Economists are increasingly focusing on how income inequality plays out at the company level, but it’s important not to lose sight of how this phenomenon affects individual employees. Working for a “losing” firm can have profound implications for earnings and upward mobility. Understanding this dynamic can be difficult, because people are reluctant to share details about their earnings.
But one group of people has unique insight into how it shapes workers’ lives: financial planners.
Before moving into that line of work, Lavina Nagar, president of Maya Advisors, in Palo Alto, California, was an IT professional, and today many of her clients work for Silicon Valley tech companies. She spoke with HBR about how inequality shows up in her clients’ lives. Edited excerpts follow: