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

The number of American households worth $1 million or more — excluding the value of their homes — surged to nearly 9 million, just shy of the 9.2 million households during pre-recession days. The stock market crash during 2007 and 2009 caused the rankings of millionaires to plummet to as low as 6.8 million households in 2008. Now that number is at 8.99 million.

However, the spike in U.S. millionaires is a stark contrast to those who are not. More than 12 million Americans are still unemployed, incomes are flat and more than 40 percent of the jobless have been out of work for six months or more.

Read more at Washington Post.

Is wealth yours to claim or not? It largely depends on what you believe about money.

To change your money outcomes, you have to change your money habits. And to change your habits, you have to change what you believe about money, and your relationship with it. That’s because money is not just about your finances; it’s also about your thoughts and emotions about money, the feelings that took root in your childhood, from seeds planted by everything your family, culture, media and community taught you—whether it was true or not. The fruit of those seeds are the financial decisions and outcomes that determine whether your life experience is shaped by lack or abundance. A great book about the connection between your emotional, psychological and spiritual beliefs and your feelings and attitudes about money is True Self, True Wealth by Peter Cole and Daisy Reese.

There’s no guarantee that believing you are destined to be rich, alone, will make you wealthy. But believing you are destined to be poor all but guarantees a life of lack. A big part of changing the way you think about money is challenging what we’ve been told, and too often tell ourselves, about money. Some examples:

You’ll always be broke. Poverty is your (your community’s, your family’s, your race’s, your gender’s, etc.) destiny. The truth: No matter who you are, you can choose to adopt money habits that result in the accumulation of wealth and a positive net worth over time, even if the process is not completed in your lifetime. Changing your belief to one of wealth’s attainability (even while accepting its lack of inevitability), and communicating and demonstrating your faith in that belief to your family and others in your sphere of influence, can result in a transition from persistent lack to increasing abundance from generation to generation.

Money, credit, investing and other financial concepts are too difficult to understand. People who believe this rarely bother to try, and give up the pursuit of financial literacy at the first sign of difficulty when they do—ultimately fulfilling the prophecy.

The truth: You can become more financially literate in 2013. No matter how difficult it is in the beginning (as is the case with learning anything new and unfamiliar), it gets easier over time. Once you believe that, your eyes will open to the plethora of self-education resources, from magazines including Black Enterprise, to web sites, to books, to financial experts on every media platform, and even in your own community, available to you. What’s more, that belief will motivate you to tap those resources.

You can’t control your spending. The truth: You have total power over what you do with your money. The choice is always yours. You can learn to say no, even to yourself. But not if you won’t believe you can.

You don’t have enough money. The truth: If you make wise, responsible decisions with what you have, you not only have enough, but you’ll be in position to get even more. It starts with setting priorities and getting real with yourself about the differences between needs and wants—even if you want some things so badly they feel like needs. When you want something that badly, the answer is not more money. It’s dealing with the emotional and psychological issues, such as a hunger for the acceptance or approval from others, driving the need.

The truth is, money is a tool to be used by you to achieve your goals. You’ve got the power to rule over your finances, whether you’re starting with a lot, or a little. As the hip-hop classic goes, “C.R.E.A.M: Cash Rules Everything Around Me.” By examining and changing what you believe about money, you empower yourself to add: “But it doesn’t rule ME.”

In order to define what wealthy or rich means to you, you must spend some time with your thoughts and decide what would really make you happy. Is it a mansion and a yacht, or perhaps a three-bedroom home with a white picket fence? Perhaps it’s a Manhattan condo. Whatever it is, you have to decide upon it and save toward it.

Dream big! Dream very big! What do you want to be when you grow up? (This question applies to all ages.) Maybe you don’t know. Maybe you can’t figure it out because you are so bogged down with the day-to-day stresses of going to school, working or taking care of children. Well let me share a quote that may put things in perspective:

“First I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying to marry and have children. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could get back to my career. And then I was dying to retire. And now I am dying … and suddenly realize that I forgot to live.” —Author Unknown

Don’t let this be you. Define a goal, find out how much it costs, and enjoy it when you reach it.

GENERAL FINANCIAL GOALS TO HAVE

Perhaps you have never thought about this before, so here are some general goal ideas that most people who are keeping it rich have:

To build an emergency fund of at least three months of expenses in case of income interruption; or in the meantime, to pay for unexpected bills like getting your car towed (oh my fault, this is about you, not about me. LOL).

To pay student loan payments on time so you can build a good credit history and pay down your debt.

To pay down credit card debt so you can have more accessible cash each month once that bill is completely paid off.

To buy a house in order to have an appreciating asset that will gain value over time (and to have a nice, stable place to live in the meantime).

To save for retirement so that you don’t have to physically work after the age of 65.

To pay for kids’ college education so they don’t have student loan debt.

To take more vacations so you can enjoy relaxation in your rich life.

To open a small business so you can build sustainable, institutional wealth that can pass on to the next generation.

Typically, once there is a solid plan in place (not necessarily completed, but once the plan is in place) then people who are keeping it rich start to enjoy the finer things in life such as fancy cars, tours around the world, designer shoes and the such.

Read more at www.keepingitrich.com

Sakina Spruell is the creator of the Keeping It Rich brand of literacy products. Visit her at www.keepingitrich.com

On her MSNBC talk show, Melissa Harris-Perry flared up when a guest discredited public welfare, firing back with a passionate defense for the poor working class.

The topic was prompted by the show’s discussion on the book, “Why Americans Hate Welfare,” by Princeton professor Martin Gilens. Harris-Perry made the argument that feeling deserving of social mobility was the key to wealth. But when financial expert Monica Mehta suggested that class mobility is “enabled by taking risk,” Harris-Perry vehemently roared, “What is riskier than living poor in America? Seriously?”

After slamming her hand on the table she said, “What in the world is riskier than being a poor person in America? I live in a neighborhood where people are shot on my street corner. Being poor is what is risky. We have to create a safety net for poor people and when we won’t because they happen to look different from us, it is the pervasive ugliness.”

Read more at Huffington Post.

Self-made millionaire Arthur Wylie seeks to shed light on how to tap into a “crazy and fearless” strategy of success modeled by many bankable leaders— from Henry Ford to Sara Blakely to Sean “Diddy” Combs—in his book Only the Crazy and Fearless Win BIG! The Surprising Secrets to Success in Business and in Life.

(Read more about Arthur Wylie’s rise to acclaim here.)

Get the chance to win Wylie’s book and find out how you can tap into being “crazy and fearless, by visiting BE Rewarded.

Arthur Wylie, a self-made millionaire, shares his 'crazy and fearless' secrets to success in his latest book. (Photo: Arthur Wylie Enterprises)

Arthur Wylie made his first million by the age of 26—not by playing it safe and following all rules, but by using a “crazy and fearless” plan of attack.

As a college student, he started his own wealth management company, taking on clients from his dorm room.  “At the time, the job market was shrinking, and I knew the best way to get a job was to create one,” Wylie says. “I wanted to look at a way to earn money, be good by myself and contribute to my family.”

With a father in the financial services industry and several mentors, Wylie was able to expand his brand into film and real estate.

Today, the founder and CEO of Arthur Wylie Enterprises shares his secrets to success in his latest book, Only the Crazy and Fearless Win BIG! The Surprising Secrets to Success in Business and in Life (BenBella Books; $24.95), exploring the inspiring stories and enterprising success models of innovators and entrepreneurs who took risks and reaped the benefits of thinking beyond limits.

BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Wylie to find out how being crazy and fearless can lead to career fulfillment and lucrative prosperity.

BlackEnterprise.com: What are some of the skills that “crazy and fearless” leaders use every day?

Arthur Wylie: In the book, I looked at common traits of successful businesspeople — Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Mark Zuckerberg, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Sara Blakely. They all had a crazy vision and created things even when they did not already exist. For whatever they wanted to do, they thought big. It wasn’t just about that, they put together a fearless plan of attack. They had a vision and a power plan, knew how to execute, how to market themselves and how to deal with the unknown. They were comfy with understanding that if they continued on their path, they wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen next because they did the right thing to prepare. They knew how to network with the right people and they were okay with dealing with that fear factor.

Speaking of the fear factor, many young people are taught to play it safe when it comes to life and their careers. How can young people tap into being crazy and fearless to achieve success?

Sometimes it’s a bigger risk not doing anything that goes above and beyond the norm. To say, ‘One day I’m just going to walk off my job’ is not what I’m talking about. You have to have a plan of attack—that crazy and fearless plan. You have to think beyond boundaries and execute.

Continued on next page …

You’ve had mentors to help guide you in your path. How do mentors play into the “crazy and fearless” pursuit of success?

From Ray Kennedy [founder, president and CEO at American Product Distributors] to [businessman] Richard Griffin, who gave me the first office I could work out of for my business, to my father, who was in the insurance and investment game for over 30 years—their efforts were very instrumental. With mentors, you must look at what they do, understand how they do it, and move forward. It’s  essential to have them. Some you may know personally and some you may model after by example. You have to have these mentors to look at the steps they took toward their success and also learning from their failures.

When does crazy and fearless go too far in business?

When you go after a crazy idea with no plan of attack. It’s no good when you’re not looking at your vision and fleshing it out or you neglect to make sure you understand the process and create a business or life plan accordingly. You need to analyze and look at things, from short-term to mid-term to long-term goals. If you’re not doing those things, I think it’s stupid. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s okay to say, “Hey I want to get to the moon.” Many people would say that’s ‘crazy,’ but if you have a game plan for getting there, that’s success.

How does one go about thinking outside of the box to achieve the “crazy and fearless” success?

First understand, I didn’t even know there WAS a box. There is no box, and you can’t think out of something that is not there. Don’t limit yourself. You must create and innovate, as many of the successful people mentioned in my book have done.

Check us out tomorrow Wylie’s six “crazy and fearless” steps to career success, and a chance to win Arthur Wylie’s book Only the Crazy and Fearless Win BIG! The Surprising Secrets to Success in Business and in Life.

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.

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?