Deals & People April 21, 2011

JPMAM Adds to Fixed Income Team

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has hired Bob Fields as Executive Director and Client Portfolio Manager in the Tax Aware Fixed Income Group.
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Fields will be responsible for West Coast sales and client relationship development across the wealth management channels of JPMAM’s fixed income business.    

According to the company, Fields previously served as Municipal Product Manager and Senior Vice President at PIMCO, where he was responsible for managing PIMCO’s municipal business.  Prior to joining PIMCO in 2001, Fields served as Head of Sales and Business Development and founding member of eBondTrade.com, an online municipal bond investment bank.    

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Prior to that, he worked in the fixed income division of Goldman Sachs & Co, where he spearheaded the firm’s West Coast municipal fixed income sales operations.
Data & Research April 21, 2011

Retirement Concerns Come in Third, PwC Finds

Meeting day-to-day expenses is more of a concern for U.S. employees than funding retirement, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
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Respondents to the 2011 Financial Wellness Survey said primary financial concerns include not having sufficient emergency savings for unexpected expenses (25%), not being able to meet monthly expenses (20%), and not being able to retire when they want to (18%). Of lesser concern was not being able to keep up with debt (13%) and being laid off from work (11%).  

Just 33% of employees surveyed said they’re confident they will be able to retire when they want to, and 46% plan to retire later than they previously planned. In addition, 38% of respondents state they are saving less overall this year than last, and almost 32% believe they’ll need to use their retirement plans to pay for expenses other than retirement, such as education funding or home purchase.

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Of the employees surveyed who are not saving for retirement, top reasons include “too many other expenses” (45%), “have debt to pay off” (28%) and “lower income than previous year” (15%). Employees who are saving less money for retirement than last year are doing so because they have too many other expenses (37%), their income is lower (28%) and they have debt to pay off (27%). 

Respondents planning to delay retirement cited several reasons for postponing, including not having enough saved (34%), retirement investments that have declined in value (18%), too much debt (14%), need to keep health care coverage (14%), supporting children/grandchildren (9%), or they simply don't want to retire (9%).   

Of those employees ages 55 to 64 who are planning to retire in the next five years (37%), less than half know how much income they'll need in retirement (45%) or have examined whether they're on track to meet their retirement goal (45%). Similarly, 54% of employees overall have not examined whether they're on track to meet their retirement goal, and 48% are not comfortable selecting investments.   

"It's not enough to say, 'you should be saving for retirement' and auto-enroll your employees in a retirement program. Competing financial issues could be preventing employees from saving for retirement, and it's important to understand why people aren't saving in order to address the retirement savings crisis and related workforce issues," said Kent Allison, Partner in PwC's Financial Education Practice.

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