EXECUTIVE Q&A
Creating better financial futures for America’s youth
Sangeeta Moorjani
Head of Tax-Exempt Markets &
Retirement Solutions,
Fidelity Investments
By WP Creative Group
MARCH 5, 2024
At its core, financial mobility is foundational to the American Dream. It’s about developing the knowledge, skills and discipline needed to climb the economic ladder and achieve our financial goals—which, in turn, empowers us to achieve our life’s goals. And the sooner Americans start thinking about financial mobility, the better equipped they’ll be to attain it, according to Sangeeta Moorjani, Head of Tax Exempt Markets and Retirement Solutions at Fidelity Investments. Moorjani and her colleagues have been helping young people begin planning for their financial futures at an early age, whether through K-12 and college financial education programs and or through the development of intuitive digital experiences—all in an effort to “meet them where they are,” Moorjani says.
Ultimately, the work they’re doing goes far beyond merely encouraging the younger generation to invest in their retirement. “It’s about having a financial education, and access to financial services, so that you can have the right skills to develop and achieve greater financial independence,” Moorjani says. “That’s what helps people reach their life goals, and contributes to a stronger, more prosperous America.”
– Q –
What trends are you seeing among younger generations when it comes to financial mobility, and how do they differ from their older counterparts?
The trends are really encouraging and positive.
First, teens are more involved in their personal finance at an early age than the prior generation. If you look at 13- to 17-year-old teens, more than half of them are talking to their parents about investing.1 They’re engaged in their finances early, and they are interested in savings and investing. Those are great trends.
The other thing we’re seeing is that Gen Z is making big strides when it comes to saving for retirement, contrary to what many may think this generation is focused on. For young people, saving for retirement is not an easy or relatable topic. But we’re seeing a significant increase—a 63 percent increase, in fact—in young people saving for retirement.2
One thing that is still sticky, I would say, is the gender gap. That gap starts early in terms of boys versus girls having positive thoughts about finances, or even parents talking more to their sons versus their daughters. We really want to make sure that everyone gets access to financial education to enable financial mobility early in life.
– Q –
How are you engaging young people in financial conversations, and empowering them to achieve economic independence?
The key here is to make learning fun and rewarding. Creating engaging content is really important. Through our learning labs, we’ve created finance workshops for teachers to help them create that financial literacy curriculum in K-12 schools. We have a program called Fidelity Financial Forward, which is focused on high schools, as well as programs that are focused on colleges and universities.
The next thing is, once people are on that learning journey, how do you engage them with their money? How do you make it real? And this is where our solutions come to life. We’ve got Fidelity YouthTM, a free app3 that gives teens ages 13–17 the power to make their own money moves—while letting parents stay connected. We also launched Invest in My Education, a $250 million initiative that provides access to education and ongoing support to underserved high school and college students. The program takes a comprehensive approach to driving transformational change by combining student scholarships with ongoing support, including resources to complete degree programs and pathways to post-graduation employment. And then, as people are going through college, we’ve got student debt tools so young people can start to understand the concept of debt and how to make smart decisions.
“We really want to make sure that everyone gets access to financial education to enable financial mobility early in life.”
– Q –
How is Fidelity leveraging technology and innovation when it comes to developing products, services and tools for young people?
Use of intuitive digital experiences and tools is foundational, especially with young people.
Fidelity’s mission is to help our customers plan and achieve their most important financial goals. Delivering innovative products and services through intuitive digital experiences is foundational to that mission, especially with young people. We create tools and solutions on key topics—like budgeting, saving, debt management and payments. We’re also meeting young people where they are and using social media to help answer their questions with tips and insights while making money a little easier to understand.
– Q –
How can companies like Fidelity and higher ed institutions come together to help promote financial literacy and mobility, and what does collaboration with higher ed look like at Fidelity?
That collaboration is critical and key.
After the legislation for name, image and likeness was passed, we collaborated with the University of Kentucky to make sure that as their athletes are making decisions, they are financially educated, and that they are aware and they know how to save and invest that money. Very quickly, that program is something that they rolled out to their students because they felt it was so critical.
What is so incredible and rewarding about this relationship is that at the University of Kentucky, they have done research that shows that they see an increase in the GPA of students who are enrolled in this program versus those who are not. We’re now excited to roll this out to other universities, including Duke University, UNC Charlotte and several other schools.
“Public policy can help enable financial mobility for Americans.”
– Q –
What role does public policy play in helping to advance financial mobility?
Public policy is fundamental and foundational.
The question is, what role does public policy not play? Public policy can help enable financial mobility for Americans. And that’s why it’s so critical that this be a partnership across all of us—federal, state, and at a business level—working together.
One example where we’ve reaped the benefits of that partnership with policymakers is emergency savings. We really appreciate Congress recognizing the importance of emergency savings, and including some provisions in SECURE 2.0 to tackle that issue. We think there is more that can be done here, and we support enhancements including allowing auto-enrollment into out-of-plan accounts for emergency savings, and allowing out-of-plan contributions to emergency savings accounts to be eligible for matching into a plan’s retirement account.
Another area where public policy plays a significant role is student debt. Congress should make the provisions permanent in CARES Act 2020 that allows employers to contribute up to $5,250 tax-free toward an employee’s student loans every year. I know that expires at the end of next year.
These are just a couple of areas where the public and private sectors can continue to work together to create opportunities to help young Americans achieve greater financial independence and reach their most important life goals.
To create financial mobility, you’ve got to help people right at the start of their financial journey. Traditionally, we’ve thought about that in terms of when people start to earn money and enter the job market. That’s what differentiates Fidelity. We want to focus on the youth—the K-12, the teens, those that are going to college and then those that are entering the workforce and throughout their lives. It’s a journey—one that involves policymakers, educators and financial services firms like us. Financial mobility starts with all of us.
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It’s never too early to start planning your financial future
- Fidelity Investments® 2023 Teens and Money Study ↩︎
- Fidelity® Q3 2023 Retirement Analysis: Workers Commit to the Long-Term While Navigating Uncertain Markets and Short-Term Challenges ↩︎
- The Fidelity Youth™ app is free to download. Fees associated with your account positions or transacting in your account apply. ↩︎