The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program

We’re pleased to announce that KC Boas will join Aspen FSP as our new Retirement Savings Initiative Lead! 👏👏 KC brings over a decade of experience in the retirement savings industry, most recently as Head of Retirement Marketing at BlackRock. For KC, financial security is foundational to a life well-lived: “Financial security shapes everything from the lives we lead to what we pass on—stories included.” That perspective has motivated her to listen to people’s stories and build retirement savings solutions that respond to their needs. We’re excited for KC to round out our Inclusive Saving and Investing team with Karen Biddle Andres and Jason E.. And the timing couldn’t be better—this week we’re hosting our ninth annual Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings. KC will jump straight into discussions with 80 fellow industry leaders about how we can make the U.S. retirement system work better for everyone. Stay tuned for updates from the gathering, and in the meantime, read KC’s introduction blog to learn more about our newest team member ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eNgv3tVJ

Next week, we’ll convene our ninth annual Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings. Three days, 80+ leaders, one goal: to make the U.S. retirement savings system work for everyone. 🙌 🙌 Ahead of the Forum, we asked attendees and field experts to share the ideas or challenges they’re grappling with day-to-day. Here’s what some of them said: ➡️ Katie Selenski says — “I've been thinking about the range of volatility tolerance that lower income investors participating in the state auto-IRA programs have in times like these. I remember the experience we observed in March 2020 in CA—wherein the small amount of reactive behavior seemed to be driven by job loss, not market volatility worries—but now we have more people and data, so I'm curious to hear how it's going.” ➡️ Josh Gotbaum asks — “An ongoing fundamental U.S. challenge we haven't solved is that we've moved away from employers crafting retirement programs to a world in that responsibility is scattered & diffuse. Who will be responsible for designing & implementing, e.g., affordable lifetime income options when individuals lack the time or the experience to do so?” We’re excited to tackle these questions and more next week! If you couldn’t attend this year, stay tuned for our Forum report later this summer to get fresh insights on how we can improve the retirement savings system. Karen Biddle Andres KC Boas Jason E. Ida Rademacher Joanna Smith-Ramani Genevieve Melford Michael Davis

Next week, The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program will host 80+ leaders from across sectors for the 9th annual Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings, where we will grapple together with how to make #retirementsavings work for everyone in America. It's my favorite event on my favorite topic, with an *incredible* community of people (friends!) who are spending their careers, in different ways, on making the tools of #financialsecurity and #wealth functional for everyone. The agenda is a labor of love for our team, but the magic of this convening is in hearing what's on the brilliant minds of these experts. What's grabbing their attention these days? What questions are they mulling over when they walk the dog, or do the dishes, or wash their hair? (Put me in that last category: every good thought I've ever had has happened in the shower, I'm pretty sure.) Instead of a pre-read this year, I want to crowd-source a "what we're reading" list -- and make it public! I'll go first -- and I want to hear from my fellow Forum attendees, too! Recently, I've been reading (and sharing, ad nauseum with the Aspen FSP team) a variety of takes on the future of #investing, and how markets (essential to the growth of retirement savings, of course) could change over time: 1. Dr. Joe Coughlin on how shifting demographics will change real estate and municipal bond markets: https://lnkd.in/g6TdCjpU 2. Hedera CFO Betsabe Botaitis on real world asset tokenization on the blockchain: https://lnkd.in/gfJprN6t 3. Craig Coben for the Financial Times on the decline of public IPOs: https://lnkd.in/gt2c7gBB Because while we remain laser-focused on expanding access to the system, we have to look into the future to ensure we're providing access to the *right* thing. Tag, you're it, Jason E. Ida Rademacher Kate Griffin Kreg Steven Brown Genevieve Melford Erin Borġ (Thiemann) Joanna Smith-Ramani David C. John Mark Iwry Lisa Ann Massena Lambert Katie Selenski Michael Davis Josh Cohen Lew Minsky Michael P. Kreps Jason Fichtner, Ph.D. Anne Ackerley KC Boas Robin Diamonte Jaime Magyera Kendra Kosko Isaacson Josh Gotbaum John Thompson John Scott Steven Abbott Angela Antonelli Don Baylor, Jr. Ray Boshara Chris Ceder Claire Chamberlain Paula D'Ambrosa Kathryn Delcavo Kathryn Anne Edwards

Sharing excerpts from my #MinistryofFinance speech at The Aspen Institute’s Purple Party earlier this week. May we all find the conviction and courage to support the people and places that need us to step up in this moment. 🙏🏾 _______ Hi! I’m napoleon. I’m a social entrepreneur. You’ll notice that I speak differently. Please don’t be intimidated. My robotic voice may sound like an artificial intelligence, but I promise I’m not that smart. I have ALS so I speak through a device. No biggie. 😉 It’s a privilege to be with The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program tonight. We’re gathered under a banner of #sharedprosperity, but we’re also at a crossroads. Some are here to transform unfair systems. Others are here just to road test the latest impact pitch. That tension may have been tolerable in the early days of impact finance, but today’s moment is calling the entire field to account. We’re seeing a dangerous pivot—from mobility to exclusion. From justice to Just Us! That pivot isn’t just dishonest—it’s dangerous. It erases history. It ignores intentional policy. It denies the violence, exclusion, and compounding effect of locking entire communities out of the #ownershipeconomy for generations. Pretending everyone’s now suddenly on equal footing? That’s not fairness. It’s fiction. I’ll admit—there’s real risk here. But for the communities we care about, this isn’t the time to pull back. It’s the time to get active. Get organized. And get into some #GOODTROUBLE! That’s the idea behind GoodTrbl.org—a NC coalition of investors, builders, and truth-tellers. We’re challenging our state’s wealthiest to double down on #investments that address the #health, #wealth, #workforce, and #housing needs of their fellow North Carolinians. While Wall Street plays its game, we’re building a different one. A local one. A just one. We don’t need permission—we only need our convictions, our capital, and a little courage. Let’s be honest: #Ownership and #impactinvesting isn’t built to out-muscle mainstream #finance. We’re scrappy, but small—just 2% of U.S. banking, 1% of asset management, and less than annual charitable giving. Scale simply isn’t our strength. Our strength is truth! The truth that impact drives durable returns. That profitable externalities—built on extraction, pollution, underpaid labor—aren’t efficiencies. It’s theft. We must innovate and encourage the market to internalize impact—not as a bonus, but as the baseline. That’s the next leap. Not just doing good while doing well, but making it impossible to do well at the expense of others. In hindsight, this won’t be another moment of injustice and opportunity. This is the test—the moment we’ve been preparing for. The stakes are high and the work is hard, but the cost of silence is too expensive. Whatever you can do, do it. Whatever you can build, build it. Together, we will create a just and inclusive economy that lasts beyond any of us. Much love, many thanks and talk soon!

The key to making sure everyone has a comfortable retirement? Access, access, access. That was one of the key themes of a talk given by Aspen FSP’s Director of Inclusive Saving and Investing Karen Biddle Andres. Speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), she called for a national approach to automatic workplace retirement savings that would benefit all workers. The panel, “Asegurando Nuestro Futuro: Stable Pathways for Latino Retirement,” featured fellow retirement savings experts Angela Antonelli, Christine Cheng, and Carlos Garcia, with moderator Julio Chavez. Their conversation highlighted opportunities to improve the retirement savings system so that Latino communities and all U.S. workers can better save for retirement. Watch the full event ▶️ https://lnkd.in/emcvzk4R

The wealth gap isn't just a headline; it's a reality. We're witnessing an alarming consolidation of economic power, leaving too many behind. It's time to shift the paradigm. Don't just observe the problem – understand the solution. The Ownership Investing report lays out actionable strategies to democratize wealth. Discover the four critical levers and 20+ investment opportunities that can empower working people. A deep thanks to Santhosh Ramdoss, Emily Williams, Catherine Toner, Ida Rademacher, Joanna Smith-Ramani, Devin Murphy, Atharva S. and their respective teams at The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program and The Bridgespan Group for their partnership on this work. Download the Ownership Investing report here: https://lnkd.in/esyAh-xU #OwnershipInvesting #OwnershipEconomy #InclusiveEconomy

How can digital identity technology make financial systems more accessible? That’s the question the The Aspen Institute network sought to answer at the recent “Digital Equity Frontiers” gathering in Mexico City. This one-day innovation session–shaped by Aspen FSP’s Erin Borġ (Thiemann) and co-led by Ida Rademacher—convened participants from North and South America to discuss how private-public sector collaboration on digital identity solutions can help more people access financial services in Latin America and beyond. While a full report on the meeting is forthcoming, here are some key takeaways: 🤝 Government agencies are still primary ID issuers, but the private sector—especially fintech and technology companies—play a key role in developing and implementing the infrastructure needed for digital ID adoption. 🚀 Digital identity can be a tool for growth across Latin America, enabling entrepreneurs to access credit and reduce regulatory barriers to starting new ventures or growing their existing businesses. 💵 Digital ID tools can streamline benefits delivery, reduce fraud, and ensure that public services reach vulnerable populations. Sarah Zetterli Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs ANDE Latinoamérica Aspen Institute International Partners

In February, Aspen FSP convened its inaugural Leadership Forum on Inclusive Finance, which gathered 80+ cross-sector leaders to tackle the question: What will the U.S. financial system look like in 10 years? Over two days, participants grappled with how to leverage the critical forces shaping our current financial system to create a future where more households and businesses can thrive. In a Forbes piece published this week, TransUnion SVP and Forum participant Liz Pagel underlines the importance of making the business case for financial inclusion. “If we’re successful, financial inclusion will result in more customers for the businesses that today are forced to turn away good consumers who want their products,” she writes. Read more about her takeaways from the Leadership Forum on Inclusive Finance 👉 https://lnkd.in/gpFudH3H Kate Griffin Erin Borġ (Thiemann) Laila Bera Ida Rademacher Jon Boughtin

📢 Tune in tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET for this expert roundtable! Kate Griffin, Aspen FSP's director of inclusive financial system, will share about her work heading up the National Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention.

📅 Happening next week! ImpactAlpha and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are hosting the Washington, D.C. premiere of the mini-documentary “Equity & Ownership: Napoleon Wallace and the Reconstruction of Black Wealth.” The film features napoleon wallace, an Aspen FSP Wealth Innovation Cohort Fellow, and his work to close the wealth gap with Partners in Equity. 🕒 When: Tuesday, April 8 @ 5:30 p.m. ET 📍 Where: The Aspen Institute, 2300 N Street Northwest #700, Washington, DC 20037 The screening will be followed by an interactive panel discussion and guided networking. To attend, please RSVP here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eruErwWW If you want to read up on Wallace’s work ahead of the event, check out our recently published case study, detailing how Partners in Equity helps small business owners grow their wealth 🔎 https://lnkd.in/eQCMh2fi Ida Rademacher Joanna Smith-Ramani Heather McCulloch Sarah Zetterli Talib Graves-Manns Wilson Lester