I came across this post on another personal finance blog: One columnist's take that the wealth gap between minorities and whites is cultural, and a blogger's counterpoint that the wealth gap is one born of a lack of education about finances.
I don't think you can separate the two: Unfortunately, the black community has always lacked sophistication and knowledge about wealth, and that's been paired with some very necessary, but bad habits. After all, it wasn't even a century ago when black folks could not deal with the financial mainstream -- not banks, brokerages, real estate agents and so on, so alternate means of saving, borrowing and investing evolved to meet the need. In the meantime, only in the past few years has financial literacy become a priority in American education and media.
So I say it's culture plus education. Tell us your take in the comments section.
Monday, March 19, 2007
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2 comments:
It's true, you can't argue one or the other. Many cultural ignorances have created a general lack of knowledge of self for black people.
As far as money, it does have a lot to do with the fact that our parents and some of us were deprived much of their lives.
They have the money for things now, so they do.
I mean some may think, you're only on this planet once, why not look (and smell) good while you're here? :-)
definitely a combination of the two. kinda go hand-in-hand.
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