- Just ahead on "Black Issues Forum" wealth inequality between black families and their white counterparts has increased in recent decades due to a host of factors, both historic and systemic.

Estate planning and financial understanding can help close that gap and create generational wealth.

We'll talk strategy next, stay with us.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to Black Issues Forum.

I'm your host, Kenia Thompson.

Legacies are built and futures are secured with sound financial planning, but unfortunately, in the Black community, there lies a gap, some blame slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other myriad of oppressive systemic roadblocks for those reasons.

But Black families are significantly behind in wealth, and most can agree that lack of knowledge is one of the greatest gaps within any group.

And this is true for many of our Black communities when it comes to estate planning and financial acumen.

We'll discuss both areas, but today I wanna start with estate planning by introducing our first guest.

She's a North Carolina attorney, author, and one of the nation's leading experts in estate planning law.

Welcome to the show, Crystal M Richardson, owner of The Law Office of Crystal M Richardson.

Welcome to the show.

- Hi, Kenia, thank you.

I'm so glad to be here.

- Oh, I'm so glad you're here.

I mean, it's an important topic.

We've had this conversation before on the show, but we can never talk about it enough.

I was reading a statistic in preparing for this that in 2024, America opened up with 67% of us who failed to create a concrete plan to protect our assets.

And obviously we're here today Black Issues Forum talking about black communities.

And as you can imagine, that number is significantly higher for black communities and families at 77%.

Share with me your thoughts behind those numbers and then go into what estate planning is and what you do.

- Well, first of all, you're absolutely right.

Caring.com did a wills and estate planning study, and the results of that is in 2024, 68% of Americans do not have a will, which is a 6% decrease from 2023.

And it's the first decrease that we've seen since the height of the pandemic in 2020.

And it has been said that 76, 77% of Black Americans do not have a will.

And I think that is because historically we have been considered property, Black people were once enslaved in this country.

Coupled with the other factors that you mentioned from codifying discrimination in the laws such as Jim Crow, redlining and so forth.

And so we have a history of not engaging in estate planning.

Estate planning is very key because it involves not only preparing for your death, but also caring for you during your lifetime if you were to become incapacitated, for example, many of us unfortunately experience life changing events where we may be temporarily or permanently disabled, who will care for your children?

And those who depend on you for a living and estate planning, if it's a thorough and comprehensive estate plan, will minimize taxes.

It will also minimize those costs that are associated with administrating your estate.

- So you mentioned a will earlier, describe to the viewers what's the difference between having a will and having an estate plan?

- I get that question often, a will is a part of your estate plan.

- [Speaker] Okay.

- Okay, so the last will and testament, sometimes people create trust, it will dispose of your assets that you've accumulated.

- Define what a trust is before you move forward.

Just for those that don't know.

'Cause I just learned about a trust now a few years ago.

- Okay, okay, so a trust is a legal document where you have a trustee who manages any of the assets that are included in your trust.

And that process involves retitling your assets from your individual capacity to the name of the trustee of your trust.

And so that can be helpful because again, it minimizes some of the tax liabilities that are associated with owning certain assets.

- Okay.

- And it can be used as a tool to preserve intergenerational wealth.

Estate planning can also include things like adding a beneficiary to your bank accounts or adding a joint tenant to your vehicle registration with rights of survivorship.

Many of us have 401k plans or life insurance.

All of that essentially is estate planning.

You're preparing to care for yourself again during your lifetime to make sure that if you have an unfortunate circumstance where you can't make decisions for yourself regarding your health care or your finances, you have a plan in place that legally gives someone the authority to step into your shoes and be your agent and act as if you know they were you.

- Yeah, so is it expensive to do an estate plan, obviously we're not seeing us do it.

We're not seeing a lot of people do it.

So you know, we are a Black focused show, but Americans, 67% of Americans are not planning.

So that's a huge number.

So I guess I'm trying to ask the question, why aren't we?

Is it because we think it's too expensive or is it because it's too hard?

Or is it just something that we haven't discussed?

- I think there's a lack of knowledge out there, and there's a number of myths about estate planning.

I think many people, especially Black Americans, think that estate planning might only be for the rich or the white or the wealthy.

And estate planning is for everyone, regardless of your race or your level of income.

We all have assets, we all own things.

And that stuff has to go somewhere, if something happens to you.

And so being prepared and having these documents in place minimizes that chaos and confusion and it allows your executor of your estate, for example, the person who you name and your will instrument to have that authority and that clear guidance about, what are your wishes and your desires, what do you want to happen with your property should you pass on, for example.

Another myth when it comes to estate planning is that, excuse me, is that, you know, I don't have enough assets.

40% of Americans think that they don't have anything to pass on.

But again, once we really think in totality everything we own from bank accounts to vehicles, our household furnishings and goods, - Okay.

- You likely have assets.

And again, it has to go somewhere.

And if you don't come up with as an estate plan, the government has a plan for you.

So I've always advocated for people to exercise their right of self-determination and autonomy and create that estate plan so that it aligns with your wishes.

The what's called Intestate Succession Laws, so the govern, you know, the state laws that govern what happens to your property if you pass on, might not align with your wishes.

It might go to a distant cousin or somebody you've never met, somebody you've been estranged from during your lifetime and you might not want them to inherit from your property.

So from your state, - To my next question, what happens, right?

What's the worst case scenario?

And I mean, I can imagine if you had children that you wanted to pass things down to, but they don't get that because you didn't put order in place beforehand.

- You know, Kenya, that's a great point.

I think people underestimate the likelihood that you all could be traveling together on a family trip or vacation.

- Yeah.

- And sometimes our children or our spouse might not survive us.

And estate planning is about succession planning, putting other people in place, whether it's a charity, a friend or neighbor, just people who mean a lot to you.

You know, naming them as beneficiaries could also be extremely helpful in estate planning, - You know, you use that scenario as an example and I think that's might be one of the reasons people don't even talk about it.

'cause that's hard, right.

It brought a tear to my eye to think what if, you know, something tragic happened or what if my kids didn't succeed me?

And I think maybe part of the reason is just not wanting to look at that part of life and that's natural.

If viewers are out here wondering how do we get started with estate planning?

What's the first step?

- I would say the first step, at minimum, you should have that last will and testament in place.

There are a number of bar associations, for example, that do like free legal will clinics.

There's programs like Will for Heroes and and so forth for those in the military service.

And then there's lots of online tools where you can just answer a questionnaire and it kicks out your last full and testament and other documents.

I think that having something in place is better than nothing.

But of course I have to warn against creating your own estate plan because can be pitfalls that you might not be aware of.

You might be unintentionally creating something in your estate plan if you do it on your own that you know you might not intend to do.

But as soon as you can, work with an attorney to get either that trust in place, that will and testament, power of attorney for your medical decisions, your financial decisions, advanced directives, so that you have legally documented what you want to happen as far as life prolonging measures.

And that HIPAA release authorization will provide your agents the authority to receive your medical records and information from your doctors to make those tough decisions.

So at minimum you should have those five documents in place.

- Yeah.

And you know, I was thinking too, for those that may have special needs children or relatives, that would be an amazing thing to have in place just in case you weren't there to take care of that person.

- Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely.

And there, I think we're in an age where TikTok is the main source of information.

for people and they say, you know, "You need a trust, you need to trust, avoid probate."

But there's several types of trust, one of them being a special needs trust to care for, you know, your children who might have, you know, disabilities or special needs.

And so if they're receiving, for example, government benefits, you wanna make sure that you have an instrument like that special needs trust in place so that it supplements what they have and it doesn't harm that.

But also there's no way to guarantee you're gonna avoid probate.

I'm gonna just tell you that now.

Sometimes in our life we don't get the opportunity to put our assets into our trust or as a result of litigation from litigating your trust or your will, it could be that you have assets that go through probate.

- And what is probate?

- Probate is the process of collecting all of the assets that you own at your day of death, paying any debts, expenses that you might've owed during your lifetime, and then distributing whatever's left to your beneficiaries or your heirs.

And so again, that is just, you know, very critical to preserving that wealth because in order to pass on that inheritance wealth to other generations, you want to have that clear guidance, for example, that says you don't need a bond or this extra barrier to administrate my estate.

And that bond is something that's absolutely required in North Carolina.

And so, waiving that requirement could help someone, for example, who doesn't have the credit to be able to receive that bond to be your executor of your estate.

You can do things like that.

- That's great.

- And the last thing I'll say is in North Carolina, you know, it costs $120 to open up an estate and at minimum filing fees, - Not expensive at all.

- Right or like $15.

So for some folks that can be expensive.

I feel like expensive is a relative term.

But there are many ways in in which to do estate.

- It's well worth the investment.

- Absolutely.

- Share with our viewers how they can reach out to you if they've got a questions on estate planning.

- You can reach me at www.crystalrichardsonlaw.com, you can email me at info@crystalrichardsonlaw.com, or you can call me at 336-805-6200.

- Thank you so much, Crystal.

Very informative and hopefully we're empowered now to go start that estate planning process.

- So, thank you.

- Thank you.

Well, before we shift to the financial mindset portion of the show, I wanted to share this week's melanin moment with you highlighting Black Wall Street in Durham, North Carolina, a community that turned adversity into opportunity.

[brooding music] - Amidst the backdrop of segregation and racial inequality, Durham, North Carolina is home to one of the most vibrant African-American communities of its time, Black Wall Street.

[upbeat music] During the early 1900s, Parrish Street stood as the epicenter of economic empowerment for African-Americans.

Amidst the challenges of Jim Crow laws, Durham's Black community built a self-sustaining economy that flourished against all odds.

[upbeat music] Despite facing systemic racism and economic challenges, Black Wall Street in Durham persevered, becoming a shining example of what could be achieved through determination and solidarity.

Though the physical remnants may have faded, the legacy of Black Wall Street in Durham endures as a testament to the power of unity, resilience and the pursuit of economic empowerment against all odds.

[electronic music] Well, as we've already made clear, it's no secret that we've been plagued with financial oppression for a long time now.

But many Black families are making strides and changing the narrative in an effort to secure a better future for younger generations.

Our next guest has made it his mission to eradicate the barriers and educate the masses.

We welcome to the show, founder and chair of Triangle Entrepreneurial Leadership, Ryan Ray.

Welcome, friend.

- Thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

- Of course.

- Absolutely.

- Tell the viewers a little bit about what you do and just a little bit about your story and why you do it.

- Oh, wow!

[Ryan coughs] [Kenia laughs] Wow!

I'll try to shrink that really quick.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah, really quick.

- Upon graduating from college and going into a career in sales and marketing, having some early success, I found myself at a place where I just was frustrated, like there's gotta be more to life than this.

And at that point, [Ryan clears throat] by the age of 23, I had dug myself about a $70,000 debt.

And the path I was on, I didn't see how I could, number one, dig myself out of that, much less begin to create the lifestyle that I desired.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- And so shortly after this realization, I ended up in a near-fatal car accident.

Ended up losing everything I had acquired at that point.

Moved back home to the big metropolis of Dunn, North Carolina where I basically started from scratch.

And it was at that point in my life, God placed a mentor in my life.

And this mentor began to teach me things that I had never heard, never knew of, growing up, going to school, church, all the right resume pieces, right?

But I never heard anyone talk about building wealth and- - [Kenia Thompson] Right.

- Financial education.

And it's not what you know, it's who you know, right?

All these principles and ideas that were foreign to me and he said a few things that really woke me up.

He said, "Ryan, it's not what's happened to you that determines your success, it's what you do with that."

- [Kenia Thompson] Hmm.

- And at that point in my life, I had kind of got to a pretty low point.

And that just woke me up and said, "You know what?

I am responsible for the results in my life."

- Yeah.

- And he said, "Ryan, if you'll just start taking this path of changing what you're listening to, changing what you're reading," ashamed to say, at that point, I wasn't doing much reading.

- [Kenia Thompson] Right.

- And he said, "Change your associations."

He said, "You've gotta begin to have a path that aligns with where you're trying to go."

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- And again, I bought into that, went into this personal development journey where I just figured if I could become a person of value and develop some skills, that doors would begin to open for me and they did.

And once I began to see those results, I was like, "Wow!

I mean, if I can do this, if I can climb out of this hole, anybody can."

And that passion was birthed.

Absolutely.

- Yeah, so talk about when you realized the difference between wealth and worth and value.

- Ah, yeah, absolutely.

At that point, wealth was out there, right?

I could look around and see where people had acquired wealth.

Even my mentor at the time, what made me really accept him as a mentor, was that he had the results.

He had the fruit on the tree, he lived in the right neighborhood, he drove the right vehicle.

- [Kenia Thompson] Right.

- But more than that, he had the knowledge.

- [Kenia Thompson] Right.

- He had a following of people.

He was teaching this information that I didn't know and understand.

So wealth is like this accumulation of riches, right, of assets, of money and then also of knowledge.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yes.

- And then when we think about worth, it's interesting, one of my mentors often says that "We understand how much something costs.

But we don't understand its value."

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- Right?

And I could go so deep into that, but we can look at something that costs something, it absolutely has no value.

But we think it's worth what we paid for it.

- [Kenia Thompson] Right.

- Right?

Then we can also look at something, like education, like coaching, right, like investing and say, "Oh, that's too much."

Insurance, estate-planning, right?

- Right.

- These things that are gonna build a financial wall around us.

And we say, "It costs too much, but it is so valuable."

Right?

- You're right.

Let's put a pin right there.

We just talked to Crystal.

- [Ryan Ray] Mm-hmm [affirmative].

- We talked about estate-planning.

67% of Americans, right, don't have a plan in place.

77% of Black families' communities don't have a plan in place.

Why do you think it is that the Black family in particular has this roadblock when it comes to financial understanding?

And I mean, we can talk about the systemic oppression.

- Sure, sure, sure.

- Sure.

But here, we're talking about mindset.

- [Ryan Ray] Yeah, yeah.

- So what is it?

- Well, I think first and foremost, it's like talking about money's taboo, right?

- [Kenia Thompson] Yes.

- Like we don't have the conversation.

And I've been saying this for the past probably couple of months now, we have got to start talking about money.

It's been this thing that we, and we don't talk about the things we don't know much about.

- Mm-hmm [affirmative].

- Right?

We feel ignorant to it.

And when we talk about financial illiteracy, it feels demeaning, right?

But it's simply just the lack of knowledge, right?

If you're illiterate, you can't read, right?

If you're financially illiterate, you do not know the understanding or the management of money.

And so we have to reverse that.

And so I think, it's just been a thing that we have not talked about and it hasn't risen in importance as much as so many other things that we do talk about.

And so, from a mindset perspective, first of all, we've just gotta embrace that this is a game that you have to play, right?

In America, you gotta play the money game.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- Right?

You don't get to just say, "Ah, I think I'm done.

I'll check out."

Right?

No, you gotta play.

And if you gotta play, you should probably learn the rules and then play to win.

- Mm-hmm [affirmative].

We've talked about this on the show many times.

I remember using a clip that talked about the money going up, but not coming down, right, not going down the pipeline.

A lot of Black families, and this was a group of professional football players.

- Okay.

- And they talked about how they wanted to repay their parents.

So they were sending money.

backwards, but not forwards.

So let's talk about generational wealth and how do we establish that?

And you know, again, estate planning and all that, but how do we logistically?

- Yeah.

- Especially for those that don't make a lot.

- Yeah.

- Start generational wealth.

- I mean, just to affirm what you said, like in the four years of history of African Americans here in America, this is the first generation, the baby boomers or the first generation, who will leave their children worse off than their parents left them.

Again, it 'cause as just shared, right?

We are leaving back debt.

We're leaving back funeral expenses.

And so, we have to now begin to say, how do we number one, educate and empower ourselves, right?

You know, you ask the question how.

You know, so many of my friends now are going out to be general contractors.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- Makes sense in this market.

And, you know, if they wanna build a house, they don't get to just say, "I think I wanna build a house," and go buy some land and build a house.

No, they first have to be educated, right?

They have to go get the information, be of, to know what it takes to be a general contractor and build a house.

From there, that certification, if you will, gives them permission, right?

They now have the tool, well, the permission to go out and do it, but that's even not enough.

Now, they need the tool.

They need the hammer, right?

And so, I believe that we have to first become educated.

That in education gives us the permission, right, to now say, "Okay, I need to go out and start to build wealth."

And then from there, you need the tools.

What are the tools?

It's going back to education, right?

It's going back to mentorship.

It's going back to coaching.

It's going back to taking the classes.

It's going back to having attorney friends, right, and people who can give you the insights.

Because we also don't have time to learn it all, right?

- No, we don't.

- So, we've gotta begin to put people around us who have the information, so we can start checking these boxes.

- And I mean, conversations key, like Tasha Cobb says, "We gotta break every chain," right?

Those chains- - Yes, remove all these chains, yeah.

- That hold us back, right?

And so, a couple minutes left in the show, it always goes by so fast.

But entrepreneurship is something that is near and dear to you, and it's a, we've been booming in this space, especially in North Carolina.

Talk to us about how that can be a key to generational wealth.

- Yeah, I think first and foremost, like number one, just to be frank.

If you are a W2 employee on top of your employee taxes, real estate taxes, sales taxes, the average American is paying anywhere between 40 to 51% of their income in taxes, right.

And so, the thing, that the myth is that it's we gotta make a lot of money.

Make a lot of money.

And so a lot of times, we go on entrepreneurship to make a lot of money, and that is key.

But the other side of that coin is it doesn't matter how much you make.

- Still gotta pay the taxes.

- If you spend it all right?

- Yeah, well, there's that to - If it's all out, if it's al going back out the door.

- [Kenia Thompson] Yeah.

- And so first and foremost, we have to understand how to keep more of what we're making, right?

And now when you understand how to retain more, earning more gets exciting, right?

Because most people aren't going to work, we really are, but we aren't going to work just to pay the bills, right?

We're going to work really to create a lifestyle.

And I believe entrepreneurship helps to give us that lifestyle that we really want to create.

And there's enough of problems in the world that we can go out and solve.

And so, entrepreneurship really levels the playing field for anyone to get in the game of building wealth, of increasing their income.

But again, we have so much to learn because again, if it's, there's a hole in the bucket.

It doesn't matter how fast you turn on the water, it's still gonna leak out.

- Still gonna leak.

- And we gotta start plugging those holes in our bucket.

- That's wonderful.

Well, for those of you that may not know, Ryan is an amazing speaker.

He speaks on this topic.

So, share with folks where they can find you if they need you to come out and to spark some wisdom.

- Yeah.

[Ryan and Kenia laughing] - Well, you could follow me on this thing called social media, @ryanrayofficial.

You could email me at ryanray@ryanrayofficial.com and reach me directly, phone or text, at 910-890-1138.

- Beautiful.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Oh, it's an honor and a pleasure.

- We'll have this conversation again because it's we can never have it too much.

So, thank you for your wisdom.

- Thank you so much.

Appreciate that.

- Thanks.

And I thank you for watching.

If you want more content like this, we invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the hashtag, #BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum and on the PBS video app.

I'm Kenia Thompson.

I'll see you next time.

[upbeat music] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ [upbeat music continues] ♪ - [Narrator] Quality public television is made possible through the financial contributions of viewers like you, who invite you to join them in supporting PBS NC.