Pay 10% of your net pay to the church or other worthy charitable organizations. If you put this principal first, the other ten will be much easier to follow Those that give first receive much more back. The pleasure of saving and giving must exceed the pleasure of spending.​​

Always live below your means. If you can afford a $2000 a month house payment. Buy a home where your payment is $1500 per month. Take that $ 500 difference and invest in the stock market. The stock market has earned you 7%-8% over the last 30 years. Your $6000 annual investment will grow to over $6135.44 over 30 years.

Have a Budget and stick with it. Make a budget of your household income and expenses or use your bank mobile app. Track your income and expenses monthly. This will indicate what expenses you need to reduce or whether your income must increase. Allow a 5% cushion for unexpected monthly emergencies.

Pay your self first. Have at least 10% of your monthly income go directly savings investment account .This is your savings vehicle to fund your retirement, a new business or your children’s .Then paying those other required monthly obligations like taxes won’t hurt as bad.

Umjamaa. The African Economic principal of group investing. If you can’t purchase that business or rental property by yourself. Solicit family, relatives and friends to invest with you. Also start or join a club or organization that pools its money to invest in a new or existing business. Many churches and fraternal organizations have established corporations to promote job creation and economic development thru group investing.

Support and encourage family, relatives and friends who strive to be entrepreneurs. Give them your moral and financial support. Serve as a mentor and make sure they have a well thought out business plan, 80% of all millionaires in this country are small business owners. They didn’t inherit their wealth. They earned it through hard work overtime.

Make financial literacy education a regular part of the family conversation. We have academic and professional education, but no financial literacy education within the k -12 school system. Therefore, we must teach our children and family members the basic fundamentals of owning versus renting, saving and investing versus spending and what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

When investing, diversify your investment portfolio. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Don’t invest all your money in employer’s company stock. If the company goes bankrupt so does your company investment account. Sell when the market is high and buy when it’s low. Buy when everyone is fearful and sell when then the stock market or real estate only increases. In March of 2020 you could have purchased Bank of America’s stock for $14.50 per share. The smart money people bought it at $14.50 per share when nobody wanted it. Today, in March of 2021 it sells for around $38.00 per share.

Start saving early for your retirement and children’s education. Time is on your side when saving or investing. The more time you have. The longer your investment has to grow, 36% of Black Americans survive solely on their social security. You must start saving early. Here’s an idea. When giving a gift to your son, daughter or relatives children, buy them a $25.00 savings bond, which will mature to $50.00 in 20 years. That beats purchasing them a depreciating consumer item like toys and clothes. We all know parents who dress their children in designer clothes but have no savings for themselves or their children.

Frequent businesses and give support to community organizations that reflect your values and will hire your children. Less than 2% of Black Americans income goes towards Black businesses, although we are 13% of the population. We could create over 1 million jobs within our community if only $1.00 out of our $10.00 were spent at black businesses. It would lower our unemployment rate and create wealth building jobs within our community. We must buy at black owned businesses. If you go out to eat at a mainstream restaurant like Reb Lobster or Chili’s, make sure your next time eating out is at a black owned restaurant. These are building blocks for growing a prosperous and productive community.