Black Friday
holiday spending, like our financial health, is nothing to ho-ho-ho about
2007-11-12
By Monroe Anderson

Until this past November 1, Black Friday, which marks the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season and the day many retailers actually go into the black–aka profitability–for the year, occurred immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday.
This year is different. An avalanche of bad news about one recall after the next of made-in-China toys, coupled with a record spike in unleaded gas prices of $3.04 a gallon, have retailers hand-wringing over impending Christmas sales. Pile on the continuing steep slump in housing, the resulting credit crisis, the reignited stock market turbulence and, at best, we have a grow slow economy. At worst, there is mounting talk about the U.S. economy sliding into a recession–or creeping into an inflationary cycle.
Rather than waiting until Christmas is just around the corner, as in the olden days, Wal-Mart kicked off its price mark-downs for the holy holiday on the first Friday of November. Fort Knox, we have a problem. The dollar has just slid to a record low against the euro. Consumer confidence plunged earlier this month to the lowest level since the Bush Administration gave Katrina the cold shoulder two years ago as the aftermath of the hurricane heated up oil futures.
If the U.S. economy is as bad off as the U.S. consumer suspects, then bring on the meds because black America has even more difficult days ahead.
At every turn, blacks lag behind whites in the money race. Joblessness reigns in the black community. Home ownership is just so-so–about 52 percent of all black households are paying rent, while nearly 75 percent whites have a mortgage or have paid one off. This black/white financial imbalance has something to do with racism but also something to do with more single head of household families through divorce or not being married. It also has a lot to do with blacks lacking financial literacy.
Even those of us who do well, don't do as well financially as our white counterparts.
And it's not getting better. When African Americans actually follow the pay yourself first rule of thumb, they don't follow it as well as they should. Blacks save an average of $182 a month, while whites save an average of $261 a month. In the end, white planning, patience and discipline pays off. The overall value of savings and investments for whites is an average of $100,000, $48,000 for blacks, according to a recent survey by Chicago-based Ariel Capital Management, the nation's largest black-owned mutual fund company, and Charles Schwab Corp., a San Francisco-based provider of brokerage and retirement plans.
For the past 10 years, the two firms have been looking at the investment habits of blacks and whites earning more than $50,000 annually. African American participation in the stock market is the same now as it was when the two firms first conducted the survey in 1998. Back then it was 57 percent of blacks and 81 percent of whites. The Ariel and Schwab survey found that 57 percent of blacks and 76 percent of whites reported that they owned stock mutual funds or individual stocks.
Whites start investing in the 30s, no matter what they make. Many blacks think they have to wait until they are bringing in a six-figure income.
John W. Rogers, Jr., Ariel's CEO, said he thought the difference in approach was cultural: "You learn about investing money when you have money to invest."
Many of us have the money now. Others will soon. Those of us who know finance need to be schooling those of us who don't. And they need to be quick studies. This December 25 may not be all that merry for many of us, but keep in mind that Christmas comes every year.

Monroe Anderson is an award-winning journalist who penned op-ed columns for both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. He is a regular contributor to Ebonyjet.com.