U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral promoted the Bush Administration's Social Security reform proposal to a group of more than 200 credit union executives during NCUA's Access Across America conference here.
Cabral told attendees she believes the Bush proposal to partially privatize Social Security is an important and innovative approach to keeping Social Security solvent. She urged credit union managers to talk about Social Security with their customers and said Bush's idea of an ownership society dovetails with credit union goals of encouraging home ownership, health savings accounts to cover unexpected medical costs and personal investment accounts to prepare for retirement.
"I would urge you to think about how that would impact your customers in the future, the individuals who are counting on you," Cabral said. "How we can incorporate that into financial education for individuals."
NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson said credit unions can discuss the private retirement accounts as part of their overall financial education discussions with customers.
President Bush has proposed letting individuals invest part of their Social Security money in personal retirement accounts and is urging Congress to pass enabling legislation.
