WASHINGTON, DC--Choose to Save volunteers recently answered hundreds for area callers questions about their 401k plans, and helped WJLA-ABC 7 5 p.m. News number one at that time slot.
Michael Hylton and Ramon Ferrer, of InCharge Institute of America, with headquarters in Orlando, Fla., James Baker, Tom Wood, Betty O'Lear, and Mary Davis of Edelman Financial Services, Inc., of Fairfax, Va., and Eric Durland, Financial Representative of the Washington, DC office of Fidelity Investments Brokerage Services, Inc., answered calls on basic 401k concerns.
Sept. 5, 2000, was promoted around the country as 401(k) Day, recognizing one of the most recognizable employer-sponsored retirement vehicles in America today. Representatives of several partners of the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) took part in helping Washington-metro area viewers find out more about the power of their 401(k) plan. These ASEC partners are also supporters and partners in the Choose to Save campaign.
The Choose to Save campaign promotes the idea that saving today is vital to a secure financial future. This Emmy-award wining news program urges all Washington-area residents to become more involved in planning and saving for their retirement.
The campaign includes public service messages in key media outlets geared toward groups of people who don't save enough for retirement and highlight the Ballpark Estimate Worksheet as a quick way to calculate a personal retirement savings target. The messages are presented through a series of 10- and 30-second public service television segments air on ABC-7 WJLA-TV.
Additionally, more than 80 community service announcements are also running on two of the area's primary radio stations, WTOP 1500AM/107.7FM and WGMS 103.5FM. The PSAs all conclude by offering free information and the Ballpark Estimate through the toll-free telephone number or visiting www.choosetosave.org. (Editor's Note: To view and listen to the television and radio PSAs, turn your web browser to http://www.asec.org/avpsas.htm. You will need Real Player (www.real.com) to hear the spots.)
The campaign is complemented by work of other private and public partners including ASEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor. The DoL offers free retirement and savings information at (800) 998-7542, where the one-page "Ballpark Estimate" worksheet can also be ordered for no charge. The Ballpark Estimate also can be downloaded from ASEC's Internet site, www.asec.org, by clicking through to the "Savings Tools" section. Choose to Save signs have also appeared on Metro buses and in Metrorail stations.
Nearing the conclusion of its third year, CTS has been successfully test-piloted in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and has developed 16 30-second public service announcements that range from teaching children to save, to saving money through debt repayment, to getting a Ballpark Estimate of your retirement saving needs. Three 1-hour The Savings Game specials have been featured in primetime on WJLA ABC7. Choose to Save" is underwritten by Fidelity Investments. Phase IV of the educational program begins this October.
EBRI is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization based in Washington, DC. Founded in 1978, its mission is to contribute to, to encourage, and to enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education. EBRI does not lobby and does not take positions on legislative proposals.
# # #
Founded in 1978, EBRI's mission is to contribute to, to encourage, and to enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education. EBRI is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization based in Washington, DC.
The American Savings Education Council is a coalition of private- and public-sector institutions that undertakes initiatives to raise public awareness about what is needed to ensure long-term personal financial independence. ASEC's goal is to make saving and planning a vital concern of Americans. ASEC is part of the Employee Benefit Research Institute Education and Research Fund (EBRI-ERF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational association.
Fidelity Investments is the nation's largest mutual fund company and a leading provider of financial services. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement, brokerage, and shareholder services directly to individuals and institutions, and through financial intermediaries. The firm also is the No. 1 provider of 401(k) retirement savings plans, the second-largest discount brokerage firm and the third-largest provider of 403(b) retirement plans for not-for-profit institutions in the United States.
#542