Survey: Financial worries more common than financial plans
Sacramentans are concerned about their financial future. They just haven't put plans in place to deal with it, according to a national survey. The same survey found that African-Americans are more optimistic than the population at large, but they're not taking deliberate action to improve their economic future either.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacramentans are concerned about their financial future. They just haven't put plans in place to deal with it, according to a national survey.
The same survey found that African-Americans are more optimistic than the population at large, but they're not taking deliberate action to improve their economic future either, said Tavis Smiley, author and host of PBS and Public Radio International shows.
"There is no excuse to not have the info you need to get your financial house in order," Smiley said in an interview this week.
Smiley on Saturday will deliver the keynote speech at a free financial workshop that is part of a five-city tour promoting economic empowerment and financial literacy.
The survey conducted by the Blackstone Group for the Smiley Group found that 31 percent of Sacramentans expect their household situation to be worse a year from now, but only 15 percent say they have written a financial plan, compared with 22 percent nationally. The survey of 1,600 respondents done in January has a margin of error of 7 percentage points.
It found that in Sacramento, 32 percent of the population and 53 percent of African-Americans believe their financial situation will improve over the next year.
Smiley said the fact that the nation has a black president and Sacramento has a black mayor might have contributed to local African-Americans' rosier outlook.
"Black folk have a belief in a better and brighter future, but there is no action," he said.
Until recently, Ekeshia Pittman of Sacramento would have been among those who felt she had her financial house in order: savings, retirement accounts and a house with up-to-date payments. Then the 34-year-old program manager was let go by Sutter Health in June.
Since then she's tried to restart her catering business, Sweet Expressions Desserts.
"I pretty much have gone though my savings. And now I'm tapping into my retirement fund," Pittman said. "It's been a struggle, but I'm alive, I'm not starving and homeless."
Pittman said she feels her financial picture is too choppy for planning, but money experts might disagree.
Ranon Maddox, chairman of the Greater Sacramento Urban League Young Professional Economic Empowerment Committee, said starting the financial planning process can be as simple as making an online budget. Then as life gets more complicated, you should seek professional help for retirement planning or to fund a child's education.
Saturday's four-hour workshop at the Sacramento Convention Center is sponsored by Nationwide Insurance.
(c) 2009, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).
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