Cassandra Cummings - Fearless Finances: A Timeless Guide to Building Wealth

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2022 Cassandra Cummings

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ISBN 978-1-4002-3040-2 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-3038-9 (HC)

Epub Edition AUGUST 2022 9781400230402

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022935498

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This book is dedicated to my favorite girl and

daughter, Nia. May you continue to be fearless

when it comes to whatever your heart desires.

I had typed my resignation letter at least a month prior. I looked at it the night before meeting with my director at Merrill, adding and deleting words, trying to strike the right tone.

I went back and forth, moving my eyes across the screen, reciting the words in my head to be sure it was professional and that I was clear and firm, but not angry as so many Black women who express themselves are perceived. I sat in fear, but I hit the blue send button and gasped for air, proud of myself for finally going through with it.

The next morning, I sat across from my director. He was an African American man who had risen fairly quickly within the firm. We had a brief discussion about me staying on, but I knew in my heart that my time at the firm had run its course. I had been a financial advisor to thousands of affluent individuals and families over the span of fifteen years. I witnessed accounts flourish and investors hit new tax brackets, with the help of my advice and guidance. I received holiday cards and delicious treats in gratitude for the financial impact that I had imparted on their lives for generations to come. But, for the longest time, I felt a void.

Ive come a long way. I used to be a little girl growing up on welfare who saw my mother clutch every dollar so tightly. It created a fear so deep down that it would take decades to build the courage to view money in a different way. Today, I am a woman who stared down my financial fears, built lasting connections, and turned my passion for finances into a business where I could do what I love in the way I love to do it: as an entrepreneur.

Im Cassandra Cummings, the oldest of six sisters, a mother, a daughter, and the fearless founder of The Stocks & Stilettos Society, a community of women at various stages of their investing journey.

I want you to keep in mind that no mistakes are made in this game called life, starting with the hand that I was dealt. I was once ashamed of my beginnings, with a teenage mother who was illiterate and a father who lost his life after tapping the streets (to put it politely) to provide for his family and his community. Now that Im over the embarrassment, it has allowed me to kick down doors to limiting beliefs about money and to show others how to do the same, while creating generational wealthstarting with me.

A great irony that loomed over me like a dark cloud was that I was highly educated, successful in my career, but financially illiterate. At the time, I couldnt put my finger on why I was having such a hard time financially. I did everything I was told to doI went to school, got good grades, and got a good job. I had solid credit and a small, but decent, savings account. But something wasnt adding up.

I wanted to help more women that looked like me to close the race, gender, and investment gapsor straight up, the economic gap. The statistics were becoming increasingly startling. I knew that so many women were trying to break generational and financial curses and trying to learn how money works, just as I was, but had no one to guide them. They were on their own, trying to figure it out, and making costly mistakes. Or even worse, they werent doing anything at all besides tucking their money away in a savings account. Therefore, I created The Stocks & Stilettos Society, an online community of over one hundred thousand women investors, as a safe space for women to have a place to ask questions and learn about investing in the stock market. We talk about money and investing like some groups talk about parenting and relationships. Its different. It works.

The Society has become the largest community of Black women investors to ever assemble. Its a sisterhooda financial sorority, if you will. Its unlike any other organization Ive been a part ofwe truly help each other to win, financially. And to think that I, a young Black woman from Oakland, California with so many disadvantages, created this powerful investing community!