Event at Philadelphia Free Library

I’m thrilled to be presenting “Creating a Foundation for Wealth” at the Philadelphia Free Library. Creating a Foundation for Wealth Flyer.

Philadelphia Free Library

Central Branch

Thursday, April 5th

1pm – 2pm

1901 Vine Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Order your copy now

Order your copy of “10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money” now and bring your questions to the workshop.

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.

Make Today Your Financial Independence Day

This week’s personal finance column at Black Voice News gives steps to become wealthy:

With so many people celebrating our country’s Independence Day, it seems only appropriate that we should take a moment to consider how to create personal, financial independence. There are five simple steps that can help you create, and manage, generational wealth. Remember, it’s not how much you bring in that determines your net worth. How to use your money is what separates the wealthy from the mediocre.

Step 1: Know your net worth
have to know where you stand financially if you want to grow. Take a moment to make a list of all your assets (things that you own) and subtract all your liabilities (debt you owe) to find your net worth. My first book Money Matters: The Get It Done in 1 Minute Workbook ($12) has a really simple worksheet to help you understand where you’re starting from.

Step 2: Create a spending plan
Once you understand what you have (assets), what you owe (liabilities), and what your financial value is you can start to plan where and how you spend your money. Most of us waste more money than we realize on small purchases. We have to find opportunities to make small changes that make a big difference. For example, once you notice that you spend $20 a month on sodas at work (that’s $240 a year) you can choose to bring sodas from home or better yet start drinking water and start investing the money you were wasting.

Step 3: Invest and plan for generational wealth
Now that you’ve found a few places where you can save a few dollars, you’re going to start investing that money for your retirement with the goal of leaving an inheritance for your loved ones. Differences between retirement accounts are explained in my book 10 Things College Students Need to Know About Money ($15). If you’re wondering why planning to leave generational wealth to your loved ones is important, download my free eBook “You Shouldn’t Take It With You”.

Step 4: Talk openly
Realizing that your net worth is negative or that you’re spending way too much money on things that are not helping you build wealth …. Click here to read the full article.

The Case for Fee Only Advisors

Do you know how your financial advisor gets paid? Money is a huge motivation for most people that hold jobs. There are generally three types of financial advisors in the US: percentage based, transaction based, and fee only. If you don’t you may want to find out, it may be costing you thousands of dollars a year.

Percentage based means that the advisor works on maintaining, and hopefully growing, your wealth. They get paid by taking a cut of your overall wealth every year. The idea is that if you’re worth more they make more. If you’re worth less, they make less. This encourages them to grow your wealth because their commission is tied to your financial health. The issue here is that in an effort to increase your wealth, there may be a motivation to make moves that are more risky that you’re comfortable with. After all, if they lose some of your money they have other clients they earn commissions from. Where will you make up the difference?

I’m using the term transaction based as a catch-all term that includes advisors that get paid as brokers (when you make transactions) and as advisors (suggesting funds to you). Basically, these people get paid when you buy something. It benefits them to encourage you to make many different transactions because the more you buy, the more they make. Let’s say that Mutual Fund A is a good fit for you, but only offers the transaction based advisor $100 worth of potential commission while Mutual Fund B is more risk than you want to take on, but offers the transaction based advisor $200 worth of potential commission. I’m sure that we can all see the temptation there.

Fee-only advisors require a set amount of money for a specific action, say creating a wealth strategy, a debt management strategy, an investment portfolio, etc. Since the fee-only advisor is already getting paid for her knowledge, there is little -to-know motivation to suggest funds that will give them a commission but may not be right for you, encourage you to trade more than is necessary, or make risky trades on your behalf to try and increase your wealth.

Finding out how your financial advisor gets paid may end up saving you thousands of dollars. It’s important that you have a solid relationship with your financial advisor. If you don’t know, ask. If you feel worried about asking… you may need to find a different financial advisor, but make sure she’s a fee-only advisor.

Be well.

Why Women of Color MUST Master Their Money

Life is chess, not checkers. Make smart moves.

If you haven’t read the new study “Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America’s Future” it’s time you do. One of the most startling discoveries of the study is

For all working-age black women 18 to 64, the financial picture is bleak. Their median household wealth is only $100. Hispanic women in that age group have a median wealth of $120.

Yes, you read that right. Though there are many reasons that these statistics exist I’d like to make mention of a few key points.

We tend to make less to begin with, so it’s vital that we manage what we earn well.

They also are more likely to be employed in jobs and industries — such as service occupations — with lower pay and less access to health insurance. And when their working days are done, they rely most heavily on Social Security because they are less likely to have personal savings, retirement accounts or company pensions. Their Social Security benefits are likely to be lower, too, because of their low earnings.

We can control our reactions to what happens to us and to do that we have to be aware of our options.

The current economic crisis has shown that a person’s wealth affects not only retirement security, but also a person’s ability to handle financial setbacks such as a job loss or a health emergency.

It’s imperative that we:
Start planning ahead
Figure out our net worth
Monitor our credit scores and understand why they matter
Show that we respect ourselves by making good money choices
Make a spending plan
Don’t use quick cash services

At the end of the day, for many reasons, it’s up to many women to make good choices for themselves and their families. We must ask the questions we don’t want to hear the answers to and make the tough choices. Educating yourself about personal finance will help put you in a position of power and you’ll be stronger for it.

Be well.

PEACE

B.E. 10 Wealth for Life Principles

Thought this might be helpful. From Black Enterprise Magazine:

1) I will live within my means.

2) I will maximize my income potential through education and training.

3) I will effectively manage my budget, credit card, debt, and other tax obligations.

4) I will save at least 10% of my income.

5) I will use homeownership as a foundation for building wealth.

6) I will devise an investment plan for my retirement needs and children’s education.

7) I will ensure that my entire family adheres to sensible money management principles.

8) I will support the creation and growth of businesses owned by people of color.

9) I will guarantee my wealth is passed on to future generations through proper insurance and estate planning.

10) I will strengthen my community through philanthropy.

These are great guiding principles to use in your financial life. Please read each one carefully and consider how it might be applied in your life. I keep a copy of them taped the refrigerator in our office to remind everyone of what we’re here to do.

How to Give: Tips For Passing on Wealth To Your Kids, Your Charity, and Your Dog

From US News:

In tough economic times when everyone’s focused on keeping what they have, giving freely is still important. Already, charities are feeling the pinch that comes with a severe recession, and many parents are wondering just how much they’ll be able to pass on to their children. Since it’s likely that you’re focused on staying afloat—and working with less money—it’s important to find the most efficient ways to give. With help from Debby Cochran, a lawyer and estate planning specialist at Cochran and Owen in Tysons Corner, Va., U.S. News offers advice on how to make sure your giving goes exactly where you intend with the least amount of hassle:

1. Giving to your children. Everyone wants to provide for their children and luckily, using gifts to transfer wealth is fairly straightforward.

The basics: Giving gifts to your children is a way to distribute your estate without taking a huge tax hit. But it’s important to start early, since there are limits on how much you can pass on each year. If you’re married, a couple can give up to $26,000 tax-free to as many individuals as they’d like each year (the limit is $13,000 for gifts from singles.) Above that limit, gifts are still tax-free but they count against a lifetime gift exemption of $1 million per individual as of 2009. Gifts over that limit can also overlap with estate taxes, and you’ll have to file a Form 709 gift tax return. If you expect to hit that $1 million limit in your lifetime, Cochran says now might be the time for some extra giving, since assets that have fallen heavily in value lately but could later recover are counted at their market price at the time of the gift.

 

 

Consider a loan: Straightforward gifts are great, but for larger amounts, it might be a good time to consider a loan. Right now, low interest rates in general mean rates on inter-family loans are at rock-bottom levels: as little as 2 percent for medium-term loans (three to nine years) with longer-term loans in the still-cheap 3 percent to 4 percent range. Rates are usually set by the Applicable Federal Rate, published monthly by the IRS here. If loans are set at or above those rates, they can be given without incurring incurring gift taxes. If, for example, you son or daughter need a $300,000 loan to by a house, you can lend them the money at the low rate and then forgive the debt tax-free at the gift rates mentioned above. Bottom line: Family loans have a tax advantage and better rates than most banks are offering at the moment. “You can get rid of appreciation tax-free,” Cochran says. As for finding a lender, inter-family loans are available online through “social-lending” sites like Virgin Money for relatively modest fees.

To read the rest of the article visit US News.