[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Dr.

Matthew Sarkees, Dean of the William G. Rohrer College of Business at a higher ed partner, Rowan University.

Good to see you, professor.

- Great to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- Now you've established, you and your colleagues have established a school of financial planning.

What is it?

And why is it so significant?

- So we figured out that the financial planning industry is really lacking professionals.

So there are more professionals that are retiring every single day.

They're not being filled with recent graduates.

We also felt like we have a growing student population here in the College of Business, and some excellent programs, and we're always looking for opportunities to add new ones.

And after we had some discussions, we felt like launching a school of financial planning was the right thing to do.

- And you got a significant gift from the Edelman family?

- We actually received the gift from Edelman Financial Engines, which is a corporation that has more than 100 locations around the United States.

And they liked our vision, and what we were trying to create here, and they made a commitment for $10 million.

- And that's Rick Edelman, who is in fact a Rowan alum.

Let's break this down a little bit.

- Sure.

- So I'm curious about this, financial planning.

First of all, I think I know what it is, because I've been obsessed by the fact that I knew I was spending too much, more than I had, for a long time.

And retirement was going to be at some point very real.

And I was like, "What do you mean I have to figure out what I need?"

And a great financial planner has helped me along the way.

Help folks understand beyond preparing for "retirement," what is financial planning?

- And when you think about financial planning, and some people use the term wealth management, interchangeably, it's the idea of understanding how to plan for the future and what it is you might need, not just for yourself in retirement, but for your family, or your loved ones.

Might be saving for college.

It might be planning for a child that might have some needs that carry on into adulthood.

It might be just for yourself, and how to live comfortably.

- But at the same time, the issue of financial planning is a disproportionate problem for people of color, disproportionately for people of color, and others, who happen to be challenged from a socioeconomic point of view, trouble making ends meet, et cetera.

Affordability is a problem for everyone.

Play this out.

Why is the financial planning issue an even greater challenge and issue for people of color?

- Well, so there's a couple ideas in there.

The first is - - If it's not, tell us.

- What I would say is that the current industry demographics don't reflect the population of the United States.

- Simply put, there are way more White men, older White men, involved in financial planning, than those who need financial planning.

- There are, yes.

- How are we dealing with that?

- I think what our program intends to do is to develop students that can not only go out into the world and seek clients and serve those clients, but also serve their community.

Our students come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.

They not only want to help themselves, they want to help their families and their communities understand the concepts around financial planning, how to grow wealth, and at a more foundational level, the idea of financial literacy, because - - Talk about financial literacy.

You have an initiative at Rowan about that.

Talk about that.

- We do.

It's part of the school of financial planning.

Our goal is to grow financial literacy, not just across the campus, but into the community, beyond the communities.

And the basics, do I buy a car?

Do I lease a car?

I have student loan debt.

What's it going to take for me to save for my very first house?

How am I going to put my kids through college?

So these financial literacy questions are important in everyday life, and we want to help people make better decisions.

- Let me complicate things a little bit with artificial intelligence.

From your perspective and your expertise, particularly with the program at Rowan, what is, and where is the place for AI in financial planning?

- I think the good news for financial planning is that AI will be helpful, but it'll be helpful in more of the automated tasks.

A big part of financial planning and wealth management is still the soft touch, the client service, the interaction, uncovering what are my goals in life, and how can I be successful?

That's a personal relationship.

It's going to be very difficult for AI to mimic.

- What advice do you have, practical advice for anyone, particularly those who say, "Financial planning?

I'm trying to figure out how to pay the rent, the mortgage, the electricity bills."

Talk to them, professor.

- I would say there are different tiers in financial planning.

Find an opportunity to speak with a financial planning professional, just to get a basic understanding of key things that I should be thinking about.

For a lot of people, it can happen through their job.

Companies offer a free financial planner, at least the opportunity to speak to someone.

I would encourage people to do that.

As our program grows, and we're teaching students the basics of financial planning in preparation to be certified financial planners, we will be out in the community, trying to answer some of those most basic questions in a way that's affordable for those participants.

- Rowan University, one of our higher ed partners, Professor Dr.

Matthew Sarkees, Dean of the William G. Rohrer College of Business at Rowan.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thanks so much, Steve, for having me.

Appreciate it.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato.

We thank you and appreciate you for joining us.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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