LAS VEGAS – To tap the growing segment of members who need assistance with retirement planning, CUNA Mutual Group is combining the forces of MEMBERS Financial Services and MEMBERS Development Co. to prepare credit unions to address what some say is an impending retirement crisis facing many middle class Americans. To help credit unions meet this crisis head on MEMBERS Insurance & Investments, the suite of CUNA Mutual insurance and investment products, will offer new software technology called the "Retirement Road Test" and the "Retirement Business Builder" kit, which made their debut at CUNA Mutual's Discovery Conference, held here June 21-24. Some of the products are not new, but packaging them in a way to suit credit unions is, said John Henry, senior vice president of CUNA Mutual's MEMBERS Financial Services.
"We want to take all this marketing and credit unionize it. We want to incubate ideas and find out how many members we can reach," Henry said. "We want to teach credit unions how to generate more fee income and become [members'] primary financial institutions."
Research indicates eight of 10 credit union members don't think of their credit union for retirement services, and many have done no retirement planning, Henry pointed out.
Recommended For You
"Retirement planning is something members should consider at an early age, and we want to make sure credit unions have the technology, expertise and resources to assist members regardless of their age or assets," Henry said.
The retirement focus will consist of three main components: "leading edge" technology, a much stronger emphasis on expanding retirement planning to members of all ages, and dedicated retirement staffing and training. MEMBERS Insurance & Investments will be launching new software that will offer members an analysis of whether they are on the right road to retirement. The technology, coupled with a new Retirement Business Builder kit will give MEMBERS Financial Services representatives a more powerful tool to design retirement planning solutions.
The "Retirement Road Test" is a short survey that asks a member for current financial and retirement information, and their retirement goals. The results will indicate if the member is on track or needs help to meet or redefine goals.
A "Retirement Network" pilot program will also be offered to credit unions by MEMBERS Development. Benefits of the network include leveraging marketing expertise, dollars, management and infrastructure across multiple credit unions, thus reducing the overall cost of promoting and providing retirement services.
"Credit unions told us they wanted a more visible solution to help attract members seeking retirement advice and services," said Paul Specht, director, MEMBERS Development. "We also will provide a certification program that will recognize credit unions that meet specific training, licensing and software standards."
Finally, CUNA Mutual is strengthening its retirement planning staffing through the formation of a new Retirement Unit. This group will work closely with a credit union's financial representatives to provide up-to-date MEMBERS Insurance & Investments product information and assist in analyzing SEG pension plans, providing member educational seminars and developing personalized retirement strategies in conjunction with registered representatives. Henry also emphasized the boon that trust services can be for credit unions given the trillions of dollars that will transfer between generations over the next few years. "The questions are where will these assets go and who will manage them," he said. "Credit unions can be corporate trustees." Citing statistics from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, CUNA Mutual sheds light on the need for retirement planning. Thirty-five percent of workers are saving nothing for retirement and 50% of workers who are 55 and older have less than $50,000 saved for retirement. Another 25% do no sign up for 401(k) programs and 50% in those programs do not contribute enough to get the full company match. "We have learned many members of credit unions are afraid to ask for retirement advice because they either don't think they have enough money, or they are embarrassed because they haven't done any planning," Henry said. "We want them to know planning is not just okay, it's necessary."
Henry said a soft rollout of the newly packaged products and services is currently underway. [email protected]
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
