A home for intelligent Black people
Tap in to raise your financial consciousness.
On episode nine of the Money Talks podcast, I introduced you to Dr. Boyce Watkins.
I excitedly shared with you that his book, “10 Commandments of Black Economic Power,” is next on my reading list. I ordered my copy early last Friday morning. It arrived Monday. I’m already on chapter two. It’ll be the first physical book I’ll make it through in years.
That’s because Watkins, as a teacher and thinker, has my complete attention.
Watkins holds a PhD in finance and is the founder of The Black Business School. Black wealth is his obsession. He’s spent three decades teaching wealth-related concepts to students at Syracuse University, The Ohio State University, Indiana University and to others around the world.
Since June 1, I’ve been a proud pupil.
Prior to that, I had watched Watkins, 53, post interesting content to social media. Most of it would be tied to money. But I didn’t understand Watkins’ mission until tapping in with his “Money in the Morning” show.
He labels his daily, 9 a.m. central show as “the home for intelligent Black people.” Watkins’ sole focus is on destroying the unrelenting racial wealth gap.
To do this, Watkins aims to assist Black people with habit forming financial consciousness training. Some might view Watkins as a radical. His methods certainly aren’t for everyone. He doesn’t care.
Watkins unapologetically uses strong language like “massa,” “financial STDs,” and “weapons of mass distractions” to drive home points.
When I cracked open “10 Commandments of Black Economic Power,” — as if the headline didn’t drive home the point — the preface made the book’s target audience clear.
“I wrote this book for BLACK PEOPLE because we have a job to do. Our job is to reverse hundreds of years of discrimination and exploitation and the expropriation of trillions in Black wealth that continues to evade our community. This book is also designed to lay out a framework to understand how trillions in Black wealth are lost every single year due to poor cultural habits and family structure.”
Watkins is speaking my language, however he chooses to get his message across. I just so happened to identify with his passion as much as I do with many of his core beliefs and values.
During a one-hour Zoom call with his Money in the Morning audience on June 1, Watkins unleashed his fury. His target was one of his favorite foes — rappers and the people he labels as racists power brokers that control them.
Watkins was reacting to an interview of the rapper Fat Joe admitting he went broke after routinely spending $30,000 nightly for lavish group dinners.
Watkins thanked Fat Joe for his honesty but used the interview as a jumping-off point to discuss why most rappers are puppets and bad with money. He referred to a segment of longtime rappers as “45-year-old teenagers.” He noted how most Black women artists are sexualized and forced to play into misperceptions of Black women being overly masculine. He cited examples such as Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla. Each is a megastar. Each fits Watkins’ description, down to the chosen animalistic stage names of the last two.
“I’ve never seen Taylor Swift twerking,” Watkins said on June 1. “I’ve never seen her degrading herself. I’m, like, how come the white girl gets to sit over here and sing and show her talent. But the Black girl’s got to be doing backflips and swallowing bananas and all kinds of things. It’s crazy, right?”
I related in large part because of how frustrated and fed up I am with most rap. Watkins takes aim at the industry because of its wide-ranging impact on our community.
Symbolism, repetition and trauma, Watkins said, are the three things that manipulate the subconscious mind the most. And all three, he said, appear consistently in hip-hop culture to the detriment of trillions of lost Black wealth.
Watkins also has strong opinions about the value of our education system, which, again, some will deem as radical. But I completely understand.
I’m not just becoming smarter with money on this journey. I’m also raising my financial consciousness from a Black perspective. Watkins is unapologetically helping me and thousands of others.
He’s become one of my many virtual mentors. I now rock with Watkins as much as I rock with Wallstreet Trapper. It’s all part of finding my tribe.
Watkins is hosting the All Black National Convention just outside of Chicago in October. The three-day conference will bring together hundreds of like-minded Black people, and it’ll basically be in my backyard.
But I’m scheduled to be in Atlanta.
I already booked my travel accommodations and registration for FinCon, the financial content creator conference I told you about in April.
I’m considering changing my plans. Financially, it would make sense.
But more than that, I crave being at home with intelligent Black people.
Who's the author of your story?
Remember my young fella Joel? I told you about him and his questionable spending last month. He texted me three hours after I published on May 13. His words hit home. “Good read!” Joel wrote. “Weird seeing somebody tell my story.” For the past few months, I’ve implored my daughter Parker to not leave her story in the hands…
What legacy will you leave your children?
My mother shared a sermon last week, which is not unusual. The peculiar part was the urgency with which she implored the email’s four recipients to watch. The subject, written in all caps, should have been my first clue into her excitement. “SONS!! PLEASE WATCH THIS SERMON! PLEASE!
Parker's first job opens a simple path to wealth
I signed our first contract for Money Talks just before 4:30 p.m. on a Friday. To celebrate, I researched Roth IRA’s for Parker. It was one of the best Friday nights of my life. The fully executed contract didn’t arrive until 9:47 a.m. the following Monday. But I needed to be ready, with a plan in place before the checks …
Tuning in! Going Home! Sharing the Address! Thank you, Son.