Trusted News for Credit Union Leaders

Credit Union Times

AUGUS T 14, 2019 | VOL. 30 | NO. 27 | CUTIMES.COM

Must Reads

INVESTMENTS

‘Pensionize’ 401(k)s and IRAs In a world of defined contributions, American workers have three challenges – inadequate savings, leakage (or loans/early withdrawals) tied to their retirement accounts and the need for retirement income. Plus, just half of all DC plans offer a way for investors to transform balances into periodic retirement income, with only one in five offering guaranteed lifetime payouts.

This situation prompted Steve Vernon of the Stanford Center on Longevity, Wade Pfau of The American College of Financial Services and researcher Joe Tomlinson to explore and devise solutions to “pensionize” retirement plans. Their work, first published last year and then updated this year, finds that only one-third of workers contact financial advisors, and most lack the necessary skills to convert savings into retirement income and typically have short planning horizons.

But research from the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL) and Society of Actuaries (SOA) has found a “straightforward retirement strategy,” according to the three authors. “Choosing a specific solution that will help workers generate retirement income requires them to make informed tradeoffs between potentially competing goals,” they explained, such as “maximizing lifetime income; providing access to savings (liquidity); planning for bequests;

STRATEGIC MARKETING

Grow ng Local Connections “I’ll take anyone.” In their quest o grow, some financial advisors throw exclusivity out th window. Their only criteria is “if they’ve got a pulse” and “if they can fog a mirror.” But if you are going to differentiate yourself in your market, the first step is defining it.

Three Possible Markets

The e are three basic choices open to you as you define your market:

1. Look within walking distance of your office: Where you work sounds like the easiest. Your market is the downtown area of your city, within a chosen adius around your office.

Years ago, some financial institutions assigned their business product salespeople a cer tain part of Manhattan bounded by certain streets. They called on all the law firms or professional offices in those high-rise build ings. If your market is the area around your office, you can walk around, getting to know he local merchants.

Become their customer. Join he Chamber or get active in the business improvement district organization. Join a private club. Your prospecting and business entertainment is within walking distance. Members and potential members can easily meet at your office for the same reason.

2. Look near your home: Where you live makes sense too. Assuming you work 40 Y16

Mobile Onboarding

Strategize to lessen dropout rates. Y12

The Power of Data

Discover content marketing’s secret weapon. Y9

CU Faces
Antitrust
Claims
PETER STROZNIAK
pstrozniak@cutimes.com

rare antitrust lawsuit allegedan Ohiocredit union participated in an illegal and price-fixing scheme with a Baltimore, Md., title company that yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars that were laundered through third-party marketing companies to conceal the fraud from borrowers, auditors and regulators.

But Michael Y. Kieval, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney representing the

$151 million Emery Federal Credit Union in Cincinnati, countered the

134-page lawsuit is nothing more than a shake down, and that the civil complaint is replete with sham allegations, mischar-acterizations and deliberately provocative language clearly designed to convey a conspiracy that did not exist.

Kieval filed a motion to dismiss the case in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati in July, in part because the Sherman Act antitrust claims alleged in the lawsuit have a four-year statute of limitations that have already expired.

What’s more, the former Emery president/CEO denied he Y18 CU MANAGEMENT

Kieval

FOCUSREPORT:
MARKETING &
BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT

CU marketers are challenged with nailing their campaigns across multiple channels – and doing so at a low cost. Learn how one CU grew its membership through a direct mail effort and engaged existing members on social media in this Focus Report. Y6

n 1975, four of Baltimore, Md.’s leading advertising executives and creative directors gathered together, at then Mayor William Donald Schaefer’s request, to come up with an idea to promote the city and combat its troubled image, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun. Not long after, a new nickname for the city was born – Charm City.

The nickname, albeit a creative
marketing tool, holds true; Balti-
more is a city full of charm. Bal-
timore’s inner harbor is a scenic
area lined with restaurants, shops,
bars and an aquarium. The in-
ner harbor boasts beautiful views
of the water and boats passing
through its waterways. The city
is also full of historic neighbor-
hoods such as Fell’s Point, an area
established in 1763 that has more
than 161 buildings on the Nation-
al Register, including the oldest
standing residence in Baltimore
City, the Robert Long House, ac-
cording to Baltimore.org.
With all its charm, Baltimore
is a multi-faceted city that still
comes with its fair share of prob-
lems, much like other major U.S.
cities. The television crime drama
“The Wire” brought new celebrity
to this city by the water and put
a large spotlight on its troubles
as well. The 2015 Baltimore riots,
sparked by the death of Freddie
Gray, who died in police
CU Breathes New Life Into Baltimore