Two Economies: Stocks for the Wealthy and 'Wishfulness' for the Working Class

 During Covid we saw a bigger split in our economic societies between the wealthy and the not so wealthy. We have the working class, blue color, and service industry workers that often don't have the same opportunities as the highly educated, socially connected, and financially influential. The article Most Americans Don’t Have A Real Stake In The Stock Market does a really good job of highlighting that disparity.  The article goes on to describe some fairly significant investment disparities in society. 

We have those who have been exposed to investments at a young age and understand the financial language that goes along with stock investments. That creates long term advantages and gaining wealth through stocks is a long term game for most people. If we did a better job of encouraging more investment knowledge we might be able to help people struggling. I've been there before...and I know what its like to have to add up money to make a small investment.

I have to admit I been neglecting my investment duties and realize that while I maintain general investments in places like my 401K I don't really have as much stocks as I would like. I dabbled a bit here and there but never too much interest in it. As I got older I seem to be taking more interest in how they work and thinking about how to create some wealth for the next generation. It is also helpful for me to understand how investments can rebuild economies for my academic theories. 

One of the things we don't teach in school was how to be investment savvy and financially smart. We can teach about math and high end finance but a lot of people leave college without a basic understanding of finance within their own lives. Those classes may not be money makers that employers want but we certainly could consider infusing basic concepts in classes to ensure we are developing functional adults. 

Going back to the article....I'm not sure there is an easy fix for something like this. Much of it depends on how the offerings are structured for different demographics and how we expose people to investments and putting away for the future. Generational wealth has been built around table talk on how to maintain and increase wealth. I can't find a reason why we cant expose people more to useful tools in college through infusing concepts within courses where they apply and make sense. 

Ghilarducci, T. (August 31st, 2020). Most Americans Don’t Have A Real Stake In The Stock Market Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2020/08/31/most-americans-dont-have-a-real-stake-in-the-stock-market/#53ec7e0f1154