Podcast: Black Women and Money

October 8, 2008 RSS Feed Print
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For this week's Alpha Consumer Podcast, I interviewed Rhonda Mims, president of the ING Foundation, and Valerie Brown, president of the ING retail annuities market segment. The ING Foundation recently completed a survey on black women and money that highlighted the group's generosity—more than a third had lent family or friends more than $1,000 in the past year—as well as the need for financial planning, something shared by all demographic groups.

LISTEN NOW: Black Women & Monday

Mims and Brown recommended a website, finra.org, that allows consumers to check up on financial planners. They also offered these tips:

 

  • Use an automatic savings plan.
  • Start with a workplace retirement plan.
  • Join an investing club for women.
  • Resist impulse purchases.
  • Use credit cards sparingly.

You can also hear the Alpha Consumer Tip of the Week on opening those pesky plastic packages.

Meanwhile, if you're wondering whether this morning's Fed cut will affect you, here's an explanation of how it could lower rates for credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages.

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The interview made it clear that there is really no difference in race when it comes to the subject of women and money.

The only point that was a stretch was that of the people interviewed, it seemed to the interviewer that black women tended to be less inclined to reveal the extent of their financial income available to structure a plan than the white women interviewed.

But in general, the advice is nothing new, but it is sound advice.

The advice about credit cards was to use them sparingly. But no advice to use checking accounts sparingly.

The problem here is that credit cards should only be used as checkbooks that are more convenient to carry and use than the checkbook--but cannot be used for more money than the checkbook knows is in the bank account.

Credit cards are very useful used in the proper way and instead of taking the money directly out of the checking account immediately, the money only leaves the checking account when the credit card statement is received and paid with the check at the end of the month. That way, if it is an interest bearing checking account, the use of the no-fee credit card is actually cheaper as well as more convenient than a checkbook.

The bad name credit cards get is when irresponsible people use the credit card as a loan instead of as a checkbook. Credit cards are the worst kind of loans possible because the interest rates are ridulously high.

HillbillyBill of TN 3:32PM October 08, 2008

Alpha Consumer

Kimberly Palmer, senior editor for U.S. News & World Report, writes about making smarter financial decisions. She’s the author of Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back.

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