When I read statistics claiming that less than half of African Americans own their own homes. That even fewer have such assets and investments like: 401K, stocks, mutual funds, IRAs, rental properties, retirement accounts, etc. I can't help but think a golden opportunity is being overlooked. The purpose of the internet has always been to share information. This information is often shared among specific demographics or interest groups. The lack of websites that targeted African Americans led to the creation of several Black websites, the majority of which mostly shared information pertaining to current events, culture, history, music, entertainment, and sports. Yet very few share information about investments and business opportunities.
I live in area (North New Jersey/New York City) that is incredibly diverse in terms of demographics. There are Portugese/Brazilian communities...Senegalese communities...Russian communities...Italian communities...Cuban communities...Puerto Rican communities...Dominican communities...Jewish communities...Chinese communities...Indian (Asian) communities, etc. When one lives and attempts to conduct business in an area like this, one of the 1st lessons learned is that most people like to do business within their ethnic group. Indeed most ethnic groups network with their own...they share information...they buy from each other...in short they support each other.
Although numerous discussions how taken place about African Americans buying from Black companies, that in itself will not improve the economic status of the majority of Blacks in America. An equally important behavior that is often overlooked is the sharing of information. If you find out the process to apply for a government grant (which does not need to be repayed) to make improvements on a house, do you tell the community, or do you keep it to yourself? If you learn that IRAs are an better retirement solution than a 401K, do you let others know? If you discover that the government is giving guaranteed loans for new businesses, do you spread the word, or do you take this secret with you to the grave?
Unfortunately most African Americans don't share information with each other. Even when we find out information that is useful to the community as a whole. Even when sharing such information is not detrimental to our individual prosperity, we still keep valuable information to ourselves. Other communities do not act like this. It is common for Latino, Asian, and Eastern European communities to share information with each other. Indeed this tendancy is one of the primary reasons, these communities tend to prosper while the African American community remains stagnant (despite the prosperity of a handful of individuals).
It is time to put an end to this trend. Destee.com is a wonderful tool to share information. We do it on a day to day basis! There are members here who are economist, bankers, realtors (myself), and have other business knowledge. Instead of talking about music, poetry, sports, jokes, and relationships all the time....why not share our business knowledge? Why not dedicate an entire forum to doing this? There is no reason why life altering information needs to be lost among threads about "Michael Jackson having a baby with a midget" or "who has a bigger bootie, Ashanti or Beyonce?". We need a business/investment forum to help promote true growth in the black community!
I live in area (North New Jersey/New York City) that is incredibly diverse in terms of demographics. There are Portugese/Brazilian communities...Senegalese communities...Russian communities...Italian communities...Cuban communities...Puerto Rican communities...Dominican communities...Jewish communities...Chinese communities...Indian (Asian) communities, etc. When one lives and attempts to conduct business in an area like this, one of the 1st lessons learned is that most people like to do business within their ethnic group. Indeed most ethnic groups network with their own...they share information...they buy from each other...in short they support each other.
Although numerous discussions how taken place about African Americans buying from Black companies, that in itself will not improve the economic status of the majority of Blacks in America. An equally important behavior that is often overlooked is the sharing of information. If you find out the process to apply for a government grant (which does not need to be repayed) to make improvements on a house, do you tell the community, or do you keep it to yourself? If you learn that IRAs are an better retirement solution than a 401K, do you let others know? If you discover that the government is giving guaranteed loans for new businesses, do you spread the word, or do you take this secret with you to the grave?
Unfortunately most African Americans don't share information with each other. Even when we find out information that is useful to the community as a whole. Even when sharing such information is not detrimental to our individual prosperity, we still keep valuable information to ourselves. Other communities do not act like this. It is common for Latino, Asian, and Eastern European communities to share information with each other. Indeed this tendancy is one of the primary reasons, these communities tend to prosper while the African American community remains stagnant (despite the prosperity of a handful of individuals).
It is time to put an end to this trend. Destee.com is a wonderful tool to share information. We do it on a day to day basis! There are members here who are economist, bankers, realtors (myself), and have other business knowledge. Instead of talking about music, poetry, sports, jokes, and relationships all the time....why not share our business knowledge? Why not dedicate an entire forum to doing this? There is no reason why life altering information needs to be lost among threads about "Michael Jackson having a baby with a midget" or "who has a bigger bootie, Ashanti or Beyonce?". We need a business/investment forum to help promote true growth in the black community!
