But if you’re like the typical American, you may also struggle when it comes to being a good financial role model for our youth.

A study by Northwestern Mutual revealed that 71% of parents feel that children should begin learning about money no later than the 1st grade. Yet, five in 10 parents say they do not set a good example when it comes to handling money, and that they are not capable of properly teaching their children to manage money.

Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on your own background and training – or the mistakes you may have made – as your only source of information. Here are a few other resources that can help you spread financial literacy to the youth you know.

Ever Heard of NAOI, NEFE or NCEE?

To boost your financial literacy, enroll in an adult education class on personal finances. To educate yourself about investing, join the National Association of Online Investors (NAOI), which has great online study courses.

For resources, fun games, tips and ideas for teaching youngsters about money, log onto http://www.nefe.org/ or call the National Endowment for Financial Education at 303-741-6333.

The Northwestern Mutual survey found that less than 40% of parents talked about credit cards, loans and debt, and their own family finances with their kids. Fewer than one in four parents (23%) talked to their children about how to invest.

When asked why each topic was not raised for family discussion, most responded, “Children have no business knowing this.” Others said they “didn’t think of it” or that they considered their children too young to broach these issues. But researchers also suggest another theory.

“It is almost certainly lack of confidence with their own financial management skills that keeps parents from discussing some of the more complex, and key, money issues with their children,” says Mark Schug, professor and Director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Education.

If you are a parent or educator who would like more information and free materials on personal finance education, another source to check out is http://themint.org/. That web site, jointly run by Northwestern Mutual and the National Council on Economic Education, offers practical tips, lesson plans, newsletters and interactive challenges to help teach kids of all ages about money.

Teaching Kids About Choices With Money

There are a few other companies and initiatives that I consider enormously helpful for any parent, educator or adult who wants to teach kids about money – or even improve their own financial knowledge.

One of them is a fabulous web site, www.moneysavvygeneration.com, where you can get a special four-chambered piggy bank for kids. I consider this a 21st Century piggy bank, because instead of having just one slot, this Money Savvy Pig has four slots where youngsters can put coins or dollars.

Each slot is labeled “save,” “spend,” “donate,” and “invest,” in order to teach kids about the choices they have with money. I have these educational piggy banks for my kids and they love them. Susan Beacham is the co-founder of Money Savvy Generation. She and I have co-authored The Millionaire Kids Club, a series of four money-management books for children between the ages of five and 12.

Citigroup has one of the most comprehensive financial education programs I’ve encountered. For adults, there’s Citi Cards’ “Use Credit Wisely” program, as well as its “Hablando de Credito” or “Let’s Talk About Credit” education effort for Spanish-speaking consumers.

Both offer a wealth of personal finance tools, help and information. In 2004, Citigroup launched a 10-year, $200 million campaign to support financial literacy programs around the globe.

Additionally, its Smith Barney unit has a great Young Investors Network that’s good for middle school and high school students. The youngsters in the Network are taught fiscal responsibility, they learn how to calculate their college expenses, and they participate in a stock-portfolio contest, among other activities. To learn about the full range of personal finance initiatives sponsored or run by Citigroup, visit the company’s web site at www.citigroup.com. Then click on the “Financial Education” button found in the “Corporate Citizenship” section

Finally, “Hands on Banking” is a wonderful program by Wells Fargo that teaches money skills for four age groups, ranging from fourth graders to adults. The curriculum is fun to use, free of charge, and available in both English and Spanish. A bonus element of this curriculum is that anyone can use it, because it’s designed for self-paced, individual learning, as well as for classroom and community groups. Get more info at www.handsonbanking.com.

I could mention tons of other organizations and initiatives, such as the impressive YourMoneyCounts.com educational site funded by HSBC, and the terrific financial literacy work being done nationally by the JumpStart Coalition or the New York-based WorldofMoney.org, which is planning to take its mostly African-American students to China in 2013.

So this list of resources is not meant to be all-encompassing. The important thing to know is that there are reputable, quality sources of information and advice to put your children – or the youth in your sphere of influence – on the path to financial literacy.

“Ask The Money Coach” is a syndicated column written by personal finance expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, co-founder of the free financial advice blog, AskTheMoneyCoach.com. Follow Lynnette on Twitter at @themoneycoach.

First African American billionaire Bob Johnson shares wealth of wisdom. (Image: Courtesy of Subject)

This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR Contributor Renita D. Young talks with master wealth builder Robert L. Johnson, founder of The RLJ Companies and America’s first Black billionaire. Johnson made business history when he took BET public in 1991, making it the first  Black-owned company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, 11 years after he founded the cable network in 1980. This would be far from the last of “firsts” Johnson would achieve on his way to being named No. 2 on Black Enterprise‘s list of Titans: The 40 Most Powerful African Americans in Business in the 40th anniversary issue of the magazine.

In 2000, after taking the BET private again, he sold the cable network to Viacom for $3.2 billion to become the first African American billionaire. He acquired the Charlotte Bobcats in 2003, creating the first Black-owned NBA franchise. Johnson sold the Bobcats to NBA legend Michael Jordan in 2010, but continues to hold a minority stake in the team. Johnson has also launched a plethora of other ventures under the RLJ banner, including RLJ Development, L.L.C., ranked No. 6 on the Black Enterprise 100s list of the nation’s largest Black-owned industrial/service companies with 2010 revenues of more than $578 million. In addition, Johnson is widely considered to be the No. 1 Black hotel owner in America, with hotels from the United States to Liberia.

In addition to joining Young at the Roundtable, Johnson will also be sharing his wealth building philosophy this Saturday, September 17, 2011, as the keynote speaker for the 18th Annual WVON1690 Financial Seminars at Malcolm X College in Chicago. You’ll also get the chance to meet me at the seminars; I’ll be there for an exclusive conversation with Ariel Investments CEO and legendary investment expert John Rogers. In fact, in my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, I make the case for why entrepreneurs need to make their ongoing financial literacy a top priority, because there is a strong correlation between the effective management of personal finances and the smart investment of business resources. To register or learn more about the full agenda of free financial seminars, go to WVON.com or call 773-247-6200.

Productivity expert Peggy Duncan (Image: Courtesy of Subject)

Also, UBR Contributor Teria Seah sits down with award-winning productivity expert, author, speaker and trainer Peggy Duncan, founder of the Digital Breakthroughs Institute, about the importance of effective time management for business owners. Duncan has authored several books, including The Time Management Memory Jogger: Create Time for the Life You Want (Goal/QPC).

And finally, every week on UBR, you’ll get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today business correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.

If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.

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The bad news: Our most recent Great Recession and the things that precipitated it have exposed our desperate need for financial literacy in America as never before. The good news: The Great Recession and the new economic realities resulting from it has created a generation of teens more hungry for financial education than perhaps any generation before it. They’re ready to listen. But when it comes to teaching kids about money, as parents, teachers and mentors, we must be equally ready to not only talk, but initiate the conversation. Here are some ideas to help you do just that, with the goal of teaching our teens to become financially responsible adults.

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The worst thing you can do is to avoid or delay the talk. Teaching kids about money may mean breaking generations of family tradition making it a taboo topic. Your parents and grandparents never had to face the kinds of personal financial responsibilities that we face, and our children will continue to face. They may not have known better, but we do. It is our responsibility to prepare our children to handle money well. In fact, closing the much lamented Black Wealth Gap requires us to see to the financial education of future generations as well as commit to improving our own financial literacy.

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Accept that you must set the example. For them to be more responsible with money, you must be. If financial literacy and honesty is not a priority for you, it won’t be for them. For example, your kids should see you reading at least one money book a month, and you should be sharing and discussing such books with them as well. Go a step further and buy age-appropriate books aimed at children and teens specifically focused on boosting their financial literacy. Don’t just hand them out and walk away—read them together. Young people within your sphere of influence should also see you reading Black Enterprise and other financial publications, and visiting Black Enterprise.com and other sites that address personal finance and business topics.

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Communicate as early and as often as possible that your money is not their money. Your obligation to your kids is to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter—not necessarily the best money can buy—and to see to their education and character/moral development while they are minors. Going much further than that will not only make teaching kids about money more difficult, but could hurt, not help them, in the long run. Remember, your primary job as a parent is to transform your dependent minors into financially responsible, self-supporting adults. You won’t do that if you insist on providing for their every whim.

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Teach our youth to value earned money over gifts or loans. The latter have their place—and their price. The best money is earned, not freely given. Loans must be repaid, often with interest and fees. Gifts nearly always have strings attached (which is why your parents wouldn’t allow you to accept gifts from your friends without checking with their parents, if at all.) Once you’ve provided for their basic needs, require your kids to work for everything else, by getting on the honor roll, doing extra chores, starting a business, picking up age-appropriate part-time jobs—anything that requires them to put in time and effort to get paid.

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Be open about setting financial goals and priorities for your household. When it comes to teaching your kids about money, transparency is a powerful tool. There’s no better way to help your kids develop a comfort level with saving and investing for long-term goals. Your kids desperately need the reality check of reviewing household bills with you each month in order to understand the true value of money and that cable TV, water, light, food and shelter are not free. Instead of treating the term “budget” as a dirty word, encourage your kids to develop spending plans and stick to them. Find ways to reward such behaviors, for example, by agreeing to match, dollar for dollar, savings toward an agreed upon long-term goal, such as college. Does she want $1,200 dollars for a new dress for the senior prom? Agree to pay for half, but only if she presents a plan to come up with the other half between now and when the money is due. Better yet, encourage her to find a dress for a lesser amount, perhaps by agreeing to match every dollar she saves with a contribution toward a long-term savings goal.

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Teach them the difference between smart money and dumb money. In his latest book, The Wealth Cure: Putting Money In Its Place, actor and best-selling author Hill Harper explains that dumb money is spent on things that decrease in value while you sleep, while smart money is spent on things that increase in value as you sleep. Money spent on credit card interest payments is dumb money. Spending on investments that grow in value and pay interest and/or dividends is an example of smart money. Helping your kids to see the difference will go a long way toward their making smarter money choices.

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Teach kids that spending is not the only thing they should be doing with their money. Require them to put at least 10 percent of any money they get toward savings for long-term goals such as college. Another five to 10 percent should go toward charitable giving, such as tithing at church or buying clothing or food for donation to the less fortunate. That leaves up to 80 percent for them to spend, which is quite a lot given that you are already providing for their basic needs.

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Remove the stigma from the phrase: “I can’t afford it.” Teaching kids about money means taking into account the emotional factors we all associate with money and spending. One of the biggest psychological/emotional factors behind our failure to live within our means is attaching feelings of shame, disappointment or unworthiness to the idea that we can’t always have what we want when we want it. Remove the self-judgement associated with “I can’t afford it” by adding the words “yet” or “right now.” Then help them to come up with a plan to budget and save for what they want.

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Using credit as a substitute for money you don’t have or have access to is credit abuse—teach our kids that it’s unacceptable. Credit is meant to be a convenience to help you avoid carrying all of the cash you have access to, not a way to spend when you are broke. Learning and practicing this simple lesson alone would prevent tens of thousands of our kids from beginning adulthood saddled with credit card debt. Taking on student loan debt should be a last resort for financing a college education, but does fall in to the category of smart money. Excessive credit card debt is a classic example of dumb money.

Want these lessons to stick? Then, again, we have to set the example. Remember, kids, and teens in particular, can spot hypocrisy a mile away, even if they are two respectful to call you out on it. What we preach to them about handling money we also have practice ourselves.

Fans of Harper know that he is more than just a good-looking actor on the hit CBS crime investigation series CSI: New York. The magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, who holds law and master of public administration degrees from Harvard, has written a series of books focused on the education and improvement of others, including the New York Times bestseller The Conversation. And while he is not a doctor (though he plays one on TV), he comes from a long line of physicians and healers.

So it should not come as a surprise that he views wealth through the prism of health, without which money and other assets lose their value and meaning. The Money Cure provides great advice and sound strategies, including information about budgeting and the role of insurance, for managing and investing your money more effectively. But beyond that, this is not your typical money book. Using his own journey both literally and figuratively, including a thyroid cancer scare, Harper shows how money alone cannot give you wealth, nor can the pursuit of it make you happy. True wealth-building is about pursuing wellness, not just dollars. Harper’s formula: Money + Wellness = Wealth.

Harper takes the reader with him on a train trip from Los Angeles to Chicago, as he ponders the meaning, uses and misuses of wealth and gets his mind around his cancer diagnosis in preparation for surgery to remove his thyroid. (He’d begun work on the book prior to learning of his illness.) Along the way, Harper uses his personal experiences, as well as those of old friends and new acquaintances in his life, to deliver the kinds of revelations about money and its proper use and role in our lives that will literally stop you in your tracks. The effect is akin to a kind of benign, spiritual shock therapy, designed to prod you into recognizing and changing your relationship with, and feelings and choices about money.

For example, do you know the difference between dumb money and smart money? Harper explains that the former is spent on things that decrease in value while you sleep, while the latter is spent on things that increase in value as you sleep. Money spent on credit card interest payments is dumb money. Money spent on investments that appreciate and pay interest and/or dividends, such as your company’s 401(k) retirement plan, is an example of smart money. In short, dumb money costs money; smart money makes money. It’s hard to imagine someone abusing credit or failing to contribute to a retirement savings account once they grasp this concept. And that’s the gift of this book: Harper has a way of breaking things down to the point where we can no longer use not knowing better as an excuse for not doing better.

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To that end, among other things, Harper urges us to commit to a Smart Money Contract. Some of the terms of that contract are:

Never accumulate credit card debt. If you have credit card debt, pay more than the minimum payments and negotiate lower interest rates directly with the credit card provider.

Research the type of investments that are appropriate for your goals and make investing part of your monthly budget.

Start now. No matter where you are in terms of age or income, you can and should seek to invest in ways that are appropriate for you.

Reinvest your income and dividends to make your investments grow exponentially.

Think long term, not get rich quick. Be patient and don’t ever panic.

Most important, believe that you can become what Hill calls a “Smart Money Master.” His point: Once you change your mindset about money, you will make better money decisions and be on the path to true wealth, which includes physical, mental and spiritual wellness as well as healthy finances.

Sounds an awful lot like the Wealth for Life financial principles we urge you to adopt in BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine every month, doesn’t it? Not bragging. Just saying.

Be sure to pick up and read The Wealth Cure. If you are plagued with money problems, it absolutely could be the cure for what ails you.

The program Brendan attended, the Youth Investment Club, is jointly run by the Lanham, Maryland-based Literacy Institute for Financial Enrichment and Reid Temple AME Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland. Brendan and about 24 other students received a crash course in saving, budgeting, and debt management. But the sessions on investing have the entrepreneurial-minded sixth grader thinking even bigger. “I would like to have stocks,” Brendan says. “I can invest in what other people own and make money off of it.”

In the wake of the recent financial crisis and Great Recession, a growing number of parents and educators are increasing their efforts to teach children the rudiments of money management. “Many of our kids are constantly surrounded by messages in the media that promote overconsumption,” says Lanta Evans-Motte, founder of the Youth Investment Club and director of outreach, partner, and community programs for LIFE. “We wanted to provide an early introduction to the complexities of the financial world, so they could develop a healthy attitude about money and avoid financial struggles later in life.” Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche, author of The One Week Budget (CreateSpace; $14.99) and developer of a financial game for youngsters called Real Life, agrees: “If you’re not responsible with your finances at 15, you’re probably not going to be responsible at 35,” she says. Studies show that financial education is sorely needed. According to a 2010 study by the University of Michigan Retirement Research Center, fewer than 33% of young adults have a basic understanding of concepts like inflation, interest rates, and risk diversification.

Errol and Mercedes Pierre, parents of 18-year-old Alexa, a high school senior, believe a financial education should be a top priority. Last summer, the couple enrolled their daughter in World of Money, a finance camp founded by its CEO, Sabrina Lamb. The couple says they didn’t have access to the same opportunities when they were growing up, so it was important to them to make sure Alexa received a solid financial education.

Although Alexa says she initially wasn’t thrilled about attending classes during the summer, she’s now grateful for the experience. “World of Money has this motto: Learn, Earn, Save, Invest, and Donate. I learned to apply this by saving at least 10% of my income. I also learned not to let money sit in the bank, but to invest it.” This summer, Alexa is putting the last part of World of Money’s motto to use by donating her time and becoming a peer teacher.

Alexa’s parents are also grateful for the education she received, especially since finding a quality finance camp is no easy task. After the Randolph, New Jersey, couple searched the Internet and came up empty-handed, they learned about World of Money via word-of-mouth. Errol and Mercedes note that the program goes beyond lessons on how to save and invest. Recently, participants took trips to the White House and the New York Stock Exchange.

An early grasp of financial concepts can support a lifetime of smart financial choices. But each child has a unique learning style, and programs vary in what they offer and how the material is taught. Here are a few things you should know before choosing a program to boost your child’s financial IQ.

Understand the Learning Process
Children learn to manage money in three key ways, says Paul Golden, a spokesman for the National Endowment for Financial Education, which has conducted research into financial behavior. “Parents are the No. 1 influencers,” Golden says. Secondly, children absorb information from whatever formal financial training they receive outside the home. The third way kids learn is by managing their own income, which they receive from either a job or by way of an allowance.

The most effective financial education programs take all these factors into consideration. Golden points out that NEFE has a learning module for parents that teaches them how to communicate with their kids about money. At the very least, parents should personalize what they learn by tying lessons to the family’s own financial situation, Golden advises. Adding an interactive component to financial learning can bring the information to life.

Experts suggest allowing your child to make financial decisions with small amounts of cash. Using real money or cash from Monopoly, you can create fun exercises, such as playing store; or group projects, like setting up a lemonade stand. “Half the battle is getting our kids interested and engaged in what they’re learning,” says Laura Levine, executive director of JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a national coalition of organizations that provide advocacy, research, and education resources to improve the financial capability of young people from preschoolers to college-age adults.

Group dynamics is another factor that can play a role in helping your child retain financial knowledge. It’s like peer pressure in a good way, says Nan J. Morrison, president and CEO of the Council for Economic Education, an organization that trains teachers in financial literacy instruction. “If you have a whole class of kids getting excited about saving money, it’s hard to be the grumpy little kid sitting there and saying ‘I don’t want to participate,’” she says.

While most financial literacy programs are created for children in middle and high school, you can start introducing personal finance concepts to your kids as early as preschool, says Levine. “While they won’t understand very sophisticated financial concepts, they can develop habits like being frugal and being generous,” Levine says. “When they get to middle school and high school and learn about how finance works, some of the more fundamental things will already be part of their nature.”

Find the Right Program
Deciding to give your child a first-rate financial education is the easy part. Finding the program that best suits your child’s needs can present more of a challenge. While the number of schools that teach personal finance is rising, most parents will need to look further. According to the Council for Economic Education’s Survey of the States 2009: Economic, Personal Finance, and Entrepreneurship Education in our Nation’s Schools, only 13 states required students to take a personal finance course in 2009. That means roughly 70% of students from elementary through high school were not required to learn anything in the classroom about managing money.

If a school system doesn’t offer classes or after-school financial literacy workshops, parents can look to churches, as well as community organizations such as the YMCA, YWCA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Banks and credit unions also have programs, but be wary of those that may be more interested in pushing their own agenda. “For example, if a bank emphasizes opening up bank accounts at that bank, that would be a red flag,” says Aliche. If you’re having trouble locating a program in your area, ask other parents or local financial professionals for a recommendation.

Prices for programs can run the gamut. Some are free; others can charge as much as $1,000. But, beware, warns Golden: High cost doesn’t necessarily signify quality. “There are too many good programs out there that don’t have any commercial ties that are completely free,” he says.

You should also review the curriculum to make sure it’s appropriate for your child in terms of his or her age and upbringing. For example, a child growing up in a rural area may not understand the financial challenges common to an urban upbringing. “What you’re looking for is content targeted for your kid’s group,” Levine says. Ask if the curriculum has been evaluated, suggests Golden. Many programs have a component that gauges how much a child’s financial knowledge has increased after taking the program. “It can be a simple survey that is done before and after,” he says.

Since price isn’t an indicator of quality, “Parents may want to make sure there is some soundness to what’s being taught,” Levine says. One way to do that: Find programs that use an evaluated and widely accepted curriculum. The JumpStart Coalition compiles a listing and description of teaching materials at www.jumpstart.org/jump$tart-clearinghouse.html. “If a curriculum is listed in our clearinghouse, that means we’ve reviewed it and determined it’s pretty sound and that the content aligns with our national personal finance standards for grades K-12,” says Levine.

If the program is not based on a national training module, find out the qualifications of the person who developed it, Levine suggests. “Inquire if someone on the staff has financial expertise or if a guest was brought in to help develop it,” she says.

Financial education programs can take on a variety of formats, including summer camps, online modules, and after-school workshops. While the format you choose will largely depend on availability and convenience, “It should be something that happens regularly,” Aliche advises, “because knowledge that’s not put into practice will atrophy.”
The key is making financial knowledge as familiar to youngsters as the three R’s. “If you can get kids to develop good financial habits early, they’ll be able to set a goal and achieve it,” says Morrison. “Start the dialogue early and it will stay with them forever.”

— Additional reporting by Sheiresa Ngo

Before the Great Recession and today’s tepid recovery, so many of us felt we could buy new cars, take exotic vacations, and engage in other lavish activities at will. The reality is, we borrowed a lifestyle, financing our extravagant tastes with credit cards and home equity lines of credit. It was as if we enjoyed a long, continuous party. We forgot the lessons of our parents and grandparents and now we are forced to spend years cleaning up our financial mess. In the process, we may have handed down unrealistic expectations and a number of bad habits to our children.

We must make money management and financial education a family affair. That means going back to the basics as we repair our finances and put our kids on the right financial course. First, we all need to take a refresher course on the rudiments of sound personal finance. The lessons are quite simple but require discipline: They include living within our means, paying ourselves first by saving a portion of what we earn, creating a budget and sticking to it, and avoiding the accumulation of unmanageable debt. In fact, much of this common-sense approach to your finances can be found in our Wealth for Life principles which you can download at blackenterprise.com.

Our grandparents and parents understood the value of a buck as well as the best ways to maximize dollars. We’re only two generations removed from African Americans who had been locked out of out of mainstream society due to Jim Crow laws and discriminatory practices. As a result, they were forced to scrimp and save and pool their resources to start businesses, build institutions, purchase homes, and sock away money for their children’s future. It was their sacrifice and determination that allowed for the creation and preservation of some of our great black institutions. Our parents, many of whom were children of the Great Depression, witnessed firsthand the aftermath of financial devastation from unforeseen forces. Not only did Mom and Dad realize that they had to adhere to their parents’ rigorous financial planning, they had to protect their wealth by being prepared for the unexpected. By doing so, they created a better life for us.

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As the first generation after the civil rights movement, we gained access to the best institutions of higher learning and top management positions in corporate America. Although we excelled in our careers and earned salaries that previous generations could only have dreamed of, many of us forgot the tried-and-true examples of our forbearers. Instead, we became caught up in the financial madness, trying to time the stock market for quick financial returns or using our homes as ATMs because we believed that home values would continue their endless, meteoric rise. Then, a few years back, our world crashed with the financial meltdown. Due to rampant spending and lack of attention to our finances, we did not provide ourselves with a sufficient cushion to weather the hard times.

As we regain our financial footing, we now have the prime opportunity to take up the mantle of our parents and grandparents and teach our kids the value of budgeting, saving, and frugality. For too long we have taken them on our excursion of wanton spending as we seemingly satisfied their every whim during the illusory flush times. We must bring them back to planet earth.

I have started this process with my college-age children. Like many of our kids, they believe that they can get anything that their heart desires. When they run out of cash, their first instinct is to text me and treat my cellphone like an ATM pin number. To put an end to this practice, I sat down with my daughters and sons and shared the financial facts of life with them: They will receive a monthly stipend, develop a budget for their living expenses, and stick to it. In fact, all four will have to find summer jobs to pay for a portion of their expenses during their college years. 0These rules may fall under the tough love category, but they are necessary if our children are going to appreciate the value of a dollar.

We have the same goals as our parents: to make the next generation more financially secure and provide them with more options than we had. We must put our financial house in order while we lay the foundation for theirs.

Broke as hell—but you're still fly. Really? No, REALLY? (Image: Thinkstock)

Each week, I and my colleagues at BLACK ENTERPRISE get e-mails and letters from people who tell me they are determined to get out of debt and begin to build wealth for themselves and their families. This is especially true at the beginning of the year, between January (New Year resolutions) and April (Financial Literacy Month). I get many of these questions in response to my syndicated radio feature Money Matters, or through my presence on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and BEInsider. Most of those who reach out to us are sincere about their desire to change their financial futures.

However, others are just giving lip-service to the BLACK ENTERPRISE Wealth for Life mission. They want financial freedom—as long as they don’t actually have to make changes in their lifestyles to do it. They know they need to live within their means. They’re just not trying to hear it. They know they’re living dirty when it comes to their finances—but they’re still fly!

My message this morning is for those of you who are part of the latter group of people, those who want to talk the talk, but will not walk the walk. My question to you: How badly do you want it? Do you want to build wealth and gain financial empowerment badly enough to:

Read at least one book on money and finances each month?

Stop pleading ignorance about financial matters and commit to your own financial literacy?

Stop ignoring sound advice from financial experts?

Drive your two-year-old car for five more years, rather than trading up to a brand new model—again?

Forego buying new clothes or shoes for a year?

Prepare all meals at home, brown-bagging your meals for work each day?

Stay on top of your credit reports and scores?

Care for your own nails and do your own hair?

Take in a trusted friend, relative or boarder, sharing household expenses and applying the savings to paying down debt and building up savings?

Temporarily taking on a second job or freelance work to bring in more income to boost savings and reduce debt?

Lock away your credit cards for a year, living only on the money you actually have and cutting expenses rather than going deeper into debt? In other words, stop using credit to buy things you don’t have the cash for?

Save for what you want, instead of buying it on credit?

Stop shopping based on what you think you deserve, and focus on what you can actually afford? (Cultivating an exaggerated sense of entitlement and deprivation is the goal of most advertising. Stop falling for it!)

Put together a household budget—and stick to it?

Say NO to your kids? Your spouse? Yourself?

Too many of the people who contact me for advice say no to these questions, and to anything that calls for them to make the sacrifices and change the lifestyles that brought them to their financial difficulties. Often, they are spending to win or keep the approval and acceptance of others (even though the “Joneses” they’re trying to hang with are likely just as broke as they are). They’re so focused on looking rich that it’s impossible for them to build wealth.

Well I’ve got news for you: Freedom (especially financial freedom) ain’t free. You can’t build wealth for the future, if you refuse to make sacrifices today. You don’t have to sacrifice everything, but you have to sacrifice something. Those of you looking for a pain-free, short-cut to financial empowerment and freedom will only find disappointment, frustration and ultimately, financial ruin.

The definitions of poverty and wealth do not change:

Wealth is spending less money than you make, saving and investing the difference in things that increase in value and/or pay you interest, thereby increasing your assets and net worth.

Poverty is spending more money than you make, spending on things that decrease in value and borrowing to cover the difference, paying interest to others, thereby increasing your liabilities and decreasing your net worth.

These are not just financial conditions; they are lifestyles. Which lifestyle you choose is entirely up to you. It doesn’t matter what you say; your daily decisions and actions reveal the truth. Financial freedom is far from easy to attain, especially at first. However, it can be achieved—and maintained. How badly do you want it?

Racial wealth gap could have adverse effect on black children (Image: Shutterstock)

A white acquaintance who grew up wealthy in the South in the 1940s had the family gardener’s son, an African-American boy, as his earliest best friend. He remembers vividly what happened when he asked his mother if his friend could join them for lunch. She put the black child at a table in the kitchen away from the dining room where the family was eating and told her son never to invite his friend again. As they grew up, the possibilities and destinies for the two boys became more and more divergent, their friendship and their lives forced apart by laws and norms of the time that enforced racial separation.

We’ve come a long way as a country since then. But when it comes to wealth, there is still a massive separation between white American families and those of color, and that gap has real-life consequences for our nation’s children — and, increasingly, for the future of America.

Read more at The Root …