Building with Wisdom: Why Centering Black Elders Is Key to Financial Innovation

Raymond A. Jetson is a lifelong public servant and social innovator whose work challenges conventional narratives around aging, race, and community. As the founder of the movement – and now book – Aging While Black, he is elevating the voices of Black elders and advocating for systems that center wisdom, dignity, and opportunity for all. 

After Raymond’s powerful appearance at EMERGE 2025 – where he spoke about aging as a force for transformation and received a standing ovation – we were eager to reconnect with him to learn more about his vision, the movement he’s building, and what’s next.

Who are the elders in your life, past or present, who taught you the most about wisdom, resourcefulness, and community?

Two men shaped my understanding of financial wisdom and community investment in profound ways – my great-grandfather, Walter Whitfield, and my father, Louis Jetson.

My great-grandfather, Walter, couldn’t read or write, but he mastered the fundamentals of the free enterprise system in a society that was designed to exclude him. As a child, I watched him purchase a plot of land with nothing more than a handshake. He then used that land not just for survival, but for empowerment – growing crops to feed his family, support neighbors, and barter for goods and services. In doing so, he built a kind of financial independence that defied the constraints imposed on Black men of his era. From him, I learned that resourcefulness is not just about making do – it’s about claiming space and cultivating possibility, even in a system not designed for your success.

Raymond A. Jetson’s great grandparents Rebecca and Walter Whitfield

The next person, my father, Louis, was a skilled meat cutter. While the company he worked for paid meat cutters by the hour, he saw another path. He asked to be paid based on his production and then invested his own money in high-quality knives and equipment. With that decision, his earnings soon far outpaced his peers. But what stayed with me the most wasn’t his success – it was his generosity. He invited his coworkers to our home, laid out his strategy, and taught them how to do the same. From him, I learned that wisdom must be shared, and that true leadership means lifting others as you rise.

Together, their lives taught me that financial health isn’t just about what you earn or own. Financial health is about how you navigate systems, care for your community, and pass on knowledge that helps the next person thrive.

You mentioned elders as “anchors of trust.” How might financial organizations engage them as advisors, ambassadors, or co-designers of products?

Trust is one of the most valuable currencies in financial health – and Black elders are among its most powerful stewards. In many communities, they are often the first ones family members turn to for financial decisions, trusted to make sense of complex systems and offer grounded, culturally rooted advice. Financial organizations have a profound opportunity to move beyond surface-level outreach and into authentic, sustained partnership with Black elders.

These elders are not just consumers. They are cultural historians, knowledge-bearers, and influencers who shape household and community financial behaviors. As advisors, they should have formal, compensated roles in strategic planning, product development, and evaluation. As ambassadors, they can foster credibility in communities where financial institutions must work to overcome legacies of harm. And as co-designers, they can offer essential insights that can reshape financial tools and services to be more intuitive, inclusive, and grounded in trust.

We’ve seen this work in other sectors – like healthcare – where patient advisory councils dramatically improve outcomes. The same principle applies here. When Black elders are invited in from the beginning, the result is not just inclusion – it’s equitable transformation. Financial solutions become more responsive, more sustainable, and more reflective of the values and realities of the people they are meant to serve.

What’s the one piece of money advice you’ve received and have carried with you? 

One piece of advice that has stayed with me came from an older family member who said, “The difference between money and a good name is that when you die, you can take the name with you.” It was a reminder that character and integrity outlast currency. Financial success means little if it’s not built on trust, respect, and how you treat others. That wisdom has guided both my personal and professional decisions – always aiming to build something that honors my name and uplifts those around me.

What would it look like for companies to collaborate more proactively with Black elders on financial solutions from the start? Have you seen successful models of this approach?

True collaboration begins with relationship-building before product design. There is an important concept in community engagement of “connection before content.” It looks like investing time in places where Black elders already gather. Once the commitment to simply be present is made, the practice of cultural humility becomes the critical next step. This involves demonstrating a willingness to listen intently and learn from and with Black elders. Beyond this, it is necessary to create space for their lived experiences and expertise to inform decisions, not just react to them.

Rather than successful models, I would offer promising opportunities: 

• • The first is an Aging While Black pilot focused on middle- to high-income individuals who are a part of the alumni network of a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). This effort provides a chance for interested parties to help in the co-design of the effort and build important relationships. 
  • The second suggestion is for companies to connect with an emerging initiative aimed at impacting Black families. While learning, companies can also identify ways they can add value and support. An example that comes to mind is Let’s Talk About ACP™, where Black elders co-facilitated discussions about advance care planning. That same approach can be applied to financial conversations: elders guiding peers through complex systems while informing institutions about what works – and what doesn’t. 
  • Lastly, another promising example is fintech and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) partnering with local senior centers or historically Black institutions to pilot new financial tools in trusted environments, using feedback loops that reflect elder priorities and pace.

You recently released a new book, “Aging While Black.” Can you share more about that? As you developed the book, was there anything that caught you off guard or challenged your thinking as you worked on it?

Yes – several things, actually. I was surprisingly unprepared for the sheer breadth and depth of the issues impacting Black elders. I began this journey with a strong sense of purpose, but as I dug deeper, the complexity and interconnectedness of the challenges truly came into focus. Financial insecurity couldn’t be separated from housing instability, healthcare disparities, or systemic neglect. These weren’t isolated problems – they were part of an intricate web, shaped by history and reinforced by policy and practice. There were moments where I struggled to process it in a constructive way.

What challenged me most, though, was the realization of just how firmly entrenched the systems and structures impacting Black life really are. In the book, I mentioned what is described as the “elegant tenacity of the status quo.” Writing the book brought a deeper awareness of this phrase. These insights reshaped the entire arc of the book. It pushed me to move beyond awareness and strategy alone, and toward a call for systemic transformation, led by those who have navigated these barriers their entire lives. It is in this experience that the notion of “radical reimagination” was born.

You challenged us to “build, not fix” communities. What’s an example of an initiative that honored the strength of a Black elder community rather than treating them as a vulnerable population?

In the book, I highlight the Sankofa Elders Project in Los Angeles County. The Aging While Black movement partnered with the amazing Carlene Davis of the California Black Women’s Health Project and co-designed an initiative grounded in the Appreciative Inquiry process. We didn’t start with, “What’s broken?” We asked, “What’s strong here? What’s sacred?” That shift transformed everything.

The result was a Community Manifesto of Care and Belonging – crafted by elders, for elders, and informed by their lived experiences. It’s now guiding advocacy and activism around the ways healthcare and service providers in that region think about access, dignity, and wellness. That’s the power of honoring strength instead of diagnosing vulnerability. It generates solutions that are authentic, community-owned, and sustainable. This model certainly lends itself to financial well-being and other vital areas of Black life.

If you could design a national financial health initiative centered around aging Black Americans, what would it prioritize and who would you want to engage in the project?

Any meaningful initiative must begin by centering aging Black Americans as both the keepers of financial wisdom and the drivers of intergenerational change. This is not only a matter of respect, but strategically imperative. 

For generations, Black elders have sustained families, navigated economic injustice with creativity and fortitude, and passed on essential lessons about survival and stewardship. Their lived experiences and insights are foundational to building a thriving financial future, not only for themselves but for the generations that follow.

Such an initiative would prioritize economic security in elderhood, including:

• • Equitable wages across the life course
  • Debt relief
  • Fair retirement systems
  • Caregiving compensation 

Advancing intergenerational wealth by building financial education models will strengthen connections between elders and younger family members – promoting the transfer of both knowledge and opportunity. Technology inclusion would also be essential, ensuring older adults can confidently and safely engage in the digital economy without being marginalized or patronized. And finally, the initiative would elevate community-led innovation by investing in Black-led organizations to design and pilot solutions that are rooted in cultural relevance, mutual trust, and long-standing community practices.

The people and institutions involved would reflect the diversity and strength of the Black community itself. That might begin with Black elders, credit unions, HBCUs, Black-led anchor institutions, fintech developers, policy advocates, and youth leaders – but this would only be the starting point. 

Everyone has a role to play, and any effort must be shaped by ongoing input and leadership from those who have been most impacted and most overlooked for far too long. Most of all, the work must begin and end with the wisdom, values, and vision of Black elders.