Black Family Wealth—What You Need to Know to Grow It and Protect It
1/7/24
All Black families have family wealth, whether they know it or not, and it needs to be recognized and protected, regardless how little or substantial. Wealth is usually accumulated over time, and includes a multitude of things, from assets and money, to family contacts and education. There are specific basics every Black family can do to build wealth, but the most important step is to recognize wealth and protect it. Here are a few fundamental steps all families can take.
The one who records the family wealth Black parents, usually mothers, are most often multi-taskers, holding down their households for their families, and therefore, they control family records, from bills to important documents. But their is one vital step that is often overlooked, to protect all the family assets. The busy family member, who is juggling all the household tasks, often does not have vital household information written down for easy access for other family members, in cases of emergencies, or for unexpected changes to the normal family routine. A mother is often the major caregiver, the one who keeps the bank accounts balanced and the mortgage paid, the one who shops for everything, from food and clothing, to household necessities and holiday items, and the one who controls the financial workings of the family—the wealth of the family. It is important to have a record-keeper in the family, a person who knows all the knowledge of the family’s data, but in the event of an emergency or unexpected change in the normal routine, it is important for other family members to know vital family information.
For protection of the family wealth and the family’s safety, it’s important for more than one person to know how to maintain the household finances, know important contacts, know vital family history and know home ownership info, in order to protect it. Caregivers, primarily mothers, take charge, handling everything that others don’t want to be bothered with, that family members, ironically reap the benefits of. So, mothers often do not share the details of day-to-day family tasks and household upkeep, which the family needs to know, in the event they need to step in and take over household and financial matters to protect the family cohesiveness, and family wealth. Failing to share family information can be dangerous for the entire family and can cause the family to lose assets and wealth they have acquired over generations, simply because no one else is aware of bank account numbers, insurance policies, bill due dates, the number of payments left on a car, if any, and most important homeownership information to protect what is usually the family’s greatest financial asset, the family home.
We have family wealth??? Every Black family has wealth. The wealth starts with the potential of every family member—individual talents, God-given gifts and ability to work and provide for the family. Every Black family that has working or retired family members has some degree of wealth and that wealth can be in the form of properties, insurance policies, bank accounts, car titles, etc. And then there is wealth that is hidden, which can be lost forever, if no one knows about it or knows what to do with it. The reason Black families don’t know they have wealth is because it is not mentioned, recognized and valued as wealth within the family. A further reason Black families don’t recognize their wealth is society identifies wealth as only for those who live in certain neighborhoods, with expensive homes and fancy cars. Therefore, a family’s wealth is not protected and passed down to other family members.
Where’s the family wealth? When family members don’t know the mortgage status of their house or don’t know the finances of homeownership, they are in a position to lose the equity (the money) of the property that has built up over years and decades. To protect your family and your family’s finances, make sure you keep a record of your household workings for your family to have access, if you should be unable to perform these functions, even temporarily. Save your family the headache of trying to find information, in a panic, to operate the household and to hold onto family wealth. More so, provide your family information to protect the family wealth—health insurance, life insurance, mortgage information, property tax info, and property data in an organizer, such as The Home Organizer.
When information is organized, it is essential to let other family members know about the information and make it accessible to them, if needed. You never want your family to search through mounds of papers to find necessary information in a crisis. You want important family info recorded in an organizer, such as The Home Organizer, to be kept in a safe place that immediate family members are aware of. If you are a single parent, you might want grandparents to also know the whereabouts of this info for emergencies—or be given a second planner, for a copy they can keep in a safe place.
Black families have wealth, assets and resources that they must protect, and it starts with organizing family information, to know what you have. The Home Organizer, covers major information you want to record and organize in one place. Click here for The Home Organizer.
