Harvard University has recently revamped it’s financial aid program to ensure families with incomes below $60,000 are not asked to contribute to the cost of sending their children to Harvard. I blogged last year about Texas Tech having a similar program and wanted to spread the word about this program.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great colleges out there and I do believe HBCU’s also offer a quality education. I just feel this is another opportunity for a struggling student to get a degree without having to go into debt. College can be expensive and it doesn’t always guarantee you a job after you graduate. But a quality education can benefit you in ways you’d never imagine.

At any rate, if you or someone you know falls within the income range and has the scores to get accepted, please pass this on. My momma always told me, the worst they can do is say ‘no’.

Harvard announces sweeping middle-income initiative

Just a quick reminder to check your credit report before the end of the year. I know it’s last minute, but if you haven’t done so, get to it. Every year the government gives you a free credit report check so you can make sure there are no fraudulent inquiries on your record.

I do it every year for my family because identity theft can make your life miserable. When you run the check, you can get your report from the top three credit agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. While the credit report is free, you do not get access to your Fico score. To check your fico score, it costs $7.95, which in my opinion is well worth the cost. If you do see something on your report that doesn’t belong, you can report it to the credit agencies and follow the process to get it removed.

You can get your 30-day free credit report by visiting annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

I was watching the Today Show and they mentioned that half of this years donations to charities will be given from now until the end of the year. This is the time of year when people open their hearts the most to help others in need. There are a lot of ways to give money and time, but you need to make sure your efforts are not in vain.

I’ve listed three sites below that I’ve found to be helpful in researching the organizations that accept donations. This way you’ll know for sure that your money is going where it is needed. And if you are not able to give money, the sites below are a great way to find places where you can volunteer. If you know of an organization that’s not listed on the site and is doing good in the community, feel free to leave the contact information in the comment area.

guidestar.org

charitynavigator.org

give.org

It took a while, but I’m happy to say I’m almost done paying off my credit cards. In our world of gathering stuff we don’t need it wasn’t easy and it took discipline and sacrifice from the whole family. I’ve made the attempt before, but it seems something would always come up and I had to once again rely on the one thing I was trying to get rid of. After a couple of tries, I got smart and started saving while paying the minimums on each card. I stopped carrying the ones I was trying to pay off and only charged what I knew I could pay off in the same month it was charged. After I reached my goal for an emergency savings amount I built a budget and set a fixed amount that would be spread out amongst all the card payments. The higher interest cards got paid off first and the others got the minimum. After one was paid off the next highest interest rate would get the same payment as the one paid off plus the minimum. I kept that up until I got to the very last card. It feels good to look at the statements and see zeroes for the balances.

We have to take our credit history and finances more seriously. A good credit score can help you save a lot of money and it affects other parts of your life that you may not consider. I’ve worked hard to improve mine and I can see the results and rewards in doing so. The most important thing you need to do is build a budget. It wasn’t until I started budgeting that I figured out my plan to payoff my debt. I started out using a spreadsheet with categories, then I moved up to using Quicken Home & Business. It made life a lot easier and I was able to track where my money was going a lot easier. Businesses do this all the time. If your outflows exceed your inflows, then you’re borke. It’s as easy as that.

I ran across a website that had an article about “6 Great Free Alternatives to Quicken & MS Money“. While I’ve never tried any of these products, I did want to take away all your excuses for not build a budget. If time is your problem, then do it while you watch a game or your favorite TV program. It’s important to know where your money is going and it keeps you from living beyond your means. I also want to get you to check out an article on “Five Steps for Ditching Credit Card Debt“. It’s informative and has some really good information.

Venessa at vanessabyers.net posted a good article for college students titled “Money Saving Tips for College” by By Lisa Rogers-Cherry. This is something that I can relate to because I fell into some of those campus credit card traps when I was in school. Financial literacy is an important part of life and your mistakes early on can hurt you in the future. Especially when it comes to the African-American community, we tend to make light of the fact that our credit is bad. We shrug it off, but in reality it means we pay so much more money for the things than those with good credit.

I was watching an episode of Black Enterprises Business Report and they were talking about how African-Americans are more likely to recieve the subprime home loans than any other race. Most of the loans were based on the fact that our credit score was lower or we didn’t have as much for the down payment. Because of lower credit scores, we pay more for anything that needs to be financed. We get tricked into thinking that the companies offering “No Money Down” and “Credit Issues Not A Problem” are looking to help us out. All they want is the money from our higher interest rate!

I guess I’ll get off my soapbox, but check out the article because it has some great advice to keep students out of financial trouble. You don’t have to be a tightwad, but you can make wiser decisions when it comes to your finances. If you are a college student run the other way when they offer you the free t-shirt for signing up for a credit card. Take the steps now to learn how to manage your money now before you get out in the “real world”.

by Cameron W.

Some people might say that business the black way is not business at all but more of a black hole that sucks all the resources of the Black man into the obis. Sadly, in many ways those people are correct. Black Americans spend a higher percentage of their income on depreciable items than any other ethnic group. What that means in laymen’s terms is that homie over there would rather spend his hard earned McDonalds pay check on gold teeth than to invest that money in a savings or money market account. The Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab 2003 Black Investor Survey found that when comparing households where blacks and whites had approximately the same household incomes, whites saved approximately 20% more per month for retirement. It also found that 30% of Black Americans earning $100,000 a year had less than $5,000 in retirement savings. While 79% of whites invest in the stock market, only 61% of Blacks do. Furthermore the Black community is still grossly underrepresented in the business community. According to the U.S Department of Commerce out of all businesses in the United States 4% are owned by Blacks. Out of minority owned businesses 27.1% are owned by Blacks with the lion’s share of businesses going to Hispanic/Latinos at 39% followed by Asians at 30%.
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Don’t say I never tried to save you some money. If you’re the type of person who uses 411 to get phone numbers to different businesses in your city, then Google can help save you some change. Goog 411 is an automated service so you won’t talk to a real person, but the voice recognition worked very well. I tried it out a couple of times and was able to get connected to a business of choice each time I tried it. I was able to search by business name, category and could even recieve a text message if I was using my cell phone.

Now Goog 411 is still in it’s experimental stages, so you may experience an issue or two with it. But who cares, it’s free. Like any service, your regular phone charges will apply so don’t go sayin’ I didn’t warn you.

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.

Once again Villager at the Electronic Village puts together a good post we all need to read. His latest post Black Spending Power covers the myth of black buying power and explains the difference between being income-rich and being wealthy. He also tells us of the importance of investing back into the black community.

I have to agree with him on this. I know a lot of people who are income-rich, but I often wonder how wealthy they are. I’ve read books by wealthy people and I’ve even hung around a couple and they have a very different mindset than the income-rich. Most are very thrifty when it comes to spending money and they are actively involved in investing in stocks or businesses. They realize that having your money work for you is better than having to always work for your money. I’m also a strong believer in spending money with black businesses. They tend to be a little more expensive, but it helps out a black business in the process.
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I was listening to the radio this morning and heard a commercial for a tire rental company. According to the commercial, for a monthly fee you could rent rims for your car. I tried looking for a website but wasn’t able to find one. I was really curious to see what you could get and how much they cost per month.

I did find an article about a guy who started a rental tire business and became successful at it. I guess it’s a good business. But it did make me wonder how many of our people rent rims? It would be interesting to find out. Now I’m not trying to slam anyone for doing it. If you have your finances together and can pay all your bills, then cool. Change rims every week. But if your credit is shot, you have no savings and you’re renting because you can’t buy them outright, then stop it right now. Take the rims back and invest the money in something that will benefit you in the long run. That monthly payment can go to a 401K, a college savings plan or be invested in a small business venture. Keeping up with the Jones’ and trying to look fly can put you in the poor house.

In the future, I plan to blog more on money and finances. As black people, we have so much buying power. Building wealth is a new topic for us as black people. We haven’t always had the opportunity and it’s a lesson that needs to be learned. I ran across a really good article by Vuyo Jack named “The journey of an aspiring black entrepreneur: Part 1″. He talks about some of the traps students fall into financially as they move into their professional career. I thought it was right on the money (no pun intended). I found the article at http://icemanbaldy.com. Let me know what you think via the comments or voicemail hotline.

When I heard this commercial I thought about Chris Rock’s HBO Special. I found a clip of him talking about rims on YouTube. Please note the language on this clip does have some cussin’, so listener beware.

Technorati Tags: Rims, wheels, renting rims, blades

As you prepare to organize and get ready for the 2006 tax season, don’t forget to file for this refund. Since 1898 the phone company has added an excise tax for long distance service to help pay for the Spanish-American War. The war has been over for a while, but this charge continued to show up on our bills until earlier this year. The phone companies fought against it and lost.

Taxpayers are only allowed to claim the amount of the tax billed to them since February 28, 2003. If you don’t have your telephone bills to add up the amount, I believe you are able to receive a max credit of $60 (based on your filing status). Doesn’t sound like much, but brotha needs all the money he can get!

To learn more about the telephone tax, visit cnnmoney.com or read the IRS Telephone Tax Publication. I’d like to thank Jerry for sending me the article.