OK, you’re making $60K a year in Philadelphia, hustling to keep the baby in diapers and pay the rent, let alone a mortgage, but hear me out. Typically, if you have a solid employment history, have a credit score of 620 and up, and take advantage of first-time homebuyer programs like NACA (which can completely cover your downpayment and closing costs), you can secure a mortgage. And if you don’t qualify for NACA, you can secure an FHA loan while putting down 3.5 to 5 percent of a property’s price for a downpayment, whether secured through savings or side hustle income. 

In addition to the tax benefits and stable monthly payments, you’ll be able to build equity as you pay down your loan principal and as your property value increases (contingent on market fluctuations, economic conditions, location factors, and other variables), contributing to your family’s financial stability.

As has been long understood, owning rental properties can bring in thousands more dollars a month, money that can be leveraged for everything from college tuition to family trips to Disney. Traditionally, the money to purchase them comes through conventional banks or private lending, like what BFG offers, which has no income requirements. 

Two years ago, my company worked with a waiter at a chain restaurant in Philadelphia to fund the purchase of three investment properties (after he’d purchased his primary home) – a single-family home, followed by a duplex, and recently, a fix and flip. Due to his limited income, he was able to take advantage of no-income loans to make these investment purchases, listing two of the properties as short-term rentals and bringing in a monthly income of more than $6,000 for him, his wife, and their newborn baby.

But to do any of this, your credit has to be on point. The bad news? Recent research has found that 25- to 29-year-olds in majority Black communities have a median credit score of 582 — below the subprime threshold of 600. The good news is that if your lower score is based on credit usage and not a lack of credit, you can raise your score significantly within months (depending on the nature of your debt; a bankruptcy or foreclosure can take years to rectify, but it’s still possible!).

Some tried-and-true tips from credit bureaus such as Experian include doing your best not to miss credit card payments, catching up on past-due accounts, and not ducking credit collection agencies—just work with them to establish a payment plan if you don’t have the payment right away.

While it sucks to think about, it’s critical that you prepare your kids for the worst-case scenario. Investing in term life insurance (if this is what you can most easily afford; other options include Whole and Universal) through companies like New York Life or Nationwide. It means if you die prematurely, in most cases, they’ll pay a death benefit to help your family meet its financial obligations, such as paying off debt, covering funeral expenses, and generally maintaining your kids’ standard of living once you’re gone. And this insurance doesn’t have to break the bank: a 30-year-old man will typically pay just $13 a month or $159 a year for a 20-year, $250,000 policy.

Finally, mind the business that pays you and your family. Through side hustles or, better yet, family businesses that have the potential to be learned and passed down to your kids to help establish their financial futures, the sky’s the limit. When my brother-in-law was in between jobs and his wife was on maternity leave from her job, they started an event rental company called Long Island Backdrops that, in the past five years, has earned them close to $200,000 in additional income a year, allowing dad to replace his full-time job and stay at home with his mini-future entrepreneur.

The cool thing is that he’s far from alone. Currently, more than half of all Black business owners and Black-owned firms earned an estimated $141.1 billion in gross revenue in 2020 (an 11% increase since 2017). Entrepreneurship is one area, despite long-standing obstacles and disparities, that Black dads are using to set their financial goals and achieve independence, and we are already on our way.

Let’s continue to get this money, fellas.

Ejiro Ajueyitsi is the founder of Brooklyn Funding Group, which supplies primarily Black real estate investors all over the country with all the funding they need to finance any number of private or commercial real estate ventures.