I've stated this many times, our mentality isn't "advanced" enough for many of us to make mature financial decisions that allow us to build and maintain wealth. Here are a few examples:
Lack of Self Worth
Many of our parents, sadly lack pride, self esteem and self worth. The root of most of this stems from not having a foundation. Simple things we've become accustom to like not sharing the last name as your father, not knowing anyone in your family who is successful or just not having a strong male presence in your life. In order to build wealth, your thinking has to be advanced, you have to look ahead and down the road sometimes generations ahead. Often times we don't do this, we're not thinking about our kids, or our kids' kids or about doing something that lives on and impacts generations. When you lack self worth its impossible to focus on your legacy and therefore your name, you, means nothing. This directly impacts your saving and spending habits because you look at money as "currency" meaning something temporary or something you give back to the economy. Instead we gotta look at money as an "exchange" meaning something you trade for something else of equal or greater value.
Valuing Money over Time/Energy
Many of us have been conditioned to value money above all else, and we're given extremely poor examples supporting this backward way of thinking. For example, most of us came up in the church which primarily focuses ONLY on the monetary aspect of the 10% philosophy, which is why the word "tithe" which basically means tax on earnings or produce is presented more than the word "offering" which means gift or contribution. Sadly this is the place where most of us first learn the backward concept of money over everything, "ministers" are valued over "ministries" and no one wants to be a "servant".
Another example, many of us grow up seeing our parents (or parent) working multiple jobs, or above 40 hours a week and we are conditioned to view this as a symbol of their dedication or utmost commitment to providing for us. The trade off, often times is these same parents miss games, recitals, teacher conferences or kids are left to be latch key, under-supervised and basically left to their own devices for long stretches of their day. That's just the physical aspect, from a mental standpoint there's a lack of attention, added stress of having to make critical decisions as a child and the potential for these things to culminate into a lack of respect for authority. I saw something that shows that minorities primarily work in the retail sector and work increased hours from June through December; during summer [to save up for 'back-to-school clothing] and during the holiday season to save up for Christmas gifts. Coincidentally, these are the times of year where we should probably be spending more time with our families.
When white people take vacations, the perception is they spend a ton of money doing so. The reality is they rack up frequent flyer miles, hotel points, and typically do inexpensive shyt like go hunting, camping, visit colleges, national parks and whatnot. They send their kids off to backpack in Europe, which contrary to how we perceive the notion, is relatively inexpensive. The time spent is more valuable than the money.
Poor Financial Acumen
As strong as the Black Dollar is, we've yet to take ownership of it in a real way that positively affects future generations. When it comes to funerals, bailing people out of jail, adding a wing on to the church or simply getting your cake up to get the new J's the day they drop, BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE BEST FUNDRAISERS. And we do this in amazingly small cooperative groups in amazingly short periods of time! What we don't often connect the dots on though is the fact that this same concept is how corporations are formed, this is how government officials are elected, how lobbyists get bills passed, how you get sidewalks in your neighborhoods and new textbooks/computers at local schools. This is how you positively impact the lives of future generations.
You're a Statistic!
With all of that said, there are still many of us doing the right things and putting our legacies ahead of ourselves, we just gotta promote that more. Many of us are ignorant to statistics that positively influence decision making, instead you're told you'll be dead or in jail by 25, or you'll have kids out of wedlock, things like that. We have to do a better job of reinforcing positive statistics. For example as a child, when you know your parents have a college fund for you, you're more likely to pursue higher education. As a young woman when you know your dad is gonna pay for your wedding, you're more likely to pursue men who are "marriage material". As a young man, when you know your parents will provide the substantial down payment for your first home, you're more likely to pursue long term relationships, maintain adequate employment and avoid criminal activity. As a young adult, when your parents help you make financial decisions, YOU'RE LESS LIKELY TO MAKE BAD FINANCIAL DECISIONS