Building Black Wealth - books on personal finance - Brief Article

Black Issues Book Review, Jan, 2001

Where can African Americans go to find financial information relevant to our individual needs? Don't just trudge through the sludge of poorly written finance books that weren't written with you in mind. Instead, this year make handling your money easier. The large selection of books compiled below provides comprehensive information from a variety of sources. There are African American millionaires, financial wizards and every day individuals who have turned their economic circumstances around. You are bound to find something that will help you navigate the chaos of finding the right strategies for rebuilding credit, reducing debt, securing personal loans, building a 401k, buying a house or educating the child you'd like to be able to send to college.

There is light at the end tunnel! Pick from these books and start investing in your future today. Whether you're interested in retirement, stocks or breaking free of the daily emotional stress of trying to make ends meet, these books can guide you through the challenge of personal finance.

A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell Simon & Schuster, September 2000, $25.00, ISBN 0-684-86464-9

This memoir follows Sowell from Harlem to the Ivy Legue, and his career as a writer, teacher and economist. Sowell offers a rare insight into his controversial life, his struggles through poverty during the Jim Crow era and the friends and enemies who helped him become one of the most provocative intellectuals of our time.

Economic Apartheid In America: A Primer On Economic Inequality & Insecurity by Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel New Press, September 2000, $16.95, ISBN 1-565-84594-3

Collins and Yeskel contrast the skyrocketing CEO pay against that of the growing ranks of the working poor, They profile 70 organizations and show how the rules--tax, global trade and wages setting practices--have created a deep economic stratification.

Girl, Get Your Money Straight: A Sister's Guide To Heal Your Bank Account by Glinda Bridgforth Random House, December 2000, $19.95, ISBN 0-767-90487-7

Bridgforth offers a perfect mix of emotional "coaching" and nuts-and-bolts financial advice. Through affirmations and exercises Bridgforth shows reader's how to control the emotional issues that lead to money mismanagement. She also outlines a seven-step program to help set goals, create debt reduction and asset spending plans and much more.

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by Manning Marable South End Press, April 2000, $22.00, ISBN 0-896-08579-1

Marable has written a new introduction to this critically acclaimed work. There are updated tables and charts with new data on African American poverty, health, employment and education.

The Millionaires Investment Club: How To Start And Run Your Own Investment Club--And Make Your Money Grow by Carolyn M. Brown Wiley, May 2000, $19.95, ISBN 0-471-36938-1

Brown provides a comprehensive guide to starting and maintaining your own investment club. She demystifies stock markets and mutual funds, and provides valuable advice on researching securities, conducting technical and fundamental analysis, and investing online.

The New Color Of Success: 20 Young Black Millionaires Tell You How They're Making It by Niki Butler Mitchell Prima Books, December 1999, $24.00, ISBN 0-761-52065-1

Mitchell tells the stories of 20 young black millionaires living the American Dream--and forever changing the face of business in America. You'll discover their individual histories, their role models and how they achieved their dreams.

Wake Up And Smell The Dollars! Whose Inner City Is This Anyway? One Woman's Struggle Against Sexism, Racism, Gentrification, And The Empowerment Zone by Dorothy Pitman Hughes Amber Books, May 2000, $18.95, ISBN 0-965-50647-9

This book is a call to the residents of Harlem and other inner-city communities to understand that dollars are being spent to pay for future controls over our lives. Hughes looks at the removal of black neighborhoods, the mis-education of our children and rapid increase of prisons built to incarcerate them.