J. Michael Collins is faculty director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is a faculty affiliate of the UW-Extension, Cooperative Extension, the Institute for Research on Poverty, and the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Collins studies consumer decision-making in the financial marketplace, including the role of public policy in influencing credit, savings and investment choices. His work includes the study of financial capability with a focus on low-income families. He directed the Social Security Administration Financial Literacy Research Consortium site at Wisconsin (2009-2012). He is currently involved in studies of mortgage foreclosure and family well-being supported by the John D and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, financial counseling supported by the Annie E. Casey foundation, and emergency savings policies for the C.S. Mott Foundation. Collins brings nearly a decade of applied experience to his research. He founded PolicyLab Consulting Group, a research consulting firm working with national foundations and government agencies, and co-founded MortgageKeeper Referral Services, an online database for mortgage servicers and counselors. He also worked for NeighborWorks America (Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) and the Millennial Housing Commission. He holds a Masters from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, a PhD from Cornell University, and a BS from Miami University (OH).
Early withdrawals from retirement accounts are a double-edged sword, because withdrawals reduce retirement resources, but they also allow individuals to smooth consumption when they experience demographic and economic shocks. Using tax data, we show that pre-retirement withdrawals increased between 2004 and 2010, especially after 2007, but early withdrawal rates are substantial (relative to new contributions) in all of those years. Early withdrawal events are strongly correlated with shocks to income and marital status, and lower-income taxpayers are more likely to experience the types of shocks associated with early withdrawals and more likely to have a taxable withdrawal when they experience a given shock.
Rob Levy is the Manager of Insights & Analytics at the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI). In this position, Mr. Levy spearheads CFSI’s strategy for researching, promoting, and evaluating impact around its key innovation areas: consumer credit, prepaid cards, savings, mobile banking, and financial capability. He oversees execution of multi-method consumer research projects, conducts individual research, and produces content for CFSI dissemination. Mr. Levy also works directly with internal and external stakeholders to help CFSI advance its strategic priorities with the goal of changing the financial services experience of underbanked customers. Mr. Levy holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Ducich is senior vice president for public policy for Sallie Mae. She is responsible for the development and advancement the company’s legislative and policy goals, with a focus on federal financing of higher education and student loan programs. Prior to joining Sallie Mae in 1998, Ms. Ducich consulted on federal budget policy for several national firms, was deputy budget director with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1990 to 1993, a senior democratic staff member of the Senate Budget Committee, from 1987 to 1990, and a budget examiner with the Office of Management and Budget from 1984 to 1987. Ms. Ducich received her Master’s in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and her B.A. with honors in Mathematics from Whitman College, Washington.
Seth Elan joined the Federal Research Division in December 2002 as a senior research analyst and became a member of the permanent staff of FRD in September 2004. Prior to coming to the Library, Elan worked as an analyst at the National Security Agency from 1979 to 1990, as a computer specialist at the National Library of Medicine from 1990 to 1996, and as a financial analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, Inc., from 1996 to 2001. Elan holds an AB in German literature from Princeton University, an MS in computer science from the Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA in international business from George Washington University. His area specialties include European studies and finance, and he is a foreign-language specialist in Russian and German. He is certified by the American Translators Association for German-to-English translation. He has written articles for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and Community Banker Magazine.
The Office of Investor Education and Advocacy serves individual investors, ensuring that their problems and concerns are known throughout the SEC and are considered when the agency takes action. Investor assistance specialists within the Office answer questions, analyze complaints, and seek informal resolution of investors’ problems. The Office also publishes free brochures and other educational materials on numerous investing topics. Mary joined the Commission in 2000 and served as counsel to three successive SEC Commissioners. She joined the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy in 2008 as Assistant Director and became Deputy Director of the office in 2009. In that capacity, she focuses primarily on policy matters relating to investor protection. Before joining the Commission, Mary practiced securities law at three law firms. She received her J.D. from Catholic University Law School and her B.A. from Yale University.
| FinLit Talks: Interviews with Financial Literacy Thought Leaders | FinLit Talks: Interviews with Financial Literacy Thought Leaders |
Jason J. Fichtner is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Previously, he served in several positions at the Social Security Administration, including as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security (Acting), Chief Economist, and Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy. Dr. Fichtner has also served as Senior Economist with the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. Dr. Fichtner’s primary research interests include Social Security, federal tax policy, federal budget policy, retirement security, and policy proposals to increase saving and investment. Before joining the JEC, he served as Senior Consultant with the Office of Federal Tax Services of Arthur Andersen in Washington, DC. He worked on transfer pricing issues for large multinational corporations to ensure compliance with U.S. and international tax regulations. Dr. Fichtner started his DC-based career as an Economist with the Research Division of the Internal Revenue Service, where he forecast return volumes and developed econometric models to assist tax compliance and administrative initiatives. Dr. Fichtner earned his BA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; his MPP from Georgetown University; and his PhD in Public Administration & Policy from Virginia Tech. His dissertation research focused on the use of tax distribution tables in the federal tax policy arena. Dr. Fichtner was elected by his fellow Georgetown alumni to serve a two-year term on the inaugural Georgetown Public Policy Institute Alumni Board starting in 2005. The other members of the Board subsequently elected him chairman. He continues to serve as a member of the GPPI Alumni Board. Dr. Fichtner was honored as the 2006 recipient of the Colin Campbell Award, which recognizes GPPI alumni for their support of the GPPI community. Dr. Fichtner also received Virginia Tech’s award for Outstanding Recent Alumnus of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies for 2009-2010. Dr. Fichtner serves on the Adjunct Faculty at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the Virginia Tech Center for Public Administration & Policy where he teaches courses in Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy Process, Public Management, and Public Budgeting Processes.
Melissa Knoll is a Social Science Research Analyst at the Social Security Administration in Washington, DC. Dr. Knoll works in SSA’s Office of Retirement Policy, where she conducts research on the behavioral and psychological aspects of retirement-related decisions. Specifically, Dr. Knoll researches topics relating to why people retire when they do (the retirement decision), and how and why people do or do not save for retirement (the retirement savings decision). In addition, Dr. Knoll has used her expertise in behavioral decision making and psychology to assist policy makers in Congress and the Administration. Dr. Knoll received her B.A. in Spanish and Psychology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology and Judgment and Decision-Making from The Ohio State University. She has been with SSA since 2009.
Lisa G. Schneider is a Research Director at Greenwald & Associates, a full-service market research firm that specializes in retirement, financial services and healthcare research. In combination with her degree in Sociology from George Washington University, Ms. Schneider has taken a particular interest in generational and publicly-released studies related to retirement and consumer finance. An experienced researcher, her work has included quantitative and qualitative research design and execution for such clients as AARP, John Hancock, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, New York Life, MetLife’s Mature Market Institute, and Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. In 2008, Lisa worked with the American Savings Education Council and AARP to conduct an online survey of over 1,700 young adults, representing both Generation X and Generation Y. Preparing for Their Future: A Look at the Financial State of Gen X and Gen Y explored young adults’ financial attitudes and behaviors, including the extent to which young people are financially independent, their satisfaction with current circumstances, goals for the future, savings and debt levels, financial literacy, views and knowledge of Social Security and Medicare, and attitudes toward employers and workplace benefits. Since then, Lisa has managed an annual study sponsored by a consortium of financial services companies on younger consumers’ use of technology and social media as they engage with financial services companies and professionals. Lisa’s work has also included studies that examined the differences between older and younger workers’ preferences for workplace communication, perceptions of key financial products like disability and long-term care insurance, the unique retirement issues that impact women, and Americans’ understanding of the role of Social Security in their retirement income. Prior to joining Greenwald & Associates in 2003, Lisa was a Marketing Coordinator for the American Council of Life Insurers’ Membership and Development Department.
Sheldon Garon is the Nissan Professor of History and East Asian Studies at Princeton University. A specialist in modern Japanese history, he also writes transnational history that spotlights the flow of ideas and institutions among the U.S., Japan, and European and Asian countries. His new book, Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves, examines what Americans might learn from European and East Asian nations whose public policies have vigorously encouraged citizens to save over the past two centuries. The book has received media attention from NPR, BBC, New York Times, The Guardian, Financial Times Deutschland, The Australian, and many other newspapers and magazines around the world. Previous publications include The State and Labor in Modern Japan, Molding Japanese Minds: The State in Everyday Life, and the co-edited volume, The Ambivalent Consumer: Questioning Consumption in East Asia and the West. He is currently writing a transnational history of “home fronts” in Japan, Germany, Britain, and the United States in World War II.
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652
George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 652