When people buy a home, they are not only buying a piece of property. On the contrary, a home is usually the culmination of a life’s effort, the foundation from which dreams come true. It represents unity, stability, and at the foremost, it represents wealth.
Unfortunately, America has never experienced a wider gap between the wealthy and the lower classes. This is especially true in the case of African-American and Latinos who, if the current trend continues, will need at least more than 200 years to reach the same level of wealth that white families have.
These findings published in The Ever-Growing Gap: Without Change, African-American and Latino Families Won’t Match White Wealth for Centuries are extremely worrisome. For instance, the average wealth of White families has increased over 84% from 1983-2013, yet Latinos have experienced 70% percent of growth while Black families have barely reached 28%.
The Ever-Growing Gap: Without Change, African-American and Latino Families Won’t Match White Wealth for Centuries. (p. 7)
What is worse if the trend repeats for the next 30 years, Whites could increase their wealth by $18,000 per year while Latinos and Black families would see their wealth increase by $2,250 and $750 per year respectively.
That means that if the current rate growth continues it would take Black Families over 228 years, 17 years shorter than the span lo slavery, to be at the same of wealth as White families. What is more is that despite being in a more favorable position, Latinos would need at least 86 years to do so.
This immense gap is no coincidence; it is the product of decades of discrimination and racists policies that deprived minorities of the single most important source of wealth for the past 50 years: real estate. Redlining, exclusion from the G.I Bill and overall segregation caused that colored people missed the programs that helped create the middle class in modern America.
Right now, African-American and Latinos face great challenges that keep them away from financial stability. In general, they suffer greater numbers of unemployment, low numbers of homeownership and higher education rate. Their mortgage and bank loans are more likely to be denied than White Families. They are more vulnerable to extreme poverty and are less capable of saving money as they receive low returns for their investments.
These problems and issues are not likely to away soon and they require immediate attention form the American Society only then can steps be taken in the right direction and amend this disparity.
Here at the Power is Now we are committed to help African-American and Latinos reach a level of stability that can be passed on from generation to generation to build long lasting wealth. Therefore, we will address the issue of inequality in a series of blogs to further the discussion.
We also believe that the best way to investments for the future is through the purchase, sale and financing of residential and commercial real estate. Contact me for assistance at eric.frazier@thepowerisnow.com
