Financial Planning News: “Asian American advisors share hopes for the future after a season of hate”
August 25, 2021, Financial Planning News — In today’s issue of Financial Planning, reporter Tobias Salinger writes: Asian American financial advisors and wealth management professionals are responding in starkly different ways to a wave of hate and violence amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The spate of incidents took the form of racial slurs and thousands of physical attacks across the country, including a mass shooting in Atlanta last March. It left many Asian American advisors grappling with how to advance their own success while at the same time getting the industry to recognize their group and reflect America’s changing demographics in order to usher in a new generation of clients and planners.
But the myth that Asian Americans — or any group of tens of millions of Americans for that matter — have lockstep, monolithic views is debunked by the diverging viewpoints of the 20 professionals canvassed below as part of Financial Planning’s 36th annual IBD Elite study.
Some advisors and professionals rejected the notion that they have been subjected to any discrimination in the industry. Their achievements, they said, reflect a meritocracy in which hard work overcame any burdens added by their race, and the discussion in itself may demean those achievements.
Others expressed frustration about being stereotyped as a “model minority” while fearing for the safety of loved ones. They noted the dearth of Asian American executives in visible C-suite roles and say they don’t feel the same sense of support and opportunity as their white colleagues. Even so, many stressed the contrast between their experiences and those of Black Americans both as financial advisors and as citizens.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders represent 7.7% of the U.S. population, according to the newly released 2020 Census. That’s up from 5.6% in 2010. The group spans a range of origins and median incomes that are in some cases well above most other Americans and in others far below.
In light of the hate speech and violence of the past year and a half and the rising number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the IBD Elite study includes a discussion of why they see unmet potential amid their accomplishments and features 20 advisors and industry professionals who shared their reflections, suggestions, and views.