‘‘The underlying story in jobless claims continues to be one of gradual improvement,’’ said Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas, according to the AP.

The Labor Department on Thursday expressed optimism about what the numbers mean for the overall strength of the economy.

“Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs,” the AP said in its report. “The decline in claims has coincided with steady job growth over the past six months. Since November, employers have added an average 208,000 jobs a month. That’s up from just 138,000 jobs a month during the previous six months.”

The Department of Labor’s Office Employment and Training’s seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data offer similar economic outlook.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending May 11, unchanged from the prior week’s revised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 11 was 2,912,000, a decrease of 112,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,024,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,995,250, a decrease of 23,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,019,000.”

According to Bloomberg News, the report is evidence the job market is “sustaining recent gains.”

The study is based on a March 2013 poll of 1,153 Americans who identify as African American or Black and 471 general population Americans on a broad range of financial topics. Respondents are ages 25 to 70 with a household income of at least $25,000 and some involvement in household financial decisions. The median income of those surveyed was $68,000.

Some of the more interesting results from the survey:

Half of African Americans surveyed say they believe working with an advisor would help them make better financial decisions. However, only 19 percent say they have a financial advisor.

The population of middle-class and affluent African Americans continues to grow, with 40 percent of those surveyed reporting household incomes of at least $75,000 and 25 percent reporting six-figure incomes.

Despite feelings that the U.S. economic downturn has not ended, half of African Americans feel better off financially now than a year ago. Overall, African Americans remain significantly more confident about their financial situation than the general population.

Paying down debt remains the No. 1 financial priority for African Americas, even for those with higher incomes. Non mortgage debt is significantly higher than the general population. College educated African Americans are twice as likely to have student loan debt compared to all college educated Americans.

Eighty percent of the African Americans surveyed eligible to contribute to an employer retirement plan are doing so. The downside: Many continue to contribute less than their employer match or take loans from their plan. A major barrier to maximizing participation is lack of education about how these plans work.

The survey also highlights often observed differences between African Americans and the general population when it comes to financial priorities. While both groups feel that saving for retirement is important, it’s not as high a priority for African Americans, with only 55 percent of those surveyed counting it as a financial priority, versus 62 percent of the general population. On the other hand, more African Americans made funding education for children and grand children a priority, at 27 percent, than the general population, at only 18 percent.

Another finding of the study highlights why the financial literacy of Black women is of critical importance to the financial experience of African Americans: compared to women overall, African American women are significantly more likely to be the decision-makers of their household. Two-thirds of African American women surveyed are working, compared to 58 percent of the general population, and they are less likely than the general population to have a spouse or partner present. As a result, African American women are more likely to carry the financial responsibilities of a household on a single income.

According to Prudential’s Financial Confidence Index, despite both historic and current economic disparities experienced by African Americans, and strong sentiment that the economy hasn’t fully recovered, Black people remain more confident than the general population about their future household finances and our economy as a whole. The most confident:

Those who attend church at least once a week are more confident than those who attend less than weekly.

Blacks in the West region of the U. S. are most confident, followed by those in the South and the Northeast. Least confident: Blacks in the Midwest.

Homeowners are more confident than renters, as are those who are college educated and those making at least $75,000 a year.

Finally, youth brings optimism, with Gen Y African Americans most confident and Black Baby Boomers least confident.

For more details on the results of the African American Financial Experience Study, go to http://www.prudential.com/media/managed/aa/aafacingthechallenge.shtml

But this good?

One mother of an 8-year old has spent more than $25,000 on designer goods for her little boy, including Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and Prada, according to the Mirror newspaper in the U.K.

Talk about ballin’ out of control.

The report:

The only child owns more than 200 pairs of shoes and even his swimming trunks are Armani.

Yesterday his mum Vicky Antonia, 31, said: “I know it must sound like I am spoiling him, but I just want him to look his best.

“What is wrong with making your son look good?.”

Glamour model Vicky, who is separated from Zak’s businessman dad, has so far spent £5,000 on her son’s shoes, £10,000 on clothes and another £5,000 on accessories.

Most parents spend around £11,000 on children’s clothing up to the age of 21, a recent LV poll found, but by the time Zak is an adult, Vicky will have spent more than £50,000 on him.

It sure is good to be an only child. Read more at The Mirror.

(File)

The average recipient of a bachelor’s degree this year is saddled with an average of $30,000 in debt, according to a study by Edvisors.

Student debt has long been considered America’s most prominent financial crisis, and reform is as needed as ever. Now, it can safely be described as the defining financial circumstance of an entire generation: For the 2011-2012 school year, students borrowed $76 billion to pay for school, a number that the economy and even decreasing unemployment can keep up with: All told, Americans owe $1 trillion in debt.

Meanwhile, the president has put forth a plan to help stem the tide of suffering for tens of millions of borrowers in his new, but late, budget. The House will vote on a Republican plan, which could decide whether interest rates double this summer.

From USA Today:

The U.S. House will vote Thursday on a Republican plan to head off the increase inspired by an unlikely source: President Obama.

“No one wants to see student loan interest rates double on July 1. The president put forth a plan in his budget to address the problem with a market-based solution, and my Republican colleagues and I worked in good faith to offer a proposal that largely mirrors the president’s,” said House Education and Workforce Chairman John Kline, R-Minn.

In his 2014 budget, the president called for tying college loan rates determined by the federal government to market-based interest rates, which is the foundation of a GOP proposal.

Analysts say many students are misinformed or uneducated about the options available to them, such as a lowering of payments, and forbearance options.

In fact, one time I forgot to record that I wrote a check out to support a friends graduate school project and when he cashed it nearly a month later I over drafted on my account. Paying a $35 overdraft fee while your trying to save money is beyond frustrating, but when you’re constantly on the go and juggling several projects at once it can be tough to get a handle on your money.

Since 2008, I’ve been using Mint.com on my smartphone to manage and track my finances. It removed the hassle of recording every single transaction and has even helped me prepare my documents during tax season. In order for me to reach my financial goals I needed to get rid of the paper clutter and have everything all in one place. Now, all my bills, savings, checking, retirement and investment accounts are linked to Mint. The app shows me in real time my current balances, upcoming bills, net worth, alerts for better interest rates, trends in my spending and advice on other ways to save and diversify my investments (also discuss this with your financial planner.)

For example, I opened an account with Ally Bank after Mint alerted me that I could earn a higher interest rate than I had been earning on my Capital One 360 account (formerly ING Direct). The move was worth it. The app also allows you to categorize your bills. I know exactly how much I paid in co-pays for the year without having a manila folder full of receipts that are often washed out by the end of the year; and how much I spent on groceries or health and fitness in any given month.

But what I think is the most beneficial offering is the goal feature. I love setting financial goals, not just for paying bills but for enjoying life as well. This feature gives me a projected date that I will reach my savings goal based on how much I have designated to save per month. I’m currently saving for a trip to Paris in September 2014. I’m behind on that goal by three months because I redirected some of those funds for a smaller trip that I’d like to take this year. But knowing what I need to do to make up for the loss keeps me motivated and shows me that it’s still obtainable although I had to make some minor adjustments along the way.

If you’ve been following #WealthforLife Wednesdays since we launched on May 1st, then you should have already created a budget and identified how much you can save per month. I highly recommend that you download a financial management app to help you stay on task. These apps will notify you of a low balance, overspending and help you make sure that you are getting the best available rate on your savings and more.

If you’re uncomfortable having your bank information in your phone, most apps offer a ”remote data destruct” feature that allows you to wipe the phone clean from your desktop if your phone is lost or stolen.

I realize that Mint.com may not be for everyone (again, this is my personal preference) and this is not a commercial for Mint, it’s just an app that has worked for me. Here are two others that I believe are worth the download:

Check (formerly Pageonce)

Check monitors bank accounts and credit cards all in one place. You can get reminders when bills are due and the new bill pay feature allows you to pay your bills on the spot, or schedule the payment for a later date. (Bill pay is free when you pay using your bank account. When paying bills with your credit card, a transaction fee applies). Members can also enjoy unlimited space in the free file cabinet, which provides access to your statements, payment history and a breakdown of where all your money is going. Check also allows you to link to investment accounts such as your 401(K) or IRA and how your holdings break down within those accounts.

Membership Fee: Free

Mobile OS Platforms: Web, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7 and 8, Blackberrry and Desktop

Cool feature/function: File Cabinet stores copies of your past bank statements and utility bills.

Manilla

Manilla manages all your bills in one secure location. The free service helps consumers manage all of their household accounts, including financial accounts, utilities, subscriptions, daily deals such as Groupon and Living Social and travel rewards programs, all through Manilla.com. In addition to receiving alerts about your bill and account balances, Manilla even reminds customers to get their cars inspected, pay their taxes or make a donation. The custom accounts feature offers customers the ability to add and manage payments to businesses or individuals who do not have an online payment system, such as small local and regional businesses and service providers. These also include personal accounts like rent, babysitters, dog walkers or the local dry cleaner.

Membership Fee: Free

Mobile OS Platforms: iPhone, Android, Desktop

Cool feature/function: You can even add subscriptions to popular services such as Netflix and magazines and keep track of all your points and airline miles in the travel rewards section.

What app(s) do you use to manage your finances and why? Let us know in the comments section below or tweet me @LaToyaReports.

Need a boost? Enter our Financial Fitness Contest for a chance to win $2,000 and a one-hour session with a certified financial planner.

Banks have doled out less than half of the $5.7 billion in cash owed to borrowers under settlements brokered by the government, according to the Washington Post’s analysis of government data.

These 30 settlement agreements were secured for victims whose lenders discriminated against them and hooked them into mortgages that largely caused last decade’s housing crisis. (We should note that a disproportionate number of the victims are black and Latino families.)

Consumer advocates and lawmakers are frustrated by the delays in payment, which they say are making it difficult for victims to recover financially.

What’s the hold up? Banking industry officials and regulators told the Washington Post that these settlements have grown too complex over the years, making them difficult to execute quickly.

Yeah, sure. Seems like those foreclosures were executed pretty quickly, no?

According to Time, 1,416 Americans in the 10% income bracket were surveyed by American Express Publishing and the Harrison Group for the 2013 Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America, and asked about “their spending habits and lifestyle decisions” in a currently unstable economy.

“Despite the clear consensus from economists that the recession is over, affluent and wealthy consumers do not believe that a real national recovery — neither economic nor emotional — has occurred,” says Jim Taylor, vice-chairman of the Harrison Group.

In fact, according to the survey, 76% of the 1,416 people analyzed for this study said that they didn’t believe the recession was over at all. But that won’t stop their need for pure luxury when it comes to jewelry, travel, cars and electronics, says Time.

While “there has been a notable rise in wealthy Americans expected to spend more on luxury hotels and resorts (up 17%), home entertainment and electronics (up 17%), watches (up 10%), and automobiles (up 18%),” they’re only able to do so because “the mean net worth of households in the top 7% rose by 28%” between 2009 – 2011. In all, the Harrison Group study says it’s not that Americans are spending more, it’s that they’re splurging more.

When it comes to things like the legendary Harley Davidson motorcycle, CNN Money reports “the company forecasts sales of around 250,000 bikes this year, up from 223,023 in 2009.” And, “likewise, luxury automakers such as Bentley and Porsche haven been reporting rising sales in late 2012 and early 2013.”

Even the cost of primping the upper echelon of teenagers has hit a new high as “the average prom attendee” is said to be $1,139. But the most awkward fact about the want to spend in a recession is that less affluent families are the ones looking to spend more when it comes the rites-of-passage events such as prom, spending a whopping $1,245 per child this year.

Experts say the differences in how men and women deal with finances have been overstated, the New York Times reports.

And there’s a study that supports it.

“Financial Literacy Around the World: An Overview,” published in 2011 in The Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, found that women seemed to know as much as men when it came to the fundamentals of financial literacy.

While men answered study questions more correctly than women, the biggest takeaway is that financial literacy is generally low for both genders in the U.S. and around the world.

Bottom line: Don’t tell a woman to “stop shopping so much.” It’s condescending at best and sexist at worst, experts say.

According to TMZ, 56-year-old comedian, David Adkins, aka Sinbad, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time last month stating he is in debt for approximately $11 million, $8 million of which includes owed money in back taxes.

He previously filed for bankruptcy in 2009 right before he appeared on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice.

In March 2013, Sinbad told Oprah that his current financial situation troubles weren’t a result of an extravagant lifestyle.

“I didn’t buy Bentleys. I didn’t live large. I invested in me. I invested in a lot of other people. I would not change it; I would not go back,” he said. “It’s never over. There’s no one defining moment that kills you or makes you.”

(File)

We are heading into the busy summer season filled with travel, good food & time spent with family and friends. As much fun as can be had, it can also result in a lot of money being spent.

My advice is three easy steps: Plan, save and execute.

It is worth it to sit down and figure it out. You can save time and money.

Plan. Take time to plan ahead. Lay out travel plans, social engagements, and high-end dinners or cocktail parties. Planning ahead of time allows you to budget and not get surprised by an unexpected expense.

Save. If some of your plans are several weeks out, start saving and setting aside money to pay for it. If you need a more structured savings plan, set up a savings account. Some banks even have accounts called Travel Clubs that can be used for this specific purpose. If you can set aside the necessary funds, then you won’t have to use household funds to pay for your summer entertainment expenses.

Execute. When the time comes, try to save as much money as possible. The lowest airfare or car rental, buy tickets to events early to take advantage of early bird specials, check out places like Costco and take advantage of grocery store coupons when planning that 4th of July picnic.

Take advantage of these tips and you will be able to take control of your money this summer.

Black Enterprise Columnist Jennifer Streaks is a Financial Expert, Author & Pundit. Continue the conversation by following her on twitter @JStreaks or visiting her website www.JenniferStreaks.com.