Building the Foundations of Health and Wealth
One June 26, we gathered a remarkable group of leaders in our TIAA offices in New York City to explore a critical question at the exact mid-point of the Decade of Healthy Aging: Is it correct to assume health and wealth are two sides of the same coin. And if yes, what does it take to build systems that support health and wealth across the full arc of a longer life?
The roundtable brought together voices from healthcare delivery, academia, financial services, philanthropy, and policy. In the room, we had economists, clinicians, innovators, and advocates, all committed to rethinking how we prepare individuals, families, and communities for longevity.
Throughout the day, we returned again and again to the reality that people are living longer than ever. That gift of time also brings new risks and challenges: health shocks, cognitive decline, caregiving strain, and the financial uncertainty of outliving one’s resources. Participants spoke with honesty about how unprepared many systems remain for these realities.
Several themes emerged in the discussion. One was the need for what we have been calling longevity literacy, the understanding not only of how long we might live, but how to plan for health, caregiving, and finances over decades. We heard again and again that this kind of literacy is a public good and that it cannot be achieved by isolated efforts. It requires collaboration among employers, healthcare systems, financial institutions, and communities of trust.
Another clear takeaway was the importance of confronting structural drivers of inequality. As one participant reminded us, income itself is among the most powerful predictors of life expectancy. Health and wealth are not parallel tracks but deeply intertwined.
We also heard powerful calls to design solutions that meet people where they are; embedding financial counseling into clinics, integrating caregiving benefits into workplaces, and creating universal milestones like a “longevity check-up” at age fifty.
Throughout the day, the conversation never drifted into the abstract. It stayed anchored in the real experiences of people like Leon, an Uber driver I met recently who assumes he will die at seventy-five and plans accordingly. His story was a reminder that the systems we design must start with human belief and perception as much as actuarial tables.
By the end of the session, there was a sense of collective momentum. Participants shared a conviction that we have an opportunity, perhaps an obligation to move from insight to action. Whether through pilots, policy experiments, or new collaborations, the ideas generated at the roundtable deserve to be carried forward.
I was delighted that everyone we invited took the time to be part of this dialogue. Their wisdom and generosity of spirit were evident in every exchange.
We will repeat this as a symposium annually until 2029. In 2030 we will reconvene this roundtable to measure our progress and our success!
