Photo credit: Max Pearlstein
I didn’t fully know what I was getting into when, in 1998, I started interviewing families with young children about their finances and how money was shaping their hopes and plans. I wanted to learn how wealth influences vital family choices, and how assets affect families’ capacity for economic mobility. The entire project was animated by a desire to understand how race, wealth, and policy shape prospects and outcomes. But at the outset of this journey, I couldn’t have guessed that America itself and family fortunes would change so quickly and dramatically in the years that followed.
Getting ahead is hard work. Staying ahead is even harder. Families without adequate wealth are economically fragile and vulnerable to small mishaps that throw them off track. Our team interviewed nearly 200 families of different races and income levels...