Podcasts about consumer finances

Paying off debt is always a smart financial move—but eliminating it before retirement is one of the best decisions you can make. With more people than ever retiring with debt, financial security in retirement is at risk. Let's explore why carrying debt into retirement can be problematic and what you can do to avoid it.The latest statistics reveal a concerning trend. According to the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, 65% of individuals aged 65 to 74 carry debt—a significant increase from 50% when the Fed began tracking this data 35 years ago.Debt in retirement severely limits lifestyle choices and, for many, leads to an unwelcome necessity: returning to work. A study by T. Rowe Price found that 20% of retirees have gone back to work full-time or part-time, and another 7% are actively looking for jobs. The primary reason? They need more income.Inflation has only worsened the situation. Prices today are around 15% higher than they were three years ago, catching many retirees off guard and stretching already tight budgets—especially those burdened with debt.As Proverbs 22:7 warns, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” To avoid financial hardship in retirement, it's critical to develop a strategy now to eliminate debt.How to Eliminate Debt Before RetirementIf you're 5, 10, or even 15 years away from retirement, now is the time to set a goal of becoming debt-free. A debt-free retirement provides the financial margin necessary to weather economic downturns, stock market fluctuations, and rising costs of living. Here are practical steps to achieve that goal:1. Reduce Your ExpensesA budget overhaul can reveal unnecessary expenses you're paying out of habit. Cut subscriptions, eat out less, and find ways to live within your means.2. Increase Your IncomeConsider taking on a side job, selling unused assets, or even delaying retirement by a few years to maximize savings and accelerate debt repayment.3. Downsize Your HomeOne of the most impactful moves is downsizing. If you still have a mortgage, selling your current home and purchasing a smaller one with cash (or a significantly reduced mortgage) can dramatically lower your monthly expenses. Additionally, a smaller home means lower property taxes, utility bills, and maintenance costs.4. Pay Down Your Mortgage FasterIf downsizing isn't an option, commit to making extra mortgage payments. Even one additional payment per year can shave off several years from your loan and save thousands in interest.Addressing Consumer DebtCredit card debt is another major obstacle in retirement. High-interest rates, which often increase with inflation, make carrying a balance extremely costly. Here's how to tackle it:Use the Snowball Method: Pay off the smallest balance first, then roll that payment into the next debt. This approach provides quick wins and motivation to continue. Avoid Using Home Equity: Converting unsecured credit card debt into a home equity loan puts your house at risk if you can't make payments. Seek Help If Needed: If you have more than $4,000 in credit card debt, consider working with Christian Credit Counselors. They offer debt management plans that can help you become debt-free 80% faster.One thing we've never heard at FaithFi? A person calling in to say they regretted paying off their debt. Eliminating debt before retirement ensures financial security and provides more time and resources to serve God's Kingdom.So, make a plan today. Your future self—and your financial journey—will thank you.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:Do I still have to keep filing married filing joint even though my husband left me about three and a half years ago and we do not live together?I inherited a traditional IRA from my mother when she passed away in 2017, and I'm not sure whether I need to disperse it in 10 years or if I can continue taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) over my lifetime.I don't have a 401(k), but I own a property that I could sell for $250,000 to $350,000. I'm not sure what to do with the money from the sale to help me prepare for retirement, since I'm still working full-time at 61 and don't plan to retire soon.Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly MagazineChristian Credit CounselorsWisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money (Pre-Order)Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/06/a-booming-us-stock-market-doesnt-benefit-all-racial-and-ethnic-groups-equally/ The Pew Research Center article, "Booming US stock market doesn't benefit all racial and ethnic groups equally," analyzes data from the Survey of Consumer Finances to show that the recent growth in the U.S. stock market disproportionately benefits White families. White families are more likely to own stocks and have larger stock holdings than families of other races, with Black and Hispanic families having significantly lower median and mean stock ownership values. Additionally, White families are more likely to have retirement accounts, and their accounts tend to be larger than those of other racial and ethnic groups. Although Asian American families have a higher median net worth than any other group, the article points out that the wealth gap between White and minority families is significant, with White families owning a larger share of their wealth in stocks and mutual funds. These disparities reflect a long-standing pattern of racial inequality in financial wealth and investment opportunities in the U.S.

Are you wondering where you stand on your wealth journey and if you're on track to achieve your financial goals? It's a question that haunts many of us as we navigate the path to financial freedom.In today's episode, I dive into the concept of net worth and break down the numbers based on age, so you can see how you measure up. I reveal the latest data from the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances and share median and average net worth figures for various age groups. But before you celebrate or beat yourself up, I explain why these numbers only tell part of the story and why your investable net worth matters even more.Ready to gain clarity on your financial journey and take control of your wealth-building strategy? Listen to the full episode now!IN TODAY'S EPISODE, I DISCUSS: - The definition of net worth and how to calculate it- The difference between overall net worth and investable net worth- Median and average net worth figures broken down by age groupsRECOMMENDED EPISODES FOR YOU If you liked this episode, you'll love these ones:The 25 Top Money Books I've Read (What I Learned)Traditional Financial Advice Doesn't Work for EntrepreneursBuild Wealth & Live a Rich Life at Any Age (My so n's journey)How to Do Money Right As a Family   RECOMMENDED VIDEOS FOR YOU If you liked this video, you'll love these ones:I Read 40 Books on Money... Here's what will make you rich: https://youtu.be/IVrVC8smFS4 Traditional Financial Advice Doesn't Work For Entrepreneurs :https://youtu.be/GZTaw24Hnc4 Build Wealth & Live a Rich Life at Any Age (My son's journey): https://youtu.be/5p7OVp2pAbM How to Do Money Right As a Family: https://youtu.be/vZqfINfPNoo ORDER MY NEW BOOK:Building Your Money Machine: How to Get Your Money to Work Harder For You Than You Did For It! The key to building the life you desire and deserve is to build your Money Machine—a powerful system designed to generate income that's no longer tied to your work or efforts. This step-by-step guide goes beyond the general idea of personal finance and wealth creation and reveals the holistic approach to transforming your relationship with money to allow you to enjoy financial freedom and peace of mind.Part money philosophy, part money mindset, part strategy, and part tactical action, these powerful frameworks will show you how to build your money machine.TAKE THE FINANCIAL FREEDOM QUIZ:Take this free quiz to see where you are on the path to financial freedom and what your next steps are to move you to a new financial destiny at http://www.YourFinancialFreedomQuiz.com 

Paying off debt is always a good thing…but paying it off before retirement is one of the best financial moves you'll ever make.It's a disturbing trend: more people than ever are retiring with debt. That reduces their lifestyle choices and increases the likelihood they'll have to return to work at some point. Today, we'll talk about carrying debt into retirement and how you can avoid it.Preparing for a Debt-Free Retirement: A Practical GuideAccording to the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, 65% of people aged 65 to 74 are in debt, up from 50% 35 years ago. This rising debt can severely impact your lifestyle in retirement and might even force you to return to work. Proverbs 22:7 warns, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”A recent report by T. Rowe Price revealed that 20% of previously retired individuals are back to work, either full or part-time, and another 7% are actively seeking employment. The primary reason? The need for more income. Inflation has increased costs by about 15% over the past three years, stretching many retirement budgets thin, especially those burdened with debt.Steps to Achieve a Debt-Free RetirementSet a Goal to Eliminate Debt Before Retirement—If you're 5, 10, or 15 years away from retirement, aim to have all your debts paid off by then. Eliminating a mortgage, car payment, or other debts can allow you to live on less and create a critical financial margin in retirement. Prepare for Economic Downturns—Debt restricts financial flexibility, especially during economic slowdowns and stock market declines. Since the economy moves in cycles, preparing for these downturns is essential.Practical Strategies to Pay Off DebtCut Expenses—Review your budget and eliminate unnecessary expenses. Often, we continue paying for things out of habit. A thorough budget overhaul can free up funds to pay down debt. Increase Your Income—Consider side work or other income-generating opportunities. Increasing your income, coupled with reducing expenses, can help you knock out debt faster. Downsize Your Home—If feasible, downsizing to a smaller house can be a significant financial move. Selling a larger home can provide enough equity to pay off the mortgage and purchase a smaller home with cash or a much smaller mortgage. This also reduces expenses like property taxes and maintenance costs. Accelerate Mortgage Payments—If downsizing isn't an option, focus on speeding up your mortgage payments. Use any extra income or savings from reduced expenses to pay down the mortgage principal. Making just one extra payment a year can significantly reduce the loan term and interest paid over the life of the loan. Tackle Credit Card Debt—Inflation increases credit card interest rates. To manage credit card debt, make more than the minimum payments. Use the “snowball method” by paying off the smallest balance first, then moving on to the next. This method is highly effective. Avoid Using Home Equity to Pay Off Consumer Debt—Using home equity to pay off credit card debt converts unsecured debt to secured debt, risking your home if payments aren't made. Additionally, it doesn't address the spending habits that led to the debt. Seek Professional Help—If you have more than $4,000 in credit card debt, consider contacting Christian Credit Counselors. They can help you create a debt management plan to pay off your debt 80% faster than going it alone.The Benefits of a Debt-Free RetirementAt FaithFi, we've never heard from anyone who regretted paying off their consumer debt or mortgage. Planning to get out of debt before retirement dramatically improves your chances of staying retired. This provides financial peace and frees up more time and resources to give back to God's Kingdom.While the current financial landscape may be challenging, taking proactive steps now can ensure a more secure and fulfilling retirement. Start today, and you'll thank yourself in the years to come.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I recently retired and had a bad experience with an advisor who lost over $100,000 of my money in just a few months. What steps should I take to find an advisor I can trust? What questions should I ask them to ensure they fit me well?Should I pay cash or finance a piece of property I want to buy for $330,000? It's four acres of land behind where I live, and my friend is selling it to me. I have a lot of money in treasuries and CDs, but I don't have any credit. What do you recommend? Should I pay cash for the land using my treasuries and CDs, or should I try to finance it even though I don't have good credit?I'm receiving VA disability benefits, which are not taxable, but will my Social Security retirement be taxable? Will the VA benefits count as income, affecting how much my Social Security retirement is taxed?Given her situation, I'm wondering how to protect my mother's assets, including her 401k and home. She is 67 years old and has been diagnosed with dementia. I'm concerned about how to ensure my mother has access to her 401k to help pay for care if she needs to go into a home, but I also want to protect her assets and the house for inheritance down the road. What options do we have to do this?Resources Mentioned:Christian Credit CounselorsRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Roger and Elias discuss what to expect when you start investing, how life expectancy for Americans is expected to shift over the next 30 years, why some Americans are worried about the impact changes to Social Security and Medicare could have on their retirement, how financial literacy could lead to more financial confidence, and what value a financial advisor can add to your life.  Take control of your financial future: https://www.btwealthshow.com/start-planning Follow Us on Facebook.com/BTWealthShow  Subscribe to the Podcast https://linktr.ee/BehindTheWealth Hosted By: Roger Abel Guest Host: Elias Randel Produced By: Molly Nordlocken Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, member FINRA/SIPC.  The opinions voiced in this show are for general information purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for  any individual. To determine which investments may be appropriate for  you, consult with your attorney, accountant, and financial or tax advisor prior to investing.   All performance referenced is historical and is not a guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.  Premier Investments of Iowa, Inc. and LPL Financial do not provide tax advice, please consult your tax professional.  Dollar cost averaging involves continuous investment in securities  regardless of fluctuation in price levels of such securities.  An investor should consider their ability to continue purchasing through fluctuating price levels. Such a plan does not assure profit and does not  protect against loss.  Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and there  can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.  There is no assurance that the techniques and strategies discussed are  suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes.  The purchase of certain securities may be required to effect some of the strategies. Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal. Consult your tax professional about eligibility to Roth and Traditional IRA  contributions. Contributions and earnings in a Roth IRA can be withdrawn  without paying taxes and penalties if the account owner is at least 59 ½  and has held their Roth IRA for at least five years. Traditional IRA account owners have considerations to make before performing a Roth IRA conversion. These primarily include income tax consequences on the converted amount in the year of the conversion, withdrawal limitations from a Roth IRA, and income limitations for future contributions to a Roth IRA. In addition, if you are required to take a minimum distribution (RMD) in the year you convert, you must do so before converting to a Roth IRA. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor. Prior to investing in a 529 Plan investors should consider whether the investor's or designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other state benefits such as financial aid, scholarship funds, and protection from creditors that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program. Withdrawals used for qualified expenses are federally tax free. Tax treatment at the state level may vary. Please consult your tax advisor before investing.  Data Sources:  2024 Retirement Confidence Survey Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve. AARP TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC)'s 2024 FINANCIAL LITERACY AND RETIREMENT FLUENCY

Many investors are obsessed with Net Worth and want to know if they are on track for their age. In this episode, we review the Federal Reserves Survey of Consumer Finances which breaks down the National Average of Net Worth by age group. We also discuss how to calculate your net worth, the difference between median and mean calculations, the importance of being content, and some reasons why, the numbers come out the way they do.

Many investors are obsessed with Net Worth and want to know if they are on track for their age. In this episode, we review the Federal Reserves Survey of Consumer Finances which breaks down the National Average of Net Worth by age group. We also discuss how to calculate your net worth, the difference between median and mean calculations, the importance of being content, and some reasons why, the numbers come out the way they do.

The typical American household net worth surged 37% during the pandemic according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances. And on today's show, we're going to discuss a major reason why – the power of real estate. On this episode of Investing in Real Estate, you're going to learn why real estate is the number one way to build your net worth. I'm sharing how real estate measures up against other wealth building tools, plus the four main ways real estate can help you grow your net worth. Click play to learn more!

A recent report from the Brookings Institute reveals a concerning trend. The racial wealth gap in America widened significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, between 2019 and 2022, the median wealth gap between white and Black households increased nearly $50,000, a staggering over $240,000. While overall wealth grew across racial groups, the increase was uneven. Median wealth for Black households rose $44,890, yet this pales in comparison to the $285,000 for white households and $536,000 for Asian American households. This disparity highlights deep rooted inequalities with white households possessing $100 for every $15 held by Black households. This data underscores centuries of discrimination in public policy and financial practices. Despite progress, the wealth gap remains a stark reminder of persistent economic divide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest on the podcast today is Mike Moran, managing director and pension strategist for Goldman Sachs. Mike focuses on areas such as plan-funded status, contribution activity, and asset allocation for both defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans. He also works directly with plan sponsors on issues specific to their retirement plans. Mike has worked at Goldman Sachs for more than 24 years in a variety of roles focusing on capital markets, asset allocation, and investment strategy. He is a CFA charterholder and has an MBA in finance from New York University's Stern School of Business, as well as a B.S. in accounting from Villanova University. Mike can speak to a wide range of retirement-related issues, but he is here today to discuss Goldman's most recent retirement survey and insights report, titled “Diving Deeper Into the Financial Vortex: A Way Forward.”BackgroundBioSurveyRetirement Survey and Insights Reports 2023: “Diving Deeper Into the Financial Vortex: A Way Forward,” Goldman Sachs Asset Management, gsam.com, 2023.Retirement Survey and Insights Report 2022: “Navigating the Financial Vortex: Women & Retirement Security,” Goldman Sachs Asset Management, gsam.com, 2022.“Retirement Survey and Insights Report 2021,” Goldman Sachs Asset Management, gsam.com, 2021.“Despite Low Financial Literacy, Many Americans Manage Their Own Retirement,” Goldman Sachs, goldmansachs.com, Oct. 18, 2023.Financial Vortex“Financial Vortex Contributes to Looming U.S. Retirement Shortfalls,” by Michael Moran, fa-mag.com, Nov. 11, 2022.“How to Avoid a ‘Financial Vortex' in Retirement, According to Goldman Sachs,” by Alyssa Place, benefitnews.com, Sept. 19, 2023.Investment Options“No Time for Corporate Pension Complacency: An Interview With Michael Moran,” by Michael Moran, gsam.com, April 20, 2023.“Why Most Americans Aren't Saving Enough for Retirement,” Goldman Sachs Exchanges podcast with Mike Moran, goldmansachs.com, Oct. 3, 2023.OtherNextCapital GroupSurvey of Consumer Finances

Consumer vulnerability is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Johann Van Tonder, economist and researcher at Momentum. Topics of discussion include: the state of consumer vulnerability according to Momentum-Unisa's index; how the index is constituted; issues affecting the economy; and an outlook for 2024. Business Day Spotlight is a TimesLIVE Production.

Hey there, future real estate moguls! Are you ready to dive into the exciting world of real estate investment? Well, you're in the right place because today, we've got something special lined up for you. We're going to unlock the secrets of real estate investing and share seven unbelievable tips for beginners to get you started on your journey to financial freedom. So, stick around because you won't want to miss this! --> READ THE BLOG POST HERE https://myempirepro.com/blog/real-estate-investment-for-beginners   --> WATCH VIDEO VERSION HERE https://youtu.be/BcK5uKZeeOs   Real estate investment might seem like a daunting endeavor, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're looking to generate monthly cash flow or build long-term wealth, real estate can be an excellent avenue for investment. In this video, we'll break down the basics of real estate investing and provide you with seven valuable tips to get started on the right foot. At its core, real estate investing is a way to grow your wealth in a manner that often outpaces the effects of inflation. While your regular job provides income, real estate investments can offer appreciation and income simultaneously.  Before we dive into the tips, let's first understand why investing in real estate is a smart move. While there are many reasons, two primary motivations are cash flow and wealth building. 8 Benefits of Real Estate Investing: Benefit Number 1 of 8. Steady Cash Flow Real estate can provide a consistent stream of rental income, offering financial stability and covering ongoing expenses. Benefit Number 2 of 8. Long-Term Wealth Building Over time, real estate properties tend to appreciate in value, allowing investors to build substantial equity and long-term wealth. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the average U.S. home value has increased at an annual rate of 4.3% since 1991.   Notably, in areas like San Francisco, median home values have surged by an annual rate of 10.5% since 1991.  For instance, a $200,000 investment in a home in 1991 would have appreciated to over $600,000 by 2023. Real estate investors can build equity as they make mortgage payments.   For example, a buyer who purchased a $200,000 home with a 20% down payment would accumulate $160,000 in equity after making 20% of their mortgage payments.  This equity can be leveraged for other investments or financial goals. Location, with properties near schools, jobs, and amenities tending to appreciate faster.  Demand, where high demand relative to supply drives up prices.   Supply, with limited availability often leading to price increases.  Economic conditions, as periods of growth generally boost real estate prices. The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index reveals a historical annual appreciation rate of approximately 3-5% for residential real estate in the U.S. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances underscores that most Americans accumulate significant wealth through home equity, which appreciates over time. Data from the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) demonstrates that commercial real estate investments have consistently delivered robust returns, often surpassing stocks and bonds. Rental income from residential properties in the U.S. surpassed $500 billion in 2019, providing a reliable source of cash flow. Homeowners can amass substantial equity over time through mortgage payments and property value appreciation. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University reports a median increase of $40,000 in homeowner equity from 2013 to 2018. Benefit Number 3 of 8. Diversification:  Real estate investments can diversify your portfolio, reducing risk by spreading your assets across different asset classes. Benefit Number 4 of 8. Tax Advantages:  Real estate investors can benefit from various tax deductions, such as mortgage interest and property depreciation, which can reduce their overall tax liability. Benefit Number 5 of 8. Tangible Asset:  Unlike some other investments, real estate provides a tangible asset that you can see and touch, adding a sense of security. Benefit Number 6. Inflation Hedge:  Real estate often keeps pace with or outpaces inflation, preserving your purchasing power over time. Benefit Number 7 of 8. Control:  Real estate investments offer a level of control, allowing you to make decisions about property management, improvements, and rental terms. Benefit Number 8 of 8. Passive Income:  When managed properly, rental properties can generate passive income, allowing you to earn money without actively working for it. Real estate offers a unique combination of stability and profit potential that makes it appealing to both seasoned investors and beginners alike. 7 Types of Real Estate Investments Now, let's explore the different types of real estate investments you can consider: Real Estate Investments Type 1 of 7. Buy and Hold:  This strategy involves purchasing properties for the purpose of generating monthly cash flow and building equity over time. Real Estate Investments Type 2 of 7. Flipping:  Flipping is all about buying distressed properties, renovating them, and selling them for a profit within a relatively short time frame, typically six months to a year. Real Estate Investments Type 3 of 7. Wholesaling:  As a wholesaler, you'll identify great real estate deals and pass them on to investors who have the resources to acquire them, earning a fee for your efforts. Real Estate Investments Type 4 of 7. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs):  These are companies that own, operate, or finance income-producing real estate. Investing in REITs allows you to own a share of various real estate properties without directly owning them.   Real Estate Investments Type 5 of 7. House Hacking:  This strategy involves purchasing a multi-family home, living in one of the units, and renting out the others to cover your living expenses. Real Estate Investments Type 6 of 7. Short-Term Rentals:  With platforms like AirBnB, you can profit from renting out your property on a short-term basis to travelers and tourists. Real Estate Investments Type 7 of 7. Creative Financing:  This category includes various creative methods like lease options and seller financing to acquire real estate without a traditional mortgage. Finding the right investment property is crucial. You'll want to consider factors like location, property condition, market trends, and potential for future growth. Local real estate agents and online resources can be valuable tools in your search. But in this time and age, AI and data driven platforms such as www.EmpireBIGData.com makes it super simple to assess and analyze all these factors in one click. Financing your real estate investment can be done through various means. These include traditional mortgages, hard money loans, private investors, and even your own savings.  Conventionally, mortgages and cash might be your first thought of a funding source.  But there are many other creative options that we will continue to discuss. Managing a rental property involves handling tenants, maintenance, and finances. You can choose to do this yourself or hire a property management company to handle these tasks for you.  When you do get to this level, it's better to structure the cost of property management into your deals. Profits in real estate can come from rental income, property appreciation, and strategic buying and selling. It's important to have a clear plan and understand how your chosen investment strategy generates income. Different strategies for real estate investing suit different goals. Evaluate your objectives and risk tolerance to determine which approach aligns best with your financial aspirations. Finally, here are 7 tips to guide you on your real estate investment journey: Tip Number 1 of 7. Do Your Research:  Knowledge is power in real estate. Take the time to learn about the market, property types, and investment strategies before jumping in. Tip Number 2 of 7. Exit Before Entry:  Have a clear exit strategy in place before making an investment. Knowing how you'll profit or mitigate losses is essential. Tip Number 3 of 7. Learn How to Find Deals:  Understanding how to identify great deals is a skill that can set you up for success. Networking, online listings, and real estate clubs can be helpful resources.  And again, AI and data driven platforms such as www.EmpireBIGData.com makes it super simple to assess and analyze all these factors in one click. Tip Number 4 of 7. Learn How to Fund Deals:  Explore various financing options and understand the pros and cons of each. Being well-financed is crucial for your real estate ventures. Tip Number 5 of 7. Real Estate Agents Are Overrated:  While real estate agents can be helpful, they aren't always necessary, especially in the age of online listings. Don't hesitate to explore properties independently. Tip Number 6 of 7. Be Patient:  Real estate investments may take time to yield significant returns. Avoid impulsive decisions and focus on the long-term gains. Tip Number 7 of 7. Don't Overextend Yourself:  Avoid over-leveraging or investing beyond your means. Responsible financial management is key to a successful real estate journey.  Saving such people was responsible for my first fleet of real estate success I enjoyed as a beginner in my first 3 years. Real estate investment offers substantial rewards, such as generating income, building wealth, and providing a hedge against inflation. However, it also carries risks that must be carefully managed. Education and experience are your allies in navigating the world of real estate investing. Now, here's your mission: Hit the like, share, and subscribe button in order to be notified of the next video. I've got a burning question for you – have you dipped your toes into the world of real estate yet? What phase are you in... Beginner, Intermediate... How many deals have you done?  We'd love to hear from you! Drop a comment down below, and let's start a conversation. Your insights could be the inspiration someone needs to kickstart their own real estate journey.  If you got value from this video, you'll definitely like the one that just popped on the screen. Join me on the next video. #realestate #money #investing

Today, we break down the latest 2022 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. The TFG reflects on how statistics can be used as a proactive tool and how the numbers humanize the average American's experience with money. The Financial Griot is a play on two words (Finance + Griot) that hold significance in closing the wealth gap while embracing our differences. We tell the stories that others don't. Stories about growth, opportunity, and embracing changes. Beyond that, we talk about Finances. Specifically, how to become Financially literate, incorporate actionable steps, and ultimately build generational wealth.Can you imagine being a Millionaire in 20 years or less? Yeah, it's possible. 80% of millionaires are the first generation. That means they didn't come from wealth. We teach you how. Join a community of subscribers who welcome a fresh take on money.So there you have it, The Financial Griot, or TFG for short. The hosts were able to amass over $2 Million in wealth in about eight years and are on track to retire early. We will gladly share the secrets if you want them since the opportunity is abundant and Win-Win.Resources: US  Census Bureau: Income, Poverty,  and Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2022 Poverty Rate Jumps in 2022 after  the end of enhanced child tax credit2022 Consumer Expenditures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Connect with  the TFG Crew Hosts: Alainta Alcin - Blogger, Travel and Money Enthusiast @alainta_alcinLawrence Delva- Gonzalez - Financial Foodie and World Traveler @theneighboorhoodfiinanceguyLovely Merdelus - Entrepreneur and Small Business Growth Specialist @lovelymerdelus

The price of oil has gone up by more than 25% in two months, creating a new inflationary headwind for consumers and businesses. Dan Coatsworth talks to AJ Bell's Russ Mould about why the black stuff is suddenly more expensive, what it means for the cost of petrol and why it could have a big impact on central bank interest rate decisions. Laura Suter explains where customers stand if they need to return faulty goods or spend gift vouchers at collapsed retailer Wilko. Dan explores the rise of shoplifting, what it tells us about the state of consumer finances, how it is hurting corporate profits margins and why social media is making the problem even worse. Laura discusses a new report that explores financial inequality, with women having less in savings, investments and pensions then men. You can also hear about Tesla's big opportunity with a supercomputer called Dojo which has triggered another big rise in its share price, as well as ARM's return to the stock market and why Restaurant Group is paying someone to take the Frankie & Benny's casual dining chain off its hands.

In this episode Ariel talks about generational wealth, what it is and how you can create it. Other topics, from Woman Power Zone: The Power of Money Part 1: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/woman-power-zone/id1594576315?i=1000547365643  The Power of Money Part 2: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/woman-power-zone/id1594576315?i=1000548058725  The Power of Preparation for College: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/woman-power-zone/id1594576315?i=1000551707027  Generational wealth refers to financial assets that are passed down through families to children, grandchildren and beyond.  Assets passed from one generation to the next might include cash, investments, property and more. Federal Reserve research shows wealth concentration, racial disparities and other systemic issues play a part in building generational wealth. Working toward building generational wealth starts with things like financial literacy, budgeting and goals. From https://www.capitalone.com/learn-grow/money-management/what-is-generational-wealth/  Want help understanding the college admission and seeking scholarships process?  Listen to Woman Power Zone, episode 22: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/woman-power-zone/id1594576315?i=1000551707027  Tips for talking money with your ageing parent By Shelly Gigante Shelly Gigante specialises in personal finance issues. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications and news websites. Posted on Feb 18, 2022 From https://blog.massmutual.com/post/money-aging-parent?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SEM_Google_Search_Brand_Generational-Wealth_Generic&utm_term=generational%20wealth%20definition&utm_content=General+Generational+Wealth&device_type=c&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw04yjBhApEiwAJcvNoYNB6VDU7BjM78IwPvkLjht3akZ8whbWNfgVeDa7WPnjuCDfx0fK5hoC8b8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds  "A 2018 Federal Reserve analysis of the Survey of Consumer Finances estimated that 2 million households receive a generational inheritance or substantial gift each year.  But the way those generational transfers are distributed is notable. According to the Fed, most inheritances are for less than $50,000. And only about 2% of the inheritances were for $1 million or more.  But comparing how much actual money was involved in those transactions—not just the number of transactions—told a different story.  Despite being just 2% of the total count, those million-dollar-plus transfers accounted for 40% of the total dollars that changed hands. And the figures around gifts among living people showed even wider disparities. From Capital One's article on generational wealth, January 5th, 2023 The Fed's analysis showed gift and inheritance recipients were “much more likely to be college-educated, high-income, and high-wealth.” Data also showed recipients were 88% white.  That number is part of why additional Fed research found “the typical White family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family and five times the wealth of the typical Hispanic family.” Along with intergenerational transfers, the research also cited “homeownership opportunities, access to tax-sheltered savings plans, and individuals' savings and investment decisions” as major factors that contribute to wealth accumulation and financial security." From https://www.capitalone.com/learn-grow/money-management/what-is-generational-wealth/  KEY TAKEAWAYS Millennials are the first generation that is less financially successful than its predecessors in the US. They've faced the financial crisis of 2008, reduced work opportunities out of college, high college debts, and incredible increase in prices in the real estate market, and they're experiencing the spike in inflation just like we all are. A lot of opportunities for them to make investments to increase their wealth have either decreased or gone away entirely. How are they going to succeed moving forward? Who's coming after you? Generational wealth refers to financial assets that are passed down through families to children, grandchildren and beyond. Usually generational wealth is passed down through white families (88% of the people doing this are white men). I would love women and people of colour to start thinking about sending generational wealth down to the people coming after you, especially if it's not the norm for you or you've never even heard of it. Traditionally women haven't been in control of that stuff, but you need to start thinking about it. If you're going to become an executor on your parents' will there are some things you might need to line up, get information on and organise before they pass so that you're ready to execute their will when they do pass. Improving your financial literacy is definitely the first step, you need to understand budgeting, credit, savings and clearing debt. Create a budget. Once you've devised a budget that works for you, develop financial goals (personal and for generational wealth). When you've built your own wealth you can start to plan for leaving generational wealth by going back to your budget and putting more money aside for the people coming after you. This will take time. BEST MOMENTS‘For a lot of people, generational wealth means money. But they can also include investments like stock and bonds, property, art, intellectual property, or a stake in the family business.'‘If you want to pass on wealth to someone else you have to create it for yourself in this time that you have.'‘If you don't have things now, what could you create or manifest in your life so that when you do leave the Earth you do have things to pass on?'‘No financial plan is permanent, make changes when you need to.' ABOUT THE HOSTAriel is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, Empath and Psychic who has been involved in holistic healing since 1988. She is also an educator, speaker, author and mentor for empaths, spiritual seekers and medical professionals. To reach Ariel, go to www.arielhubbard.com, where you will be able to contact her directly.  Please let her know you heard her on the podcast and the assistance you need or question you have. Website: www.arielhubbard.com Podcast: Woman Power Zone on all major platforms LinkedIn: @arielhubbardIG: @arielhubbardFacebook: @HubbardEducationGroupYT: @arielhubbardCH: @arielhubbard Pinterest:   https://pin.it/6Z6RozS Pre-order form for Ariel's educational, hilarious and spicy dating book: The Empowered Woman's Guide to Online Dating: Set Your BS Tolerance to Zerohttps://eworder.replynow.ontraport.net/Access to the Mindset Reset Club: https://mindsetreset.members-only.online/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Work it, Live it, Own it!, host SaCola Lehr talks about realizing the dream of owning your own home. She discusses how owning your own home can help you build better wealth and community. She also talks about why owning a home will always be a better option than renting. In this episode, SaCola shares: Questions to ask yourself: [00:00:41] Benefits of Home Ownership [00:07:35] Financial Benefits of Home Ownership [00:11:17] Impact of Home Ownership [00:12:25] Are you ready to stop renting and buying a home? [00:13:30] Content with your job and debt income ratio [00:14:35] Contact the host for help with home ownership Inspirational quote(s) from this episode: “Buying a home is one of the largest investments that most people in the world will ever make, and it's also an emotional one.” “Homeownership creates a sense of security and belonging in a community knowing that you have a piece of the neighborhood that's all your own.” "Every time you put the key in the door and you unlock that door you are walking into something that reminds you of all of your effort your hard work that went into obtaining that home in the first place." “Real estate is one of the safest investments that you can make long term.” _______ SaCola Lehr, NC Real Estate Broker JPAR Legacy Group Links and Resources: Connect with SaCola: https://workitliveitownit.com/ Follow SaCola on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/workitliveitownit Follow SaCola on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workitliveitownit/ Subscribe to Work it, Live it, Own it! On YouTube: https://bit.ly/2lxB1TS Read more about SaCola's real estate story: https://bit.ly/40T3dnt Check out the Homebuyers Guide: https://bit.ly/3VoOGi5 Check out the Sell Your Home Guide: https://bit.ly/3NuHP58 Sources mentioned in the podcast episode Yahoo Finance: 00:01:05 National Association of Realtors: 00:04:06 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances: 00:07:06 Joint Center of Housing Studies of Harvard University: 00:10:08 National Association of Home Builders: 00:10:28 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/workitliveitownit/message

It's a bit of a trope that the millennial generation has had a rough go of it, economically.  After experiencing the Great Financial Crisis during their formative years, attending higher education during a massive debt-fueled student loan bubble, and entering adulthood while home prices were juiced higher and higher, the majority of millennials are now “behind pace,” financially speaking. In 2015, Pew Research conducted an interesting survey: It found that 89% of Americans considered themselves middle class. The survey then attempted to break down what middle class wealth actually looks like, landing on a median net worth of around $125,000 in today's dollars.  I was curious how many millennials had surpassed that threshold, and as it turns out, the answer is…not many. This episode was inspired by headlines about the impending “Great Wealth Transfer,” often positioned as a solution to millennials' money woes. But will it be? Let's dig in. Learn more about our sponsor, TaxAct: https://www.taxact.com/moneywithkatie Transcripts can be found at podcast.moneywithkatie.com. — Mentioned in the Episode Fervent Finance satirical tweet: https://twitter.com/ferventfinance/status/1605581737651683330 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm 2019 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm 2015 Pew Research Study on the American Middle Class: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/ Are Rich People Better Than You? Why Everything We Think We Know About Good Economics Might be Backward, With Nick Hanauer: https://podcast.moneywithkatie.com/are-rich-people-better-than-you-why-everything-we-think-we-know-about-good-economics-might-be-backward-with-nick-hanauer/ Bridget Casey's "There Is No Such Thing as a Millennial Middle Class": https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-millennial-middle-class/ The Federal Reserve Analysis on intergenerational wealth: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/how-does-intergenerational-wealth-transmission-affect-wealth-concentration-20180601.html Will ‘the Great Wealth Transfer' Trigger a Millennial Civil War?: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/will-the-great-wealth-transfer-spark-a-millennial-civil-war.html Visuali Capitalist chart on upward mobility: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-decline-of-upward-mobility-in-one-chart/ Coldwell Banker Luxury Report: https://blog.coldwellbankerluxury.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CBGL-Millennial-Report_SEP19_FINAL-4a.1-1-1.pdf Not All Millennials | Generational Wealth and the New Inequality: https://www.thedriftmag.com/not-all-millennials/ — Follow Along at Money with Katie: https://moneywithkatie.com/ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoneywithKatie Follow Money with Katie! - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moneywithkatie/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/moneywithkatie   Subscribe to The Money with Katie Newsletter - Sign up for free today: https://www.morningbrew.com/money-with-katie/subscribe/2 Follow the Brew! - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorningBrew - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Cuando todos los titulares sobre los despidos de las tecnológicas se enfocaban en que la desaceleración económica, la inflación y la subida de tipos estaban afectándolas y que por ese motivo estaban despidiendo centenares de miles de personas, aquí te dije que no me creía ese discurso. Que detrás había algo mucho más complejo. De hecho llevo tiempo advirtiendo de que mientras todo el mundo está pendiente de una crisis sanitaria, de una guerra, de la inflación, de leyes que se hacen mal o de quienes van a encabezar una u otra lista, el mundo estaba automatizándose de un modo que, la crisis de 2008 nos parecerá una especie de tarde en Disneylandia comparada con la que se nos viene. Fuentes: Blanchard, Olivier, and Dani Rodrik. 2019. We Have the Tools to Reverse the Rise in Inequality. Speeches and Papers (November 20). Washington: Peterson Institute for International Economics. Blanchard, Olivier, and Dani Rodrik. 2021. Combating Inequality: Rethinking Government's Role.Cambridge: MIT Press. Blanchet, Thomas, Lucas Chancel, and Armory Gethin. 2019. How Unequal is Europe? Evidence from Distributional National Accounts, 1980–2017. Working Paper 2019/06.World Inequality Lab: World Inequality Database. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2019. Survey of Consumer Finances. Accessed on October 5, 2020. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. 2020. Update on Economic Well-Being of US Households: July 2020 Results. Accessed on October 27, 2020. Enlaces documentos y textos: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/27/23... https://time-com.translate.goog/62476... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/te...

A look back at the recent presented mid term budget is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Warren Wilkinson, franchise principal and financial adviser at Consult by Momentum. Topics of discussion include: highlights from the recent mid term budget; what the budget means for consumers; and ways in which consumers and businesses can be better prepared for uncertain times. Business Day Spotlight is a TimesLIVE Production.

A look back at the recent presented mid term budget is the focus in this edition of the Business Day Spotlight. Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Warren Wilkinson, franchise principal and financial adviser at Consult by Momentum. Topics of discussion include: highlights from the recent mid term budget; what the budget means for consumers; and ways in which consumers and businesses can be better prepared for uncertain times. Business Day Spotlight is a TimesLIVE Production.

Sean Goode and Rebecca Thornton from Choose 180 stop by to share how to transform systems of harm and injustice - by supporting young people impacted by them as well as their own staff in doing this work. They discuss a better world where neighborhoods are resourced, generative programs are co-created, and the humanity of those accused of causing harm is centered alongside the healing of those who are harmed. Such a world is not as far off as one may think, but does require the transfer of power to those closest to the pain and a long-enough runway to have lasting effects. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii, find Sean at @GraceNotGuilt, and Choose 180 at @ICHOOSE180   Resources Choose 180: https://choose180.org/   “A King County nonprofit raised all staff salaries to $70,000 minimum. Will more organizations follow?” by Naomi Ishisaka from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/labor-shortage-or-living-wage-shortage-one-king-county-nonprofit-is-taking-a-different-approach/   "Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances" by Neil Bhutta, Andrew C. Chang, Lisa J. Dettling, and Joanne W. Hsu for FEDS Notes: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumer-finances-20200928.htm   “Closing the racial wealth gap requires heavy, progressive taxation of wealth” by Vanessa Williamson from The Brookings Institution: https://www.brookings.edu/research/closing-the-racial-wealth-gap-requires-heavy-progressive-taxation-of-wealth/   “The economic impact of closing the racial wealth gap” by Nick Noel, Duwain Pinder, Shelley Stewart, and Jason Wright from McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap   “An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System” by Elizabeth Hinton, LeShae Henderson, and Cindy Reed for Vera Institute of Justice: https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf   “Prosecutor-funded program helps kids do a 180, avoid charges” by Sami Edge from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/prosecutor-funded-community-effort-helps-kids-do-a-180-on-jail-bound-route/   King County Prosecuting Attorney - Choose 180 Youth Program: https://kingcounty.gov/depts/prosecutor/youth-programs/choose-180.aspx   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, I'm very excited to have joining us Sean Goode, the Executive Director of Choose 180, and Rebecca Thornton, who's the Office Manager and bookkeeper for Choose 180. Thank you so much for joining us today. [00:00:50] Sean Goode: It's an honor to be here, Crystal. Thanks for the invitation. [00:00:52] Rebecca Thornton: Thank you for having us. [00:00:55] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. So as we get started here, I just want to open up with you talking about what Choose 180 does and what brought you both into this work. And we can start with you, Sean. [00:01:09] Sean Goode: Yeah. Our organization exists to transform systems that cause harm, systems of injustice, and support the young people who've been impacted by those systems. And what that looks like is we partner intentionally with folks like prosecutors to co-create programming that exists outside of the traditional criminal legal system and alleviates the need for them to continue to prosecute young people. So in practicality, it's a young person lives in a neighborhood that's overly policed, their behavior's criminalized, the police send that referral to the prosecutor - but because of our relationship with them, they get community instead of a criminal conviction. And for the young people who engage in our traditional programming, over 90% of the time, they don't return to the criminal legal system within 12 months of participating in our programming. And so that's an example of one of our many models of service, but all of them have a genesis point of partnering with systems to transform the way they administer justice and supporting young people as an outcome to help alleviate the harm that those systems cause. My brother was incarcerated as a 13-year-old boy until he was a 21-year-old man and how he was stigmatized as a problem. And yet how, when he was released, saw me beginning to engage in some of those same problematic behaviors, but saw the possibility that lived within me and was able to call that out from a dark place and show me, by the way of his light, that there was something else that I could become. [00:02:30] Crystal Fincher: And what brought you to this work, Rebecca? [00:02:33] Rebecca Thornton: About six years ago, I was looking for just some way to donate my time, because I just felt I had survived so much and that was just a way I wanted to give back. And I stumbled upon what was the 180 Program at the time. And they were like, "Hey, do you want to come and share your story at one of our workshops?" And I agreed, and I just jumped right in, and I just kept coming back. And about maybe eight months in, Sean ended up coming on and I got to watch that whole process. And then the team started to grow. And then about two years ago now next month, I came on full time as the Office Manager and bookkeeper. And I stayed with Choose 180 because of my lived experience with drugs specifically. I hold this core belief that especially young people should not be criminalized for their behavior because so much of it comes from the things that have happened to them in their lives and the circumstances in which they lived, because that's what happened to me. And I just want to give back in that way so that people don't have to take as long to turn their life around like I did. [00:03:46] Crystal Fincher: You actually made news last year for something that we don't see often, and that was for deciding to make sure everyone at Choose 180 is making at least $70,000, who's there full-time, which is a huge part of a discussion that we're having just around paying people a living wage in the first place and making sure people who are around us that we work with can also afford to live within our communities. But also particularly in the nonprofit space, where, so often, we are used to hearing about thin budgets and even thinner salaries, and there's just not that much money to go around. And this is a pursuit that people get into, not for the money, but for serving the community. How did this conversation start within Choose 180? And how did you arrive at the place where you decided to say, "You know what, everyone deserves to have a fair wage and to have the ability to live where they're working."? [00:04:47] Sean Goode: Yeah. Thanks for that question, Crystal. I think I want to start by saying we're fortunate to serve in a community where there's organizations like Collective Justice, Creative Justice, and Freedom Project, who have all done work around wage equity. And some of them have started the organization out flat, or paying already close to or living wage. And so we're fortunate to be able to have examples like that ahead of us that make the journey that we're traveling easier. And fortunately, we had a couple of our team members speak up who were asking questions about, well, how does it work around here? How do we determine what people make? And how does one get a raise? And do we do things by merit? Do we do things by a degree? And what we didn't want to do is provide any one-off answer and fix one person's situation. We wanted to go about it in a way that addressed it holistically. We convened a committee from our board to assess our compensation philosophy, and they spent time interviewing our team members and listening to their voices. And then they brought their recommendations to me. And their recommendations were many. There were things like, how do we value lived experience? How do we value college degrees? How do we value time served at the organization? But a throughline that was consistent was living wage. And I heard the report, I looked at the report, and I said, "Yeah, that sounds good, but we're at a nonprofit and we're already paying above market rate in many of these positions. So I don't know what more people want from me." And I thought the conversation was done there. I thought, at that point, I was finished and we could move on, but then we had to build a budget out for the next year. And as the story goes, one of our team members was working on their budget and I told them to dream big. And if we need to add to staff, consider what that might look like, which is where I always start budgeting - to think big. And she came back to me and said, "Well, if we're thinking about adding staff, I can't do that and not have our teammates who are currently here making less than a living wage." And then it became a back-and-forth conversation where I still didn't really get what it was I was being asked to do. And at the end of that conversation, she said, "Look, we work to support young people and their families in escaping the material conditions they're living in that are contributing to the harm that they've experienced. Could it be that we're resourcing our team to live in those same material conditions?" And that cut deep. And so - [00:07:18] Crystal Fincher: That cut deep, didn't it? [00:07:20] Sean Goode: Yeah. Yeah. And then I went to Rebecca, because she was in the office that day, and I tugged on her and I said, "Rebecca, do you ever think about buying a home for Maddie?" And Rebecca, you can go ahead and talk about what that was like for you. [00:07:33] Rebecca Thornton: Well, I laughed at him. Maddie is my daughter - she's kind of the office kid, honestly. Everyone is just in love with her - she's eight. But Sean pulled me aside and he asked me if I was able to save money or if I had plans to ever buy a house, and I laughed at him. That was my first instinct because that's never been in my plans [00:07:54] Crystal Fincher: From your end, as you're following this process, Rebecca, a lot of times we hear about this as employers and people who hire people and determine how much people get paid - we frequently hear this conversation from their perspective. But for someone who's working in that condition and you are not dictating what your salary is, but you're living there, and as you said, it was laughable to you that thinking about saving for a house, or anything like that, was a possibility. What was this conversation like as someone working for the organization? [00:08:28] Rebecca Thornton: Well, I know a lot of my coworkers were of the stance of, "Yes, we deserve this. We're going to fight for this." And I was more of Sean's thinking. I'm just so used to making below a living wage that that's kind of all I knew and kind of a core belief of all I thought I deserved. So for this to be on the table, I didn't believe it. I was like, when it's in my bank account, then I might believe it. And it was also odd because here I am, a white person in a Black-led organization. Do I deserve to make that kind of money at the same time? I don't know. There's a lot of - it gets down to all the core beliefs I have in making sure that I know that I deserve that. And it comes - I didn't have a lot of education, and I'm working on my degree and things like that. It's just, it brought up a lot of emotions in me, honestly, more than I thought it would. And I'm glad I had stronger coworkers that could keep the faith in it for me because I don't know - I was a little more pessimistic about it, I feel. [00:09:52] Crystal Fincher: But I think you get to the root of something that a lot of people face - if they're just used to something and you think this is just how it is and there's not really a possibility for it to get any better, you just kind of accept the conditions and go along with the flow. To me, it seems like there's such a synergy between conversations and beliefs that you are bringing into the community, and this conversation that you had within your organization, which is something I feel a lot of organizations need to do. And there is a tension between what they're saying their values are, what they're saying they're working for in the community, and what they're perpetuating through their practices and their budgets. We talk publicly - budgets are moral documents. They're also moral documents within nonprofit organizations and businesses. So what got you to the point, Sean, where you were like, okay, this is something that we can make happen? And how did you work through that? [00:10:50] Sean Goode: Hearing from Rebecca and another one of our co-laborers here - just, it hurt because I care deeply for our team. And then I had this moment of realization, Crystal, where I recognized the only thing getting in the way of this happening is me. And there's also holding attention of this opportunity to build wealth and I know very well, as a multiracial Black man, that the wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans is 95 cents to the dollar. So for every nickel that Black Americans hold, white Americans hold 95 cents. One of the principal ways to close the wealth gap in our nation is through home ownership. If I am an employer that's largely employing Black and Brown people and not paying them a rate that allows them to build wealth, then I'm perpetuating a historical harm on the very people who I believe are entitled to benefit from the same system that they've suffered from for 400 plus years. [00:11:58] Crystal Fincher: I think that is so important - appreciate you being transparent about the tensions. I think that a critical part of this conversation is acknowledging that those tensions exist, talking through how you work with it. And to your credit and to your team's credit, Rebecca, the willingness to say this is possible and, hey, we believe in better and we're going to stand in this belief while you catch up. And for you, Sean, we talk about empathy and compassion. Those things, to me, are only useful as verbs. And I believe to my core that that enables people to work more effectively, to carry the message more effectively, to intervene effectively, and those in the community to see, okay, you actually mean what you're saying. It's like a bridge to build trust. And so I do want to talk about this work. And so in that context, how do you start conversations with people who start out with that belief - "Hey, someone does the crime, they do the time. And looks like that fixes the problem to me." [00:13:01] Sean Goode: What I'd love to do is this - I'd love to start back and say, hey, let's talk about slave patrols. And then let's talk about abolition, which then led to vagrancy laws, which meant that Black folks could be criminalized for standing on street corners - being unemployed because they weren't employable because the white farmers, who were no longer enslaving them, wouldn't hire them unless they could be servants again - would then be arrested. And then when they are arrested, they would be leased out as convicts, which then put them back on the very same plantations that they were supposedly liberated from. I would love to be able to dive into the prison industrial complex and talk about how for-profit prisons have driven an industry and a practice towards incarcerating people. I would love to highlight the fact that there's more Black people incarcerated today than were ever enslaved at any point of time in our country. I would love to talk about the disproportionate policing and how policing is focused in impoverished areas that are highly under-resourced and undersupported and frequently neglected, where there's not access to quality education, quality healthcare, quality schools. I would love to talk about the many depravities that are present in the places where young people aren't allowed to have behavior listened to before it's criminalized. I would love to bring all those things to the forefront, but what I know to be true is most people who don't understand this reality, are too distant from that place that - for them, that seems like history and not present. And it's difficult for them to draw a throughline. Where I do believe we can start at is a simple conversation around cause and effect. If historically, policing behavior would lead to a decrease in behavior that causes harm, then we should be seeing, year over year, a decrease of the number of people who are incarcerated. We should be seeing a decrease in violent crime. We should be seeing a decrease in property crime. If these systems were preventative measures that were persuading people away from making these types of decisions, then after all these years, it should have had an impact that demonstrates that things are getting better in that regard. Everything we look at would tell us otherwise. Either it doesn't work, or humanity is so inherently evil that no matter how much we police behavior, it'll never change. I don't believe that humanity is so inherently evil. In the work we do, the majority of the folks that we're supporting are people who are committing - whose behavior's being criminalized because they're living in poverty. If someone steals from the Goodwill, it's not because they're some sort of malicious criminal. If somebody's stealing from Target, it's not because they're looking to make some sort of substantial come-up off of what it is that they've taken. So as a result, it's upon us to begin to think outside of our traditional pathways and lean in with the lens of empathy and grace, and understand that we can't police our way out of poverty. [00:16:13] Crystal Fincher: I couldn't agree more with every single thing that you just said. So with that conversation and people going, well, okay, yeah, we see that there were problems with what we've been doing, but I still don't see what the solution is. You're talking about all this compassion stuff, and you're talking about let's treat people better and not put them in prison. What is the answer that you have and the programs that you are working on that are okay, so what is that different thing? [00:16:41] Sean Goode: The work that we do and the work that we do in community with others creates an off-ramp from the criminal legal system and an on-ramp into community where both the young person who is accused of causing harm is invited to be on a healing journey of accountability, and the person who was harmed is also made whole and invited to be on a journey where they're healing. And we've had terrific impact because we center the humanity of those that we're serving - and not a humanity that's absent of being accountable to what you've done, but a humanity that doesn't limit the person to what it is they've done and creates a pathway to what it is they can do, and then provides them with the resources they need to fully lean into that possibility. [00:17:21] Crystal Fincher: Focusing on the stopgaps, what types of programs are there and how do they compare? Because a lot of people are still, I think, having challenges contextualizing - well, yeah, recidivism rates are high, but we see what happens when, okay, someone's arrested, they're sentenced, they go to prison, and then they come out. They see something happening and they're like, "Okay, that is something." It's not as visible to people yet - what the interventions are outside of the criminal legal system that are like, okay, this is the process of healing, this is the process of justice, this is how we work to prevent further harm from happening and also work on healing people who have been harmed - which, to your point, is usually everybody involved in the scenario. What do those look like? And what are those programs? What are those processes? [00:18:21] Sean Goode: Yeah. They look like eviction moratoriums, which keep people housed and not living on the street. They look like the County buying up hotels in places that are inconvenient for some homeowners, but necessary for those who can't afford to live in a home. They look like investing in mental health services at a statewide level, which is something that we failed to do for a very long time in Washington. They look like re-examining our tax code and considering more ways to be able to raise the resources necessary to meet the needs for the collective us, instead of prioritizing the needs for those of us that have already established the foundation of wealth. They look like initiatives like Best Starts for Kids in our region that allow organizations adjacent to ours and like ours to be able to stand up innovative programs that can serve as a stopgap to alleviate some of the hurt and harm that's been caused. They look like many things similar to what it is that I'm sharing. They look like - how do we make sure we get more farmers' markets and healthy foods into neighborhoods that haven't had access to them historically? How do we make sure that people who have access to those healthy foods have the time and space to prepare them because they're not on public transit hours a day going to and from work for a less-than-a-living-wage job and picking up their kids from childcare, and then finally getting home at an odd hour where it's cheaper to buy a Happy Meal than it is to make a meal? Right? These are all contributing factors to the spread of this disease of violence. So it's so multifaceted, but also, if you're wondering and you're listening to this - well, that sounds ambitious. That sounds huge. That sounds like a wonderful utopian society, but how do we deal with what it is we're dealing with today? I'd say, just imagine for a moment, close your eyes and - picture the suburbs - picture places where you can walk to the grocery store, like a gentrified Columbia City, picture places where you have access to green spaces and parks and healthy foods. I know it seems like it's abstract when we put it in the context of underserved neighborhoods, but in neighborhoods where people are paying $1.5 and $1.8 million for houses that were initially purchased for a couple hundred thousand dollars because they were dilapidated in squalor because the areas were underinvested for decades - if we just take a minute and imagine, how do we make sure people have equal access to those type of services, then we wouldn't be having a conversation about violence at all. We'd have a conversation around how do we make sure that there's equitable distribution of services, equitable access to quality healthcare and quality foods and quality education. This is not a profound innovation that we're talking about. It is a profound effort only in the context of the fact that we've historically neglected those that have suffered, hidden them away, and hope that they disappear, and as we all should eventually benefit from a system of capitalism. We are still here. We still persevere, but we could thrive if people saw our humanity and began to make sure we had living wages. I mean, this goes right back into the wage conversation that we began with. If organizations - I was reading a book about the economics in Black community and one of the things that it stood up was that the middle class of Black folks across the country is largely comprised of people who work in social services. So we are the ones who are serving those of us who are impacted, and simultaneously impacted because the majority of our jobs don't provide a living wage that allows us to build wealth to benefit from capitalism, to build up communities that aren't living in the conditions that are causing the harm that's leading to the crime that people are complaining about because they don't want that to be present in their neighborhood. And then where are we supposed to go? [00:22:22] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And absolutely valid and another - so many of those conversations about - as people explain the difference between Columbia City and an area that has been underinvested and under-resourced for so long - we can talk about Skyway, we can talk about a lot of different areas - it really comes down to the value that people place in those communities. To your point, about most Black people in the middle class being in the - basically serving and helping others, and that our value or people's value being tied up into their labor for others. And if you are laboring, then you have some value - not too much, but some, we'll recognize some. And if you don't, then we don't just value you. These are ultimately investment decisions based on value judgements of who deserves what and who deserves how much. And we repeatedly see and have a lot of empirical evidence about the judgements that our society has made about who is deemed worthy and who is deemed unworthy just for existing. And who has to do all of these shows of worthiness and value and labor to be considered worthy. And who just kind of gets that - because they exist. Now, kind of circling back around to Choose 180 - within Choose 180, you talked about earlier partnering with prosecutors, partnering within the system. Certainly, these are stopgaps and not the entire solution, but what do those partnerships, programs, interventions look like? [00:24:12] Sean Goode: Yeah. It begins with a genuine effort to connect with the people who are generally at the forefront of perpetuating harm, right? So the work with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office in King County goes back to 2011 when Dan Satterberg, now outgoing King County Prosecutor, was engaged with Doug Wheeler, community leader, and said, "Look, we're failing our Black and Brown children. Can you help me?" Right? And because Dan reached out to Doug - together, they created what at that time was called the 180 Program with other community leaders, and stood up an alternative that's continually alleviated the need for juvenile prosecution in our region. It begins with a willingness of those who are holding power to understand that their ability to hold power isn't going to transform the harm. It's their ability to release that power and give it back to those that put them in power, and allow them to co-create solutions that then serve the needs of those who have been impacted the most. And our existence is a manifestation of what is possible there, but it takes a lot of deconstructing of narratives. It takes a lot of trust building. It takes a lot of empathy and understanding, and it takes a lot of grace. Grace selectively applied is favoritism. And so what that means is we have to extend the same grace to prosecutors and law enforcement and court folks that we do to young people and families that we serve, because otherwise, we're just doing the same thing that law enforcement and court system and criminal legal system has done historically, which is prioritize people that they're preferential to while neglecting those that they don't care for. [00:26:00] Crystal Fincher: As the community is looking at programs that are happening through Choose 180 and the diversions that you're doing, as you're working with people to help connect them to resources, to coach them in better ways, provide better examples, and make sure they have the tools and support to sustain a different direction permanently, you talked about your success with recidivism rates. In terms of people sitting back - okay, things are broken, okay, totally not ideal. All right. Great. You have these programs. All right. How are they working in comparison to the traditional system? How do we know what you are talking about is working any better? [00:26:49] Sean Goode: Yeah. Well, Crystal, what I'm asking the community to do is give us the same runway that we've given the systems that have historically caused harm. Give us the same runway that we give the systems that historically cause harm. If we're only - we've been in practice for 10 years and have had great impact. Our systems of oppression have been in place for hundreds of years and have caused a ton of negative impact. How much of a runway do we get to prove that we can be successful? Do we get a year? Do we get two years? Do we get three years? Do we get four years maybe to stand something up for it to be proven wrong? How many iterations do we get to come up with, right? Are we allowed to have as many moments of reform - calls for reform - as law enforcement has in our nation. Historically year over year, do we get that same grace? That's what I'm asking for. If you want to stand up an alternative that's going to help deconstruct years upon years of perpetuated harm, then it's going to take more than 24 to 36 months to do that. It's going to take more than 10 years. It's going to take a generation of commitments to innovative ideas that we don't run away with the first time that they don't have the impact that we're looking for, because candidly, Crystal, if we ran away from the criminal legal system every time someone was released to the community and caused harm again, then we wouldn't be using it today at all. We wouldn't be resourcing it today at all, but we do because we believe that that can be fixed and it can be made better. Well, I'm asking folks to carry that same conviction in the community-based alternatives that are being stood up by the people who are closest to the pain points. Just like when it came to our wage conversation as an organization, the folks who are closest to the pain point understood what they needed to be healthy and whole. In community, the people who are closest to the pain point know what they need to experience safety in their community. Why don't we begin to just stand up what it is that folks are asking for and see what happens, and give it a runway like we've given to these other antiquated systems? [00:28:48] Crystal Fincher: I feel like that is a big thing that we're running into today - that we are sure we haven't had the best results, but we can change, we can fix it. While at the same time, demanding that community-based alternatives - one, present all the data that we need to see that this will fix all of the problems in order for us to consider investing in you at one-tenth of a percent that we invest in the rest of our criminal legal injustice system. Within there - certainly, goodness, you give it a 50- or 60-year runway, the change that you could see, it's hard for me to envision that change. Because if you just look on the short term, better results when it comes to reoffense and recidivism at the 12-month mark and other month marks - immediate results that are, sure, not perfect, but certainly better than the existing traditional systems. What would you say makes you most optimistic about the work that you're doing? And with this, I would just say also, Rebecca, in this question, what makes you most optimistic about the work that you're doing and the changes that you're seeing throughout the programs that you have, and the people who you're working with in the community? [00:30:16] Rebecca Thornton: Well, for me, I'm so excited that it's being talked about because it's something that I've always believed in, and I just never believed it was possible. Coming to Choose 180 and starting working full-time and being totally enmeshed into the programs and the people, I've started to look at things differently and looking at ideas differently. Things are possible if you can come together as a group and work for it and have that belief in it. You can make things happen. I've never seen that before. But I come from corporate America - there's no room for that there as well. It's been so cool to see - and that can be applied out in the community as well. If people can come together and they have the will - and like Sean said, the stamina - they can make stuff happen. But they need the tools to be able to do that as well, because I was out in the community on drugs years ago. I had no idea that change could happen for anyone. And I just think of how differently my life would've been had I had access to the things that could be possible in the 50 years that Sean is talking about. Or the things that my daughter's going to be able to have access to is just so important. My daughter - we have what's like "a broken home." There's statistics and stigma in that, right? So I've worked very hard to make sure that she sees me work hard and surround her with good people and all of that. But at the same time, there's still things in the way there. There's still stigma, right? And I just want to make sure that she knows that anything is possible. And I feel like what we're doing at Choose 180 just shows that, and it's pretty powerful. [00:32:15] Crystal Fincher: And what makes you most optimistic when you look at the work you're doing and the impact that you're having, Sean? [00:32:23] Sean Goode: I think about - brief history lesson here for some folks who might be listening. In the 1700s in Boston, there was a smallpox outbreak and there's an enslaved African American man who had established - there was a tribal cure for smallpox, a practice. And he introduced it to his enslaver, but for five years, the people of Boston refused to listen to this cure for smallpox because it was coming from an enslaved African American, from a tribal custom, because they felt like it couldn't possibly be an answer that would come from an enslaved person. It couldn't possibly be an answer. We need the richness of our white dominant medical science to be able to solve for this. And hundreds of Bostonians died because of their failure to listen to this enslaved African American man. I find hope that as a country, over the past 300 years, that we may have evolved past the point of ignoring those who are bringing solutions from nontraditional spaces, and that we may now be at a position, 300 years later, to lean in and say, "Well, if you think you have the cure, let's go ahead and give it a shot, because quite possibly your way could save lives." [00:33:59] Crystal Fincher: Amen. So I just thank you both for coming on this show, for sharing your experience and your journey and your wisdom, and just encourage people to continue to pay attention to Choose 180, get involved, support. And certainly at a neighborhood and community level, you can do these things where you're at, and that's actually the most powerful place you can activate and get involved. So please make sure that we don't just talk about Choose 180 and other organizations in the abstract, and this is what someone is doing over there, and this is what's possible over there. It is possible everywhere and exactly where you are. And help to be part of what makes that happen. Turn what's possible into what's happening. So with that, I just thank you once again for being here, and hope the listeners have a wonderful day. I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcast - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. We'll talk to you next time.

Sean Goode and Rebecca Thornton from Choose 180 stop by to share how to transform systems of harm and injustice - by supporting young people impacted by them as well as their own staff in doing this work. They discuss a better world where neighborhoods are resourced, generative programs are co-created, and the humanity of those accused of causing harm is centered alongside the healing of those who are harmed. Such a world is not as far off as one may think, but does require the transfer of power to those closest to the pain and a long-enough runway to have lasting effects. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii, find Sean at @GraceNotGuilt, and Choose 180 at @ICHOOSE180   Resources Choose 180: https://choose180.org/   “A King County nonprofit raised all staff salaries to $70,000 minimum. Will more organizations follow?” by Naomi Ishisaka from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/labor-shortage-or-living-wage-shortage-one-king-county-nonprofit-is-taking-a-different-approach/   "Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances" by Neil Bhutta, Andrew C. Chang, Lisa J. Dettling, and Joanne W. Hsu for FEDS Notes: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumer-finances-20200928.htm   “Closing the racial wealth gap requires heavy, progressive taxation of wealth” by Vanessa Williamson from The Brookings Institution: https://www.brookings.edu/research/closing-the-racial-wealth-gap-requires-heavy-progressive-taxation-of-wealth/   “The economic impact of closing the racial wealth gap” by Nick Noel, Duwain Pinder, Shelley Stewart, and Jason Wright from McKinsey & Company: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-economic-impact-of-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap   “An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System” by Elizabeth Hinton, LeShae Henderson, and Cindy Reed for Vera Institute of Justice: https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-the-record-unjust-burden-racial-disparities.pdf   “Prosecutor-funded program helps kids do a 180, avoid charges” by Sami Edge from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/prosecutor-funded-community-effort-helps-kids-do-a-180-on-jail-bound-route/   King County Prosecuting Attorney - Choose 180 Youth Program: https://kingcounty.gov/depts/prosecutor/youth-programs/choose-180.aspx   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, I'm very excited to have joining us Sean Goode, the Executive Director of Choose 180, and Rebecca Thornton, who's the Office Manager and bookkeeper for Choose 180. Thank you so much for joining us today. [00:00:50] Sean Goode: It's an honor to be here, Crystal. Thanks for the invitation. [00:00:52] Rebecca Thornton: Thank you for having us. [00:00:55] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. So as we get started here, I just want to open up with you talking about what Choose 180 does and what brought you both into this work. And we can start with you, Sean. [00:01:09] Sean Goode: Yeah. Our organization exists to transform systems that cause harm, systems of injustice, and support the young people who've been impacted by those systems. And what that looks like is we partner intentionally with folks like prosecutors to co-create programming that exists outside of the traditional criminal legal system and alleviates the need for them to continue to prosecute young people. So in practicality, it's a young person lives in a neighborhood that's overly policed, their behavior's criminalized, the police send that referral to the prosecutor - but because of our relationship with them, they get community instead of a criminal conviction. And for the young people who engage in our traditional programming, over 90% of the time, they don't return to the criminal legal system within 12 months of participating in our programming. And so that's an example of one of our many models of service, but all of them have a genesis point of partnering with systems to transform the way they administer justice and supporting young people as an outcome to help alleviate the harm that those systems cause. My brother was incarcerated as a 13-year-old boy until he was a 21-year-old man and how he was stigmatized as a problem. And yet how, when he was released, saw me beginning to engage in some of those same problematic behaviors, but saw the possibility that lived within me and was able to call that out from a dark place and show me, by the way of his light, that there was something else that I could become. [00:02:30] Crystal Fincher: And what brought you to this work, Rebecca? [00:02:33] Rebecca Thornton: About six years ago, I was looking for just some way to donate my time, because I just felt I had survived so much and that was just a way I wanted to give back. And I stumbled upon what was the 180 Program at the time. And they were like, "Hey, do you want to come and share your story at one of our workshops?" And I agreed, and I just jumped right in, and I just kept coming back. And about maybe eight months in, Sean ended up coming on and I got to watch that whole process. And then the team started to grow. And then about two years ago now next month, I came on full time as the Office Manager and bookkeeper. And I stayed with Choose 180 because of my lived experience with drugs specifically. I hold this core belief that especially young people should not be criminalized for their behavior because so much of it comes from the things that have happened to them in their lives and the circumstances in which they lived, because that's what happened to me. And I just want to give back in that way so that people don't have to take as long to turn their life around like I did. [00:03:46] Crystal Fincher: You actually made news last year for something that we don't see often, and that was for deciding to make sure everyone at Choose 180 is making at least $70,000, who's there full-time, which is a huge part of a discussion that we're having just around paying people a living wage in the first place and making sure people who are around us that we work with can also afford to live within our communities. But also particularly in the nonprofit space, where, so often, we are used to hearing about thin budgets and even thinner salaries, and there's just not that much money to go around. And this is a pursuit that people get into, not for the money, but for serving the community. How did this conversation start within Choose 180? And how did you arrive at the place where you decided to say, "You know what, everyone deserves to have a fair wage and to have the ability to live where they're working."? [00:04:47] Sean Goode: Yeah. Thanks for that question, Crystal. I think I want to start by saying we're fortunate to serve in a community where there's organizations like Collective Justice, Creative Justice, and Freedom Project, who have all done work around wage equity. And some of them have started the organization out flat, or paying already close to or living wage. And so we're fortunate to be able to have examples like that ahead of us that make the journey that we're traveling easier. And fortunately, we had a couple of our team members speak up who were asking questions about, well, how does it work around here? How do we determine what people make? And how does one get a raise? And do we do things by merit? Do we do things by a degree? And what we didn't want to do is provide any one-off answer and fix one person's situation. We wanted to go about it in a way that addressed it holistically. We convened a committee from our board to assess our compensation philosophy, and they spent time interviewing our team members and listening to their voices. And then they brought their recommendations to me. And their recommendations were many. There were things like, how do we value lived experience? How do we value college degrees? How do we value time served at the organization? But a throughline that was consistent was living wage. And I heard the report, I looked at the report, and I said, "Yeah, that sounds good, but we're at a nonprofit and we're already paying above market rate in many of these positions. So I don't know what more people want from me." And I thought the conversation was done there. I thought, at that point, I was finished and we could move on, but then we had to build a budget out for the next year. And as the story goes, one of our team members was working on their budget and I told them to dream big. And if we need to add to staff, consider what that might look like, which is where I always start budgeting - to think big. And she came back to me and said, "Well, if we're thinking about adding staff, I can't do that and not have our teammates who are currently here making less than a living wage." And then it became a back-and-forth conversation where I still didn't really get what it was I was being asked to do. And at the end of that conversation, she said, "Look, we work to support young people and their families in escaping the material conditions they're living in that are contributing to the harm that they've experienced. Could it be that we're resourcing our team to live in those same material conditions?" And that cut deep. And so - [00:07:18] Crystal Fincher: That cut deep, didn't it? [00:07:20] Sean Goode: Yeah. Yeah. And then I went to Rebecca, because she was in the office that day, and I tugged on her and I said, "Rebecca, do you ever think about buying a home for Maddie?" And Rebecca, you can go ahead and talk about what that was like for you. [00:07:33] Rebecca Thornton: Well, I laughed at him. Maddie is my daughter - she's kind of the office kid, honestly. Everyone is just in love with her - she's eight. But Sean pulled me aside and he asked me if I was able to save money or if I had plans to ever buy a house, and I laughed at him. That was my first instinct because that's never been in my plans [00:07:54] Crystal Fincher: From your end, as you're following this process, Rebecca, a lot of times we hear about this as employers and people who hire people and determine how much people get paid - we frequently hear this conversation from their perspective. But for someone who's working in that condition and you are not dictating what your salary is, but you're living there, and as you said, it was laughable to you that thinking about saving for a house, or anything like that, was a possibility. What was this conversation like as someone working for the organization? [00:08:28] Rebecca Thornton: Well, I know a lot of my coworkers were of the stance of, "Yes, we deserve this. We're going to fight for this." And I was more of Sean's thinking. I'm just so used to making below a living wage that that's kind of all I knew and kind of a core belief of all I thought I deserved. So for this to be on the table, I didn't believe it. I was like, when it's in my bank account, then I might believe it. And it was also odd because here I am, a white person in a Black-led organization. Do I deserve to make that kind of money at the same time? I don't know. There's a lot of - it gets down to all the core beliefs I have in making sure that I know that I deserve that. And it comes - I didn't have a lot of education, and I'm working on my degree and things like that. It's just, it brought up a lot of emotions in me, honestly, more than I thought it would. And I'm glad I had stronger coworkers that could keep the faith in it for me because I don't know - I was a little more pessimistic about it, I feel. [00:09:52] Crystal Fincher: But I think you get to the root of something that a lot of people face - if they're just used to something and you think this is just how it is and there's not really a possibility for it to get any better, you just kind of accept the conditions and go along with the flow. To me, it seems like there's such a synergy between conversations and beliefs that you are bringing into the community, and this conversation that you had within your organization, which is something I feel a lot of organizations need to do. And there is a tension between what they're saying their values are, what they're saying they're working for in the community, and what they're perpetuating through their practices and their budgets. We talk publicly - budgets are moral documents. They're also moral documents within nonprofit organizations and businesses. So what got you to the point, Sean, where you were like, okay, this is something that we can make happen? And how did you work through that? [00:10:50] Sean Goode: Hearing from Rebecca and another one of our co-laborers here - just, it hurt because I care deeply for our team. And then I had this moment of realization, Crystal, where I recognized the only thing getting in the way of this happening is me. And there's also holding attention of this opportunity to build wealth and I know very well, as a multiracial Black man, that the wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans is 95 cents to the dollar. So for every nickel that Black Americans hold, white Americans hold 95 cents. One of the principal ways to close the wealth gap in our nation is through home ownership. If I am an employer that's largely employing Black and Brown people and not paying them a rate that allows them to build wealth, then I'm perpetuating a historical harm on the very people who I believe are entitled to benefit from the same system that they've suffered from for 400 plus years. [00:11:58] Crystal Fincher: I think that is so important - appreciate you being transparent about the tensions. I think that a critical part of this conversation is acknowledging that those tensions exist, talking through how you work with it. And to your credit and to your team's credit, Rebecca, the willingness to say this is possible and, hey, we believe in better and we're going to stand in this belief while you catch up. And for you, Sean, we talk about empathy and compassion. Those things, to me, are only useful as verbs. And I believe to my core that that enables people to work more effectively, to carry the message more effectively, to intervene effectively, and those in the community to see, okay, you actually mean what you're saying. It's like a bridge to build trust. And so I do want to talk about this work. And so in that context, how do you start conversations with people who start out with that belief - "Hey, someone does the crime, they do the time. And looks like that fixes the problem to me." [00:13:01] Sean Goode: What I'd love to do is this - I'd love to start back and say, hey, let's talk about slave patrols. And then let's talk about abolition, which then led to vagrancy laws, which meant that Black folks could be criminalized for standing on street corners - being unemployed because they weren't employable because the white farmers, who were no longer enslaving them, wouldn't hire them unless they could be servants again - would then be arrested. And then when they are arrested, they would be leased out as convicts, which then put them back on the very same plantations that they were supposedly liberated from. I would love to be able to dive into the prison industrial complex and talk about how for-profit prisons have driven an industry and a practice towards incarcerating people. I would love to highlight the fact that there's more Black people incarcerated today than were ever enslaved at any point of time in our country. I would love to talk about the disproportionate policing and how policing is focused in impoverished areas that are highly under-resourced and undersupported and frequently neglected, where there's not access to quality education, quality healthcare, quality schools. I would love to talk about the many depravities that are present in the places where young people aren't allowed to have behavior listened to before it's criminalized. I would love to bring all those things to the forefront, but what I know to be true is most people who don't understand this reality, are too distant from that place that - for them, that seems like history and not present. And it's difficult for them to draw a throughline. Where I do believe we can start at is a simple conversation around cause and effect. If historically, policing behavior would lead to a decrease in behavior that causes harm, then we should be seeing, year over year, a decrease of the number of people who are incarcerated. We should be seeing a decrease in violent crime. We should be seeing a decrease in property crime. If these systems were preventative measures that were persuading people away from making these types of decisions, then after all these years, it should have had an impact that demonstrates that things are getting better in that regard. Everything we look at would tell us otherwise. Either it doesn't work, or humanity is so inherently evil that no matter how much we police behavior, it'll never change. I don't believe that humanity is so inherently evil. In the work we do, the majority of the folks that we're supporting are people who are committing - whose behavior's being criminalized because they're living in poverty. If someone steals from the Goodwill, it's not because they're some sort of malicious criminal. If somebody's stealing from Target, it's not because they're looking to make some sort of substantial come-up off of what it is that they've taken. So as a result, it's upon us to begin to think outside of our traditional pathways and lean in with the lens of empathy and grace, and understand that we can't police our way out of poverty. [00:16:13] Crystal Fincher: I couldn't agree more with every single thing that you just said. So with that conversation and people going, well, okay, yeah, we see that there were problems with what we've been doing, but I still don't see what the solution is. You're talking about all this compassion stuff, and you're talking about let's treat people better and not put them in prison. What is the answer that you have and the programs that you are working on that are okay, so what is that different thing? [00:16:41] Sean Goode: The work that we do and the work that we do in community with others creates an off-ramp from the criminal legal system and an on-ramp into community where both the young person who is accused of causing harm is invited to be on a healing journey of accountability, and the person who was harmed is also made whole and invited to be on a journey where they're healing. And we've had terrific impact because we center the humanity of those that we're serving - and not a humanity that's absent of being accountable to what you've done, but a humanity that doesn't limit the person to what it is they've done and creates a pathway to what it is they can do, and then provides them with the resources they need to fully lean into that possibility. [00:17:21] Crystal Fincher: Focusing on the stopgaps, what types of programs are there and how do they compare? Because a lot of people are still, I think, having challenges contextualizing - well, yeah, recidivism rates are high, but we see what happens when, okay, someone's arrested, they're sentenced, they go to prison, and then they come out. They see something happening and they're like, "Okay, that is something." It's not as visible to people yet - what the interventions are outside of the criminal legal system that are like, okay, this is the process of healing, this is the process of justice, this is how we work to prevent further harm from happening and also work on healing people who have been harmed - which, to your point, is usually everybody involved in the scenario. What do those look like? And what are those programs? What are those processes? [00:18:21] Sean Goode: Yeah. They look like eviction moratoriums, which keep people housed and not living on the street. They look like the County buying up hotels in places that are inconvenient for some homeowners, but necessary for those who can't afford to live in a home. They look like investing in mental health services at a statewide level, which is something that we failed to do for a very long time in Washington. They look like re-examining our tax code and considering more ways to be able to raise the resources necessary to meet the needs for the collective us, instead of prioritizing the needs for those of us that have already established the foundation of wealth. They look like initiatives like Best Starts for Kids in our region that allow organizations adjacent to ours and like ours to be able to stand up innovative programs that can serve as a stopgap to alleviate some of the hurt and harm that's been caused. They look like many things similar to what it is that I'm sharing. They look like - how do we make sure we get more farmers' markets and healthy foods into neighborhoods that haven't had access to them historically? How do we make sure that people who have access to those healthy foods have the time and space to prepare them because they're not on public transit hours a day going to and from work for a less-than-a-living-wage job and picking up their kids from childcare, and then finally getting home at an odd hour where it's cheaper to buy a Happy Meal than it is to make a meal? Right? These are all contributing factors to the spread of this disease of violence. So it's so multifaceted, but also, if you're wondering and you're listening to this - well, that sounds ambitious. That sounds huge. That sounds like a wonderful utopian society, but how do we deal with what it is we're dealing with today? I'd say, just imagine for a moment, close your eyes and - picture the suburbs - picture places where you can walk to the grocery store, like a gentrified Columbia City, picture places where you have access to green spaces and parks and healthy foods. I know it seems like it's abstract when we put it in the context of underserved neighborhoods, but in neighborhoods where people are paying $1.5 and $1.8 million for houses that were initially purchased for a couple hundred thousand dollars because they were dilapidated in squalor because the areas were underinvested for decades - if we just take a minute and imagine, how do we make sure people have equal access to those type of services, then we wouldn't be having a conversation about violence at all. We'd have a conversation around how do we make sure that there's equitable distribution of services, equitable access to quality healthcare and quality foods and quality education. This is not a profound innovation that we're talking about. It is a profound effort only in the context of the fact that we've historically neglected those that have suffered, hidden them away, and hope that they disappear, and as we all should eventually benefit from a system of capitalism. We are still here. We still persevere, but we could thrive if people saw our humanity and began to make sure we had living wages. I mean, this goes right back into the wage conversation that we began with. If organizations - I was reading a book about the economics in Black community and one of the things that it stood up was that the middle class of Black folks across the country is largely comprised of people who work in social services. So we are the ones who are serving those of us who are impacted, and simultaneously impacted because the majority of our jobs don't provide a living wage that allows us to build wealth to benefit from capitalism, to build up communities that aren't living in the conditions that are causing the harm that's leading to the crime that people are complaining about because they don't want that to be present in their neighborhood. And then where are we supposed to go? [00:22:22] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And absolutely valid and another - so many of those conversations about - as people explain the difference between Columbia City and an area that has been underinvested and under-resourced for so long - we can talk about Skyway, we can talk about a lot of different areas - it really comes down to the value that people place in those communities. To your point, about most Black people in the middle class being in the - basically serving and helping others, and that our value or people's value being tied up into their labor for others. And if you are laboring, then you have some value - not too much, but some, we'll recognize some. And if you don't, then we don't just value you. These are ultimately investment decisions based on value judgements of who deserves what and who deserves how much. And we repeatedly see and have a lot of empirical evidence about the judgements that our society has made about who is deemed worthy and who is deemed unworthy just for existing. And who has to do all of these shows of worthiness and value and labor to be considered worthy. And who just kind of gets that - because they exist. Now, kind of circling back around to Choose 180 - within Choose 180, you talked about earlier partnering with prosecutors, partnering within the system. Certainly, these are stopgaps and not the entire solution, but what do those partnerships, programs, interventions look like? [00:24:12] Sean Goode: Yeah. It begins with a genuine effort to connect with the people who are generally at the forefront of perpetuating harm, right? So the work with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office in King County goes back to 2011 when Dan Satterberg, now outgoing King County Prosecutor, was engaged with Doug Wheeler, community leader, and said, "Look, we're failing our Black and Brown children. Can you help me?" Right? And because Dan reached out to Doug - together, they created what at that time was called the 180 Program with other community leaders, and stood up an alternative that's continually alleviated the need for juvenile prosecution in our region. It begins with a willingness of those who are holding power to understand that their ability to hold power isn't going to transform the harm. It's their ability to release that power and give it back to those that put them in power, and allow them to co-create solutions that then serve the needs of those who have been impacted the most. And our existence is a manifestation of what is possible there, but it takes a lot of deconstructing of narratives. It takes a lot of trust building. It takes a lot of empathy and understanding, and it takes a lot of grace. Grace selectively applied is favoritism. And so what that means is we have to extend the same grace to prosecutors and law enforcement and court folks that we do to young people and families that we serve, because otherwise, we're just doing the same thing that law enforcement and court system and criminal legal system has done historically, which is prioritize people that they're preferential to while neglecting those that they don't care for. [00:26:00] Crystal Fincher: As the community is looking at programs that are happening through Choose 180 and the diversions that you're doing, as you're working with people to help connect them to resources, to coach them in better ways, provide better examples, and make sure they have the tools and support to sustain a different direction permanently, you talked about your success with recidivism rates. In terms of people sitting back - okay, things are broken, okay, totally not ideal. All right. Great. You have these programs. All right. How are they working in comparison to the traditional system? How do we know what you are talking about is working any better? [00:26:49] Sean Goode: Yeah. Well, Crystal, what I'm asking the community to do is give us the same runway that we've given the systems that have historically caused harm. Give us the same runway that we give the systems that historically cause harm. If we're only - we've been in practice for 10 years and have had great impact. Our systems of oppression have been in place for hundreds of years and have caused a ton of negative impact. How much of a runway do we get to prove that we can be successful? Do we get a year? Do we get two years? Do we get three years? Do we get four years maybe to stand something up for it to be proven wrong? How many iterations do we get to come up with, right? Are we allowed to have as many moments of reform - calls for reform - as law enforcement has in our nation. Historically year over year, do we get that same grace? That's what I'm asking for. If you want to stand up an alternative that's going to help deconstruct years upon years of perpetuated harm, then it's going to take more than 24 to 36 months to do that. It's going to take more than 10 years. It's going to take a generation of commitments to innovative ideas that we don't run away with the first time that they don't have the impact that we're looking for, because candidly, Crystal, if we ran away from the criminal legal system every time someone was released to the community and caused harm again, then we wouldn't be using it today at all. We wouldn't be resourcing it today at all, but we do because we believe that that can be fixed and it can be made better. Well, I'm asking folks to carry that same conviction in the community-based alternatives that are being stood up by the people who are closest to the pain points. Just like when it came to our wage conversation as an organization, the folks who are closest to the pain point understood what they needed to be healthy and whole. In community, the people who are closest to the pain point know what they need to experience safety in their community. Why don't we begin to just stand up what it is that folks are asking for and see what happens, and give it a runway like we've given to these other antiquated systems? [00:28:48] Crystal Fincher: I feel like that is a big thing that we're running into today - that we are sure we haven't had the best results, but we can change, we can fix it. While at the same time, demanding that community-based alternatives - one, present all the data that we need to see that this will fix all of the problems in order for us to consider investing in you at one-tenth of a percent that we invest in the rest of our criminal legal injustice system. Within there - certainly, goodness, you give it a 50- or 60-year runway, the change that you could see, it's hard for me to envision that change. Because if you just look on the short term, better results when it comes to reoffense and recidivism at the 12-month mark and other month marks - immediate results that are, sure, not perfect, but certainly better than the existing traditional systems. What would you say makes you most optimistic about the work that you're doing? And with this, I would just say also, Rebecca, in this question, what makes you most optimistic about the work that you're doing and the changes that you're seeing throughout the programs that you have, and the people who you're working with in the community? [00:30:16] Rebecca Thornton: Well, for me, I'm so excited that it's being talked about because it's something that I've always believed in, and I just never believed it was possible. Coming to Choose 180 and starting working full-time and being totally enmeshed into the programs and the people, I've started to look at things differently and looking at ideas differently. Things are possible if you can come together as a group and work for it and have that belief in it. You can make things happen. I've never seen that before. But I come from corporate America - there's no room for that there as well. It's been so cool to see - and that can be applied out in the community as well. If people can come together and they have the will - and like Sean said, the stamina - they can make stuff happen. But they need the tools to be able to do that as well, because I was out in the community on drugs years ago. I had no idea that change could happen for anyone. And I just think of how differently my life would've been had I had access to the things that could be possible in the 50 years that Sean is talking about. Or the things that my daughter's going to be able to have access to is just so important. My daughter - we have what's like "a broken home." There's statistics and stigma in that, right? So I've worked very hard to make sure that she sees me work hard and surround her with good people and all of that. But at the same time, there's still things in the way there. There's still stigma, right? And I just want to make sure that she knows that anything is possible. And I feel like what we're doing at Choose 180 just shows that, and it's pretty powerful. [00:32:15] Crystal Fincher: And what makes you most optimistic when you look at the work you're doing and the impact that you're having, Sean? [00:32:23] Sean Goode: I think about - brief history lesson here for some folks who might be listening. In the 1700s in Boston, there was a smallpox outbreak and there's an enslaved African American man who had established - there was a tribal cure for smallpox, a practice. And he introduced it to his enslaver, but for five years, the people of Boston refused to listen to this cure for smallpox because it was coming from an enslaved African American, from a tribal custom, because they felt like it couldn't possibly be an answer that would come from an enslaved person. It couldn't possibly be an answer. We need the richness of our white dominant medical science to be able to solve for this. And hundreds of Bostonians died because of their failure to listen to this enslaved African American man. I find hope that as a country, over the past 300 years, that we may have evolved past the point of ignoring those who are bringing solutions from nontraditional spaces, and that we may now be at a position, 300 years later, to lean in and say, "Well, if you think you have the cure, let's go ahead and give it a shot, because quite possibly your way could save lives." [00:33:59] Crystal Fincher: Amen. So I just thank you both for coming on this show, for sharing your experience and your journey and your wisdom, and just encourage people to continue to pay attention to Choose 180, get involved, support. And certainly at a neighborhood and community level, you can do these things where you're at, and that's actually the most powerful place you can activate and get involved. So please make sure that we don't just talk about Choose 180 and other organizations in the abstract, and this is what someone is doing over there, and this is what's possible over there. It is possible everywhere and exactly where you are. And help to be part of what makes that happen. Turn what's possible into what's happening. So with that, I just thank you once again for being here, and hope the listeners have a wonderful day. I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcast - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. We'll talk to you next time.

Emily Hamilton is a senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Emily's research focuses on urban economics and land use policy, and she joins Macro Musings to talk about housing in the United States. Specifically, David and Emily discuss many of the issues present within the American housing market, why we should care about rampant housing shortages, and the most effective avenues we can pursue for largescale reform.   Check out Conversations with Tyler: https://conversationswithtyler.com, and subscribe to Conversations with Tyler on your favorite podcast app.   Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings   Emily's Twitter: @ebwhamilton Emily's Mercatus profile: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/emily-hamilton   Related Links:   *Light Touch Density: A Series of Policy Briefs on Zoning, Land Use, and a Solution to Help Alleviate the Nation's Housing Shortage* by Edward Pinto, Tobias Peter, and Emily Hamilton https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Light-Touch-Density-Compiled-FINAL-1.12.2022.pdf?x91208   *2019 Survey of Consumer Finances* by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm   David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth David's blog: http://macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/

Although the term racial wealth gap technically refers to the difference in assets owned by different racial or ethnic groups, this gap results from a range of economic factors that affect the overall economic well-being of these different groups. The term reflects disparities in access to opportunities, means of support, and resources. Federal surveys reveal that a large disparity exists among these racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances examining assets such as savings, investments, retirement and pensions, and especially homeownership, reveal that White families had eight times the wealth of Black families and five times the wealth of Hispanic families. Data on "other families"—a diverse category that includes Asians, indigenous peoples, Native Hawaiians, and those who report more than one racial identification, among others—showed that they had less wealth than White families but more than Hispanic and Black families.2 The somewhat greater emphasis on the status of Black Americans corresponds to the larger number of studies and more detailed information analyzed and available with respect to it.

On January 11, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center hosted an event on this divergence between economic and taxable income and its implications for tax policy. Results from new research using the Survey of Consumer Finances will be presented with an eye towards understanding which forms of income do not show up on tax forms, where in the income distribution that divergence is occurring, and the revenue implications of broadening the business income tax base. Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.  

In this session I go over median household income, debt and wealth gap by ethnicity. I also dive into finances and budgeting. Sources Statista Research Department. 2021. “Median household income in the United States in 2020, by race or ethnic group.” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/233324/median-household-income-in-the-united-states-by-race-or-ethnic-group/ Employee Benefit Research Institute. 2021. “How Is Debt Different by Race and Ethnicity?” EBRI. https://www.ebri.org/docs/default-source/fast-facts/ff-375-debtbyrace-7jan21.pdf?sfvrsn=39bf3a2f_4 The Federal Reserve. 2020. “Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances.” Federal Reserve. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/disparities-in-wealth-by-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-2019-survey-of-consumer-finances-20200928.htm

​​Matt is joined by Mike Konczal, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis and Progressive Thought at the Roosevelt Institute and author of Freedom From the Market. They explore Jerome Powell's tenure as Fed Chair, the relationship between interest rates and unemployment numbers, and ways to use monetary policy to create an equitable society. Resources: “Fed Up” by Matthew Yglesias (Democracy Journal; Spring 2011) “Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances” by Neil Bhutta et al. (The Federal Reserve; Sep 28, 2020 Guest: Mike Konczal (@rortybomb), Director, Roosevelt Institute Macroeconomic Analysis and Progressive Thought, Author, Freedom From the Market Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Ness Smith-Savedoff, Producer & Engineer Erikk Geannikis, Producer, Talk Podcasts As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A recent Reuters headline read, “Yellen, Rice tout economics as key to fixing American inequality.” According to Susan Rice, President Joe Biden's new domestic policy adviser, “The evidence is clear, investing in equity is good for economic growth.” Our new Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, says, “I believe economic policy can be a potent tool to improve society. We can — and should — use it to address inequality, racism ...” I couldn't agree more. According to the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances, the median wealth of white families is 8,200, compared with ,100 for Black families. To...Article Link

Listen to the fourth episode of Equifax's new podcast: Equifax CreditTalks. Hosted by Ilyce Glink, CreditTalks helps you better understand our evolving financial world.Topics discussed in this episode: 00:00 Introduction to podcast guests and topics for discussion01:29 Which industries are being hit the hardest03:36 How employers and employees are coping05:39 Are the loan accommodations working08:27 How the average person is currently dealing with the recession11:19 Immediate financial advice for weathering the recession 13:55 Long term financial advice for thriving after the recession is over18:14 Financial readiness and how to emerge from the pandemic financially stronger21:41 Podcast closing remarks 

Did you know that most people can't afford a $400 emergency? Few are able to save for retirement. The average wealth for single black women in the prime of their working years in this country is $5, while the median wealth for single white women during the prime of their working years, meanwhile, is $42,600 (according to data from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances). This is one of the reasons why this topic needs to be talked about now more than ever.I can think of no one better to talk about it than Naseema McElroy, our special guest today, who's Forbes-featured debt strategy allowed her to pay off $1 Million dollars in debt in two years, and to save an additional $200,000 since she became debt free. Today you're going to get her simple, actionable tools so you can learn how to become financially independent.BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL LEARN: The underrated power of your mindset as it relates to moneyHow to identify your “money story” and begin to look at your finances differentlyThe fastest way to improve your financial situation, no matter where you are so you can learn how to become financially independentThe easy steps to tap into the abundance that is always available to you When you finish listening, leave a review to let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode.And make sure you're following us on Instagram @theeffortlesslife.co for more daily tips on how to simplify your workflows so you can spend more time in your zone of genius!Instacart - Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour. Free delivery on your first order over $35.

Classic 1027 — Lee Naik, CEO of TransUnion Africa

America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The top 1% have gotten really rich, but the middle class have fallen seriously behind. Let's look at the data from the latest Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve and see where we're at.  To read the post and check out all the great graphs see: The Median Net Worth Of Americans Today To subscribe to my Feedly RSS feed click here.

The redlining map of Greensboro depicting "best," "still desirable," "definitely declining," and "hazardous" areas in which to lend. These maps were created by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. Image courtesy: Mapping Inequality This reporting project is a collaboration between WFDD, Carolina Data Desk at The UNC School of Media and Journalism and Wake Forest University's Journalism Program. It was made possible through funding from the Knight Foundation. Today, in our project on the Triad’s housing crisis, WFDD reporter Bethany Chafin takes us to a Greensboro neighborhood for a rare glimpse into a place at risk of losing valuable affordable housing.   This intersection at East Bragg Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near downtown Greensboro is a dividing line. It's between two neighborhoods, and only one is thriving. If you look to the right, you can see downtown. The tallest building in Greensboro peaks over the horizon. And there's Southside, a bright and shiny redevelopment zone that began 20 years ago. It's a vibrant area; brick townhomes surround yoga studios and hair salons. There's perfect landscaping and new sidewalks as well as Dame’s Chicken & Waffles, a city favorite. To the left of this intersection is the beginning of Ole Asheboro. Homes are boarded up. Lots are vacant and littered. People loiter at a corner Citgo gas station; the neighbors call them “day walkers.” WFDD has spent nearly a year exploring the Triad’s housing crisis. Families pay more than they can afford; in Greensboro alone, nearly 40 percent of residents struggle to meet their housing costs. The region’s two largest cities top a national list on concentrations of evictions. We dug deeper: how did we get here and why? What can be done to attract growth while preserving housing where it’s needed most? It was a series of old maps that led us to Ole Asheboro. The maps have become, in some ways, predictors of where gentrification happens. But that new investment and those new residents had not come to Ole Asheboro. The federal government drew up these maps after the stock market crashed in 1929. The colors guided banks to make safer bets on where they loaned their money. The practice is called redlining and used race as one of the “hazards” to warn away banks. Ole Asheboro was considered high-risk, colored yellow and red because of the nearby black neighborhoods. For each neighborhood on the federal redlining maps, there was a detailed "Area Description." This is an excerpt from the area called C6 which included the majority of Ole Asheboro. Image courtesy of Mapping Inequality   Why does this matter? Ole Asheboro has nearly 700 residential properties – vital housing stock in a city that doesn’t have enough affordable options. In fact, Carolina Data Desk found the current average tax value of a home here is nearly $50,000, which is still within reach for low-income buyers. So, how do you a lift a neighborhood stained by lending discrimination? And how do you preserve the culture and affordable housing it provides? Is it even possible? To find out more, go left, into the heart of the neighborhood. Rooted At Home Jody Martin stands outside his house on Tuscaloosa Street. Martin knows this view, these homes, and these neighbors like the back of his hand. He grew up here, and he plans to grow older here. “My parents bought this house back in 1953. The white people that used to live in the area started moving out and then the first black families moved into this neighborhood,” he says. This was a defining moment in Ole Asheboro. Some black families settled here after the city cleared what it determined to be "slums" nearby, where homes had reached such a level of decay that the city bulldozed to start over. Jody Martin, a lifelong Ole Asheboro resident, surveys the street outside his home. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD Some new residents rented space in large Victorians, left vacant as Greensboro’s movers and shakers migrated to the suburbs. Others, like Martin's parents, bought modest homes along streets like Tuscaloosa. An all-black neighborhood was what Martin knew growing up. He remembers his childhood riding his bike around the neighborhood down to his grandparents’ house. At home, he dove into comic books, and his soundtrack was guided by his mom’s love of Nat King Cole. When Martin was a boy, he once asked his dad if their family of four was poor. “'No, we’re lower middle class,'" he recalls his father saying. "Now, we were poor. I mean we lived in a 5-room house. But you know, we had everything we wanted.” Despite money being tight, Martin's family invested in their home — adding rooms and a basement. The wealth they built would be passed down to Martin when he inherited the house after his mother died. A home can be a family’s fastest way to build equity and have something to give the next generation. But there’s still a large racial disparity in average net housing wealth. According to a 2016 national Survey of Consumer Finances, for a white household, the figure is over $215,000. For a black household? It's less than half that at $94,400. But for Martin and his family, a house was about more than money. “When you don’t have the fear of wanting anything, needing anything, when you know you’re in a safe place, everything else is possible,” he says. Today, Martin still feels rooted here even though most of the neighbors he grew up with are gone. “All of the original black owners have either died or moved away,” he says. Like Martin, a lot of the remaining homeowners in Ole Asheboro have been here a long time. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about half of them have been in their houses for at least 20 years. And quite a few for more than 40. As residents age out of the community, not all of the homes are staying in the family. And that could be a problem for Ole Asheboro. To see why, all you need to do is look a few blocks away to Julian Street. "Blighted" House after house is abandoned, left to decay. There's one that's really beautiful from the outside. But there’s a lock box on the front door, and the windows are boarded up. The window that’s broken is next to a yellow condemned sign from February 19, 2010.  A weathered sign posted on one of the many condemned homes on Julian Street in Ole Asheboro. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD This type of deterioration took root in the 1940s. Absentee landlords neglected maintenance on aging homes; others couldn’t afford these costs. And as a result of redlining, there were few new dollars or new loans being invested here. By the 1970s, the neighborhood was in serious jeopardy. And the city knew it. Stakes were high; Ole Asheboro had affordable homes the city didn’t want to lose. So, Greensboro invoked state law and declared Ole Asheboro blighted. This made things official. The city could intervene to stabilize the neighborhood. But no one predicted how long it would take.    Seeing Potential In Ole Asheboro In the 1990s, Michael Akins took his wife Barbara to see the house he wanted to renovate on Caldwell Street. At the time, she couldn’t imagine making a home here. “The disparity, the drug infestation, the prostitution that was going on ... This part of town at that time was so much different from the side of town that I came from,” she says. But Michael Akins saw a place of resilience, a community he'd be proud to live in. "People that I had known from growing up, this was a community they chose to move to in moving out of the projects or in moving out of the apartments that they had lived in. When they decided to buy a home, they came to a neighborhood like this." Today, with their children grown and gone, the Akinses are still waiting for Ole Asheboro’s potential to be fully realized. As president of the neighborhood association, Barbara Akins proudly points to the new downtown greenway extension, a community garden and recently installed public art. But she says it can be an uphill battle. “And you’re climbing, you’re climbing, you’re climbing. And you can’t get anywhere,” she says. Michael Akins adds: “Am I seeing some change? Yes. Have I seen as much change as I anticipated? No.”  They see the answer in more invested homeowners, people who will sit on their porches, mow their lawns, and plant flowers. Now, fewer than 42 percent of the residents here own. There are few signs that percentage is likely to increase anytime soon. Carolina Data Desk found for every 100 people living in Ole Asheboro, only eight applied for a mortgage. Across Guilford and Forsyth counties, that number was nearly double. And, for the homeowners who are coming, their arrival is through heroic effort. Barbara Akins, president of the Ole Asheboro Street Neighborhood Association, is a dedicated caretaker for this neighborhood. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD  A Win-Win Mary Witherspoon and William Scott are watching their new 3-bedroom, 2-bath house go up before their very eyes. They’re about to be first-time homeowners.   "She's been over there every day to talk to the contractor. When she rolls up, they say, 'We see you coming, Mary.' While I'm at work she goes over there and checks on the progress," Scott says while laughing. Until now, they’ve been renting a place just blocks away from the house they bought on Reid Street. And they’re bucking a trend. Black homeownership in Greensboro has been declining since the Recession. An American Public Media analysis shows that beginning in 2011, it dropped five percentage points in five years. The couple is thrilled about the opportunity. "That's all she talks about nowadays,” Scott says. “I got so much joy. I didn’t think we could be able to get this house. But we got this house. I am elated. I am happy,” Witherspoon says. A small, local nonprofit called Community Housing Solutions is making it happen. It’s a win-win — the neighborhood gets well-made homes and dedicated homeowners. Buyers get efficient, affordable houses and a chance to build wealth. It takes a lot to make this work: city-owned land, donated materials, volunteer builders. But pulling this off for Ole Asheboro's 132 vacant residential lots? Not likely. New homeowners Mary Witherspoon and William Scott stand outside their new house on Reid Street in Ole Asheboro. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD   Nibbles, No Bites Back on Julian Street, Carl Brower knocks on a "No Trespassing" sign in front of an empty lot the city cleared to make room for revitalization. “One of the properties that the city has bought. Available for someone to put a single family home in,” he says.   But it takes some imagination to see it. The grass is knee-high and there’s trash strewn about. It’s an eyesore. And a hard sell. Property values are low in this neighborhood. That means a brand new house here will immediately be worth less than a brand new house somewhere else in the city. Carolina Data Desk found the average tax value of residential homes in Ole Asheboro is just under $47,000 — a casualty of those redlining maps. By comparison, the city average is more than three times that at $160,215. Brower says, “[There's] traction being gained, but until we see these areas that are vacant and available, filled with homeownership and persons in the community that want the community to be what we want it to be, we’re going to have a never ending struggle.” For decades it’s been hard to get much here, whether residential or commercial. The neighborhood recently got a Family Dollar. But Brower says the property sat vacant for 20 years before that.  It’s the same story for another undeveloped lot nearby. “It’s been out for bid and looking for proposals for over 10 years. We’ve had a couple nibbles. We haven’t had a bite.” Despite that, Brower thinks the neighborhood is at a turning point. The intersection of East Bragg Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between Southside and Ole Asheboro looking toward downtown Greensboro. BETHANY CHAFIN   He imagines a community where it’s not such a heavy lift to lure a Family Dollar. He welcomes a place like Southside where people can work, live, and play. The city’s been trying to court such an investment for a while. One thing is for sure. “It’s taking longer than anyone could imagine,” says Brower. At A Crossroads Back at the intersection near the gateway to the neighborhood, you can feel the revitalization of downtown creeping closer and closer. The question has always been how and will Ole Asheboro connect with downtown?     And there are so many more questions. Will family members stay or return, like Jody Martin wants? “I’ll be here, and I’m hoping if either my niece or my nephew want to, eventually they’ll take it over, repair it,” Martin says. Will it be renters or homeowners like the Akinses who move in as residents age out? “Even though my professional colleagues may not live over here, and the folk I’ve known haven’t lived over here … I always say it’s because this is where I believe I belong,” says Barbara Akins. And what will future development look like? Carl Brower says the line between uplifting and gentrifying is a very fine one. “We’re not trying to keep anyone from developing, but it has to be the development that fits the culture of this city and this neighborhood,” he says. But if and when the money starts flowing, it might not be up to them or the city. What is clear is that the next few years will be crucial. For now, residents wait, as they have for decades, feeling the pull of the future and the gravity of the past. Bethany Chafin: chafinbc@wfu.edu Exploring Ole Asheboro's Changing Neighborhood Story does not include AP content #on the margins #ole asheboro #redevelopment #triad housing #greensboro #downtown greensboro #southside #redlining #lending discrimination #affordable housing #ole asheboro street neighborhood association #development #investment #gentrification #carolina data desk #wake forest university journalism program #community housing solutions Race Economy Human Interest Normal Tweet

Lauren Lyons Cole, International Business Times Personal Finance Editor, How Much House Can You Really Afford?: Homeownership is often seen as an important generator of wealth in the United States. According to the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances, the median net worth of a homeowner is $194,500, 36 times greater than that of a renter. International Business Times Lauren Lyons Cole has the five important questions to ask before you start the search for your first home.

We’d like to help you answer the question, “Is it better to buy or rent a home?” Generally speaking, there are obvious benefits to homeownership. For example, The Fed recently issued their Survey of Consumer Finances, in which they observed that homeowners on average have a net worth 36 times higher than that of home renters. From that perspective, the sooner you move into homeownership, the better! Of course, there are other factors to consider. We’d like you to ask yourself three specific questions in determining whether this is the right time for you to buy a home. 1. Is it affordable? You can get a sense of affordability by examining your debt and income. If you add up your monthly debts (car and phone payments, credit card and utility bills, etc.) plus your projected house payment (monthly insurance, taxes, principle and interest) and then divide that by your gross income, you will get a percentage. In considering you for home financing, most banks will want that percentage to be below 42%. The lower this percentage, the better, as with a wider margin you will be able to save more of your income for emergencies. Another factor to consider regarding affordability is whether you have enough savings to cover the down payment plus the closing costs. While it’s better to have that money on hand, keep in mind there are creative mortgage programs that offer 0% down and 100% financing. We can help you explore those options. “The Fed recently issued their Survey of Consumer Finances, in which they observed that homeowners on average have a net worth 36 times higher than that of home renters.” 2. How’s my credit? Finding your credit score is easy. There are a lot of credit reporting agencies out there. If you’d like help in choosing a credit agency to work with, contact us and we can introduce you to an agency that will provide a credit check. We can introduce you to a credit lender who will provide a free credit check and help you determine if your credit is healthy enough to make a home purchase. 3. Is the timing right? In considering homeownership, there are personal factors that may make buying a home difficult. For example, if it’s likely you may be moving again in three to five years, it may not be a good time to buy because you probably won’t recoup your closing costs when you resell your new home. But if you’re planning on staying for seven (or more) years, there’s a really good chance that the average annual appreciation is going to overcome your initial closing cost expense and leave you in a good financial position when you resell. If you have any other questions about renting versus owning a home, or any other questions at all, please feel free to contact us. We offer free consultations and would love to talk to you at (717) 216-0860 or online at dave@hhande.com.

Podcast Details: Podcast Title:  The Evolution of the Retirement Landscape Podcast Series: Financial Literacy Boot Camp Video and illustrations available on our YouTube channel here. (HEAD OVER TO YOUTUBE FOR THE VIDEO VERSION) Questions/Issues We’ll Address on this Episode: So I recently penned an article entitled:  “Executive Compensation:  A Guide to Building Wealth” (send me an email to get the article) and I wanted to use a podcast segment to take a high-level view at the purpose behind that article, and talk about the evolving retirement landscape that I’ve witnessed in my years of practice.  Per the Survey of Consumer Finances conducted by the Federal Reserve Board, the number one reason for individuals to save and invest i --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dom-the-maven/message

Learn how to overcome financial stress, why finances can affect your health, what kind of stress money can cause, and how to overcome health issues related to money. According to the American Psychological Association, 73% of respondents cited money as a significant source of stress in their lives…and for people coping with existing health problems financial and interpersonal stress can exacerbate their conditions. It can lead to ulcers, migraines, back pain, anxiety, depression, heart atttacks, lost sleep, marital issues… Three out of 4 Americans are in debt according to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. If you’re in debt, tackle it head on. There are many things that are within your control like: a) Talk to the credit card company and asking for a lower interest rate. Many companies will try to accommodate you if you’ve lost your job or have health issues in the family, for example. b) Talk to a debt consolidation company. Companies can consolidate your debt into one payment and it usually does NOT hurt your credit. Credit is only impacted negatively if you write off a debt. c) Talk to a Financial Planner and see if they can help you reorganize some accounts and get you back on track. You may be able to take money from a Roth IRA for children’s college, etc. d) Sell something that will generate cash. Sell a painting, jewelry, sports equipment, an RV or motorcycle to get cash and pay off debt. If you have to pay to insure it, that’s even better! e). Get a side hustle. Become an Uber driver, work for TaskRabbit, rent out a room on AirBnB or get a part time job using your talents as a fixer upper, painter or window washer. Here are 5 tips to overcome financial stress: 1. Your stress is caused by how much you worry, not how much you owe so try to worry less by trying to meditate. Meditation can clear your mind and reduce your heart beat. It clears your thoughts and gives your brain a rest. 2. See what really relaxes you. Watching TV might be what you think relaxes you, but it might not. You might actually feel more relaxed by walking, being in nature, gardening, going to the beach, hiking, etc. 3. Exercise. You don’t have to go to the gym, you can play music and dance, do lunges across the room, work with hand weights, walk the dog, ride your bike, etc. Be creative about your exercise. Think like a child. Yes, you can go to the gym but you don’t have to. 4. Cut out unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking too much, which can leave your brain feeling foggy. 5. Journal your frustration. Get it out of your head and onto paper. It’s a confidential way to scream and yell and get your anger out.