11Oct
8 Steps to Building Wealth in the LGBTQ+ Community – Business Insider

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  • For years, the LGBTQ+ community has had to focus more on survival than wealth-building.
  • But, experts say, we’ve reached a moment when LGBTQ+ wealth-building is more possible than ever.
  • Reducing the burden of financial stress frees LGBTQ+ people to deal with other issues facing the community.

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With at least 7% of Americans identifying as LGBTQ+ in 2022, our community is the fastest growing minority group in the United States, according to recent census data reported by The Pride Co-op. The community packs spending power of nearly $1.4 trillion.

Yet, LGBTQ+ Americans are less likely than Americans overall to use financial tools like retirement savings and estate plans, and two-thirds experience a high amount of financial stress tied to keeping up with basic living expenses, according to a study from investing services company The Motley Fool and LGBTQ+ personal finance blog Debt Free Guys.

It’s no surprise wealth-building is a relatively new topic of conversation for our community. For most of history, queer and trans folks have been preoccupied with survival.

“For so many years, we couldn’t acknowledge that we even existed,” said John Schneider, who co-founded and co-owns Debt Free Guys and co-hosts the “Queer Money” podcast with his husband, David Auten. “It’s a little bit hard to focus on abundance when you’re trying to stay alive or not get beat up that day … I think we’re finally at that phase in our history where we can maybe start actually having that conversation.”

Why we need to build wealth in the LGBTQ+ community

If you hear words like “wealth” and “investing” and cringe, you’re not alone. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ Americans have experienced discrimination by someone in financial services, and all of us live under a system where corporations and financial institutions are incentivized to support leaders who routinely work against our interests.

What reason should we have to participate in a system that, until recently, hasn’t even bothered to acknowledge our existence?

Here’s one: Wealth in our culture means security and power, and the LGBTQ+ community can wield those to make a difference.

“If we can reduce the mental health impacts of financial …….

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/steps-building-lgbtq-wealth-2022-10