Singletary, Michelle

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Singletary, Michelle

PERSONAL:

Married; husband's name Kevin; children: three. Education: University of Maryland, received degree; Johns Hopkins University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Agent—Kelli Bland, Podium Prose, 1025 Connecticut Ave., Ste. 1012, Washington, DC 20036. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Baltimore Evening Sun, Baltimore, MD, business reporter; Washington Post, Washington, DC, business writer and columnist, 1992—. Financial commentator on Real Business, Black Entertainment Television, Day to Day and This Week in Business, National Public Radio, and Insight (radio program), Howard University; guest appearances on television programs, including Oprah, The View, and Nightline.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) fellowship, 1994; first place award for business writing, NABJ, 1998, and first-place for personal finance reporting in major newspaper category, ICI Education Foundation/American University, 1999, both for column "The Color of Money."

WRITINGS:

7 Money Mantras for a Richer Life: How to Live Well with the Money You Have, Random House (New York, NY), 2004, reprinted as Spend Well, Live Rich: How to Get What You Want with the Money You Have, Ballantine (New York, NY), 2004.

Your Money and Your Man: How You and Prince Charming Can Spend Well and Live Rich, Random House (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to Web sites, including Right on the Money. Writer of column "The Color of Money" for the Washington Post, 1997—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Financial planner Michelle Singletary has contributed to many radio and television programs with her clear and straightforward explanations and advice on often complex and difficult-to-understand financial matters. Singletary joined the Washington Post in 1992, where she has covered banking and bankruptcy issues. In 1994 she was awarded a fellowship by the National Association of Black Journalists to write about small, women-owned businesses in West Africa, and while she was there she covered the election of Nelson Mandela. In 1997 Singletary began writing her popular and award-winning column "The Color of Money," which she supplemented by leading an online chat at the newspaper's Web site.

Singletary's books include Your Money and Your Man: How You and Prince Charming Can Spend Well and Live Rich. Here she reveals how she and her husband, Kevin, manage their finances by communicating, compromising, and setting goals. She writes that it is a lack of these aspects in the financial partnership between spouses that causes money difficulties in marriage. Singletary suggests a number of questions that could be asked before marriage that will indicate where the partners agree and disagree, giving them an idea of areas they need to work on. She also suggests that they share credit reports. She offers advice on typical areas of finance that most families encounter, such as budgeting, using credit, buying a home, financing a child's education, investing, and saving for retirement. In addition, she takes the reader through common legal forms and explains various kinds of investments, explaining the difference between indexed and managed mutual funds, for example.

A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that Singletary "resists preachiness and concentrates on providing detailed counsel on how to develop good financial habits." Booklist contributor Barbara Jacobs wrote that Your Money and Your Man is "everything you ever wanted to know about money, times two."