A thought experiment
What if your grandmother
had invested?
The tools to build generational wealth existed for decades.
Access to them did not. That changes with you.
Part one
What could have been
Using real S&P 500 annual returns — the actual numbers, year by year, including every crash and recovery.
Total she put in
—
actual dollars saved
If invested in S&P 500
—
— times what she put in
If kept in savings
—
at avg 3% savings rate
Why she probably didn't
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Now flip it.
You are the grandmother in your grandchild's story.
What chain will you start?
Part two
Build it forward
Three generations. One decision made today. Using a 7% average annual return after inflation — the standard long-run real return for a diversified U.S. index fund.
What this means
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Ready to start?
The tools are in your pocket
You can open a brokerage account in 10 minutes with $0. Here's what to know before you do.
Why this exists
Start the Chain is a free, nonprofit financial literacy tool built for young African-Americans who were never handed the financial playbook — because for generations, it was deliberately withheld.
The racial wealth gap is not an accident. It is the compounded result of redlining, exclusion from banking and brokerage access, and the systematic denial of wealth-building tools that white families were quietly using for decades. The gap is real. So is the math that closes it.
This tool exists to make that math visible, personal, and actionable. No ads. No subscriptions. No selling your data. Just the information your grandmother deserved to have.