Meek Reviews USCM Deferred Compensation Program Success

by Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland & Roger Dahl
January 29, 2001

In both a plenary session report on Thursday January 18th and at a Friday, January 19th meeting of the Conference of Mayors Membership Committee chaired by Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Nationwide Retirement Solutions President Duane Meek said that over the past twenty years "we have built the leading supplemental retirement program for cities and city employees. The consistent effort that has been given in support of this program by The Conference of Mayors, cities and Mayors all over the country in concert with the hundreds of employees of our organization has made the program what it is."

Over 325,000 City Employees Participate

The Conference program that is run with no cost to the City completes the employee benefit package and helps to both attract and retain employees. Currently, over 4,000 cities and other local government jurisdictions participate in the program where over 325,00 participants have set aside $5.6 billion.

The Industry Leader

Nationwide Retirement Solutions is the largest administrator in the country with over 25 years of experience. This includes a similar program for the National Association of Counties and other groups as well. Overall the company manages some 11,000 plans with 1.5 million participants and $30 billion in assets.

Employee Benefits

Benefits to employees include, a better retirement, tax-deferred payroll deductions, tax deferred growth, a reduction in current taxes, and a wide selection of investment options.

Changes Made to Maintain Future Quality Performance

Meek told the mayors that despite this success, "change is inevitable. It is important that as times change, that we improve the program to reflect the needs of our customers. In 2000 we made substantive changes that will enable the Deferred Compensation Program to be the premier program for years to come."

He continued "our number one commitment is to education. Providing investment consulting services to help city employees better understand the need for retirement savings and helping them make aggregate choices on how to invest those savings is of utmost importance. We have developed educational seminars and analyses as well as retraining our personnel to be better equipped to accomplish this goal."

"Second is a commitment to technology. The rapid growth of Internet usage by society required that we provide access and information to our participants on a real-time basis. We developed a comprehensive website that all participants can access 24 hours a day to keep in touch with their retirement accounts. City employees can also email, make changes to contributions and change their investments with a single click."

"We now offer more choices than ever before. We are constantly improving the investment choices available to participants. We also now give them multiple ways to conduct business whether it be face-to-face, on the phone or online. Each of their contact points gives us an opportunity to educate."

Give Us a Chance to Serve Your Needs

In closing, Meek said "for those of you that participate in the program, I invite you to take a look at the many options that are available to serve you better. For those of you whose city does not yet participate, please let us show you what we can do to offer your employees a better future."