Allensworth 2012

Allen and Josephine Allensworth, founders of Black California town Allensworth.

 

Yesterday, the Bigger Than Your Block team was very honored to be part of the Juneteenth Celebration at Allensworth State Historic Park. Financial Education Speaker & Author Shay Olivarria gave a wonderful speech on building a solid financial foundation based on learning about personal finance, sharing information about personal finance, and learning to pass on wealth to future generations. During the speech participants laughed and really interacted with Shay. When she came off of the stage people kept coming up to the table to speak with her, congradulate her on a job well done, share why she was a different type of financial education speaker, and find out what the Rule of 72 is! Kids took part in the financial education cross word puzzles and word search puzzles for prizes. Adults took home copies of the referral sheet that could net them $250 for referring an organization to Bigger Than Your Block. It was a wonderful day.

Allensworth is sometimes called The Town That Wouldn’t Die because of the tenacity of the people that settled there. The drummers mentioned that Black history is a living thing. We have to remember our history, and contribute to it for the next generations. I’m Black & I Travel says, the Allensworth family created a Black town in central California

.. Allensworth turned his eyes west. He wanted to create a town where black families could own their own homes, their own land, run their own farms and control their own destinies ..

It’s up to us to keep Allensworth alive. For those of you that haven’t been to Allensworth yet, we thought we’d share a few photos to motivate you to come up and celebrate next year.

There were tons of vendors, BBQ, ice cream, and people! Buses of folks kept coming up. It was good to see kids running around and folks hanging out under the trees.

 

The plaque reads:Elizabeth Dougherty, a wealthy Oakland business woman, purchased the property and financed the construction of the hotel in 1910. The hotel was her investment in Allensworth, but she did not live here….”

 

Mary Jane Bickers arrived in Allensworth in 1909 and opened the town’s first business, a general store.

 

If you’d like to read a bit more about Allensworth visit VirtualTourist.com. See you next year!

 

3 Reasons to Buy Money Matters

Order Money Matters on Amazon.com

If you are looking to make some changes and get on track financially, Money Matters by Shay Olivarria is the book for you. There is a check-up for where you are with your financial goals. The book addresses savings; short term and long term. It tells you how to set up retirement accounts, investments, and how NOT to get into deep debt. This is great for those beginning their journey into the real world. Also, for those that have already messed up, Olivarria has steps on how to get back on track.

Olivarria creates a great guide for you to create your own individual plan to get out of debt and on the track to financial freedom. She states that you have to be patient and consistent. It is never too late to turn it around. I suggest you gift this book to college graduates. It is straight to the point and interactive.

This book was provided courtesy of the author for review.

DCSquared

 

#1 You want to know more about personal finance, but you’re not sure where or how to begin.

We all want to make better financial decisions. The challenge is that sometimes we’re not sure what to do or we have hard decisions to make where both options seem like bad ideas. We get so caught up in running from day to day that we forget that we can make changes if we take a moment to plan instead of react. Money Matters was written with that in mind. The very first worksheet is one page long and helps you see the bigger picture by asking a few simple questions.

#2 You are intimidated by personal finance jargon.

Have you ever tried to read a personal finance book or spoke with someone in the financial services industry and you didn’t understand what they were saying? Me too! Personal finance is not complicated, but it’s easy to make it seem complicated by using industry jargon. Money Matters is written clearly. I don’t try to confuse the reader by making things sound harder than they are. That’s why media outlets across the country have quoted me and asked me to write for them. I make money management simple.

#3 You want to know what you need to know to make things change.

Take a look at the Table of Contents from Money Matters in the image above. This book covers “just the facts ma’am”. There are tons of books that do into depth about any area of personal finance that you might be interested in. This is not that book. Money Matters is a bare-bones, simple read with worksheets to help you make good decisions about money. The book covers net worth, retirement planning, paying off debt, managing your credit score, payday loans, rapid tax refunds, and even saving money on your groceries.

 

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, NBC Latino and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Family Connection Club

Get this great mp3 by signing up for the Family Connection Club now!

Financial Education Speaker & Author Shay Olivarria will be featured in the May issue of The Family Connection Club! In case you don’t know about the work that Linette Daniles, PhD and her daughter Danette Nixon do to help families I’ve posted a bit about them below. Suffice it to say that they are working hard to make sure that parents and children get along, have tools and resources available to them to build skills, and to have fun.

Looking for a great resource to teach your teen about money? Order 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money now!

When you sign up for the Family Connection Club you’ll get all the great things the Family Club Connection offers PLUS an mp3 from me talking about how to use teachable moments to convey financial literacy concepts like:

• Needs vs. wants
• Cost vs. value
• Net worth (why it’s important/ how to calculate)
• Compound interest (how it works/ how to earn it)
• Pay yourself first
• Work = money (work smarter not harder)
• Critical thinking (what marketing is, how it works, why it works)

If you haven’t signed up yet, I would suggest you do … after all …. McDonalds doesn’t need the money!

About Family Connection  Club

The success of our children blooms from a seed that is planted and nurtured by caring adults . . . and the strongest flowers are the result of deeply rooted communication within the home. The Family Connection Club is designed to make strengthening the parent-child relationship easier. Click here to learn more about the Family Connection Club.

About Shay
Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com

Allensworth Juneteenth Celebration

Col. Allensworth created the town of Allensworth, CA. It was a town founded in 1908, with the idea that African Americans could own property, learn, thrive, and live the American Dream. Every year they have several events to celebrate and commemorate this town.

Saturday, June 9th from 10am to 4pm Shay Olivarria of Bigger Than Your Block will attending the Allensworth celebration of Juneteenth in Allensworth, CA. She’s pleased to be presenting a lecture on financial education among Blacks.  The town was founded by Col. Allensworth because he believed that Blacks needed to be financially independent. He envisioned a town with it’s own school, businesses, and a college. The water turned brackish and people left, but the park has been turned into a state park.

Click the photo to visit the park’s page.

Of course it’s a celebration of enslaved Africans finally being made aware that freedom had come, but it’s also a celebration of our survival. As we remember how far we’ve come, it’s important to plan for the future. Working towards owning businesses, increasing our networth, and passing on our wealth to our children has got to become paramount.

The day will include entertainment for all, food, and of course some great speakers. Shay Olivarria will sell copies of her three books on site or buy them beforehand and have her sign them at the event. Either way, come on out and help celebrate the beauty of Black folks in America June 9th in Allensworth, Ca.

Book Shay Olivarria to speak at your event.

Shay Olivarria is the most dynamic financial education speaker working today. She speaks at high schools, colleges, and companies across the country. She has written three books on personal finance, including Amazon Best Seller “Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook”. Shay has been quoted on Bankrate.com, FoxBusiness.com, and The Credit Union Times, among others. To schedule Shay to speak at your event visit www.BiggerThanYourBlock.com.

Your Job is NOT Your Wealth

New article from the Money Matters series on BlackVoiceNews.com:

I’ve run across many people that seem to think that having a job is the best way to create financial stability. I’m aware that it’s a common idea, but it always floors me when I hear it. Owning a business and having passive income are much better ways to create financial stability for you, your family, and your community.

Let’s look at the idea that your job is a stable source of income. Ha! Your job is not as stable as you might think. We all know people that have been laid off for no reason other than it was best for the company’s bottom line. You will be hired or fired based on the needs of the company. Your employment, from the business’ perspective, has nothing to do with your needs.

What about the idea that having a job brings in “good” money? A job provides x amount of money for y amount of time. Usually you’re trading your time for a specific amount of money without understanding the affect our specific work has on the company’s overall bottom line. Businesses are in business to make money, so it makes sense that whatever amount you are being paid is obviously much less than that work is actually valued at.

A job is a critical piece for most people, but not because of the reasons that most people think. A job provides

…. click here to read the whole article.

Click here to check out all the articles from Shay on BlackVoiceNews.com.