In the U.S., the bottom half of families own only 2% of the nation’s wealth. To address this challenge, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s Institute for Economic Equity partnered with the Aspen Institute to collect new ideas in External LinkThe Future of Building Wealth: Brief Essays on the Best Ideas to Build Wealth—For Everyone.

“High levels of inequality have, historically, preceded and prompted an update of our social contract,” Ray Boshara said. “Have we reached another one of those inflection points in our history?” Boshara is senior advisor at the St. Louis Fed’s Institute for Economic Equity.

With op-ed style essays from more than 60 contributing experts, the book highlights some of the nation’s most promising new ideas for rebuilding or building family balance sheets—many of which were already weak prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The book also includes several essays on novel ways for families and communities to generate an ownership stake in our economy.

The Future of Building Wealth is meant to bring together fresh thinking for restoring and building family wealth and to spark conversations among those with the resources and platforms to move these ideas forward—policymakers, foundations, employers, nonprofits, media outlets and others.

Download the book, in whole or part, at External Linkfutureofwealth.org, or request a free printed copy External Linkhere.

Author

Jennifer Wilding

Community Development Specialist

Jennifer Wilding, a community development specialist for the Kansas City Fed, provides communications, engagement, and research for the community development department.

Wilding e…