Going Forward

Thus far in this blog, a number of issues in aging and their specific application to careers relating to Wall Street have been discussed. Issues such as stress, sleep deprivation, and an engrossment in work can lead to, among other things, issues within the family and ultimately increased difficulty in adjusting to and experiencing the aging process. Aside from a specific post discussing women on Wall Street, little has been said about diversity or diversity in aging in the financial world.

An analysis of diversity in aging was not unintentionally neglected; there is simply not a large degree of diversity on Wall Street. A vast majority of the top earners, top people in positions of power, and most influential aged figureheads all come from a similar background and similar appearance – white, male, English-speaking, and heterosexual. Unfortunately, the various aging experiences employees of Wall Street face and how different genders, ethnicities, races, and sexual orientations age differently are hard to find due to lack of information and specific cases. This also makes it difficult to arrive at credible models of aging or conclusions with strong supporting evidence regarding how an individual might expect to experience the aging process on Wall Street given what others in his demographic have experienced.

There is, however, a wealth of cases and information out there discussing how white, English-speaking, heterosexual males will age on Wall Street, which has been discussed in previous posts. Common names like Bruce Wasserstein, Bernard Madoff, or Ben Bernanke, or even the entire list of the top ten earning hedge fund managers of 2009 all fit this description.

Despite all of this, there is hope on the horizon. People like Raj Rajaratnam (despite his insider trading accusations) and other figures from diverse backgrounds are becoming more prominent members of Wall Street. The economic growth in China and India has led to a number of successful financiers who are shaking up the Wall Street demographic. A variety of foreign stock exchanges in emerging markets are being formed, and as globalization (of the financial markets in particular) takes a stronger hold, the diversity of the players who form policy, move markets, and make major investment decisions is beginning to change.

Gerontologists must recognize the increasingly diverse composition of employees in the financial world and ensure their stories and experiences are recorded. Doing so may lead to the development of models or conclusions with major implications for explaining the career paths and diversity in the aging process that various individuals on Wall Street experience. Such models and conclusions, while being very effective for use in the financial sector, may have applications in other sectors of the economy as well.