Join the Conversation: Women, Impact, & the Year 2030
Life. It just plows forward. Plans, intentions, hopes; they all have impact but I marvel over how often I'm reminded that control of life is an aspiration; not a thing I’m in charge of, no matter how willful I am. In January 2020 I joined a bank to help launch a new Institute to support the development of human capital in families; that’s a story of its own which will wait for another day. But six weeks after starting, life was disrupted for us all as the world shut down in the face of the coronavirus. I spent the next 18 months, working remotely; reimagining the original job and completed that assignment this summer. During that time, I was MIA on this site. (Bank regulations actually do control quite a lot.)
With that chapter finished, I'm back at the Table, exploring innovations in families; financial well-being, and our potential as humans. While I'm often caught saying that, “Hope is not a plan,” I do think it's a powerful force. Hope gets me out of bed in the morning; it pulls me to imagine, try, invent and reinvent. Hope is the centerpiece of The Unexpected Table. I expect hopefulness will inspire good ideas and maybe even some useful action.
I’m busy these days working with families, creating new financial education services, and building community—in my small town in Maine; my home in Ojai, Ca.; and in my meta-communities, the global world we're all part of. Which is to say I plan to post news, updates, and possibilities for participation every few weeks. I’m not going to hold to a schedule (you know, life). Instead I’ll work with an intention to show up and share what is current a couple of times a month. I won’t inundate you with emails but if you want to opt out, please do. And if you have comments, ideas, questions, bring 'em on.
My news today is actually old news that continues to be news. Thanks to an invitation from a friend, last June I co-hosted a dinner to explore the news that by 2030 women will control 70% of the wealth in this country. This is a demographic anomaly, a function of boomers passing on wealth to wives, daughters, sisters; women who live longer than men. (As of 2017, life expectancy for men was 76.1 years, while life expectancy for women reached 81.1 years). But it’s an anomaly worth noting. What will it mean? Will women be ready? How will they use this opportunity?
The women at the table that night in June were filled with ideas (we need to do a better job preparing girls for the future); worries (we’ll miss the opportunity if we aren’t paying attention); and energy (let’s keep talking).I plan to host (and co-host) more of these conversations over the coming year. If you would like to join the conversation, co-host, sponsor, or just know more about Women, Impact and the Year 2030, send me a note.. New dinners will be popping up around the country over the next 12 months.Though this is a topic focused on the future of women, this dynamic will have ripple effects for everyone—and the conversations will embrace many points of view. My goal is to explore the unexpected and imagine what this transfer of wealth will bring forth.