2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys

September 2008 All Articles

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Wall Street Wizards Program Improves Financial Literacy
by William E. Thomason

The Wall Street Wizards Urban Financial Literacy Program and the Wall Street West Financial Literacy Fund is the vision and inception of money manager and author William E. Thomason. Having been on Wall Street and having worked in the world of finance and money management for many years, he sees the inequity between the world of finance and people of color.

The Wizards program began in 2003, when he took a bus of 30 high school students on a tour of the San Francisco financial district to visit the Federal Reserve Bank, the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, Bloomberg and a few other sites, just so they could see these institutions and learn about the careers that were available to them in the world of finance. Just to expose them to something different was his goal.

However, once the trip was over that day he realized that that wasn’t enough. The students needed more than just to learn about careers and visit some sites, they needed to learn about the impact money and economics play in our daily lives.

The National Endowment for Financial Literacy states “Only 21% of high school and college students between the ages of 16 and 22 have taken a personal finance course.” While students are inundated with direct marketing to promote consumer spending, they are not provided information and training on self-discipline (budgeting) and financial responsibility (saving for rainy days). African-American students in particular have minimal knowledge of basic banking functions and investment vehicles that lead to financial security, such as stocks and mutual funds. Moreover, they are not informed on how to develop entrepreneurial ideas which can lead to financial independence.

There is great concern regarding the low number of African-Americans that advance in the financial services industry beyond sales and service positions into executive management. With check cashing stores replacing banks in urban areas, students are denied the experience of developing a rapport with bank representatives which leads to increased access to financial services that further sound financial planning practices. These opportunities include, but are not limited to favorable loan- terms, investment and trust services. Relationships with financial institutions, if nurtured appropriately, increase financial success.

According to the most recent census there are 38.1 million African-Americans in the United States, 13% of the total US population. California is the second largest state in terms of African-American spending per capita with over $53.1 billion dollars being spent in 2003. African-American teens spend $428/month which is 6% more than the average for all teens within the US. The majority of teen spending is on tangible items like clothing, jewelry, computer software and athletic footwear.

As of 2003, the buying power of African-Americans rose to $723 billion and is expected to reach $965 billion by 2009. It is vital that we begin training children/youth with valuable information and sound practices in personal finances. As youth transition into working adults they are immediately forced to participate on some level with financial institutions. We fear that urban youth, who transition into working adults, will accept Check Cashing stores as their only option in dealing with personal finances.

Education is the key to financial literacy and the Wall Street Wizards program will educate students accordingly by presenting tools and information that will aid in developing individual financial structure and increase their financial literacy.

The purpose of this program is to provide urban, disadvantaged youth with the opportunity to observe, learn and participate in the world of the financial markets. Program participants will learn about the career opportunities that are available in the world of finance and attend a year-long financial literacy program.

Wall Street Wizards New York

Given its proximity to Wall Street, and the financial markets, expanding to New York was a natural next step for Wall Street Wizards. We’re following the same core curriculum and program as the original San Francisco Bay Area-based program. Nine monthly classes are being held, from September through May with topics ranging from an Introduction to Financial Markets and Wall Street to Real Estate Investing to Film Financing.

The program is being held at the Eagle Academy for Young Men, a public high school whose core values of Academic Excellence, Leadership, Character Development, Mentoring, Integrity and Community Service are consistent with the Wall Street Wizards standard of excellence.

About 20 students are currently participating in the Wall Street Wizards program at Eagle Academy. Field trips will include visits to Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange as well as trips to publicly traded companies and financial institutions in New York.

All classroom sessions will be held from 9:00am - 12:00pm at the Eagle Academy in the Bronx. Orientation begins September 22, 2008. For more information, please visit www.wallstreetwizards.org