What’s Going On In Gvegas? A pictorial look at what is happening in the Greenville, NC area!
Relaxing in Raleigh A pictorial look at the Natural Hair Expo that took place in the Raleigh, NC area!
Book Of The Month “The Millionaire Next Door” Dr. Thomas Stanley Dr. William Danko
Be Inspired NC SistaGirls RaSheeda Waddell,
Interest: Your Biggest Expense What are you relying on for your future retirement plans?
N’Jeri Putting It Down N’Jeri putting iit down in rehearsal at the Masquerade Release Celebration for IMPACT Magazine!
While watching the movie “Blood Diamond” the other night…it came to me… I am truly grateful for my journey. There are so many people in this world whose plight is so much deeper and greater than mine, but I am truly thankful for my journey. My journey consists of trials, tribulations, joys, love and so much more. When we are going through our journey, we look at our present situation and if it is not up to where we desire for it to be, we look to move on…but we have to enjoy the present moment of where we are. There are life lessons in those moments of the present that we are supposed to learn or we will continue to see those lessons in our next destination. Psalms 37:23 states, “The steps of a good man are established by the LORD, and he delights in his way!” No matter the situation or circumstance, if we believe wholly in what the Scriptures say, we are to know that our journey is established by GOD and we are to be thankful in every way that we go. But are we truly thankful for where we are right at this instant? No recession or lack of this or that should get us to the point that we are not thankful while we are on our journey. In this issue of IMPACT Magazine, we highlight what is going on in Gvegas! We go on a pictorial journey of the first Natural Hair Expo that took place in Raleigh, NC. Our Book of the Month is “The Millionaire Next Door”. In our Be Inspired section we discuss the NCSistaGirls and Miss Black North Carolina, Rasheeda Waddell. Our journey is simply that..our journey…we have been ordained before the world began to walk out this expedition. Are we going to look at what we don’t have or who we are not with and not be grateful that we are living in a wonderful world full of possibilities! I’m not going to harp on anything…I am living my life because it is Golden! Loving all of the possibilities while I am walking through life..living in the moment of my journey! Be a blessing to someone today and remember to always walk in peace!
Tunisha C. Brown Editor-In-Chief
NCSistaGirls
was created 5 (five) years ago by Founder Moni Brodie and Co-Founder Mia Burwell with a goal of providing a social outlet for positive women of color.
The purpose of NCSistaGirls is
to promote unity, diversity and community service by regularly socializing together, via both internet and more traditional mediums, and enjoying a wide variety of social interactions, by embracing women of color from all ages, professions, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
NCSistaGirls
also aim to be a positive force in their communities by reaching out to the many segments of our communities that need support. NCSistaGirls is committed to work for a variety of causes while providing a social and philanthropic outlet for professional women of color.
RaSheeda A. Waddell holds the Master of Music in Voice Performance degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC and the Bachelor of Arts in Music (Summa cum laude) degree from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. She is the 2010 Miss Black North Carolina, 2007 Winner of the Piedmont Triad Vocal Arts Competition (formerly Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition) and placed 3rd at the Regional level. In addition to her music career, RaSheeda’s scholarly pursuits are also emerging and receiving acclaim. Her areas of research include the characterization of women in opera, feminism in the African Diaspora, and body image in popular culture.
Dr. Richard McCoy Approximately three-quarters of U.S. pension funds do not have enough money invested to pay out expected pension benefits. Most of these companies are betting on a stock market upswing to build up their investments. If it doesn't happen, they'll have to cut into their profits or cut back on future benefits. What are you relying on for your retirement? Social Security? Your pension plan? Your investments? The best way to ensure your financial future is to pay down debt and build a diversified base of investments for the future. Most of us can't rely on Social Security, company pensions or inheritances to help us through retirement. We need to wake up and take control of planning for our own future by saving money on interest through smarter borrowing and by paying off debt faster. Interest is the greatest expense we will pay. We must learn to negotiate interest we earn as well as interest we pay on the debt we use. For example, the chart below shows us how interest affects the debt we pay and the number of years it will take us to pay it off. This example is based on a principal balance of $3,000 with a minimum payment of $60 per month. Amount of Loan
Monthly Payment
Interest Rate
No. of Years
Total Interest Paid
$3,000
$60
19.8%
32 Years, 5 months
$9,483
$3,000
$60
16.8%
21 Years
$5,055
As you can see we must begin to take a closer look at our debts and begin to reduce the interest we pay on them. The chart above shows a difference of over $4,000 dollars over the life of the loan just by paying 3% more in interest. Our lifestyles are impacted greatly due to the overwhelming interest we pay on our debts. We reduce our spending power, we reduce our earning power, and we blindly go on month after month paying the minimum payments on our credit cards, mortgages and other revolving debt—ultimately missing the opportunities to establish wealth long-term. Why is it important to negotiate your interest on both your debts and your investments?

By negotiating your interest rate with your creditors you reduce the
amount of money you pay to use their money. When you use your credit card you are really taking a loan from the credit card company that extended you the credit. In essence what you have done is you have taken care of the loan paperwork in advance and in exchange the company has provided you with a card to make the purchase for any item you may desire without having to do the paperwork every time. Think about this—if you had to fill out loan papers every time you charged something at Target, wouldn't you give more thought to your purchase, especially if the product you are buying does not outlast your billing cycle (which is usually 28-30 days)? Also of great importance is negotiating your interest on your investments. The more money you can make on your money is more beneficial to your long-term financial plan. Wouldn't you consider changing your local bank if you could get 1% higher interest on your money market or CD? The days of loyalty to a particular company are past. We are more savvy investors, more educated and have a tremendous amou n t
of
i n for m ati on
resources at our disposal.
an d
Pay attention to INTEREST in every situation. Don't fall for the common mistakes of introductory offers and no pay窶馬o interest plans that backfire when you can't meet your minimum payments.
Protect
your
future;
increase your quality of life by paying attention to your financial agreements. Sit down and write a list of your creditors and list the interest you owe each of them. Make a list of your investments and the interest you are earning so that you will be more informed about your financial matters. Pay off the highest interest rates first and then add those payments to the bill with the next highest interest you will pay off your debt much sooner than you expected.