Black Retirement: African-Americans Retire Differently Than Whites
Black retirement makes an interesting study. It turns out that black Americans retire differently and make different retirement plans for when they become senior citizens. I would like to share with you a few things I’ve learned about the attitudes and beliefs of Black American retirees.
1. Confidence in their future retirement plans. More than a quarter (26 per cent) of black workers said they were worried about their retirement. While more blacks than whites take advantage of employer pension plans, the numbers are almost equal across the board when different ethnic groups were polled regarding their confidence about their retirement. (Full article here.)
2. The Stock market. Blacks tend to not invest in the stock market as much. Compared to 83% of white workers, the number of high-income black workers who have stock investments was 64%.
3. Government/corporate responsibility. Black workers were “twice as likely as white to believe government and corporations bore significant responsibility for ensuring Americans achieved a comfortable retirement” according to this same article.
4. Entrepreneurship. Three times as many blacks as whites plan to start a business after retirement.
5. Real estate ownership. More black than white workers owned real estate other than their home (42% versus 33%) . This is a good thing – real estate is overwhelmingly a good investment, even though there are slumps at times.
6. Savings. Black workers tend to have far less money saved – the median amount saved was $59,000 for black workers versus $93,000 for white.
Overall, blacks participating in this survey tended to have a good attitude toward retirement, but need to save a larger percentage of their income. One thing that will help is if Black Americans think and plan for their retirement and get educated through books, videos, and websites. Employers should also give seminars and information on retirement plans if they offer such plans, and black workers should make sure to pay attention and avail themselves to as many of these types of resources as possible.
Retirement among Black Americans is an important issue, one that aging and senior blacks cannot afford to ignore.
Want more info on Black retirement? There unfortunately doesn’t seem to be much online information about blacks and retirement issues specific to elderly or senior blacks. However Black Enterprise magazine has a great article on retirement.