Is the Modern Black Culture Is Toxic & Expensive?
In this episode of the Financial Griot Podcast, the hosts share their thoughts on modern Black culture, building wealth, and changing priorities and narratives.
Currently median Black household wealth seats at $24k. Another recession would bring that number to $12k. According to The Road to Zero Wealth report, the median wealth of black Americans will fall to zero by 2053 if current trends continue. With spending up and credit card usage bolstering lifestyle creeps on social media is the Modern Black cultural zeitgeist detrimental to long-term wealth building and wealth preservation.
Do we really want to have generational wealth?
Table of Contents
The Black Culture is Changing and the Trajectory Is Not Good
First and foremost, modern-day Black culture is changing. In the last 50 years, branding and materialism was weaponized. Additionally, the ideas of C-suites and Soft lives have all but perverse traditional fundamentals. At this stage, it’s hard to build.
In some ways, Black Americans have gained wealth through higher income, however, the wealth gap continues to grow. Unfortunately, African Americans at the 75th percentile of the income distribution have a median net worth of $114,000, compared to $573,000 for White Americans.
In 2022, the US Black unemployment rate settled at 6.1 percent, nearly double the national average of 3.6 percent. For years, Black Americans haven’t enjoyed equal access to homeownership. “Quite a bit of wealth in America is based on homeownership,” Salene Hitchcock-Gear, president of individual life insurance at Prudential says.
Consequently, we will see the Black homeownership rates fall below 40 percent in the next 5-10 years.
According to Boston Consulting Group, 47 percent of Black and Latinx households were underbanked in 2021. The Unbanked are charged annual interest rates of 261% to 913% for cash advances.
The 2022 Urban Institute study found that Black young adults aged 18 to 20 had a median credit score of 24 points lower than their white peers. Those aged 21 to 24 in majority Black communities had a median credit score 83 points lower, and between ages 25 and 29, the gap widened further with a difference of 105 points.
As of 2022, the average Black bachelor’s degree holders carry nearly $52,000 in student loan debt. If income makes or breaks relationships, it makes sense why social media is fixated on gender wars. Can current Black culture in a Divided America, or will we need to change? We share our thoughts on all of it.
Connect with TFG Crew aka the Hosts:
- Alainta Alcin – Blogger, Travel and Money Enthusiast @alainta_alcin
- Lovely Merdelus – Entrepreneur and Small Business Growth Specialist @lovelymerdelus
- Lawrence Delva-Gonzalez – Federal Auditor, Blogger, and Tax Specialist @theneighborhoodfinanceguy
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