CityState : Reporter
people need to think about their balance sheet , their assets and their liabilities , not just their monthly income flow , because very poor people also have to make investments in their future and have to have some stability and security ,” he says .
The book made a splash and spawned several pilot and permanent programs in the United States and abroad . In the last twenty-four years , three countries — Korea , the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan — have created universal at-birth trust accounts . Beginning in 2002 , the UK ’ s Child Trust Fund program endowed every newborn with £ 250 ($ 311 in U . S . dollars ), and children from low-income families with £ 500 ($ 622 ), but a Conservative government killed the program in 2010 .
The U . S . has experimented with child development accounts at the state and federal level . In 1998 , Congress authorized the Assets for Independence , a demonstration project that matched participants with personal savings to be used for assets such as a first home , business or higher education and training . The Administration for Children and Families ran the program until 2017 .
In 2007 , the Center for Social Development launched a long-term study in Oklahoma that opened a 529 college savings account with a $ 1,000 deposit for a random 4,600 children , with an oversample of Black , Hispanic and Native American children . Maine was the first state to adopt a universal college savings plan in 2014 , automatically enrolling all resident newborns with a $ 500 deposit .
Over the same period , a parallel discussion emerged about the racial wealth gap . America has a long history of denying Black Americans opportunities to accumulate assets — from pushing Black farmers off their land during Reconstruction , to the decision to exclude domestic and agricultural workers — jobs largely held by Black Americans — from the Social Security program , to segregation in housing and lending , which effectively prevented Black World War II veterans from accessing the home ownership benefits of the GI Bill .
According to the Federal Reserve ’ s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances , between 2019 and 2022 , overall median wealth rose by $ 51,800 , but the racial wealth gap increased by $ 49,950 , creating a $ 240,120
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