“Be proud to be of color but think white!”

Minorities often complain about the inequities that can be seen in the world that has been dictated and has been beneficial by Whites generation after generation. Today minorities are as close as they have ever been, at any time period in history, to closing the gap which is still extremely wide. Poverty is the far to common for blacks and those of color. People of color are routinely categorized as lower middle class, and are not far from poverty. Upper middle class for blacks is not living paycheck to paycheck and being able to take vacations, save for retirement, buy a home comfortably and other things that represent a decent quality of life.  Blacks don’t regularly look at wealth as being realistic, whereas whites expect wealth, live wealthy, get wealthier and cannot fathom not being wealthy. Whites hire people that look like them whether they are qualified or not and keep the great jobs in the family or in their race. Where do we start to change our way of thinking, is it education, entrepreneurship, by owning our communities? When are we going to stop saying whatever I have is going to my grave with me!

Build wealth and leaving a legacy is a great place to start. How many of you friends are well off because their parents or close relatives left them something of significance such as an inheritance of liquid assets, property or a lucrative business. As young adults did we embrace the advice given to us by our parents or those that were influential to us? Did we create a tougher life for ourselves because we did what we wanted in lieu of what we needed to do? We have to start making two parent homes the standard and not the exception. With power comes great responsibility; with ownership comes power to make change including who we hire. We have to lives within our needs and not within our means; we cannot create wealth if we are making others wealthy through conspicuous consumption. We must balance our spending with asset accumulation. We must start raising the bar on everything we touch including our careers, empowering our children, wealth management, and understanding things outside of what we know to increase our knowledge. Life insurance and real estate ownership can leave our beneficiaries assets that can be expounded upon with each generation. Changing our ways does not mean we change our color.