The state of LGBTQ+ financial well-being
LGBTQ+ Americans face unique challenges when it comes to financial well-being. Nearly half of them have faced discrimination by someone in financial services, and two-thirds carry a high amount of financial stress.
They tend to not have the same financial tools and have fewer savings than the broader U.S. population. They are less likely to have a credit score in the "excellent" range, a mortgage, or auto loan debt while being more likely to have credit card debt, student loan debt, and personal loan debt.
LGBTQ+ Americans face structural barriers as well -- many cannot choose to be covered by their partner's employer-provided health insurance, for example.
"With this dearth of financial education and support in both childhood and adulthood for queer Americans, it’s no wonder that we carry a high amount of financial stress and the number of us who use important financial tools and who feel comfortable making important financial decisions continue to languish,” said Auten-Schneider. “It’s as critical now as ever to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ+ community and the industry, products and services that can help us.”
Making progress on any of these issues requires first acknowledging that LGBTQ+ Americans face financial disparities and outright discrimination. Individuals, companies, and other organizations can create a more inclusive and equitable financial system with a better understanding of the financial state of LGBTQ+ Americans.
Fortunately, there are financial professionals and LGBTQ+ content creators who are actively working to educate and support members of the community in their efforts to gain financial equality.
Sources
United States Census Bureau (2021). "Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020."
Methodology
The Motley Fool, in partnership with the Debt Free Guys, surveyed 2,000 Americans on May 11, 2023, via Pollfish. 50% of respondents identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual; 35% identified as transgender; and 15% identified as genderqueer/nonbinary. Results were post-stratified to generate nationally representative data based on age, gender, and income. The same survey was previously run in partnership with the Debt Free Guys on April 18, 2022, via Pollfish.
What about asexual/intersex/demisexual individuals? Or any other queer-identifying group?
The decision to focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and genderqueer/nonbinary Americans came after reviewing available data and much reflection on how to best serve the LGBTQ+ community.
There are many other people who fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, including asexual, aromantic, intersex, demisexual, androgyne, neutrois, agender, pansexual, and many more. To effectively draw conclusions for all of these groups, a large enough sample size would need to be reached for these groups and more to justify making claims about their financial state. This was prohibitive in numerous ways, and, as a result, broader definitions were used and focus was placed on the largest and most visible groups.
In no way is the intention to downplay the importance of any other LGBTQ+ groups.
LGBTQ terms
The following terms are used throughout this article:
- LGBTQ+: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. The plus sign indicates there are many identities not covered by these terms that are still part of the community.
- Lesbian: A woman who is romantically or sexually attracted to other women. Nonbinary people may also use this term to describe themselves.
- Gay: A term describing a person who is romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender. In the context of LGBTQ+, "gay" usually refers to men since "lesbian" covers women who identify as gay (although women may use the terms interchangeably).
- Bisexual: A person romantically or sexually attracted to more than one sex, gender, or gender identity.
- Transgender: A term describing a person whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Some, but not all, nonbinary people identify as transgender.
- Queer: A term used in many ways within the LGBTQ+ community, most often as an umbrella term for non-heteronormative identities (whether they be sexual orientations, gender identities, or something else).
- Genderqueer: A term generally used to indicate a person who does not accept or follow traditional binary gender roles or norms.
- Nonbinary: A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. There are many more specific categories that fall under nonbinary, including agender, bigender, genderfluid, and others.
