Perhaps you've heard about pension reform on the news? Multiemployer benefit funds provide retirement, paid sick leave, vacation, and other paid benefits to millions of middle and working-class Americans and retirees, but these funds are complex. Join Traci Dority-Shanklin, the client and union advocate with over 20 years of managing Taft-Hartley funds, as she navigates the complex world of Taft-Hartley and speaks with the experts who help guide these plans. Guests will share the latest deve ...
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One in five adults will experience an unexpected medical bill. Sixty percent of non-retirees do not believe their retirement savings are on track, and an alarming 25 to 50% of US households who have done some preparing for retirement believe that they will end up short of the savings needed to retire. Check out my course, Unlocking Financial Wellbe…
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Navigating healthcare coverage can be confusing and frustrating. Every time there's a new regulation, it makes the healthcare system that more complicated. Josh Meyer and Jennifer Schuster from Segal Benz Communications are back for their final installment and share some ways that multiemployer plans customize communication to simplify navigating h…
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Knowing that you have financial planning tools is the first step on the path to financial wellbeing. Jennifer Schuster and Josh Meyer from Segal Benz Communications return to the podcast and share some tips and tools of how they communicate financial wellbeing to their Taft-Hartley clients. Segal Benz aggregates information and financial tools for …
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An alarming 50% of Americans are under-prepared for retirement, and 40% of personal bankruptcies are caused by excessive bills. Financial wellbeing impacts every area of our lives and is important to our overall quality of life, but what does it take to have financial wellbeing? It takes financial literacy and planning, but you first must know wher…
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Happy Thanksgiving to our Multiemployer Family!
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Support the Show. Contact: traci@mutliemployerfunds.com www.sisupartnersllc.comBy Traci Dority-Shanklin
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Happiness and the Defined Benefits Plan with David Blumenstein
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The type of pension plan you have may play a role in happiness and retirement. According to a 2000 poll conducted by the Center for Retirement Research, retirees with a defined benefit plan were 5.6% happier than retirees with no pension while those with a defined contribution plan were only 4.6% happier. However, retirees with both a defined benef…
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Multiemployer Benefit Plans Provide Peace of Mind
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David Blumenstein, President and CEO of Segal, shares how multiemployer benefit funds provide peace of mind for participants. Listen to part one of our conversation at https://www.multiemployerfunds.com/ #multiemployerfunds, #benefitplans, #solutionsprovider, #ARPA Support the Show. Contact: traci@mutliemployerfunds.com www.sisupartnersllc.com…
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An Inspiring Holocaust Story and Segal's Mission
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In today’s episode of the ‘The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds’ (Where experts share their insights and stories on busting myths about the labor movement). Today the host Traci Dority-Shanklin (Managing Partner at Sisu Partners) talks with David Blumenstein (President, and CEO of Segal. Segal provides various consulting services including actu…
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Support the Show. Contact: traci@mutliemployerfunds.com www.sisupartnersllc.comBy Traci Dority-Shanklin
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Support the Show. Contact: traci@mutliemployerfunds.com www.sisupartnersllc.comBy Traci Dority-Shanklin
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White-collar organizing sweeps the Tech and Game Industry! Learn how the Communication Workers of America (CWA) is converting non-traditional industries like college campuses, newspapers, and the Tech and Game Industry into union shops. CWA District 3 organizing coordinator and grassroots activist, Cassie Watters, gives us the skinny on what motiva…
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White-collar workers are organizing labor unions at Tech & Game, nonprofits, college campuses, and now comic book workers. CWA District 3 organizing coordinator and grassroots activist, Cassie Watters, explains why these workers are turning to the Communications Workers of America to help them organize and how the CWA is supporting them. Some highl…
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Has Worker Unrest Sparked a New Labor Movement?
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Low pay, no opportunity for advancement, and feeling disrespected topped the list of reasons why millions of workers quit their jobs in 2021. With union organizing in Big Tech, Starbucks, and Amazon and labor unions enjoying high popularity with workers across the country, could this be the beginning of a new labor movement? Arelia Valdivia and Fra…
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The CPD's Case for Unemployment Insurance Reform
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Lockdowns and the coronavirus pandemic laid bare our inept and patchwork unemployment system. Iceland supported its citizens with 30 months of unemployment benefits while US workers barely received six months of benefits. Arelia Valdivia and Francisco Diez are here from the Center for Popular Democracy to explain why our current UI system desperate…
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Defined Benefit Plans and the Case of the Disappearing Demographics
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Traditional defined benefit plans provide retirees with a guaranteed lifetime pension. However, workers participating in these DB plans have fallen from 38% to 20% between 1980 and 2008. Steve McCourt, the co-CEO and Managing Principal at Meketa Investment Group, shares some insight into the Great Resignation and the shifting demographics in the wo…
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The Pandemic's Punch on Pension Funds Revisited
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Two years ago, Steve McCourt, the Managing Partner and co-CEO of Meketa Investment Group shared his thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on pension funds. However, it was too early in the pandemic, so there were too many unknowns. Steve returns with an update on how the market, trustees, pension funds, and technology have all responded to the disrupti…
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Lockdowns, Social Isolation and Children's Mental Health
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UNICEF reported that 1 in 7 children have been negatively impacted by the pandemic lockdowns. And more than 1.6 billion children have suffered from some loss of education. The co-founders of Virtual Milestones Academy, Megan Cawlfield, a pediatric speech-language pathologist, and Emily Roberts, an occupational therapist, expose the cracks in our di…
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Host, Traci Dority-Shanklin, recaps her 2021 discussions about pension reform and hybrid retirement solutions for failing multiemployer plans. With the help of several guests from previous podcasts, Traci highlights potential solutions and recounts events that drove these plans to the breaking point. Past guests include AFL-CIO president, Liz Shule…
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UFCW Local 21 and the Coronavirus Pandemic
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Imagine taking office as president of the nation’s largest UFCW local at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Suddenly, healthcare and grocery store workers are declared essential frontline workers, but essential workers should have enough money to buy food, have a roof over their heads, and lead lives that are essential. UFCW Local 21 presid…
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The 4500: Identifying and Recruiting the Next Generation of Labor Leaders
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The UFCW Local 21 set an ambitious goal of identifying, recruiting, and training 4500 of the next generation of labor leaders over the next two years. How is that effort going? Luckily, Faye Guenther, the president of UFCW Local 21, is here to give an update and share how laughter helped bring her diverse team together. Some highlights from the 450…
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UFCW Local 21 and the Saga of the Variable Annuity Plan
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If your union or employer’s defined benefit plan was in critical and declining condition and facing insolvency, would you consider a hybrid retirement solution to fix it? That’s exactly how the UFCW Local 21 turned their red-zone plan back to green. UFCW Local 21 president, Faye Guenther, shares the bold steps taken by her UFCW family when they swi…
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A hybrid retirement plan combines parts of a defined benefit plan with parts of a defined contribution plan. Dan Doonan, the Executive Director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, and Elizabeth Wiley, a consulting actuary at Cheiron, wrote the book on hybrid plans – literally! Dan and Elizabeth penned The Hybrid Handbook, a white pape…
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Hybrid Retirement Plans 101 with Dan Doonan & Elizabeth Wiley
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Hybrid retirement plans are becoming a viable option to the traditional defined benefit and defined contribution plans, but what are they? And who are they right for? Dan Doonan, the Executive Director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, and Elizabeth Wiley, a Cheiron consulting actuary, co-authored The Hybrid Handbook, where they out…
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UnionTrack's Engage: The Union-Friendly App with Ken Green
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Uniontrack’s Engage app combines union dues payment software, union membership communication software, and grievance tracking software into a web-based system. Uniontrack created the union-friendly app, and their CEO, Ken Green, explains how the Engage app solves workflow issues for unions and empowers the next generation of union members through t…
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Union Matters: the Brotherhood & the Sisterhood with Elizabeth Murray-Belcaster
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The union brotherhood and sisterhood are committed to more than its own membership. When 9/11 happened, the Teamsters mobilized truckloads of cell phones and radios to rescue workers. Elizabeth Murray-Belcaster, the CEO of EMB Consultants who consults on training to placement programs with the Department of Defense and trade unions, rejoins the pod…
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Union Matters: Veteran Training Programs with Elizabeth Murray-Belcaster
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Labor unions provide workers with better wages and safer workplaces, but did you also know that they train transitioning military veterans in career pathways for civilian life? Our next guest develops and implements veteran training to placement programs with the Department of Defense and labor unions. The CEO of EMB Consultants, Elizabeth Murray-B…
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The Value of Union Membership with Liz Shuler
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You may know that union workers make more money than non-union workers, but did you know that 92% of union workers have a guaranteed pension compared to only 68% of non-union workers? Liz Shuler, the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, joins Traci on the podcast to discuss the future of defined benefit plans, the union brand, and busting her favori…
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Meet the AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer, Liz Shuler
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Did you know that the labor movement is the largest organization of working women in the nation? On December 11, 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr told the AFL-CIO, “The two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro Freedom movement. Together, we can be architects of democracy.” Liz Shuler, Secretary…
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Amazon and the Future of the Gig Economy with Larry Williams Jr
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Companies like Amazon, Uber, Doordash, and Lyft have big advantages against organized labor. Larry Williams Jr, the founder of Unionbase and a former co-founder of the Progressive Workers Union, returns to the podcast. He explains what elements are needed to run a successful union election campaign and the need for gig workers to have a voice at th…
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Unionbase and Organizing the Next Generation with Larry Williams Jr
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Support for unions is at an all-time high across the country with 65% in favor! Three-quarters of new union memberships belong to Millennials and Gen Z. Larry Williams Jr., the founder of Unionbase, the nation’s first social media platform designed for labor, is Traci’s guest, and he’s here to tell us all about Unionbase and the role it plays for t…
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The American Rescue Plan with NCCMP Director, Michael Scott
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On March 11, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. Most of it was stimulus spending designed to rescue the economy from the coronavirus pandemic, but did you also know that it provides $86 billion for 10.7 million workers in 185 pension funds? Michael Scott, the director of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer P…
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Mental Health "Help" Care in the Age of Covid
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Coronavirus has disrupted mental health services in countries from all over the globe. Fear, isolation, loss of income and life have triggered mental health conditions and exacerbated existing ones in workers and families across the country. Janis DiMonaco, Ph.D., the founder of HMC HealthWorks, and Dr. Stephanie Straeter, the clinical director of …
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The Labor and Trust Community with Tera Clizbe
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The labor and trust market presents any company with a unique set of needs and challenges for servicing their industry. Tera Clizbe, the vice president of Labor and Trust at Blue Shield of California, joins Traci on the podcast to discuss the changing needs of labor, the challenges they face with their healthcare, and how the community came togethe…
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A handful of past guests help Traci summarize the pension crisis, recount the events that led us here and highlight the solutions making the rounds in Congress. Traci’s guests are Jason Russell, senior vice president and actuary from Segal Consulting; Russell Kamp, blogger, pension reform advocate, and managing director at Ryan ALM; Jack Marco, ret…
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The Pension Crisis: How We Got Here with John Elliot
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The Central States Pension Fund (CSPF) serves 400,000 workers and retirees and is expected to become insolvent by 2025. Before the coronavirus pandemic, 130 plans were projected to run out of money over the next two decades, but now that number threatens to climb even higher. How did we get here? Who’s to blame? Will the new Democratic majority in …
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Before the pandemic, 130 defined benefit plans were in danger of insolvency, but now that number has jumped to 200. Pension reform is needed more than ever, and the new Congress must act! Traci talks to retired Marco Consulting Chairman, Jack Marco, about pension reform, the new Congress, and some possible paths forward for these troubled plans. So…
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Traci chats with retired CEO of Marco Consulting, Jack Marco, about his humble Chicago roots; his work with Senator Abner Mikva, and the founding of the Mikva Challenge. The Mikva Challenge launched its pilot program in the 1998-99 school year. Now, the Mikva Challenge transforms over 50,000 young people across three states with a curriculum of civ…
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Doing Well by Doing Good with Brian Rathjen
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Established in 1987, Roberts and Ryan became the first service-disabled, veteran-owned broker-dealer in the country. Roberts and Ryan president, Brian Rathjen, joins Traci Dority-Shanklin on the podcast to chat about his passions from supplier-diversity to helping the veteran community and Year Up, an inner-city youth mentoring program. Some episod…
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The Race Conversation: Building Diverse Partnerships with Randy Kinder-Part 2
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Former NFL running back and current president of the AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation, Randy Kinder joins host, Traci Dority-Shanklin, for the second part of their conversation. In this episode, they discuss supplier-diversity and how the Investment Trust Corporation builds diverse partnerships as the country grapples with police brutality and …
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The Race Conversation: Inclusion Statements with Randy Kinder - Part 1
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Former NFL running back and current president of the AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation, Randy Kinder joins Traci to discuss the flurry of inclusion statements issued by financial companies and why they’re important in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Randy Kinder Story: The Road to ITC Remembering Who We Work For The Race Convers…
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Discussing Racism and Modeling for Your Children with Nicole Lee-Part 3
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion expert, Nicole Lee, joins Traci Dority-Shanklin for the third and final installment of their conversation about talking to your kids about racism, Black Lives Matter, and the controversies around "skin tone agnosticism." 01:08 - Teaching Children About Race 03:16 - Being Polite: Growing Up in a Post-Civil Rights Soc…
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Nicole Lee: The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategist-Part 1
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Educator and human rights advocate, Nicole Lee, joins Traci and shares her strategies around equity and inclusion in the workplace and the pitfalls of meritocracy. Introducing Nicole Lee and Her Work in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Diversity: Is it Really a Numbers Game? How Does Your Company’s Diversity Report Card Fare? The Research is In! Di…
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Black Lives Matter Explained with Nicole Lee-Part 2
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist, Nicole Lee, joins Traci for the second part of their diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation where they discuss the nuts and bolts of the Black Lives Matter movement and why elections matter. 01:21 - What is Black Lives Matter? 03:26 - Mike Brown’s Death in Ferguson 05:17 - The Movement For Black L…
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The International Foundation President and Coronavirus with Wendell Young IV-Part 2
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Wendell Young IV, UFCW Local 1776 president and International Foundation president, joins Traci Dority-Shanklin for the second and final part of their conversation. Wendell opens up about his tenure as president of the International Foundation and the problems facing pension funds due to Covid-19. 02:04 – What Is the International Foundation? 04:51…
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The Labor President from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter with Wendell Young IV-Part 1
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Wendell Young IV, UFCW Local 1776 president and International Foundation president, joins Traci for a lively discussion about diversity and his presidency. Wendell shares his life growing up in the labor movement with his father during the Civil Rights era and how watching those challenges prepared him for today with Black Lives Matter, TimesUp, an…
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Meet Stephen McCourt, Managing Principal and Co-Chief Executive Officer or Meketa Investment Group
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Meet Stephen McCourt, Managing Principal and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Meketa Investment Group. Steve serves as the lead consultant for several institutional, public, Taft-Hartley, endowment, and non-profit funds. This episode is packed with a lot of essential thoughts as we all navigate the economic and business disruption caused by the COVID-…
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Meet Jason Russell, Senior Vice President Segal Consulting
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Meet Jason Russell, senior vice president and actuary with Segal who works with multi-employer pension plans across the country. Jason deals with a wide range of benefit plans, both healthy and distressed, in various industries. Our conversation is about the immediate need to reform Defined Benefit Plan regulations. Jason explains the various propo…
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Meet Brian Schroeder from OCIOMonitor.com
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Increasingly, plan sponsors are redefining their investment consulting relationships by affording the consultant discretionary authority over investment decisions. This concept is known as Outside Chief Investment Officer or OCIO. As this is a relatively new development within the Taft-Hartley sector, we have asked Brian Schroeder of OCIO Monitor t…
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Meet Trevor Shanklin, a District Union Representative with the UFCW Local 8
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While our podcast usually focuses on fund trustees and professionals, we thought it would be useful to get insight from someone working directly with plan participants on a daily basis. Trevor Shanklin, union representative for UFCW Local 8, talks about how plan benefits are helping members cope with the financial challenges we all face today. We h…
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Meet Ron Surz, President of Target Date Solutions
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23:47
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Is it right just because everybody is doing it? How much is too much? Ron Surz, President of Target Date Solutions, has a long and distinguished career in institutional investment management and consulting. We asked Ron to participate in the Multi-Employer Benefit Fund Podcast to share his unique perspective on target date funds and the glide paths…
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