Keith Lamont. Terence Crutcher. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. If you're like me, you struggled with a range of emotions last week over senseless displays of police brutality. But as I processed my sadness, disbelief, disgust, sense of helplessness and outrage, one question kept coming to mind: Why do law enforcement officers continue to get away with murder … [Read more...]
Money Monday: What Are Destructive Money Scripts? And Why Do You Need to Destroy Them NOW?!
Imagine this: All your bills are paid. You rest easy knowing that when the phone rings, a bill collector won't be on the other end of the line. You’re rapidly building a retirement fund, saving for a new home and freely contributing to your church and favorite charities. It feels good to not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Life is fun again without constant financial … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Five Things Successful People Understand That Poor People Don’t
Prosperity is within everyone's reach. It's not easy, and it often requires sacrifices that others are not willing to make. But each and every day, people like you are making their financial dreams a reality. Here are five things that successful people understand about achieving financial freedom. 1. Stop living in the past. Your future starts right now It’s easy to get … [Read more...]
Money Monday: 3 Money Lessons You Really, Really Should Tell Your Grad
Sometimes I yearn for the ability to go back and fix the failings of my younger self, knowing that the financial mistakes I made back in the day have cost me dearly. But lacking a time machine, I’ve settled for trying to help others avoid those same financial missteps. So if you have a recent high school or college graduate, teach them these lessons while they're still … [Read more...]
Money Monday: The 4 BIG Expenses That’ll Keep You from Becoming Rich
Eliminating your morning Starbucks coffee and cutting coupons are perfectly legitimate ways to cut costs and rein in your finances. But you’ll never get rich playing so-called small ball. To reach financial success, you need big wins. You need to address the areas of your financial life that will save you not $5 here or $10 there, but tens of thousands of dollars. … [Read more...]
Money Monday: You’ll Likely Never Be Rich Because of This One Thing
The toughest prison in the world has no locks or keys. It’s the prison of the mind that we must truly fear because our thoughts can keep us enslaved better than any fortress constructed of steel and concrete. These thoughts and beliefs can silence our opinions, bury our ambitions and cage our dreams. How many times have people told themselves: No use trying, the rich get … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Blessing or Curse? New Jersey Family Wins $430 Million Jackpot
This past Friday the 13th was a lucky day for the Smith family as they stepped forward to claim their $429.6 million Powerball jackpot. Just one week earlier the eight family members had pooled their money together to purchase what would end up being the winning ticket. The winning numbers: 5, 25, 26, 44 and 66 (with Powerball number 9) made the eight members instant … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Is Your Family More in Debt Than the Average Household?
We are a nation drowning in debt. According to a recent NerdWallet survey, the average U.S. household carries $130,922 in total debt, including student loans, automobile payments, mortgage debt and an incredible $15,762 in outstanding credit card debt. While it would be easy to pin our excessive debt on reckless spending, can this completely explain the source of our … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Could You Come Up With $400 For A Financial Emergency?
According to a Federal Reserve Board study, 47 percent of respondents said that if faced with a $400 financial emergency, they could not come up with the money or would have to borrow the money or sell possessions. What's even more troubling is that it's not just the poor who are living on the financial edge, as accomplished book author Neal Gabler noted in his Atlantic … [Read more...]
Money Monday: A Question for Black Folk …. Do We Squander Our Money?
If you cannot save 10 percent of all that you earn, the seeds of greatness are not in you. That’s the warning first offered by W. Clement Stone and reiterated by Dennis Kimbro in his best-selling book, The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires. Kimbro understood quite well that in order to build wealth you have to live below your means, while paying off … [Read more...]
Money Monday: The Average Wedding Approaches $33,000. Is It Worth It?
Getting married is becoming more expensive than ever. That’s the conclusion of The Knot 2015 Real Weddings Study conducted by the wedding planning website TheKnot.com. According to the study, couples spent, on average, $32,641 for a wedding in 2015. This represents an all-time high for wedding spending. Worst yet, the figure doesn’t even include the cost of a … [Read more...]
How To Avoid Getting Fleeced By Your 401K Plan
Imagine if someone stole $1,000 from you? I'd bet you'd be rather hot. But what if someone took $155,000. How mad would you be then? Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening to millions of hard-working Americans. The culprit is excessive 401(k) fees, which siphon vast sums of money away from your retirement savings. According to Demos, a public policy research … [Read more...]
Money Monday: How to Keep Financial Infidelity From Ruining Your Marriage
Few people can readily forgive a spouse's romantic infidelity. But millions of Americans are tolerating a marriage transgression that’s just as divisive. Financial infidelity is undermining more marriages than we realize. According to a new poll commissioned by CreditCards.com, nearly 13 million Americans could be hiding secret bank accounts or credit cards from their … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Here’s Why You Can’t Always Trust Your Financial Advisor
Trust. It's something that you expect when hiring a professional. You trust your doctor will "do no harm" and keep you healthy. You trust your lawyer will go to the mat to defend your interests in court. Yet, you might be surprised to know, unlike a doctor or lawyer, your financial advisor is not always required to put your best interests first when offering you financial … [Read more...]
Don’t Let a New Car Shatter Your Financial Dreams
Don’t feel alone if you flinch at the size of your monthly auto loan payment. According to a new report from Experian Automotive, our monthly car loan payments have reached an all-time high. The average American paid nearly $493 a month for their new vehicle. But the news gets even worse. As car prices have climbed dramatically, we are finding ourselves borrowing more than … [Read more...]