[sschullo]

Eight of us joined together for a lunch of omelets, pasta and salads to salute the bravely and boldness of Crystal’s Mendez courage to be featured in the LA Times 403b Article. It is not easy to expose to the world one’s mistake, especially about money. With the help of Roman, Crystal’s boyfriend, a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff, and our tiny LAUSD 403b watch dog group, 403bAware, with Crystal’s own determination, she turned it around by getting out of the most common and horrible 403b products ever imagined, a fixed TSA, which is commonly sold to educators all over the country. She is now on track with Fidelity Investments.

How in the world did this seemly trivial story received so much media attention? It’s pretty simple, really. There are 6 reasons:

1. It has happened to just about everybody who learned later on about investments.
2. An investigative reporter as great and insightful and who listened to us--Kathy Kristof.
3. Our small group of LAUSD employees who ONLY had an idea, a damn good idea, and who cared about their colleagues.
4. Massive change of leadership at United Teachers Los Angeles only last year and then cooperated fully with Kathy Kristof.
5. Dan Otter, his energy, his two books and creating this wonderful website. And finally,
6. Our LAUSD Investment group, 403bAware, never gave up. We kept coming back again and again.

This formula paid off. We are proud of this accomplishment.

It was a pleasure to chat in person with Joe, Apteacher and Ira, all familiar posters here. I personally was very excited to meet APteacher for the first time and who has been a real asset on this website.
Have a great weekend,
Steve

[ira]

I also enjoyed getting together today to celebrate Crystal and Roman's accomplishment. I also enjoyed meeting AP for the first time and chatting with Joe, Steve and the others who were present.

Hopefully, we can have another get together for all 403bwise posters. I'm sure that it would be a very lively get together.

Ira

This post has been edited by ira: 06 May 2006 - 09:56 PM

[JudyS]

Eight of us joined together for a lunch of omelets, pasta and salads to salute the bravely and boldness of Crystal’s Mendez courage to be featured in the LA Times 403b Article. It is not easy to expose to the world one’s mistake, especially about money. With the help of Roman, Crystal’s boyfriend, a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff, and our tiny LAUSD 403b watch dog group, 403bAware, with Crystal’s own determination, she turned it around by getting out of the most common and horrible 403b products ever imagined, a fixed TSA, which is commonly sold to educators all over the country. She is now on track with Fidelity Investments.

How in the world did this seemly trivial story received so much media attention? It’s pretty simple, really. There are 6 reasons:

1. It has happened to just about everybody who learned later on about investments.
2. An investigative reporter as great and insightful and who listened to us--Kathy Kristof.
3. Our small group of LAUSD employees who ONLY had an idea, a damn good idea, and who cared about their colleagues.
4. Massive change of leadership at United Teachers Los Angeles only last year and then cooperated fully with Kathy Kristof.
5. Dan Otter, his energy, his two books and creating this wonderful website. And finally,
6. Our LAUSD Investment group, 403bAware, never gave up. We kept coming back again and again.

This formula paid off. We are proud of this accomplishment.

It was a pleasure to chat in person with Joe, Apteacher and Ira, all familiar posters here. I personally was very excited to meet APteacher for the first time and who has been a real asset on this website.
Have a great weekend,
Steve

I was thrilled with the Kristof article, as well, and the idea that you all were in the trenches behind it tickles me pink! Nice work, Crystal and others!

Some of you may be interested to know that I have obtained a copy of NEAMB's response to the Kristof article. This response apparently was sent to state union officials; I asked NEAMB for their permission to reprint it on this site, but they viewed it as an internal document and asked that not be shared in its entirely. I will honor that, but would like to tell you all that their response was, IMHO, very weak and they appear to fail to understand that it's time to take another approach entirely to the idea that teachers (and everyone else in the USA) is becoming more and more responsible for their own retirement savings and planning. If they and others of their ilk had done a better job, we wouldn't be looking forward to the IRS putting it's sticky fingers on the 403(b) problem in another year or two!

NEAMB continues to believe that members have indicated a need for financial advice, and that's the cornerstone of their produce thru Security Benefit. They fail (obstinately?) to understand that once teachers and others truely understand the way the financial world works, the need for an advisor tried to the specific investment "product" goes away because those "in the know" can get good, unbiased advice from fee only planners and other sources. Teachers simply don't know any better, much of the time.

NEAMB states that the advisors provide advice at a "reasonable and disclosed price". Well, my experience is that I could not get a straight answer from a Valuebuilder agent. And I defy ANYONE to read the prospectus that was sent to me and understand ANYTHING about the expenses!!! Of course, I only have a Masters' Degree and personal finance has only been my passion for about 10 years; perhaps my brain has been addled by the straightforward information from those "silly folk" at Fairholme, Dodge and Cox, Fidelity and Vanguard.

Interestingly, their response uses the following terms in what appears to be an interchangeable manner: advisors, brokers, agents, financial planners, sales agents, representatives, and salespeople. May I be so bold as to suggest that the most salient terms for NEAMB products include the word "sales"?

We're in trouble, folks. NEAMB still isn't getting it. Can we get Kristof back for another round? In an even bigger newspaper?

Judy Schneider

Eight of us joined together for a lunch of omelets, pasta and salads to salute the bravely and boldness of Crystal’s Mendez courage to be featured in the LA Times 403b Article. It is not easy to expose to the world one’s mistake, especially about money. With the help of Roman, Crystal’s boyfriend, a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff, and our tiny LAUSD 403b watch dog group, 403bAware, with Crystal’s own determination, she turned it around by getting out of the most common and horrible 403b products ever imagined, a fixed TSA, which is commonly sold to educators all over the country. She is now on track with Fidelity Investments.

How in the world did this seemly trivial story received so much media attention? It’s pretty simple, really. There are 6 reasons:

1. It has happened to just about everybody who learned later on about investments.
2. An investigative reporter as great and insightful and who listened to us--Kathy Kristof.
3. Our small group of LAUSD employees who ONLY had an idea, a damn good idea, and who cared about their colleagues.
4. Massive change of leadership at United Teachers Los Angeles only last year and then cooperated fully with Kathy Kristof.
5. Dan Otter, his energy, his two books and creating this wonderful website. And finally,
6. Our LAUSD Investment group, 403bAware, never gave up. We kept coming back again and again.

This formula paid off. We are proud of this accomplishment.

It was a pleasure to chat in person with Joe, Apteacher and Ira, all familiar posters here. I personally was very excited to meet APteacher for the first time and who has been a real asset on this website.
Have a great weekend,
Steve

I was thrilled with the Kristof article as well, and the idea that you all were in the trenches behind it tickles me pink! Nice work, Crystal and others!

Some of you may be interested to know that I have obtained a copy of NEAMB's response to the Kristof article. This response apparently was sent to state union officials; I asked NEAMB for their permission to reprint it on this site, but they viewed it as an internal document and asked that not be shared in its entirely. I will honor that, but would like to tell you all that their response was, IMHO, very weak and they appear to fail to understand that it's time to take another approach entirely to the idea that teachers (and everyone else in the USA) is becoming more and more responsible for their own retirement savings and planning. If they and others of their ilk had done a better job, we wouldn't be looking forward to the IRS putting it's sticky fingers on the 403(b) problem in another year or two!

NEAMB continues to believe that members have indicated a need for financial advice, and that's the cornerstone of their produce thru Security Benefit. They fail (obstinately?) to understand that once teachers and others truely understand the way the financial world works, the need for an advisor tried to the specific investment "product" goes away because those "in the know" can get good, unbiased advice from fee only planners and other sources. Teachers simply don't know any better, much of the time.

NEAMB states that the advisors provide advice at a "reasonable and disclosed price". Well, my experience is that I could not get a straight answer from a Valuebuilder agent. And I defy ANYONE to read the prospectus that was sent to me and understand ANYTHING about the expenses!!! Of course, I only have a Masters' Degree and personal finance has only been my passion for about 10 years; perhaps my brain has been addled by the straightforward information from those "silly folk" at Fairholme, Dodge and Cox, Fidelity and Vanguard.

Interestingly, their response uses the following terms in what appears to be an interchangeable manner: advisors, brokers, agents, financial planners, sales agents, representatives, and salespeople. May I be so bold as to suggest that the most salient terms for NEAMB products include the word "sales".

We're in trouble, folks. NEAMB still isn't getting it. Can we get Kristof back for another round? In an even bigger newspaper?

Judy Schneider

This post has been edited by JudyS: 07 May 2006 - 01:28 AM

[sschullo]

Hi Judy,
Thanks for reporting this. I was wondering if anybody heard anything. I think NEA just does not know how to respond. They are like the White House when bad news hits them from left field, they freeze.
My guess is that NEA will officially respond publically when enough of their members ask questions, but apparently, not enough have responded. I sent them an email, but I am not a member. From what I have heard from our lunch yesterday, the agents are telling teachers that the article was wrong and are still saying that their fees are low or that fees are not a big deal and don't worry about them. Same old crap.
Have a great day,
Steve

This post has been edited by sschullo: 07 May 2006 - 11:44 AM

[Shavenyak]

Hello all! It was a pleasure to meet everyone for lunch/brunch on Saturday. I'm really glad you're all fighting the good fight, but at the same time saddened at the lack of participation from more teachers.

Another thing I noticed (please, no offense to anyone) not enough young people plan/save/properly invest for retirement. I hope to see some more young(er) people getting involved and taking control of thier financial future. I hate it when somone who is 1-2 years from retirement comes to me and asks what they need to do to start planning for retirement. (People generally come to me with 457 questions at work)

I'm pretty much to the point where I pull new employees aside one at a time and show them what percentage they need to be putting away in order to have a decent "nest egg." For 90% of them, it's a huge pay raise and they wouldn't miss it anyways.

Okay, back from my tangent.... Again, it was a pleasure to meet everyone on Saturday and to be able to put faces to names. Crystal and I are looking forward to the next meeting once the dust has settled. :)

--Roman