Are you aware that nearly 70 million Americans are underserved, that is effectively locked out, by traditional financial services companies? How about the fact that these underserved fellow Americans paid $89 billion — that’s right billion with a B — in interest and fees to manage their finances? What do you think of the reality that 25% of the children in America live in underbanked homes? Are you aware that almost half of all US households report that they could not come up with $2,000 in case of an emergency? Yes, almost half.

To witness some first hand accounts of people representative of so many in America struggling to make ends meet, I strongly encourage you to watch a recently released documentary that runs a little more than a half hour. I believe this film, Spent: Looking for Change, will leave a strong impression on you. It certainly did on me.

In light of the statistics shared above, there should be no real surprise why our economy continues to lag and the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street grows ever wider. There are many reasons for these realities, but regrettably the American dream is becoming nothing more than a pipe dream for many in our nation.

What do you think?

Larry Doyle