The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

What if we provided every child in America with a $1,000 seed fund account? This is not just a pipe dream—it’s a policy with growing bipartisan and cross-sector support. After our recent event with Invest America and BlackRock, we at Aspen FSP are more motivated than ever to help make universal early wealth building accounts a reality. 📈 Hosted in Washington, DC, last week, this hybrid in-person and virtual public dialogue featured forthcoming research from Milken Institute economists Kevin Hassett and Robert Shapiro, presentations from leading experts Michael Sherraden and Colleen Quint on programs in Oklahoma and Maine, and discussions with federal policymakers on how universal early wealth building accounts can concretely address generational wealth inequality in the U.S. The outcomes speak for themselves: Our 2023 report found that an at-birth account invested in capital markets and seeded with $1,000 fund could yield $9,000 for post-secondary education, $65,000 for a first home purchase or small business start-up, and $473,000 for retirement. With this potential to transform household wealth, the event showed there is a growing and bipartisan coalition of policymakers who are working to make this idea a reality. Last week’s dialogue featured included an off-the-record conversation with Republican and Democrat Senate staffers—Michael Sinacore, Joshua Grant, Corey Husak, and Melissa Sanchez . They stressed their commitment to working across the aisle on investing in young people early and offered possible policy design and mechanisms to achieve it. This conversation built on a July 2023 Aspen FSP dialogue event with two leaders on this topic, Senator Bob Casey and Senator Cory Booker, who spoke together on the importance of early wealth building accounts. So where does that leave us? Aspen FSP’s director of Inclusive Savings and Investing Karen Biddle Andres put it this way: “We are entering a critical window of opportunity to make these ideas real. It's up to us to make sure the tent is big enough and durable enough to hold all of these leaders, support and sustain their energy, and help focus their efforts on the most important design principles and choices that can help deliver real financial security to America's next generation.” Check out the recording of the public portion of the dialogue moderated by Ray Boshara 🎦 https://lnkd.in/eimUim85 Read up on our early wealth building work ⬇️ The Case for Early Wealthy Building Accounts: https://lnkd.in/ebNjrq-w Seeding Startup Capital For Life: https://lnkd.in/eCNVzK_U Jason E. Claire Chamberlain Arielle Gurman Sophia Posada-Parker Matt Lira Brad Gerstner Joanna Smith-Ramani Kara Woolley (Watkins)

We are excited by the release of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s first-ever National Strategy for Financial Inclusion! 🙌 🙌 Years in the making, with the input and support of a broad cross-section of leaders, this landmark strategy is an important step in ensuring a robust and inclusive financial system for all people in America. This bold plan will help families and businesses achieve short-term stability and build long-term financial security. As conveners of the Working Group on Inclusive Finance, Aspen FSP is proud to have played a role in bringing this strategy to life. In the words of FSP’s co-executive director Ida Rademacher: “Having the highest level of government launch a strategy this robust–with national objectives, priorities, and action steps laid out–signals its vital importance to American households and increases our momentum toward building a financial system that fosters greater trust and works for everyone.” Working across five key objectives, the strategy will help ensure that every person in America has equitable access to affordable and tailored transaction accounts, safe and affordable credit, savings and investments, government-backed financial services, and protection from illegal and predatory practices. Alongside our partners, we’re eager to get to work to help implement this shared vision and realize the strategy’s full impact for future generations! Read the full strategy report: https://lnkd.in/eMJG5K8S The Aspen Institute Kate Griffin Erin Borġ (Thiemann)

💡New Research Alert 💡 An Aspen FSP analysis found that less wealthy households saw their median wealth increase by 88% during the pandemic. It’s a huge gain, but we can’t stop here. Our New Wealth Agenda Progress Report shows that many Americans, including young people, renters, and households of color, still lack the net worth to be financially secure. For example, median white household wealth was 8 times greater than median Black household wealth in 2019; that ratio fell to 6.5 in 2022. More work is needed to reduce the ongoing racial wealth gap in the U.S. Learn how we can build wealth for all Americans in our report: https://ow.ly/yrZw50TR8VQ

That’s a wrap on our U.S. Bank salon dinner series! For our third and final discussion, FSP’s Karen Biddle Andres and Kate Griffin gathered with a dozen cross-sector leaders in Chicago to explore how small businesses can drive economic growth and wealth-building. 🤝📈 Our conversation covered everything from innovations in employer-provided retirement plans, to up-and-coming Chicago businesses and incubators, and special purpose credit vehicles! We’re grateful to our US Bank colleagues Deepa Chatterjee and Sekou Kaalund and to our participants Tracie Anderson, Rodney Brown, Kant Desai, Adam Engle, Marianne Markowitz, William J. McIntosh III, M.B.A., Horacio Méndez, Tiffany Mikell, Joe Neri, Robin Newberger, Andrea Sáenz, and Sarah Spunt, LCSW for making this final salon dinner a success. 🙌

At Aspen FSP, we know that an inclusive economy is a healthy economy. Our new dialogue series, The Future of Women in the Economy, highlights how women’s financial stability is tied to overall economic growth. Join us TOMORROW at 2:00pm ET for our series kickoff webinar, It’s Women in the Economy, Stupid! FSP's senior fellow Heather McCulloch will chat with finance reporters Josie Cox and Chabeli Carrazana about the economic barriers facing women today and  identify pathways toward building a gender-equitable economy. 📝  Register now: https://lnkd.in/gq8e8V8X  

Who benefited the most from pandemic-era gains? People who already owned assets. That’s according to a new Aspen FSP data analysis. Building on 2023’s “The New Wealth Agenda,” this progress report shows that despite record wealth gains between 2019-2022, racial inequality remains high and many households still lack the net worth needed to be financially secure. Our analysis found that households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution saw their wealth rise by 88% to $27,000. But many of these gains are not sustainable in the long-term without further action. We call on cross-sector leaders to: 💵 Invest in the benefits that increased financial stability during the pandemic. 📈 Build on increased participation in investment markets among low-wealth investors and people of color. 🏠 Support stronger wealth building pathways for renters, not just in accessing homeownership, but across a wide range of assets. Dig into the data and our recommendations: https://ow.ly/T0lu50TQXoY

The ownership economy is here! That was the rallying cry of 100 leading investors, practitioners, policy leaders, and entrepreneurs at ASSEMBLE100 last month. Organized with our partners Gary Community Ventures and The Bridgespan Group, this first-of-its-kind summit spurred cross-sector momentum on ownership investing as a vehicle to economic stability and inclusive wealth creation. Ownership investing has the potential to 10x the wealth of U.S. households of color and those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution. Our partners at Gary Community Ventures put it well: “By shifting who owns assets we not only shift who benefits from wealth and power in our country, we advance economic justice for families and individuals whose path to wealth has been intentionally and systemically obstructed.” A full report from the ASSEMBLE100 summit will be available soon, but early takeaways suggest that successfully growing the ownership investing movement will involve: 💬 Developing shared language and understanding around ownership investing. 📈 Scaling ownership models and documenting their impact in the marketplace. 📢 Continuing to grow investor awareness and participation in ownership investing. The leaders at this gathering put forward a bold vision for the #futureofwealth in the U.S. Now it’s time to roll our sleeves up and get started on what Ida Rademacher calls “the work of a lifetime!” Genevieve Melford, Heather McCulloch, Joanna Smith-Ramani, Santhosh Ramdoss, Devin Murphy, Catherine Toner, David Bank, Atharva S., Margot Brandenburg, Smitha Das, Amy Brakeman, Dave Young, Aron Szapiro, Hope Wollensack, Jenna Louie, Donna Sims Wilson, Ashley D. Bell, Lauren Sercu, CFA , Brian Svendahl, CFA, Philip Reeves, Delilah Rothenberg, Joseph Blasi, Brian Boland, Tracy Hadden Loh, Brian Murray, Jill Hawley, Mowa Haile, Douglas Dell, Aisha T. Weeks, MPA, Cindy Willard, Efrata Kirose, Charlyn Moss, Abby Murray, Chris Herrmann and Hilary Cooper.

Not enough Americans are invested in the economy, and many are acutely disconnected from the asset building tools that create wealth. How can we ensure that everyone fully participates in the upside of America? One solution: early wealth building accounts. By investing in young people early (ideally at birth), we can build a system that provides an on-ramp to wealth building for young people. Join us for our 10/21 livestream with Invest America exploring the economic impact of early wealth building accounts! Moderated by Ray Boshara, our discussion will cover new insights from the research of Milken Institute’s Kevin Hassett and Robert Shapiro. Join us 👉 https://lnkd.in/eaujPTs5 The Aspen Institute BlackRock Karen Biddle Andres Jason E. Joanna Smith-Ramani Ida Rademacher Erin Borġ (Thiemann) Julia Rocchi Kara Woolley (Watkins) Alex Coccia Kate Griffin Tim Shaw

By 2030, women will hold $30 trillion in financial assets, a 300% increase 📈 from 2020. With women’s economic contributions rapidly growing, how can we create an economy that meets women's unique financial needs? That’s one of the questions we'll be asking reporters Josie Cox and Chabeli Carrazana in our upcoming webinar, It’s Women in the Economy, Stupid! Part of The Future of Women in the Economy dialogue series, this kickoff webinar will cover past and present roles of women in the workforce and opportunities for future economic policy innovation. Register now: https://lnkd.in/gq8e8V8X Joanna Smith-Ramani Heather McCulloch The Aspen Institute The 19th

The Aspen Institute wants to hear from you! Our colleagues at the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy are asking for your feedback to help shape and improve our communications around the economy. Please fill out ✍ this brief survey to share your insights! https://lnkd.in/enD5ZWKm Aspen Institute staff, interns, fellows, partners, and trustees are also encouraged to respond!