Shocking?! Not really. Sadly.

http://www.prudential.com/media/managed/aa/AAStudy.pdf

So the kind folks at Prudential just released a study showing Black folk aren't saving enough money. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. Anecdotal as is may be, I know plenty of people who spend more they make. Folk who spent that refund check before they even got it. Folk who can't or won't cut back on that weed habit. Who have to have the newest Jordan's, never mind that they are just the same sneakers in different colors, or that Jordan hasn't picked up a basketball in over a decade now. Who just have to go out to eat regularly. Who have to buy that bottle of liquor promoted by some rapper, that nobody drank before said rapper promoted it. Folk who have to have the newest phone or the latest gadget, etc. Folk who take cabs everywhere because they can't be bothered with public transportation. Folk who have to be "fresh" or "fly".  I could continue, but I won't. I say all that, to say this: I didn't need any study to tell me folk don't save enough money. I interact with folk everyday. I'm not even remotely shocked. 

I think this is because nowhere in our education do we learn money management skills. The familiar refrain that most of what we learn in school we don't need in the real world is true. If you don't have someone in your life who knows these things, you don't learn them. You are essentially left to the wolves. It's kind of like when parents don't want to talk to their child about (insert sensitive subject ___________) and they learn all the wrong things about it from their friends in school or in the street. But this is even worse, because most of us learn about money from people who are in effect shills for folks who don't have our best interest at heart.

We hear rappers describe how they spend money on things, we watch movies and tv shows and emulate that to the best of our ability. Never mind that it's more fiction than fact. How many of you have seen the rims on the hoopty?  The guy or gal on the bus or train with the luxury item?  The baby with Jordan's on their feet, as if they aren't going to outgrow them shortly?  Let you be the one to try to point out the ridiculousness of any of it and you will promptly be dismissed as a "hater". 

You have been sold. What's worst you are a repeat customer who can't get enough.