At age 58, Matthews knows how tough it is to find employment. Although the unemployment rate among workers 55 and older is relatively low at 6.4%, it takes those 45 years or older longer to re-enter the market.

While between jobs, Matthews relied mainly on short-term, low-paying assignments. For the first time in his life he periodically collected unemployment. It was a blow to his wallet, ego, and self-esteem. “I grew up in a household where you were expected to work, so that time off was depressing,” says Matthews. Now he feels productive again and is elated to be “back in the game.”

The American job market has improved modestly in recent months. Economists looking deeper into the numbers found real reason for optimism in the slow economic recovery. But the huge question is how long can any gains be maintained? Headwinds such as the still high unemployment rate, limp housing market, and lack of consumer confidence could limit the economy from picking up speed.

Still, there appears to be a potential glimmer of light ahead. The U.S. economy is expected to grow about 3% in 2012, up from a projected 2% for 2011, according to Brett Hammond, senior economist at TIAA-CREF, the New York-based financial services company and leading provider of retirement benefits nationwide. But Hammond and others warn that what happens to the U.S. economic picture—including the risk of another recession—is tied to what happens in places such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

The upcoming U.S. presidential election will also play a critical role in driving the nation’s economic direction in 2012 and the development of policies coming out of Washington. As bickering lawmakers struggle to bring the nation back to health, there are things that you can do to alleviate whatever situation ails you—whether you’re trying to buy a home or save one from foreclosure, find a job or shift career gears, or increase your wealth through savings and investments to bring about your own personal financial recovery.

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Housing
Lakimlyn Ford is one of the fortunate house hunters who took advantage of a buyer’s market. She purchased a home in Columbus, Georgia, in late November for $118,000 by working with NeighborWorks America, a community development and affordable housing organization. The 33-year-old accountant bought a tri-level home with four bedrooms and two and a half baths. A divorced mother of a 14-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, Ford acquired the home to show her children that they, too, could someday achieve the American dream and own a home.

“I got a pretty big house for the money I paid,” she says. The seller paid the closing costs and offered a year’s warranty on the entire home and its contents, including the appliances, air conditioning unit, hot water heater, and new roof. “I was truly blessed,” says Ford.

The nation’s overall homeownership rate was 66.3% during the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report. The rate was 74% for whites, 46% for blacks, 48% for Hispanics, and 56% for all other races including Asians.

Falling home prices over the past four years have benefited new homeowners like Ford, but at the same time they have troubled homeowners who faced lower-valued homes and underwater mortgages (a loan that exceeds what the home is worth).

Gradual improvement is expected in housing in 2012, with slight increases in the sales of new and existing homes and a bit of a boost in median prices, according to projections at the 2011 Realtors Conference & Expo in Anaheim, California. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, stated in a press release that sales of existing homes are expected to rise about 5% in 2012 to a projected $5.22 million, from a projected $4.97 million in 2011. He sees mortgage interest rates gradually rising from recent record lows to reach 4.5% by mid 2012. For home values, he expects modest appreciation this year.

Deborah Boatright, northeast regional director at NeighborWorks America, suggests that potential first-time homebuyers consult a certified homebuying adviser before they pursue buying a home.

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Advice for homebuyers or struggling homeowners:
Make sure you can comfortably afford a home. Your monthly mortgage payment typically shouldn’t exceed 30% of your monthly income. Don’t forget, the mortgage payment will include taxes and insurance. Be honest with yourself and only take the plunge if you’re stable with managing your money. You don’t want to get in a cycle of late payments that could wreck your monthly budget or cause you to default on the loan and lose your home to foreclosure.

Seek out down payment assistance. With the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 many FHA down payment program rules were changed, making it tougher to qualify for down payment assistance, but organizations such as NeighborWorks America, which has more than 100 homeownership centers nationally, can still help by offering grants. According to NeighborWorks America, every state has a down payment assistance program.

Manage and monitor your credit. Credit is still tight, but it’s available to homebuyers who are prepared. Homebuyers need to have good credit and ample savings, which can provide them with the 20% down payment they need to become homeowners. Make sure you pay your bills on time and pay more than the minimum due. Work diligently to pay off any credit card balances. (For information on credit counseling, see “Your Get-Out-Of Debt Checklist,” money, this issue.)

Work with a foreclosure mitigation specialist. If you are facing foreclosure, a HUD-certified National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling agency can help negotiate with a lender or servicer on your behalf—for free—to restructure your loan so your payment is more manageable. A counselor can also assess your arrearage and explore the best options. According to NeighborWorks America, a homeowner in foreclosure who sees a foreclosure prevention counselor is twice as likely to get a loan modification as a homeowner who does not.

Employment
The nation added 120,000 jobs in November 2011, the 14th consecutive month of job gains. African American unemployment edged down from 16% in November 2010 to 15.5% in November 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That figure was 7.6% for whites; the nation’s overall unemployment rate was 8.6% for the same month. Moreover, black teen joblessness fell from 46.3% in November 2010 to 39.6% in November 2011.

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The jobless rate could fall modestly next year by more than 0.5 of a percentage point but less than 1.5 percentage points, says Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “The U.S. economy is growing too slowly to expect a more rapid drop in the unemployment rate.”

Burtless says spending is down because of the loss of wage income among the unemployed, and because the employed fear that they may soon become jobless. Suppressed spending slows economic growth, since there’s less demand for goods and services.

Blue- and white-collar workers alike are beleaguered by unemployment or underemployment. In fact, black enterprise partnered with Walmart to address such issues at its 20/20 Vision Forum in Los Angeles in October. Among the recommendations was that African American professionals can confront these challenges by repositioning and reinventing themselves.

Tips for job seekers to consider:
Volunteer your services. You may score a new job by volunteering your time and expertise to a worthy cause. For instance, if you are a marketing expert, offer to help out the local Boys and Girls Club with its campaign or promotions for a major fundraiser. Doing this will help to expand your network, and you may meet influencers who can advocate on your behalf.

Check out the federal government. The nation’s largest employer is now hiring. About 40% of the jobs are in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, but there are jobs in other parts of the U.S. and even beyond U.S. borders. Start at www.opm.gov, the government’s employment website. For pay grades for white-collar jobs, look for the “GS” designation. The “FWS” designation signifies blue-collar or hourly wage jobs. Search for specific agency lists at www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml.

Increase your exposure via social media. You have to do more than post a résumé online at sites such as Monster.com. That’s the old way of getting a job. Employers are now using social media to spot new hires. Use your networks—Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—to build your brand. Blog about industry topics. Tweet tidbits, news, and other information that’s relevant to your field and helpful to your followers. Use LinkedIn to search for groups and find forums where you can showcase what you know.

Re-educate yourself. Job seekers, especially midcareer professionals, need to retrain themselves, which may require going back to school to acquire new credentials. What certifications would truly be a career booster? No matter what field you’re interested in, chances are there’s a certification for it.

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Reposition yourself. Explore growth industries that offer employment opportunities, such as healthcare. Also, adopt a global perspective. Search for opportunities outside the U.S. by joining a global leadership or international professional organization. Attend an international summit, serve on a panel, or conduct a seminar related to your field overseas.

Consumer Savings and Investments
The bursting of the housing market bubble in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on the wealth of minorities than on the wealth of whites, according to the Pew Research Center. A recent study showed that from 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 53% among black households, compared with a drop of just 16% among white households.

As a result of these declines, the typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009; the typical white household had $113,149. Moreover, about 35% of black households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares had been 29% for blacks and 11% for whites.

In spite of short-term losses, you must think long term when it comes to saving and investing for your family’s future, experts say. “The market is more likely to see double-digit returns over the next decade or so rather than single-digit growth or especially a negative return,” says Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments L.L.C. (No. 6 on the be asset managers list with $5.47 billion in assets under management—see “You Can’t Predict the Future,” Money, this issue).

Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at MFR Inc. in New York, says that it’s critical for families to continue to pay down their debts and get their balance sheets in order. Much progress has been made on that front and is likely to continue for 2012. Shapiro believes a lot of that behavior is going to be shaped by the strength of the U.S. labor market recovery.

Also a concern is how fast Europe can respond to fixing problems with its debt crisis and avoid falling into a major recession. He says a key factor will be how Germany, France, and the European Central Bank team up to repair Europe’s problems in the months to come.

Suggestions for increasing savings and investing in financial markets:
Track your monthly spending and net income, and transfer any surplus into savings at the month’s end. Focus on shoring up your emergency funds in this environment as well as creating reserves for investment opportunities.

Take a contrarian view and invest for the long term. Look for value in U.S. stocks, particularly those with valuations that offer a bargain investment, given the volatile market.

Consider diversifying your portfolio beyond U.S. stocks and stocks from emerging markets. Also weigh other asset classes such as commercial real estate, corporate bonds, and inflation-linked bonds.

Invest in stocks that make products people need. Also consider companies that pay solid dividends regardless of economic conditions, such as consumer staples and consumer durables.

You can still make good on that promise by doing a year-end review.

For the last few years Chantay Bridges has practiced the annual ritual of year-end planning. This time though, “The economy made this a necessity.”

In August, she sat not only with her pastor for spiritual advice, but with a financial planner. What topped the agenda? “Retirement. I have been concerned with the stock market and pensions being on a financial roller coaster. You have to make preparations ahead of time instead of hoping everything will fall together later on,” says Bridges, 35, a senior real estate specialist in Los Angeles.

Her meeting was fruitful. “I got a reminder of why it’s important to have your money working for you, a lesson on mutual funds, a report on the current gold and silver prices, and how to set up a financial plan that fits within our current and future lifestyle goals,” says Bridges, who is married and has a grown stepson. In addition to retirement planning, she reviewed her credit report, insurance policies, as well as her will.

At a time when it’s about the parties and festivities, it can be hard to focus on all things financial. But year-end financial planning should be just as much a tradition as mistletoe. To make the task seem less daunting, don’t even think about going it alone. Pull together a team of professionals to help you: a financial planner, tax adviser, insurance agent, and estate-planning attorney. Getting expert advice is less costly than you might think, and whatever you spend you’ll recoup in savings. Remember the three C’s: credentials, character, and chemistry. Here’s what you need to build a dream team that can help you ring in financial success next year and beyond.

Why You Need a Financial Planner
A financial planner can provide a comprehensive look at the past year and plot a path for the next one, not only for investments, but debt, taxes, life changes, and more. Look for someone with credentials, specifically the certified financial planner (CFP) designation, awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. to those who meet education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements.

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Once you have a few candidates, ask questions. “Who is the planner’s typical client?” asks certified financial planner and chartered financial consultant Ivory Johnson, director of financial planning at Scarborough Capital Management Inc. in Annapolis, Maryland. “There’s nothing wrong with asking how they get paid, particularly in writing. Are they the subjects of any litigation or customer complaints? Read the finance section and form questions that professionals should be able to answer,” says Johnson.

Don’t simply choose someone based primarily on proximity. “Many people believe that proximity makes for a more comfortable relationship, only to discover that their process of picking an adviser was marginalized.” Another no-no: choosing whoever is cheapest, with little regard for competency. “You may pay the price in the currency of bad advice,” says Johnson.

Advisers are paid three ways: per hour, as a percent of assets under management, or commission. As a general rule, says Johnson, advisers charge from 1% to 1.5% of assets under management. To find a financial planner and for general information on financial planning, check out the websites of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards.

Why You Need a CPA
A certified public accountant can help you with tax strategies. For example, should you donate to charity to lessen your tax burden? Would you benefit from increasing your 401(k) contributions for the rest of the year, or accelerating payments so that you get the credit for 2011, or deferring income to next year? A CPA might also determine that you could maximize tax benefits by matching stock losers and winners so you have no capital gains.

Meeting before the close of the year is important, too, when it comes to tax planning. Action steps taken before Dec. 31, can save you come tax time. When you’re looking for an accountant to add to your team, you want not only the CPA credential, but someone active in professional societies and who maintains continuing education requirements, and works with people in your income level and profession.

Ask how long they’ve been in business and where they worked previously. How much you will pay for a CPA’s advice depends on the scope of services you will need, but can start at $500 and go up from there, says certified public accountant Genevia Gee Fulbright, president of Fulbright & Fulbright, CPA in Durham, North Carolina. She suggests asking what the minimum fee is.

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“Sometimes unscrupulous individuals claim to have licenses and experience. It’s easy to check online lists with boards certifying professionals to see that the individual is licensed before you hire them,” says Gee Fulbright. A good place to start is the American Institute of CPAs , which can direct you to your state’s CPA society.

To prepare for the meeting, peruse prior records and come up with questions and concerns that you’ve had in the past. Ask the CPA what specifically you should bring.

Why You Need an Insurance Agent
A life insurance agent needs to know about any life changes that would impact the level and type of coverage needed. Significant life events include marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, a considerable increase in income from a promotion or job change, or an increase in liabilities, due to major purchases such as a new car or home.

“Most people do their financial planning when a financial tragedy happens to one of their family members or someone they know,” says Kenneth J. Royster, senior financial planner and chartered life underwriter (CLU) with First Genesis of Virginia, an office of MetLife. Why wait?

You want to ask questions similar to those posed to other team members, as well as, “Will you be accessible when I have questions? What licenses do you hold? Where did you receive your training?” recommends Royster. You can check with your state department of insurance to see if they are licensed and whether there have been any problems with your prospective agent.

If you’re wondering how much insurance you might need and to learn more about the various types of insurance, the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education and www.lifeinsuranceindepth.com can get you on your way.

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Why You Need an Estate Planning Attorney
“As long as you are not dead, you need to do estate planning,” says Lori Anne Douglass, a partner with Moses and Singer L.L.P., specializing in estate planning. While nobody likes to contemplate their end, it will come. Choose to be financially ready. Estate planning isn’t only about transferring generational wealth, it’s about having your final say. Everybody needs a will.

“People don’t often realize how much their assets are worth,” she explains. It’s important to put assets in a trust because you can structure it with stipulations, such as how the money is to be used, or when. By making lifetime gifts, you remove not only the value of the asset gifted, but any subsequent appreciation on the asset, from your taxable estate. If, for example, you have a house currently worth $3 million, “you can make a gift of the house now, and if, upon your death in 20 years, the house is worth $10 million, you have removed that additional $7 million from your taxable estate.”

Douglass cautions, however, that one should never attempt to gift assets without first speaking to a qualified trusts and estates attorney because in addition to estate tax considerations there are gift tax, income tax, and other federal and state transfer tax consequences that must be taken into consideration. The cost of working with an estate attorney will vary depending on your location and estate planning needs. Some attorneys will charge an hourly rate or offer flat fee billing.

–By Karen Thomas

Sharde feels as though the mortgage is always going to be there so they should focus on paying down short-term debts instead. “My plan would be to pay off my credit cards and move some of that money into savings in like a Roth IRA or something like that,” says Sharde, a part-time dental hygienist who doesn’t qualify to contribute to her employer’s retirement fund. “We had someone come out to talk to us about Roth IRAs, but Tommy didn’t like it. I liked it,” she explains.

While the couple figures out where to save their money and what debts to pay off first, new expenses are being added. Since their union, the couple has acquired two car notes in addition to the mortgage. At Thomas’ suggestion, the couple used part of a $5,000 tax credit refund to make one extra $1,400 mortgage payment and used the rest toward the purchase of a 2003 BMW Z4. They now pay $375 per month on the $15,000 still owed on the BMW. In addition, Sharde leased a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta for which they pay $298 per month. However, both admit that they don’t need two cars. Thomas says, “We could really make due with one. The Metro train is 15 minutes away from us and drops us both off not too far from work.”

The Caffeys’ other liabilities include three credit cards in which they owe a total of $4,000. Sharde has had one card since college and has a $1,000 balance at a 2% rate. She also has another major credit card with a $2,000 balance and a 0% rate. Thomas has a Best Buy card with a $1,000 balance at 0% rate.

While Thomas isn’t in favor of the IRA at this time, he has been contributing 3% of his income to his employer’s 403(b) retirement account and has amassed $3,500 in the more than three years he has worked there.

The Caffeys realize communication is key to getting on the same financial page, even if it may not be pleasant at first. “My wife and I realize that talking about money can lead to arguments. However, avoiding arguments about money does not mean never discussing money or how it should be spent,” says Thomas. Sharde concedes: “This is a marriage, we are not roommates; we should be able to come to an agreement.”

The Advice
Black Enterprise and Danny Freeman, Principal Adviser of Darda Wealth Management, offer this advice.

Get professional help. Sure, Thomas and Sharde have made some common money mistakes as twenty-somethings, but they have taken some positive steps  such as homeownership and beginning to invest for retirement. However, it is important that they enroll in financial empowerment courses. The Marquette Bank offers free personal finance classes (888-254-9500) as well as The Chicago Public Library (www.chipublib.org), which covers everything  from lowering your debt to investing and setting financial goals. They have a long time horizon and can really develop the skills and education needed to plan for a financially fruitful life.

Build savings. Their first priority should be to establish a cushion. be recommends they use the $2,000 contest winnings to start. When asked, they collectively felt they could comfortably save and invest up to $400 per month without dramatically altering their lifestyle. Freeman suggests they put away $150 per month in an emergency account and contribute $250 to additional investments beyond Thomas’ retirement account. Freeman estimates that the couple could have more than $25,000 saved in 5 years if they put the emergency fund in a cash account yielding 0.5% and $250 in an investment account that yields an average 8% a year. “They should begin this investment program right away and should look for ways to save and invest even more,” says Freeman. With the Postal Service making cutbacks they should be very mindful of the increasing need for emergency savings and for Sharde to get a full-time job, as well identifying multiple income streams.  Since they both admit they don’t need two cars, they should get rid of the leased vehicle and put that money in their emergency fund as well.

Pay off short-term debt. “Having the 0% interest is great, but it is only temporary,” points out Freeman. “They can achieve their goal of liquidating credit card debt by paying at least $350 per month on all of their cards. This would allow them to pay off all credit cards in 12 months,” he maps out.

Although Thomas says he wants to pay off his mortgage early, it is not an action Freeman recommends. Since it is highly unlikely that the young couple will stay in their one-bedroom condo for the next 15 years, he advises that the Caffeys “make their regular mortgage payment and invest any cash available after paying off their credit cards into building an investment portfolio.”

Contribute to a Roth IRA. Because of their age and tax benefits they should open a Roth IRA. “They should consider the WisdomTree Large Cap Dividend Fund. This exchange-traded fund (ETF) is well diversified and sports a 2.67% dividend yield,” advises Freeman.

“Participating in black expos was a great way to introduce our company and sell our products to our target demographic of African American women,” says Meagan, 27, who teamed up with her husband, Darrius, 32, to produce the Magic City Black Expo in 2009. Although other cities in Alabama have sponsored black expos in recent years, Birmingham’s last one was in 1996.

Adds Darrius: “We also realized that there were other black-owned businesses just like ours that needed the same outlet and platform to gain exposure and sell their products and services.”

Since last year, the daylong event has taken place during Black History Month. It showcases the products and services of black-owned and -operated businesses and offers education, empowerment, and entertainment activities.

During its first year the expo had more than 60 exhibitors, mostly local, along with more than 2,000 attendees. In 2010, they added about 30 exhibitors and the 2011 event had more than 150 vendors. This year, TheCASHFLOW and 100 Urban Entrepreneurs  sponsored a business pitch competition and awarded three $10,000 business grants to winners. The 2012 expo is expected to pull in 10,000 visitors.

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Tickets for the expo cost $6 for adults, and children under 12 are free. The Peaces charged exhibitors $400 for a 10-by-10 booth and $300 if they bought space early. Any money they make from the expo goes toward paying for the next year’s event. This year, they made $23,500.

Between 2002 and 2007, Birmingham’s black-owned businesses increased 113.3%, from 6,964 to 14,855. One of those business owners, Cedric Threatt, a Birmingham-based children’s book author and owner of Ahava Publishing L.L.C., has had a booth at every Magic City Black Expo and says his annual book sales have increased steadily with each event.

“I would say anywhere between 15% to 20%. It was just good to have another avenue because I got to meet people who otherwise would have never heard of me,” says Threatt, adding that he met educators who invited him to schools to do presentations for students.
Participating in the expo also proved fruitful for Birmingham spa owner Tiaesha Chestang, who was able to track the 15% sales increase she had in 2010 from a discount flier she handed out at her exhibit booth.

“I even get people who come up to me in the grocery store who say, ‘I remember you from the black expo.’ [The expo] was really a truly amazing experience,” says Chestang, owner of Purify Wellness & Spa.  “The outpour from the black community was amazing. I had no clue that this could happen.”

HOW THEY DID IT
•  Do your research. Darrius says they Googled “How do you present an expo” and downloaded e-books that outlined tips such as securing a venue, gaining support from local government, and attracting exhibitors and sponsors. Next, they attended several black expos around the country, taking copious notes, connecting with people behind the scenes, and asking event organizers for advice on how to get started.

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•  Hit the pavement. Organizing the first Magic City Black Expo was truly a grassroots effort. They had no idea where the black-owned and black-operated businesses were located in Birmingham, so they drove around and asked. Many small businesses were home-based and therefore not visible, Meagan noted. They also received referrals from other black businesses, friends, and family members. The Peaces passed out fliers, purchased radio and TV advertisements, and used e-mail and Facebook to promote the event. They also cold-called, e-mailed, and visited local black-owned businesses to get them to sign on as exhibitors.

To help ensure diversity among exhibitors, they permitted only two of the same types of businesses within a given category to participate, allowing a wider array of businesses. Darrius explains. “The only criteria we had was that they be licensed, legitimate businesses,” he says.

• Barter. Meagan and Darrius relied on their own resources and family and friends to make the initial investment of $3,000 for the first expo, which had operating costs totaling $10,000. The couple and volunteer organizers also relied on their negotiating skills, bartering for things such as media airtime. 

The report further disclosed that the collapse of the housing market in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on minorities than whites. As a result, the inflation-adjusted median wealth of black households dropped a staggering 53% from 2005 to 2009, versus just 16% for white households during the same period. Latinos were hardest hit as the group’s median wealth plummeted by 66%.

The major culprit: the steep decline in the median value of home equity. For African Americans, it plunged from $76,910 in 2005 to $59,000 in 2009 while the level dropped for white homeowners from $115,364 to $95,000. To make matters worse, Pew found that 35% of African Americans had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of whites.

It’s true that the Great Recession was brutal. But we can’t attribute all of our woes to the economic downturn. Many of our wounds have been self-inflicted. We put most of our resources into real estate but did not sufficiently diversify our assets through savings as well as stocks and fixed-income investments. For example, the Pew study found that more than 80% of whites and Asians own interest-bearing assets at financial institutions versus roughly 60% of blacks and Latinos. Moreover, whites and Asians are also three to four times as likely as blacks and Latinos to own stocks and mutual fund shares. For example, in 2009, 27% of whites owned stocks and mutual fund shares but only 7% of blacks had such holdings.

We must reverse this trend. To build and preserve our net worth, we must all develop a Wealth for Life plan. Over the past 11 years, black enterprise has provided you with 10 specific Wealth for Life principles. Whether you’re 25 or 55, there’s value in heeding these tenets which include living within your means, engaging in sound credit and tax management, and building a diversified portfolio. As I have often stated in this column, you can’t have a comprehensive wealth program without investing in the stock market.
Even with market volatility, Dow Jones Industrial Average has provided an annual total return, including dividends, of 11.2% over the past 25 years.

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I know that it will be tougher for some more than others. Many of you have had to deal with unemployment and underemployment. Others have fallen into such a deep financial hole it may take a decade to climb out. But doing nothing is not a viable option. If you find yourself in dire financial straits, get professional help from a qualified financial planner. First, however, commit to changing your behavior and modify your lifestyle to meet your goals.

For those of you who need inspiration, I share with you the example of the late Oseola McCarty. A woman from humble beginnings who quit school in sixth grade to assist her family, she spent a lifetime providing laundry services in Mississippi. Despite her menial occupation, McCarty saved her dollars and put her money in CDs and conservative mutual funds over several decades. In 1995, she was able to donate $150,000 from a portion of her holdings to the University of Southern Mississippi to provide scholarships for deserving students. Clearly, you have the ability and resources to do no less for you and your family.

So it’s time to wake up and get serious about your finances. The development of your Wealth for Life plan is not sacrifice or hardship. Rather it is an investment in the future stability and prosperity of your family—for generations to come.

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.

What?! White people have more wealth than Black people? How in the world did that happen? And the Great Recession did nothing to close the gap? We need to get on top of this right away! But first—the NFL is back!

What we at Black Enterprise call the Black wealth gap is nothing new. As Rhodes Scholar Rakim Brooks points out in his blog for the Huffington Post, after reaching a low of 7:1, the wealth gap had begun to widen long before the Great Recession, growing to 11:1 by 2004. Closing the Black wealth gap has been at the core of the Black Enterprise mission since our magazine was launched by our Founder and Chairman Earl Graves Sr. in 1970, long before The Pew Center began to issue its reports on White/minority wealth disparity. Black Enterprise even assembled its own Board of Economists, including former Federal Reserve Governors Emmett J. Rice and Andrew F. Brimmer, to study and address the issue as far back as 1982. The Black wealth gap is also why we launched the Black Wealth Initiative (now Wealth for Life) in 2000, to refocus our mission for the 21st century.

But let’s be real about how old the Black wealth gap really is: It dates from before the very founding of our nation, built on an economic model that equates ownership of property with power—as it does to this day. Problem is, for the first couple of centuries of America’s creation, not only was it often next to impossible for Blacks to acquire and retain property, we were the property! I’m pretty sure that, compared to the wealth gap of, say, 1870 (seven years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation), today’s 20:1 ratio represents enormous progress. Of course, the roots of racial wealth disparities are rarely discussed (even the reparations for slavery debate has been reduced to a barely audible hum on the fringes of the political spectrum), not even by the hundreds of newscasters, reporters and pundits who’ve weighed in on the Pew Research Center’s study this week.

All that said, the Black wealth gap must be closed. It’s at the core of the Black Enterprise mission. It’s the key to the continued progress of African Americans toward full equity and participation in the national and global economies. And it is critical to the future economic competitiveness and security of our entire nation. The question is: How do we do it? Of course, we need to recognize that a chasm that was created and fossilized over the course of centuries will not be closed in just a few decades. As my colleague and brother Derek T. Dingle, editor-in-chief of Black Enterprise magazine, says in his Power Moves blog, this is a marathon that will require hard work and innovation in areas including education, job creation and building more Black-owned employer businesses. It is a humongous task, so complex, so potentially overwhelming, so intertwined with the status quo of our national economy and politics that it may seem impossible to know where to begin. Except it’s not. Click to the next page for a couple of clues:

The problem with Black people is not money. It’s what Black people do with their money. —Dr. Dennis Kimbro

The only thing worse than not having what you need is not using what you have. —Rev. Deforest Soaries Jr.

That’s right. Closing the wealth gap does not start with the White House or Congress. It doesn’t start in corporate America or Wall Street, or even public schools or higher academia. It starts with you and me. Step 1 of closing the wealth gap: Make better, more responsible decisions with the money we have.

As I said in an earlier post, “How Badly Do You Want Financial Freedom?”, 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.

The truth is, we are in a much better position to narrow the wealth gap than our ancestors ever were. The poverty experienced by previous generations of African Americans was based on lack—lack of assets, legal protections, political power, educational opportunity, career options, you name it. With the possible exception of the roughly 25% of African Americans living below the poverty line, the poverty experienced by the rest of us is increasingly a result of poor stewardship—doing stupid things, including things we know from experience and observation that we should NEVER do with our money—not lack. The power to change what we do with our income, our credit habits and our spending decisions lies not with the government or corporations, but with us. To put it bluntly, we must do better.

If you don’t read Black Enterprise and other financial magazines every month, why not? Why aren’t you regularly visiting BlackEnterprise.com and similar Websites to make better choices with your money and boost your own financial literacy? And if you do both, why are you not challenging everyone in your family and network to follow suit?

Have you made reading books about money, such as Rev. Soares’ dfree: Breaking Free of Financial Slavery, a monthly habit? Why not? And if you have, what steps have you taken to share what you’ve learned and get such books into the hands of others?

Are you still spending money you don’t have, using credit to buy the things you don’t have the cash for? (Credit was not created as a substitute for cash you don’t have, but to help you avoid having to carry around excessive amounts of the cash you do have. Any other use constitutes credit abuse.)

When are you going to stop living beyond your means? And if you refuse to create and follow a spending plan or stick to a budget, how will you ever know whether or not you are?

When are you going to stop making excuses for not putting cash aside for emergencies and saving for your own retirement?

When are you going to take insurance and estate planning seriously? How can we close the wealth gap if you refuse to protect your assets so that they can be transferred to future generations? What are you doing to teach your kids about money so that they can be wise stewards of our legacies?

These are tough questions, ones I’ve been forced to ask myself. The truth is, I’ve fallen short and I have to do better—and so do you. The person responsible for what happens to the money in your pocket is not President Barack Obama or Rep. John Boehner. It’s not Timothy Geithner or Ben Bernanke. Step 1 in closing the wealth gap is our responsibility.

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.