Finding financial intimacy in 2012
Editor's Note: Jacquette M. Timmons is the author of "Financial Intimacy: How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Your Money and Your Mate." She is the founder and CEO of Sterling Investment Management, an investment education and financial coaching firm. She has an MBA in finance and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
By Jacquette M. Timmons, Special to CNN
(CNN) - At this time of the year, when everyone is talking and thinking about new beginnings, I’d like to suggest to those of you working to build intimate relationships that you talk with your mate about money and financials – often and honestly.
While it is true that the intersection of love and money has been around since time immemorial, I’d argue that the specifics of what we talk about vary greatly from decade to decade. Just think of how these factors are playing out in the 21st century relative to the 1960’s or 1940’s – especially for women.
Today more women graduate college than do men at a ratio of 3:2; 51% of women now work in high-paying management and professional positions; and, the number of women earning more than $250,000 a year continues to rise, even in the lagging economy.
Economists and bankers may not view the financial crisis of 2011 as a sequel to the one of 2008. After all the origins of the crises are different, as are those who are/were affected by them and the solutions needed to restore a stalled but mending economy. But college educated Joe and Jane bought a home within their means, practiced fiscal discipline, saved and invested, yet still find themselves with a one income household after 18 months of an active job search. They are now on the precipice of foreclosure – in spite of doing everything “right."
Engage: In light of Iowa success, can Santorum connect with Latinos?
Engage with news and opinions from around the web about under-reported stories from undercovered communities.
Santorum's tough talk on important Latino issues puts support in question - Huffington Post
Robert L. Carter, an architect of school desegregation, dies at 94 - New York Times
Growth in Chinese applicants sidelines Asian American college hopefuls - Bloomberg
Opinion: Where is the black middle class? You don’t have to look far
Editor’s note: Kris Marsh is on the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and was a postdoctoral scholar at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is on Facebook and on Twitter @drkrismarsh.
By Kris Marsh, Special to CNN
(CNN) - While sharing coffee one day with a colleague and friend, William “Sandy” Darity Jr., we coined a new, emerging group of single and living-alone (SALA) households in the black middle class: the “Love Jones Cohort.” Personal experiences as a member of the Love Jones Cohort help shape, inform and drive my research on this emerging group within the black middle class.
Historically, the quintessential black middle class consisted of a married couple with 2.5 children, a dog, and “Black Picket Fences” - in reference to the book written on the black middle class by Mary Pattillo-McCoy.
Where is the black middle class now, you ask? We are right here, but look demographically different than we did years ago.
My research clearly shows a compositional shift in the black middle class, away from married couples to single and living-alone households. Dovetailing with my research, we need to shift the way we talk and think about single, black professionals – both men and women, although women dominate the category.
About In America
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
Black in America
iReport
