💸 Benefits and Generational Wealth 💸

🔍 In this Issue

• This Week's Money News

• Benefits and Generational Wealth

• Weekly Tidbits

• Introducing Something New

Need to catch up? Read our latest issues here.

This Week’s Money News

👛 Wallet Watch

• 🟤 I joined the Addition with Addy Podcast to talk all things Ed. Opal and Black woman career success. Watch it on YouTube or listen to it on Substack. Want to hear more from Addy? Here are her podcast links.

• 🟤 What does it mean to be considered ‘middle class?’ Turns out, it means something different if you’re Black. Read more here.

• 🟤 Here’s another Harvard study that confirms what we already know. This one concerns Black women’s struggles in the workplace.

Fiscal Focus

💸 Benefits and Generational Wealth

For the past three weeks, this newsletter has focused on benefits. It’s Open Enrollment season, so that’s a fit. The real reason I spent so much time writing about benefits season, though, is because employer-sponsored benefits and the lack thereof for Black folks have played a key role in the current state of the gender and racial wealth gap in the United States. Here’s a look at how.

Wealth-Building Employment 
After WWII, employer benefits became more commonplace in the United States. While these benefits were accessible to employees of U.S. businesses, Black folks were relegated to less stable, low-wage work that did not provide wealth-building tools like pensions or health insurance. Property ownership was already a struggle, but the idea of obtaining property at all, given the significant lack of fair pay, made accumulating wealth-building assets incredibly difficult for Black folks.

The GI Bill and Employer Benefits 
After WWII, the GI Bill, alongside employer benefits, provided millions of white Americans with the assets to buy homes. Black veterans, however, were left behind. Homeownership became one of the cornerstones of wealth building and generational wealth in America, but access to that opportunity was shut to Black Americans.

Health Coverage and Preventative Care 
Because Black employees weren’t granted health insurance and the medical field has its own issues with racism, Black families experienced incredible financial setbacks when it came to medical problems and costs. Aside from standard health coverage, short and long-term disability was also kept from Black Americans, meaning if a Black employee had to be out of work due to an unforeseen medical issue, they would also have to go without income.

The Long-Term Effect 
Employer-sponsored benefits aren’t just about short-term income. They’re about security (insurance and income protection, 401(k), etc.) and wealth building. Because Black folks have been excluded from these resources, our families have systematically had less to invest, save, and inherit, leading to where we are as a community today. The impact of not having access to employer-sponsored benefits goes beyond just the assets and income itself. It’s also impacted our awareness and knowledge of these wealth-building tools. Suppose your family has never discussed how short- or long-term disability insurance plays a role in wealth building. That’s likely because the concept of these sorts of tools is new to a people for which these tools have historically been restricted.

I hope this newsletter has illuminated the use of employer-sponsored benefits to round out your personal finance plan. Still have questions? Send them our way! While this open enrollment season is winding down, you can still increase your knowledge of how to supplement your benefits outside of work and ensure your wealth is protected.

Weekly Tidbits

💰 My Last Two Cents

💬 Money Vocabulary:
Generational Wealth: Generational wealth refers to financial assets passed from one generation of a family to another. Those assets can include cash, stocks, bonds, and other investments, as well as real estate and family businesses. Read more here.

🧘🏾‍♀️ Mindful Money Prompt:
What is your attitude toward money today? How do you want your attitude to shift over the next 3 months? What would you need to facilitate that shift?

📠 Money Quick Fact:
In 1903, Maggie Lena Walker founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. The bank, which opened its doors in November of that year, served as a beacon of hope and security for Black Richmonders. Read more here.

Celebrating the Journey

🎉 Introducing a New Way to Celebrate You

Did you get a higher-paying job, pay off a credit card, or meet a savings goal? No matter what your money accomplishment is, we want to celebrate you! Share your money wins here for a chance to have them featured in future newsletters and on Ed. Opal socials!