$4 Trillion Savings Gap: TIAA’s CEO on The Retirement Crisis
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Why is the U.S. retirement landscape considered a crisis today?
Retirement in the United States used to feel more achievable. Today, the road to living comfortably once you stop working is much more complicated, and many of us are wondering if we will ever be able to retire at all. Tashonda Brown Ducket, the president and CEO of TIAA, wants to make retirement a given again. There's a real crisis.
59 million Americans do not have access to a retirement workplace plant. After rising
Through JP Morgan Chase, Tishonda got tapped in 2021 to lead a Fortune 100 company, TIAA. Today, she's leading the company through a period of massive change, expanding beyond TIAA's traditional markets and advocating for something she calls lifetime income that she hopes can redefine retirement for the next generation while also increasing TIAA's bottom line. I sat down with Tashanda to discuss why so many Americans are in danger of running out of cash, the non-scary ways she's using AI to fight fraud. And the leadership philosophies that have guided her rise from a Fannie Mae intern in Texas to one of the most powerful executives in the world. I'm Alison Chantal, and this is Fortune 500 Titans and Disruptors of Industry.
We'll be back with Tashonda Brown Ducket after a message from our sponsor.
Fortune spoke with Deloitte US CEO Jason Gersadas on understanding quantum computing and how he sees it transforming industries. Quantum computing has been a topic for some time in research circles, certainly closely watched by business, but it's fundamentally a different computing paradigm that uses the principles of physics instead of mathematics to drive the computing outcomes. And I think the real uses will be ultimately around very complex optimization. scenarios, uh further enhancements to scaling machine learning, and also very complicated simulations that could be relevant to a whole host of different business applications. What steps should leaders take to prepare their organizations for quantum computing?
It's really about readiness planning right now and preparing an organization to understand the implications, understanding what skill sets would be required, what type of uh cybersecurity protocols would need to be in place to make it viable in an enterprise context and begin to think about the types of use cases that would be uh very germane around optimization and simulation. Yeah.
Tishonda Brown Ducket, we are so thrilled to have you here today.
What is the $4 trillion savings gap and who is most affected by it?
You were just recently recognized again on our most powerful women in business list. It's a globalist, and you came in at number seven. TIAA just rose four rankings on this year's Fortune 500 to number 94. Y'all are doing about fifty point six billion in annual revenue, so nothing too small there. A huge amount of accomplishments to you for five years at the helm of the company. And thrilled to have you here today.
Thank you.
It's such a pleasure. Thank you for having me. So the first thing I want to talk about is retirement. It feels unachievable for many. It feels like the goalpost has changed from generation to generation. And I'm wondering, from your vantage point of running TIAA, what is the state of US retirement today? What's the age, the amount? Is it achievable?
I think to understand where we are today, it's good to go back and you think about what was happening, let's say in the seventies. And in the seventies, people had pensions. You know, close to two thirds of Americans had a pension. So when we in the US was experiencing some of the highest inflation, people could still retire and know what their paycheck would look like. When four one K plans were introduced, it was never designed to be everything. But over time, what has happened is that the risk has shifted to the individual to decide and to create and to ensure they have a secure retirement. And the reality is over 40% of Americans run the risk out of running out of money. And so there's a real crisis.
There's a $4 trillion savings gap in this country. And when you think about what are the problems that we have to solve, one, there's an access gap.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why is the U.S. retirement landscape considered a crisis today?
0:01–2:44
2
What is the $4 trillion savings gap and who is most affected by it?
2:44–6:42
3
How does TIAA define and deliver “lifetime income” for retirees?
6:42–9:12
4
What role does the Vanguard partnership play in expanding TIAA’s reach?
9:12–20:18
5
How is AI being used at TIAA to fight fraud and improve participant safety?
20:18–26:36
6
What leadership lessons did Thasunda learn from her personal and professional journey?
26:36–40:34
7
How does the “diversified‑portfolio” mindset apply to career and life balance?
40:34–49:20
8
What practical advice does Thasunda give to young professionals for building a secure retirement?
49:20–55:33
Speakers
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