The Retirement Gap: Why Saving For The Future Is Harder For Black Americans
Despite rising incomes, many Black Americans continue to face major hurdles when it comes to saving for retirement, according to the 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
The survey, which included an oversample of Black workers and retirees, revealed that the racial wealth gap persists across income levels. Among households earning $75,000 or more, just 33% of Black respondents reported having at least $250,000 in savings and investments, compared to 63% of non-Black respondents. Debt is a key factor: 63% of higher-income Black households said debt was a problem, versus 45% of non-Black households at similar income levels. Nearly half of those Black respondents said debt directly impacted their ability to save or retire comfortably.
Debt remains a major barrier to wealth building for Black people. For example, Black student loan borrowers are disproportionately burdened by debt, with undergraduate Black borrowers paying an average of $386 per month, according to a 2024 report by the Education Data Initiative.
Housing costs further compound this disparity. A 2022 report from Housing Matters found that, on average, Black homeowners pay an additional $13,464 over the life of a mortgage. This extra cost translates to approximately $67,320 in lost retirement savings for Black households, further widening the racial wealth gap.
While many Black Americans feel confident managing daily expenses, fewer feel equipped to invest or plan for the long term. Among higher earners, only 77% of Black respondents reported saving for retirement, compared to 87% of non-Black counterparts. Retirement itself looks different, too. Around 44% of Black retirees said they left the workforce earlier than planned due to health issues or disability, compared to 32% of non-Black retirees. Many also returned to work for financial reasons and were more likely to say their retirement lifestyle fell short of expectations.
Access to professional financial advice remains limited among the Black community. The study found that only 31% of Black respondents currently work with a financial advisor, although nearly half said they plan to in the future. Those who do seek help often prioritize managing debt, creating wills or estate plans, and securing life insurance over traditional retirement planning.
While the data is alarming, researchers behind the eye-opening study said there are ways that the financial system can help Black individuals boost their retirement savings. These include providing greater assistance in managing competing financial priorities, such as reducing debt, supporting family members, and building long-term financial security.
But Black folks don't have to wait on banks or institutions to take the first step. There are countless resources available to begin the journey toward generational wealth. It starts with prioritizing financial education, learning the fundamentals of budgeting, saving, and investing, while also exploring deeper topics like credit management, compound interest, and asset allocation.
Black people can tap into a wide range of tools, including online courses, books, podcasts, and community workshops tailored to financial literacy. Connecting with financial professionals and attending local seminars can also offer practical guidance. By creating a culture of financial learning at home, Black individuals and families can not only strengthen their financial knowledge but also equip the next generation with the tools to start investing early and develop healthy money habits that last a lifetime.
SEE MORE:
Catalyzing Wealth-Building In The Black Community
The Racial Wealth Gap And Solutions To Address It
SEE ALSO
The Retirement Gap: Why Saving For The Future Is Harder For Black Americans was originally published on newsone.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
7 minutes ago
- CNBC
Judge in Trump Murdoch libel case handled lawsuit president dropped against Michael Cohen
President Donald Trump's new $10 billion libel lawsuit against media baron Rupert Murdoch over a Wall Street Journal article about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be handled by the same Florida federal judge who presided over a prior breach-of-contract suit Trump filed against his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump voluntarily dropped that $500 million lawsuit against Cohen, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Miami in 2023, shortly after Judge Darrin Gayles scheduled a deposition where Trump would have had to answer questions about his allegations under oath by Cohen's attorney. The president's filing of the suit against Murdoch sets the stage for Gayles to schedule another deposition for Trump — and for Trump to weigh whether he wants to answer questions under oath from Murdoch's legal team. Those questions could focus on Trump's past friendship with Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, and comments such as one Trump made in 2002 to New York magazine about Epstein. "He's a lot of fun to be with," Trump is quoted saying. "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." Gayles was randomly assigned as the judge for Trump's new lawsuit on Monday. A former federal prosecutor whom then-President Barack Obama nominated to the bench in 2014, Gayles became the first openly gay Black man to serve as a federal judge after the Senate confirmed him in a 98-0 vote. Cohen told CNBC on Monday that even if Gayles orders Trump to sit for a deposition for his suit against Murdoch, he does not expect history to repeat itself. In addition to Murdoch, Trump is suing his company News Corp, its CEO Robert Thomson, the Journal's publisher, Dow Jones & Co., and the two reporters who wrote the article that said the president sent Epstein a "bawdy" birthday letter in 2003. Cohen, who fell out with Trump years ago, said he thinks the president will pursue the case — and that Murdoch will cave. "I predict Murdoch, et al will settle this matter in the same manner that ABC and CBS did," Cohen said in a text message, referring to recent multi-million-dollar settlements Trump obtained from ABC and the parent company of CBS News after suing those two news organizations. "Unlike the lawsuit against me, this action has real consequences: such as advertisers pulling away from the newspaper or journalists being denied access to the White House," Cohen said. But Cohen's own former personal lawyer, Lanny Davis, told CNBC that he thinks Trump will voluntarily withdraw his case against Murdoch and the others after Gayles schedules a deposition for the president. "If he's smart, even if he has nothing to hide," Trump will not submit to a deposition, Davis predicted. "He doesn't want this story to alienate his base for the next two years." Trump sued Murdoch and the other defendants on Friday, a day after the Journal reported that a letter sent by Trump for Epstein's 50th birthday was among material reviewed by federal investigators as part of a criminal probe of the notorious sex offender. Trump has angrily denied writing the letter. The Journal's story was published as Trump faced growing pressure to have the Justice Department release investigatory files about Epstein, a convicted sex offender who killed himself in 2019 after being arrested on child sex trafficking charges. Trump had been friends with Epstein for years before the two men had a falling out, long before Epstein's 2019 arrest. Davis compared filing a defamation case to submitting oneself to an invasive physical examination. "As a matter of crisis management, what Trump has done is make matters worse with both his base and his critics, which is hard to do," Davis said. "He's extended the story," Davis said. "If you file a lawsuit, it's the opposite of good crisis management, because you're asking for more drip by drip stories, questioning you under oath." CNBC has requested comment from Dow Jones, which on Friday showed no sign of backing down from Trump after he filed his lawsuit. "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit," the publisher said at that time. Trump, for his part, has suggested it is Murdoch who would have the most to fear from being deposed. A spokesman for Trump, when asked about comments by Cohen and Davis on Monday, directed CNBC to the president's social media post last Friday. "I hope Rupert and his 'friends' are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case," Trump wrote in that Truth Social post.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump's lawsuit against Wall Street Journal now has a judge — and it's not Aileen Cannon
President Donald Trump's bid to take down the Wall Street Journal over its coverage of his connection to Jeffrey Epstein has landed in the courtroom of Darrin Gayles, who is likely experiencing deja vu. That's because Gayles, a 2014 appointee of Barack Obama, had another brush with a litigious Trump in 2023, when the then-former president sought to punish his onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. Trump sued Cohen in April 2023 seeking a $500 million payout for claims that Cohen violated his attorney-client relationship with Trump and enriched himself off their relationship. Six months later, Trumpabandoned the lawsuit, just before Cohen's lawyers were set to question him under oath. Trump's new lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and owner Rupert Murdoch seeks an even more audacious sum: $20 billion. Trump says the newspaper defamed him by reporting last week that Trump may have sent Epstein a suggestive birthday card more than two decades ago. Trump filed the lawsuit on Friday, and Gayles was assigned to preside over the case on Monday. But as with the Cohen case, there's an open question of whether Trump's new lawsuit is more of a political stunt than a serious attempt to litigate the issue. If Trump pursues the case, he would open himself up to answering questions under oath about his connection to the disgraced financier who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Trump's decision to file the case in southern Florida led to suspicions he was hoping to draw U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, his own appointee who helped him escape criminal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith. But Trump's attorney Alejandro Brito — the same lawyer who led the ill-fated Cohen suit — filed the case in the Miami division of the federal judicial district of south Florida. Cannon sits in the Fort Pierce district, making it unlikely she would have been selected under the court's assignment process. Gayles, a George Washington University law graduate who made history as the first openly gay Black man appointed to the federal bench, was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. One reason: His judicial background tilts bipartisan. He was appointed to state-court judgeships in Florida by two Republican governors, Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist, before Obama nominated him to his current role. His prominent cases include a $73 million judgment against the Venezuelan government in 2022 over a purported murder-for-hire scheme. Gayles ordered a new trialin a $25 million fraud scheme in Florida after finding that the Justice Department had committed misconduct and then lied to him about it. And Gayles notably sat with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on a voting rights case, writing a dissent that found evidence of discrimination behind an Alabama voter ID law. Speaking at an American Bar Association conference in March, Gayles lamented the decline in public confidence in the judiciary. He gave a few reasons for that decline, including the Supreme Court's frequent reliance on its 'shadow docket' to issue short-form emergency rulings. He also blamed the practice of litigants strategically filing lawsuits in certain districts in hopes of drawing favorable judges willing to issue nationwide injunctions. And he lamented expectations that judges will rule based on the president who appointed them. 'We all have to do better and push back. We are independent, we make decisions on the facts and the law,' he said. Gayles also denounced attacks on the judiciary that go beyond mere criticism and put people in danger. 'We're not infallible. Sometimes we get it wrong because we deal with a lot of very difficult, complicated issues,' he said. 'It's the nature of the criticism. If it's done in a way that subjects us to harm, that's problematic.' After Obama nominated him in 2014, Gayles explained his judicial philosophy and experience in a 48-page Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire. He described presiding over hundreds of criminal trials as a state judge in Florida. Responding to a question about his philosophy on recusal, he said he closely follows long-established ethical procedures but pointed out one memorable example: when a lawyer asked him to recuse from a case because he was Facebook friends with one of the other attorneys. 'After verifying that the attorney and I were Facebook 'friends,' I granted the motion,' Gayles noted. 'I also 'defriended.'' Gayles does not appear to have handled any substantial media-related cases, though he did note in his questionnaire that an article about him in 2008 'contains several misstatements, inaccuracies, and grammatical errors' and that his 'immediate written request for corrections' went ignored. Erica Orden contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
Business Wire
2 hours ago
- Business Wire
First Trust Intermediate Duration Preferred & Income Fund Declares its Monthly Common Share Distribution of $0.1375 Per Share for August
WHEATON, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Trust Intermediate Duration Preferred & Income Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: FPF) has declared the Fund's regularly scheduled monthly common share distribution in the amount of $0.1375 per share payable on August 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of August 1, 2025. The ex-dividend date is expected to be August 1, 2025. The monthly distribution information for the Fund appears below. The majority, and possibly all, of this distribution will be paid out of net investment income earned by the Fund. A portion of this distribution may come from net short-term realized capital gains or return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax status of all 2025 distributions will be made after the end of 2025 and will be provided on Form 1099-DIV. The Fund has a practice of seeking to maintain a relatively stable monthly distribution which may be changed periodically. First Trust Advisors L.P. ("FTA") believes the practice may benefit the Fund's market price and premium/discount to the Fund's NAV. The practice has no impact on the Fund's investment strategy and may reduce the Fund's NAV. The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide a high level of current income. The Fund has a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing in preferred and other income-producing securities. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its Managed Assets in a portfolio of preferred and other income-producing securities issued by U.S. and non-U.S. companies, including traditional preferred securities, hybrid preferred securities that have investment and economic characteristics of both preferred securities and debt securities, floating-rate and fixed-to-floating rate preferred securities, debt securities, convertible securities and contingent convertible securities. FTA is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the Fund's investment advisor. FTA and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. ("FTP"), a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately-held companies that provide a variety of investment services. FTA has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $278 billion as of June 30, 2025 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. FTA is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. FTA and FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois. Stonebridge Advisors LLC ("Stonebridge"), the Fund's investment sub-advisor, is a registered investment advisor specializing in preferred and hybrid securities. Stonebridge was formed in December 2004 by First Trust Portfolios L.P. and Stonebridge Asset Management, LLC. The company had assets under management or supervision of approximately $12.8 billion as of June 30, 2025. These assets come from separate managed accounts, unified managed accounts, unit investment trusts, an open-end mutual fund, actively managed exchange-traded funds, and the Fund. Principal Risk Factors: Risks are inherent in all investing. Certain risks applicable to the Fund are identified below, which includes the risk that you could lose some or all of your investment in the Fund. The principal risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the Fund's annual shareholder reports. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund also files reports, proxy statements and other information that is available for review. Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment return and market value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objectives will be achieved. The Fund may not be appropriate for all investors. Market risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of a fund in general may fall in value. Investments held by the Fund are subject to market fluctuations caused by real or perceived adverse economic conditions, political events, regulatory factors or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, regulatory actions, political changes, diplomatic developments, the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, spread of infectious disease or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters or other events could have significant negative impact on a fund and its investments. Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. For example, changes in governmental fiscal and regulatory policies, disruptions to banking and real estate markets, actual and threatened international armed conflicts and hostilities, and public health crises, among other significant events, could have a material impact on the value of the fund's investments. Preferred/hybrid and debt securities in which the Fund invests are subject to various risks, including credit risk, interest rate risk, and call risk. Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a security will be unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and/or principal payments when due and that the value of a security may decline as a result. Credit risk may be heightened for the Fund because it invests in below investment grade securities, which involve greater risks than investment grade securities, including the possibility of dividend or interest deferral, default or bankruptcy. Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of fixed-rate securities in the Fund will decline because of rising market interest rates. Call risk is the risk that performance could be adversely impacted if an issuer calls higher-yielding debt instruments held by the Fund. These securities are also subject to issuer risk, floating rate and fixed-to-floating rate risk, prepayment risk, reinvestment risk, subordination risk and liquidity risk. The risks associated with trust preferred securities typically include the financial condition of the financial institution that creates the trust, as the trust typically has no business operations other than holding the subordinated debt issued by the financial institution and issuing the trust preferred securities and common stock backed by the subordinated debt. Interest rate risk is the risk that securities will decline in value because of changes in market interest rates. The duration of a security will be expected to change over time with changes in market factors and time to maturity. Although the Fund seeks to maintain a duration, under normal market circumstances, excluding the effects of leverage, of between three and eight years, if the effect of the Fund's use of leverage was included in calculating duration, it could result in a longer duration for the Fund. Because the Fund is concentrated in the financials sector, it will be more susceptible to adverse economic or regulatory occurrences affecting this sector, such as changes in interest rates, loan concentration and competition. Investment in non-U.S. securities is subject to the risk of currency fluctuations and to economic and political risks associated with such foreign countries. Investments in securities of issuers located in emerging market countries are considered speculative and there is a heightened risk of investing in emerging markets securities. Financial and other reporting by companies and government entities also may be less reliable in emerging market countries. Shareholder claims that are available in the U.S., as well as regulatory oversight and authority that is common in the U.S., including for claims based on fraud, may be difficult or impossible for shareholders of securities in emerging market countries or for U.S. authorities to pursue. Contingent Capital Securities provide for mandatory conversion into common stock of the issuer under certain circumstances, which may limit the potential for income and capital appreciation and, under certain circumstances, may result in complete loss of the value of the investment. Reverse repurchase agreements involve leverage risk, the risk that the purchaser fails to return the securities as agreed upon, files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent. The Fund may be restricted from taking normal portfolio actions during such time, could be subject to loss to the extent that the proceeds of the agreement are less than the value of securities subject to the agreement and may experience adverse tax consequences. Use of leverage can result in additional risk and cost, and can magnify the effect of any losses. The risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the shareholder reports and other regulatory filings. The information presented is not intended to constitute an investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person. By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework. Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in determining whether investments are appropriate for their clients. The Fund's daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per share as well as other information can be found at or by calling 1-800-988-5891.
