Project for 2020 Weeks 15 and 16 - Read Broussard book - The Black Woman's Guide to Financial Independence
2020週數15與16的項目 - 去閱讀布羅薩德的書 - 黑女人財務自由旅游記
2020-04-05 by author Morgan Jassen on w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶ ~~~ Project Plan - In this two week project sprint, I'll read The Black Woman's Guide to Financial Independence¹ (Book), towards improving the life & wealth of myself and my associates. - I'll read daily and write a summary daily journal note of what I learned. - After the two-week project, I'll update the “Final report” section here below. ~~~ Final Report - I did read the entire Broussard book, over ~8 days. I learned: - The author Broussaard's stance is that by ongoing self discipline, planning, determination, learning, frugality, savings, investing, family and community, and many other strategies, the reader can reach financial independence for their selves and their communities. - The author's stance is that we should look out for the financial independence of ourselves, and of our community, especially ourselves as women and ourselves as black women, and especially our communities as african american communities, and that some ways we can do that are by keeping money circulating and flowing in circles inside our communities, as well as keeping business ownership within our communities, these especially recycling inside our african american communities. - The book refers to financial independence not strictly as a concrete mathematically-defined state but more rather as a general state of financial well-being. - The book focuses broadly on many individual areas within personal finance, defining these areas and recommending the reader how to navigate these areas. My personal comment is that this contrasts with e.g. Kiyosaki's Rich Dad² book which stresses more heavily and narrowly on building inbound cash flow from buying investments. - Author Broussard's book stresses moving towards financial independence, specifically in direct contrast to poverty. In other words moving towards financial independence represents moving away from poverty. - In the goal setting chapter, before page 24, the book mentions some sample financial goals to set for oneself. One in the list is vacationing. My personal comment on this is, "right on!" (This aligns with w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶'s goal of using interest to pay for vacationing with friends) - The book tends to be methodical in saying that one should do certain financial planning steps before others. For example calculate one's net worth, and make a budget, and reduce credit card debt, and get appropriate insurance coverage, and make a savings plan, and invest in assets, e.g. in a relatively set order, one before moving on to the next. - The author concisely defines what a budget is, defines it as a tool that reveals areas of spending. I appreciate this defining and this definition because before reading this I didn't think of a budget as this. This is an empowering way to think of a budget -- a tool that you use to help you reveal your spending habits ongoing! Excellent. - The author in the book before page 45 encourages talking about money around the dinner table with kids. Also the author floats the idea of buying stocks in a toy company instead of buying toys. My personal comment on this is, "nice", because w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶ thinks of this in terms of "paying for Disney with Disney", or in other words, trying to use dividends from Disney stock to pay for a Disney vacation. Nice. - Before page 59, the author teaches about insurance in various forms (life insurance especially). The author advocates strongly for life insurance. Also the author at one point explicitly mentions that many men don't believe in life insurance. (implied as opposed to women). My personal comment on this is, that this hits close to home for me as a man and as a person. It is a bit humbling to realize the author described me so accurately just by stereotyping my sex. Thus from this, and from the book here, I learn here to re-consider the importance of life insurance. - In tax strategies section, the author generally recommends a goal is to pay as little taxes as legally possible. My comment here is this does align with what I recall reading from other authors, especially Garrett Sutton³ - Up to p. 89 the author Broussard covers savings and covers paying for children's education (college). My comment here is that at this point I realize the book is taking on (and has taken on) a general approach, and is covering many financial topics. The fact the book stresses the importance of paying for kids education as a part of a financial independence plan, seems quite comprehensive and refreshing to me personally. - Notable to me, on p. 103 to 114 covered are load vs. no-load mutual funds. - Notable to me, on p. 117 are covered Ginny maes, which the book teaches are one way to invest in real estate mortgages. - To p. 118, the author Broussard advises on stocks, stock mutual funds, bonds, bond mutual funds. The author is directly teaching these topics, first educating you the reader on these topics, then advising you some as well. - P. 121-122 the author Broussard mentions that to invest in international assets, like stocks, one choice is ADRs. - Around p. 126 The author describes a home as possibly one's biggest investment. My comments are that this may contrast with "Rich Dad" book's philosophy, at least in terms of cash flow. But this is a popularly held belief, and thus here I note the importance of that fact, and the importance of home ownership, and the concept of appreciation of the principal value. - Around p. 132 mentioned is real estate investing and direct management vs. REITs. My comment is that also at one point in the book(can't remember if it was here or before), the author mentioned that different types of investments are better at weathering inflation than others. The author said real estate is one (can't remember now whether they said real estate is better, or worse, in an inflationary economy though. However it is interesting aspect to consider when choosing an investment. - Near the end of the book the author touches in some depth on Estate planning and if I recall said that even small estates of anywhere between [17,700 to 354,000 silver-grams]⁴ should have an estate plan (a will and/or trust and/or other). Some huge benefits of planning your estate are that your money or kids or possessions will go where you want them quickly, not be delayed and not end up elsewhere. (more to your loved ones, less to the government or eaten up by legal processes). - On p. 148 The author lists (recaps) "20 steps to Financial Independence" which is essentially a bullet-pointed recap of the contents of the book. In summary, I learned a lot from the author Broussard's "The Black Woman's Guide to Financial Independence" book especially on general areas that I before may have scoffed at or placed less importance on. But also in areas I was (and still am) interested in. In other words, after reading this I have a much broader and stronger foundation about financial vehicles and how they integrate in ones life and in my life. Also, author Broussard's book relates to w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶ mission of financial independence because many of the ideas in this book tie in with w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶'s ideas, especially in the ways commented inline in the ^above commentary. In other words, ties in with ideas of moving towards financial independence, and ties in with ideas of e.g. "..using interest to pay for vacations with friends...". ¹ “The Black Woman's Guide To Financial Independence: Money Management Strategies For the 1990s” Cheryl Broussard - Hyde Park Pub. - 1992 - http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26963831 ² "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" Robert T. Kiyosaki - Warner - 2000 - https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/4682215075 ³ "Start your Own Corporation" Garrett Sutton - https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/3265606075_start_your_own_corporation ⁴ (Converted by me from the book's dollars ("1990's dollars" that is), ...but using 2020 conversion rate...) 2020-04-17 Edit: Added content for "Final Report" portion of this post. This blog post first published at https://w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/blog/2020-04-05-project-read-broussard-financial.html Copyright © w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶s̶i̶l̶v̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶ and individual authors (unless otherwise noted)