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Merrill and The Advocate present Milestones

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VO:

When I think about financial freedom, it really is about my ability to dream and to chart my own course. And to know that I'm okay and that I have everything that I need. 

SUPER:

Dr. C. Nicole Mason

President & CEO, The Institute for Women’s Policy Research

VO:

My name is C. Nicole Mason. I'm the president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington, DC. I'm also a queer- single mother by choice to 12-year-old twins Charlie and Parker. I am the first in my family to graduate from high school, attend college and obtain a doctoral degree.

When I was 17 I moved from Los Angeles, California to live with my paternal grandmother to finish high school. At the time, I had applied and was accepted to Howard University in Washington DC. When I was at Howard University, I took a Political Science course. It was in that class that I learned about social inequality, class difference, and racism. I learned about government programs meant to help poor people or disadvantaged people, and everything just sort of clicked for me, and I felt like I found my passion, my life's work. I knew that I was going to be able to make a difference.

When I came out, I started doing work around LGBTQ, civil rights and working with local organizations. Having my own lived experiences growing up with very little but also making the connection between the fact that as a queer person, the intersections of economic vulnerability for queer folks, especially queer folks of color were salient for me. Especially with doing the kind of work, I was doing in the community.

I remember my landlord at the time, I had a roommate, had raised the rent. Then I did the math, and I said, "Well, why don't we just buy a house?" And it seems so foreign because I was like, 24, 25, but within six months, I purchased my first home. And that was the beginning of what I know now as my, you know, journey to financial freedom. And since then, I've purchased four homes, and I still have three of them, so that has provided me financial security and stability, but also allows me to be able to pass on wealth to my children in a way that my family, my mom, my dad wasn't able to do. Currently, I run the Institute for Women's Policy Research. It is an inside-the-beltway Think Tank focused on winning economic equity for all women and building women's power and influence in society.

I am only the second leader in the organization's history, and I'm one of few women of color leading a Think Tank in Washington DC. A big part of my work is linking research to policy change and action and so when I think about the research, it's about telling the stories of communities that I love, and also explaining why the data, whatever the numbers are, look a certain way. So in this moment, we have a real opportunity to reimagine the economy and also make sure that people not only are surviving because many people were surviving before the pandemic, but they are thriving. Again, able to dream big, not only for themselves but for their families as well. Because of the work I do, I'm also aware of the economic disparities, in terms of earnings, for gender-nonbinary folks and trans folks. How we look and how we present our sexual identity or gender expression impacts what we will earn both in the short term and long term. It will also impact our retirement, and it has the real potential to impact our career trajectory.

What I'm hoping though, is not for the individual person who's facing this conflict but for businesses and employers to create workplaces that are responsive to and inclusive of those of us who have been on the margins or live on the margins of society.

I have started to think about retirement, and through my employer, I do invest. I invest in stocks. I am fully invested in my employer's 401k plan and contributing the most that I can. I think it's important to diversify your investments through stocks, 401k, and homeownership because, at the end of the day, all those things work together to ensure your financial security and stability over your lifetime and into retirement. Most importantly, I want to make sure that I leave something behind for my children, so creating a financial plan to be able to do so is important to me.

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Milestones

To learn more about Merrill’s study Diverse Viewpoints: Exploring wealth in the LGBTQ+ community visit ml.com/diversity.

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4942312  09/20/2023

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Merrill and The Advocate present Milestones

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VO:

[Nikki Weiss-Goldstein] I hope that in the future that LGBTQIA couples are afforded those same rights as heterosexual married couples.

SUPER:

Lawfully wed mothers, Businesss owners & Advocates

VO:

Hi, my name is Jill Goldstein and I am Nikki Weiss-Goldstein.

[Nikki Weiss-Goldstein] I am a mother. I am an entrepreneur.

[Jill Goldstein] I am also a mother. I would say that I'm a very sensitive person, very compassionate. I think my biggest accomplishment hands down is starting a family you know, becoming a mother and bringing too little human beings into this world and being responsible for them.

[Jill Goldstein] I also am very proud of the company that I started. I'm a treatment writer. And about two years ago, I started a treatment writing firm. So I'm getting back into the workforce after being a stay-at-home mom for many, many years.

[Nikki Weiss-Goldstein] Jill and I have known each other since we're children, and we've been together now for 13 years. I'm extremely proud of our commitment to one another and our marriage, and I'm very proud of us as parents. I'm also really proud of my career. I got into the entertainment business when I was just 21 years old and opened up my own company then and it's been in existence ever since. I'll be turning 50 next year. So yeah, I'm proud of that. Financial freedom is not a windfall. It is not winning a lottery. I think for us, our financial freedom has been our hard work, our planning, and our commitment to savings.

Saving is really important. You know, we have had events in our lives that maybe a couple would not have had. Planning for children was a big financial expenditure for us and something that insurance didn't cover funnily enough because we needed a doctor to help us get pregnant. You know, I always tell my children this, it's like, you pay your bills first and you pay yourself second. We've been strategic in how we plan for our future. When I started my company, I also opened up a self-employment IRA, a SEP IRA, and I have maxed out every year in putting money away. So that's 28 years of savings. Unfortunately, I have never worked for a big company where there's a matching program. So it's all on my shoulders. And I'm proud that I've been able to do that for my family.

[Jill Goldstein] We're also starting a 529 college savings plan for them, which I think is critical to do. So that you know in 18 years you're not faced with this enormous financial burden.

[Nikki Weiss-Goldstein] There are things in place like trust accounts, beneficiaries, and settlers of the trust - so that if we are no longer here, will guide our children. When we got married, we were not recognized legally. I knew that we as a gay couple were not afforded the same rights as married couples. I knew that and I consulted with an attorney and said, "what do I need to do to protect our assets like a family?" Do I need to set us up as a business? Or you know, how should our home be held? It was extremely important that we had healthcare powers of attorney for each other because again, our marriage was not legally recognized. And so if you cannot afford an attorney, there are places online where you can download a standard form and then start from there.

[Jill Goldstein] You don't want to be in a position where you're, backtracking and trying to put the pieces together as quickly as possible because there's a reason that you need to prove your spouse's. It's worth it because then you kind of breathe out and feel secure that not only are we married in our hearts, but we are recognized, you know, federally.

[Nikki Weiss-Goldstein] Jill and I make sure that we make collective decisions about our finances. That's, you know, always a conversation. Neither of us does anything without the other person's approval. And I think that it's extremely important in a marriage to respect that of each other. So I would say to any LGBTQ couple. When you are starting to save, talk to each other, plan together, save together, spend together and enjoy your finances. But also protect them together.

[Jill Goldstein] I wholeheartedly agree.

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Milestones

To learn more about Merrill’s study Diverse Viewpoints: Exploring wealth in the LGBTQ+ community visit ml.com/diversity.

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4942303  09/20/2023

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Merrill and The Advocate present Milestones

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VO:

When all trans people can have access to housing, then all trans people can have access to health care - that would be a huge milestone for our community.

SUPER:

Feroza Syed

Georgia LGBTQ+ Advocate

VO:

My name is Feroza Syed, and I am a multimillion-dollar producing Associate Broker with Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty. I'm a Trans activist and advocate in the Atlanta area, and my pronouns are she/her. I transitioned at 19 though I came out to my parents after an attempt at suicide at 14. I think embracing my authentic self took me until about 36 - when I really owned who I was as a person, my identity, self-love, and self-worth. Since then, it's just been an amazing trip.

All of that freedom that you have when you truly love yourself kind of translates across all the different aspects of your life, right. It moves beyond just aesthetically or physically me - feeling pretty and working out and feeling happy. It went into my financial life, as far as me being able to have more free time. To work, to really put my career first, you know, making better decisions. Coming from a space where I was owning my whole identity.

I think a milestone to me is an important moment in your life. It can be when; you decided you were going to transition, or when you did transition, or buying a house, getting married, having children. For me, being a trans woman of color, owning my own home is definitely one of my biggest accomplishments. And one of the privileges I had was that when I first bought my home, my parents gifted me money. And when we're talking about down payments, it's very uncommon in marginalized backgrounds to have access to that kind of familial or generational wealth.

I work in housing. I work with an organization called Trans Housing Coalition that does work with TGNC trans and gender non-conforming folks in the Atlanta area. And firsthand have seen the difficulty that members of our community face when trying to get housing. Getting to that place where you can buy a home can be very difficult, and folks in our community don't necessarily have the same accessibility to employment or resources that other people do in other communities.

When you're struggling for housing, you're not really thinking about saving. When you're struggling to get access to health care, you're not thinking about your financial security 20, 30, or 40 years from now. So, people who are coming out of that survival mode, that we are all often in, as the trans community, or you know, the LGBTQ community - once you get beyond that kind of basic survival mode, you get to a space where you're financially capable of providing yourself housing and health care and basic human rights that we all deserve. At that point, trying to set up and save for your financial independence and putting more money into your savings. It's really important to have these conversations and start thinking about how you can save for the future. I like to think of buying a home as a savings account in and of itself. So the equity that you're gaining in your home in a sense is like a bank account. I think that having a diverse portfolio for anybody is important when you're considering where you want to put your money. 

I have started planning for retirement. I think part of my retirement plan as a real estate broker would be to buy a couple more properties, build some equity in those, and hopefully have them paid off by the time I'm retired. For me making sure that we want to plan and we want to help our youth think about things in a way that they might not have thought about before, but making sure that people also know that I know the privilege that's been bestowed upon me and being able to utilize the resources that I had; financial, social, racial privilege and passing privilege, that I had to be able to accomplish what I have, it's really, you know, a big part of me acknowledging that, is very important to me. I'm not a professional investor. I don't know about all sorts of aspects but reach out to the community that you have around you. We're very tightknit. Find people or professionals in the spaces that you want to learn more about. And that's definitely a great way to start learning how to be a little bit more financially savvy.

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Milestones

To learn more about Merrill’s study Diverse Viewpoints: Exploring wealth in the LGBTQ+ community visit ml.com/diversity.

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4942317  09/20/2023

ONSCREEN:

Merrill and The Advocate present Milestones

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VO:

Being able to contribute to the gay community and any of their needs to me as financial security.

SUPER:

Don Quaintance

Author, LGBTQ+ Advocate

VO:

My name is Don Quaintance, and I'm retired. I'm 80 years old, and I worked with a committee for a number of years. I started financial planning with my very first job. I set money aside, with each paycheck at that time not thinking of the future, other than a short-term future. I grew older and was able to set more money aside. I invested it, bought a home, and did those things to ensure my retirement. And so at this point, I am living on those successes. I retired at the earliest opportunity I could. I felt I was financially stable to retire when I was 63. That gave me the opportunity to do more things that I actually wanted to do and assist the gay community.

And when I was growing up, there was no one that you could really look up to, and definitely not in a rural area, that you could speak to.  I didn't even know of any other gay person. It wasn't until 1959, after graduating from high school and moving to Minneapolis that I actually heard the word gay and met some gay people. I never was out with my work or family members, but I had a large group of friends that were gay and some allies. I feel it's very important that we start a group of people where we could support each other and talk about issues that affected us in our community. We started the Men's Circle in 2000. We ran a bunch of ads in a bunch of papers and had a meeting of April 2000. And there were about 25 people who came, which was sort of a surprise. I gave financially quite a sum of money. When we first started, there probably were four or five of us that were paying for the bulk of advertising, food, and entertainers.

So I was one of those that was able to give a lot of money for that cause.  Without that, we probably would not have been able to start the Men's Circle. I would always first make sure that I had enough money to pay for things that I needed or wanted but my financial priorities are contributing to the community, which always made me feel good because I know it's an important thing to do when you can. So many people are living alone, but I am lucky enough to have a partner at this time. But when you're living alone, you may not have money if you have not worked and set money aside. It would be hard to live on Social Security alone. So try to start as early as possible and set or invest as much money as possible aside. That money will grow and be able to support you when you do retire.

End Frame:

Milestones

To learn more about Merrill’s study Diverse Viewpoints: Exploring wealth in the LGBTQ+ community visit ml.com/diversity.

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4957920  09/20/2023