SEC Commissioner Aguilar and Investor Advocate Fleming Discuss Retirement and Elderly Investors
At the American Retirement Initiative's Winter Summit, SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar and SEC Investor Advocate Rick Fleming delivered remarks in which they advocated for investors saving for retirement and discussed various ways to protect elderly investors from financial exploitation.
According to Commissioner Aguilar, many Americans are not saving for retirement and lack the knowledge to do so. Commissioner Aguilar discussed two of the most common kinds of investment instruments used by seniors and those who are planning for retirement: target date funds and the municipal securities market. He described each of these investment instruments, noting that as investment products and the capital market structure become more complicated, the SEC must work harder to ensure transparency in the marketplace.
SEC Investor Advocate Fleming discussed various ways to protect elderly investors from financial exploitation, including more effective tools for financial service professionals to use to protect clients. According to Mr. Fleming, financial abuse of the elderly is a major problem that is expected to "grow dramatically" with the aging of the American population and the socio-economic trend from defined retirement benefit plans to defined contribution plans.
To mitigate this growing risk of financial exploitation, Mr. Fleming stated, the financial industry is seeking some reforms, including state laws that allow a financial institution to refuse a transaction when it believes the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult has occurred or is being attempted. According to Mr. Fleming, this kind of law should be implemented on the federal level as well.