Black Americans Report Changing Financial Habits Due to COVID-19 The racial wealth gap underscores a need for financial education and access to advice—something retirement plan sponsors can provide. Reported by Black Americans have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19—and that’s also affected their spending and savings habits. While the coronavirus pandemic produced financial challenges for many American workers, Black consumers were impacted at more severe rates, a new study from Lincoln Financial Group has found. According to the company’s October 2020 Consumer Sentiment Tracker, which was released this week, Black consumers (32%) were most likely to have experienced job loss due to the pandemic and, thus, lack appropriate emergency savings (42%) and funds to cover everyday expenses (41%).