Black Women Invest Founder Expands Local Chapters And Offers 3 Tips For Beginners

Schelo D. Collier launched a 13,000-member community aimed at getting Black women to invest.

Meet Schelo D. Collier, a visionary leader in finance and real estate investment who launched a 13,000-member community aimed at getting Black women to invest.

Black Women Invest is aimed at empowering Black Women to excel in their financial pursuits. Launched after Collier lost her “dream job,” she embarked on a mission to align women who look like her and who want to take the lead in securing their financial future.

“I was motivated to launch Black Women Invest after my “dream job” ended abruptly. I was suddenly faced with the realization that my financial well-being was truly up to me,” she tells BLACK ENTERPRISE.

“If I continued to rely on someone else to write my checks, then this situation could happen again,” she adds. “So, I went on a search to find like-minded women who were also on their investment journeys. I desired a supportive community; however, the research revealed a surprising lack of dedicated platforms for Black Women. Instead, I found that more groups were focused on saving and budgeting—not investing. Therefore, I started Black Women Invest to provide Black women with a safe place to flourish and learn tangible investing strategies together.”

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With a passion for breaking stigmas around investing, Collier has seen more women stick to budgeting rather than taking an active initiative in investing their money.

“Some of the biggest stigmas I hear include the misconception that you need a lot of money to invest, which is far from the truth,” she says. “First, women need education, and then they need consistency. I teach people that even $50 a month can make a difference in your long-term portfolio.”

“Another stigma is that investing is like gambling. This fear of financial loss comes from a lack of knowledge,” she adds. “Black women might perceive investing as risky behavior, particularly if they don’t have a good understanding of what they’re investing in. Getting educated helps them to overcome that fear.”

With chapters in Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, and an online community, Collier is looking to grow Black Women Invest by connecting women from all facets of life. For anyone still skeptical about investing, Collier offers these tips.

Understand your risk tolerance level. You can assess this by asking yourself the following questions:
- How would I react if my investments lost a significant amount of value?
- How much money can I afford to lose?
- When will I need access to my money?
- How do I honestly feel about market volatility?

Set your goals. What are you planning to do when you reach your investment goals? Are you investing to buy a house, planning for retirement, or paying for your children to go to college? That should help you determine the types of investments you get into; such as real estate, index funds, or passively or actively investing into stocks, etc.

Choose the right investment strategy for you. I had a woman join our group who wanted to invest further in her stock portfolio, but she was already at retirement age. So when we discussed the best strategy for her goals and timeline, we realized that it would make the most sense for her to convert her basement into a new living quarters and rent it out. And that’s precisely what she did, she now rents it out to travel nurses and earns a profit. Investing is not just about stocks.