The racial wealth gap continues to be a problem in America, but there are ways for people to improve their financial situation regardless of background.
Scott Ford has spent his career in financial services, consumer banking and wealth management and is the president of wealth management for US Bank.
Ford was in Milwaukee for the 2024 Black Excellence Awards Feb. 23 which honored the success of Black residents and raised funds for 12 Black high school students going to college or a trade school.
“I get a lot of questions, both personally and professionally, around how do you close the racial wealth gap? How do you build for your family? How do you pass wealth down to subsequent generations?” Ford said, adding he’s spent years observing the market and knows there are tips people can do to improve their financial situation for themselves and family.
Here is a conversation with Ford on how anyone can improve their financial situation.
What are some of those tips to close the racial wealth gap?
Ford: Invest in yourself, that’s important. Investing in an education is really important because your ability to earn an income is really the most valuable asset people have. The don’t think about it that way but it really is.
Most people would work in a career 30 to 40 years, and think about what your earning potential is over that 30 to 40 year time.
Not becoming too indebted. I’ve seen that hurt people over the course of my career. Even in our own lives, you become a little overzealous and you go out and put too much on the credit cards, you’re out at dinner too much and you don’t think about budgeting. I’ve seen people carry a lot of debt, that becomes a problem over time.
I’ve talked about ‘not buying bills.’ Many people, when they get that first job the first thing they want to do is go out and buy that new car and things like that. So you’re buying a lot of bills. It’s the same thing with running up your credit card debt.
The way…
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