Whether baby boomers like it or not, a changing of the guard is taking place and millennials are leading the charge.
They are not thinking or behaving the way they are expected to. Perhaps it's because the "old way" of doing things doesn't work for them. Most baby boomers had traditions and values passed down to them from their parents. Not true with millennials because a lot of their baby boomer parents were too busy focusing on careers, keeping up with the Joneses, and being helicopter parents.
So now we have a generation who is rising up to make their own mark in the world. And they're doing just that. It shouldn't surprise us that social media and social media campaigns have inspired them in ways their older parents and grandparents can't seem to understand or appreciate.
For instance, according to an article written by NerdWallet, when a number of young activists learned that Wells Fargo was among those providing financing towards the construction of the South Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, they immediately withdrew their money and deposited it elsewhere. The same goes for Justin Garrett Moore who transferred all of his savings to a black owned bank and spear-headed a #BankBlack campaign.
Soon television executives, sports owners and venues may feel the brunt of this new millennial power. A recent report released by L.E.K. Consulting indicates millennial sports fans are bypassing cable television and totally abandoning traditional sports for online video game tournaments and other "eSports." These changes are
likely to have implications on viewership for professional sports leagues like
the NFL, MLB and NASCAR, and networks like ESPN, Fox Sports and individual
teams.
"The old model is under pressure," says Alex Evans, Managing Director in L.E.K.'s Sports practice and a co-author of the
study. "Traditional sports organizations rely on TV, especially cable TV,
to attract new fans and to generate revenue now through ownership of regional
sports networks. But they will likely come under increasing pressure to change
their model, especially 5 to 10 years down the road.
So it looks like OLD habits may not be so hard to break.
Senator Thom Tillis decided to come out of hiding this week and meet with his constituents. On Monday, he held a ticket-only event for his "political base." These were the so-called good republicans who will sit very quietly in their seats and allow the politician to tell them all kinds of half-truths and alternative facts without demonstrating any anger.
The angry crowd was outside begging to be heard but because they had no tickets, their concerns fell on deaf ears.
Senator Tillis and Senator Richard Burr must've thought they would have it relatively easy over the next four years with a republican controlled Senate and House. But then Donald Trump became President and everybody's world got turned upside down. Their staunchest supporters are now starting to question their party loyalty.
The fact that Tillis has been unwilling to meet his constituents face-to-face until now and the fact that he made his Town Hall Meeting a ticket only event is very telling. Either he and Senator Burr know they are in a world of trouble and don't want to face the music or they are going to see how long they can ride the storm with their good, ol' southern republican base.
Speaking of Senator Burr, it is obvious that he is not and has not willing to listen to the voice of the North Carolina voters. I was among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who called his office to ask him to vote AGAINST the confirmation of Betsy DeVoss as Secretary of Education. But what he do? Read his statement below which he posted on Facebook:
Betsy DeVos has dedicated her life to improving education, so I am glad she will continue to fight for all children as Secretary of Education. Attempts by Senate Democrats to stall the President’s nominees only distract from the very real struggles of North Carolina’s families seeking the best education for their children.
Maybe Tills and Burr will come to their sense before long and act like true representatives of their voters. If not, we will do the same thing #45 says he is committed to doing: We will drain the swamp to make sure they don't return to Washington.
It's 5:00 pm, my work is done and I just realized that my Supervisor didn't take time out today to say, "Thank you Beverly. We really appreciate the work you do for the Company. We are grateful to have someone with your dedication and commitment and, yes, your maturity."
No, not one of the managers I work for bothered to acknowledge that today is EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION DAY. Instead they sent out emails telling us we should have "no excuses" for not giving the customer the best customer experience EVER!
Yes, the first Friday of the month of March has been declared Employee Appreciation Day with a purpose of strengthening the bond between employee and employer by having employers recognize and thank their workers. Not acknowledging it is truly a sad commentary on the state of the work environment I'm in and perhaps in many companies around the country today. Employers are so caught up in the bottom line of "profit" that they forget those who help them achieve their financial goals.
Why is Employee Recognition important? According to a article by Justin Reynolds on the TinyPulseBlog: "Employee recognition is strongly correlated with
productivity. According to a recent study,
69% of employees say they’d work harder if they felt as though their
contributions were valued. Even so, our 2017 Employee Engagement Report found that only 26% of
workers feel strongly valued at their jobs. That’s a problem. Planning a
special event should help your workers feel like they are appreciated at
least a little more."
Because I work from home, I feel more isolated than others who go into the office daily. That's why it's even more important that Managers do what they can to make everyone feel like they belong--rather than to make us feel like we're on a plantation for the "Massah."
I'm a baby boomer on my way to retirement so I probably have a thicker skin than my younger peers. Imagine how Millennials must feel knowing their work goes unnoticed day in and day out---especially since statistics show they do crave recognition for what they do.
Employers must find ways to do a better job in keeping their employees happy and appreciated. Sometimes all it takes is a personal email, phone call or "stop by my desk" visit to show you care.
I had a very unpleasant experience with my insurance company recently which prompted me to write this post.
I woke up one Saturday and was suffering from severe back pain. I wasn't sure if I should go straight to the hospital or to an urgent care center. My insurance plan says I can talk to registered nurse 24/7 if needed so I called one. After going through a terrible automated phone system to identify myself, I finally reached a nurse who had me identify myself all over again while I was suffering excruciating pain. She finally determined I should go to an urgent care center.
Here's where the it got messy. Because I have an HMO Plan, I only have in network benefits which means every doctor, every clinic, every hospital I go to must be in the network of my insurance company. If I fail to do so, I will be responsible for 100 percent of the expenses. I checked for urgent care centers in my area. There were 14 listed within 10 miles of my zip code. I wrote down two addresses and called the first one, only to discover they were closed. I figured the second one was good so I had my husband lock the address into his GPS and off we went. The GPS took us to the Wal-Mart area and when we arrived at what we thought was the location we discovered it was an ABANDONED building. I then looked up the center's phone number through my insurance company's website and called it. Guess what? The number was disconnected. Now, how did that happen? Who is responsible for checking to make sure the numbers and addresses are updated? We then found another urgent care center not far and went to it---not knowing for sure if they are "in network." But even if they aren't I will not be paying that bill because of this fiasco!
Here are some things you should know during your annual insurance enrollment period (or any time you sign up for insurance):
1) Be sure you understand how your plan works. It may say it will pay 80/90/100 percent of eligible expenses but ONLY after you satisfy your deductible. Make sure you are reading the fine print.
2) Check your deductible. More and more plans are moving to higher deductibles which means you will have to pay out of pocket costs until you reach the deductible. So, if you have a $5000 deductible, guess what that means?!
3) Be sure you know what type of plan you have. Is it an HMO or PPO? An HMO plan (like mine) means you have only in network benefits and if you go outside of the network you will be responsible for paying the entire bill. It also means you have to select a Primary Care Physician and that PCP is responsible for making ALL referrals. If he/she doesn't refer you to someone in your Plan's network of Providers, you will both be penalized.
A PPO means you have both in and out of network benefits. You don't have to declare a PCP and you don't need a referral to see a Specialist. You may still need a referral in some cases so it's always best to check with your insurance company about that.
4) Check to see if your plan requires any pre-authorizations for specific testing like MRI's or CT Scans or for some types of medical procedures. Failure to do so will cost you dearly.
5) Don't be afraid to ask questions about your plan to your insurance company. You'll save yourself headaches and some money if you take the time to get educated on exactly how your plan works.
6) Take advantage of any rewards/incentives the plan has to offer. Some employers offer discounts on your premiums so find out what they are and sign up.
Don't let yourself get hoodwinked by your insurance plan because plans as we knew them 10 and 20 years ago have definitely changed---and it's not always for the better as I have discovered.
Dear uneducated, blue collar, rural , poor white people,
Since you're uneducated I promise not to use very big words because you probably won't understand the meaning and I don't want to further insult you.
What you did on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 was show the world that although you might be classified as dumb, ignorant and stupid, you were pretty darn smart when you got Bobby Jo, Cooter, Cletus, Mary Lou, Savannah Jean and everyone else in rural white america to drive their pick-ups down to the polls to vote for your man, Donald Trump. And to think the pollsters and all of the so-called intelligent think-tankers got it wrong. They said "There's no chance in hell that buffoon can win! The country will never stand for a bigoted, racist womanizer who says he will make America great and white again." Hello No! That won't happen.
But ha! ha! uneducated, blue collar, rural, poor white people....the joke was on Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, and the rest of those liberal, communist, mainstream media jokers because, once again, you showed how darn-tootin' smart you were by believing in Fox News as much as you believe in the Bible and you showed up at the Trump rallies fired up and ready to punch out anybody who protested against him. And some of you made national headlines Ya-hoo!!!
Trump spoke the language you've been speaking and wanting to hear from a Presidential Candidate since you heard your pappy tell you about George Wallace's campaign slogan of"Segregation now, Segregation forever!" back in 1968. He was a real son of the South for down-trodden southern whites.
Dear uneducated white people, you also showed those lazy, no good, no votin' niggas and those prissy little college-educated white women that your voice would be heard at the ballot box and you did it loud and clear. You can be proud of what you did because for the first time in a long time YOU actually made a difference.
You can now be proud to know you have some claim to the White House--yes it's the WHITE house. It doesn't matter how many times your President has disrespected and sexually assaulted women because your uncle Bobby Ray, Billy Bob and Bodean have probably done it so many times they've lost count. And I bet you are now looking for all those nude photos the First Lady-elect posed for as a model (if you don't already have them).
The next four years should be a good ol' hell raisin', take off your kkk hoods time for ya'll!
But dear uneducated, blue collar, rural , poor white people, I hate to tell you the joke is going to be on you. And don't say I didn't warn you.
Peace be with you.
Before I begin this blog post let me issue this disclaimer: I am NOT a financial expert. Yes, I did work at Merrill Lynch for a brief time (more than 30 years ago) and I did get to understand a little about how the Stock Market works so the information I share here is only based on my personal knowledge. You can take it or leave it.
This blog post was inspired by a co-worker, who is a fellow black baby boomer (in a world of Millennials). We were discussing our 401K accounts. I asked her if she had one. She did. I then asked her if she knew what she was invested in. She did not. I then asked her if she knew how much money was in her account. She did not and then she proceeded to tell me how she really didn't understand much about the account.
Surprising? No, not really. Disappointing? Yes, absolutely! But in all reality, she can't be totally blamed for her lack of knowledge. That tends to be the issue among many black baby boomers when it comes to financial matters. We are not on golf courses or fancy cocktail parties discussing our investment portfolios. Ask the majority of black baby boomers if they know the difference between an over-the-counter market versus an exchange market and I'll bet you they don't know. And then we wonder why we don't have enough money to live on in retirement---all the while continuing to make our pastors rich and looking for God to grant us our financial blessings. Maybe the church should spend more time educating us on financial matters.
I'll be perfectly honest. Had I never worked for Merrill Lynch I probably wouldn't know as much as I do now but that education has inspired me to learn even more and to take charge of my 401K because I do want to live comfortably in retirement without relying solely on social security.
What you should know:
401K: A deferred compensation plan set up by an employer so that employees can set aside money for retirement on a pre-tax basis. Employers may match a percentage of the amount you contribute to the plan (And you should take FULL ADVANTAGE of that!) Contributions by both you and your employer, as well as investment earnings and interest, aren't taxed until the money is withdrawn from the account. And if you do withdraw early you will be subject to an early withdrawal penalty of at least 10 percent.
Stocks: Shares you purchase which gives you ownership of a corporation. Of course, the more you buy the more you own.
Common Stocks: Securities that represent equity ownership in a company. Common shares let an investor vote on matters involving the company like the election of the board of directors. They also give the holder a share in the company's profits via dividend payments or the capital appreciation of security.
Blue chip stocks: Stocks from companies that have a history of growth and dividend payments (IBM, Proctor and Gamble, Wal-mart are some examples)
To learn more about 401Ks, please read this article from one of my favorite online writers Emily Brandon: 10 Strategies to Maximize Your 401K Balance
A few months ago I bought a Black Lives Matter T-shirt.
I LOVE wearing it! If I could wear it every day I would. It makes a statement on how I feel about the state of race relations in this country. It should say to anyone who sees me that I care about the mistreatment and downright brutality being levied against our people---especially the young black males.
This brings me to an incident I had today at Harris Teeter. I was standing in line behind another older black woman. She saw my shirt and proceeded to comment about how she didn't understand what the movement was all about and why was it necessary to make a t-shirt to demonstrate. Being the soft-spoken person that I am, I told her it was no different than what young people did during the 60s and 70s movement and I wanted young people to to know I stand in solidarity with them.
You know, I am always amazed at how older people tend to forget they were young once and all of the things they did---right or wrong/good or bad---for the "cause." Once we turn a certain age we become holier than thou and act as if everything is okay the way it is. We turn a blind eye to the things we see and read and what we hear falls on deaf ears.
Police brutality against blacks didn't just start in the new millennium. The only difference is there was no social media back then---no camera to record what was really going on. And, unlike, many of today's youth, a lot of people, back in the day, stayed silent in fear of what might happen to them. Perhaps the woman in Harris Teeter feels like her fight is over and she chooses to remain silent, but as for me I'm going to keep wearing my Black Lives Matter T-shirt because I know the struggle is very real and it continues.
As Desmond Tutu once said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
