Black Spending Tops $1.6 Trillion while Black Wealth Issues Persist
Black wealth issues in the US have endured for decades. While spending in the Black community has gone up to $1.6 Trillion, wages and standards of living are at catastrophic lows. It feels like we live in two Americas.
What gives? Will this persist? Can the Racial wealth gap ever improve? And what do we do now?
We discuss.
Table of Contents
Is Spending Just a Black Wealth Issues?
In this episode, the Financial Griot podcast crew discussed the racial wealth gap and how to manage money in a time of uncertainty. The goal is to make a way out of no way in lieu of external circumstances such as systematic oppression and a painful history.
The Lost Decades of Black Wealth
For the last four decades, Black consumers have been regularly overlooked by companies that don’t see them as a priority demographic. Black consumers continue to be under-served in areas such as food, housing, healthcare, broadband, and banking. Home-ownership peaked at 41% in the 1960s and started to declined as of 2020.
Black wealth is concentrated with Black Boomers through outdated homes, pensions and debt. The Black community has had limited access to building wealth for generations while trapped in poverty deserts.
A closer look at wealth in America reveals staggering racial wealth disparities. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2019 national Black poverty rate was more than double the white poverty rate in the U.S. (roughly 22% compared to 9%, respectively), as reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
Don’t we deserve a chance to live and breathe? Is wealth merely a proxy to whiteness?
The Black and White Wealth Issues in America
The average white family’s wealth is eight times higher than the wealth of an average Black family, according to the Federal Reserve. Systematic inequality, lack of financial literacy, high default rates on student loans and employment discrimination, among other factors, have led to the racial wealth gap.
The top financial challenges include:
- Underfunded schools, mentoring and forward thinking programs,
- Access to affordable and scalable mortgages and Home ownership,
- Securing employment opportunities in higher paying fields and higher income due to pay disparities,
- Learning how to make informed and effective financial decisions to include emergency savings and investments,
- The prohibitive costs of using a certified Financial expert,
- Paying for the cost of education through exorbitant debts,
- Being indebted to the community (Black Survivor Guilt),
- The impending $68 trillion wealth transfer for White Americans, and
- Black Boomer Retirement and Housing Crisis.
Why do we boldly talk about the Black Issues?
If you are new here, the Financial Griot is a play on two words (Finance + Griot) that hold significance in closing the wealth and knowledge gap.
While Merriam-Webster defines a Griot as a West African historian or storyteller; we take it a step further. The griot is a repository of oral tradition, as such this podcast serves as a library of real time understanding of the world and how we can change it.
We share our stories so that others don’t. Stories about growth, perspective and the opportunity to change.
Beyond that we talk about Finances. Specifically, how to become Financially literate, incorporating actionable steps and ultimately building generational wealth. In this space you are family and we welcome you to ask any question.
Eliminating the Black-White wealth gap is a generational challenge, we are on board.
How to Connect with TFG Crew in case you want to go beyond these issues:
- 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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