By Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland
March 28, 2011

Mayors and city officials wanting employees to do more to meet their retirement planning needs may want to follow Mayor A.C. Wharton’s lead. As mayor of Memphis, Tennessee’s largest city, Wharton was looking for a way to grab the attention of his 7,000 employees and get them to recognize that they may not be doing enough to secure their financial needs through retirement.

So he asked Nationwide Retirement Solutions (NRS) to do something big. For more than 30 years, the United States Conference of Mayors has worked with NRS to offer the program as a way for city employees to supplement their pension and social security benefit when they’re ready to retire.

Last October, NRS delivered by presenting a Retirement Expo, hosted by the city of Memphis exclusively for its employees. The event gave employees ample opportunity to hear from retirement specialists discussing the financial markets and strategies for investing in seminars and one-on-one conversations.

“Our workers are concerned about the economy and what it is doing to their long-term financial health,” Wharton said. “The Expo allowed our employees to let their guard down, to take the time to ask the questions they normally might not ask – important questions they need to get answers for.”

Wharton says people these days are nearly paralyzed by the financial decisions they face. “They don’t know what to do. Everything feels so complicated. A lot of the language seems like goobledygook. I’ve got a law degree and many years in public finance, and there are some things I don’t understand. People have to feel like it’s OK to ask questions.”

“Nationwide’s representatives were very informative. You know how, when you go to the doctor, you want him to be friendly and warm, but not to crack jokes. That’s how the Nationwide folks were. They weren’t doomsayers. They didn’t scare the daylights out of people. They struck the right balance. They knew the products. They knew the plan. They knew how to deliver the message. I give them high marks all around,” Wharton said.

Memphis human resource director Quintin Robinson agrees. “Like everybody else, our people are hearing news about underfunded pensions, and concerns about the future of the social security system. They want to understand how participation in deferred compensation can help them, how the plan works, how to plan for retirement. The Expo provided answers they were seeking. We received a lot of favorable comments from employees about the Expo,” he said.

According to Pearl Gibson, benefits director, it was clear that those who attended the Expo had researched the questions to ask. They seem to recognize their financial literacy and retirement readiness is not there. “To me, that’s proof the Expo was valuable. Employees came prepared, and seem to appreciate the effort the city made on the behalf,” he said.

“I’ve participated in the deferred compensation plan for more than 20 years,” Wharton said. “I can see the long-term value. The discipline it instills. When employees get to my stage, they really see the value. We need to do more to stress the value.”

“I’ve committed myself to helping employees get the message. I think it’s something all city leaders need to consider,” Wharton added.

NRS actively supports mayors and city leaders when they promote their deferred compensation plan, says Monty Robinson, NRS Program Director. “The more we can do to make connections with employees, encourage retirement saving, and planning for the future by taking control of it, the better it is for the city and their employees,” he said.

City leaders should know that finding creative solutions for employers has been a hallmark of NRS’s service to the public sector, and especially the Conference of Mayors. For more information on what NRS is doing to help city employees, even during difficult economic conditions, contact Louie Watson, Vice President of Strategic Relationships by e-mail WatsonL2@Nationwide.com or by phone 614-854-8895, Jeff Bean with the Conference of Mayors at 202-446-8140 or send e-mail to jbean@usmayors.org, or Jeannie Fanning at 240-393-9672 or send e-mail to jfanning@usmayors.org.

Investing involves market risk, including possible loss of principal.

Nationwide Retirement Solutions (NRS) makes payments to The United States Conference of Mayors and its affiliate United States Mayors Enterprises for their sponsorship and the services that they perform generally for all their members related to NRS’s products and services sold exclusively in public sector retirement markets. More detail about these payments is available at www.nrsforu.com.

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