Hi everyone, I’m Ray Boshara, director of the St. Louis Fed Center for Household Financial Stability. Our research focuses on savings and wealth among struggling U.S. families, so we’re looking forward to today’s discussion. #WealthEquityCOVID

A1: It won’t take long for struggling families to drain savings and convert any wealth to cash. Families that are less educated, young and black have net worths of $24K, $18K and $16K, respectively. No wealth buffer = no resilience! #WealthEquityCOVID stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy…

A3: Lessons from Great Recession: reduce debts; boost savings; diversify balance sheets (e.g. grow wealth not just via homes); build wealth buffers; & create “family wealth insurance” so wealth (like income) losses can be widely shared. #WealthEquityCOVID stlouisfed.org/annual-report/…

Q6: Make families “whole”: restore wealth if you had it, build up if you didn’t. A living wage AND “living wealth” (thanks Karen Biddle Andres). Also new forms of ownership, not just homes & retirement savings. And family wealth insurance! #WealthEquityCOVID stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy…