Channel: Boyce Watkins

Category: Film & Animation

Tags: african american scholarsjay morrison boyce watkinsblack owned businessesblack menjay morrisonblack scholarsblack culturejay morrison the breakfast club interviewjay morrison tulsa real estate fundblack businessjay morris knee deepblack wealthjay morrison real estatejay morrison tulsablack wall streetmr jay morrisonjay morrison grant cardoneblack people

Description: Rites of passage are incredibly important for any successful community. While such activities may come off as worthless symbolism, the reality is that symbolism is one of the keys to the subconscious mind. So, having your children go through a process, ceremony or some kind of external validation is critical for helping them to form their self-identity. In The Black Business School, we have a wealth building program for children called “Black Millionaires of Tomorrow.” The program focuses on keys areas of wealth that every black child needs to understand: The basics of money, the fundamentals of the stock market, real estate investing and starting your own business. In the program, all of the children are taken through basic financial concepts that most adults don’t understand, but the information is presented as a fun cartoon or puppet show. After the child goes through the basic trainings, they are given exams to ensure that they’ve learned the assigned material. But learning the material is not enough. We then offer the parent the opportunity to print out a “Baby Bachelors Degree” for the child, that includes my signature. This gives the child a certification that they’ve gone through the financial training of The Black Business School. Why is this important? Could the child learn just as much without ever receiving the degree? Of course they could. But the degree is important to put on their wall for a few reasons. First, the symbolic gesture of being “ceritified” by a credible authority instills confidence and validation in the mind of the child. Now, the child sees himself as a wealth builder and investing becomes part of his/her identity. Secondly, receiving the degree also allows the child to tell his/her friends that “I’ve been to college and I’ve worked with a black college professor.” This is HUGE because I personally didn’t meet my first black college professor until I was 19 years old. His name was Dr Tommy Whittler and he’s been one of my best friends for 30 years. Ironically, till this day, I’ve never had a black professor teach me in class. So, for your children to learn from a black college professor at an early age, you’re giving them a tremendous head start in the game of competitive global economics. Here’s the deal: In order for the black community to compete in the next generation, our children have to learn about wealth building as much as we learn about basketball, football, rap and other activities that take up all of our time. Our kids love money. They do all kinds of desperate things for money. So, if they love money so much, why wouldn’t they spend time learning how to acquire it? Think of this another way. There is a REASON the NFL and NBA find so many talented athletes in the black community. In every city in America, there are football training camps, youth leagues and coaching scouring for the next superstar. Nearly all high schools have both football and basketball teams. Nike, Adidas and other companies develop camps that allow the best and brightest athletes to show off their talents. It is because there are a large number of systems developed all throughout the United States that the US develops the best professional athletes in the world. The same should be true when building future business owners and wealth builders in the black community. We should develop economic training centers all across America and throughout the world. Every one of our children should own shares of stock before they start kindergarten. Our kids should all learn how to start a business by the age of 12 and understand the fundamentals of acquiring real estate as soon as possible. This is their training camp. This is what will prepare them to dominate the future. Less than 1% of all basketball and football players ever make a penny playing basketball. But every single one of our kids is going to have to deal with money. This is the arena where 100% of our kids will eventually go pro. We must prepare them for this reality if we want them to succeed. Dr Boyce Watkins is a Finance PhD and founder of The Black Business School. He is also author of several books, including "Financial Lovemaking" and "What if George Bush were a Black Man?" among others. Black Wealth is his obsession and he has spent 30 years teaching wealth-related concepts to students at Syracuse University, The Ohio State University, Indiana University and even in China, Europe and Africa as well. You can learn more about The Black Business School by visiting TheBlackBusinessSchool.com. You can learn more about the Dr Boyce Watkins Black Stock Market Program by visiting TheBlackStockMarketProgram.com.