Greenbelt, MD — Kelvin Harris, president and CEO of Kel-Star Consulting, a full-service business solutions and wealth strategy advisory firm, is on a mission to educate the Black community on the basic financial concepts, principles, and secret financial strategies used by the wealthiest 1% — and to close the wealth gap by empowering the Black community to enact a form of “self-reparations” to reverse these statistics.
Harris comments, “If Black Americans are to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, it will start by acquiring the basic understanding of how money works and how to make it work for them.”
He continues, “The current economic crisis presents a unique Black American problem, with the pandemic and social justice issues of 2020 magnifying these issues. With every crisis comes opportunity. However, if we use this time to understand how money and finance work, we can put ourselves in a better position to build long-term generational wealth.”
While the current global pandemic has saddled many Americans with significant financial hardships and uncertainty, people of color, specifically African Americans, are hurting the most.
Between mounting student debt, day-to-day living expenses, and meager retirement savings, nearly a quarter of Americans are ill-prepared to live out their golden years comfortably. In fact, 44 percent of Americans have no money saved for retirement, and 97 percent of baby boomers don’t have a nest egg, Sadly, the numbers are even worse in the Black community.
Pre-COVID statistics showed that the average Black family was already in severe financial trouble, earning less than 60% of the household income and accumulating only 1/10 the net worth of the average White family. Even more disturbing is a report by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies in which researchers predicted that Blacks in America will have a median net worth of ZERO by 2053. It is clear that the racial wealth divide will persist if Black people don’t do something about it, starting today.
Offering solutions
Kel-Star Consulting focuses on teaching the financial concepts, principles, and strategies that empower people to become their own money managers and truly understand how to build a strong financial foundation.
“I want our community to know that you can control your destiny by controlling your finances,” Harris says. “When we can rely on ourselves financially — rather than someone else or the government — we’re better positioned to invest in our communities, grow our businesses, and thereby be financially self-sufficient. We won’t truly be free until we are financially free.”
Harris has helped 100s of individuals, families, and business owners, educating them on mitigating financial pitfalls. He regularly hosts business and economic forums on personal finance, wealth strategies, asset accumulation and protection, tax mitigation, real estate investing, and tax-free retirement income.
“Far too few people in the Black community operate sustainable businesses, making them less likely to bolster their local economy through products, services, and innovation, or to offer increasing employment opportunities in the community,” Harris notes. Further complicating matters is that an estimated 50% of Black-owned businesses have shuttered their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, he adds.
Financially flourish
Harris’s educational seminars teach methods for increasing cash flow, managing capital, building wealth, identifying financial opportunities to save up to $1,500 a month, and more. Harris also specializes in helping struggling business owners transform their companies into assets that consistently grow so that accumulated wealth is passed to future generations.
In addition to one-on-one consulting, Harris offers his clients access to online classes and workshops available at no cost to U.S. and Canadian residents. Harris also regularly speaks to organizations and educational institutions. His past speaking engagements include the National Urban League, Blacks in Government, National Black MBA Association, Jack and Jill of America, Inc, Howard University, and Columbia University.
Harris launched the Black Family Guide to Financial Success webinars to help families quickly get out of debt and reach their financial goals. For more details about creating a personalized wealth strategy and/or register for upcoming seminars, please visit KelstarConsulting.com/services
For press inquiries, contact Kelvin Harris at kelvin.harris@kelstarconsulting.com or 202-460-7031.