Meet Me Where I Am: Asso Yankson Reframes Retirement
Just before the holidays (and SECURE 2.0) we had the pleasure of chatting with Asso Yankson, Senior Manager, Retirement Consulting at Ernst & Young LLP (EY). We love this conversation both for its insights, and for the way EY and Yankson have worked together to create a role that is both difference-making, and supportive of working parenting. Read on to see how this works.
Asso, you’re a millennial building a career in the retirement sector. Does that make you a forward thinker?
Thanks so much for having me, Lisa! In December 2020, as a spouse and mother of two, I was returning to work at EY (from 5 months of maternity leave) and highly motivated to make sure the next chapter of my career was both impactful and different than before. More purpose-driven.
We witnessed a lot of disparities through the pandemic and it brought into focus my drive to innovate in the retirement space. It became clear to me that we had an opportunity to lead with purpose. Within EY, we love amplifying our mission, which is building a better working world. To execute on that mission, we developed a theme of empowering financial security and wellness as a driver in building a better working world within retirement.
Asso on Asso
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, so I enjoy seafood and Creole and Cajun cooking.
I went to school in Washington, DC, and studied international business at Howard University. That's there where I got exposed to corporate America and professional development.
I had the phenomenal opportunity of launching my career within financial services and work at a top bank in the US, based out of New York. Over seven years, I worked across their asset management and securities divisions.
Following that experience, I embarked on my career at EY where for the past 10 years, I primarily focus on large-scale transformation efforts that help retirement providers, and improve solutions for their customers.
Given your work, how do you define and apply innovation in the US retirement system?
For us, innovation starts with asking the better question. For retirement, I think that's simply being more focused on the pressing financial challenges of real people and identifying better ways of closing the retirement gap.
Why is it done that way? What is an easier way to get things done and really address people’s needs?
I think our retirement industry continues to be ripe for innovation and disruption, and with collaboration across public and private sectors, we're in a great position to continue making good change.
See: EY’s first ever financial services innovation studio.
We saw your recent post about national retirement security month. There's a lot going on. What are you seeing that you find most valuable?
Within retirement, there's an increase in activity and conversations among experts and leaders. In the past quarter, I’ve participated in forums sponsored by DCIIA, The Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program, Jasper Forum co-led by John Mitchem, Steve Gresham’s Next Chapter, and the Center for Retirement Initiatives at Georgetown University. Plenty of activity, on a concentrated basis.
We're seeing increased collaboration, facilitated by retirement industry organizations. These initiatives range from setting better industry standards around data privacy and security, addressing challenges related to consumer trust and engagement, and other impactful efforts such as supporting the push for the passage of SECURE 2.0. This collaboration also includes establishing coalitions to drive more equitable savings for folks regardless of race, gender or income level. Retirement industry organizations are identifying common goals and working together to achieve those goals.
I'm also seeing more global retirement leaders at the table and luminaries who are external to financial services.
This is especially valuable for diversity of thought and asking better questions that challenge our thinking on matters like -- why is our country’s retirement system structured this way, how to improve plan participation by diverse groups, investment solution effectiveness, data and technology capabilities and consumer experience -- so that we can address the needs of those within the retirement space and close the gap.
In addition to these in-person and interactive virtual forums, I find several podcasts to be quite informative. Two of my favorite are Josh Cohen’s The Accidental Plan Sponsor and Angela Antonelli’s The State of Retirement.
Let's talk about inclusion. What are the elements you think we should be most focused on?
Sometimes it’s tough to really focus on this topic partly because in our industry we have been hugely focused on financial literacy and education.
I’m excited to see the shift from talking about financial literacy to understanding the importance of financial inclusion and empowerment. Meaning: financial education alone isn't enough. We have to incorporate life situations and decisions that lead to career pathing, and ways to help people build credit and emergency savings and pay off student loans and access to debt relief, and more.
With SECURE 2.0, the hope is several of these issues will be addressed, but there’s still more that can be done across the financial services industry. It’s important to help people wherever they may find themselves along their financial journey. That base gives us a more relevant place to start equipping people with better ways to make informed decisions that will help them to grow wealth throughout the years.
Earnings Matter. As an aside, knowing how to manage money is important, but it's more helpful when you have income to manage. It’s important to think about the bigger picture and consider the various challenges and decisions that people face.
One item that's also key is that retirement is a personal thing. Many people don't want to talk about retirement because they feel guilty, or even a bit embarrassed, if they're unprepared. So it's critical for organizations to focus on building trust that enables the conversation and the start of data sharing.
When I say building trust, think about the role of the financial advisor. We’re starting to see a shift in the traditional financial advisor becoming more of a life advisor and firms doing more to leverage technology as a way to democratize advice.
Support that understands me. When we're focusing on advisors, that may mean our industry needs to develop a more diverse workforce — having more Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, women and LGBTQ-plus advisors so that people feel comfortable and related to experientially, and can build that trust.
From an employer perspective it's about having more equity in the workplace as it relates to recruiting, hiring, pay, promotion and retention practices. Sometimes, addressing these workplace issues seem too uncomfortable and risky. But when we think about retirement inclusion, accountability goes both ways. For us to make real change, we need to have these conversations. And let the systemic issues surface until they are too difficult to be denied. I do believe most people understand that these changes in equity are long past due and we're all better off when folks are financially secure and preparing for or (even better) PREPARED for retirement. Who will take the lead?
In the realm of trust, studies suggest that employees expect their employers to be able to address their needs more holistically as it relates to financial wellness. But for many employers, maybe it’s better if they could focus on the basics we just talked about, and excelling at the business that they’re in, and let the broader industry solve for good retirement or “wellness” solutions and platforms that are fully connected, seamless and portable. This also benefits workers across micro and small businesses, the gig economy etc.
Investing for long term growth. In 2020 and 2021 we saw millions of people across our country working together, doing their best to address disparities that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Also, we saw announcements that millions of dollars were being pumped into impacted communities and racial equity causes. There's still a great need for that energy and investment, including venture philanthropy that creates measurable outcomes related to financial security and retirement.
There could be more investment in simple and easily accessible products that are designed to benefit certain communities. Or perhaps more retirement services firms could make a few strategic decisions that would require them to operate at breakeven costs in the near term, for the benefit of the long term. Collectively, the buying power of underrepresented groups in our country is close to $4 trillion and growing. If we take the time to make those investments now, the growth is going to come and it's going to be good for all parties involved.
Partnering. The final item I’ll mention is working more closely with the public and private sector. We're very well positioned for continued improvement with increased bipartisan support. When we think about initiatives related to addressing systemic issues in our retirement system, we are making good progress. Leveraging some of that momentum — and forming partnerships where it makes sense — will be key.
We’re seeing a range of new initiatives related to portability and access. That's good, but overall the access is most effective when it leads to outcomes. When we think about collaboration across sectors, it’s important to make sure that we are really working to drive outcomes for millions of Americans who are in need.
The basic outcome is that at any age we all have the ability to live comfortably, with dignity and respect, and not run out of money.
It’s not a short list, but it is an important one. These are my thoughts on what we can do differently.
“Support that understands me” – what matters here?
If we want to empower financial security and wellness — one thing we can do more of is meeting customers where they are. This is part of human centricity or humans at the center. It means having the right solution and user experience based on where someone may be within their financial or life journey. To get it done also means being more focused on partnerships, with embedded finance being an important one.
What I mean by embedded finance is seamless and safe methods for transacting within a non-financial space that enables individuals to invest or save – to build wealth. Connecting an individual’s money matters, across sectors. We can create the necessary constructs to enable more of that.
Another form is the opportunity for retirement service providers to have embedded relationships as it relates to longevity care and retirement income, healthcare, and more. Embedded finance and relationships can be important pathways to delivering outcomes that people need when living in retirement.
At EY we talk about reframing retirement – and its many dimensions. One that I want to highlight is reframing the concept to lifetime financial resilience or lifelong self-care -- or another term that transcends age and life stage. This idea clearly embeds the money experience across financial and non-financial sectors, and over an individual’s lifetime. It recognizes that every financial decision is important from day one, and collectively impacts quality of life regardless of the post-career path that's chosen. Shifting mindsets now can make the idea of living in retirement more relatable at any age.
I recently heard that it's hard for folks to save for retirement because they just can't envision themselves in the future. We need to make the “now” part of saving more relatable, and a higher priority. Some organizations are investing in virtual reality and other technologies to help with this issue. That’s innovative and exciting! But simply changing how we talk about retirement can help too, especially for those who are unlikely to access digital or virtual reality experiences.
Asso Yankson – thank you for sharing your innovation experience with us! You can connect with Asso on LinkedIn and by email.
Asso Yankson is EY Americas Retirement Consulting Senior Manager focused on empowering financial security and wellness for clients, communities and the retirement ecosystem. As a leader within EY’s retirement practice, Asso delivers strategy, transformation and management consulting to top U.S. wealth and asset management, insurance and retirement firms. She most recently helped shape the vision and execution of the inaugural EY Innovation Studio event series for the retirement ecosystem, entitled “Empowering financial security and wellness: Reframing retirement.” This forum convened over 175 executives from 65 leading firms across the U.S. retirement ecosystem to explore innovative methods for building better financial outcomes for all.
This piece was featured in the January 12, 2023, edition of Retirement Security Matters. For more fresh thinking on retirement savings innovation, check out the newsletter here
