A RAINBOW OF ROLE MODELS {WEDNESDAY SERIES} – LEGENDARY INVESTOR JOHN ROGERS JR
LEGENDARY INVESTOR JOHN ROGERS JR – A RAINBOW OF ROLE MODELS
I celebrate ACHIEVEMENT EVERY DAY! This new Wednesday series, “A Rainbow of Role Models”, highlights role models of ALL colors. “There is dignity, in achievement and success—in becoming, a great factor in civilization.” Carter G. Woodson.
I hope you will share these short articles, and perhaps a few people will be curious to learn more.
Disclaimer: Good Day, Readers. WealthBuildingPowers blog is a financial literacy/competency blog and does not provide specific investment recommendations.
LEGENDARY INVESTOR JOHN ROGERS JR. WANTS YOU TO HAVE THIS MONEY CONVERSATION WITH YOUR KIDS
BEFORE JOHN W. ROGERS JR., THE FOUNDER OF ARIEL INVESTMENTS, WAS ONE OF COUNTRY’S PREEMINENT INVESTORS AND A PIONEER IN THE BLACK BUSINESS COMMUNITY, HE WAS A PRETEEN LIVING IN HYDE PARK, ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. HIS DAD, A FORMER TUSKEGEE AIRMAN TURNED COOK COUNTY JUDGE, ONE DAY GOT INTO A CONVERSATION WITH A WHITE LAWYER. “WHY DOESN’T THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY INVEST MORE IN THE STOCK MARKET?” THE LAWYER WANTED TO KNOW. “YOUR 12-YEAR-OLD SHOULD KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT INVESTING AS MY 12-YEAR-OLD.”
FROM THAT MOMENT, THE CONVERSATIONS AROUND ROGERS’ DINNER TABLE CHANGED. INSTEAD OF TOYS, ROGERS RECEIVED STOCK CERTIFICATES AT HOLIDAYS. HE INVESTED IN THE LOCAL UTILITY COMPANY AND GENERAL MOTORS, PORING OVER THE RESEARCH NEWSLETTERS HIS DAD SUBSCRIBED TO. THEIR CONVERSATIONS VEERED TOWARD PORTFOLIOS AND RESEARCH AND FINANCIAL METRICS. THE BEST PART: ROGERS GOT TO KEEP THE DIVIDENDS FROM HIS STOCK PORTFOLIO AS SPENDING MONEY.
ROGERS TOOK A SIMILAR PATH WITH HIS OWN DAUGHTER AND IS ON A MISSION TO GET MORE BLACK FAMILIES INVOLVED IN CREATING WEALTH THROUGH INVESTING, AS WELL AS DOING SOMETHING FAR MORE BASIC: TALKING.
THIS WEEK ARIEL, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SCHWAB, RELEASED THEIR ANNUAL SURVEY OF THE FINANCIAL HABITS OF BLACK AMERICANS. THE FINDINGS, WHILE SHOWING GLIMMERS OF HOPE, REINFORCE HOW MUCH OF AN INVESTING DISPARITY REMAINS. “THE DEEP-ROOTED GAP IN PARTICIPATION BETWEEN THE GROUPS PERSISTS, WITH 55% OF BLACK AMERICANS AND 71% OF WHITE AMERICANS REPORTING STOCK MARKET INVESTMENTS. THIS DISPARITY, COMPOUNDED OVER TIME, MEANS THAT MIDDLE-CLASS BLACK AMERICANS WILL HAVE LESS MONEY SAVED FOR RETIREMENT AND LESS WEALTH TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION THAN THEIR WHITE PEERS,” ACCORDING TO THE SURVEY.
INDEED, IN 2020 BLACK INVESTORS REPORTED THEIR LOWEST OVERALL PARTICIPATION RATE IN THE STOCK MARKET IN THE 20 YEARS THAT SCHWAB AND ARIEL HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING THIS RESEARCH. THERE WERE ENCOURAGING SIGNS, HOWEVER, AMONG YOUNGER BLACK INVESTORS. SIXTY-THREE PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS UNDER THE AGE OF 40 NOW ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE STOCK MARKET, EQUAL TO THEIR WHITE COUNTERPARTS. “THE CLOSING OF THIS GAP AMONG YOUNGER INVESTORS IS BEING DRIVEN BY NEW INVESTORS,” THE REPORT SHOWS, AS “THREE TIMES AS MANY BLACK INVESTORS AS WHITE INVESTORS (15% VS. 5%) REPORT HAVING INVESTED IN THE MARKET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2020.”
WHEN IT COMES TO 401(K) PLANS, JUST OVER HALF OF BLACK AND WHITE SURVEY RESPONDENTS INVEST THROUGH ONE, BUT “WHITE 401(K) PLAN PARTICIPANTS INVEST 26% MORE PER MONTH TOWARD THEIR RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS THAN BLACK 401(K) PLAN PARTICIPANTS ($291 VS. $231).” THIS IS ONE MORE TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT OF THE WELL-DOCUMENTED RACIAL PAY GAP.
IN A RELEASE, ARIEL’S CO-CEO AND PRESIDENT MELLODY HOBSON ADDED, “THESE DIFFERENCES ARE NOT NEW. BLACK AMERICANS ARE DISADVANTAGED FROM THE OUTSET WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING WEALTH,” NOTING THAT 23% OF BLACK AMERICANS SAY THEY HAVE INHERITED WEALTH VERSUS 51% OF WHITE AMERICANS. THIS STEMS FROM A LEGACY OF DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES WHEN IT COMES TO HOUSING, LENDING, AND PAY, MANY OF WHICH PERSIST TO THIS DAY. MY COLLEAGUE AT FORTUNE, MCKENNA MOORE, RECENTLY TALKED TO EMILY FLITTER OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, WHO IS WORKING ON A BOOK ABOUT FINANCIAL DISCRIMINATION.
FOR CARRIE SCHWAB-POMERANTZ, WHOSE FATHER, CHARLES SCHWAB, FOUNDED THE NAMESAKE FIRM, THE SURVEY UNDERSCORES HOW MUCH WORK FINANCIAL FIRMS MUST DO TO BUILD TRUST WITH THE BLACK COMMUNITY AND ENCOURAGE FINANCIAL LITERACY. WHEN ASKED WHETHER FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS WERE “TRUSTWORTHY,” MORE THAN 70% OF WHITE AND BLACK RESPONDENTS SAID THEY WERE. BUT ONLY 35% OF BLACK INVESTORS FEEL THEY ARE TREATED WITH RESPECT BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, VERSUS 62% OF WHITE INVESTORS. “WE AS AN INDUSTRY HAVE TO BUILD MORE TRUST WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT FELT WELCOMED BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS,” SHE SAYS.
BOTH ARIEL AND SCHWAB HAVE LONG INVESTED IN PROGRAMS THAT ENCOURAGE FINANCIAL LITERACY AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE, SOMETHING SCHWAB-POMERANTZ BELIEVES THAT COULD BE A “GREAT EQUALIZER” IN OUR SOCIETY. AND ROGERS IS CHEERED BY ONE STATISTIC: WHILE ONLY 10% OF BLACK AMERICANS REPORT TALKING ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET GROWING UP, 37% DO SO NOW. IT’S A LESSON HE HOPES MORE PARENTS WILL IMPART TO THEIR KIDS: TOYS MAY BE FUN TO UNWRAP, BUT DIVIDENDS KEEP ON GIVING.
LET’S MAKE SOME MONEY – CRYPTOCURRENCY IS ACCEPTED!
EXAMPLE CHARITIES I SUPPORT
St Jude Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/
Wounded Warrior Project: https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
Folds of Honor: https://foldsofhonor.org
Wilson’s No-Kill Animal Shelter: https://wcnkas.org
TRUST ME – YOU WILL LIKE THE BELOW FREE POPULAR BLOGS!
YOUR GREATNESS IS NOT WHAT YOU HAVE; IT’s WHAT YOU GIVE!
WHAT BLACK HISTORY MONTH MEANS TO ME
BLACK HISTORY MONTH ROLE MODELS -REGINALD LEWIS – FEBRUARY 22, 2022
The Message of Sidney Poitier’s Success – He improved America’s perceptions of its black countrymen at a time when it mattered.
I WAS TEN YEARS OLD WHEN DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. WAS ASSASSINATED
“WHAT WE BECOME DEPENDS ON WHAT OUR FATHERS TEACH US AT ODD MOMENTS, WHEN THEY AREN’T TRYING TO TEACH US”
https://wealthbuildingpowers.com/2021/11/03/what-we-become-depends-on-what-our-fathers-teach-us-at-odd-moments-when-they-arent-trying-to-teach-us/
WE NEED MORE STEM MAJORS AND LEGACIES LIKE MYLES JOHNSON!
DADS WHO RAISED ME TO BE MORE THAN I COULD BE!
PODCAST EPISODE 3: FROM CENTURIES OF VICTIMIZATION TO VICTORY!
CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY – “EDUCATION IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON WITH WHICH YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD” NELSON MANDELLA
IT IS TIME TO STOP PAYING LIP SERVICE TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
RELEVANT TODAY – DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR’S, 1963 LETTER FROM THE BIRMINGHAM JAIL
MOST OF YOU HAVE HEARD OF JUSTIN BIEBER – BUT WHO IS KEN FRAIZER?
DOES IT MATTER THAT 73 PERCENT OF BLACK BABIES ARE BORN TO SINGLE MOMS?
IF THERE WAS A TIME MACHINE – THESE ARE MY LESSONS LEARNED FOR MY 20’S SELF! – DR. WILLIAM (BILL) POWERS; Ph.D.; SUSPENSE/THRILLER NOVELIST
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ABOUT ME
I am a proud nerd (as my beautiful wife and daughter have told me) investment and finance blogger with an N.C. State, Chemical Engineering, University Rutgers, MBA and Harvard University, Advanced Management education.
I left a corporate career because I desired to make a difference as a speaker and writer. I was blessed to be coached and mentored by strong women and men in my family and professional life. It is my time to serve and give back.
DISCLAIMER
I started my first business at ~13 years of age (a small but brilliantly created plant nursery). I am a successful investor in stocks, options, real estate and am happy to share my finance and investment lessons. I am NOT a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog as recommendations for your situation. As an investor, you must establish your risk/loss tolerance. Investment in any asset involves risk, including complete loss.
Please seek your licensed CPA or fiduciary financial advisors for individual financial advice.
I write this weekly blog to make an impact by reaching an audience and demonstrating the need for financial literacy. I will help you get there.
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