Wealth and Income

It should be well known by now that wealth=income+assets-debts. But it's not as well known as it should be, and this holds true across low-income communities and communities of color. A white family has more than five times as much wealth as a typical African American or Latino family.

UFE's Racial Wealth Divide project aims to make information easily available on topics such as the importance of planning for asset-building and the need for rules that allow for steady and increasing income in the lives of low-income people.

Income has become the main focus for those in the bottom half of the wealth divide. This emphasis on income, at the expense of assets, ill serves people struggling to establish themselves or to make ends meet. It's difficult to make income alone create genuine wealth, unless it's at the Bill Gates end of the income scale. It is, however, possible to build wealth by developing personal assets in addition to income. Many families are unaware of how assets can help in generating wealth, and how limited the impact of income alone is for wealth-building.

UFE is focusing on helping those on the lower rungs of the income ladder--too often people of color--understand and create assets for themselves, on the way to developing stable family wealth. Such assets may include owning a home, starting a business, or buying a vehicle to help expand an existing business.

Asset development is a technique the richest 50% consider and act on constantly. UFE brings asset-building information and real-world activities to expand the horizon for people whose economic well-being, so far, has been stunted by measuring wealth in terms of income alone.

Download the Racial Wealth Divide Workshop
Read more about wealth and income
Learn more about assets