Keep money smelling mothy?
While I know he's currently being hated by the entire world
right now (#Lemonade) , I'm not afraid to say Jay-Z's music raised me. While
I've never met the man, his music was the soundtrack to my teenage years. I rap
entire albums by heart! I remember where
I heard songs for the first time! I even was willing to lie and say that Nas’s
diss song “Ether” was trash (Honest moment: greatest diss song ever)! Now that you understand the level of a jay-z stan
I am. Imagine being a young man and hearing "keep money smelling mothy"
on a Jay-Z record. One interpretation is that HOV was telling his audience to
save their money and seeing as his “alleged” drug dealing audience couldn’t
take their drug profits to the bank, Jay-z suggested that they put the money in
their closet. The mothy scent comes from the moth balls that old people line
their houses with to ensure that moths don’t eat their treasured garments. It was the game plan for what I needed to hear
for what to do with my money. I knew just what I was gonna do with my money,
hide it in my closet. (To the would be jack boys, I have since gave up this
practice) Now if you have any financial brain you understand why this isn't a
good idea. First Jay-z was talking about putting his “alleged” drug earnings
into his closet for safe keeping because let's be honest a young black man with
no job would be a little suspicious walking into a bank depositing over a $100k.
And since I was a 15 year old kid depositing his lose change from his part time
job it wouldn’t cause any red flags, I
should’ve input this money into the bank. Based off what I’ve learned from watching
crime shows, the life of a drug dealer can be an unpredictable one. One minute
you can be in the club popping bottles of Ace of Spades and the next you’re
sitting in that cold cell. While we non drug dealers don’t have those type of
lows, we can understand why Jay-Z would advised his community to save for that
rainy day. Life is a long marathon and there will undoubtedly be lows. It’s
important to always be saving money because just like drug dealers can’t
forecast police raids, you can’t forecast loss of job or medical emergencies.
Most banks give you at least 1 % to keep your money in their
banks. But if you know you’re not going to need the money lock it away in
certificates which offer a higher rate of return. Certificates are no-risk and
moderate reward savings account. But it allows you to gain higher interest for
money that would be just sitting there in a lower interest rate savings
accounts. By this point you should have an emergency fund saved up (at least 6
months, but now start working for 12!) so now if you're saving to buy a house
save that money away in a certificate allowing you to gain compound interest on
money you know you won't need for a couple years. It’s also saves you from
losing what you put in. The only drawback is having that money locked away for
the length of the certificate. Certificates can be ended sooner but there are penalties
for early withdraw.
I take all of my dollars and change to the bank, I don't
allow this money to sit long in jars because I'll miss the potential interest.
So instead of having a huge coin bucket, I empty the change out and take it to
the bank periodically. While coin jars are great mindless savings accounts,
they don’t provide the compound interest that a bank would. Am I talking about
making thousands of dollars off of the change that’s usually left in your car?
HELL NO. I’m talking about making the most you can off the money you have. This
can be a lot or it can also be a little bit depending on the funding you have
in the account. But what I can tell you
is that you won’t be making any money off of the money just sitting in your
closet. You don't deal drugs, (if so, stop polluting your community)..... So
don't be scared to take your crinkled dollar bills to the bank each week/month.
Don't account for that money in your normal savings, but create a certificate
to immediately toss the funds into for savings. By locking the change away you force yourself
to forget about the money and continue working for more savings. Of course you’re
not saving for event lose your re-up or lawyer fews like the old jay-z was but
you need to have a similar mindset.
Thanks for the life lessons Jay-Z!
