Page 35 - Florida Sentinel 5-28-21

National
18-Year-Old Ahmed Muhammad Becomes First Black Male Valedictorian In
Philadelphia Woman
California High School’s 106-Year History
Paid Off $169,000 of Debt
Anytime our young brothers and sisters accomplish any- thing worth raving about, well, we rave! In the case of 18-year- old Ahmed Muhammad, Oakland Technical High School’s new history-breaking valedictorian, we were practi- cally ready to throw the kid a celebratory bash after news hit that he became the first Black male in the school’s 106-year history to rank top honors.
Muhammad graduates on Wednesday (May 26), and has already clocked in at the top of his class with an impressive 4.73 GPA. Good Morning America even suggest that, de- pending on how his final few
land Tech scholar has already chosen Stanford University as the destination he wants to further his academics at, an- nouncing the news to his IG followers.
His journey to the top wasn’t without hard work to say the least. On top of his regular high school curriculum load, Ahmed also took 13 advanced placement classes at Oakland Tech and then went even harder by adding a handful of college classes at his local com- munity college to the work- load. Long story short, this dude was working! As you can see, it all paid off for him in the long run.
In Less Than 2 Years
Unexpectedly Lost Her Job;
AHMED MUHAMMAD
classes go, his GPA could even raise to a perfect 5.0. The Oak-
Philadelphia-based financial services professional Shaquana Watson-Hark- ness accumulated over $169,000 of debt. In an Insta- gram post, she mentions that she racked up over $20,000 of debt while traveling the world. On New Year’s Eve 2018, Watson-Harkness made a resolution to stop using credit cards to fund her lifestyle. Al- though she admitted that breaking longtime habits was tough, she was willing to do whatever it took to take con- trol of her finances.
Less than two years after making a commitment to be- come debt-free, she paid off $169,000.
While on her wealth-build- ing journey, Watson-Hark- ness received shocking news. In November 2019, her em- ployer gave her the infamous pink slip, leaving her without a full-time job. This was the third time that Watson- Harkness experienced a lay- off.
“Always prepare for the un- expected and maintain multi- ple streams of income outside your day job,” Watson- Harkness told Black Enter- prise. “The multiple streams of income could be passive in- come such as investments or working on your business as a side hustle.”
As a professional in financial services, Watson-Harkness was the person people would turn to for help with their per- sonal finances. She was happy to give advice but she was also ashamed because she was dealing with her own financial struggles.
Her first step towards finan- cial freedom was to acknowl- edge her problems and then change her habits.
In February 2018, Watson- Harkness signed up for a money management course. As she started to shift her thoughts around spending and
SHAQUANA WATSON- HARKNESS
saving, she started to make progress in her finances. She created her first budget and debt payoff plan to jumpstart her goals.
Next, she tracked her ex- penses. She noticed that she was overspending by $3,000 a month. She adjusted her spending habits to avoid living paycheck to paycheck. One way she reduced her expenses was through the use of coupons and savings strate- gies, reducing her grocery bill from $800 to $500 a month.
Two months later, she im- plemented the debt snowball method. This strategy focuses on paying off the smallest bal- ances first and then scaling up to tackle the larger debts. Within 15 months, she paid down $160,000 worth of credit card debt, the mortgage on a rental property, and stu- dent loans. She even started paying herself first and fund- ing retirement accounts.
“The biggest mistake I made prior to creating my first budget was that I never paid myself first,” Watson-Hark- ness wrote in the CNBC arti- cle. “I always paid my bills and everyone else before I put any money in my savings or set anything aside for personal purchases.”
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