It’s always a great feeling when you dig in your pocket and find $20, but it’s an even better feeling when the IRS drops that $1400 stimulus check in your bank account via direct deposit. Some haters online say that we won’t spend the money on anything useful, but they miss the fact that many of us are spending the $1400 on essentials. Of course, there are those who can and will throw the money back into the economy in other ways. Folk have the right to choose whether they want build or blow it—it's really their tax dollar—but I have some thoughts on the former. Read on, and definitely share this with your group chat and ask your homies how they plan to spend their Stimmy.

Invest In Yourself

You’ve probably told yourself this before. “If I come across some money, I’m going to buy myself that item that will help me get started on building something that will make me more money.” The stimulus check is your chance. Although there are different approaches to going about investing in yourself here are some ways you can consider it.

Actually, Invest in the Market

So, you’re probably getting texts about which stock to buy or hearing about ways you can day trade the market. You probably kick yourself after seeing some stocks get huge gains wishing you bought some shares yourself. Some of you probably look at investing in those companies as way too risky and rather not be exposed to losing that much money in investing in one stock.

A better use of your $1400 is to invest in some Exchange-Traded Funds. Also called ETF’s, these funds allow you to invest in a basket of stocks that have a certain theme. They’re a bit different than Index funds, which allow you to invest in an entire index (Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow Jones). ETF’s have a certain focus, for example, you can invest in Green Energy ETF’s, car-based ETF’s or commodity-based ETF’s like gold or silver. Investing through a theme allows you to put your money behind an industry you believe will do well in the future without placing all of your money behind one company. You can instantly diversify your investment, which is the best way to approach investing, instead of chasing one company after another. It’s one productive way to grow your $1400 bag.

Invest in your Career

Some folks find entrepreneurship or side hustles unappealing and that’s cool because companies are out here giving out big bags anyway. Getting to that bag has been harder than ever due to increased competition in the labor market. To get an advantage over your competition, you need to invest in your presentation strategy. The strategy of selling yourself to these companies. Black-owned companies such as Courageous Leaps, which helps people transform their career by learning how to identify, package and sell strengths, and most importantly, negotiate what they’re worth, are invaluable.

If you already have your career strategy on lock but still need to figure out how to build a resume that will stand out, try Manessa Lormejuste. Through her company Ness Knows, Manessa helps people the resumes that makes hiring managers call you back. She also shares the gems that helped her land jobs at companies like Johnson & Johnson and L’Oreal. Her resume approach is based on a formula that matches your industry and role. It makes sense that she has a formula since she is indeed… a scientist.

If you love yourself, invest in yourself. It’s not every day that you'll get a $1400 stimulus check in the mail (or direct deposit) from the government. Stretch that money into something that can change your life. One day you’ll look back and probably tell yourself, it all started with a Stimmy.

Carl H. Joseph-Black, J.D. is the founder of The Dime and runs The Blacklist Social Club. You can contact him anywhere on social media @CJoeBlack