Just In Time For Tax Season: “Wealth Pioneer” Angel Rich’s Tricks To Save & Get Out Of Debt
Courtesy of Angel Rich
Finance Wiz Angel Rich Calls Black Wealth Disparity A “National Epidemic” & Reveals Tips To Help You Stack
Angel Rich has made it her mission to educate the masses about managing their hard earned cash.
Rich, the author of “The History of the Black Dollar” and the founder of this month’s inaugural Black Tech Matters Awards, said there needs to be a community wide conversation about African-American economics, financial discipline, the importance of saving and the power of buying black.
Fresh off her TEDX talk, the straight talking CEO of Wealth Factory sat down with BOSSIP to share her tips for getting your finances in check:
Build Your Budget
“Get a copy of all of your bank statements from the last year, and go through them with a highlighter. Assign a color to each item: rent, utilities, car maintenance – even money that your family borrows from you. Total up what you’re spending each month on the line items. Whatever the total monthly average is, take 20 percent off of that. That 20 percent will go to savings, and the remaining 80 percent will go on a spreadsheet. Use the spreadsheet to keep yourself on track as you stay within your 80 percent. The goal is to have a year’s emergency savings in the bank. You are making a commitment to yourself, that for the next year, you’re only going to spend that target amount. It keeps an accurate visual of your actual finances.”
Buy Black – There’s Power In Group Economics
“With integration, we lost the group economics that we had that built the black economy. When I was young, my grandmother would only purchase things inside of DC. So not only did you have to be black owned, you had to be a black Washingtonian! At one point, we at least had an understanding of group economics. We might not have fully realized how to manage our money, but we at least realized we needed to spend it with each other. And we’ve lost that…Right now, the black dollar only stays in the black community for six hours. We just have to genuinely support each other by putting our dollar where our mouths are.”
Courtesy of Angel Rich
Save, Save, Save
“If you’ve gotta leave town tomorrow, you’re gonna need some cash. You can’t just take money out of your 401K. It’s a process. You need to have a bank account that’s sitting to the side with at least three months of emergency savings. From there, your goal is to get it to a year.”
Don’t Forget Charity
“Charity goes a long way. People don’t realize that if you take part of your savings and put it towards charitable donations throughout the year, when it comes time to pay your taxes, you can do itemized deductions and get way more money off of your taxes.”
Student Loans
“When it comes to student loans, I recommend a rehabilitation program via a consolidation program. I do not recommend paying off your student loans in one lump sum when you get your taxes back. That won’t impact your score whatsoever. The point of your credit score is a report of your credit worthiness and your ability to pay your bills on time. The amount of debt you have is 10 percent of your score, but how you pay your bills on time is 35 percent of the score. If you just pay it all off at once, it doesn’t show that you can pay your bills on time. You need to slowly pay off your student loans. Don’t pay it off all at one time.”
Get A Hobby That You Can Turn Into $$
“People need to get a hobby that will help build them wealth in the future. For instance, when I lost 100 pounds, I decided I wanted to learn how to play pool. I can make money off that. I’m now a professional pool player. I’ve been in the championships. I’m not just out here drinking and spending money in the clubs.”
This interview was edited for space and clarity.
