Jeni, sorry! I emailed you back on this but didn't post here. Guesses:
-if black respondents live in/near high cost-of-living places, they may adjust accordingly what counts as "making it"
-if black respondents use famous successful people (e.g., actors, athletes, musicians) and reports of them to set "rich", successful versions of those are much better off materially than, e.g., dentists or owners of small accounting firms (who are still doing quite well), they may be missing lesser values of rich in their observation set
-if black respondents just hold themselves to high standards on earning, then everyone else's cutoff is too low for them.
Given the reality of black earnings and net worth in the U.S. today, I really hope it's not the last one, because happiness is often the difference between reality and expectation, and those are some super high expectations to live up to!
🙋♀️ question. Why do we think Black Americans need nearly 100k more to feel financially comfortable/secure?
Jeni, sorry! I emailed you back on this but didn't post here. Guesses:
-if black respondents live in/near high cost-of-living places, they may adjust accordingly what counts as "making it"
-if black respondents use famous successful people (e.g., actors, athletes, musicians) and reports of them to set "rich", successful versions of those are much better off materially than, e.g., dentists or owners of small accounting firms (who are still doing quite well), they may be missing lesser values of rich in their observation set
-if black respondents just hold themselves to high standards on earning, then everyone else's cutoff is too low for them.
Given the reality of black earnings and net worth in the U.S. today, I really hope it's not the last one, because happiness is often the difference between reality and expectation, and those are some super high expectations to live up to!