Race, Gender, Age & Place

Although demography is not destiny, the main drivers of financial health and wellbeing are when you are born and enter the job market, your race and ethnicity, and how much education you have. As we raise the first generation to live shorter, poorer lives than their parents, it’s important to understand these drivers and why millennials should expect a financial future that’s different from their parents. At the other end of the spectrum, how can we address the financial realities for the growing number of retired Americans? What are the implications of the nation’s changing demography given today’s financial realities?

The Future of Building Wealth: Can Financial Capability Overcome Demographic Destiny?
Bravo to MacKenzie. When she was born, she chose married, white, well-educated parents who live in an affluent, mostly white neighborhood with great public schools. She chose parents who read to her, signed her up for violin and soccer lessons at an early age, and involved her in church and community activities. She also chose…
Race, Place, and Financial Security: Building Equitable Communities of Opportunity
I grew up in a completely integrated, entirely African American neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. Although that may sound like an oxymoron, it was not uncommon during the 1950s and 1960s. In many cities, racial discrimination meant that most black people lived in neighborhoods where nearly everyone else was black. It also meant those neighborhoods…
Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration: A Strategy for Investing in Individuals, Families and Communities
So many people come out with so many good intentions. And every door is slammed on them… When you’re told no at the employment line, when you’re told no trying to get back to your family, or you’re told no because this community is unaccepting of you — you try to figure out where you…
Wealth and Generations
Writing in 1965, Social Security Commissioner Robert Ball announced that the American economy was on its way to becoming so productive that there was no reason why government could not eliminate all want among the citizenry. “Poverty in the past has been basically the result of the fact that there was not enough to go…
African American Economic Inequality: A Twenty-First Century Challenge
Depressed living standards for Negroes are not simply the consequences of neglect. Nor can they be explained by the myth of the Negro’s innate incapacities, or by the more sophisticated rationalization of his acquired infirmities. They are a structural part of the economic system in the United States. — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968…
Latinos in the Financial Shadows
Since the Gold Rush of 1849, California has been the destination of dreamers. Today, San Francisco draws young and energetic entrepreneurs from all over the world. They come with big dreams of starting their own tech companies or building the next big app that will change the world with one (or two) clicks. Techies are…
The Lakota Funds Story: How Indian Country is Building Financial Capability
For decades, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of South Dakota has been among the poorest, if not the poorest, counties in the nation. Much has been reported about Pine Ridge. Despite its exceptional beauty, most reports are only of poverty, high unemployment, alcoholism, and the subsequent grim effects. Pine Ridge is not alone in the…
Financial Insecurity in Asian American Pacific Islander Communities: An Untold Story of Racial Wealth Inequality
In 2010, the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community became the fastest growing ethnic group in the country. If this trend continues, the AAPI population will grow to be approximately 9 percent of the U.S. population by 2050 (up from 5 percent).1 At the same time, the last decade has shone new light on…
Women and Wealth: How to Build It
Wealth and assets are integral to the economic security of men and women of all ages, races, ethnicities, occupations, and income levels. Although women have made tremendous progress in achieving economic equality with men in all the largest racial and ethnic groups in the United States, they still lag behind men in many aspects of…
From Impulse Control to Interest Rates: Building Financial Capability in Children and Youth
Children are fantastic learners. They master spoken language in just a couple of years. They gain control of their bodies and figure out how to navigate the physical environment. Children also learn to negotiate, quarrel, joke, and whine all in the first few years of their lives. However, we rarely let young children get anywhere…
The Upside of Aging: Maximizing Wisdom in Financial Decision Making
Imagine you are at a restaurant with your parents. Your father, as always, handles the bill, but you notice it is taking longer than usual for him to sign the credit card slip. A quick peek at the check reveals that he has drastically undertipped (and it’s not just that he is being cheap). Your…
What It’s Worth: Building Bridges to Financial Health and Well-being
Although each author in this book states it somewhat differently, each points to the same conclusion: household financial health and well-being is the bridge to a better life, a better community, and a better economy. Our challenge is to make that idea intuitive to policymakers in all parts of society — education, health, housing, justice,…

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Race, Gender, Age & Place

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Race, Gender, Age & Place