Fabulously Fake & Beautifully Broke: How to Stop Faking Financial Prosperity & Develop Wealth Building Skills

By Lynda V Harris

With all this positive publicity about narrowing wage gaps, women CEOs, and feminine power, it is too easy to overlook the stark reality that we do not actually share the same financial security as our men. While our earning power has increased, we continue to have little or no assets, and while many of us earn an excellent income, we have zero

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sunshine State Investments of So Florida, Inc
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9780578869322

Lynda V Harris

I come from a family of five girls and two boys and yes, we all share the same set of parents. My mother was a housewife and never worked and my dad was in law enforcement. I knew early on that I wanted to be a career woman, live in a high rise on the ocean, travel the world and make lots of money. Marriage and motherhood was not at the top of my list. At that time I didn't know where I got that from, but I had no doubt that was the life I wanted. However, as a Black women I didn't have any role models living the kind of life that I envisioned for myself. I had a mother that was a housewife, a father that worked and took care of the family financially and no clue how to create wealth to live the kind of life that I wanted. Growing up I was not exposed to any wealthy Black women and the topic of money and finances was not discussed at our dinner table. How was a little Black girl from Miami going to live the life she dreamed of with or without a man?

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Lynda V. Harris

Fabulously Fake & Beautifully Broke: How to Stop

Faking Financial Prosperity & Develop

Wealth Building Skills

© 2021 Lynda V. Harris. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or

by any means, electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopying

or recording, except for the inclusion in a review,

without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the USA by:

Sunshine State Investments of South Fla, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-578-86930-8 (paperback)

978-0-578-86932-2 (ebook)

Introduction and Purpose

W

omen are some of

the most complex, intelligent, fabulous, and beautiful individuals on earth. Throughout our history, we have learned to make something out of nothing, and it’s a good thing, too. For most of that history, nothing is exactly what women had. Even today, across the world, women enjoy fewer assets and lower income than men, even as they carry heavy workloads. The pandemic of 2020 resulted in over 1 million women permanently leaving the workforce. Women have come a long way here in America, and although there remains a lot of work ahead, we continue to break barriers and make progress. Today, women have the ability to earn more than ever before, with Millennials’ pay gap as little as 5%. Women are no longer as dependent on men in marriage, and we have realized our power in the world in our own right.

With all this positive publicity about narrowing wage gaps, women CEOs, and feminine power, it is too easy to overlook the stark reality that we do not actually share the same financial security as our men. While our earning power has increased, we continue to have little or no assets, and while many of us earn an excellent income, we have zero or negative net worth

In addition, some of us have taken our successes to another level. The rise in our spending power has been accompanied by a rise in spending! While we have started to own our magnificence, and realize how fabulous and beautiful we are, some of us have gotten caught up and confused and before we realize it, too many of us are living fabulously fake and beautifully broke lifestyles!

Social Security was not designed to support you in retirement, only supplement your retirement income. That doesn’t keep everyone from thinking it, though. According to a recent study by the Center for Global Policy Solutions, nearly 40% of Black women over the age of 65 are completely dependent upon Social Security.

Think about this: In 2016, the average amount of a social security check was $1,341.00, and according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average person lives 18 years after they retire. Add up your monthly expenses, and think about whether that$1,300 bucks is going to cover what you want to do when your hips ache and your grandkids’ birthdays all come in December. You may be living fast now, but there’s a wall coming. When you’re 75 and drinking store-brand prune juice you may regret those hundred-dollar bottles of champagne. I guarantee, you will want orthopedic shoes more than you have ever wanted any pair of shoes right now!

The situation for African-American women in America is in a crisis.