💸💪🏾Moneda Moves (16): Financial insecurity is not an equal-opportunity offender
Welcome back to Moneda Moves. Can you believe we've made it halfway through November already? 🎄With spending season fast-approaching, I want to talk about a tough subject for many: money itself. 💰This year, consumers reported they will spend an average $1,250 this holiday season on gifts, travel and entertainment. Among the biggest spenders? Hispanic millennials (87%), per a PWC report.
Latinx may spend, but they are also increasingly affected by and worry about financial downturns as they are hurt the most and typically have fewer resources to help them stabilize. While money troubles and financial insecurity could virtually affect anyone, it is in no way an "equal-opportunity offender," as Gillian B. White explains in "Not All Money Troubles Are Created Equal." (Yes, this piece is from 2016, but bear with me -- it does an amazing job at explaining this.)
📷Part of the reason we don't often have a full picture of the wealth disparity is due to the way wealth is counted. Take for instance, liquid assets, which is a source of refuge for white families, but not for those of color. “Households of color are particularly fragile: A quarter of black households would have less than $5 if they liquidated all of their financial assets,” Erin Currier, director of financial security and mobility project at Pew Charitable Trust wrote.
As the author writes, white families tend to earn more they have more wealth with security, including less debt, more equity in housing, stocks and bonds as well as more secure retirement accounts. 🏠Of course, it's not by choice: the piece explains how this a product of people of color earning less overall, housing with returns being less attainable for people of color and how taxes tend to give white families a bigger boost.
🔎This is all to say that balancing talking about money, the way the system does not work for Latinx people while paying your next bill on time is hard enough without having outsiders put a magnifying glass to critique your every financial move. In today's newsletter, you will find a few cases where we do just that. You will also find cases in which we bring attention to those financially vulnerable as a result of recent events (i.e.: environmental disasters). Talking about money is crucial, but make no mistake -- money can be an increasingly sensitive subject, especially for minorities and communities of color. It's to be spoken about with appropriate context and care.
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Con poder✊🏽,
Lyanne
Keeping tabs/cuentas on what happened last week in the world of Latinx in business. We review studies, features and news updates as they relate to our community and underrepresented communities at large.
Ocasio-Cortez calls attention to US housing crisis🏠: But first attention was brought to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's rent and whether she could afford it. After she said to The New York Times that she was in a transition period where she couldn't take a salary and was wondering how she could get an apartment, her quote became a conduit for some to discuss affordability of housing in NYC and for others to comment on her personal finances. On one network, a correspondent suggested that Ocasio-Cortez could have saved money spent on her clothes to afford rent. But the newly-elected congresswoman called out the criticism, tweeting that making fun of working class people "reveals what they actually think of us." The story comes from NBC Latino's Dartunorro Clark.
How wildfires hit minority communities like Latinx the hardest🌲: At the moment, more than 100 people are missing -- most of them senior citizens -- in Northern California's Butte County following the devastating wildfire in California. It is being called the most deadly and destructive wildfire in state history. And environmental disasters like these often hit minorities the hardest. 📰 A new University of Washington report found that “racial and ethnic minorities face greater vulnerability to wildfires compared with primarily white communities. In particular, Native Americans are six times more likely than other groups to live in areas most prone to wildfires.” Additionally, the study found that communities that are mostly black, Latinx or Native American experience 50% greater vulnerability to wildfires compared with other communities. Among the reasons for vulnerability are relocation onto reservations more susceptible to wildfires for Native Americans, the impact on those making low income and language barriers which means farm workers in the past for instance have not received evacuation alerts from authorities if at all.
Big potential in scholarship aid for Latinx students💰: One scholarship database alone is said to have more than 7 million scholarships and $41 billion in aid, yet its unclear if students, Latinx in particular, are taking full advantage of the opportunity or even know it exists. Some of these databases also have resources available for DACA students. Latinx are enrolling in record numbers, and this story by NBC Latino's Alexandra Campbell Howe does a good job at reviewing a few options students have to fund their education.
Jobless rate for Latinx hits record low, but also low is morale on personal finances💸: Several news outlets have recently touted that unemployment rate for Latinx fell to 4.4% in October, the lowest recorded for the group since 1973. But what would be a full report without context? Per the Pew Research Center, the number of Latinx who consider their personal finance situation excellent or good has decreased to a third, down from 40% in 2015. They are also increasingly concerned about generations to follow, saying their children will be better off financially than they are has declined from 72% to 54% in this same period. Meanwhile, the wage gap between the white and Latinx groups has remained fairly consistent, per Economic Policy Institute Research.
Rebuilding on Vieques continues to be a difficult task 🇵🇷: Families in Puerto Rico may have been able to restore power in 11 months following Hurricane Maria last year, but residents of Vieques, a smaller island located about seven miles off the Southeast coast of the mainland of Puerto Rico, still wait. Vieques needs at least $65 million to repair homes per municipal documents. The full report comes from Nicole Acevedo and Nirma Hasty.
P.S: While on the topic of talking about Latinx communities with context and care, let's remember to call out where we don't see it practiced. Last week, the New York Financial Writers Association addressed Puerto Rico's debt crisis in an inappropriate manner. Read the full report from Latino Rebels here.
Thanks for reading! Hasta la próxima...