RALEIGH, N.C. - When Coastal Federal Credit Union signed up retiree author Mitch Anthony to talk at its retirement seminars earlier this month, it anticipated "perhaps a hundred or more to show up," said Joe Mecca, director of community and corporate relations. "We were absolutely floored when we had a turnout of 750," said Mecca. Anthony, author of the best seller, "the New Retirementality" and a frequent speaker before business and civic groups on elderly lifestyles, addressed the Coastal gathering in three separate events during the March 7-8 seminars held in Raleigh and Charlotte. The complimentary seminars, including two lunches and a dinner, were hosted by the CU's Trust and Investment Services unit and co-sponsored by the Coastal Capital Club. The CU's investment group conducts two or three seminars a month for small groups of members but decided to sign up Anthony last spring after Jerry Kasper, vice president of trust and investment services, heard him speak at CUNA Mutual's National Sales Summit in 2005. The entertaining and educational talk was well received by the crowd, said Coastal. During the seminars, CU employees set up informational tables where members and potential members discussed an array of retirement planning topics including long-term care, mortgages, home equity loans, trust services, estate planning and business and insurance services. -

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