Black households had $60,125 of wealth in 2019 while non-Black households had $338,092.80. The wealth gap with whites, in particular, hasn’t narrowed since the 1980s. But if we handed every Black child $1,000,000, the game changes drastically. Far from fantasy, this is something Black families can actually do without asking for anyone’s help.
There are roughly 10,240,000 Black households in America. If each of them harvested a $1 million life insurance policy, Black America would receive a wealth transfer of over $10 trillion. $1 million sounds like a lot until you do the math: you’re definitely worth that. If you make $30,000 annually and work for the next 35 years, your earnings would total just over $1 million. You can absolutely justify a life insurance policy for $1 million based on your $30,000 annual earnings. To put it another way, your job will benefit from your labor for the next 35 years, why shouldn’t your family?
Black people purchase life insurance products at decent rates. Fifty-six percent of Black Americans have life insurance according to a recent study, compared to 52% of all Americans. The problem is that Black families often don’t purchase enough. Too many Black people are purchasing life insurance policies for $50,000 to $150,000, when there’s a real opportunity to position their families to build wealth through a policy that actually reflects their true value. Another problem is far too many wait until they reach their 50s or 60s to begin examining options, points at which more lucrative policies are more costly. There is also a subset of Black families that rely too heavily on policies that provide burial benefits only, which don’t necessarily help families build wealth.
The wealth gap can be closed quickly and it’s actually very simple. You need not be an expert in crypto or guess just right on the next Powerball drawing. The predictable, stable and proven tool of life insurance can change the fortunes of Black families and Black America. Talk to a Black insurance agency today about how to set your family up for wealth.
