Asset Building Research Project

"Planning For The Golden Years!"

Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen communities by maximizing the resources of Korean / Asian American organizations and their partners involved in economic development and research efforts.  Among many initiatives, one primary focus is conducting extensive and comprehensive research for Korean / Asin Community. In recent years, KCCD was invited to numerous gathering and conferences on bridging the wealth gap between main stream Americans and people of color.  Insight Center for Community Economic Development, formerly known as The National Economic Development and Law Center (NEDLC), and Ford Foundation have been on the leading edge of research effort. In 2006, Insight Center for Community Economic Development and Ford Foundation awarded seven organizations, including KCCD's "Planning for the Golden Years!", to conduct research project and do assessment and need studies of various minority communities.

• Timeline of Project 
• Purpose of Work
• Project Description
• Goals and Objectives
• Key Findings of Research
• Key Personnel
• Resources

Timeline of Project

Purpose of Work

Addressing financial asset building & people of color 

Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD) seeks to fulfill two main purposes through the asset building grant project: 1) Assess the patterns of, and investigate the challenges and barriers around, asset building knowledge, attitude and practices of intergeneration Korean Americans including first generation immigrant, 1.5 and 2^nd generation Korean Americans, with a focus on small business owners, due to cultural and language barriers; 2) Develop a recommendation report to identify and recommend savings and asset building practices and retirement planning programs applicable to the needs and culture of Korean American community.  

Why Examine Retirement Savings? 

Racialized U.S. governmental policies and practices have resulted in racial and ethnic disparities in possessing financial assets such as homes, properties, savings accounts, retirement accounts, and pensions such that people of color typically possess one-tenth of white American’s median net worth today (Oliver and Shapiro, 1995; Liu, et. al., 2006).  Against this background, retirement savings is a particularly crucial asset strategy to examine at a time of tremendous national demographic shifts and social policy debates. Debates over Social Security and Medicare benefits, the disappearance of private and public pensions, and increasing reliance on private retirement savings plans predominantly occupy mainstream America’s political and economic public policy discourse.  Meanwhile, the population of older nonwhites is growing at a faster rate than that of older non-Latino whites, with Asian American and Pacific Islander population predicted to grow by 285% (Sohn, 2004).  The first cohorts of post-1965 immigrants, who arrived predominantly from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean after race-based national quotas in U.S. immigration laws were abolished, are entering their retirement years in all their racial, ethnic, economic, linguistic, and cultural heterogeneity.  Therefore, examining retirement savings in a predominantly first-generation community of color such as the Korean Americans provides an insight into how U.S. government policies are addressing the intertwined needs of nonwhite, low-income, limited English-speaking, and/or immigrant communities. This project will provide a more refined assessment of the needs and appropriate programs to assist Korean Americans to increase their practice of savings and asset building that buffer them from poverty in old age. 

Why Examine Korean Americans? 

Today, there are more than 1.3 million Korean Americans residing in the United States with almost 300,000 of them living in the consolidated metropolitan area of Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange-San Bernardino-Ventura counties. The majority are first-generation immigrants and their children who arrived after the passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, the product of the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s and post-WWII international relations that profoundly changed the racial and ethnic landscape of the U.S.  Between 1990 and 2000, the Asian American population experienced the greatest growth (63%) compared to any other racial and ethnic group in the United States. Therefore, Korean-American community is fairly recent immigrant community with cultural and language barriers and challenges. Contrary to the prevailing notion of Asian Americans as the ‘model minority’, Korean Americans suffer from various socio-economic challenges and barriers including low homeownership rates, low access to health insurance, and a growing juvenile delinquency challenges. According to the US 2000 Census, Koreans are one of four communities below the national median income followed by Latinos, Native Americans, and African-Americans. In Los Angeles County, the total population who falls below the poverty level is at 17.91% and Koreans are at 15.8%. The total senior population (i.e., 65 years and older) who falls below poverty level in Los Angeles County is at 10.47% and Korean seniors are at 20.19%. In 2000, 39% of Korean households in the U.S. were linguistically isolated 

Added value of the proposed work 

The high rates of ethnic entrepreneurship in the Korean American population and its related issues have been the subject of numerous scholarly research and popular media accounts.  However, two hidden costs of entrepreneurship - access and utilization of health insurance and retirement planning – and their impact on the Korean American economy and community need to be further examined. For example, Koreans have had one of the lowest rates of health insurance coverage among all racial/ethnic groups in California and in the U.S. in the last decade (Brown, et. al., 2001).  According to a 2005 survey of 268 small business owners residing in Los Angeles and San Francisco conducted by Barbara Kim, KCCD’s Research Institute’s Advisory Board member, 56% of respondents reported that they did not have any retirement savings. Interviews suggest that many are counting mainly on Social Security to fund their retirement. Dr. Kim’s findings of Korean immigrant entrepreneurs with respect to saving for the future reflect the continued difficulties that Korean immigrants face in maintaining financial stability and security. Traditionally, many small business owners in the United States have not accessed retirement plans because of the high costs (Employee Benefits Research Institute, 2005). Additionally, lack of retirement savings may impact second-generation Korean American adults who may need to provide for an aging parent. As a part of retirement planning, how are cultural expectations and practices, such as the Confucian concept of filial piety, maintained or transformed through generations, and how do they affect asset building?  The project will allow KCCD to gather valuable data on the intergeneration Korean Americans and other Asian Pacific Islander (API) community on asset building attitude and knowledge to identify and recommend best culturally appropriate practices and policies that would impact the economic security of Korean Americans and further be utilized for a broader, comparative study of communities of color and assets in the U.S. 

What need or opportunity is being addressed? 

Through the “Planning for the Golden Years!” program, KCCD will assess asset building among Korean Americans while learning about research and practices in other communities of color to identify any common perceptions and difference among other racial/ethnic immigrant communities and asset building knowledge, attitude, and practices, specifically in the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community. By assessing common threads and differences, the study will also provide comparative insights for other communities experiencing wealth gaps due to race, poverty, recent immigration, and/or limited English proficiency.  The importance of family and being able to rely on the family for support remains a core social value to Koreans (Sung, 2000).  The current generation of older Koreans have tended to not be prepared for post-retirement life, having sacrificed personal gain for the betterment of their family and committing themselves to the education of their children (Yoon, Eun, & Park, 2000).  Yet, there is little information on how traditional cultural expectations of filial piety, family support, and intergenerational transfer of wealth change because of immigration, when 75% of Koreans residing in Los Angeles County in 2000 were foreign-born (U.S. Census, 2000). There is also little information on how community resources and organizations should prepare for the needs of the aging first-generation population; approximately 70% of Korean immigrants attend a Christian church (K. Kim et. al., 2001).  The information gathered through this study has potentials to be used for policy recommendations, publications, and asset building strategies.

The Needs Assessment portion of the target population has been compiled using the following methods: 1) Survey (door-to-door), 2) Focus Groups, and 3) Key Informant Interviews. 

1) Door to Door Survey: KCCD utilized a cross-sectional, self-administered, purposive sample of 400 Korean Americans over 18 years of age (200 in Los Angeles County and 200 in Orange County) to take surveys administered by bilingual research assistants. The surveys were pre-tested before they are administered in the field.  Implementing the door-to-door approach, KCCD has visited affiliate churches, Korean swap meets, and other retail/service businesses to administer the surveys.  The survey participants include three groups: 1) 1^st generation immigrants; 2) 1.5 Korean-Americans, and 3) 2^nd generation Korean-Americans.  The responses from these three groups were compared to identify intergenerational differences in the practice, knowledge, and attitude towards savings and asset building for their retirement years.  The surveys were developed in both Korean and English to accommodate all three groups.   We followed standard research protocol that all the responses remain confidential and anonymous.  Those who would like to be contacted with study results, for focus group discussions, or regarding the demonstration program were asked to provide their names and information.  Once completed, the survey data was cleaned, coded and entered into a statistical program (SPSS).  Bivariate analyses were conducted to identify general patterns of retirement planning.  Comparisons of categorical characteristics between Korean immigrants by counties for statistical significance using chi-square tests has been done.  Logistic regression techniques were used to test the relationship between length of residence in the US, annual income, and utilization of retirement planning.   

2) Focus Group: KCCD also gathered qualitative data though focus groups to explore trends, challenges, and needs regarding retirement planning.  Those who complete surveys were invited to participate in focus group discussions, consisting of 6-10 people and lasting approximately 2 hours in a convenient location and time. Total 6 focus group discussions were conducted representing cross-sections of senior citizens, small-business owners, 1.5 and second generation, immigrant generation (i.e., first generation) and other API ethnic community members to gather and assess different perceptions and attitude on asset building and retirement planning.     

3) Key Informant Interviews:  KCCD also identified and conducted key informant interviews with community-based organizations (e.g., Korean Chamber of Commerce, Korean American Grocers’ Association, Korean American Garment Industry, Asian American Program, Policy, and Planning Council (A3PCON) members), and professionals in fields such as estate and financial planning who have directly provided related services to Korean immigrants, 1.5 and 2^nd generations, and small business owners to assess attitudes, practices, and knowledge of asset building and retirement planning. KCCD also conducted key informant interviews with members of other API community membership organizations to assess and gather similar data.  In addition, KCCD conducted key informant interviews with Korean Americans who established private and family foundations to assess their asset building and wealth transfer practices as well as challenges they encountered.    Focus group discussions and interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed and translated into English if necessary with the translation to be verified by a second bilingual Korean-English speaker for accuracy.  KCCD and Dr. Kim reviewed each transcript, conduct a content analysis, and initiate an open coding process.  A code book is developed with categories designed to capture specific issues most prominent in the data.  All emerging themes were cross-checked for reproducibility and intercoder reliability. 

Part II:  Analysis and Recommendation Report

Upon completion of the needs assessment, KCCD initiated the second phase of the project-Analysis and Recommendation Report.  KCCD and Dr. Kim are to comprehensively analyze the findings of needs assessment study to identify savings and asset building practices, knowledge, and attitudes of Korean Americans spanning 1^st immigrant generations as well as 1.5 and 2^nd generations, small business owners, and other API community members.  The analysis of the study will also assist in identifying needs and challenges in building asset due to language and cultural barriers.  Based on the findings of the needs assessment study and comparing asset building best practices in the mainstream community, KCCD developed an analysis and recommendation report.  The report will serve to provide accurate picture of ethnic minority community’s challenges and barriers to build financial assets, identifying asset building programs that are appropriate and applicable to ethnic minority community, and recommend educational outreach programs to promote and increase asset building practices among ethnic community.  KCCD would also like to utilize the report to educate policy makers and mainstream community on the plight of ethnic minority community and impact the policy change.  The findings will be presented to the ethnic media and at various community workshops and conferences to educate members of Korean American community as well as other communities.