-
How to Find an Affordable Home – Four Expert Methods that You Can Use
Thereโs more to buying a home than the selling price and interest rate. You can expect to pay anywhere from 2% to 5% of the purchase price in closing costs. For this reason, buying a home is not a very good short-term investment. Common closing costs (which will pop out of nowhere) include application fee ($$$), appraisal fee ($500+), attorney fees (if you need it), property taxes (because Uncle Sam and the Cheetoh), mortgage insurance (cuz we can't have nice things), home inspection ($250+), first year homeownerโs insurance premium (making it rain), title search ($$), title insurance, points (prepaid interest), origination fee, recording fees and survey fee. Just throw about…
-
Living Paycheck to Paycheck: Why Financial Literacy Matters Now More than Ever
Financial Literacy is among the major complaints of this generation. You can’t go one day without seeing a budgeting meme, a broke meme, or the classic running away from bills meme. People areย fleeing the country to avoid paying student loans, it’s getting pretty nuts out there. (Sallie Mae needs to invest in retrieval squads) Student Loan Default rates are heading toward 80% by 2024 On top of that, our social circle Twitter pundits are quick to mention that this wouldn’t have happened if they taught this in school. On the flipside, I’m wondering if the teachers are complaining about not having enough money, budgeting issues, and not understanding the terms…
-
TNFG Weekly Chapter 9: Doing all the Right Things the Wrong Way
TNFG Weekly is a dose of my favorite nutritional content and nuggets thatโs worth indulging. Sharing Financial Wholeness through Mindset, Articles, Spirituality, Health, Food, Fitness, Books, and etc.
-
How to Read in a Digital Age
“The Purpose of Reading. The purpose of reading is to connect the ideas on the page to what you already know. If you don’t know anything about a subject, then pouring words of text into your mind is like pouring water into your hand. You don’t retain much.” Donald Martin, How to be a Successful Student, 1991 Print as a Medium is Dead I remember seeing the class title, Reading Comprehension throughout middle school and maybe some of highschool. I never understood why they didn’t call the class, English Literature, or just “Reading”; now I know. Reading comprehension is the intentional act of engaging with what is being provided by an author. It’s not enough to…
-
Black Media and the Absence of Black Wealth in America
According to 2013 data from a paper by the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies, they found that it would take 228 years for the average wealth held by African Americans to catch up.
-
How to Beat Money Trauma. A Guide For those that Worship Money to those who Avoid Money
Stop Counting Other People’s Money. Beating The Need for Stuff and the Urge to Flaunt Last Friday, I was duped into a coffee meet-up with a financial advisor. Instead of a cold call; like some sort of supervillain, he revealed that this was a cold meetup. The betrayal was indeed real. The experience ended up burning a significant portion of my day off. I was left with two takeaways. One, always ensures that there is a firm purpose if someone wants to link up with you. If there isn’t a Return on Investment (ROI), it’s a waste of your time. Once you reach 30+, “me time” becomes a precious commodity. Secondly, always have a firm…
-
How We Ended Up Traveling 12 Countries in 14 Days For an Affordable Price
So you want to travel to 12 countries in 14 days? Sure about that… This trip is not for the faint of heart. If flying to 1-2 countries is rookie level, going through 12 is pretty insane by comparison. It required planning, the right attitude/personality, and a bankroll of money. Total costs ended up being around $7,775 in total (estimated at $7,250- $8,250). Not bad, considering some of the travel packages for 6 countries were going for $7,000 per person. Planning it on our own worked. We were able to tailor the experience and choose the type of experience we wanted from beginning to end. It was super challenging at…
-
How to do a Financial Deep Cleaning this Spring
Spring is finally upon us. Crisp mornings. Light sweater-optional weather. Open windows and pollen everywhere. It’s time. Got to love this time of year. Once tax season ends, the real work begins. Unfortunately, you can’t get ready for this. Got to take a leap of faith in order to close out the year in success vs more of the same. Spring Cleaning!!!! There is nothing more satisfying than a deep breath of “Fabuloso” in the morning. The non-organic purple fog that clogs the judgment is intense. It’s also how you know the current generation doesn’t know how to clean; instead of using tide pods for sport, please considerย Fabulosoย at 8:00 am…
-
Black Men and the Rebirth of the Financial Role Model
Only 17% of Black men have a bachelorโs degree. We have to change that drastically. African American males, ages 16 to 64 have a lower participation rate in the labor force (67% compared to โall malesโ 80%). It has gotten so bad that over 20% of work-eligible black men did not work for all of 2016. The usual reaction to this is, “Not me”. Iโm not here for the emotional vanity so please check your unfettered femininity at home. It might not be you. This is the reality for a lot of people that you don’t run into or communicate with, on your normal work-to-home commute. The people we actively avoid on our…
-
How to Make $100K Generate $100K Passively with a Financial Plan
I never professed to be the best with money but I know how to construct a financial plan. The very reason that Iโm writing this now, is because I took the fast ramp toward debt, depression, and anxiety. For most of us, unlucky with money, either from not being born with it or just squandering early opportunities; the road is rocky and rough. I grew up with no concept of how to administer a self-diagnostic; I only know that Iโm well when Iโm already through it. In that aspect, I’m lucky. Most people will never know the opportunities missed until it’s too late. โIf we have persisted in making errors,…
