A New Normal Part III: Close the Racial Wealth Gap

There are two sides of the coin when it comes to financial health and economic mobility.

On the first side are the individual actions we take, the financial decisions we make every day. This is where budgeting, saving, building credit, managing debt, and making investments in our futures come into play. 

The flip side is the system in which those decisions are made. This includes the opportunities the system allows, the products we can access, and the broader policies and structures that, to a large degree, can determine our success or failure. 

At SaverLife, we recognize that focusing on individual actions alone can never overcome structural and deeply embedded issues, like the racial wealth gap. We also know that the bold solutions we are looking for lie within the experiences and wisdom of our members.

We partnered with Liberation in a Generation, a policy and advocacy organization that is laser-focused on closing the racial wealth gap within a generation. LibGen wanted to understand how SaverLife members (the majority of whom are people of color) think about the racial wealth gap — was this just a wonky economic term or a policy framework that voters of color relate to?  

Most importantly, they wanted to know what policy solutions resonated most with members and could potentially get them out to the polls in November. 

The results are clear:

• 80% of respondents said America needs to address the racial wealth gap.

• 74% believe that the top 1% of Americans have the upper hand. Only 39% believe that their vote matters.


• Affordable, safe, and healthy housing topped the list of policy priorities (78%), closely followed by debt-free college (76%), and clean air and drinking water (70%).


• Policies that directly address the racial wealth gap would drive civic engagement, with actions ranging from signing a petition (74%) to joining a local group fighting for these issues (51%).


You can read the full report here.

This research shows that bold solutions to closing the racial wealth gap could spur greater civic engagement. This is promising - both for SaverLife members and the rest of us. 

The most important individual action we can take to improve financial security in the United States is not making a budget or building an emergency fund. 

We are planning to repeat this survey later this summer to see if attitudes and priorities have shifted since the pandemic took hold, in case you thought you just read 300 words that didn’t mention COVID-19...