Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
In 2022, Black households’ wealth in the United States was at the highest level ever recorded. This record reflects Black households’ strong wealth gains between 2019-2022, when median Black household wealth reached $44,100 (compared to the national median of $192,700). But as Black Americans have experienced greater economic opportunities and many have been able to build up meaningful net worth, an additional challenge has come into sharper focus: wealth loss.
This report focuses on the assets that people generally intend to preserve throughout their working lives or lifetimes: home equity, retirement savings, and wealth held in businesses they own. We examined historical events and current trends to develop broad estimates of the amount of Black-owned assets at risk in each of these areas.
While this brief focuses on challenges that are particularly relevant to Black families, assets such as home equity, retirement savings, and business values account for most of all households’ net worth, and our insights are applicable to families of any race or ethnicity that face challenges in preserving their wealth.
This brief is a product of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP). Aspen FSP thanks Bloomberg Philanthropies for their generous support for this report. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this report—as well as any errors—are Aspen FSP’s alone and do not necessarily represent the views of our funders or other participants in our research process.
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