The picture below tells the story.

https://www.stlouisfed.org/~/media/Blog/2021/April/BlogImage_IEEGenWealthPart2_Race_040121.png?la=en

During the financial crisis, all millennials struggled. The median white millennials in 2007 had 55% less net worth than older generation whites at the same age. By 2019, they pretty much recovered. They just lag behind by 5%.

But for median black millennials, they were 18% behind older generation blacks at the same age. And in 2019, they've gotten worse. In 2019, they lag behind older generation blacks by
52%.

What's going on here?

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/04/27/990770599/there-is-growing-segregation-in-millennial-wealth

It gets even worse when you look at the trends. White millennial families made huge strides between 2016 and 2019, and they now lag previous generations of white families by only about 5%. Between 2007 and 2019, however, Black millennials fell further and further behind — not just compared with white millennials, but compared with previous generations of Black Americans. While white millennials trail the wealth of previous generations of white Americans by only 5%, Black millennials trail previous generations of Black Americans by 52%. The typical Black millennial has $5,700 less in net worth than counterparts in previous generations.

"That's incredibly shocking, because Black Americans have made great progress in terms of political representation and other measures — but it doesn't seem to be translating into wealth gains," Kent says.

considering we already started well behind the 8ball anyway w/ the absurd job market a lot of us graduated into

i saw so many of my friends who have scratched and clawed over the last 9 years since college, to get these jobs that we should've been able to get straight out of school

struggle to get to a somewhat stable place to where they can start to make moves in life now, only to have had the rug pulled out from under them because of COVID. i hear how they talk about the student loan debt they are in and how they never actually expect to be done paying it.

im thankful i have savings and experience that looks good on paper and plays well in conversation.

tbh i think our gen is SOL by and large. the next gen might have a better run of it. hopefully they have better luck w/ world events lmao

>
>
>tbh i think our gen is SOL by and large.

traditional institutions of wealth building have been robbed.

education when viewed as a tool of guaranteed upward mobility has been in a game of cat and mouse. completing college wasnt seen as the only way to get ahead, then it became the only way to get ahead. minorities jumped in, then the stakes were raised and now the cost is not a few grand but your entire future. The structure of it all has kind of reveresed, before it was a question of what will happen to your future if you DO NOT go and now its a question of what will happen to your financial future if you DO go to college.

power and wealth were first protected using exclusionary practices but then it became hard not to rip off your own kind because the power to do so was intoxicating.

black america was the test kitchen but the meal was eventually served to the whole house.

the difference in it all is white people are still able to dip into the pool of generational wealth while Black Americans, regardless of economic standing are a sneeze away from having their position compromised.

I'm immediately surprised by the findings, but when I put on my hat of history, I am not surprised.

Fuck all of this shit.

me though is seeing millennials in corporate America and the types of moves they make or don't make. Younger white employees are WAY more willing to take career risks - and there are of course many systematic reasons why that is that we all know. I've been at my company for 15 years, and I'm in a good spot at this point.

But I'll watch the moves that younger people make - the younger Black employees will go for career paths similar to my own - relatively linear in moving up the ladder. There's more stability in that path, but it takes a long time because with promotions and raises you'll rarely get more than 3-5% per year. On the other hand I'll see other younger folks take huge risks - like leaving a secure role for one that is a temporary project, or a newly created team, or going for what might seem like a linear move but in a different part of the organization giving them additional experience to prep for a big jump. Sometimes they'll get burned by that - I've seen them get laid off when a project is completed or when a team was eliminated because of a restructure. But they ALWAYS come back stronger, either within our company to a new, even higher role or somewhere else, and end up in very high positions at a much younger age.

Again, we know all the various reasons why, and there is absolutely multiple levels of bias built into the hiring process. In mentoring younger Black colleagues I try to encourage them to take risks, but I still see it time and time again. It speaks to the top end of stats like this - there's plenty of Black millennials with college degrees and strong work experience making 75-100k while white peers of theirs are making 150-200k with the same amount of experience in years, but that experience is more broad and includes multiple big jumps through the career from risks that were taken.

I think there are three big reasons for professional/corporate success.

1) Leadership

I have noticed white young people are given opportunities to lead and take on responsibility at a very early age. People trust white leadership. Are they more efficient? Do they double check mistakes? Is this a slavery carry over? Overall, even in largely black orgs, white people are in leadership positions and expect to lead.

2) Mentorship

Most white people who earn high salaries have mentors who guide them. Learning how direct people, delegate, be neutral during conflict and solve problems are very high level skills that must be learned through experience.

3) Networking
I know people of other races, not black or white, who are also doing very well. They network, let other people know what opportunities are available.

>
>I have noticed white young people are given opportunities to
>lead and take on responsibility at a very early age.
>



To me the biggest thing you said was this first sentence. I’ve seen it time and time again in my field— education. Mediocre white people who get more opportunities to lead that they haven’t earned.









>2) Mentorship
>
>Most white people who earn high salaries have mentors who
>guide them. Learning how direct people, delegate, be neutral
>during conflict and solve problems are very high level skills
>that must be learned through experience.
>
>3) Networking
>I know people of other races, not black or white, who are also
>doing very well. They network, let other people know what
>opportunities are available.

companies don't pay for loyalty like folks expect them to. most times, you have to leave to get real salary increases.

thanks to 40 years of neoliberal bullshit (implosion of labor power, erosion of worker's rights, shrinking of "prestige" employment, offshoring of certain labor)

and the fact that they are also Black, because in capitalism, esp. in the U.S., anti-Blackness is the engine. Black people are generally reserve labor.

the idea that there has been "progress in political representation" is a myth. You see black faces, but no Black policy advanced.

angle made so much sense…

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Whiteness-of-Wealth-with-Dorothy-A-Brown-Podcast/B092RFX51Z

par with expectation.

I hate to say it, but college is not the right move for a lot of folks.
It's been burned into people's heads that college is the next step after HS and you need to attend by any means necessary. So a lot of people end up going to useless schools for useless degrees that (if they happen to graduate) won't put them in a much better position.

This phenomenon sadly is largely affecting black folks disproportionately.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/04/09/student-loans-black-wealth-gap/


Black college graduates have higher debt loads, on average, than White college graduates. Black debt rises over time, White debt diminishes. Upon graduation, the average Black graduate owes $23,400 vs. the White graduate’s $16,000, according to the Brookings Institution. Four years later, the gap triples. Within four years of graduation, average Black debt is $53,000 and White debt is $28,000.

Even at the top end of the income spec­trum, Black students have higher student loans ($4,643, on average) than White students ($3,835), and Black parents take out larger loans to help pay for college ($3,303 vs. $1,903).

What accounts for that difference? First, it’s the schools students attend. Wealthier colleges, which can afford to award financial aid and scholarships, disproportionately admit White students: White students are almost five times as likely to go to a selective university than Black students, even when controlling for income. Meanwhile, a higher share (12 percent) of Black students attend for-profit colleges than very selective universities (9 percent), because online and part-time features allow them to work while getting their degrees. These schools usually do not award any financial aid and are in effect extremely expensive, given their low graduation rates.

Another factor is the wealth disparity between Black and White families. Black college students are less likely than their White peers to receive tax-free gifts from their parents and grandparents. A study examining financial transfers of at least $10,000 in Black and White families between 1989 and 2013 found that only 9 percent of Black households received such a gift, compared with 32 percent of White ones. And the scale of the gifts was remarkably modest: “White college-educated families received $55,419 at the median and $235,353 at the mean, while their Black counterparts received $36,260 and $65,755, respectively.”

for any public university. And every broke adult should be eligible to receive the Pell Grant. Don't get me started on FASFA and those mofos looking at my pockets to determine if my adult child is broke or not. I'd do anything for them, but guess what, they're broke AND homeless. When they get their own place, want me to pay for any rent too?

>I hate to say it, but college is not the right move for a lot
>of folks.
>It's been burned into people's heads that college is the next
>step after HS and you need to attend by any means necessary.
>So a lot of people end up going to useless schools for useless
>degrees that (if they happen to graduate) won't put them in a
>much better position.

I can't say I disagree with you there. Even in my field of work, there are non University driven ways to get a decently paying job. Hell, I have a STEM ungrad degree...but nothing to do with what I'm doing now. (I dd get another degree that aligns with what I do, though)

and hopefully property as well.

According to data.

Factor in predatory policing, Reagonomics, the war on drugs, the highway act both crime bills, the creation of and intentional distribution of drugs into the community etc and it becomes easy to see how over the course of decades we wind up here.

It's kinda hard to gain wealth when your community is constantly targeted.

it ain't rocket science.

so...

Are you?

one of the only wagons on the market and certainly the only one outside of the luxury-pricing market (the TourX was on the edge)

I don't count/rate crossovers even though the Ascent is not like the rest of the blobs