I
recently had the opportunity to attend a conference entitled Pathways to
Prosperity: Integrating Asset-Building throughout Communities. It was here that
a term I had never before heard was being thrown around, asset poverty. Being a
contradictory set of words I was instantly confused until I learned the
meaning. “A family can be defined as asset poor if it has insufficient net
worth to support itself at federal poverty level for three months in absence of
income, i.e., net worth less than $4,577 for a family of three in 2009” (Assets
& Opportunity Profile). As I was assumedly standing in a room of mostly asset
stable professionals I realized I might be the only asset poor individual in
the room.
My
predicament
- As an AmeriCorps member I serve at poverty level and make only about $1,000 monthly
- I would consider my educational degree of a B.A. in Art History an asset. With this I may be able to expedite time without employment if I was to lose my current position
- I have no economic assets such as a vehicle, home, or significant savings
- However, I currently only have two bills, rent and utilities, about $550 monthly
As
you can see, if for any reason I lost my position or received a surprise expense, I would be in hot
water very quickly. On the other hand, I learned at
the conference ways to combat my asset poverty status. I decided to take the
Money Smart Challenge. Money Smart can be found at http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/adult.html and is a free, highly reputable, financial literacy
curriculum. New Century IDA uses Money Smart for Crosby Scholars participants.
Info on Crosby Scholars programs can be found at http://crosbyscholars.org/, to participate
contact ESR’s Barbara Johnson at barbara.johnson@eisr.org. With the Money Smart curriculum I can learn techniques to
become more economically savvy and begin to implement savings. I will also
learn about credit building options. Since
I have no credit to date, learning these methods will help. I plan on using
this information while choosing my first credit card!
I know that once I establish stable
savings and build credit then I can look into making my first asset purchase
such as my own home or vehicle. What do
you think? Would you consider yourself asset poor? If not, prove it with http://www.playspent.org/
If you want to look into ways out of asset
poverty like me or if you’re interested in helping build asset stable
communities I suggest reading Asset &
Opportunity Profile: Winston-Salem and Forsyth County found at http://www.forsyth.cc/housing/Documents/WinstonSalemMEOPReport.pdf
Be on the lookout for the next blog on my Money Smart Challenge progress!
Works
Cited
"Assets & Opportunity Profile:
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County." ASSETS & OPPORTUNITY PROFILE.
(2012): n. page. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
