A lot of people have been following our financial journey and aspiring to do what we have done. We didn’t do anything magical. Everything we did you can absolutely do also. That’s why we wanted to show you how you can prepare yourself and your household for prosperity too.
We share our journey to show you that it is possible for African Americans to prosper financially as well. We’re thrilled to know that we have helped some of you get on the path to following your financial goals and achieving economic empowerment.
However, the big picture in the grand scheme of things isn’t as rosy as we had hoped. There has been research as recent as 2016 that says the median net worth of the African American household is $17,100.
If you compare that to Caucasians and their average net worth, it’s actually 10 times that amount standing at $171,000. That’s an alarming difference. It can be discouraging, but you should use it to motivate you to do better.
Another alarming statistic says that only 45% of African American families, compared to 73% percent of Caucasian families own homes. Not only did we purchase a home, but we were diligent and intentional about paying it off in full.
We did it, and guess what, so can you. We wanted to share with you steps that you can take to prepare to become prosperous so that you can own your home as well.
First off do you know what prosperity means? Straight from the dictionary: Prosperity means the condition of being successful or thriving especially economic well-being. So, prosperity is a condition – it’s in you and something that you do.
When you take the right steps to prepare for prosperity it becomes a part of who you are and a part of your family legacy. Take this seriously. It’s time to get ready to learn and apply some of these things to your prosperity.
Prepare Your Mind
First, you must prepare your mind. You must be ready to be completely done with the debt that you have in your life. It gets hard being in the same place every single month, being in debt and being in over your head with bills.
You have to get yourself to the mental space where you are tired of it and ready to get out of the hole you have dug yourself in.
It’s time to put your foot down and tell yourself that you are going to do this once and for all. If you have a spouse you should strive to get them on board and get their mindset in the same mode that you are in to prepare both of your minds for prosperity.
Believe you can do it. The change will not be comfortable. Be prepared for that too. Just remember this is going to lead to the best future for you and your family.
Prepare the Foundation
When you think about a foundation you probably think about the structure of a building. No one starts the construction of a home by applying the roof first. You must begin the process by laying a solid foundation.
A good foundation is the key for when the storms of life arise, it is what holds the home in place so that it doesn’t blow away. Know your numbers and make sure your head isn’t buried in the sand about your financial situation.
You need to know how much income you bring home exactly. Additionally, you need to know how much your expenses are in total. You can’t just swipe your debit card any longer just buying things as you feel like it.
You need a budget. Moreover, creating a budget will help you know what’s coming in and what’s going out so that you don’t have to continue to live paycheck to paycheck.
Another key number that you need to know when building your financial foundation is your credit score. Furthermore, you need to check out your credit report. Take a good look at it to make sure that everything listed is things that should be on there.
Looking at your credit report will help you discover how much debt you are in. Most people have an idea or estimate of how much debt that you are in, but it’s not always accurate.
So, it’s better to just look it up and find out for sure what that total actually is. Call all your creditors and find out how much you owe them, how much your payments are per month and how much your APR is. You need all those numbers so that you can set your budget for each month.
Prepare to Learn
Read websites, blogs, and books and find out all the information you need to learn how to prosper properly. A great resource to help you grow in this area is Wells Fargo. They have a ton of information that will help you with your financial journey.
Wells Fargo delivers a comprehensive approach to financial education – offering a collection of financial programs, tools, and resources to help guide you in increasing your financial knowledge and confidence so that you can achieve your short-term financial goals and start building long-term goals.
You can go to WellsFargo.com/Financial-Education to find an incredible amount of quality information to help you learn more. There you’ll gain the tools and knowledge that will help give you the power to reach your financial goals.
Wells Fargo delivers a comprehensive approach to financial education, offering a collection of programs, tools, and resources to help guide you in increasing your financial knowledge and confidence so that you can achieve your short-term financial goals and start to build long-term wealth. They have resources for small businesses, home ownership, credit, investing, and more.
Prepare for Battle
As you start to make these changes financially, unexpected expenses are bound come up. The furnace will break, you’ll need a car repair, stuff will happen. You can’t let it discourage you.
The way to handle these situations properly is by being proactive. Set up an emergency fund for these very instances ahead of time. Put a certain dollar amount into a savings account that you plan to never touch unless an emergency financial situation arises.
That way when these things do happen, it’s no longer a financial emergency, it’s just more of an inconvenience. You may have to pause the journey that you’re on to address the situation, but now you have the money to address the issue without compromising where you’re going on your journey to prosperity.
Prepare for the Unforeseen
It’s so important that you have medical insurance, life insurance, and car insurance. These are things that we need to make sure that we put a hedge around ourselves and families.
If something bad happens, you don’t want to worry about how you’re going to pay for it. It’s going to be tough enough being sick, losing a loved one, or being in an automobile accident, whatever the case may be.
Having the proper insurance policies in place safeguards from will those unforeseen events of life arise. Inspect your current policies to make sure you have the right protection for your particular situation. If you are don’t have insurance in place, it’s time to make that happen as soon as possible.
Prepare Your Circle
Let your friends and family know that you are not going to be handling your money like you use to. Be honest and tell them your plans of changing your money habits for the better. This will help safeguard you when they try to talk you into doing something that you don’t want to do with your money.
It can be tough to tell someone ‘no’ when it’s in the moment. However, if you have told them in advance that you are making some changes with your finances then they will hopefully not try to throw you off by asking you to do something contrary to your goals.
A great way to inform everyone at once is to simply post it on social media. That way you do not have to make a bunch of phone calls and everyone knows what your goals are for your journey to prosperity.
Prepare for the Future
Anyone that is wealthy is a forward thinker. You need to be thinking now about your future and you need to be proactively planning for it.
If your employer offers a 401K, you should invest in that. If you aren’t in a situation where you can get that then look into IRA’s. One day you will retire, and you need to be thinking about that.
Another way to prepare for the future is to create some type of business or become entrepreneurial in some way. It can be something small. There are so many things you can do from behind your computer. If there is anything that you want to do entrepreneurially, now is the time. Don’t hesitate, make it happen.
Conclusion
We want you and your family to prosper. Now it’s time for you to follow those steps listed above and prepare yourself for your own prosperity. We have made this happen in our lives and you have the potential and the power to do the same.
Follow in our footsteps, do what we did, and you’ll get there too. All the steps that were listed above are equally important. Get started today so that you can begin to live a prosperous life as well.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Wells Fargo. However, all views and opinions expressed are our own.
