03.03.21
Financial Security Harder to Achieve for Black, Latina Women, Report Finds
by: Emile Hallez
Reaching financial security can be more difficult for Black and Latina women in part because of lower overall wealth and a higher frequency of debt, a paper published by the TIAA Institute found. Contributing to those discrepancies are differences in education, employment, financial literacy and family structure. Because of those factors, “a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is unlikely to address financial well-being differences across the board, in view of the very different patterns we have uncovered by race and ethnicity,” the authors wrote. “Financial education programs and research must direct more attention to the specific needs of Black and Hispanic women in terms of their financial well-being,” they said. “For example, a financial education curriculum can inform participants about the costs associated with alternative financial services or credit cards, but it will succeed better if it acknowledges the particular constraints facing Black and Hispanic women, such as access.” Financial education should cover “precautionary savings,” as opposed to retirement savings alone, as some households plan on support from their adult children later in life, the researchers noted.
Read the full article on InvestmentNews.