Okay, yeah. Great. Could you just break down the ins and outs of budgeting within a Black context. For example, last night I was listening to Morgan State Radio(WEAA), and an analyst pointed several reasons why it is inordinately difficult for Blacks to save and invest. Some reasons she gave were:

1. Most Blacks don't know how to figure out what their credit rating is, even after obtaining their three credit reports.

2. Lending predators take advantage of Blacks' notorious financial illiteracy, and give them higher interest rates, knowing that the Black person does not realize that his/her credit is not as bad as he/she thinks it is, which means he/she should qualify for a lower interest rate on a home or car loan, for example.

3. Blackfolk help out family members and take care of relatives more often than people of the majority culture, which cuts into the family budget, and decreases the amount of money that would otherwise be available for savings and investments.

4. Blacks tend to make less money than their majority counterparts, thereby decreasing the amount of money one has to work with from the beginning.

SO THE QUESTION IS: In light of all of this, what would you say the ABCs are of budgeting, and how does one figure in savings and investments into this larger scheme?(On Good Morning America, financial advise given was to have six months' of your monthly budget saved up in case you ever lose your job. If you don't make that much money to begin with, how could a Black person save up a six-month stash like that?-That's a second question, that I just HAD to sneak in there :-) )



"Next to God we are indebted to Afrikan women, first for
giving us life and secondly for making that life worth
living." -Mary Mc Leod Bethune

"Don't Hate the PLAYA Boy...hate the GAME," Granddad Freeman of the Boondocks(7-11-99)

*Twenty-three percent of women are "autoerotic singles" — they prefer to achieve sexual satisfaction alone(source-bet.com)

*If U have won a Grammy, one of two things are at play: 1. Your shit is TIGHT
2. U are white
-(Me)

"We are not a problem people. We are merely people, who have problems."-Dorothy I. Height(from We Are Not Vanishing)