Black Scholar Boyce Watkins Shares Tips For The New Year

Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.com
Brought to you by the Great Black Speakers Bureau, the #1 Speakers Bureau in America.

Happy New Year Peeps!

OK, if you want to start the New Year off with a laugh, here is the video of Jesse Lee Peterson of Fox News thanking White people for slavery. What's really funny is that Jesse is being dead serious. I also want to share my support for the great Cynthia McKinney, whose boat was attacked as she worked hard to provide humanitarian support for suffering Palestinians during the unfortunate conflict in the Middle East. May this year bring peace to that region of the world.

I just wanted to reach out and inform the members of the YBW family that my wonderful publicist, Tarin Donatien, is now pushing me back out into the crazy New York media for a brief tour to start the year. Our goal is to make the world aware of our new financial fitness program at FinancialLipo.com, which will focus on helping people learn to manage their bill collectors, cut their debts legally, gain financial literacy and get their financial situation right for the New Year (the site will be launched on January 6). Sign up for our Money Advice Email list to get free money tips and to stay briefed on the issue. We are also going to discuss the new TV show I am working on with Dara Cook from BET/MTV called "Ying Yang", in which the goal is to discuss the Ying and the Yang of various controversial issues (i.e. is Hip Hop too sexist? Does a Black President necessarily help black people? Are men or women the primary cause for troubles in the Black family?). If you have ideas for good show topics, please fee
l free to share them with us.

Here's the break down:

On the morning of 1/8, I'll be on The Ed Lover Show in NYC. It's on Power 105.1, which I think is the #1 show in NYC. But Hot 97 is pretty strong, and so is WBLS. The New York Media market is pretty fierce.

I'll be on Hot 97 the following Sunday. Lisa Evers, the host of Street Soldiers, is one of my favorite people.

I'll be on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on the morning of the 9th at 9 am. The show is on National TV and probably comes on in your city. Here's a list of the affiliate cities.

Wendy Williams and I are going to be on the 9th at 4 pm. I love Wendy's show: she's crazy but professional. Our past appearances have always been pretty exciting.

Steve Harvey and I are going to talk money during the same week. The exact time has not been confirmed yet, but I'll let you know when that happens. I like Steve Harvey's show a lot. He is actually a funny dude in person.

Quick thoughts on the New Year and how to make it work for you:

1) There are 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week and 8,760 hours in a year. That is a lot of time to accomplish whatever goals you have for yourself. At the start of each year, I budget the 8,760 million "time dollars" I've been blessed with and figure out how I am going to make my life better. You'd be amazed at how much you can change your entire life in just one year of consistent focus. Most of us have so much BS around us that we lose our center and disconnect from our true purpose in life. Find your purpose right now, write it down and read that note every day.

2) No matter what your age, your life should ALWAYS be moving forward. You should always aim to get educated, pick up a new skill, overcome another weakness, etc. When a living thing stops growing, that is when the thing starts dying. The velocity and direction of an object means far more than its current position. In other words, where you are doesn't mean much of anything: it is where you are going that determines where you end up. We are all becoming SOMETHING, and it is our day to day actions that determine what that thing is. For example, someone who plays basketball every day is becoming a good basketball player, even if they are not very good right now. Someone who eats cupcakes all day is becoming overweight. Someone who studies every day is becoming a good student. Ask yourself honestly, "Based on my day to day actions, what am I becoming? Are my words in line with my activities or am I lying to myself?"

3) Remove the toxins from your life. Wasteful activities, negative people, bad relationships and ugly habits have no place in your existence. Start the process of extracting the negatives today to remove the weight that keeps you from being where you want to be. Either kill or redefine the relationships that stand as barriers between you and your destiny. It's scary and people might get angry, but you must do it right now. When people see that you are serious, they will move the hell out of your way.

4) Mistakes of our past can be the cancer that causes us to destroy our future. A young man at 28 years old told me that he was down on himself for never going to college. 10 years later, I saw the man and told him that if he'd started going to school the minute we'd had that conversation 10 years earlier, he would be a doctor by now. Mistakes of our past can be like a cancer in our foot. Rather than cutting off the foot and being healthy, we let that cancer spread to the rest of our body, killing us slowly. Sometimes, we are so angry at ourselves about the past that we throw away our future by remaining determined to drown in the depths of self-pity, laziness and low self-esteem. Learn to forgive yourself for mistakes and keep moving forward. Life is too short to waste time.

5) Only crazy people become Great Black Achievers. I say this because you must see the vision before anyone else does, and only crazy people see things that are not there. There was a time when a "nobody" named Barack Obama saw himself as President of the United States and people thought he was simply delusional. But had he not been able to see the vision clearly for himself, he would never have been able to paint the vision for the rest of the world and his confidence would have been swayed by those who truly felt that a Black man could not be President of the United States. See your vision, believe in that vision, craft that vision, have a strategy to live that vision. Then bust your butt to fulfill that vision with deliberate actions and daily activities that inch you closer to your objective. The bed called "Your Life" is made by your day to day actions and choices. Most of our existence is nothing more than a product of what we choose to do on a daily basis. Success DOES NOT happen by accident.

Here is a YBW Family Slogan we can use for this year: "Greatness is mine in 2009". Kill off the haters and give birth to your dreams. Always set goals. Inspire those around you with your courage. Set empowering examples for your children. When you shine your light the brightest, those around you find the light within themselves. Your destiny is to be outstanding.

God Bless,
Dr. Boyce
www.BoyceWatkins.com

Finance Professor Boyce Watkins Discuss the Ability of The Government To Protect Our Money

By Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.com

Media reports show that many Americans are not quite sure of what to do with their money. Watching banks fail left and right, people are logically afraid of what might happen to their savings. This fear is justified, as we are seeing our accounts beaten and stomped by the global financial meltdown.

This grave concern is magnified by the fact that those we’ve trusted are the ones who’ve left us vulnerable. Our most cherished financial experts handled our retirement accounts like flashy vehicles on a Nascar speedway. Our elected officials allowed executives in the banking industry to run rampant like 3-year olds with dirty diapers. Then, when the crash came, a massive bailout package was created for those most responsible for the damage, while the rest of us were left holding the tax bill.

This begs the question: Why in the hell should we trust the government?

I recall that during the failure of Enron, one of the most respected companies in America at the time, the firm made several statements designed to create confidence in the company’s financial condition. Like captains of the Titanic, company leaders explained that there was nothing to worry about, even as they themselves were preparing their lifeboats. When the company failed, those who did not protect themselves reminded us of one grim and fundamental truth: when the “you know what” hits the fan, it’s every man for himself….and every woman too, in case you’re wondering.

In response to such sentiment, the American consumer has been working overtime to protect his/her resources: people have (against my advice) moved their money away from the frightening stock market, they are diversifying money into different banks, and some are taking their money out of banks altogether. All of these actions are occurring in spite of government calls for calm in a world on the verge of financial panic.

The honest to goodness truth is that I don’t blame Americans for being afraid. I don’t blame them for not trusting the government right now. Trust must be earned in any relationship, whether it is a tough marriage of the relationship between a government and its citizens. Our government must work to regain that trust through sound and efficient financial management. It will NOT regenerate the public trust through excessive spending on meaningless wars, selfish pork-filled bills being passed through Congress and budget deficits that strain the resources of Americans everywhere.

I can’t tell you if the government is lying to you, but I can tell you this: There was a time when government guarantees such as FDIC insurance were as pure as the driven snow. There was a time when the United States Federal Government had pockets and resources so deep that even God himself could be bailed out with our cash. The sad truth, however, is that no empire lasts forever, and there is destined to be a day in the future when we are no longer the unquestionable economic super power that we once were. A country that can’t even afford its social security obligations is hardly a nation that has risen beyond economic risk.

Another sad truth is that if the financial world really were coming to an end, the citizens would be the last to find out about any such crisis. We would, simultaneously, be the first ones asked to suffer the burden of irresponsible behavior by our leaders. If that doesn’t justify a bit of skepticism, I am not sure what does.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, ESPN, CBS and BET. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

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Black Enterprise, Black Money: Bill Collectors

One of the groups that was not bailed out during the recent financial crisis has been the American consumer. Congress took care of the firms on Wall Street, but they didn’t take care of the millions of Americans forced to confront the realities of bankruptcy, foreclosure and uncomfortable confrontations with menacing bill collectors. It appears, sadly, that every man and woman must find their own way through this financial tragedy.
Bill Collectors really want their money, like the rest of us. Some of them seem to feel that it’s O.K. to resort to flat out thuggish intimidation to get their money back. That might work on The Sopranos, but it shouldn't work in real life.
Part of the reason abusive bill collectors can have their way with the public is because many citizens do not know their rights. Bill collectors prey on the uninformed in a terrible way: They may threaten to have you arrested, harass your relatives, call all hours of the night, and engage in other types of atrocious behavior to get their money out of your hide.
One woman successfully sued a rogue bill collector after he called her repeatedly with threatening language. The woman, a senior citizen, was told by the man to "Stop with the sob stories and pay your god d*m bill!" This kind of behavior is not acceptable, and bill collector harassment doesn’t have to keep you up at night.
The Federal Trade Commission states that complaints against bill collectors are rising, reaching the highest level they've seen in the past 3 years. Most of the complaints focus on vulgar language, trying to collect more than the amount of the true debt, and extra fees, such as court costs.
You have rights that can protect you from bad and malicious bill collectors. You want to keep these in mind as you work yourself out of debt:
1) There is something called "The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act". If you are not familiar with this document, get familiar with it. You can read it by clicking here.
2) A bill collector cannot contact you at work if your employer does not approve of the contact. Let the bill collector know that this is the case and they must legally stop contacting you at your job.
3) Bill collectors cannot call you before 8 am or after 9 pm. The only exception is if you give them permission to do so.
4) A bill collector can only contact your friends and family if they are trying to find a way to get in touch with you. However, some of them may do this in order to harass or embarrass you. If that is the case, you may want to tell your friends to tell the bill collector, "She does not live here and I do not know how to get in touch with her. Please don't call here anymore." Then, get the bill collector's information from your friend and reach out to them when you can.
5) You can get bill collectors to stop contacting you altogether by sending them a letter telling them to stop. You still must pay the debt, but they won't be calling you during dinner.

6) The bill collector cannot curse at you or use foul language and they must tell the truth about how much you owe. They cannot threaten to sue unless they are serious about it, and they can't touch your 401k or IRA.
7) If the bill collectors call you, you can demand that they send you a written notice of the amount you owe and who you owe the money to. If you do not believe that the debt is yours, you can write a letter to them stating that this is not your debt. They must then send you proof that the debt is actually yours.
If you feel that a debt collector has violated any of these rules, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. Remember that you are not powerless in this situation.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Asset with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, CBS, NBC and BET. For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com. This information does not constitute legal advice. For legal advice, please consult your attorney.

Black Enterprise: Bill Collectors