It’s pretty common to hear athletes proclaim they will “leave everything on the field” to win a championship, break an Olympic record or otherwise reach the pinnacle of success in their sport.
Unfortunately, it appears some credit union CEOs are taking the concept a bit too far. In their efforts to do their best for their members, their staff and perhaps their community or the movement, they are leaving too much on the field—and perhaps too little for themselves. Maybe so little they can’t afford to retire.
What? Aren’t CU CEOs the kings and queens of thrift, the ones who know all about planning for a strong fiscal future? Not as much as you’d think, according to Judy McCartney, the retired CUES member who got in touch with me to share her concern that some CEOs were not being such good shepherds of their own money.
“So many of the CEOs are so wrapped up in work, they have not much life after credit unions and just fade away. Many CEOs take wonderful care of their CU’s finances but really don’t look after their own finances for retirement,” she told me in suggesting the article that appears on p. 22 of this issue.
McCartney, who retired from Orange County’s Credit Union in Santa Ana, Calif., in 2008, was very proactive about preparing for life after work, to the point of hiring a retirement coach as well as a financial planner.
That coach turns out to be former CUES member Ava Milosevich, who served as CEO of Selco Community Credit Union in Eugene, Ore., for 19 years before her own retirement in 2007. She is now a certified executive coach.
In the article, “Too Late?” Milosevich explains that she worked with a coach for several years before retiring and recommends it to all CEOs. “That old saying, it’s lonely at the top—the thing is, you really do need someone you can talk to who doesn’t have an emotional or financial interest in what you’re doing.”
On a related note, perhaps one reason CEOs don’t get around to planning is hesitation about doing it “too close to home.” In fact, Chetco Federal Credit Union’s wealth-management CUSO has a growing niche market of credit union CEOs who appreciate the privacy of working with a wealth management firm not associated with their own credit union. Read more at cumanagementorg/08 1810livingexpenses.
While McCartney’s concerns about CEO retirement are more qualitative than quantitative, her impressions seem pretty solid and perhaps just the tip of the iceberg when taken along with this observation from Charles E. Carlson, strategic consultant with Gallup, Inc., parent company of enetrix, which conducts the CUES Executive Compensation Survey:
“I think we’re now dealing with a couple of generations of people coming up who will not be able to retire financially. Their savings just aren’t adequate, and the societal safety net is full of holes.”
For more of the bad news—and the good news—of executive compensation, read “Half Full or Half Empty?"
Mary Auestad Arnold
Editor and Publisher
