Traci Shanklin: 0:09
Sixty percent of non-retirees do not believe their retirement savings are on track. This is according to a report from the Federal Reserve Board's Division of Consumer and Community Affairs titled The 2021 Report of Economic Wellbeing of US Households. If you are a trade or labor union member, you might be one of the few lucky workers who benefit from a defined benefits plan. Your union pension plan contributes to your retirement, but are you fully prepared? An alarming 25 to 50% of US households who have done some preparing for retirement believe that they will end up short of the savings needed to retire. In a survey by the Empower Institute, the top money question in 2022 was how much money do I need for retirement?
Traci Shanklin 01:04
Hi. I'm Traci Dority-Shanklin, the World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds host. Financial well-being is more than just about retiring with dignity or our ability to pay our bills or to save enough for our children's education. Financial well-being impacts every aspect of our lives. It's critical to our quality of life and our overall peace of mind. One in five adults will experience an unexpected medical bill, and according to the National Library of Medicine, forty percent of personal bankruptcies are due to excessive bills. My guest, Josh Meyer and Jennifer Schuster, both vice presidents from Segal Benz Communications, highlighted the reality when they visited the podcast.
Josh Meyer: 1:56
So financial wellbeing, I think is the thought about having peace of mind about your financial security and then looking forward to the future for when you retire, and really understanding the benefits that you have and how to use them, sort of give you this piece of mind, especially for the people that we work with. They have defined benefit pensions, which you know, many Americans do not at this point. They have 401K plans, annuity funds, some have both even. And so, helping them understand what they have, why maybe they're trading some of their wages to put into those two funds, and how it all comes together. And then why they should be thinking about saving and planning, so that they can have some peace of mind for themselves and their families.
Jennifer Schuster: 2:50
From a financial wellbeing perspective, focus people on what they might need in the here and now as well. So, it's not just the look to the future and what I might need when I'm not working anymore, but it's how do I, if my son falls at the skate park and breaks his wrist and I have to pay a hundred dollars at the ER, do I have a hundred dollars that I can pay? How is that gonna work? Super important choices about saving money for the future, about setting aside a thousand dollars in a savings account so they can fix their flat tire. About making good healthcare choices about saving money for healthcare and retirement. All these different things that really can make a huge difference to folks no matter where they're from, who they are, what kind of work they do. We kind of all share this need for thinking about, saving money and making good financial choices.
Traci Shanklin: 3:42
Whether it's saving for retirement or your children's college fund, no one will come in and solve it for you. The government won't do it, and your employer certainly won't fix it for you either. What is the solution you might be asking? Financial literacy. I prefer to call it financial wellness. When I spoke to Faye Guenther, president of the UFCW Local 21 in Seattle on the podcast, she had this to say about financial wellness.
Faye Guenther: 4:10
I think just continuing an ongoing education about, what it takes to actually retire and how does social security work? How does a little bit of savings work and grow? Financial literacy and financial education to me are key to helping make sure people understand, that you have to save. You know, we have to do both. We have to eat and pay our rent today, but we also have to make sure we can eat and pay our rent when our bodies are older and more tired, uh, so I think it's just a lot of the one-on-one education. So financial literacy, financial education, and having people imagine what it's like if they don't already know somebody who's retired. Their bodies are tired and they don't have enough money to keep the heat on. Um, or I think helping people see the future and see what a positive future can look like and what not a positive future can look like is, is our jobs as organizers and movement builders, and it's the union's job to educate people.
Traci Shanklin: 5:08
The key components of financial wellbeing are financial literacy, retirement literacy, and a high-level understanding of navigating healthcare coverage. It takes education and planning. Both David Blumenstein, CEO of the Segal Group and Josh Meyer, vice President of Segal Benz Communications, said the same thing when they were on the podcast.
David Blumenstein: 5:31
We also see financial education being really important And as really coming in financial literacy and wellness, wellbeing, is a broader term, it encompasses not only physical health and mental health, but also, financial health and financial literacy. So, we see a lot of that happening so that people can do better with their money. Some folks have both a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan, So, there is a little bit of an inflation hedge there, right? Those balances in those plans can go up and continue to grow. So, there's a little bit of a hedge there, but we also see it can go the other way.
Josh Meyer: 6:06
Helping people see not only what they've saved to date, but if they retire at several different ages, what they'll accumulate over time and how changing how much they're investing or how much they're saving just a little bit really adds up over time. Showing them what they'll have at the end is another incentive.
Traci Shanklin: 6:29
I see a need to help people focus on the present while still securing financial wellbeing tomorrow. Stop living paycheck to paycheck. Win the credit card debt floating game, and discover your core money values. Could your next expense cost you your emotional wellbeing? Then let me invite you to participate in the Unlocking Financial Wellbeing Tips and Tools Workshop. Unlocking Financial Wellbeing Tips and Tools. Workshop is a live virtual five-week course that will help you clarify your financial goals, create an actionable budget plan, and start a budget accountability system. We will create a budget and savings plan to manage your everyday expenses. Ultimately allowing you to focus on longer term goals. For even more information or to join the Founders Cohort, please hit the link in our show notes or go to www.SisuPartnersLLC.com. That's www.sisupartnersllc.com. I am excited to see you and help you unlock your financial wellbeing.
Narrator: 8:05
Sisu Partners LLC hosts the World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds podcast, which contains content and discussions that have been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. No listener should assume that any discussion on this podcast serves as the receipt of, or substitute for, personalized advice from an investment professional. As the information provided on the podcast is not intended to be investment, legal, or tax advice. The company is not an SEC registered investment advisor and does not solicit clients or raise capital for money managers.