1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 First of the 90-Day Black Tax Series There is a number most of us have never written down. Not because we cannot do the math, but because writing it down makes it real. In this solo episode, Simone opens the first installment of a ninety-day series with a topic she has carried personally: the black tax, the ongoing financial responsibility so many of us hold for family and community back home, or family who followed us here and never quite landed the way we did. Simone walks through what the black tax actually is, the phone call, the tuition, the medical bill, the funeral, the moment saying yes overrides our own goals without us ever deciding it should. She names the same pattern as it shows up under different words in different cultures: the brown tax in Latino households, utang na loob in Filipino families, a debt of gratitude that never quite finishes being repaid. Different words, the same weight. She is direct about what this is not: not a discipline problem, not a character flaw, not something unique to people who are bad with money. It is leftover survival math, arithmetic that made sense once, in a different country, under different pressure, and never got updated for where we are standing now. She also draws a distinction worth sitting with, between giving that is freely chosen and giving that has quietly become extraction, and is honest that untangling the two is bigger than one episode. This episode is for the immigrant professional who has never once written down the actual number, the ones with two degrees and a title on the door who could not tell you what they have saved for their own future, because the number has never been asked out loud. It is the opening of a ninety-day arc that will stay on this exact topic across the show, the newsletter, and the coaching, not identity in general, not culture in general, this specific weight and what it takes to build wealth without losing yourself or the people you love. About Simone W. Johnson-Smith Simone is the founder of Thrive Abroad and The Bridge Concepts, LLC, a Jamaican-born American intercultural strategist, coach, and former U.S. diplomat. She is the International Impact Book Award-winning author of Decoding America &amp;amp; Coming Home to Yourself: The Immigrant Experience, available on Amazon and everywhere online globally, and host of this podcast, reaching listeners in over 100 countries. #BlackTax #ImmigrantFinance #DecodingAmerica #ThriveAbroad #ImmigrantExperience #FirstGenWealth Already carrying the weight of this conversation? Get The Black Tax Boundary Kit, a free starting number and three scripts for the conversations that get hard. → thebridgeconcepts.org/black-tax-boundary-kit.html Want to go deeper, on your own terms, at your own pace? Subscribe to The Thrive Abroad Brief for weekly insight on this exact topic across the next ninety days. → thriveabroad.substack.com The Immigrant Experience in America Subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@theimmigrantexperience&amp;nbsp; Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music Support the show on Patreon Visit: thebridgeconcepts.org Follow along: LinkedIn | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook Share your story with us: thebridgeconcepts.org/podcast.html#share-your-story This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For guidance specific to your immigration status, consult a licensed immigration attorney. For guidance specific to your financial situation, consult a licensed financial professional. The Immigrant Experience in America (TIEIA) https://immigrantamerican.libsyn.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/42358655/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/fed100/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/42358655