The Prosperity Advisors scholarship aims to close the wealth gap that overlooked populations face.
The wealth gap is an issue at the forefront of American society. African American, Latino, and LGBT communities statistically have less wealth than those in the white community. People in these underserved communities have a greater challenge in achieving financial success because of the systemic obstacles they face. Prosperity Advisors, financial advisors headquartered in Kansas, created a scholarship at Kansas State University with the goal of lessening this gap and assisting those underrepresented communities in achieving financial success and security.
“We at Prosperity Advisors were concerned about the wealth gap and the divide between those that have and those that do not,” said Paul Ewing, Prosperity Advisors CEO. “Given that we are financial advisors, we feel that a big part of that wealth gap is due to financial literacy and access to quality financial advice. What we find is that there are entire populations in the U.S. economy that are underrepresented in the financial advice field. We hope that with this scholarship, we are able to not only begin to close the wealth gap but also provide those in underrepresented populations with financial literacy and quality financial advice.”
The first recipient of the Prosperity Advisors scholarship has already experienced positive benefits. “The Prosperity Advisors scholarship has helped me get that much closer to achieving my goal of becoming a financial planner and owning my own firm,” said Joel Alderson, senior in financial planning. “This scholarship will be the springboard that launches future recipients to their financial planning goals because it allows them to learn their passion without worrying about the debt that comes with college tuition.”
The Prosperity Advisor scholarship plays a critical role in the areas it aims to address and Martin Seay, president of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and associate professor in the College of Health and Human Sciences, wanted to express the importance of the Prosperity Advisor scholarship. “With only 23.2% of certified financial planning professionals being female, and less than 4% being Black or Latino, this scholarship addresses the critical need of increasing access and awareness of Financial Planning as a career,” said Seay.
Originally published in October 2020.
