Black relationships: Should He ditch the gold digger?

I am a widower. My wife of 46 years passed away a year and a half ago. I recently met and felt very attracted to a woman. My problem is that she is reluctant to open up to me even though we have a great time together. We live about 1,700 miles apart. She has this mind set that poor plus poor equals poor and yet she claims not to be a gold digger. She has been married twice to rich men and has traveled everywhere. Her longest marriage was with a man who she says wasn't affectionate with her. She has actually come right out and told me that I do not make enough for her style of living. Now I may be wrong but if both her marriages ended in divorce and she now has to scrape by while this "poor" guy with more money than she has at her disposal wants to be with her, would that not tip the scales in my direction? Or could it be she just does not want to be a three-time loser. This woman, whether she wants to admit it or not, has stolen my heart, and I have told her so. When I tell her I love her, she says thank you. We seldom talk on the phone though we were talking daily at first. I am at wits end, and I truly do not know what to do.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: black celebrity gossip,black bloggers,black love,black relationships

Black News: Detroit Becoming a Hot Bed for Real Estate Purchases

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As Detroit home prices in Detroit crash, sales are heating up. But with all of the plant closings and layoffs, who's buying? Investors -- some of whom are snapping up five and 10 houses at a time.

"I have investors from all over the country and the world," said Jeremy Burgess, co-founder of Urban Detroit Wholesalers, which buys undervalued homes to rehab and rent or to sell to other investors. "One Lithuanian woman just bought a second house."

"Most of the local investors are out of money," added Mike Shannon, who specializes in Detroit foreclosures and has clients from New Zealand, Australia, England and other places.

Recently a Californian purchased 178 properties, mostly one at a time, and most for under $10,000. Another has purchased six Detroit properties since September and hopes to begin buying five a month.

Click to read more on the African American Money Blog.

 

Technorati Tags: detroit,black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth

Black Money Expert Ryan Mack: Keeping Your Home

Black finance expert Ryan Mack brings us advice from a place of real heart to help hard-working Americans deal with the mortgage mess. With his warm brand of personal finance advice, Mack's strongest words to the community are: "If you are having problems paying your mortgage DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM YOUR HOME!" In part one of our two-part interview, learn more about how we got into this housing crisis, how it has affected the general economy and what you should do now to protect your home.
How did you become a finance expert? What inspired you to pursue this goal?
When I was on Wall Street making great money I felt empty, because I was not an effective contributor to my community. I knew that finance was my passion, but I also knew that sitting in a cubicle making money only for the sake of self-empowerment was not my purpose.
Like too many families in America, many people in my family were not financially literate. My passion was to change that. In addition, I was always getting asked personal finance questions from peers who knew I was a stock trader. But trading is different from personal finance. To address these questions, I began to study personal finance and started a Yahoo group called MakingMoneyWork, which provided tips and strategies to over 200 members through weekly newsletters.

Click to read more on the African American Money blog.

Technorati Tags: ryan mack,black financial experts,black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth,black news,african american news

Prof Christopher Richardson Breaks down Tavis Smiley Sponsor Wells Fargo’s alleged discrimination

Dr. Christopher Richardson

Dr. Christopher Richardson, one of the world’s leading experts on predatory lending and banking, comments on a recent report that Wells Fargo, one of the sponsors of the State of the Black Union event held every year, is being sued by several government agencies due to accusations of financially exploiting and deliberately misleading the Black community.  Dr. Richardson’s comments are below:

Click to read on African American Money.

Technorati Tags: black money,black wealth,african american money,african american wealth,black professors,black scholars,african american scholars

Black Money: Good news in the job market

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance fell more than expected last week, but ongoing claims ticked higher, according to government data released Thursday.

There were 601,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended June 6, down 24,000 from 625,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.

Economists expected 615,000 new claims, according to a consensus survey by Briefing.com.

Click to read more on African American Money.

Technorati Tags: black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth

Black Money: Wells Fargo Accused of Cheating the Black Community

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

www.BoyceWatkins.com

Tavis Smiley needs to have a conversation with one of his primary sponsors, Wells Fargo. This week, it was announced that Wells Fargo is being sued by the city of Baltimore for egregiously racist predatory lending practices in the black community. The company has been accused by some former loan officers of targeting subprime, low quality loans to black neighborhoods, leading to a dramatic economic collapse for the black community of Baltimore.

The statistical evidence is daunting. Half of all the properties foreclosed by Wells Fargo are vacant and 71% of those properties are in black neighborhoods. Wells Fargo's African American borrowers with incomes greater than $68,000 per year were 8 times more likely to hold subprime loans than white borrowers with the same income.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: tavis smiley,state of the black union,black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth

Black Money: Dealing with Borrowers in your family

You are the one who went to college, got the Wall Street job, went on exotic vacations around the world and bragged about them to your cousins back in Detroit at family reunions. Now you are unemployed and more family members than ever have their hands out. How do you determine who to "lend" money to or whether you should be lending money at all? Here are a few tips.

1. First, make sure your family is aware of the changes to your financial circumstances. Whether you are unemployed, your annual bonus is nonexistent or you recently overheard the executive assistants gossiping about cuts in your department, it is important to communicate this to family members so they know that your baller tendencies are on hold. Be considerate of their circumstances when you communicate this message. Telling them that you "downsized" your Buckingham Blue Range Rover to a Lexus Rx Hybrid to save money on gas is likely to get you little to no sympathy. Talk in terms of percentages; say things like, "Yeah, the economy really sucks, without my bonus this year I will make 50% less so I am cutting back." Communicating that you are also tightening your financial belt should make your family think twice before they ask you for money.

2. If you are still approached by family members for money, it is important to assess whether this is a recurring problem or a one-time ask. If the same family member always has their hand out, their money issues may be symptomatic of larger core issues (depression, gambling, living beyond their means, etc.). Have a heart to heart with your family member to try to unearth what may be at the root of their money problems. Then, if you discover a bigger issue, be supportive and help them to address the issue directly. Do not give them more money, no matter how bad they say they "need" it, it will only result in them coming back to you for more of the same a few months down the road. Instead, offer to pay for debt counseling or a gym membership - whatever helps them address their core issue.

Click to read.

Black Money: Car Loans Tough to Come By

Auto dealers are using rebates, discounts, and other incentives to lure buyers back into their showrooms. But once they get customers through the door, dealers are still battling an issue that has troubled the industry for months: a lack of financing.

Brandon Schaefer, the owner of Nationwide, a string of dealerships in Timonium, Maryland, says foot traffic has improved, but lending has not. "About twice as many people as before are getting turned down for loans," he says. "The guidelines continue to get stricter."

Click to read more.

Technorati Tags: black money,black wealth,african american money,african american wealth

Financial Lovemaking: What About the man with all the babies?

Desmond Hatchett is 29 years old and has 21 children with 11 different women. The Knoxville, TN native also works for minimum wage and can't support all of his kids. The state is only allowed to take 50% of his paycheck, which doesn't amount to very much for each child.

What do we make of Hatchett's decision? This is clearly a question for Financial Lovemaking.

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: desmond hatchett,21 kids,11 babies mamas,black love,black relationships,black money,black news

Dr. Boyce: Credit Cards are the New Addiction

In an interview with NPR's Michel Martin, I explained how credit card companies are really financial drug dealers. While this comparison might initially seem out of the park, it is actually quite appropriate: Credit is like a drug: it makes you feel good, and it is difficult for most Americans to feel secure or comfortable without it. Also like a drug, credit can be abused. Americans are hooked on consumption and credit card companies are willing to serve us our drug to the point of financial ruin.

The difference between financial drugs and medical drugs is that most financial drugs are legal, no matter how harmful they might be. In 1979, Congress got rid of usury laws, allowing credit card companies to charge darn near any interest rate they wanted, any fee they felt applicable and any penalty they felt you deserved. In other words, the legalized financial drug dealers were allowed to run rampant and sell as much of their product as the addicts could consume.

 

Click to read.

Technorati Tags: black money,african american money,black wealth,african american wealth

Lady Drama: Beyonce Tackles Jay-Z on the Forbes List

According to Forbes Beyonce beat out her husband's net worth on the Forbe's list for this year! Beyonce made the top 5 of the list at #4 while Jay Z didn't even make the top 10! Jay Z came in at a measly #32 on the list beating out our President but I'm sure that doesn't do too much for his ego! Check out the list for yourself:
1 Angelina Jolie
2 Oprah Winfrey
3 Madonna
4 Beyonce Knowles
5 Tiger Woods
6 Bruce Springsteen
7 Steven Spielberg
8 Jennifer Aniston
9 Brad Pitt
10 Kobe Bryant

Click to read more.

Technorati Tags: jay z,beyonce,black news,african american news,black celebrity gossip,black celebrities,lady drama

Financial Lovemaking: The Value of Halle and Jamie’s Kiss

Most of us saw the crazy face sucking episode between Halle Berry and Jamie Foxxthe other night on the "Guy's Choice Awards". While you might have been turned on by the episode or turned off by the vulgarity of it, the truth is that most of us don't see the financial value behind the infamous grab and suck.

Why would Halle Berry and Jamie Foxx lock lips, private parts and everything else in front of the world (not to mention their significant others)? Why might their significant others actually be OK with that? It all comes down to Financial Lovemaking, since there is a clear monetary value of creating such shocking moments on the big screen.

Let's be real: Halle and Jamie are both in their 40s, and both of them have financially busted movies to their credit. Also, there is a serious problem with Hollywood's continuous decision to ignore the very best black female actresses in the world (I would put Regina King or Angela Bassett up against any actress in Hollywood, but they rarely get the roles they deserve). Hollywood has pushed what "Halle-would" do to the test, as this woman has always had to stretch the limits of decency to stay on top (remember Halle getting naked with Billy Bob Thornton a few years ago?). I hardly blame or judge Halle for her choices, since black actors and actresses are usually the last hired and the first fired.

The Internet has created a world in which a hot kiss, a butt grab or even a sex tape is necessary to keep you relevant. Even the group Pretty Ricky resorted to obnoxious grinding activity to get people to notice their next album. In this episode of Financial Lovemaking, we break down how it all works.

Continue reading Halle Berry and Jamie Foxx: What's the Financial Value of a Kiss?

Technorati Tags: black scholars,black professors,african american scholars,african american professors,halle berry,jamie foxx