Today we’d like to introduce you to Ainjel McDonald.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a first-generation Jamaican American. Born and raised in New Jersey and moved to Houston in 2017. After graduating from Rutgers in 2016, I worked at the NJ Air National Guard full time as an Intelligence Analyst. I went to school believing that I was going to change the calculations for the poverty threshold, because then people would receive a living wage. After working at a Think Tank as a public policy fellow, I realized that there’s too much uncertainty to leaving your livelihood in the hands of others, and specifically the government. That’s when I became obsessed with financial literacy and the idea of financial freedom. I knew that an early career in public policy wasn’t going to get me where I wanted financially, so I transitioned to consulting and have been a management consultant for the past 5 years.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I think everyone has a story and a testimony of overcoming trials and tribulations. For me, it was getting kicked out of college, being broke, and feeling lost. I couldn’t wrap my mind around getting a degree, but not knowing my purpose, so I let a lot of things slip, and didn’t do the necessary work. Getting kicked out was a painful and humbling experience and I was shaken for years, but it was the path that made me who I am today. All I knew was that when I went back to college, I wasn’t going to take out another student loan, so I decided to join the Air National Guard. Basic training was difficult, but they teach you that things don’t get easier, you just get better, and I’ve continued to use that approach with every new challenge I face.
Sometimes I reflect and am amazed at my journey. I’m a child of immigrants, got kicked out of school, had over $30,000 of student loan debt / personal loans / car note, and now am consumer debt free and have a multi-six-figure net worth. I started this journey when I was a server at Cheesecake Factory, and now I’m at the point where I don’t worry about when I get paid. My circumstances were temporary, but my mindset shift, constant learning, and faith that financial freedom was meant for me, is really what positioned me here.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Rare Bird Money is a personal finance educational platform that takes the guesswork out of obtaining financial freedom. I want to be an example to professional millennials and show that it’s possible to not be stressed about your finances. It’s so easy to say “pay yourself first, invest your money, create a budget” etc. but so many of us don’t know where to start or we just don’t believe we enough money to start. My platform talks about the real ways that you can reach financial freedom in your own way. The same exact approach isn’t going to work for everyone, but there are fundamentals that everyone can use and I teach that. My husband and I are on a journey to reach financial independence and be work-optional by 2035, and my mission is to take as many melanated professionals as I can with me! My goal for 2023 is to help 300 millennial professionals reach at least a six-figure net worth.
We always see the statistics about the Black buying power being over 1 Trillion Dollars, but there are also predictions that the median Black wealth will reach 0 by 2053. That’s only 30 years, and I’m determined to do my part to stop it from happening. My friend once told me that she’s a bad spender and I reminded her that she’s a terrific spender, but not a very good saver. It’s really a mind-shift change that most of us need, and I’m dedicated to helping people make that change.
I do 1:1 coaching and I’m taking a limited number of clients. I’m really focusing on helping as many people as I can, so I encourage all to visit my blog rarebirdmoney.com and sign up for my newsletter and follow me on IG at @rarebirdmoney. I think what sets me apart is that I’m very transparent. I don’t gatekeep beacause I believe our community deverses openness and access to information. Birds of a feather fly together!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Wow, have I! The thing is, we can’t talk about the COVID-19 Crisis without talking about George Floyd’s death, may he rest in peace. Those two world events happened simultaneously, and they affected our culture in ways never seen before. I’ve learned that the unknown is extremely scary and sometimes, being unprepared is just as scary as the event itself. The COVID-19 Crisis was proof that we can’t rely on anyone for our livelihood and it was proof that most of America were literally living paycheck to paycheck. As a Black professional, it was frustrating to see companies and corporations finally pay attention to our experiences of prejudice and institutional racism after decades of fighting for equity. It’s upsetting that it took such a traumatic and sad event to lead to real, actionable change. Still, with the large area of improvement, I’m glad that the response of those world events was a surge of new Black and Brown retail investors and opportunities for Black-owned businesses to get funding, sponsorship, and support.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rarebirdmoney.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rarebirdmoney/
