Blue-sky thinking

Last month, Prudential leaders once again joined the conversation at the Aspen Ideas Festival, where they discussed ideas, trends and policies that will influence the next generation of financial solutions. The festival is the flagship event for the Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit think tank that drives change through dialogue, leadership and action to help solve the greatest challenges facing the U.S. and beyond. (Watch the video above for highlights.)

What does Prudential’s partnership with Aspen encompass?

The company’s relationship with the Aspen Institute began over two decades ago, deepening in 2021 through a five-year, $11 million commitment from Prudential called “Equity Re-imagined.” The partnership touches many of Aspen’s programs and Prudential’s businesses by working to expand access and prosperity for all Americans.

What’s new this year?

Prudential is a sponsor of Aspen’s latest report, The New Wealth Agenda, which was driven by two startling statistics:

• 51% of households have expenses equal to or greater than their income.*
• 55% don’t have the savings to weather a simultaneous drop in income and spike in expenses.*

The goal of the New Wealth Agenda: Increase tenfold the wealth of households of color and those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution in the U.S. by 2050.

• The paper recommends eight objectives to help establish a future where more Americans have enough wealth to maintain financial stability and participate fully in society.

The connection to Prudential: Several of these objectives, including wealth-building pathways, financial protection solutions, and retirement accounts, are directly linked to Prudential’s Vision to expand access.

Who attended the festival?

Dylan Tyson, president, Retirement Strategies, and the executive sponsor of the Prudential–Aspen Institute partnership, participated, as did:

• Vice Chair Rob Falzon, who spoke on a panel with leaders from Danone and Ralph Lauren, sharing why a company’s purpose is critical to making decisions, shaping culture, innovating, and growing.
• Lata Reddy, senior vice president, Inclusive Solutions, who joined panel discussions about enabling greater access to capital markets and environmental, social and governance issues.
• Salene Hitchcock-Gear, president, Individual Life Insurance, who co-hosted a breakfast roundtable with Reddy to discuss building Black wealth in America.

What’s next?

Falzon and Reddy appeared on Danone and B Lab’s podcast Forces for Good, which features groundbreaking ideas and stories about putting purpose into action. The podcast will be live in the coming weeks on all major podcast platforms.

*Aspen FSP calculations of data from the Federal Reserve Board 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances and Federal Reserve Board 2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.