Dr. Boyce Watkins on MSNBC: The State of the US Economy
February 5, 2010
February 3, 2010
Black News: Homeowners Walking Away from Mortgages
updated 12:25 a.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 3, 2010
In 2006, Benjamin Koellmann bought a condominium in Miami Beach. By his calculation, it will be about the year 2025 before he can sell his modest home for what he paid. Or maybe 2040.
“People like me are beginning to feel like suckers,” Mr. Koellmann said. “Why not let it go in default and rent a better place for less?”
After three years of plunging real estate values, after the bailouts of the bankers and the revival of their million-dollar bonuses, after the Obama administration’s loan modification plan raised the expectations of many but satisfied only a few, a large group of distressed homeowners is wondering the same thing.
January 27, 2010
Woman Puts Cheater’s Face on Billboards
Dr. Boyce and S. Tia Brown discuss the woman who puts cheater’s face on billboards
January 21, 2010
Black News: Charges Filed in NAACP Embezzlement Case
A former NAACPexecutive was charged in Fulton County, Ga., with embezzling $275,000 from the U.S. civil rights organization, NAACP officials say.
The Rev. Amos Brown, administrator for the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, said former NAACP official Judith W. Hanson and Hanson’s former assistant, Saundra Douglass, are accused of embezzling funds during their time with the Baltimore-based organization, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Tuesday.
Authorities allege Hanson, who served as the executive director of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, and Douglass used NAACP funds for personal expenses during a six-year period.
January 16, 2010
Black Wealth News: Haiti Earthquake Charity Gets Questioned
Haiti’s musician Wyclef Jean, left, arrives at the airport in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010, the day after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit his country. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
(AP)
Groups that vet charities are raising doubts about the organization backed by Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean, questioning its accounting practices and ability to function in earthquake-hit Haiti.
Even as more than $2 million poured into The Wyclef Jean Foundation Inc. via text message after just two days, experts questioned how much of the money would help those in need.
"It’s questionable. There’s no way to get around that," said Art Taylor, president and chief executive of the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, based in Arlington, Va.
Taylor reviewed Internal Revenue Service tax returns for the organization also known as Yele Haiti Foundation from 2005 through 2007. He said the first red flag of poor accounting practices was that three years of returns were filed on the same day — Aug. 10 of last year.
In 2007, the foundation’s spending exceeded its revenues by $411,000. It brought in just $79,000 that year.
January 9, 2010
Why Black Women Are Not Getting Married
Dr. Boyce Watkins and S. Tia Brown discuss some of the reasons that Black women are deciding not to get married.
December 22, 2009
Your Money with Dr. Boyce – 12/21/09
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How a Happy Meal Can Cost You Half a Million Dollars
Many of us don’t spend much time thinking about retirement planning. We figure that it’s something …
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Sinbad: Comedian Files for Bankruptcy After Going Broke
It turns out that Sinbad is broke. The comedian declared bankruptcy on December 11th of this year, …
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Man Gambles Away $127 Million Dollars – Dr. Boyce Money
Terrance Watanabe has a serious problem. The 52-year old man went into Harrah’s casino, got drunk …
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Gatorade Drops Tiger Woods Drink: Dr. Boyce Money
Gatorade has dropped Tiger Woods, well, at least they dropped his drink. The new Gatorade drink, …
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Prosperity Gospel and the Black Church: Legitimate or Not?
Nearly every African American knows just how important the black church is to our community. We …
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Inner City Schools: Funding Should be Equal Across the Board
The following is an excerpt from the book, "Black American Money." I saw some random "expert" on a …
December 14, 2009
The Latest on Tiger: One of His Major Sponsors Dumps Him
A major sponsor for Tiger Woods announced Sunday that it is dropping the golf star in light of recent controversy swirling around his personal life.
Accenture, a management consulting firm, said on its Web site that "given the circumstances of the last two weeks … the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising."
The move ends a sponsorship arrangement that lasted six years.
Another major sponsor, Gillette, said Saturday it was "limiting" Woods’ role in its marketing programs to give him the privacy to work on family relationships.
Woods announced on his own Web site Friday that he is taking an "indefinite break" from professional golf.
The 33-year-old golfer, who tops the sport’s world rankings, has been mired in controversy since he crashed his car outside his Florida mansion late last month. In the week following the crash, Woods apologized for "transgressions" that let his family down, and US Weekly magazine published a report alleging that Woods had an affair with a 24-year-old cocktail waitress named Jaimee Grubbs.
December 13, 2009
News: Tiger Loses $180 Million if He Takes a Year Off?
According to the New York Post, this is how much Tiger stands to lose if he takes the year off:
$180 MILLION IN PERSONAL EARNINGS, INCLUDING:
$110 million in advertising income, if sponsors rebel and dump contracts
$23 million in tournament prize money (roughly the amount he won in his last full season on the PGA Tour and abroad)
$30 million in fees for three golf courses he’s designing, if deals fall through
$17 million in appearance fees (equal to his best year for showing up to play minor events)
$591 MILLION IN INDUSTRY LOSSES, INCLUDING:
$455 million in losses to his Nike-endorsed golf brand, based on estimated 35 percent sales decline
$40 million in lost PGA Tour ticket sales, based on a predicted 25 percent loss at 20 Woods-attended tourneys
$96 million if the Woods-brand EA Sports golf video game goes down the tubes
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/tiger_to_suffer_ashEvFQnFsG4EKGuaCCDML#ixzz0ZaM5sD5W
December 8, 2009
Financial News: UCLA Students Running into Major Financial Trouble
Watch this video, which describes the financial trauma for UCLA students as the result of a recent tuition hike.
College Student Money Runs Short: How is She Gonna Work It Out?
This college student has financial problems.
December 4, 2009
Black Financial News: Jobs Report is Optimistic
In the strongest employment report since the recession began nearly two years ago, the government said Friday that the nation’s employers had all but stopped shedding jobs in November, taking some of the pressure off of President Obama to come up with a jobs creation program.
Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency
Demonstrators outside the White House on Thursday as President Obama met with business leaders and economists to seek ideas for creating jobs.
The Labor Department reported that the United States economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October.
The government also significantly revised its September and October job loss estimates. September’s data was adjusted to show a loss of 139,000 jobs instead of 219,000, and in October 111,000 jobs were lost, instead of 190,000. Even allowing for the November loss, the revisions added 148,000 people to the list of those employed in the United States in November.
Though the pace of job loss has been declining since a peak in January, the November number was surprising. Economists had been expecting a turning point to come in the late spring or summer, with employers finally adding workers as a recovery takes hold. The last time the number was so bright was in December 2007, when the economy added 120,000 jobs.
“It is clearly a much better picture, and appears to be mostly genuine,” said Nigel Gault, chief domestic economist at IHS Global Insight, who said he was encouraged by gains in the average workweek and the number of temporary workers hired. “It shows employers have come back so much and are starting to rehire.”
Tiger Woods Divorce might cost him a lot of Money
Tiger Woods and his financially costly divorce – what’s he going to have to pay?
November 30, 2009
Why Are Black People Not Getting Married?
Are the men or the women to blame for the reason that black people are not getting married?
November 25, 2009
November 24, 2009
November 20, 2009
Managing the Cost of your Funeral
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
Funerals are never fun. They are emotionally draining and you are forced to endure the shock of knowing that your loved one will never be back in your life. In addition to the emotional devastation, you have to deal with the financial burdens of paying for someone to be buried. We all know that funerals are not free or cheap, and the last place you want to be cheap is when it comes to burying the person you love.
But there are ways you can keep the cost down. They say you can’t take the money with you, but someone who doesn’t plan for their death may be taking their relatives’ money with them to the grave. Here are some ways that you can bury on a budget: giving relatives dignity without creating financial hardship.
There is a funeral cost calculator on FuneralswithLove.com that helps you to figure out how much your funeral might cost and whether or not you’re going to be able to pay for it. Effectively, the cost estimator first determines your total resources from prepaid expenses, personal savings/investments, and death benefits. Once you know what is available to you, you have to determine how much you want to spend. Some of us want to go out in style and some of us figure that since we’re dead, our relatives should be the ones having all the fun.
November 7, 2009
How Your Family Can Manage the High Cost of Health Care
Get health care tips from Dr. Elaina George – how is your family going to afford it?
November 1, 2009
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Needs a Lesson in Racial History
- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke listens to businessmen following an address in Chatham, Mass., Friday, Oct. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Last spring when Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke visited Morehouse College, an undergraduate student asked him what accounts for the enormous racial disparity in wealth. Bernanke responded that the source of the problem was the lack of "financial literacy" and "financial education" on the part of blacks, particularly with respect to savings decisions.
He said nothing about the lack of access to inherited wealth, such as inheritances and other intergenerational transfers. Most wealth acquisition today takes place by such asset shifts. Even more astonishing, Bernanke never mentioned the notorious history of white violence that included the seizure, destruction and appropriation of black property.
Acknowledging this unfairness is not an excuse but a powerful truth; remedying it requires straightforward government action, rather than lectures on the value of saving. In fact, the racial wealth gap can be decreased – and without using a race-specific strategy of wealth redistribution.
We propose Children’s Development Accounts, an expanded and non-incremental version of what Manning Marable of Columbia University has called the "Baby Bond" plan. It would provide an endowed trust fund for all children born into families with a net worth below the national median, progressively rising to $50,000 to $60,000 for children whose families are in the lowest wealth quartile. The program could be structured like the Earned Income Tax Credit, which uses a benefits phase-out schedule.
October 27, 2009
Mother, Wife and Businesswomen: How do you Balance?
In this episode of Financial Lovemaking, Dr. Boyce and Tia talk with Towanna Freeman, an author, speaker, wife and mother on how to balance love, life, and success.
October 16, 2009
American Express CEO Says Disaster was Averted in Money Crisis
American Express CEO Ken Chenault says disaster was averted in the financial crisis – do you agree?
October 14, 2009
Fenorris Pearson: Finding the Right Corporate Champions
by Fenorris Pearson, CEO – Global Consumer Innovations, Inc
No matter how many people work at your company, it only takes one or two people to change the game you’re playing. Choosing your alignments on the job can make all the difference in your career. In fact, forging alliances in the workplace is a lot like getting elected: it’s not the most popular candidate who wins, but the one who has proven himself/herself to be the most influential.
In terms of voting power, finding the right alignments is about courting individuals with the most votes that count. In other words, you can have all the friends in the world, head the Cheer Club, lead the league in strike-outs on your company softball team and generally have the popular vote, all without winning the election. Just ask Al Gore, who won the popular vote in the 2000 election, but lost the Electoral vote.
These viewpoints are most certainly capitalist. When you’re in a corporation, democracy doesn’t help you win the favor of your co-workers; your outcomes are determined by your relationships with key decision makers – those one or two consummate executives who have the most influence on your future with the company.
The corporate alliance is a very intimate one; for better or worse, you could be aligning yourself with someone who is very visible, influential and known throughout the company. A consummate executive also remembers that it’s not just the ally you’re courting, but everyone in his or her network.
October 11, 2009
Many Americans Being Overwhelmed by the High Cost of Healthcare
"The high cost of each premium and the high deductible a person or family must pay per year is my biggest complaint against health insurers."
"For example, I pay around $300 a month for my wife and me for basic coverage, and pay a deductible of $750 each every year, not to mention a co-pay of $15 to $20 at the window."
"My yearly income is around $32,000 a year. Very little is left for goodies. Meanwhile, a doctor takes in $80 to $120 a visit that lasts 15 to 20 minutes. Imagine how much he makes a day, a week, a month, a year. Plenty of goodies here."
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Black Economic News: Entrepreneurs Create their own Economic Recovery
Back in August, Federal Reserve officials suggested that the Great Recession was ending and the U.S. could expect "a gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth." But even with stock market indexes and the bottom lines of large financial firms bouncing back, small businesses can expect a longer slog to economic health.
"Small business performance is a lagging indicator of recovery in the same way that unemployment is," says Villanova University business school professor John Pearce II.
And it’s likely that small businesses will find this recovery even slower than previous ones. The downturn has especially hurt construction firms, retailers and food service providers, the vast majority of which employ fewer than 20 workers. To make matters worse, more than 110 banks have failed since early 2008, most of them community thrifts catering to the financial needs of local firms.
Black Money: Fenorris Pearson Talks to Steve Harvey about Reaching Your Goals
by Fenorris Pearson, CEO Global Consumer Innovation, Inc.
If you measure some of today’s top performers by yesterday’s gold standards, they simply wouldn’t measure up. Industry icons, business mavericks and game changers like Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Rachel Ray and Michael Dell didn’t finish school or have a great education; and based on those two metrics alone, no one could have measured their full potential. By focusing only on such metrics, you might be missing the most valuable components of a person’s engine of success.
As a guest on Steve Harvey’s show, I was recently talking about success, potential and the wide gap between good grades and pure genius. Steve said something that I’ll never forget. When coming up “the hard way” he would interview for jobs or audition for various roles and, based on purely measurable qualifications – school records, his one-page resume, or whether he has movie star looks – he never quite measured up. “But what they couldn’t measure,” said Steve Harvey, “was how big my dream was…”
What a difference the power of dreams can make. As the star of The Steve Harvey Show, Steve won four NAACP Image Awards as “Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series.” He also won an NAACP Image Award for his performance as host of the variety series It’s Showtime at The Apollo. In March 2001, Harvey received the ultimate honor: NAACP Image Award’s “Entertainer of the Year,” and now has a NY Times best-selling book on the market.
October 10, 2009
Eddie Griffin’s New Show – What it Teaches Us about Money…Nothing
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University, Your Black World
I had a lot of fun watching the new Vh-1 show, "Going for Broke," starring comedian Eddie Griffin. Griffin is one of the funniest comics in America, the comedian that Chris Tucker could have been (if he would simply stop disappearing between Jackie Chan movies).
On the show, Griffin gives insight into his personal life, which is both intriguing and disturbing. The show is called "Going for Broke" for a reason, because Eddie just might actually get there.
Here are some reasons that Eddie Griffin might actually become the broke celebrity that he is trying to become:
1) He spends like a damn fool. One of the easiest traps for an entertainer to fall into is the "infinite money trap." That’s when the person thinks that they’ve got an endless supply of cash, giving them ability to spend whatever they want on whatever they want. Apparently Eddie may have fallen into this trap, since his Bentley was being repossessed in an early episode of the show. Eddie’s conversation with his accountant was also revealing, as the words "all the accounts are empty" seemed to strike him hard. With all the success that Eddie Griffin has had, it is difficult to imagine that he would be completely broke. But the truth is that this kind of thing happens all the time.
If the link above doesn’t work, click here.
October 8, 2009
Fenorris Pearson: What Matters Beyond the Resume when it comes to Corporate Success?
by Fenorris Pearson, CEO – Global Consumer Innovation, Inc.
Education is critical for success, but when everyone has the same education from the same Ivy League schools with the same GPA… how do you stand out? Other factors beyond education – business etiquette, dress, playing well with others, teamwork and dedication are easy to measure and log. But what of those immeasurable traits that count for just as much in the corner office: passion, drive, commitment and stamina?
How can we measure the immeasurable?
When it comes to playing at the top, it’s often the intense, burning desire of the candidate that makes the difference between success and failure. At the end of the day, performance and results are two of the most important traits a top performer can possess. Work harder than your competition, and you’ll win the battle every time.
Another thing that people can’t measure with grades, paychecks, promotions or time cards is what’s inside your heart.
October 7, 2009
Economic News: Senate Could Vote to Extend Jobless Benefits
from AOL Black Voices
With U.S. unemployment rising, lawmakers hope to resolve a logjam this week on a measure that would extend jobless benefits for those who already may have exhausted them, Senate aides said on Tuesday.
Congressional leaders had hoped to extend benefits before the end of September, when some 400,000 recipients were expected to use them up. But while the House of Representatives last month passed a bill, jobless benefits legislation stalled in the Senate due to a dispute over how many workers should be eligible.
While some details remained unresolved, the measure could come up for a vote in the Senate within days, said an aide to Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who argued that the legislation was too narrowly targeted.
Shaheen objected to legislation passed by the House that would extend benefits for jobless workers only in states where the unemployment rate is above 8.5 percent. The unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in August in Shaheen’s home state of New Hampshire.
October 6, 2009
Devin Robinson Says We should Boycott Haircare Products for One Week
Atlanta, GA October 5, 2009 – Professor Devin Robinson, an economics professor at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA and best-selling author of Taking it Back: How to Become a Successful Black Beauty Supply Store Owner, will lead a one week long boycott against Non- Black Owned Beauty Supply stores.
Robinson stated, "Blacks make up 96% of the consumers of these stores, yet represent less than 5% of the retail ownership." As a previous owner of 3 locations, Robinson understands the industry inside out and offers comprehensive solutions for Blacks to recapture this industry. "The problem is with the distributors. Distributors are mainly Non-Blacks and they handpick who they will distribute products to. This oftentimes leaves aspiring black owners disenfranchised", said Robinson.
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October 5, 2009
Fenorris Pearson Explains How to Find a Mentor in your Company
by Fenorris Pearson, CEO – Global Consumer Innovation, Inc.
Even when I was a Vice President at Dell Computers, one of the most cutting edge companies on the planet, our problems remained the same. The variables changed, but the bottom line always came down to figuring out how to sell to one customer at a time. Reaching this critical objective becomes more complex as technology changes and the world becomes more advanced. As complacent as we’ve gotten with new technology and global opportunities, this much has become clear: what got you here won’t get you there. In fact, what positioned you here, might not even keep you here…
…At least, not without a sponsor.
These days competition isn’t just stiff, it’s rigid. You need every advantage you’ve got, particularly if you’re a recent grad, female or minority. Think hard work, an MBA and a well-rounded resume will get you to the top? Think again; that might be what got you here, but to get there – the proverbial corner office or CEO’s chair – you’ll need more than just a spotless resume and a 4.0 GPA; you’ll need a sponsor.
October 2, 2009
Managing Multiple Baby’s Mamas: What Does that mean?
How do you deal with the challenge of having multiple children in multiple households?
Financial News: Consumer Bankruptcies Soar During September
Consumer bankruptcies soared 41% from the previous September and climbed from August, as high unemployment and the housing market crash took their toll, the American Bankruptcy Institute said Friday.
September filings totaled 124,790, the fourth-highest month since the bankruptcy law changed in 2005.
Filings also rose 4% from August, even as recent reports indicated the housing market might be stabilizing and consumer confidence appears to be recovering.
September’s filings pushed 2009 consumer bankruptcies to 1.05 million, the highest for the first nine months of a year since 1.35 million in 2005.
The American Bankruptcy Institute said it expects consumer bankruptcies to climb to more than 1.4 million this year.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high in September at 9.8%, according to government statistics released on Friday.
Your Black News: Tiger Woods earns a Billion
Tiger Woods has become the first sportsman to break through the billion-dollar earnings barrier, Forbes magazine reported on Thursday.
The 33-year-old American, who has won 14 majors, reached the latest landmark of his career when he won a 10-million-dollar bonus for his FedEx Cup victory last weekend.
According to the magazine’s calculations, Woods went into the 2009 season on 895 million dollars which included prize money, endorsements, appearance fees as well as money earned through his golf course design business.
Even before picking up his end of season bonus, Woods had earned 10.5 million dollars on the USPGA Tour this year, winning six titles.
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September 30, 2009
Is the MBA Dead?
by Fenorris Pearson, CEO Global Consumer Innovation, Inc.
Once upon a time your MBA was the gold standard; a guarantee for eventual and all-but inevitable success in your chosen profession. Today the starting line has moved; an MBA is still crucial for the well-rounded, would-be consummate executive, but no longer the gold standard by which success is currently measured.
Even those reliable old yardsticks by which past business success was calculated – hard work, seniority and massive overtime – no longer ensure you the success you desire today. Many men and women have built their fortunes on these skills alone in the past, but times are changing at a critical pace, and it is important that you keep up. There are thousands of MBAs awarded every year, and the cookie-cutter approach to business success has evolved. How are you going to be different from every other MBA in the country when it comes to finding your path to success?
Here are some things you can do to rise above your MBA, make yourself relevant and prepare for the real world:
1) Never forget that the world is changing: With the increased used of technology, business models are adapting, corporations are changing their strategies, industries are rising and others are dying. Make sure you know where you fit in this bold, new world and don’t assume that you are living the same life you would have lived in 1989. The textbooks used in your MBA courses might have worked for business models in the 1990s, but they may become obsolete in the new millennium.
Dr Boyce on CNN Radio – Love and Money Conversation
Dr Boyce Watkins discusses the rules of Financial Lovemaking on CNN Radio.
September 29, 2009
News: Black Scholar Comments on pending sale of Ebony Magazine
Dr. Deborah Stroman, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Business knows one only color – green. Whether one has a history of success or newfound fame, businesses must continue to make a profit. Unfortunately, the announcement recently made by Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. the world’s largest African-American-owned and-operated publishing company, reflects the simple fact that long-term financial projections reveal that there is more month left than money. A painful pill to swallow for many in the black community due to the legacy of this family and its mission; however, there are important 21st century business lessons to highlight from this sad prospect. First, know and stay in tune with your audience. The graying demographic that historically supported Ebony can’t be relied upon for financial stability in recessionary times. New money is found in collaborative and results-based (not old school relationship) marketing. Sadly, time is really, really money in today’s new economy. Second, embrace technology or get left behind. Experts have clearly articulated the dying of print media over the past decade. Those who chose to sleep in and ignore the warnings are now locking the doors and turning in keys. Americans want and deserve information fast and accurate. The Internet provides that medium. And lastly, in times of struggle God always provides an opportunity. The leaders at Johnson Publishing have a tremendous asset in their people. They are creative and passionate about their community and they should be given the chance to provide direction. This moment is not the time for consultants and clairvoyants with crystal balls to steer the way. Truly listen to the heart and soul of the company – the journalists and staff – and make the necessary decisions to be a viable institution for another 63 years. Hey! No pressure but the Black community, avid readers or not, depends on it.
Dr. Deborah Stroman is a Professor at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an expert on Leadership. To contact Dr. Stroman for speaking engagements or media requests, please click here.
September 28, 2009
Black Financial News: Ebony and Jet Suffer Serious Financial Woes
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, MSNBC’s TheGrio.com, Your Black World, AOL Black Voices
The black journalism students here at Syracuse often come to me to find out how the industry works. They sometimes instinctively wonder if their professors’ stories about being in a CBS newsroom in 1982 are going to help them survive in a world run by Twitter, Myspace and Facebook. The answer is a resounding "probably not."
While respecting the journalism professors teaching their classes, I simply use examples like Ebony Magazine to help them realize that black media is changing, and sites like theGrio.com, BlackVoices.com, and TheRoot.com, are examples of how black media has evolved. In fact, a journalist who doesn’t understand technology and business models is in danger of starting his/her career as a dinosaur.
When it comes to recent reports about Ebony Magazine being offered for sale, I admit that I was saddened, but not surprised. The Ebony Fashion Fair has become one of the most celebrated events in black America, and the magazine has been nothing less than a tremendous source of national pride since its creation in 1945. But in the age of the web, oversized bureaucracies can be crushed under the weight of their own arrogance. Bloated payrolls, pompous corporate functions and a sense of entitlement make them easy prey for quick, hungry and rapidly evolving competition.
In spite of the tremendous love we have for Ebony/Jet, the truth must be confronted when realizing that it is what radio was to TV or what the train was to the airplane. Like radios and trains, there is still a place for print media, but that role is no longer dominant. The current economic climate only accelerated the inevitable, since advertisers were eventually going to stop spending $50,000 for magazine ads when they can buy the same number of eyeballs for $5,000 or less.
I present the following 5 questions I’d like to ask out loud about both Ebony Magazine and the state of African American media:
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September 26, 2009
Dr Boyce Money: Big Money and Big Power at the G20 Summit
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
From MSNBC’s TheGrio.com
Uncle Ben from Spiderman made the most prophetic statement of the entire film series in his dying days (I almost cried, but don’t tell anybody): "With great power comes great responsibility." Most of us understood what Uncle Ben was trying to say, and that includes Barack Obama.
Uncle Ben should have been the keynote speaker at the latest G-20 Summit, taking place this week in Pittsburgh,PA. The G-20 Summit is a gathering of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the world’s 19 wealthiest countries, plus the European Union. These countries encompass 85 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, so they would probably meet Uncle Ben’s qualification for "great power," at least when it comes to money.
The G-20 Summit’s primary objective is to achieve broad cooperation on the preservation of international financial stability. The motivations of the group, created in 1999, are seemingly noble and make perfect sense in light of the fact that the global economy has reached an unprecedented level of integration. If large nations do not work together, the world’s financial system will be subject to alarming amounts of volatility.
Not everyone can see the vision behind G-20 ambitions. Usually, the gatherings of the G-20 are as out of control as a frat party, as protesters have made a game out of disrupting the meetings as much as they possibly can. To prepare for this year’s economic fiesta, the city of Pittsburgh has brought in 4,000 police, 2,000 National Guard troops and 11 Coast Guard vessels.
Police, in an overwhelming show of force, declared Thursday’s march illegal almost as soon as it began, firing rubber bullets and canisters of pepper spray and smoke after small bands of anarchists responded to calls to disperse by rolling huge metal trash bins, throwing rocks and breaking windows. As of Friday morning, reports said nearly 70 people had been arrested and police were bracing for scattered protests around downtown.
President Obama, being the conflicted capitalist/black man/ex-community organizer that he is, made some telling comments about the demonstrators.
September 23, 2009
Dr Boyce Watkins: Don’t Kill Tavis Over Wells Fargo
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Your Black World, AOL Black Voices
When I read about the predatory lending allegations against Tavis Smiley and Wells Fargo, I wasn’t surprised. Not because I feel that Tavis is some kind of crook, but because economic downturns are usually when everyone’s dirty laundry gets aired out. The high flying 2000s were a decade of extravagance, overspending, easy money and troubled relationships. The party was bound to end. Smiley’s party has ended with Wells Fargo, as the company has been accused of using Tavis Smiley and financial expert Kelvin Boston to convince African Americans to sign on to loans that turned out to be predatory. Neither Boston nor Smiley is willing to disclose the amount they were paid for the service, but I’m sure it wasn’t chump change.
I’ve been open and honest in my critiques of Tavis Smiley in the past, but I give credit where it’s due. I’ve always felt that Tavis Smiley is a man who works out of a sincere respect and appreciation for the black community. He is not out to hoodwink, swindle or hurt us, at least not deliberately. At worst, Smiley is guilty of being caught in a situation that he may not have fully understood.
Although I agree with the black community’s decision to hold Tavis Smiley accountable for his actions, I want us to be cautious of going overboard in our judgments. Here are 5 things I want to say about Tavis Smiley:
September 19, 2009
Your Black News: Did Tavis Smiley Help Sell Bad Loans to Black People?
from AOL Black Voices
Did Tavis Smiley help Wells Fargo herd black people into subprime loans? Yes, according to information contained in a lawsuit filed recently by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The suit alleges that Smiley was the hook used to draw in potential customers for subprime mortgages.
You might be familiar with the "Wealth Building" seminars that Wells Fargo conducted beginning in the year 2000. Smiley was the headline speaker at these events, held in Baltimore; Chicago; Richmond, Va.; and San Francisco. The seminars were advertised aggressively in black media and aimed directly at black communities. They were a huge success. Often, standing room only audiences would hear Smiley speak about how he mostly disliked banks while strongly urging attendees to invest in real estate as a sound strategy to build wealth. …
September 15, 2009
Dr Boyce Money: Obama’s Slam to Wall Street
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
The president recently gave an interesting address to Wall Street on the anniversary of the start of the financial crisis which began last year (and also got him elected). One year ago, the fall of Lehman Brothers left the nation scrambling to find ways to secure critical liquidity to a financial market that was on the brink of devastation.
In his speech, the president wasn’t nice. He received applause from the audience only one time, so they don’t like him as much as black people do. What’s also clear is that he’s not President Bush: Wall Street doesn’t want Barack Obama to be president, but he is exactly what they need right now.Our banking system is ranked 108th in the world in terms of stability, behind Tanzania. What’s even more frightening is that while being incredibly reckless, our banking system is the most powerful in the world, driving the strongest economy on earth. We can’t afford to be silly or irresponsible.
The president focused his conversation around three key adjustments:
September 14, 2009
News: The President Speaks Harshly to Wall Street
The bailouts have largely stabilized the financial system, but regulatory reform is needed to prevent a similar crisis from happening again, said President Obama in a speech delivered Monday on Wall Street.
Marking the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, which set off a series of events that led to last fall’s financial crisis, Obama cautioned Wall Street to step lightly as the economy and financial sector recover.
"Normalcy cannot lead to complacency," Obama said. "Unfortunately, there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment. Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them."
"They do so not just at their own peril, but at our nation’s," the president added.
September 11, 2009
What’s Going on with the Economy?
Dr. Wilmer Leon Speaks to Dr Danny Boston, an Economist at Georgia Tech University about the state of the economy. Click here to listen!
September 3, 2009
News: Dr Boyce Watkins on ABC News: Love and Money
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
I recently appeared on ABC News to talk about Financial Lovemaking, and the link between sex and money. I’ve discussed relationships and money several times on AOL in the past, but I think that I should quickly lay out some very interesting similarities that may not have crossed your mind. As I teach my Personal Finance Class at Syracuse University this semester, I am reminded that managing our money is linked to managing our love, which is critical to the ultimate goal of effectively managing our lives.
1) Many people think about both sex and money every single day. Don’t lie, you know you enjoy thinking about sex, even if you aren’t getting any. But chances are, you also think about money, whether it’s figuring out how to get what you need or how to keep what you’ve got. Even most rappers spend all their time talking about either sex, money or how they use their money to get more sex. It’s actually a universal concept.
August 31, 2009
Black Financial News: Is the MBA DOA?
From Fenorris Pearson, CEO of Global Consumer Innovation
Your MBA is DOA
Once upon a time your MBA was the gold standard, a guarantee for eventual and all-but inevitable success in your chosen profession. Today the starting line has moved; an MBA is still crucial for the well-rounded, would-be consummate executive, but no longer the gold standard by which success is currently measured.
Even those reliable old yardsticks by which past business success was calculated – hard work, seniority and massive overtime – no longer ensure you the success you desire today. While all these are helpful, and many men and women have built their fortunes on these skills alone in the past, times are changing at such a critical pace that new opportunities are needed to bridge the gap between what used to work and what must work.
August 24, 2009
Black Wealth Building: A CEO gives tips on how to play the corporate game at the top
How is the game played at the top? How do you get there and, once there, how do you stay put? And how, in these trying times where jobs are hard to come by and competition is stiffer than ever, can you ever hope to achieve such lofty goals? These are not questions to ask at the end of a career but at the beginning; these are thoughts to have not upon reflection during your retirement dinner but before deciding to ask for that promotion, leapfrog to another successful company or capitalize on the success you’ve already experienced.
Before starting my own business I was Vice-President of Global Consumer Innovation for Dell, Inc., the 35th largest corporation on the Fortune 100 list. Prior to joining Dell, Inc., I was Vice-President of Global Organizational Development for Motorola, Inc. Motorola, Inc. is a Fortune 50 global company with revenues over $40 billion. If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my journey to corporate success, it’s this: The rules are different at the top.
Actually, the rules are very different at the top; there is little slack and even less room for errors. Smart people like to work with smart people and don’t suffer fools gladly. When cutting edge technology, name players, new products and billions of dollars are on the line, there is no room for sleepwalkers, jokers or phoning it in. Top performers get to the top by bringing their A-game every time, but now even that isn’t enough.
Today, more than ever, with layoffs a predictable morning headline and gold-standard companies like Circuit City, Steak & Ale, Linens and Things and Sharper Image shutting their doors in 2008, if you’re not firing on all cylinders, you won’t get in the door, let alone into that corner office. Regardless of the tight economy, or perhaps, because of it, companies are still hiring; but only the best. Companies are still promoting but, again, only the best. If you are looking for that entry-level job you can have it; if you have already been working in corporate and want that big promotion you can get it – but not by coasting into position. Rewards come quickly and are still great, but you will have to come fully prepared to work at the top of your game; every day, every time. How?
August 20, 2009
Dr Boyce Money: Is our Economy Turning Around or What?
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
The economic downturn has hurt us all. Black unemployment has been nearly 70% higher than that for white Americans, and the blow is even greater for people of color, since there is less black wealth to fall back on during tough financial times. We must remember, however, that the global recession has literally led to starvation around the world, as there were many citizens who could barely buy food even during the good times.
The IMF’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, says the global recession had "left deep scars, which will affect both supply and demand for many years to come." Blanchard also makes the additional point that economic models used to understand past recessions cannot be used to understand this one. When attempting to understand the cyclical nature of African American wealth, the models are even sketchier than they are for the rest of the world.
If you want to understand what happened to our economy, imagine you have a friend who appears to have the flu. The standard flu recovery time is going to be just a few days, so you expect to see them back at it within a week. They then go to the doctor, and it turns out that they have a sinus infection, extending the recovery period at least another week. But instead of coming back to work in 1 – 2 weeks, they are sick for an entire month. Well, this warrants another trip to the doctor, where you find out that the person actually has HIV. This changes the entire treatment strategy, since the short-term problems were nothing more than symptomatic triggers of serious long-term health issues. What’s worse is that with or without serious intervention, the patient may never be completely healthy again.
August 19, 2009
Dr Boyce Watkins: Love, Money and Merging Your Assets
Some people think that money and sex have nothing in common. Actually, they have everything in common. The act of merging your assets with another person’s can be an exhilirating process leading to the high of a lifetime, or it can be a devastating and emotionally crippling experience.
In a series of articles, I plan to lay out some examples that explain what sex and money have in common. Follow along, so that you can avoid the mistakes that are made by milions of people every single year.
Sex and Money Comparison Number 1: You could actually get the job done by yourself if you wanted to
No one says that you have to merge your money or your body with another person’s. There is a word we use to describe when someone takes care of his/her own physical needs, and I am not going to say it here. If you are not sure what the word is, then ask your mother, your boyfriend or your priest.
Just as you can take care of your physical needs yourself, the same is true of your financial needs. There’s an old saying "I can be broke all by myself." Thus, the choice to merge finances with another human being is not a choice we have to make. Merging assets with another person is also not a decision that should be taken lightly. It’s a decision you make only if you see potential benefits from the interaction.
Dr Boyce Watkins: Love, Money and Merging Your Assets
Some people think that money and sex have nothing in common. Actually, they have everything in common. The act of merging your assets with another person’s can be an exhilirating process leading to the high of a lifetime, or it can be a devastating and emotionally crippling experience.
In a series of articles, I plan to lay out some examples that explain what sex and money have in common. Follow along, so that you can avoid the mistakes that are made by milions of people every single year.
Sex and Money Comparison Number 1: You could actually get the job done by yourself if you wanted to
No one says that you have to merge your money or your body with another person’s. There is a word we use to describe when someone takes care of his/her own physical needs, and I am not going to say it here. If you are not sure what the word is, then ask your mother, your boyfriend or your priest.
Just as you can take care of your physical needs yourself, the same is true of your financial needs. There’s an old saying "I can be broke all by myself." Thus, the choice to merge finances with another human being is not a choice we have to make. Merging assets with another person is also not a decision that should be taken lightly. It’s a decision you make only if you see potential benefits from the interaction.
August 14, 2009
Dr Boyce Money: Wells Fargo Accused of Predatory Lending….Again
Wells Fargo was recently hit with another discrimination suit in the state of Illinois.This is the second high profile lawsuit alleging that the company has engaged in predatory lending in black and Latino neighborhoods. The suit was filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and presents evidence that black and Latino customers were being guided toward higher cost loans even when they qualified for lower cost loans.
Obviously, these lawsuits are not good PR for a company that is one of the primary sponsors for Tavis Smiley’s yearly State of the Black Union event.
"I’m talking of the worst of the worst bad loans that were sold in the run-up to the collapse of the housing market," the attorney general said in a press conference about the suit.
The attorney general should be commended for taking on this lawsuit. Just a few months ago, Wells Fargo was accused of engaging in similar practices in black neighborhoods in the city of Baltimore. Christopher Chestnut, a prominent attorney in the state of Florida who pursues racial bias cases, stated that, "The factual allegations plead in both Illinois and Maryland courts indicate a trend of predatory inequity in lending by Wells Fargo. The alleged behavior is alarming, depressing and unnecessary."
Dr Boyce Money: Wells Fargo Accused of Predatory Lending….Again
Wells Fargo was recently hit with another discrimination suit in the state of Illinois.This is the second high profile lawsuit alleging that the company has engaged in predatory lending in black and Latino neighborhoods. The suit was filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and presents evidence that black and Latino customers were being guided toward higher cost loans even when they qualified for lower cost loans.
Obviously, these lawsuits are not good PR for a company that is one of the primary sponsors for Tavis Smiley’s yearly State of the Black Union event.
"I’m talking of the worst of the worst bad loans that were sold in the run-up to the collapse of the housing market," the attorney general said in a press conference about the suit.
The attorney general should be commended for taking on this lawsuit. Just a few months ago, Wells Fargo was accused of engaging in similar practices in black neighborhoods in the city of Baltimore. Christopher Chestnut, a prominent attorney in the state of Florida who pursues racial bias cases, stated that, "The factual allegations plead in both Illinois and Maryland courts indicate a trend of predatory inequity in lending by Wells Fargo. The alleged behavior is alarming, depressing and unnecessary."
Dr Boyce Watkins: Wells Fargo Accused of Predatory Lending….Again
Wells Fargo was recently hit with another discrimination suit in the state of Illinois.This is the second high profile lawsuit alleging that the company has engaged in predatory lending in black and Latino neighborhoods. The suit was filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and presents evidence that black and Latino customers were being guided toward higher cost loans even when they qualified for lower cost loans.
Obviously, these lawsuits are not good PR for a company that is one of the primary sponsors for Tavis Smiley’s yearly State of the Black Union event.
"I’m talking of the worst of the worst bad loans that were sold in the run-up to the collapse of the housing market," the attorney general said in a press conference about the suit.
The attorney general should be commended for taking on this lawsuit. Just a few months ago, Wells Fargo was accused of engaging in similar practices in black neighborhoods in the city of Baltimore. Christopher Chestnut, a prominent attorney in the state of Florida who pursues racial bias cases, stated that, "The factual allegations plead in both Illinois and Maryland courts indicate a trend of predatory inequity in lending by Wells Fargo. The alleged behavior is alarming, depressing and unnecessary."
August 10, 2009
Dr Boyce Watkins: Never Take Financial Advice from a Rapper
by Dr Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
In his video called “Rich N*gga Sh*t” (I can’t even write the title, since I don’t want to pollute the eyes of my readers. Maybe you can fill in the missing letters, like in the TV gameshow “Wheel of Fortune.”), the rapper Soulja Boy has worked overtime to set an all-time record for massive hip hop buffoonery. But he’s only 19-years old, so I am going to give him a pass in hopes that he will choose to wise up at some point.
Showing off his new diamond chain that doubles as a remote control toy Lamborghini, the young brother proceeds to wow his audience by pushing the limits of financial extravagance. I’ve seen rappers with chains shaped like the state of New York or jewels that have their names on them, but I have never seen a chain that doubles as a remote control car. When I saw his latest “achievement,” I truly felt that he’d lost it. I am not here to say that Soulja Boy has not planned for his financial security, I really hope he has. At the same time, I’ve seen a ton of rappers get wads of dough, only to find themselves broke and spending their lives in the studio trying to create their next breakout hit. Let’s be real: the industry is not here to empower the rappers – it is here to enslave them. Soulja Boy’s comments about giving “big ups” to slave masters (for bringing black people to America) should have been saved for the slave masters in the recording industry who control his destiny right now.
August 2, 2009
Finance Professor Boyce Watkins on Consumer Confidence
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
Beyonce has a song about how she loves men with “big egos.” This might imply that she likes men with confidence. Confidence matters a great deal in terms of male/female attraction, but believe it or not, it actually impacts our economy. Every month, the University of Michigan measures consumer confidence, to determine if Americans are willing to spend money and how they feel about their current and future economic security.
But you might ask, “Why would I care about confidence, since it’s only psychological and imaginary?” Good question. Actually, confidence is a psychological phenomenon which leads to very real impacts on our choices and behavior. A confident man who asks out every girl he meets will probably have more mating opportunities than a good looking guy who doesn’t open his mouth. A confident consumer is someone who feels good about his/her economic situation and therefore decides to spend money, which is always good for the economy. Confident companies make investments and hire new employees, but insecure companies put projects on hold and don’t hire anyone. Confident banks make loans, but nervous banks hold onto their capital, thus slowing down economic growth for the nation.
Your Black News: Dr Boyce Watkins explains the meaning of “consumer confidence”
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
Beyonce has a song about how she loves men with “big egos.” This might imply that she likes men with confidence. Confidence matters a great deal in terms of male/female attraction, but believe it or not, it actually impacts our economy. Every month, the University of Michigan measures consumer confidence, to determine if Americans are willing to spend money and how they feel about their current and future economic security.
But you might ask, “Why would I care about confidence, since it’s only psychological and imaginary?” Good question. Actually, confidence is a psychological phenomenon which leads to very real impacts on our choices and behavior. A confident man who asks out every girl he meets will probably have more mating opportunities than a good looking guy who doesn’t open his mouth. A confident consumer is someone who feels good about his/her economic situation and therefore decides to spend money, which is always good for the economy. Confident companies make investments and hire new employees, but insecure companies put projects on hold and don’t hire anyone. Confident banks make loans, but nervous banks hold onto their capital, thus slowing down economic growth for the nation.
July 7, 2009
June 28, 2009
Black News: Listen to Obama’s Message on Healthcare Reform
Can’t get enough of Obama? Click the image below to listen to President Obama’s address and conversation on healthcare reform. The President wants to make healthcare reform a top priority over the next several years.
June 8, 2009
Dr Boyce Watkins: Our Nation’s Addiction to Credit Cards
by Dr Boyce Watkins
In an interview with NPR’s Michel Martin, I explained how credit card companies are really financial drug dealers. While this comparison might initially seem out of the park, it is actually quite appropriate: Credit is like a drug: it makes you feel good, and it is difficult for most Americans to feel secure or comfortable without it. Also like a drug, credit can be abused. Americans are hooked on consumption and credit card companies are willing to serve us our drug to the point of financial ruin.
The difference between financial drugs and medical drugs is that most financial drugs are legal, no matter how harmful they might be. In 1979, Congress got rid of usury laws, allowing credit card companies to charge darn near any interest rate they wanted, any fee they felt applicable and any penalty they felt you deserved. In other words, the legalized financial drug dealers were allowed to run rampant and sell as much of their product as the addicts could consume.
May 29, 2009
The World is Changing for Autoworkers
There was a time, not very long ago, when getting a job on the production line at a big automaker meant an instant ticket to the American dream, even for someone with little formal education. Not anymore.
"The minute you signed the paper, you were instantly vaulted into the middle class," said Mike Smith, director of Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, named for the founder of the United Auto Workers, the union that represents auto workers.
A shrinking paycheck. As the auto industry undergoes a sea change, the government has demanded that Chrysler and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) bring their labor costs in line with foreign competitors operating non-unionfactories in the U.S.
Today, an entry-level auto-worker will be making $14 an hour, compared to the $28 "base rate" the job had earned before, according to a summary of Chrysler’s contract agreement.
May 19, 2009
Love and Money: How a couple works it out
In this episode of Financial Lovemaking, Dr. Boyce and S. Tia Brown speak with Jason Robertson, a former New York Yankee, and his fiance Marshawn Evans. Marshawn is a prominent attorney and sports marketing agent. Jason was a top draft pick and all-American baseball player, who learned the flaws of improperly managing his money. He has since recovered financially and become one of the top entrepreneurs in the United States. The couple discusses the challenges in their relationship and ways they plan to make good financial love. When is the best time to start talking about money in a relationship? What if your partner is not as comfortable talking about money as you are? What role does trust play in the formation of a financial lovemaking relationship with another person?
May 1, 2009
Love and Money: Are Rich Guys allowed to cheat?
In this episode of "Financial Lovemaking", Dr Boyce and Tia break down whether or not wealthy men are allowed to make mistakes that men with less money are not allowed to make. Dr. Boyce brings up Kobe Bryant as an example of men with power and wealth who are sometimes given the right to do things that other men might not be allowed to do.
Click the image to watch!
April 18, 2009
Black Money: Dr Boyce Watkins Talks Rushcard in the NY Times
In a speech today, the Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke talked about the need to “strike the right balance: to strive for the highest standards of consumer protection without eliminating the beneficial effects of responsible innovation on consumer choice and access to credit.”
Where exactly regulators think that “balance” lies has varied greatly over time. Throughout American history, politicians and their constituents have viewed access to credit as alternatively empowering and exploitative. We can’t seem to decide: Is making credit available to “subprime” borrowers helping them, or taking advantage of their ignorance?
April 12, 2009
Black Money: Tax Mistakes You Want to Avoid
Gentlemen (and ladies), start your engines. Tax Day is less than a week away.
But as you race toward the finish line, be mindful of common tax-filing errors. Some mistakes could cost you money. Others could raise red flags at the IRS. Tax software will do math and point out tax breaks you might overlook, but these programs are only as good as the information you enter.
Here are some common last-minute blunders, and how to avoid them:
Automatically not itemizing.
A 2002 study by the Government Accountability Office found that more than 2 million taxpayers who claimed the standard deduction could have lowered their tax bills by itemizing.
Deductible expenses include interest on your mortgage, property taxes, charitable contributions and unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjustable gross income.
Ordinarily, that threshold puts the medical-expense deduction out of reach for most taxpayers who have employer-provided health care.
But the economic downturn has led employers to shift more of the cost of health care to their workers in the form of higher deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance. That means more taxpayers could rack up enough unreimbursed expenses to claim the deduction, says Mary Canning, dean of the schools of taxation and accounting at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Automatically itemizing.
April 11, 2009
Your Black Money: The Cost of Raising Children
By: Sarah Horner
April 8, 2009
An article from MSNBC.com entitled, "Budgeting for Baby: What does it really cost?" outlines exactly how much having and raising a child will cost you.
"If you’ve never been a budgeter, now’s the time for a financial reckoning. Experts recommend that parents-to-be and new parents dedicate themselves to whittling down their credit-card debt (ideally — and here’s some tough love — to zero), while at the same time, building an emergencies-only savings account of six to nine months’ worth of expenses. Do whatever it takes to meet this goal: Spend on a cash-only basis and write down every expense — or use a free online spending tracker like Quicken.Intuit.com or Wesabe.com — so you have a visceral idea of where your money goes. And be prepared to sacrifice. "If you want to prioritize the expense of a child, well, you may not need as many minutes on your cell phone and you may not need as many meals in a restaurant," says Chatzky. "And by the way, you’re not going to be going to restaurants much once you have a child, anyway!""
To read the entire article, Click here
March 9, 2009
President Obama’s Economic Pandora
By Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.DrBoyceMoney.com
Let’s be clear: This recession has become President Barack Obama’s personal War on Terror. Like the War on Terror, the enemy is evasive, the challenge is global, international cooperation is necessary, and the battle is unlike any other in our nation’s history. Wars are good for political business: when people get scared, politicians get a blank check to fulfill their legislative agenda. After 9/11, President Bush used fear to get the entire nation to sign onto the Patriot Act, and years later, we are wondering if someone is going to tap our cell phones and illegally imprison us for not eating our Freedom Fries. Bad legislation is like an STD: you can pick it up with a snap decision, but you pay the price for the next 20 years.
February 4, 2009
Your Black Money: Big Test on Stimulus for Barack Obama
A contentious debate over a "Buy American" provision in the economic stimulus package poses an early test for President Obama on both domestic politics and foreign policy.
The Senate this week is considering an $885 billion bill designed to help mend the ailing economy, which requires all "manufactured goods" purchased with stimulus money to be made in the United States. The House already has approved a narrower bill mandating the use of domestic iron and steel.
To supporters, including labor unions that helped the Democrats retake the White House last year, a "Buy American" requirement is just common sense at a time of economic crisis and rising unemployment. Factories have been hemorrhaging jobs for years; manufacturing employment is now 12.9 million, down from 17.2 million at the end of 2000. If Congress doesn’t insist upon the use of U.S.-made materials, taxpayer funds could line the pockets of European or Chinese workers rather than hard-hit Americans.
Technorati Tags: african american money,african american wealth,black money,black wealth,barack obama
February 2, 2009
Blacks Lost $213 Billion during Subprime Lending Crisis
The social advocacy group United for a Fair Economy just released a study stating that the cost of the mortgage crisis has been $213 Billion to minority groups. The cost was calculated over the 8 years of the Bush Administration.
“Millions of African Americans lost their homes as a result of predatory lending and complicated contracts,” says Dr. Boyce Watkins, Finance Professor at Syracuse University. “This was a double whammy for senior citizens, including my own grandfather.”
The report was entitled “Foreclsure: State of the Dream”. In fact, the study concludes that the impact of the crisis on the Black community was “the most massive loss of wealth for African Americans in U.S. history.”
January 31, 2009
How the Recession Might Help us
By Dr. Boyce Watkins
I hate being the doctor who has to tell the patient he has cancer, but the truth usually sets you free (or so my mother told me): We are in the midst of an economic bloodbath. It’s tough to argue that an economy which shrinks by an annualized rate of 5% is still healthy. It’s hard to tell someone that 7.2% unemployment, with the most job losses since 1945, is a good thing. A 4,000 point drop in the Dow is nothing to sneeze at, even if you have plenty of tissue. Times are tough, we know that.
But if we focus hard enough, we might be able to find a few bright sides to all this. With hopes that no one chooses to kill the messenger, I am going to give it a shot.
1) It could always be much worse.
The United States has, according to some, the strongest economy in the world. Our economy could shrink like Rush Limbaugh’s body on drugs and still be disgustingly rich compared to the rest of the world. Don’t believe me? Consider the “fast-growing” Chinese economy, the one that everyone thinks is going to outpace the United States in the next few years. Our annual tax revenues are nearly 4 times greater than China’s ($2.5 Trillion vs. $670 Billion) and they have over 4 times more people than we do (300 million vs. 1.3 Billion). In other words, our per capita tax receipts are over 16 times greater than China’s. So, we’re far better off than most of the world, even when we’re broke.
2) If there were ever an argument for getting out of Iraq, this might be it.
It’s hard to declare war on random countries if you don’t have the money to do it. War is big business and attacking other countries is a huge financial investment. If you don’t think war is about money, then you may want to take a couple of Political Science and History classes. Perhaps these troubles at home will keep us from creating trouble abroad, since Americans have lost patience with irresponsible, arrogant war-mongering. The Obama stimulus plan is asking for over $800 Billion dollars to boost our economy. We’ve already spent nearly $600 Billion in Iraq. Rather than declaring War on Terror, President Obama has declared War on the Recession, which seems to be a far better investment.
3) If you want to buy cheap stocks or real estate, this is the time to do it.
When the market rises, everyone wants to buy stocks. People forget that you shouldn’t buy stocks when prices are high, you buy when the prices are low. Companies with plenty of cash are grabbing investment and real estate bargains that were hardly available a year ago. You should be doing the same if you can afford to do it. Investors who purchases stocks after major market declines tend to do much better than those who buy during booms. You hear me Warren Buffet?
4) Struggle makes us FOCUSED.
Although I tend to be a hardcore capitalist, a part of me misses the activism of the 1960s, when people cared about more than making a dollar. OK, I wasn’t around in the 1960s, but I’ve watched enough old movies. Going through tough times not only teaches one to pursue a higher purpose in life, it also leads individuals to more carefully scrutinize the state of affairs in our government. In fact, I dare to argue that the financial crisis was just what Barack Obama needed to secure his election over John McCain. Economic prosperity allows us the luxury of choosing our politicians based on silly issues, like gay marriage (as we did in 2004). When we are worried about putting food on the table, we look beyond the silliness and choose the most qualified and most intelligent person for the job (after ensuring that he knows Africa really is a continent). Finally, tough economic times make you more responsible in your own money management, as the threat of financial insecurity keeps us all on high alert.
Those are my points, so again, please don’t kill the messenger. I certainly do not celebrate a weak economy, but I am a firm believer that focusing too much on the door that shuts keeps us from appreciating the ones that just opened. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel, a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, and….well, you get the point. It’s the toughness of tough times that make the good times good. Keep hanging in there, it’ll be ok.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in ways that Feel Good.” For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.
January 29, 2009
Dr Boyce Watkins speaks to AOL Black Voices about Accomplishing Goals
Smart Money Tips With Dr. Boyce Watkins
Posted Jan 27th 2009 6:34PM by Alexis Stodghill
Filed under: Money Talks
By Alexis Garrett Stodghill, BlackVoices.com
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a renowned scholar and speaker in the area of finance. As an African-American financial expert, Dr. Watkins has made it his personal mission to educate our community through writing books and essays, making media appearances, public speaking and more — so that we may become more empowered with knowledge when it comes to the all-mighty dollar. BlackVoices.com asked the doctor to share his wisdom and advice for folks seeking tips to successfully navigate the current economic storm. According to Dr. Watkins, it’s still possible to get your finances in order — in fact, it’s imperative.
As a black finance expert, what is the most common problem you see in the black community when it comes to personal finance management?
The most common problem is that historically, African Americans have been excluded from the opportunity to build wealth. Money was made from our labor, but we never got much of it. That led to a laborer mentality in African-Americans that taught us how to go out and get jobs rather than learning the art of CREATING jobs. This problem was further exacerbated by the fact that building a company requires capital, which we typically don’t have. Most African-Americans have far lower inheritance levels than whites, and this impacts your economic opportunities in life. Also, when you’ve never had much money, you are usually not very good at managing it, so we are as bad as the rest of America when it comes to our spending, saving, investing and borrowing habits.
How would you suggest that someone with little knowledge of personal finance get started on the road to financial stability?
First, get educated. Empower yourself with financial literacy. The greatest university in the world is called Google.com. You can research any topic you want. Secondly, start small. You don’t have to conquer the world in two steps. Just start by saving 10% of your income. You might say you don’t have money to save, but you actually do. If your boss came into your office and gave you a 10% paycut, you’d find a way to survive. Find a way to learn to save. Finally, get a “side hustle.” Challenge yourself to find small ways to supplement your income. The riskiest thing to do in this economy is to get all of your personal income from one source.
You have two college degrees, a master’s degree and a PhD. What would you say is the relationship between level of education and income?
Education not only gives you many opportunities to earn more money, you usually earn more money with less work, doing a job that you might actually like. Personally, education was the difference for me between being financially well off and living a life of poverty. Education also provides job security, which is often overlooked. Autoworkers, for example, were always able to make high wages with little education. But once the Big Three started to buckle, they were stuck with unskilled labor opportunities. Everyone should get as much education as they can get, since education can be a path to both a wealthy bank account and a wealthy life.
Would you share some tips for sound money management in 2009?
Last Updated on Thursday, 29 January 2009 20:53
January 21, 2009
Tough Questions for New Treasury Secretary
Taxes aren’t the only question facing Tim Geithner.
Geithner, President Obama’s choice as Treasury secretary, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday morning.
The hearing was tentatively set for last week, but it was pushed back after it came to light that Geithner — who as Treasury secretary would oversee the IRS — had failed to pay in timely fashion some $34,023 in self-employment taxes between 2001 and 2004.
Obama’s team dismissed the tax problems as a “common mistake,” and Geithner has since paid the required taxes and interest. Obama’s chief of staff said Sunday the president “absolutely” supports the nominee.
November 20, 2008
November 19, 2008
Should You Panic While Country Experiences Financial Crisis
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
http://www.boycewatkins.com/
If you listen carefully to the words of Treasury Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson and Ben “Big Ben” Bernanke (chairman of the Federal Reserve) you might notice a trend in their language. The word “confidence” is used a lot when they speak. Many of their monetary proposals are not necessarily valuable for their financial power, but also for their psychological power.
Some of you may wonder what confidence has to do with anything. After all, if you’re broke, confidence doesn’t exactly put money in your pocket. If you’re 100 pounds overweight, confidence won’t help you win the Olympic 100 meter dash. When you are flying on a crashing plane, confidence doesn’t keep the plane from slamming into the ground. But confidence is important to an economy, and one of the most significant drivers of economic growth. In fact, over confidence has driven US economic growth for the past 10 years. Here are some reasons that confidence matters in the minds of Hank and Big Ben:
1) Confident consumers spend money
If you think you might lose your job next year, are you going to max out your credit cards? I certainly hope not. If you are worried about being able to make ends meet, are you going to buy that big screen TV? Not unless you want your wife to leave you. So, even if it doesn’t hold any truth, the mere forecast of a weak economy is enough to make many Americans hold off on consumer spending, one of the great driving forces of the American financial system.
2) Confident companies invest money and hire workers
Investments involve risk. Your hunch may work out, and it may not. If you don’t believe the economy is getting better, you are not going to consider taking that risk. No one plans to go to the beach if the weather man says that it’s going to rain. When economic rain is in the forecast, companies pull out their umbrellas and hold off on new projects. This reduces the number of jobs in the economy, because nearly every job created in America is the result of someone making an investment.
3) Confident Americans do not take their money out of banks
In case you didn’t know, your bank does not have your money. Your money is part of a large base of financial capital that is loaned out to individuals and consumers seeking to get a good return on their investment. So, without investing, your bank would have no interest in paying you any interest at all. So if, say, 30% of all customers of the same bank decide to get their money out at the same time, the bank would have serious financial problems. It is a lack of confidence that could cause customers to “run” on their bank and take out their money.
4) Confident investors keep their money in the stock market
The stock market is a place where fortunes are made and lost. Some part of that fortune is psychological, given that no asset can have a value which exceeds that which someone is willing to pay for it. When investors lose confidence, they take their money out of the stock market, and reductions in demand for stocks lead to massive paper losses in the market. Additionally, most Americans are “momentum traders”, meaning that when the market goes up, they tend to buy more, and when it goes down, they tend to sell. History shows that it is actually the opposite approach that tends to work best.
5) Confident banks make loans
Banks have to keep a certain portion of their funds on hand at all times to meet federal requirements. If they are fearful that their customers might come and demand their cash, they hold onto their capital to ensure that it is available. If they are afraid that their borrowing customers will not be able to repay loans due to a weak economy, they also hold back on issuing new loans. The truth is that when economic forecasts are grim, conservative bankers become even more fearful than the rest of us.
The bottom line of this article is that confidence matters. So, the next time you hear Ben Bernanke give a speech, you can be confident that he is going to use language that makes you feel more secure. Whether you choose to believe those words is up to you.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of “Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good”. For more information, please visit http://boycewatikns.com/
September 2, 2008
Your Black Enterprise: Long-Term Problems for the US Economy
Part 1 of this video is below, highlighting potential long-term problems for the US economy.
Part 2 of the video is below
August 31, 2008
Your Black People: How to Get Rich
Let’s face it; we all don’t make millions of dollars a year, and the odds are that most of us won’t receive a large windfall inheritance either. However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t build sizeable wealth — it’ll just take some time. If you’re young, time is on your side and retiring a millionaire is achievable. Read on for some tips on how to increase your savings and work toward this goal.
Stop Senseless Spending
Unfortunately, people have a habit of spending their hard-earned cash on goods and services that they don’t need. Even relatively small expenses, such as indulging in a gourmet coffee from a premium coffee shop every morning, can really add up — and decrease the amount of money you can save. Larger expenses on luxury items also prevent many people from putting money into savings each month.
That said, it’s important to realize that it’s usually not just one item or one habit that must be cut out in order to accumulate sizable wealth (although it may be). Usually, in order to become wealthy one must adopt a disciplined lifestyle and budget. This means that people who are looking to build their nest eggs need to make sacrifices somewhere — this may mean eating out less frequently, using public transportation to get to work and/or cutting back on extra, unnecessary expenses.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go out and have fun, but you should try to do things in moderation — and set a budget if you hope to save money. Fortunately, particularly if you start saving young, saving up a sizeable nest egg only requires a few minor (and relatively painless) adjustments to your spending habits.
Fund Retirement Plans ASAP
When individuals earn money, their first responsibility is to pay current expenses such as the rent or mortgage expenses, food and other necessities. Once these expenses have been covered, the next step should be to fund a retirement plan or some other tax-advantaged vehicle.
Unfortunately, retirement planning is an afterthought for many young people. Here’s why it shouldn’t be: funding a 401(k) and/or a IRA early on in life means you can contribute less money overall and actually end up with significantly more in the end than someone who put in much more money but started later.
August 28, 2008
Money Tips for Young People: Avoiding Paris Hiltonitis
by Dr. Boyce Watkins
There’s nothing wrong with a little shine in your life, especially since you’ve worked hard to get that degree. But attempting to become Paris Hilton on your first job can have you rolling on your way to bankruptcy court. Whether you earn $10 per year or $10 million, you are a financial slave if you are not saving, investing and letting your money grow. As I like to say, “To have nice stuff at 23 is human, but to be rich at 90 is divine.”
As a finance professor and your personal financial physician, let me give you a list of rules to live by, so that your grand kids will be riding high on the hog after you have cooked up the pork chops:
Rule #1: The easiest way to stay poor is to never own anything. Renting an apartment will help your landlord get a house, not you. Buying cars helps the auto dealer get a new limo, not you. Get on the other side of that deal! Buy a house as quick as you can, buy stocks, buy bonds, own ASSETS. Don’t believe the hype about having a high paycheck; It means nothing if you don’t own anything.
Rule #2: The quickest path to being owned by someone is to always work for someone else. Don’t just try to find a job, put yourself in position to CREATE a job. Start your own business as soon as you can. Remember: when you are working for someone else, they are usually earning $10 for every dollar they pay you. That is what they would technically call “getting screwed.”
Rule #3: Save at least 10% of your money every time you get paid, NO EXCUSES. You should pay yourself first by having the money come right out of your check. A person who saves $200 per week starting at the age of 22 and invests that money in the stock market for a 10% return every year will have roughly $43,000 by the time they are 32, $434,000 by the time they are 52, and $1.6 million when they are 65. That’s enough money to help Britney Spears find a replacement for Kevin.
Rule #4: Create multiple streams of income. Your salary should only be one. I don’t care if you sell comic books, Avon or rotten fish. Remember the words of a relatively wise hip-hop star: “If the grapes don’t sell, I dry ‘em up and sell raisins.” Financial side shows provide job security, in case your boss hands you the pink slip. If you are smart, you can hand the pink slip to your boss.
Rule #5: Love is creepy sometimes, so watch who you hook up with. Merging your money with someone is like having sex with them: it can be an amazing experience, or it can leave you burned and bitter. Whether it is marriage or starting a business together, only merge your money with someone who cares about your best interest. In other words, don’t waste your life with losers.
Read my lips and follow these tips, and your future will have so much shine that Stevie Wonder will need to put on his sunglasses. Now that’s what I call a bright future!
August 18, 2008
Your Black Money: Rapper 50 Cent Claims to Have a "Diverse Portfolio"
When it comes to records, 50 Cent knows what it takes to go platinum. But in a mine shaft thousands of feet below the surface of South Africa, he’s got metal, not vinyl, on his mind.
Last May, 50 paid a visit to billionaire mining baron Patrice Motsepe in South Africa. Flanked by select members of their respective entourages, the unlikely duo descended into a subterranean trove of platinum, palladium and iridium, growing like moss on the earth’s warm innards. A spectacular backdrop for a bling-drenched music video, to be sure.
But 50 was there for other business: to forge a joint venture with Motsepe that could soon bring him an equity stake in the mine–and 50 Cent-branded platinum to the world.
“Things that people wouldn’t actually expect me to be involved in,” 50 muses a few weeks later, reminiscing on his trip. “I’ve got a diverse portfolio.”
August 17, 2008
Your Black Money: Getting Debts Under Control
Mary Pollack has fallen into a hole and she’s not sure how to start digging out — or even where to find a shovel. After two divorces, one bankruptcy and a round of credit counseling, she hasn’t been able to bring her balance sheet into positive territory.
Mary earns an after-tax weekly salary of $675 and gets weekly child support of $142; her income averages $3,462 a month.
Her monthly expenses: $1,485 for rent, $175 for utilities, $275 for a car payment, $361 for car insurance, gasoline and maintenance, $415 for her son’s college tuition, $124 for cable television and Internet service, $350 for grocery bills and $100 for dining out. That’s a total of $3,285 — and it doesn’t include incidental costs for clothing, hair care, gifts or entertainment.
She’s also overdue on several bills, including $282 for medical costs, $233 for a student loan and $80 for 2-year-old phone charges.
August 13, 2008
Your Black World: NCAA v. Fantasy Football and CBS Sports
by Marc Isenberg
NFL fantasy has been a big deal for several years. But college football fantasy has lagged, not because there isn’t any interest, but because fantasy sports is seemingly at odds with NCAA bylaws covering both gambling and marketing. While the NFL and many other pro leagues partnered with sites offering fantasy sports, the NCAA has steered clear.
(Warning: In order to sound slightly intelligent on this weighty legal matter, I consulted a top expert with extensive knowledge of sports and entertainment law. Not just any lawyer…my wife, Debbie, who provided the verbiage in the following paragraph.)
In June the Supreme Court refused to review the 8th Circuit’s holding in CDM Fantasy Sports Corp. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) that the First Amendment rights of a fantasy league operator to publish news and statistics outweigh MLBAM and players’ state law rights of publicity to their names.
Back to plain English after the jump.
Continue reading “CBS to NCAA: Uh, we’re in business to make money” »
August 10, 2008
Your Black News: Economy Making the Rich Homeless Too
Craig Miller left Florida this year with $3,000, a borrowed RV and a dream of helping people find meaning in their lives.
After losing their home to foreclosure, Craig and Paige Miller joined a burgeoning group of upper class homeless people who have good jobs and educations but live in their vehicles.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)
His savings may have struck some as a considerable sum. But for a family of four on their way to California, it wasn’t even close to adequate. The family, once intent on selling the RV for the owner, now lives in it.
They rise early and drive to the beach for breakfast before Miller drops off his wife at her new job and heads to the library where the kids can play and read while he tries to rebuild his business. After he picks up his wife, they head out again, sometimes back to the beach for dinner before ending at the Santa Barbara, Calif., parking lot where they sleep for the night.
“You think you have everything,” Miller said, “but you can lose income tomorrow.”
Miller once had a four-bedroom home, complete with pool and spa, when he lived in Orlando and worked as a life coach and ran his business. He’s now part of what appears to growing number of Americans who have been forced out of their comfortable lives and into their vehicles by the continuing foreclosure crisis and slumping economy.
They’re the upper-class homeless, the middle-class homeless or the new homeless, depending on whom you talk to.
August 9, 2008
Your Black World: Black Woman Sues Nascar for big bucks
NASCAR denied Friday that a former official, now suing for racial discrimination and sexual harassment, ever complained to her superiors about such problems.
The former employee often referred to herself with racial stereotypes and was repeatedly reprimanded for tardiness and other behavioral issues, NASCAR said. In addition, NASCAR said the firing of Mauricia Grant last October was legitimate and not an act of discrimination or retaliation.
The claims were part of a 29-page document filed Friday in response to Grant’s $225 million lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
A former technical inspector for NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series, Grant filed suit in June alleging 23 specific incidents of sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of racial and gender discrimination over the two-plus years she worked for NASCAR.
August 7, 2008
Your Black News: Jobless Claims Higher than 6 Year Mark
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits last week climbed to its highest point in more than six years as companies cut back given the faltering economy.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance rose by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week ending Aug. 2. The increase left claims at their highest level since late March 2002.
A program to locate people eligible for jobless benefits played a role in the increase, a Labor Department analyst said. However, the analyst couldn’t say how much of a role.
The latest snapshot of layoff filings was worse than analysts expected. They were forecasting new claims to drop to around 430,000.
The data disappointed Wall Street. Stocks appeared headed for a lower opening with the Dow Jones industrial average futures down 99 at the 11,532 level.
Your Black Wealth: Putting Together the 401k
Some people think target-date funds are too conservative, but lousy investors might need to be saved from themselves.
Question: I’m 28 and I struggle with how to allocate my 401(k) contributions among different types of investments. The target-date retirement funds in my plan would have someone my age invest 10% of their portfolio in bonds and the rest in various large- and small-cap index funds. But I think someone my age is better off focusing mostly on growth funds as well as foreign and emerging market funds. Seems to me that if I take the target-fund approach, I’ll be giving up a lot of potential return and money. What do you think? —Raymond Longshore, Gainesville, Florida
Answer: I think you’re a perfect example of someone who’s a lousy candidate for a target-date retirement fund and who ought to invest on his own.
Wait a minute. On second thought, you may be a perfect example of someone who really should be using a target-date fund instead of creating your own investment strategy.
I understand that on the face of it, that assessment sounds absurd. After all, you can’t be two diametrically opposed things at once. So let me explain my reasoning, starting with why I think you’re a lousy candidate for a target-date fund.
One of the big advantages of a target fund is that it frees you from having to make investment decisions on your own. You select a target fund with a date that roughly corresponds to the year you plan to retire – 2010, 2020, 2030, whatever – and you get a completely diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds. It’s a no-brainer way to invest. In order to provide that simplicity, the fund sets a stocks-bond allocation that it deems appropriate for someone of a given age.
Although not all target funds give you the same mix of stocks and bonds, most target funds designed for someone of your tender age would have a portfolio of roughly 85% to 90% in stocks and the rest in bonds. As you get older, that mix would gradually shift more toward bonds.
August 6, 2008
YourBlackWorld: Teaching People to Save Money
There was something odd about the commercial, but it took me a little while to put my finger on it. This not-too-young, not-too-old, not-too-hip hipster with sideburns is talking about his credit-card company. Seems it has a new Web site that helps him plan how he’ll pay off his balance – someday.
The ad has the bright, soothing tone of a spot for, say, Lipitor or Advair. Credit-card debt is presented as if it’s just another of those unfortunate but manageable conditions that a lot of people live with.
And that’s the surprise. Aren’t credit-card ads supposed to be about all the awesome stuff you can buy? Here’s a lender all but admitting that many of its customers live beyond their means. We’ve come a long way, babies, when even the credit-card marketers are talking about Americans’ chronic debt.
If you read this magazine, chances are you have your itch to spend mostly under control. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry about your neighbor’s wobbly balance sheet. The personal savings rate in this country, which was above 10% in the early 1980s, has fallen to almost zero.
August 3, 2008
YourBlackWorld: The Rich Getting Hit by Recession Too
The rich are sharing your financial pain — and contributing to it.
It may have taken longer and it may not be as acute, but there are early hints that the economic slump is crimping the lifestyles of the wealthy.
They are investing more conservatively, spending less on luxury goods and are being more thrifty with their credit cards. Many are asking their personal shoppers and private-jet travel providers to seek the best deals rather than over-the-top extravagances.
That news may produce a shrug from many people who have lost their jobs or homes in this economy. The problem is that when the wealthy get stingy, it trickles down to the rest of us.
“It’s a sluggish economy, and its difficulties are felt all over,” said Joseph DiRenzo, a married 38-year-old father of three who left a hedge fund two years ago to enter commercial real estate.
DiRenzo says he’s feeling the hit in many places, especially in the value of his house on Long Island’s upscale Gold Coast in Muttontown, N.Y.
He owns the kind of place you’d expect a former hedge-fund manager would call home: six bedrooms, seven full baths, hand-crafted Italian doors throughout, high-tech security and sound systems, and 9,000 square feet of living space on 2.4 acres.
July 20, 2008
Black Money: Zimbabwe Money Nearly Worthless
Technorati Tags: black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth,zimbabwe currency,economy
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — Zimbabwe’s troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.
A shopper displays a $500 million Zimbabwean bank note.
The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.
As high as they are, though, the bills still aren’t enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges.
The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar.
Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said the new notes are for “the convenience of the banking public and corporate sector” in light of price hikes.
“The RBZ has noted with concern the unjustifiable and incessant general increases in prices of goods and services. It is therefore appealing to the business community to follow ethical business practices as well as take an interest in the plight of the general public,” Gono said in a statement dated Friday.
July 14, 2008
Your Black Money: Black Wealth, Black Enterprise: Getting Rich
Technorati Tags: black money,black wealth,african american money,african american wealth,black enterpris
Twelve years ago, Julie Aigner-Clark was looking for a way to expose Aspen, her 18-month-old daughter, to music and the arts.
So she and her husband, Bill, shot a video in the basement of their home. “We borrowed equipment from a friend, put up a black velvet background and used the toys my daughter liked,” she says.
The star of the video is a dragon puppet that Aspen used as a washcloth. Other scenes feature Julie’s hand slowly turning the crank on a jack-in-the-box. It’s all very low-budget but also quite soothing. Can you imagine the path to becoming a millionaire starting with such a mundane project?
Here at Kiplinger, we’re old-fashioned. We think it’s a lot more fun becoming rich than being born that way. Our culture and economy encourage risk-taking, pursuing good ideas and dogged determination. Luck plays a part, too.
There’s no denying it. But you can also make your own luck through perseverance.
- Talk back: Could you become a millionaire?
To inspire you, we looked for people who have become rich. Just how did they do it? For some, like Julie and Bill, everything flowed quickly from one good idea. Others spent a working lifetime patiently building wealth.
More from MSN Money and Kiplinger
- To get rich, start saving in your 20s
- Turn $451 a month into a million bucks
- Getting rich is simpler than you think
- How 6 entrepreneurs made millions
- 7 ways to get rich by relaxing
- How to save a million at every age
We also asked what they’ve done with their wealth — and what advice they have for others. We demonstrate how to find the cash to invest your way to millionaire status.
Look, we know it may not happen. But a growing number of Americans are achieving millionaire status. And in these eight stories, you’ll find information to make your life richer, whether you become a millionaire or not.
8 millionaire profiles
The video that took on a life of its own: Julie Aigner-Clark and husband Bill learned about the power of word of mouth as their Baby Einstein empire took off.
Know when to make the call: Mark Wilson took the leap from managing a corporate call center to starting his own, Ryla Teleservices, providing a much-needed alternative to offshore outsourcing.
Pounce when the time is right: Real estate is an accessible path for independent investors to make money. Robert Norton, a former entertainment lawyer, shares his method.
It started over cocktails: The Internet has made many millionaires, but don’t expect an overnight success story. Mediabistro’s Laurel Touby reveals what it takes to make it big on the Net.
A 30-year plan to make a mil: So you’ll never leap to start your own business and do not trust the real-estate market? You can still build a million the old-fashioned way — just ask Gary Gardelli.
Breaking with family tradition: One of the first to produce eggs from cage-free hens, Cyd Szymanski can tell you it pays to go against convention when you believe in what you are doing.
Accumulating a fortune on $11 a hour: There’s more than a money lesson behind Paul Navone’s story of accumulated wealth from a wage-paying job.
Suddenly, it clicks: You don’t have to go it alone. Gurtej Sandhu has earned his wealth creating patents at Micron Technology.
Millionaire lesson No. 1
Build a strong brand, and don’t be afraid to promote your product with passion.
Julie Aigner-Clark and husband Bill’s amateur video was such a hit with their daughter that Julie, 41, became determined to market what they called Baby Einstein to parents everywhere.
The couple invested about $15,000 of their own money in production and packaging and targeted Right Start, a small chain of baby-product stores, to be their distributor. Julie went to a toy trade show in New York City to try to find a buyer from the company.
Video on MSN Money
Paying for retirement
Your retirement could last for decades. Here are tips for living well during those years.
“I couldn’t afford a booth,” she says. “On the second day, I found a group of women from Right Start, and I attacked them because I was so excited.”
The chain agreed to sell the video on a trial basis. “Parents would take it home, babies loved it, and there was amazing word of mouth,” says Julie. (Some researchers question the effectiveness of such videos.)
She and Bill made more videos set to classical music and started raking in the money. Sales, which topped $100,000 in the first year, snowballed to $1 million in the second year, $4.5 million in the third, $12 million in the fourth and more than $20 million in year five.
Their production costs remained very low. “Duplicating videos is not very expensive,” Julie says. Bill, whose background is in physics, eventually quit his job and became the firm’s chief financial officer.
Julie Aigner-Clark
In 2001, the enterprise started to get bigger than the couple could handle by themselves. “It was taking a lot of time away from family,” says Julie. So they contacted Disney, which bought Baby Einstein for more than $22 million.
Now Julie’s back, partnering with John Walsh, the host of “America’s Most Wanted,” to produce “The Safe Side,” a series of videos to teach kids about safety. And once again, she’s cracked the kid code: What may look like a silly video to grown-ups is a big hit with the elementary-school set.
Meanwhile, the Clark family spends more time together at their Centennial, Colo., home. And in a few months, they’ll leave for a yearlong trip around the world with Aspen, now 13, and little sister Sierra, 10.
Millionaire Lesson No. 2
Don’t be afraid to go out on your own if you possess the competence and know people who can help you reach your goal.
July 9, 2008
July 8, 2008
Your Black Money: Fed Cracks down on predatory Lending
WASHINGTON – To prevent a repeat of the current mortgage mess, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that the central bank will issue new rules next week aimed at protecting future homebuyers from dubious lending practices.
The new rules will crack down on a range of shady lending practices that has burned many of the nation’s riskiest “subprime” borrowers — those with spotty credit or low incomes — who were hardest hit by the housing and credit debacles.
The housing, credit and financial crises have bruised the economy. Growth has slowed and employers have cut jobs every month so far this year.
In prepared remarks to a mortgage-lending forum in Arlington, Va., Bernanke said that “it is unrealistic to hope” that financial crises can be entirely eliminated, while maintaining an innovative financial system. “Nonetheless, recent experience has illustrated once again that financial instability can have serious economic costs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is also considering giving squeezed Wall Street firms more time to draw emergency loans directly from the central bank to help them overcome credit problems, Bernanke said.
In an extraordinary action, the Fed in March agreed to let investment houses go to the Fed — on a temporary basis — for a quick, overnight source of cash. Those loan privileges, which are supposed to last through mid-September, are similar to those permanently afforded to commercial banks for years.
“We are currently monitoring developments in financial markets closely and considering several options, including extending the duration of our facilities for primary dealers beyond year-end should the current unusual and exigent circumstances continue to prevail in dealer funding markets,” Bernanke said.
