The report further disclosed that the collapse of the housing market in 2006 and the recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on minorities than whites. As a result, the inflation-adjusted median wealth of black households dropped a staggering 53% from 2005 to 2009, versus just 16% for white households during the same period. Latinos were hardest hit as the group’s median wealth plummeted by 66%.

The major culprit: the steep decline in the median value of home equity. For African Americans, it plunged from $76,910 in 2005 to $59,000 in 2009 while the level dropped for white homeowners from $115,364 to $95,000. To make matters worse, Pew found that 35% of African Americans had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15% of whites.

It’s true that the Great Recession was brutal. But we can’t attribute all of our woes to the economic downturn. Many of our wounds have been self-inflicted. We put most of our resources into real estate but did not sufficiently diversify our assets through savings as well as stocks and fixed-income investments. For example, the Pew study found that more than 80% of whites and Asians own interest-bearing assets at financial institutions versus roughly 60% of blacks and Latinos. Moreover, whites and Asians are also three to four times as likely as blacks and Latinos to own stocks and mutual fund shares. For example, in 2009, 27% of whites owned stocks and mutual fund shares but only 7% of blacks had such holdings.

We must reverse this trend. To build and preserve our net worth, we must all develop a Wealth for Life plan. Over the past 11 years, black enterprise has provided you with 10 specific Wealth for Life principles. Whether you’re 25 or 55, there’s value in heeding these tenets which include living within your means, engaging in sound credit and tax management, and building a diversified portfolio. As I have often stated in this column, you can’t have a comprehensive wealth program without investing in the stock market.
Even with market volatility, Dow Jones Industrial Average has provided an annual total return, including dividends, of 11.2% over the past 25 years.

(Continued on next page)

I know that it will be tougher for some more than others. Many of you have had to deal with unemployment and underemployment. Others have fallen into such a deep financial hole it may take a decade to climb out. But doing nothing is not a viable option. If you find yourself in dire financial straits, get professional help from a qualified financial planner. First, however, commit to changing your behavior and modify your lifestyle to meet your goals.

For those of you who need inspiration, I share with you the example of the late Oseola McCarty. A woman from humble beginnings who quit school in sixth grade to assist her family, she spent a lifetime providing laundry services in Mississippi. Despite her menial occupation, McCarty saved her dollars and put her money in CDs and conservative mutual funds over several decades. In 1995, she was able to donate $150,000 from a portion of her holdings to the University of Southern Mississippi to provide scholarships for deserving students. Clearly, you have the ability and resources to do no less for you and your family.

So it’s time to wake up and get serious about your finances. The development of your Wealth for Life plan is not sacrifice or hardship. Rather it is an investment in the future stability and prosperity of your family—for generations to come.

Broke as hell—but you're still fly. Really? No, REALLY? (Image: Thinkstock)

Each week, I and my colleagues at BLACK ENTERPRISE get e-mails and letters from people who tell me they are determined to get out of debt and begin to build wealth for themselves and their families. This is especially true at the beginning of the year, between January (New Year resolutions) and April (Financial Literacy Month). I get many of these questions in response to my syndicated radio feature Money Matters, or through my presence on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and BEInsider. Most of those who reach out to us are sincere about their desire to change their financial futures.

However, others are just giving lip-service to the BLACK ENTERPRISE Wealth for Life mission. They want financial freedom—as long as they don’t actually have to make changes in their lifestyles to do it. They know they need to live within their means. They’re just not trying to hear it. They know they’re living dirty when it comes to their finances—but they’re still fly!

My message this morning is for those of you who are part of the latter group of people, those who want to talk the talk, but will not walk the walk. My question to you: How badly do you want it? Do you want to build wealth and gain financial empowerment badly enough to:

Read at least one book on money and finances each month?

Stop pleading ignorance about financial matters and commit to your own financial literacy?

Stop ignoring sound advice from financial experts?

Drive your two-year-old car for five more years, rather than trading up to a brand new model—again?

Forego buying new clothes or shoes for a year?

Prepare all meals at home, brown-bagging your meals for work each day?

Stay on top of your credit reports and scores?

Care for your own nails and do your own hair?

Take in a trusted friend, relative or boarder, sharing household expenses and applying the savings to paying down debt and building up savings?

Temporarily taking on a second job or freelance work to bring in more income to boost savings and reduce debt?

Lock away your credit cards for a year, living only on the money you actually have and cutting expenses rather than going deeper into debt? In other words, stop using credit to buy things you don’t have the cash for?

Save for what you want, instead of buying it on credit?

Stop shopping based on what you think you deserve, and focus on what you can actually afford? (Cultivating an exaggerated sense of entitlement and deprivation is the goal of most advertising. Stop falling for it!)

Put together a household budget—and stick to it?

Say NO to your kids? Your spouse? Yourself?

Too many of the people who contact me for advice say no to these questions, and to anything that calls for them to make the sacrifices and change the lifestyles that brought them to their financial difficulties. Often, they are spending to win or keep the approval and acceptance of others (even though the “Joneses” they’re trying to hang with are likely just as broke as they are). They’re so focused on looking rich that it’s impossible for them to build wealth.

Well I’ve got news for you: Freedom (especially financial freedom) ain’t free. You can’t build wealth for the future, if you refuse to make sacrifices today. You don’t have to sacrifice everything, but you have to sacrifice something. Those of you looking for a pain-free, short-cut to financial empowerment and freedom will only find disappointment, frustration and ultimately, financial ruin.

The definitions of poverty and wealth do not change:

Wealth is spending less money than you make, saving and investing the difference in things that increase in value and/or pay you interest, thereby increasing your assets and net worth.

Poverty is spending more money than you make, spending on things that decrease in value and borrowing to cover the difference, paying interest to others, thereby increasing your liabilities and decreasing your net worth.

These are not just financial conditions; they are lifestyles. Which lifestyle you choose is entirely up to you. It doesn’t matter what you say; your daily decisions and actions reveal the truth. Financial freedom is far from easy to attain, especially at first. However, it can be achieved—and maintained. How badly do you want it?

These are just a few of the pressing financial issues black enterprise uncovered after surveying be Nexters: 21- to 35-year-olds. When we reached out to young readers and asked them to voice their top concerns via Facebook and Twitter, student loan debt and investing ranked high on the list.

Some readers have even amassed up to $100,000 in debt to attain master’s and doctorate degrees. College seniors who graduated in 2009 carried an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6% from the previous year, according to The Project on Student Debt. These factors may partly explain the lower rates of investing among African Americans. According to the 2010 Ariel Black Investor Survey, since 1998, African Americans have consistently saved and invested less than whites of similar income.

But don’t get discouraged; time is on your side and so are we. That’s why Black Enterprise asked our team of experienced financial advisers to help answer some of your most-asked questions about wealth building. We talked to Ryan Mack, author of Living in the Village: Build Your Financial Future and Strengthen Your Community (St. Martin’s Griffin; $14.99), Zac Bissonnette, author of Debt-Free U (Penguin Group; $16), Dr. Herm Davis, co-author of College Financial Aid for Dummies, personal finance coach Dorethia Conner, and financial adviser Chris Long.

TOBEE- LEUMAS
Nashville, TN
Age 21

Q: How do I jump into investing while juggling my financial obligations as a full-time college student?

Mack: With your future income being such an uncertainty I wouldn’t advise you to invest in stocks only to have you liquidate your positions upon graduation when you find out what your true financial picture is (which for many graduates today is filled with a lot of debt and not as much income as anticipated). Start creating mechanisms that increase your knowledge and exposure to this field. You can start your own investment awareness club and check out websites that can increase your knowledge such as www.moneymovement.org, simulator.investopedia.com, www.bloomberg.com, and finance.yahoo.com. Also, consider finding mentors who can assist your growth.

PATRICE K. COKLEY
Detroit
Age 29

Q: Is it a good idea to consolidate my loans?

Bissonnette: Consolidation doesn’t really do anything. It’s almost like shifting your food around on the plate. It just puts all your loans in one place so you’re not paying a bunch of different creditors. The best way to repay your student loans is by figuring out how you can cut costs, increase your income, and put the excess toward the debt. (Visit www.studentloans.gov)
Davis: It may not be wise to consolidate all your loans especially low-interest federal loans (i.e.Perkins).

SELENA RUTH SMITH
Mayesville, SC
Age 34

Q: I’m a first-time investor and not sure whether I should invest in bonds or stocks?

Long: It doesn’t need to be an either/or decision. For most people your age, stocks are a better bet because they have a higher long-term return. You could invest 80% of your money in stock funds and 20% in bond funds. For stock funds I really like no-load, low-cost index funds. Make sure to include international stocks in your mix. If you are just starting out, and want to keep it simple, you could invest in a U.S. stock index fund, a bond index fund, and an international stock index fund. Or you could choose a target retirement fund that has a predetermined mix of those three types of funds based on your age.

Conner: Visit www.morningstar.com or www.hoovers.com to learn about the companies held in the funds you consider.

ANTWAN CALLOWAY
Canton, GA
Age 30

Q: How much money do I need to start investing?

Mack: Assuming that you have already eliminated any debt and have a stable savings strategy, all you need is a trickle of dollars to start investing. If you go to www.sharebuilder.com you’ll see a great resource where you can start small and build, but again, make sure that you have built a solid foundation before you invest in the market including the following: Do you have a working budget? Have you eliminated your credit card debt? Is your FICO score above 700? Do you have a proper insurance plan in place? Do you have six to nine months of living expenses saved? Is your estate plan in order? Are you investing regularly in your [employer’s] retirement plan at least up to the company match?

ERYK WILLIAMS
Tampa, FL
Age 28

Q: Investing seems so complex. I get overwhelmed with just the basics. How can I create a financial blueprint?

Long: Save six months of living expenses in an emergency fund. (You can use an FDIC insured high-yield savings account.) Have this money automatically transferred out of each paycheck. Build this amount over the next two years. If your employer offers 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plans with a match, invest enough to get the full match. (A common match is $.50 for each $1 you invest on the first 6% of your salary.) If your employer offers a Roth option, use it. This means you won’t get a tax break now but the money you invest will grow tax-free. If your employer does not offer a match, or a Roth option, open a Roth IRA first. (You can start it with as little as $50 with T. Rowe Price, www.troweprice.com).

QUAANI MUHAMMAD
New York
Age 27

Q: How can I maximize the interest I’m getting on my savings and investments?

Mack: For the best savings rate you can go to www.bankrate.com. For investments, rates of return depend upon your asset allocation. The more risky your allocation of assets, the higher the potential returns in your portfolio—but also the greater the potential risk of loss.
Long: The key is finding the risk/return balance that fits your needs. That will determine about 90% of your return. The other 10% is driven by investment costs, which you can control by investing in low-cost index funds.

KIM TELFAIR
New York
Age 29

Q: I don’t make enough to invest. I can barely afford to put 2% toward my retirement plan.

Mack: There are only three things we can do with money—spend, give, or save. If you are having problems in the third category it is because you are putting too much money into the first two categories, you aren’t earning enough to put into the third category, or a little of both. First, put together an estimated budget. How much are you spending each month on all expenses and how much are you earning? Secondly, do a 30-day spending diary and document every cent that you spend. Thirdly, put together an actual budget to more precisely label what you are spending on a regular basis. To maintain your budget you can use various websites such as www.mint.com. If you do all of that and you still don’t have enough money to put away into retirement, then it’s time to start thinking about how to earn extra money.

ATIMA LUI
St Louis
Age 21

Q: What percent of my income should I be investing each year?

Long: I recommend at least 10% of your income. (Wealth for Life Principle No. 4) Make sure you build an emergency fund in a savings account of at least six months of living expenses. Also, check out your employer’s retirement plan to see if they offer a match. If they do, make sure to invest enough in the plan to get the full match. If they don’t, you can get started by opening a Roth IRA and invest up to $5,000 a year.

NATHANIEL TINDALL
Atlanta
Age 26

Q: How can I get started  investing in socially responsible investments and emerging markets?

Long: First you have to determine what socially responsible investing means to you. Many socially responsible funds charge higher fees. If there is something you strongly believe in, you may have more of an effect by investing in low-cost index funds and donating the savings (approximately 1%) to a cause you believe in. An example of a low-cost socially responsible fund is the Vanguard Social Index (www.vanguard.com). It has an expense ratio of only 0.29%. To find out more about other socially responsible funds, check out the Social Investment Forum (www.socialinvest.org).

JAMES STEPHENS
Bryan, TX
Age 24

Q: Should I let my parents help me pay for graduate school by taking out loans, or should they put the money toward retirement?

Davis: It is not a good idea for parents to take out large loans to help their kid go through college. Parents need to say, ‘I’m getting old and I need to save for my retirement.’ If a parent is going to take out a loan it should be no more than $5,000. Students need to keep in mind, ‘If you don’t have the money, don’t buy it.’ Students need to make sure they’re looking at the right school compared to the right cost.

MIYISHIA SLAY
Sacramento, CA
Age 32

Q: How do I find a good financial investment adviser?

Conner: Ask family and friends for references. Pick at least three to five to consider, and meet with each of them. You can check with the securities regulator (www.nasaa.org) in your state for complaints and to ensure they are licensed. Members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) www.napfa.org don’t receive commissions or other incentives for selling or recommending particular investment products.

IVY CARTER
Irving, TX
Age 31

Q: I have $100,000 in student loan debt. How can I pay off my debt, maintain my lifestyle (though I live below my means), and take care of my two children?

Davis: Consider consolidating your loans and then applying for income-based repayment (www.ibrinfo.org). If you qualify, you will automatically be given a 10-year scheduled payment plan if you hold a public service job; otherwise you’ll receive an extended 25-year scheduled payment plan. Your loans should be paid off by the end of the repayment period. The good thing about the new loan regulations is if you make good on your payments for 25 years the loans will be absolved.

Sierra Brown
New York
Age 24

Q: Is it better to take out more loans to go to a better-ranked university than to take out less money (or no money) to go to a lower-ranked institution or a state school? Which option will provide greater earning potential?

Bissonnette: I don’t think young people should bet their entire financial lives on how much money they think they’re going to make in four years. Go to a college you can afford and borrow no money if at all possible.

–LaToya Smith and Renita Burns

Author Kiyosaki outlines how to be wealthy

I recently attended a Rich Dad, Poor Dad wealth building seminar held by author Robert Kiyosaki’s financial education team. While I didn’t agree with all of the advice given (the seminar leader suggested using credit cards to pay for home renovations), there were some nuggets of wisdom that I thought were valuable.

1.  Invest. This is one of the best ways to grow your wealth. Don’t bank on winning the lottery. Instead of faithfully buying lottery tickets each week, use that money to invest. Websites like Sharebuilder let you buy stock for as little as $4. If you don’t know how to invest, there are plenty of classes, books, and workshops you can take advantage of. Sharebuilder also has helpful educational resources on the site. Read the post “Play Games with Your Money” if you want more information on learning how to invest.

2. Own property. This is one of our 10 Wealth for Life principles (Principle No. 5). At BE, we believe that homeownership is one of the foundations to wealth building. For example, a home can be rented out and turned into an investment property. As you build equity, a home is an asset that contributes to your net worth.

3. Use “good debt” to your advantage. There is good debt and bad debt. Bad debt would be using a credit card to purchase a new Coach bag. Good debt would be taking out an educational loan to attend school. Additional education often means increased earning power. Another example is taking out a mortgage to purchase a home.

4. When you can, use other people’s money. On the flip side, don’t go into debt if you don’t have to. If you qualify for grants and scholarships to attend school, by all means go after them. And if you qualify for down payment assistance, apply for the program.

5. Know tax laws that apply to you. If you own a home business, learn what can and cannot be deducted. Or if you work for someone else, and you have to purchase items directly related to your work, know what can and cannot be expensed to the company. Don’t just give your money away.

Many of these tips might seem like common sense, but many people don’t expense items that should be paid for by their company, and many more people don’t invest because they’re fearful. Are you one of them? Take some time to review this list. Are there some things you need to work on? Try to move toward practicing one of these tips today. Your wealth is depending on it.

Sheiresa Ngo is the consumer affairs editor at Black Enterprise.

When I discuss what it means to be rich at seminars, I explain that the vision is different for everyone. But the one constant is that you will need to have wealth to achieve that rich vision. There is a simple formula for net worth; it’s assets minus liabilities. Please note, INCOME is nowhere in this equation.

I commend the Insight Center for Community Economic Development for conducting a study of the wealth gap between women of color and white women. Perhaps, now more women will get a wake up call and start to do the following to change the picture and focus on building wealth:

A) Find Out Where You Stand

Knowing and accepting your situation is the first step to overcoming any situation.

Add up all your assets, i.e. everything you own or are borrowing-to-own (like a house, car, jewelry that’s paid for on a Zales credit card, etc.)

Subtract everything you owe, i.e. credit card balances, car loans, mortgages, student loans, etc. Do not include utilities because that is not a debt, you can turn that off and the bill goes away. Unless of course, you have to still pay for months that have already passed (as in overdue bills).

Get your outcome number from applying steps 1 and 2. This number is your net worth. Don’t panic or be alarmed if your number is in the negative. This is very common for the first time you apply this exercise.  My  number was like minus-$30,000 or something the first time I calculated my net worth.

I once interviewed a woman for a magazine story who said she actually got diarrhea after she realized her financial situation was so bleak. But imagine what she would have gotten if she didn’t correct the situation. She was about $20,000 short every year for her basic living expenses, which was making her credit card debt mount and continue to ruin her net worth. But after she realized it, she got a job making more money and she is now living quite pretty. She actually lives close by me and she is doing quite well for herself with her million dollar home.

B) Do Something About It

Apply these 5 Keys to Keeping It Rich:

Define. You must define your rich life for yourself. If you are shopping all the time and the bills are running up, its because you have not defined a better life for yourself. Decide where you really want to live, vacation, eat out, etc. then…

Invest in your newly defined lifestyle. Figure out how much that house or vacation costs and then start to save your money accordingly. Once you get 3 months worth of living expenses in the bank, then ask your bank advisor or a friend’s financial advisor about CDs or mutual funds. The options for growth will continue to grow as you grow.

Build your credit. In America, you can’t do much without credit until you truly fall into the upper echelon classes of Carlos Slim Helu or Oprah Winfrey. Get your credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com and call your debtors and work out a plan.  See “A Perfect Score” I wrote a bit ago for Black Enterprise to learn more about building credit.

Own a home or a business. This is where the true net worth building will come into play. The value of a home (although some can’t tell today, but it will change) or a small business adds true worth to a net worth statement. Trust me. I’ll tell you my story at another time to convince you.

Hire professional advisors for insurance, financial advice, taxes, etc. Also, you will need to hire staff for your businesses. You will never become as large at Carlos Slim Helu or Oprah (they are my picks for today apparently) by doing all the work yourself.

Ok, I gotta run. I hope this helps you deal better with the news of black women and their net worth. Tweet me your questions at www.twitter.com/keepingitrich.

Sakina Spruell is host and creator of “Keeping It Rich with Sakina,” and a business journalist, specializing in personal finance and entrepreneurship; she contributes to the personal finance sections of Black Enterprise, Money, and Essence. You can follow Spruell on Twitter and Facebook, as well as view her Keeping It Rich video series and free newsletter.

The report uses data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), and addresses some of the racial, ethnic and financial inequalities women face, many with so little in reserve that they could not afford to take an unpaid sick day or to even have a major appliance repaired without going into debt.

“It’s well known that there is still an income gap, but I was totally shocked to see the disparity in wealth between African Americans and whites,” said Meizhu Lui, director of the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative. The report defines wealth or net worth as the total value of one’s assets — checking accounts, stocks, bonds, real estate — minus all outstanding debts — mortgages, credit card debts, and student loans.

Nearly half of all single black women have a zero or negative wealth, according to the report. Single black women age 18-64 have a median household wealth of only $100, while their black male counterparts have $7,900. Single white women in that age group have a median household wealth of $41,500. Married or cohabitating black women have a median household income of $31,500 compared to $167,500 for white women.

While there is no single explanation for the wealth gap, the report says that wage disparities, favorable tax codes, and marital status are some of the reasons for wealth inequality among women of color.

“It’s frightening to see that we’re at such a huge disadvantage,” said Dr. Avis Jones-Deweever, director of research, public policy, and information for the National Council of Negro Women. “But what’s even more nonsensical is the fact that black women work very hard. Historically we’ve had the highest labor force participation of any women in America so to see these figures is astounding.”

Debt also widens the wealth gap. Black women were more likely to have installment debt in the form of education loans, credit card debt, and were more than twice as likely to receive high-interest loans and subprime mortgages compared to white women. Those with higher incomes were two to three times more likely, depending on the region, to have received subprime loans. The National Council of Negro Women estimates that a subprime loan cost a borrower $50,000 to $100,000 more over the loan term than a comparable prime loan.

“There are institutional government policies that have been made and continue to be made to exacerbate the gap,” said Lui. “It’s like the white escalator versus the people of color treadmill. Everybody is working hard but whites are getting a boost through government policies — we need some policy that will give us a ride on the escalator too.”

Policy recommendations to help narrow the wealth gap:

• Target financial resources for education and training women of color in sectors and occupations with high opportunities for career advancement.
• Implement universal early childhood education programs to better prepare children for success in school, and recognize that women are participants in the labor force.
• Increase Small Business Administration assistance to microenterprises.
• Make the Make Work Pay tax credit, which covers the self-employed, permanent.
• Remove asset limits from public assistance program eligibility
• Make the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit refundable
• Expand allowable expenditures for matched Independent Development Accounts in the Assets for Independence program.
• Institute minimum benefits for the Social Security program. This would lift many people-particularly women of color-out of poverty.
• Restructure Social Security for part-time workers.
• Extend unemployment benefits to part-time workers.

Before the economy took a nosedive, the overall poverty rate was 12.5% nationally, but that figure has almost doubled for African Americans at 24.5%. And while the national unemployment rate is 9.4%, but for African Americans, it is much higher at approximately 15%.

As William Darity, Jr., a professor of public studies and economics at Duke University, pointed out, many people have attributed the huge income and wealth gap between blacks and whites to a lack of financial literacy, particularly with respect to savings decisions. That, he said was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s explanation when he spoke at Morehouse this year.

“It’s noteworthy that Bernanke said nothing about the lack of access to inherited wealth where inheritances and other intergenerational transfers constitute the most transparent form of non-merit or unmerited resources in our society,” said Darity. He said that Bernanke’s perspective reflects a highly popular, but incorrect, blame-the-victim view that the black/white economic gap is due to a fundamental deficiency in black behavior that can be remedied through increased financial literacy.

Part of the problem is that blacks and other people of color have always trailed whites in terms of wages and income. But, Darity argues, the real answer lies in differential access to inherited assets and in vivo (living) transfers, as happens when parents pay for their children’s college expenses, assist them with the purchase of a new home or set up trusts for grandchildren.

“Racial differences in intergenerational assets are the key to understanding the gross inequality between blacks and whites and net worth. Most wealth acquisition today takes place by a shift in assets from the older generation to the younger generation. Groups that have less wealth to bestow upon their offspring yield the next generation with less wealth,” said Darity.

Given the nation’s diminishing appetite to apply race-based criteria to close gaps, he suggests the public provision of a substantial trust fund for newborns to families that are poor, and which would not be accessible until a child has reached the age of 18. One could even place stipulations on these funds, such as they must be used to pay for higher education.

Darrick Hamilton, an assistant professor at the New School for Management and Urban Policy, discussed business wealth creation for blacks. He noted that the typical white household is nearly five times more likely than black households to own a business asset, although homeownership represents the greatest source of wealth for most households.

Hamilton pointed to a findings by recent Ph.D graduate Tamara Nopper, that since 1989, the total share of Small Business Administration (SBA) loans as well as the level of lending to black borrowers has declined dramatically because of a movement to instead create targets for women and all minority groups. She also found that the use of banks via the agency’s guaranteed lending programs has also contributed to this decline. Both Nopper and Hamilton propose that the SBA return to a policy of direct lending with specific black business targets that are in line with black population representation.

Avis Jones-DeWeever, director of the National Council of Negro Women’s Research, Public Policy and Information Center, pointed to the fragility of the black middle class.

“It is important to note that much of the black middle class that we have today are fairly newcomers to this status. Most are either their first or second generation within this status,” she said. And because many black middle class families must often stretch their incomes to accommodate extended family members, they have less disposable income to invest in potential wealth-building opportunities.

Jones-DeWeever also observed a new green economy may be “the next potential dot-com-like boom. “The scary part is, that as it stands today, African Americans are not positioned to substantially take part in that potential economic boon,” she said, pointing to research that shows that African Americans are severely underrepresented at only 5% in terms of potential green employment targeted by the Recovery Act.

The bursting housing bubble hasn’t been an equal opportunity crisis, noted James Carr, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. As a result, millions of middle class African American and Latino households, who have fewer savings and less ability to survive lengthy bouts of unemployment, could fall out of the middle class before the economy recovers. This is exacerbated by the fact that they were disproportionately targeted for deceptive mortgages.

Carr proposed a three-fold response to the problem that includes limiting damage to home prices caused by unavoidable foreclosures; channeling economic recovery funding into communities disproportionately targeted for unfair and reckless lending; and passing anti-predatory lending legislation and an enhanced Community Reinvestment Act to protect consumers from future fraudulent practices and abuses.

“Government action should not be limited to ending predatory lending, but should also include providing focused attention on helping communities rebuild,” said Carr. “Prioritizing areas hardest hit by widespread unemployment and mounting foreclosures would more directly help stabilize the housing market and steady falling home prices that continue to undermine the strength of U.S. financial institutions.”

Further Reading: Wealth For Life Principles

1. I Will Live Within My Means
2. I Will Maximize My Income Potential Through Education and Training
3. I Will Effectively Manage My Budget, Credit, Debt, and Tax Obligations
4. I Will Save At Least 10% of My Income
5. I Will Use Homeownership as a Foundation For Building Wealth
6. I Will Devise An Investment Plan For My Retirement Needs And Childrens’ Education
7. I Will Ensure That My Entire Family Adheres To Sensible Money Management Principles
8. I Will Support the Creation and Growth of Minority-Owned Businesses
9. I Will Guarantee My Wealth Is Passed On To Future Generations Through Proper Insurance And Estate Planning
10. I Will Strengthen My Community Through Philanthropy