BY STARLA VAUGHNS CHERIN
FLORIDA COURIER

One of the results of Florida’s foreclosure crisis that will affect the future of African American wealth building is that fewer families will have a home to pass from generation to generation.

Amid rising inflation, crooked subprime loan sharks that targeted Blacks and an escalated unemployment rate, financial experts say it is imperative that Black household s think seriously about saving to maximize their dollars and to hold on to what they have.

“Everyone has already learned to become a homeowner is the No. 1 way to build wealth and transfer it. Now things will change,” Bernard Lee, managing director of Miami’s Laurus Wealth Management, told the Florida Courier.

Can’t depend on transfer of wealth
According to RealtyTrac and Foreclosure News publications, Florida is consistently among the top five states with the highest foreclosures rate since the subprime mortgage crisis exploded. Economists view speculative buying as one of the reasons there are hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes in Florida.

Speculative buyers bought properties they could not afford during the last housing boom. When housing market conditions changed due to relaxed underwriting guidelines and aggressive lending practices, they abandoned these homes. This is coupled with working homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments due to rising consumer debt and prices of commodities and fuel.

“This will be one of those generations that can’t depend on that transfer of wealth. What can we do?” Lee asks.

Contribute to 401K, IRA
Keeping a close eye on spending and saving for retirement are two things everyone can do today, Lee said. “There is still much the average person can do to shore up their finances and keep solvent during a sluggish economy. Since we are losing momentum on the housing side, if your job offers a 401K or an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), contribute the maximum amount. Since time is money, you will never get back the time and you won’t get the opportunity to get that money back.

“Even when the market is down like this, you always want to max out your annual contribution. It’s a ‘use it or lose it’ deal when it comes to the U.S. government. You don’t want to lose the momentum of the company match of up to 50 percent and you always want to think long-term.”

Living past 90 is a reality
Ronald Belton, chief compliance officer for Riverplace Capital Management in Jacksonville, agrees. “I encourage people to continue to put money in their retirement accounts. That is still your one hope, especially because we are living longer.”

The U.S. Annuity 2000 Mortality Table from the Society of Actuaries gives a 50 percent chance that one person in a married couple who is 65 today will live to 92. “And the other has a 25 percent chance of living to 97,” Lee added.

“That’s almost 30 years longer. How much can a couple spend on grocery in 30 years? Three meals a day for 30 years will amount to 65,000 meals; at $5 per meal, you will need $328,000 to live.”

Take baby steps
He suggests starting to save where you are and right now. “Everyone has the ability to save, to make the decision for the long term and the future. I call it the ‘slight edge’ philosophy. That is, very small changes can have a huge impact. Take baby steps. Don’t always try for grand slams. If you save three-tenths of one percent a day, over one year that is a 100 percent improvement.”

Both Lee and Belton say this is just another financial cycle that will work its way out within two to three years, but both advise that the “look’’ of banking and investment institutions will change.

“Remember the oil crisis in the ’70s. People were rationed gas and could only buy on odd or even days, according to their license plates. In the ’80s, savings and loans went broke, and they don’t exist anymore. Thirty-five years ago no one could predict they would be out of business,” Belton explained.

Stable long-term market
Lee says the market is like a living, breathing thing and reacts to incidents much like people. The key, he says, is longterm investments that stay put at least 10 to 15 years. “People are overexuberant when it’s doing well and they think it will go up forever. However, history has shown us the stock market is smarter than all of us.

“Regardless of the different occurrences that have gone on through history—Vietnam, 9/11—stock goes up and down. But people who invest for just one year, they make money 80 percent of the time. If they leave it in five years, they make money 90 percent of the time. If they leave it in 10 to 15 years, they make money 100 percent of the time,” Lee added.

When saving and investing, Lee suggests people ask what about money is important to them. What is their risk tolerance and what is their time horizon? If a person is in their 20s, they have a lot longer to invest and can afford to take more risk. If a person is five years before or five years into their retirement, he calls that the “red zone.”

Invest in mutual funds
“If you are a person who can spend $100 and not know where it went, you have enough money to invest. The average tax return is about $1,900. Most people just spend it. But you work hard every day, you’re 40 years old and have no IRA, contribute your refund every year to an IRA account and in 25 years you will have $165,000 at 8 percent.”

Belton and Lee also suggest investing in mutual funds. “Everything is a market cycle and 80 percent of retirement is left up to you,” Lee said. “If you play the numbers, $10 a day, six days a week is $3,120 a year. If the money is placed in an average run-of-themill mutual fund at just 8 percent growth, it will be $3,359 a year. At 8 percent, compound that and in 10 years you will be closer to $45,000.”

Making smart choices
Belton says if something is expensive for you, it is probably doing well in the stock market. “If food is expensive for you, then you want to own some food companies. Buy shares in gold mining companies or those that are drilling for oil. I’m taking lemons and making lemonade for my investors.

“The upsides are pharmaceuticals, mining, technology and the materials that are needed to do these jobs. Today railroads are doing fine. They were dying, but with oil prices it has become too costly to use planes to transport goods. These are areas that are doing well in spite of the downturn,” Belton related.

“Invest in mutual funds that own companies in these kinds of businesses and then you get the opportunity to own a group of stocks instead of one. For the small investor, mutual funds make a lot more.”