Page 26 - Michigan Credit Union League: 2018 Contact Q1

RETIREMENT PLANNING:
CREDIT UNIONS CAN LEAD BY EXAMPLE
“You need to save for retirement.” How many times
have you heard that?
Retirement planning is one of those omnipresent top-
ics, precisely because it is so important. This past
quarter, National Retirement Security Week was a
timely reminder that smart, long-term retirement plans
are essential to ensuring credit union members achieve
financial security.
But what about those other important people in the
credit union movement: credit union employees, part-
ners and advocates? They require retirement planning
support as much as anyone, and current statistics
indicate that they’re struggling.
As the retirement field continues to shift from employ-
er-sponsored pensions to private 401(k) plans, the
burden increasingly lies with individuals to have the
knowledge, discipline and foresight to save enough
for their golden years.
We’ve all heard the stats: 10,000 baby boomers are
retiring every day. They’re looking at about 20 years of
retired bliss, but they probably don’t have the funds to
cover it. In fact, 38 percent of Americans don’t save
anything for retirement, while 63 percent of retirees
are dependent on Social Security, friends, relatives
or charity1 — not exactly the retirement we all dream
about. Consider the sobering statistic that nearly half
of all Americans would struggle to pay a $400 emer-
gency expense2. This means people you work with,
sit next to and have lunch with on a daily basis are
facing real financial hardship. It’s an uncomfortable
irony that we spend our workdays focused on building
members’ financial wellness, but can so easily overlook
the financial health needs of our very own friends and
coworkers. As credit union leaders, we have a respon-
sibility to help our employees take positive, meaningful
steps toward financial success.
The first step is education. The National Credit Union
Foundation’s Retirement Fair is one way to illuminate
the financial realities of life after work for your employ- 3. PWC, Special Report: Financial Stress and the
ees. Then, once you’ve engaged your employees in
26 FIRST QUARTER 2018 I CONTACT
the retirement conversation, you need to keep them
there. Use whatever tools and resources are available
to inspire continued retirement planning and saving.
At CUNA Mutual Group, we encourage our employees
and credit union employees in our retirement programs
to use BenefitsForYou.com — a website designed to
make retirement planning easy. It puts all your 401(k)
information and documents in one place, alongside
educational resources and a simple, adjustable graph
that shows whether you’re on track to retire at your
target age with your target replacement income. You
can easily add 401(k) plans from previous employers,
pension plans and spousal benefits.
We do this because helping our employees build finan-
cial security is not just the smart thing to do — It’s
the right thing to do. It’s a win-win. Employees who
are more certain of their financial future will be more
productive, have higher work satisfaction and deliver
increased customer service. In fact, employees with
financial stress are five times more likely (48 percent
vs. 10 percent) to be distracted at work, and twice as
likely (16 percent vs. 8 percent)3 to miss work because
of personal financial issues.
But more importantly, as a proud member of the credit
union movement, we support our employees in building
their own financial security because we take seriously
our core principle of putting people first. Ultimately, we
must always work to strengthen the financial health of
our members and our communities — and that should
start with our employees.
Jennifer Norr is the vice president of Marketing and
Strategy for CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions.
Sources:
1. Statistic Brain, Retirement Statistics,
January 2016
2. The Washington Post, The Shocking Number of
Americans who Can’t Cover a $400 Expense,
May 2016.
Bottom Line, 2017.