Clients Need Help With This One Powerful Threat: Martin Powell

The coalition is designed to provide expanded access, resources, education and networking for diverse wholesaler talent.

What forces out there are helping, and what forces are hurting?

Unfortunately, there are still many systemic barriers preventing progress toward diversity in financial services.

For starters, the lack of existing mentors from historically marginalized communities makes it difficult for people to climb the corporate ladder even once they are in the world of financial services.

However, many companies, including some of America's most influential, are now publicly committing to making their workforces more diverse by redesigning their recruitment practices to target talent from within these communities and expanding their DEI initiatives to better serve consumers from different backgrounds.

These changes will hopefully help the industry expand its previously narrow view of who belongs in financial services and open new doors.

If successful and sustained, these initiatives will ultimately result in increasing the wealth of the historically marginalized.

What do you think your market (or your specialty, or the world) will look like five years from now?

Given the current era of economic uncertainty that we're in, I think the next five years will be very unpredictable for retirement savings as many Americans will likely face financial challenges.

Many might be tempted to reactively change their retirement plans or pull back on their investments out of fear, which would ultimately hurt their long-term savings.

Some investors are looking for safer options, which has helped fuel the growth of annuity products as they present a low risk but come with steady growth potential.

This balance is ideal for many who are grappling with the financial issues that come with aging like the fear of outliving retirement savings.

My hope is that the volatility will encourage people to prioritize their retirement planning and the annuities market will continue to grow.

I am also hopeful that the financial services industry will become more diverse to better represent the general population within the next five years.

What, if anything, should readers or other players, such as industry groups and members of Congress, be doing to bring about positive change?

Industry groups should continue to focus on promoting diversity within the financial services industry by making it more accessible to applicants from all backgrounds with robust recruitment pipelines.

They should also work on expanding their consumer base by improving access to products and services to a wider range of people.

Lastly, all groups involved in financial services should focus on promoting financial literacy by providing more coaching and education for clients to help them better understand their financial choices.

Doing so will help them be confident in the decisions they are making for their families and themselves.

Martin Powell. (Photo: CUNA Mutual)