A few days ago I renegotiated my Direct TV cable bill. After a quick ten minute call my bill was slashed by $60 a month for the very same cable package. I also got NFL Sunday Ticket thrown in for free. I'll save $720 a year, after just a ten minute phone call. Of course if I had been really smart I might have cancelled my Direct TV service altogether, but being a diehard … [Read more...]
Sneaking Around with Benjamin and Grant Again? Financial Infidelity is Still Cheating
Yeah, you've been hitting the town with Benjamin and his friends again, hoping your husband doesn't find out. No, you're not having several sordid, lustful affairs with some guys named Benjamin, Grant, Jackson and Lincoln. The characters in question are the namesakes of the bills you keep secretly withdrawing from your savings without your husband's knowledge. Your sneaking … [Read more...]
How Minimalism Can Solve Your Debt Problems For Good
We all have our Kriptonite when it comes to impulse shopping and buying more than we need or even want. For me, as a self-proclaimed brown girl bibliophile introvert, I can’t pull myself from Amazon without spending at least $50. A sweet circuit of joy courses through me when I come home and find those boxes in my mail box or if they are too big, leaning against my door. But … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Three Tactics to Help You Fulfill Your Financial Goals
Solid, definable goals are the key to financial freedom. There’s no way around it. Perhaps that’s why Dr. Thomas Stanley, best-selling author of The Millionaire Next Door, emphasizes the importance of goals in achieving financial success. According to his extensive survey of American millionaires, the vast majority of millionaires set financial goals, helping to explain … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Three Money Principles to Get Your Financial Life Back on Track
Sometimes it appears hopeless. Who has gotten tired of living paycheck to paycheck, avoiding creditor phone calls, or robbing Peter to pay Paul? Feeling overwhelmed is natural, but we can tame our finances. Use the following financial principles to help you get started down the road toward financial prosperity. Find Your Joy Every day corporate America tells us that … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Become a Financial Maverick in 2014
I’m going to let you in on a little financial secret. In America we're all sheep mindlessly following the crowd to our financial demise. No one sets out to be a conformist, to emulate everyone else. It’s a natural by-product of being human. We’re social animals by nature. While we may laud individuality, we crave conformity. There’s comfort in conformity. It’s easy. If … [Read more...]
Ladies: 5 Books You Must Read To Reclaim Your Financial Power
One of the best ways to improve your finances is to educate yourself about personal finances, business, entrepreneurship, and behavioral economics. When I was at my highest point in debt and completely depressed and discouraged about my financial future, I went to the library in search for some answers and guidance. That one visit to the library changed my life. I found … [Read more...]
How To Use The Bible To Create Your Financial Blueprint
Who and what do we consult for financial advice? Michelle Singletary? Yes. CNN? Yep! David Bach? Ok. The Wall Street Journal? Sure. Farrah Gray? Why Not! The Bible? ---What? Yes, the Bible. For Christians and members of other religious and spiritual faiths, the Bible is chiefly viewed as a moral and religious text. The Bible, however, provides sound practical … [Read more...]
Monday Monday: 7 Smart Money Moves For A More Prosperous 2012
2012 is knocking on the door and the new year is a great time to tighten your money game. Best of all, getting your money straight doesn't have to be a needlessly complex endeavor. Often a series of simple money moves will have you seeing more green before you know it. Here are seven simple tips to growing more cash in 2012. Make Saving Painless Unfortunately, many of us … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Is Excessive Consumption Dooming The Black Community?
Who among us hasn't chuckled at the money miscues of Black folk? We've all seen the brother pushing a set of rims worth more than his car, or the sister sporting the latest handbag but scrambling to make the rent. But sometimes the clowning and laughing at these miscues turns to concern, and the concern to despair. My heart actually aches when I see young brothers … [Read more...]
Money Monday: The Weight Watchers Secret to Financial Success
In a world where diet fads come and go, Weight Watchers has stood the test of time. Nearly 50 years old, the program designed to slim your waistline could hold the keys to fattening your pocketbook. Participants in Weight Watchers track their food consumption using a points system. Point values are assigned to everything the dieters eat. The number of points consumed at each … [Read more...]
Money Monday: Extravagant Christian Spending – God’s Blessing or Worldly Trap?
Perhaps you've seen Dave Ramsey's relatively new home. The 13,307-square-foot sprawling mansion sits atop a Franklin, Tennessee, mountaintop like a solitary medieval castle. The financial guru is quite literally living as "King of the Hill." At first thought, one has to wonder how someone who preaches the virtues of frugality and expounds Christian principles in his … [Read more...]
Money Monday: The Power of Small Steps
by Dr. Charles Alonzo Peters Do you flip through issues of Essence, Ebony, or Money magazine and come across great money advice? Do you read financial pearls of wisdom that you realize you should act on, but never get around to implementing? Yes, we understand that we should check our credit report for mistakes, but who has the time? Setting up a 401K sounds good. We … [Read more...]