There are many stories floating “over the transom” with regard to financial accountability in Black America, but most people tend to take three major money moguls -Donald Trump, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett – seriously when it come to advice on how to “get” rich. Most of our problems, as a whole, come in with the missing education on how to STAY rich once we get there.

A stereotype floats its way around the Black community about how “badly” Black people handle money and credit.

One white southern lawyer, while laughing at the implication that then-Senator Barack Obama -a Black man- would ever be elected President, also made this statement, after Obama won, “Well, Obama can spread the wealth all he wants, we’ll have it all back in two years anyway.” It was supposed to be funny, but I couldn’t laugh. I also could not argue with him.

At least it seems to be that way most of the time, especially after watching so many Black celebrities who aren’t as rich as they appear to be.

They are actually “on loan” or being rented out by Hollywood for a temporary money fix, and if they don’t invest that money where it needs to go when it needs to go there, they do end up jackleg broke and running the streets, going to jail for income tax evasion (you have to be rich like Trump to get away with evading taxes), and/or using their stage name for leverage to go into the ministry. Being a pastor is an easy backup second-life after-Hollywood job if you know how to delegate all of your real tasks as a minister to some associates who keep it rolling.

Anyhoo…

Adapted for Black America from Donald Trump’s book “How to Get Rich,” here are two major keys to GET rich, and actually STAY there, but do keep in mind that you will never be $9.2 billion in debt and still come up smelling like a rose. Even Trump had his “side gig” on commercial television to keep some of his bills paid.

1 Credit: The Bank Lord Giveth…

Establish personal relationships with your bankers if you insist on going there.

Get in their faces and stay in it while you can pay, because if you ever can’t pay and they don’t know you personally, you’re just another number when it’s time for the “Bank Lord” to take away.

Bankers have “boardside manners” like doctors have bedside manners, it depends on who you deal with. But the old adage still applies: He who has the gold makes the rules.

If you use credit, use it wisely; but the best way not to be in debt is not to get in debt.

If there was ever a time to compare debt to smoking, the time is now: If you don’t start it, you don’t worry later about quitting. Credit, especially when it comes to home loans, is a huge money pit for Black people.

The system is not designed to work for that certain sector of hard-working American people who are just beginning to peek their heads past slavery less than 200 years ago, past civil rights just under 50 years ago, past being situationally and economically under- and non-stimulated for the past 45 years, and then past the economic losses of several Republican-run economies and the one financial boom of the one Democrat President since Ronald Reagan. The jury’s still out on the President in office as of today, as there are operatives in place to make certain he’s a total failure no matter who they hurt. Suffice it to say that he’s taking some ‘major hits’ in order to set an EXAMPLE for us of how to conduct business and keep it moving even in the face of total opposition.

Once you’re the boss, you’re the boss. Credit makes them the boss.

2 Cash: Up, Down, All Around, Cash Works. Always.

Save, spend, give, invest.

The first ten-percent of your income off the top goes into a personal savings account, not into a tithe machine at a church.

If you can afford it, give the church ten-percent more of your gross or net afterward, and even so, it should be a church that understands the proper use of the tithe and does not misuse that privilege.

Ten percent of the tithes and offerings is for the church and the pastor(s), the other 90-percent is supposed to be disbursed and redistributed back into the community – the church’s community- “according to the Order of Melchizedek.” So that he who gathered much did not have too much, and he that gathered little had no lack.

NO LACK. ZERO.

Spending is imperative for needs, and though it is optional for wants, wants are what keeps the fluid economy going.

It keeps people employed and keeps American industry moving forward. But unless you are The Donald, Gates, or Buffett, you may want to bank test the merits of having a budget for those expenses.

[Note: That money pit, credit, is not the best and most ideal way to spend. It capitalizes on future income that isn’t made yet and future income that you may never have if you get fired or quit your job. And if you are not making at least $25-$35 an hour on that 9-5, you are already coming into this current economy operating at a deficit. The way you handle that cash is the only way to fix that deficit. Debt is not an answer unless you have the savings on hand to pay it off in full if need be. Only use credit as leverage if you have cash on hand, not as a need- or want-fulfiller. The best use of credit is for INVESTMENTS, not for fluid spending. It’s past time for Black people to stop being “liquid money” for the rest of the nation to get rich off of.]

Giving is a necessity, but only to the extent that you can afford it. The idea is, if you can afford to do so, look for people to help if they don’t stumble up to you while you’re out and about.

If your church is not socially green (investing back into its outer community) with its spending and budgeting, then that tithe is better spent in the “storehouse” where it’s needed the most — that homeless man or woman, or that shelter, that needs it more than the church does. Truth is, there shouldn’t be any such thing as a church without ‘social missions,’ some of them even have ‘welfare departments’ to catch those people who fall through the cracks. They ask only one question during the intake interview: “May I pray with you?”

Investing — and this is a hard one for a lot of Black people.

If there is anything left after saving, spending for needs and wants, and giving, investing is a Catch-22. It depends on where you put that money whether or not the returns are going to be worth it; and this is the only thing, really, that credit should be used for.

Many moneyed people nowadays will tell you not to bother with the stock market, but that’s likely because they’ve had a personal bad experience with it, which can be expected when investing in things in which there are no guarantees as to outcome.

 

In the final analysis, TRULY rich people don’t flaunt. Flaunting is one sure sign that that person is broke as a joke.