Homeownership is a proven path to building wealth but it isn’t the only path.
Do you believe you can be wealthy? You should. There’s a misconception that wealth is only accessible to a select group of people. Although we have a widening wealth gap, and a host of other disparities, we are of the mindset that wealth is attainable by all of us. Building wealth from scratch won’t be easy, but it’s definitely possible and we have the blueprint.
Black Americans expect to earn up to $1 million less than white Americans over their lifetimes, are likely to live in neighborhoods where banks require up to 60% of their paycheck to be deposited without fees, and spend 50% more on banking services, and have a median household wealth that is 1/10 of the median white household. In order to fix the problem, we need products, services, and access to help us close the wealth gap and give Black Americans the opportunities they deserve.
Here’s a great starting point, outlined in this Forbes article, How To Build Wealth. The article outlines eight steps to building wealth:
- Make a plan
- Budget
- Build emergency savings
- Automate your finances
- Manage debt
- Max out your retirement savings
- Diversify your portfolio
- Increase your earnings
Here’s our two cents
- Be prepared to do the work. The amount of work required at each of these eight steps may vary depending on your starting position.
- Stay focused and motivated. Remember your why, it’ll help keep you on track, especially when things get difficult. Recalling why building wealth is important to you will help you stay on track.
- Surround yourself with the right people. Staying connected to like-minded people is one of the best things you can do for yourself. If you have big goals, spending time, energy and other resources with people with no ambition will impede your progress. It’s important that your friends and larger network adds value to your life and not just deplete you, and vice versa.
- Always be learning. Learning is a lifelong pursuit. On the path to building wealth, you’ll always need to expand your knowledge of not just finance, but everything.