Page 33 - Investment Advisor May 2021
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“broadly enough to pay folks full retirement benefits for the   In 2016, Kotlikoff ran for U.S. president as an independent,
                next 75 years.”                                    largely to highlight his concern with the ballooning U.S. debt.
                  She also says there’s “very little evidence” that many   Today, he continues to speak out on U.S. fiscal policy and has
                employees have been raiding their 401(k) accounts in the   advised President Biden to scrap Social Security and start anew.
                pandemic. One fact supporting this argument is that many of   Kotlikoff also shares his views on how investors can improve
                those who lost their jobs over the past year or so largely didn’t   their retirement savings or get more out of their retirement
                have 401(k) plans.                                 benefits. This includes describing how cash-strapped seniors
                                                                   can get the most out of Social Security and tap into their home
                                        Meanwhile in the private sec-  equity via reverse mortgages. He’s a prolific writer on retire-
                                        tor,  Thasunda  Brown  Duckett   ment and sells web-based software such as “Maximize my
                                        is the new CEO of financial   Social Security,” often used by advisors.
                                        services giant TIAA, succeed-
                                        ing Roger Ferguson Jr. As   Marcia Mantell is an “advisor’s advisor” when it comes to retire-
                                        the firm’s first female CEO,   ment consulting. Her firm, Mantell Retirement Consulting, has
                                        Duckett has broken a glass ceil-  been busy offering insights on strategic retirement business
                                        ing at the organization — just   development and marketing communications services since 2005.
                                        as Jane Fraser did at Citigroup
                                        in March.
                                          TIAA, a 103-year-old life
                                        insurer and annuity provider,
                                        has a large non-insurance asset
                                        management operation with
                $1.3 trillion assets under management. It merged with Nuveen
                Investments in October 2014 and then moved its asset manage-
                ment business under the Nuveen brand.
                  As  for Duckett,  she  led consumer  banking  at JP  Morgan
                Chase since 2016. This entailed directing banking opera-
                tions with about $600 billion in deposits, 4,900 branches and
                40,000 employees. She also was in charge of the branch and   She writes frequent blog posts on these topics, has authored
                market expansion, as well as digital account engagement.  books on women and retirement, and trains advisors on how
                  Duckett’s family rose from the ashes, literally. Their   to best work with clients, especially when it comes to Social
                Louisiana home was lost after the Ku Klux Klan set it on fire.   Security, Medicare and benefits for divorced spouses. She also
                The family ended up in Texas, where Duckett got her bach-  hosts workshops for women on the topic.
                elor’s in finance and marketing from the University of Houston   In addition, Mantell provides straight talk about what
                and a master’s degree from Baylor University.      divorced women can and can’t do in claiming an ex’s Social
                                                                   Security benefits. (No, they can’t get half of his and all of
                Economist  Laurence Kotlikoff is the William Fairfield   hers — and must pick one, she points out.)
                Warren Professor at Boston University and a nationally
                recognized Social Security and retirement expert.   Ed Slott, a nationally
                                                                   recognized  expert  on
                                                                   financial planning and
                                                                   individual retirement
                                                                   accounts, just launched
    Waters: Bloomberg; Warren: Bloomberg                           and  tax planning  with
                                                                   a self-study program on
                                                                   retirement distribution

                                                                   The American College of
                                                                   Financial Services. Slott,
                                                                   who  leads  Ed  Slott  and
                                                                   Company, also recently
                                                                   authored the popular book “The New Retirement Savings
                                                                   Time Bomb.” His insights are considered must-reads by finan-
                                                                   cial advisors, CPAs and attorneys.



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