Who better than Roger Ferguson to speak about the crisis of millions of Boomers—not to mention a significant part of the rest of the American population—not having adequate savings for retirement? Ferguson heads up the storied Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, which was founded by Andrew Carnegie more than a century ago to provide retirement income and life insurance to educators. Today it has more than $1 trillion in assets under management and provides financial services in the fields of academia, government, research, healthcare and culture.
Ferguson also has thoughts on the student debt crisis, so many Americans’ lack of financial literacy and much else. His insights are worth listening to. He has had amazing career in education (three degrees from Harvard), the nonprofit world, the private sector and government. Ferguson is a superb crisis manager: On 9/11 he coolly took actions in his capacity as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve (the head of the Fed was overseas) that prevented paralysis and panic in the financial markets. It was a bravura performance.
Roger W. Ferguson, President and CEO of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America.
Ferguson was also a most unusual child: As a youngster, he devoured economic writings.
You’ll enjoy—and benefit from—the observations of this remarkable man.
Two Revolutionary Giants
“Those two geniuses, Andrew Carnegie in 1918 and Bill Greenough in 1952, both in their own ways revolutionized retirement in America. We sit here, 101 years later, standing on the shoulders of those two giants.”
On Americans’ Lack of Financial Literacy
“Unfortunately, I have to say, Steve, in the modern era, the degree of financial literacy is remarkably low. I think there are very, very few households that benefit from the kind of day-in and day-out discussion of finance the way I did. And I think that has played into some of the challenges that we’re confronting here economically, including the retirement crisis.”
The Removal of a Barrier
“I had spent so much time with my father—informally—week-in, week-out, talking about interest rates. And then suddenly figured out, in a more formal way, that the Federal Reserve was the organization that really set interest rates. And then having, you know, Andrew Brimmer appointed—an African-American guy, [who] came from a very modest background—his parents were sharecroppers, I think—you know, proved that it was doable for a person who looked like me.”
Addressing the Retirement Crisis
“We have to get more people covered. We have to encourage people to save more at an earlier age. And then we have to build in the annuity option, the guaranteed-income option, the personal-pension option into plans.”
