Life Insurers Aim to Close Race-Linked Wealth Gap

What You Need to Know

PGIM, an arm of Prudential, has hired Tim Woods to launch an HBCU Strategic Initiatives unit.
The PGIM unit will help set up student-run investment funds at HBCUs.
The programs and other personal finance education efforts aimed at college students could convince Gen Z consumers that saving and investing are ethical activities.

PGIM and OneAmerica are working to expand the retirement planning market — by trying to increase the odds that Black Americans will have the information they need to build savings and wealth.

PGIM has hired Timothy Woods, a veteran asset manager, to spearhead its HBCU Strategic Initiatives. Woods’ team will help historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) start student-run investment funds.

His team will also provide support and training at HBCUs, establish scholarships for HBCU students, and develop other HBCU support strategies.

Another life insurer, OneAmerica, has agreed to work with The American College of Financial Services to make a personal finance education program available through schools and nonprofit organizations throughout central Indiana. The American College originally developed the program for students at HBCUs.

As part of the agreement, OneAmerica will provide $1 million in program funding over five years. OneAmerica CEO Scott Davison said in a comment about the project that he hopes the new program will establish a foundation for economic empowerment and wealth building.

What It Means

For advisory firms, the outreach efforts could prove to be a new source of talent. For advisors, the programs could be a critical vehicle for marketing capitalism.

The programs and other personal finance education efforts aimed at college students could persuade Generation Z consumers that saving and investing are ethical activities.

PGIM’s Program

PGIM is an asset management arm of Prudential Financial — a Newark, New Jersey-based company that led campaigns to pasteurize milk and stop smoking, but also employed an actuary who, in the early 1900s, became a leading advocate of race-based life insurance pricing.