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As one of the nation’s top consuming demographics, African Americans are buying more than they are saving for the future, which is a disadvantage for the races’ net worth. For example, according to a report done by Democracy Now!, African-American women have, on average, about $100 net worth in 2013 compared to $41,000 for white women. If this disparity is shocking to you, so is the number of African Americans who do not seek financial advice to combat this. In 2007, only about 20 percent of African-American investors had a financial planner, according to AdvisorOne.

While African Americans are becoming increasingly aware of their net worth, retirement and debt planning, this disparity still lingers. Planning for a healthy financial future not only requires the assistance of family, friends and budgeting, but also professional assistance.

Looking to prepare for your financial future or make your financial present a little bit brighter? Consider getting a financial advisor to help you along. Here are a few questions to ask a potential financial advisor to make sure you get the best service.

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After all the talk about student loans and the massive amount of debt it saddles Americans with, we should turn an envious eye to Sweden, which offers a free college education. However, the average student has about US$19,000 in debt, far lower than the US (over $24,000) but still a lot. And 85 percent of students graduate with debt in Sweden whereas only 50 percent of Americans do. How can this be?

Sweden in particular — and Scandinavia in general — is an expensive part of the world. Quartz links to a story that shows how expensive Stockholm is, adding, “In Sweden, young people are expected to pay for things themselves instead of sponging off their parents.” Moreover, they tend to live on their own at a younger age than other Europeans. Adult children live at home until about the age of 30 in some countries.

“[W]hereas in the US parents are expected to help pay for the their children’s college education, in Sweden parental income levels are just not part of the equation. Students are viewed as adults, responsible for their own finances,” the article says.

Even with a student debt load, they manage to have a comparatively comfortable lifestyle. It should be noted that Swedes also have the support of a government that keeps interest rates low. President Obama is fighting to keep student loan rates from doubling in just a few weeks. Going forward, it’s important that we question political candidates about their views on help for students and managing student loans.

So the lesson here is to closely monitor, not just the cost of college tuition, but the cost of living as a student. It’s important to keep the prices for housing, entertainment, cable (why does anyone have more than one cable box… or one TV for that matter?), and other expenses low when income is low. When making the college decision, be sure to weigh all of the considerations and options. Should you or your child go to a community college first for a couple of years in order to live at home and save tuition money? Should the geographic location of the college be a consideration? Perhaps going to school in a small town is the better option versus choosing a school in a pricier city. Can you room with friends? Should you restrict yourself to only a night or two per week for dinners out and socializing, even if it looks like everyone else is having much more fun? And how big of a student loan do you really need?

Moreover, monitor your spending when you graduate. Loans need to be paid back and savings accounts built up. Just because work and income are the full-time priority, it doesn’t mean you’re flush with cash.

Finally, we have to be sure we’re thinking about debt in the right terms. While debt might be unavoidable, we must have a game plan for managing it and paying it off. In other words, look at your career path, your expenses, and where you hope to be in the longer term to determine the level of debt you can handle. You don’t want to have to put your life plans on hold later because you have to pay off debts you’ve accumulated now.

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Yesterday we published a story about Nicole Jackson, a woman with $186,000 in student loans who knows she won’t ever pay them back fully. Lots of readers weighed in on everything from the need to get rid of that debt to the relevance of a college degree to whether or not higher education should be free. (There are some interesting comments here.)

With Jackson, she decided not to make her loans a priority, but not to default on them. There is a big difference! She has basically chosen to make the minimum payment on her student loans into perpetuity. Meaning she will be in good standings with her borrowers, but it is highly unlikely there are enough years in her life to pay these loans off in full.

A Twitter follower asked us what would happen if someone decides to “walk away” from the loan entirely. If you chose not to pay your loans at all and default on them, you can face some serious repercussion that may have financial impacts on your life that are more strenuous than just coughing up the minimum payment. Keep in mind when you take out a federal loan you are dealing with the big boys! Our federal government does not play when it comes to getting their money back. Just ask anyone on the IRS’ radar.

Here are some adverse affects to not paying your student loans and letting them go into default:

1. Wage garnishment: The government can garnish up to 15 percent of your disposable income to force you to make good on your debt.

2. Tax refund interception: Any tax refunds in the future could be intercepted by the IRS to go towards your loan balance.

3. Federal benefits: Federal benefits like Social Security and disability payments can be garnished similar to your wages as mentioned above.

4. Getting sued: There is no statute of limitation on suing to collect on student loan debt. So if you default you will always have to wonder if and when you will get hit will a lawsuit from the federal government.

Be sure to do your research before you get on the US government’s bad side.

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On Friday we were feeling like money might be more than a thing for Jermaine Dupri who was reportedly in danger of losing rights to hits he made for acts like Bow Wow, Da Brat, and Xscape due to a nearly $2 million debt he owed to Sun Trust Bank.

I personally was getting ready to start a kickstarter, Change.org petition, or some other sort of effort to help the So So Def producer who was responsible for way too many artists’ success to go out like that, but according to JD he doesn’t owe anybody money. By the time the story started buzzing around, Jermaine Dupri took to his personal website, Global 14, to set the record straight — not the financial one, the rumor mill. And if you remember our video on Internet trolls, JD had his cap locks on, so you know he was about to go in! He wrote:

SO I WAKE UP THIS AFTERNOON WITH TWEETS FROM PEOPLE ASKING ME IF IM OK, JD WHATS GOING ECT….I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IM BEING ASKED THESE QUESTIONS, BUT BEING THE HEAVY SOCIAL MEDIA PERSON THAT I AM, I KNEW SOMETHING CRAZY HAD TO BE ON THE INTERNET,SURE ENOUGH I LOOK AND @VLADTV IS POSTING THIS LIKE CRAZY,IF YOU’RE A FOLLOWER OF WHAT I DO HERE AT GLOBAL14, YOU KNOW THAT GOSSIP,RUMORS AND ALL THAT BULL Isht WE DONT DO,BUT!!!! ONE OF THE REASONS I DID CREATE GLOBAL14 IS TO MAKE SURE ,THAT WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS WITH ME, THAT IS WORTH KNOWING, THIS IS WHERE YOU GET THE REAL .WITH THAT BEING SAID SUNTRUST BANK IS FULL OF S*** !!! AND THIS STORY IS A COMPLETE LIE,ON THE COCKYSIDE 1.9 MILLION FOR ALL MY MUSIC, GTFOH!!!! LOL,I HATE THAT I HAVE TO ADDRESS THIS, BUT I WAS ALWAYS TOLD “ONE CAN ROB YOU OF ALL YOUR MONEY AND THEY GET AWAY WITH NOTHING BUT WHEN THEY ROB YOU OF YOUR NAME THEY HAVE TAKEN IT ALL” F*** THAT !!!!

I guess Jermaine has a right to be mad, but he can’t act like his financial record has always been squeaky clean. Jermaine did just pay off a $3 million tax lien not so long ago. Still, I’m glad to see he may not be in such dire financial shape as some would have us believe.

Who do you believe, Jermaine or the bank?

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Back in 2010 popular hip-hop producer, Jermaine Dupri took out at $4.8 million loan from SunTrust Bank. Initially, all was well. Jermaine made his payments and everyone was happy. He paid more than half of the money he owed. Then, one day, the payments simply stopped. Now the bank is suing the So So Def founder for almost $2million, which includes the money he owes them, plus interest, TMZ reports.

When Jermaine first applied for the loan, he had to put up some collateral. He decided to use the copyrights and royalties that he has from  his former So So Def days from artists such as Bow Wow, Da Brat and Xscape. Jermaine doesn’t appear to have paid the remaining balance back yet, which means he may have to kiss his rights to all of that music goodbye.

Hopefully Jermaine is able to cough up the money. It would be a shame for him to lose ownership of the music that he worked so hard to help produce. This of course isn’t the first time he’s made headline for money troubles. Earlier this year he paid off a $3 million tax lien issued by the IRS. He also narrowly avoided having his Atlanta mansion foreclosed, twice.

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No one is exempt from feeling the impact of the economic downturn, including the elderly. Just like many others, seniors are struggling with mounting debt that’s preventing them from retiring comfortably, if at all.

According to Federal Reserve data analyzed be the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the average debt held by senior citizens shot up to $50,000 in 2010, an increase from 83 percent in 2001. The culprit for this lingering debt is housing-related. The St. Louis Federal Reserve found that families headed by someone 60 or older had the largest increase in average mortgage debt by percentage between 2000 and 2010.

It’s not that seniors are going out shopping for homes. It’s that pre-downturn money was so cheap that many took out the home equity lines of credit on their homes to make home improvements, travel, or even invest. Only 24 percent of homeowners over the age of 62 had mortgage debt in 1992, but that figure soared to 45 percent in 2010.

Other than mortgage debt, more seniors are relying on credit cards. Just about one-third of American seniors are relying on credit for daily expenses. Amy Traub senior policy analyst at Demos, the company that found these results said, “If people are relying on credit cards to pay living expenses, it’s difficult to see how that turns around if they aren’t earning additional income.”

Increased debt has forced many senior citizens to continue working well past the normal retirement age. Many are uncertain if they will experience the comfortable retirement they expected in their younger years and for some seniors with looming debt, retirement will never become a reality. The key is to plan early, save aggressively, and make your money work for you so you won’t have to work into your golden years.

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Another day, another tax lien, right?

Today, Faith Evans is the one letting her fiscal irresponsibility show, as according to TMZ she has a pretty hefty debt she’s refused to pay since 2011. The site claims the singer and widow of the Notorious B.I.G, has been hit with a tax lien by the state of California to the tune of $29,535.48.

The unpaid tax debt apparently stems back to 2011, which, in retrospect to what Faith has going on now, makes sense. In 2011, Faith Evans was virtually invisible on the national scale. There was no music, she may have done a tribute on an award show or two somewhere, but we wouldn’t be thoroughly surprised to find her money was funny at that time. In May of 2011, Faith and her husband, record company executive Todd Russaw, whom she began dating after she separated from Biggie in 1997, also announced they were filing for divorce a year after she had been arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor drunken driving. So yeah, there was a lot going on then. Now today, knowing that she’s the co-executive producer of the hit reality show “R&B Divas,” I’m saying, just pay the money, Faith!

Since the “Divas” franchise just kicked off last year, and there was no telling how much of a hit it would be, I imagine Faith is just now getting her ducks — and by ducks I mean money — in a row and plans to take care of this debt pronto. We’d hate to see her end up in jail like some of her industry cohorts.

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The increasingly insurmountable student loan debt in the U.S. hovers around $1 trillion threatening the quality of life of those who can’t afford to make their payments. And he number of people heading into dangerous territory continues to grow.

The number of student loan debtors who are at least 90 days late on their payments has increased to 11.7 percent, up from 8.5 percent in 2011, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And if you don’t include students who have deferred their payments, delinquency rates could be as high as 30 percent, according to a different study conducted by the New York Fed.

This clearly shows that with balances swelling, minimum payments are becoming higher, and students are consequently missing payments. The states with the highest delinquency rates are West Virginia (17.8 percent), Louisiana (17.1 percent), and Arkansas (16.4 percent). Puerto Rico is in there too with 16.7 percent delinquency. Other states on the list with high levels of student loan problems are Florida, Texas, and Rhode Island.

South Dakota is the state with the lowest rate of student loan delinquency at 6.6 percent, although it is among the highest for percent of consumers in the state with student loan debt at 20.3 percent. Only 14.4 percent of West Virginia consumers have student loan debt.

The US student loan situation is dragging down the recovery of the US economy. Student loan reform is up for discussion within the Obama administration, with interest rates scheduled to increase this summer. With the debt reaching crisis levels, Congress should keep rates at the current levels.

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Every couple goes through rough times. However, where money is concerned, there is a lack of communication between people around the world. It’s a tough topic, and couples that have merged their economic situations can see their relationship go from smooth sailing to choppy waters.

Once your relationship begins to drown in financial issues, you’re on the path to either Breakup City or a financially hazardous relationship. If you are concerned about your or your honey’s finances, but don’t know the signs to look out for, take a look at these nine financial red flags that could be right under your nose, targeting your bank account.

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If this is true, Dame Dash is drowning in debt right now.

In a report by The New York Daily News, Dash filed papers on Tuesday saying is so deep in debt that he cannot pay his personal bills, which includes his rent in a Carmel, NY mansion where he is currently behind in rent by $100,000.

Over the past few years, Dash has lost two New York City lofts to foreclosure, his vehicle has been seized, he owes $2 million dollars in New York State taxes, an undisclosed amount in federal taxes and he says he’s facing criminal charges for non-payment of New Jersey state taxes.

Wow.

On Thursday, Dame went to court to ask the judge not to garnish his wages (whatever they are). He says that at this time, his money goes to the following (your mouth will drop):

- He pays $24,000 every three months to his ex-wife, fashion designer Rachel Roy, for child support of their two kids, and to cover money owed on the lofts.

- New York state forces Dash to send another $4,341.10 per month for support of his son, Christian.

- He paid nearly $20,000 in garnished wages in late 2012 for other debts.

- And he faces a pending $40,000 tax payment for business earnings.

Dash says in paying for all that, he is barely keeping his business afloat let alone able to pay his personal bills.

Well, we can see how that could be the case.

Dame sent a message through his attorney saying:

“I’m an independent businessman and this is what comes from business.  I have the guts to fight my battles on my own and it’s entertainment to everybody else because I’m so cool about it.”

How “cool” can you really be when you’re obviously still spending beyond your means and barely have a place to lay your head?

It sounds like someone needs to put their pride to the side and get himself together.