Cummings and Warren to Hold Middle Class Prosperity Project Forum on “Ending the Retirement Savings Drain and Improving Economic Security”

Mar 23, 2015
Press Release

Cummings and Warren to Hold Middle Class Prosperity Project Forum on “Ending the Retirement Savings Drain and Improving Economic Security” 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, March 24th, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, will hold the second in a series of congressional forums as part of the Middle Class Prosperity Project launched by the members last month. 

Tuesday’s forum, titled “Ending the Retirement Savings Drain and Improving Economic Security,” will focus on one of the biggest challenges that Americans face when saving for retirement—financial advisers and brokers who profit from selling lousy products to their customers. Because of outdated laws and loopholes, it is perfectly legal for these advisors to take kickbacks and commissions that increase their own incomes but drain away Americans’ retirement savings. Last month the President and the Department of Labor announced a plan to end these practices and require that all of our retirement advisors—not just some of them—always look out for the best interests of the people they serve.

Panelists will include industry, government and academic experts as well as people who lost large parts of their retirement savings because they received bad investment advice from advisers with conflicts of interest. They will discuss the billions of dollars American savers lose every year due to unscrupulous investment advisers who sell lousy products and what can be done to fix this broken system.

WHAT:

Cummings and Warren host Middle Class Prosperity Project forum on “Ending the Retirement Savings Drain and Improving Economic Security”                  

PANELISTS:               

Panel 1:

  • Phillip Ashburn, Former Pac Bell Employee
  • Christopher Lombardo, Son-in-law of Merlin and Elaine Toffel
  • Dr. Antoinette Schoar, Michael M. Koerner (1949) Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management
  • Sheryl Garrett, CFP, AIF, Founder, Garret Planning Network, Inc. 

Panel 2:

  • Secretary William Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • Sharon Block, Senior Counselor, Department of Labor

More information about the panelists is available here.

WHEN:

Tuesday, March 24, 2015
2:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. EST

WHERE:                  

2247 Rayburn House Office Building

114th Congress