FUTURE MILLIONAIRE

For young self-starters eager to become well-off, a successful Black entrepreneur and financial podcaster offers a pep talk and a program.

In this conversational, approachable guide, Rodgers presents a mix of practical guidelines and attitude adjustment techniques that, she claims, will make that Million Dollar Dream a reality in about 12 years, which is the average for entrepreneurs. Her advice about the nuts and bolts of budgeting, saving, mutual fund investing, and the like is solid, if standard issue. The secret sauce, she insists, is learning how to change negative Zero Dollar thinking, expectations, and decision-making. Her approach blends easily absorbed slogans (“You’re not broke, you’re pre-rich”) and valuable insights (“the riches are in the niches”) with the broader principle that having money “is not about the money,” but about using it to make one’s own and others’ lives better, helping to “create the world you actually want to live in.” Much of the content may seem wildly optimistic, but the author doesn’t downplay the amount of labor that will be required—and she stands as proof that her approach works. Crucially, Rodgers also doesn’t shy away from acknowledging that “studies show that banking policies are sexist and racist” and that queer, disabled, and other marginalized people face real barriers, lending her advice, as someone who succeeded despite these odds, more credibility. Each chapter closes with a summary of major points, and the book’s website contains supplementary worksheets.

Upbeat and persuasive.