The Racial Wealth Gap

Part of Our Black History Month Money Minute Series

Author: Jean Cyprien, Coordinator, Student Money Management Center

What is Wealth Inequality?

Wealth inequality in the United States, also known as the wealth gap, is the unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States. Wealth commonly includes the values of any homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments, less any associated debts.

Wealth and Race

According to the Chicago Community Post, there is significant wealth inequality in the United States, and it is particularly unequal when we divide measures of wealth by race. White households in the U.S. on average have 10 times more wealth than Black households and 8 times more wealth than Latinx households.

The Brookings Institution at brookings.edu states, “Gaps in wealth between Black and White households reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception. The Black-White wealth gap reflects a society that has not and does not afford equality of opportunity to all its citizens.”

Household wealth, otherwise known as household net worth, can be calculated by adding one’s assets and subtracting one’s liabilities. There are historic roots of the racial wealth gap, which will be shared in another post, but how can we personally end this cycle in our families?

How UNG's Student Money Management Center Can Help

The Student Money Management Center (SMMC) can equip you with tools that can help you overcome this disparity. We do this by first helping you to establish a personal spending plan or budget. This spending plan can help in shaping your personal wealth building potential.

How to Create a Spending Plan and Budget

A spending plan is a method for distributing your income among the mix of things you want and need. Creating a spending plan ahead of time will allow you to effectively manage your finances and determine where to best spend your money.

The first step is determining your income minus expenses … money coming in and money going out. Using a budget can be a great way to identity the relationship you have with money. A budget will help determine if you are a saver or a spender. It can reveal what your spending priorities are. It can help prevent impulsive spending and allow you to build wealth, one goal at a time.

A budget is designed to put you in control of your money instead of your money being in control of you. Putting a budget together is a foundational principle, positioning you to handle emergencies, pay down debt, save for future goals, track spending, make values decisions and build wealth. 

A budget is for every age and stage of your life and is a living, fluid plan. The SMMC is here to help you begin your journey towards building wealth, and we have a number of resources and tools that can help start your planning.  There’s even a budget template!

What You Can Do

We cannot change the history of racial disparity that exist in our society overnight. It developed over centuries.  You can become equipped to help reduce the effects of the disparity on a personal level by becoming empowered to establishing a spending plan and developing strategies that will help you build wealth. You can take steps on a personal level to change it. It starts with YOU!