Excitement builds as we finalize preparations for the March 30th all-day Financial Literacy event. See http://www.usfsm.edu/FinancialLiteracy for a detailed program, confirmed speakers’ list, and registration. The Financial Literacy Day agenda includes a full day of discussions covering financial education, financial literacy, US and global economic and investment outlooks, and fiduciary/trustee roles and responsibilities.
Please note that NY Fed president Bill Dudley has confirmed and will keynote. This is a public event, so feel free to forward this email.
There are four panels assembled for March 30. One of them will focus on women’s financial issues, risks, opportunities, and ways that women can protect themselves. Four distinguished professionals make up the panel. They are as follows:
- Cheryl Loeffler, real estate professional, founding director of Insignia Bank, active board member of the Asolo Theatre Company, and former chair of the board of trustees of the Ringling College of Art and Design.
- Laura Mattia, director of financial planning at Cumberland Advisors, former CFO/controller for Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurial Wall Street firms, and a professor at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business, where she is developing a new undergraduate and graduate degree program for people seeking in-depth training and successful careers in financial planning.
- Kimberly Walker, attorney at Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen and board-certified expert in labor and employment law.
- Tracy Collins, assistant professor of economics at New College, who will talk about education and financial literacy for younger women.
Cheryl Loeffler has handled real estate transactions where women’s rights were at risk. She also has expertise in philanthropy and understands how it integrates with a woman’s financial life. Laura Mattia has been counseling women for years; she is currently designing a six-course curriculum on financial planning for the Florida university system. Kim Walker has expertise in labor law, equal pay for women, and the protection of rights. Tracy Collins is devoted to teaching younger women ways to avoid victimization as a new generation of women advance their business and professional lives. Her specialty is women’s financial issues.
The moderator for this special session will be Kathleen Hayes, on-air financial reporter for global Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio. We have also confirmed Michael Chriszt, VP & public affairs officer of the Atlanta Fed, to describe the Atlanta Fed’s activities in financial education. The goal is to introduce the Atlanta Fed’s education program to the six schools in the Sarasota-Manatee area as well as to the entire community.
The importance of this special session on women’s financial issues may be explained with an example. At the age of 70, a Sarasota widow lost nearly all of her funds and had to sell her condominium. She had entrusted her funds to other parties, and those parties absconded with them. The perpetrators were punished, but now the victim does not have the money to support her lifestyle, care for her grandchildren, or enjoy her retirement. She is widowed and broke. She has had to sell her home and change her lifestyle in the eighth decade of her life. She didn’t have the skills to ask about transparency, disclosures and legal rights, or separation of investment management from custody.
The victim lacked the knowledge and specific information to protect her lifestyle and her money. Similar events have happened to retired women who, after they were victimized, unwittingly settled for reduced compensation. They hurt themselves by diluting their rights and privileges in our legal system. The same has occurred in real estate transactions involving widows and divorced women who became victims. The women’s issues panel will speak to some of these concerns.
Women, men, trustees, fiduciaries, investment committees, pension beneficiaries, trustees, investors, and students are all invited to the March 30 events, where we will be joined by academics representing the C4 institutions. Part of the purpose of this Financial Literacy Day and the development of the 12-terminal Bloomberg laboratory at USF is to open up financial education to the entire community.
There will be a dedication on Financial Literacy Day of a philanthropic gift to the six colleges in the greater Sarasota area – known as the C4 Schools. This gift comprises a 12-terminal Bloomberg financial laboratory, housed at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee’s College of Business. Altogether, six Sarasota-Manatee education facilities, with 20,000 students, will have access to these terminals. We, at Cumberland, decided that this gift was a way that we could share our success with the community that we now call home.
Cumberland Advisors was founded in New Jersey in 1973 but has been headquartered in Sarasota for seven years. We are a fee-for-service-only investment advisory firm. We have clients in most of the 50 states and a few foreign countries. We are 40 people, including 17 investment professionals (with series 65). We believe that is the largest concentration of portfolio management expertise in the greater Sarasota region, and it is housed in an independent, employee-owned firm.
April is Financial Literacy Month. On March 30th, we at Cumberland will seek to advance financial education in our region. Our goal is to support improved financial literacy so that there will be far fewer victims and better financial outcomes for the community, with more money to be distributed for philanthropic activities and an improved understanding of the economics of our nation and world.
We hope to see you for Financial Literacy Day on March 30th at the University of South Florida. Again, the link to register for the event is usfsm.edu/event/financial-literacy-day/.
