Minorities Express Higher Confidence in Building Wealth via Lottery above Saving and Retirement Planning
A recent survey shows that Minorities have a higher confidence in their ability to build wealth via playing the lottery above saving and retirement planning
Bethesda, MD (PRWEB) March 1, 2005 -- What are the methods that minorities
are using to build wealth? Are minorities in the U.S. comfortable that they can
build wealth through the traditional means of retirement planning and saving? A
survey released by Minority Wealth Magazine reveals some surprising results.
When minorities were asked, “which of the following do you think provides the
best opportunity to build wealth”, and given the following choices: Save in a
retirement plan, Save outside of a retirement plan or Play the state lottery,
the number one response from minorities was playing the state lottery. Nearly
twice as many minorities surveyed admit that they have a higher confidence in
building wealth through playing the state lottery, rather than contributing to a
retirement fund. (Minorities surveyed consisted of 48% African Americans, 41%
Hispanic Americans, 5% Asian Americans, and 6% other minority.)
*45% of
those surveyed indicated they felt playing the lottery gave them the best chance
to build wealth,
*32% of those surveyed indicated they felt saving
outside of a retirement account gave them the best chance to build wealth, and
*23% of those surveyed indicated they felt saving in a retirement
account gave them the best chance to build wealth.
These results express
the lack of confidence that minority groups have in the traditional methods of
saving and investing. Overall, Minority Americans have a low degree of
confidence in their ability to build wealth by saving within retirement plans
and general saving outside of a retirement account.
This difference in
confidence level can be attributed to a lack of experience and information
available to those minorities surveyed. Of those surveyed, over sixty percent
stated they had a higher degree of understanding and more information was
readily available to them on their state lottery as opposed to retirement and
other types of saving.
“The survey findings suggest that even though
Minority Americans have made significant progress in terms of wealth building,
there is still a lack of confidence in the traditional savings and investing
methods in the minority community,” says Kizzie Bozeman Brown, Executive Editor
of Minority Wealth Magazine. “Until we address this issue of a lack of
understanding and education about on financial planning, Minority Americans will
continue to find more comfort in activities like playing the lottery than in
basic financial planning tools as a means to build wealth.”
In terms of
age, contributing to a retirement fund, understandably, is most prevalent for
those approaching retirement. Thirty one percent of minorities surveyed between
the ages of 45 and 54 contribute to a retirement fund versus an average of only
24% for those ages 18 to 44.
The only age group surveyed that claimed to
save outside of a retirement fund more than play the lottery as a way of
building wealth were minorities ages 25-34, the age associated with young
professionals.
In terms of ethnicity, more Asian Americans surveyed
claimed that they preferred saving outside of a retirement account instead of
playing the lottery as a method of wealth building. Of the Black Americans and
Hispanic Americans surveyed, over 40% of each group claimed that they played the
lottery in order to build wealth. This response was over 10% higher than those
claiming to actively save outside of a retirement plan. “We suspect this is due
to the fact that historically, Black and Hispanic Americans have had limited
exposure to financial education material,” said Tyson Q. Bellamy, Chairman of
the Board for the Coalition of Financial Educators of America, Inc.
A
larger percentage of men surveyed stated they felt playing their state lottery
was the best way to build wealth, as compared to women. Although the
non-retirement savings response levels between the genders was even, forty-eight
percent of minority men preferred playing the lottery over savings as a wealth
building method, compared to forty-one percent of minority women
surveyed.
Methodology
These finding are part of an annual wealth
building confidence survey which is conducted by a joint effort between Minority
Wealth Magazine and the Coalition of Financial Educators of America, Inc. The
purpose of the survey is to gauge the confidence and attitude of Minority
Americans toward various methods of wealth creation.
The survey was
conducted in December 2004 and January of 2005 with 2,000 individuals (1062
women and 938 men) age 18 and older in the United States. The survey was
conducted through an online survey questionnaire.
The survey includes
over sampling of minority groups, specifically Asian, Black, Hispanic, Indian,
and Native Americans. Black Americans whom spoke Spanish as their first language
were categorized under the ethnicity of Hispanic American.
Possible
sources of error include the refusals to be interviewed and other forms of
non-response, the effects of question wording and question order, and screening.
While attempts are made to minimize these factors, it is difficult or impossible
to quantify the errors that may result from them.
In surveys conducted
where one of the factors is ethnicity, there is a chance that certain
individuals are a combination of ethnicities. To address this issue the survey
question concerning the ethnicity of the respondent was formed to ensure that
the participant selected the ethnicity that they most closely identify with, as
their selected ethnicity.
About Minority Wealth Magazine
Minority
Wealth Magazine is a quarterly publication dedicated to addressing the business
and career interests of Minority Americans across the country. The editorial
content of Minority Wealth Magazine is designed to appeal to Minority Corporate
Professionals and Business Owners, including Black Americans, Latino Americans,
Asian Americans, Native Americans, Women, and other Minority groups. Features
include success-oriented articles centering on how minorities are building
wealth in three main focus areas: Career, Business and Personal Finance. For
additional information on the publication go to the website www.minoritywealth.com.
About The Coalition of
Financial Educators of America, Inc.
The Coalition of Financial Educators of
America, Inc., also known as COFEA, Inc. is a non-profit 501 (C) 3 organization
dedicated taking part in the overall financial education of the American
population. COFEA takes a special interest in those communities, which are
typically underserved, including minority groups and women. COFEA, Inc., along
with its partner organizations, is committed to providing reliable guidance and
financial educational resources to these, as well as other underserved groups.
For additional information visit www.cofea.org.
Contacts:
Kizzie Bozeman
Brown,
Executive Editor Minority Wealth Magazine
Phone: (301) 925-6211,
Fax: (202) 521-1818
www.MinorityWealth.com
Tyson Q. Bellamy, CFP®
Coalition of Financial
Educators of America, Inc.
www.cofea.org
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb213398.htm