Money Advice Runs Low for Minority Women

Vickie Elisa vividly recalls living in her car for a week and a half after she lost her apartment 25 years ago to overwhelming credit-card debt. A friend took her in, and Elisa got back on her feet in a big way.

Elisa, 48, is now the board president of Mothers' Voices of Georgia, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta that helps low-income women become financially empowered to better deal with health and lifestyle issues. A single mother, she owns property in Florida and South Carolina, a house in Georgia worth $350,000, and has accumulated $65,000 in retirement funds and an annuity. But she knows she is an exception.

"Half of minority women older than 65 in the United States are living in poverty," Elisa said. "Those are my aunts, who at age 75 had to go to work at Wal-Mart because they didn't have enough money in retirement to live in dignity."

Elisa and her ex-husband accumulated $30,000 in debt after a year and a half of marriage. Even though he generated most of the debt he refused to pay it off. After the couple divorced, Elisa, a public health consultant, worked one full-time and two part-time jobs for five years to repay the debt and restore her credit rating.

At the time, she had no idea that she could have split the debt with her husband during the divorce proceedings.

"That was huge mistake No. 1," she said.

Around nine years ago, Elisa attended a workshop about retirement and economic issues led by Cindy Hounsell, president of WISER, the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, based in Washington, D.C. (Hounsell was named a Women's eNews 21 Leader for the 21st Century in 2006.)

Elisa -- who attended as a representative of Mothers' Voices -- said Hounsell spoke about retirement savings, money management, debt and divorce, and the impact on minority women in an eye-opening way.

Elisa met Hounsell after the workshop and soon afterward she embarked on two years of extensive training by the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, or WISER, that covered the basics of money management, investment, Social Security, pension, divorce and widowhood, and reducing credit card debt. While she was working through the curriculum Elisa helped make it culturally relevant for women of color.

Groups Tackle Problem

Today, Elisa's group is one of a handful tackling the problem of financial planning for low-income women in the Atlanta area and is joined by such national groups as Women Work! The National Network for Women's Employment, a Washington-based nonprofit that works for women's economic equality.

But financial planning is still rare as a stand-alone program for low-income women, said Lauri Alpern, a 20-year veteran of nonprofit leadership. "Financial literacy programs as part of other programs, such as job training or workplace development, are available.

But stand-alone programs are limited," said Alpern, a partner in a Chicago-based startup, ROI Ventures/ROI Partners Fund, that helps social entrepreneurs go into business.

Elisa said banks and financial-planning firms have little interest in helping low-income women because they focus their marketing on those who can immediately buy a financial retirement product, such as an individual retirement account.

Elisa said that Mothers' Voices Georgia, which won a 2006 Freddie Mac grassroots award for its economic literacy program aimed at low-income women, still has trouble persuading corporate partners that economic literacy for poor people really works.

"True, these women may not purchase some great annuity product or begin investing in five to 12 months, but believe me, they see a secure retirement as a goal that they can eventually reach with economic education, motivation and emotional support from groups like Mother's Voices Georgia and WISER," she said.