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How do I turn this income into wealth? How do I turn this income into optionality? How do I turn this income into a life where I choose to work? I don't have to work. I just choose it because it's fun and it's what I want to do. How do I take this income that I'm getting every month? How do I turn that into abundance?

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Welcome to Earned and Unbound, the Black Abundance Circle podcast for people who have learned how to earn and are ready to become unbound from success that only looks good on paper. I'm your host, Ashley Edwards. Here we talk about turning income into ownership for options and abundance and building a life that actually feels as good as it looks.

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What if your career was only one step toward the life of abundance that you've dreamed of? This is Earned in Unbound, a Black Abundance Circle podcast for professionals who are earning and building and ready to be more intentional about turning their income into ownership, options, and abundance. Today we're talking about income, right? High earners, you know all about that, right? But have you been able to figure out how to turn that income into something more, right? Because a lot of times the reason that we get into these careers, especially these high-powered careers, I'm talking doctors, attorneys, engineers, VPs, like you get into those roles because you're expecting that it's gonna change your life, right? I had the same expectations. The thing is, though, that's not necessarily always the case, right? So I'll tell you a little bit about me. I went to college with no plan. I was the second person in my family to go to college. I thought I was gonna major in Korean, and when I got there, I learned that the Korean department was closing, so I ended up majoring in Mandarin. Don't ask. That's just what I majored in. So technically, my major is Chinese, so it was Chinese language and culture. I had no idea what I was gonna do with that, like I had pretty much no plan. And then toward graduation, I ended up graduating early because of some family health issues, and I still didn't know what I wanted to do. And an opportunity came up to apply for a program called Teach for America, and I was like, Well, I can do this two-year program, and then you know, while I'm doing the program, figure it out. Now, while I was in the program though, I fell in love with teaching, right? I loved it. I was a special ed teacher teaching K through eight. It allowed me to lean into my creativity. I loved working with the kids, I loved seeing the transformation, you know, I loved empowering their parents to help them learn and do better. But the main thing that was missing was that the income I was earning as a teacher would never support the life that I envisioned. When I started as a teacher, I was making about $29,000 a year living in Los Angeles. And by the time I stopped teaching, I was making about $47,000 a year. And so I knew pretty quickly that I would be on the struggle bus for a very long time if I stayed in that career. And that's not the only thing that caused me to transition. Another story for another day, but I ended up going to law school, right? I ended up deciding, okay, I enjoy this, but it's not going to ultimately put me in the position to create the life that I'm looking for. And so let me try something else. And I was thinking, like, if I go to law school and I'm making, you know, three to five X what I'm making as a teacher, that will really put me in a position to get to where I'm trying to go, right? Completed law school, got into the highest paid job that I've ever had, and it was a lot of work. Working at that job, it was draining in a lot of ways. I was working at a big law firm, and for the type of work that it was, and for the setup in terms of it being a big law firm, it was actually pretty good, right? I had friends who were working at big firms and were much more miserable than I was, and so a part of me was kind of like, well, you know, you should be grateful because it could be way worse. I just couldn't sustain the amount of energy that it was taking me to get through the day, right? At some point, I was crying all the time, like I was working in multiple time zones. Like, I don't know if I was cut out for that type of work in a long-term fashion. Okay. I got into that role thinking, like, okay, well, this earning more income, you know, going from earning $47,000 a year to earning $180,000 a year is going to drastically change my life. And it drastically changed my life. Uh, but I don't know if I can say for the better, right? But we'll get to that. I was making good money, but I didn't really have a map or a roadmap for what to do with that money. So I was able to buy the things I wanted to buy. I was able to help, for the most part, the people I wanted to help travel barely, right? Because I could barely get a day off. Um, so I was able to do, you know, some things. There was some wiggle room, but there was still this feeling of constraint I couldn't get past. Um, and the longer I stayed there, the more I felt squeezed. And I learned that making more money does not necessarily lead to a happier life or more freedom or a life of abundance. And I know you may think, like, well, duh, everyone always says money doesn't buy happiness. But I thought at least the money would buy me some freedom, some time, some wiggle room, you know, something. And it just didn't, right? And so I was excited for having that additional income, but I had no roadmap for how to change my situation, right? So had the money coming in, but because I didn't know how to turn income into wealth and how to use that income to eventually facilitate my freedom, I just dug myself into an emotional hole, right? Just becoming more and more exhausted, burned out, and drained. The change actually happened for me during the pandemic when I saw people losing their jobs left and right. I saw how much I was at the mercy of my employer during those times, you know, and it started listening to podcasts and reading these audiobooks about personal development. And I started to realize like there are people out there in the world living a totally different life. They still make a good amount of money, but somehow they're more free than me. You know, their life is more fulfilling, they're more abundant. And that was hard for me to accept, right? But I realized, you know, if they can do it, I can do it. Um, and that shift of okay, income doesn't necessarily equal abundance, income doesn't necessarily equal ownership, is really what caused the change in me. And so I want to share a little bit of data with you. According to um the Pew Research Center, even among upper income households in black households, the medium net worth was about $285,000. Okay, so this is in I believe 2025. Don't quote me. Compared to upper income white households, which had a median income, I mean a median net worth of $923,000. That's a massive gap, right? So both of these are upper income households, so they're earning the money, yet there's a massive difference in the net worth: $285,000 at the median for black households and $923,000 for white households. That's a very large gap. That is what I refer to as the income-to-wealth gap, right? So making the money but having no strategy, right? What do you do with the money once you make it? And so earning income matters for sure. So I'm not the one to say like making more money isn't gonna help you, like I would never say that. But when you earn that additional income, the way that you can close that wealth gap, and which that does translate into a freedom gap, an abundance gap, all those things. The way that you can close those gaps is with strategy and having a roadmap, right? Someone has to sit you down and be like, Look, all this money you got coming in, we need to give this money a job. Every dollar needs a job, right? It needs to be doing something for your future, something for your goals, something for your family, whatever it is that's important to you. We have to put that money to work if you want to truly live a life of freedom and abundance. I ended up deciding, like, okay, I understand that this income is important and it's super helpful and it's definitely going to make change in my life, but I have to be much more strategic and intentional about what I'm doing with it because it's not the case that I'm just gonna be working and all of a sudden I'm gonna find myself a millionaire. Like, it's literally not gonna work like that, right? I'm not gonna just keep getting my pay increased at my job or even switching jobs and getting into higher paying roles. Like the fact of earning more is not automatically going to translate to being wealthy, you know, or having ownership or having options. There's plenty of people who work hard their whole lives in high-paying jobs and never own anything. I know it's hard to fathom, right? But they're out there, and I didn't want to be that person. I didn't want to work forever. Um, and if I did choose to work, you know, I want to work on the things that I want to work on, right? I care about other things like literacy, and that there's not really a lot of money there, right? So I want to be able to have the option to work on the things that I care about without worrying about money, right? Being able to do that nonprofit work or that fulfilling work like teaching, you know, I loved teaching, but I did not love being poor. Like it just no, the fact that I had to choose between the two is crazy, you know. The question is, you know, what do I do with the money once I have the money, right? How do I turn this income into wealth? How do I turn this income into optionality, right? How do I turn this income into a life where I choose to work? I don't have to work, I just choose it because it's fun and it's what I want to do. How do I take this income that I'm getting every month? You know, five, six figures people are making monthly. How do I turn that into abundance, right? How do I live the life that I truly want to live without being told what to do, right? Being told that I don't have enough PTO or having to check my bank account every time I decide to help someone. Like, how do I translate that income into something more? And that is what this podcast is all about, okay? So we're gonna be having those types of conversations, the strategy, the roadmap, talking to other people who have done this, who are making this work. I will share more about my story because yes, I did make a pivot. I made massive changes in what I was doing with that money, um, but also thinking strategically about the types of roles career-wise that I was interested in so I could build the life that I want. And so we'll be talking a lot about that. Sometimes it'll be me, sometimes it'll be other guests, sometimes it'll be experts who can help us structure our money properly, like tax strategists, accountants, financial advisors, like the people that sometimes we avoid, but we actually need to be talking to so that we can get to the life that we want. Just want to say follow the show, join the list for new episodes and resources, and of course, these conversations about turning income into ownership options and abundance. And shout out to our sponsor, the Black Abundance Circle, which is a wealth and abundance ecosystem for black professionals who are building beyond their careers. I'm so excited that you're here. I'm excited to have these conversations, and I hope that this helps you, right? If you are one of those high earners who is making that good money, but you're still confused, like, wait, how am I earning this much, but still I don't own a home, right? Or I'm not a real estate investor. Like, how are they out here doing these things and I'm unable to do them? If that's you, right? Or if you're wondering when you're gonna be able to leave your job, or if you're gonna be able to leave your job, like if these are the types of questions that you're having, I look forward to having more conversations with you. So thank you for joining us today and looking forward to seeing you soon.