected to the movement to stay encouraged. You know, none of us can control what's happening financially, but we can control what's happening in our lives. And that's the key to being able to make a difference in your overall financial well being, how you adjust how you in your life. I love this movement. Tamika Sin Bridge, thank you so much. Executive director of the D Free Global Foundation. We appreciate your time.