Welcome to Margins Memo! I am so glad you’re here. Each week, I’ll take deep dive into how to navigate hidden systems that keep you from wealth, time, energy, and safety—and the blueprints to building something better.

“Hi Miloney, I’m Brian and I’m an investor. Are you looking to sell the property at [inserts the address of my childhood home]?”

I received this text over four years ago and still fantasize how I would respond to Brian. It would go something like this:

“Oh dear Brian, are you auditioning to be a serial killer? Because your text gives off hella creepy vibes. Let’s break down the creepiness of your text, shall we?

You didn’t bother to mention how you got a hold of my cell phone number.
You didn’t indicate exactly how you retrieved the address of said property.
You failed to disclose why I might even be in the market for selling said property.
You sent me this text like this is quite a normal thing to do.

And the thing is Brian, sending this text is as normal as putting a giant rubber ducky in the middle of your front lawn. Also if you think I would actually respond to this text with an enthusiastic ‘YES!’ so you could show up at said property and murder me in the middle of the night, you are truly delusional. Also, you think I would actually let you profit off the back of my father who worked incredibly hard his entire life to ensure the mortgage was fully paid off, please zip over to the closest ER and have your brain checked.

Also, Brian, not sure this came up in your excavation of my personal information, but it turns out that I AM AN INVESTOR TOO [insert middle finger emoji here]!”

Clearly, my dear reader, there are still some things I have yet to fully process with my therapist. One of them being, as evidenced by the anecdote above, the many sharks that started circling the water the moment my father passed. It all began with a mistake made by the IRS. Yes, you read that correctly, the IRS. Somehow they managed to lose the hard copy of my father’s tax return during the pandemic. At which point my accountant advises me to go through probate so I can sign another copy of my father’s taxes on his behalf as the executor of his estate.

What I didn’t realize then is the price I had to pay for probate. And no, I’m not talking about the several thousands of dollars I paid my estate attorney. I’m talking about my privacy. Because when someone goes through probate, a notice gets published in the local newspaper, typically for several weeks. Which conveniently makes me a sitting duck for sharks (do sharks even hunt for ducks?) like Brian to show up in my texts.

I honestly lost count of how many texts and letters offering to buy my childhood home. And these sneaky little “investors” always make it seem like they are doing you a favor. Here’s some of the things they might say:

“We’ll give you a cash offer!”

“We’ll close in less than 30 days!”

“You don’t have to spend any money on house repairs.”

“You can leave anything you don’t want. We’ll take care of everything.”

But here’s the thing, my dear reader, is that the moment you let them take care of everything, you are leaving a lot of money (and wealth-building potential) on the table. They wouldn’t make such an offer unless there was something in it for them. The moment I received Brian’s text I knew I was sitting on a valuable asset. And I made it my mission to leverage that asset as much as possible so that I would be the one who would benefit from it, not him. I’ll leave that story of the insanity-inducing process of getting the house ready for sale (read: I almost divorced myself) for another newsletter.

Let’s get back to Brian’s creepy text. What Brian didn’t tell you is there is a slogan that gets thrown around in real estate investment circles. I imagine Brian thumping on his bare, hairy chest with his fists in unison with his real estate investor buddies, but I digress. So what is this secret slogan they are chanting? It goes something like this: “Divorce! Debt! Death!” Why is this morbid combination of words their slogan? Because in their greedy heads, these words mean dolla, dolla bills y’all (cue the cheesy money gun shooting fake money). Which means they are preying on other humans during a very vulnerable time in their lives. And when people are that vulnerable it can become a little too tempting to take them up on their offer because it feels like the easiest path to take. And in certain circumstances, that absolutely may be the right choice. But in most cases, it doesn’t work in your favor when it comes to building your wealth.

And here’s the thing: what I went through with my childhood home is part of a larger trend that is happening called The Great Wealth Transfer, which refers to the trillions dollars of wealth by 2045, with women set to control roughly $30 trillion by 2030. This isn’t just about a shift in wealth. It’s about a shift in power. A shift in our culture that will be unprecedented. It’s about building a new economy and redefining wealth stewardship.

What’s more, is that this wealth transfer coincides with many governments around the world grappling with large amounts of debt and deficits. As I write this sentence, the U.S. gross national debt sits north of $39 trillion dollars, making it the global leader. So do you think governments are going to sit idly as they watch trillions of dollars of wealth change hands in the coming years? The answer is no, my dear reader. Governments are already scheming on how to capture a portion of private wealth to fund public debt.

One of the most egregious forms of wealth erasure—and often overlooked in U.S. history—was the decimation of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Greenwood district was known as the “Black Wall Street” for being one of the most affluent Black communities in U.S. history. In the span of 24 hours, hundreds were killed, thousands displaced, and 35 city blocks were burned to ruins. Insurance companies denied claims. Survivors received no compensation for any damages. And the generational wealth that Black families had built—much of it built by women—was erased overnight.

So what does all this mean in terms of multiplying your margins? Let’s get into it.

Let me be direct: no one is coming to save you, especially the government. Rising debt and deficits in governments threaten any existing social safety nets for future generations. One glaring example is that the U.S. Social Security is expected to run out of reserve funds some time between 2033 and 2035, which could lead to significant reductions in Social Security benefits. (Read: It’s on you to create your own safety net. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you build it.) 

The Great Wealth Transfer creates a unique opportunity to create a safety net that didn’t previously exist for a lot of women of color. But you need to understand what hurdles and obstacles that stand in your way in order to overcome them. Because of the changing tax and legal landscape, it will be more important than ever to proactively put some safeguards in place. Wealth protection will be just as important as wealth accumulation. We’ll take a deeper dive into what this means in future newsletters.

In the meantime, a few things to prevent a probate-induced headache:

When it comes to building wealth, your time horizon can be your greatest lever. The longer your time horizon, the more margins in time you have. The Great Wealth Transfer will allow many to stand on the shoulders of their ancestors and pull the ultimate time lever. And having the right systems and tools in place to build and protect your wealth, you’ll be laying the foundation for time margins for those who come after you. There’s a reason why compounding interest is called the eighth wonder of the world. Whether you’re navigating the Great Wealth Transfer or blazing your own path for wealth-building, you need to keep this top of mind. 

When you have a shorter time horizon, you are more tempted to delve into riskier investments to make up for lost time. What this looks like: timing the market, investing in alternative assets without understanding the risks, or selling in a panic after the market takes a nose dive. Dear reader, please avoid putting yourself in this position. This is the equivalent of gambling your future away. (Read: You will end up having no margins in time.) The losses can be devastating and difficult to recover from financially and mentally. Your investment strategy should be as boring as watching paint dry (yes, I’ve actually done this) and usually requires a longer timeline.  

Key takeaways:

When it comes to navigating the Great Wealth Transfer, whether you are dealing with investors like Brian, navigating probate, dealing with the admin side of death, or trying to decipher the financial implications of most recent tax laws being rolled, it’s easy to let your energy get depleted.  It’s important to stay focused and not lose sight of your goal: protecting your wealth. And that means protecting your energy is no longer optional. 

One of the key ways to protect your energy is knowing who can count as your ride-or-die crew, especially when you find yourself in the middle of a major life event that will impact your finances (think death, divorce..okay now I’m starting to sound like Brian). Before you type “what does ride-or-die mean?” in your search bar and end up in a Reddit rabbithole, let me break it down for you. There are a few non-negotiables when it comes to your ride-or-die crew: 1) you trust them with your deepest, darkest secrets without feeling judged; 2) they stick around even when you are an absolute mess; and 3) you can rely on them to show up when you need them to. Please choose your ride-or-die crew carefully (and if I could make this into a neon flashing sign and hang it on your front door, I would).

Another key part of building your energy margins is assembling a team of experts who have vetted before a major life event happens. Taking this step will help ensure you are not scrambling to find these experts during a time of crisis (and when your energy is depleted). Key people to have in place may include: an estate attorney, an accountant, an insurance broker, a financial planner, and a personal banker.  And depending on context, you may need to have other experts in place. If this list is making your head spin, I’ll go through how to go about building your team in a future newsletter. 

Key takeaways:

When it comes to navigating the wealth transfer, preserving your family’s legacy can feel like an uphill battle. What you need to understand navigating the different systems not designed for you to prosper will feel like you're crossing a new civil rights frontier.  That’s because you are. 

The expanding racial and gender wealth gap exists for a myriad of reasons: pay gaps and occupational segregation, redlining and homeownership disparities, lower home values, unpaid caregiving burdens, educational debt, and the tax code. Another key factor that contributes to this wealth gap and is the estate planning gap. Less than a third of Black families have a will or trust. Less than one fifth of Latino families lack a will. Women of color often lack the access to the network, tools, and resources to create an estate plan to protect their assets. 

If there is one point I could underline with a big fat red marker it would be this: estate planning is one of the tools to help bridge the wealth gap. And if we don’t treat it as an urgent matter, wealth erosion will continue in these communities of color. We need to treat estate planning as a must have not as a nice to have. Most people never get around to creating their will or trust, because they: 1) don’t know where to start, 2) find the process too confusing; or 3) it’s too costly. 

Probate will always be more expensive than estate planning. Probate typically costs 3% to 10% of an estate's total value and directly leads to wealth erosion through a combination of mandatory statutory fees, asset freezes, forced liquidations, and delayed distributions. In my case, going through probate because of technicality cost me four times more in attorney fees than the amount it would have cost to set up a simple trust beforehand. 

We’ll get more into estate planning in future newsletters, and in the meantime, take a few minutes to reflect on the following question: why is building and protecting your wealth important to you? Hit reply and let me know your answer.

Key takeaways:

See you in the margins,

Miloney