Ep12: Retirement Income Strategies — Meet Mendel Melzer, Chief Investment Officer of CapAcuity on this month’s episode of Peter Neuwirth’s Retirement Income Strategies Show

A Note from Actuary and Author Peter Neuwirth, FSA, FCA, host, “Retirement Income Strategies” show — I invite you to tune in for this week’s episode of my podcast and video show, where for 30 minutes, financial experts help us answer questions about the retirement income strategies that will work best for you.

Meet the month’s guest: Mendel Melzer, Chief Investment Officer, CapAcuity

Pete will ask Mendel:

• Do you think an individual’s investment strategy should differ during the retirement/decumulation period vs. before retirement when individuals accumulate assets?
• Much of financial planning is about balancing risk and return. Yet, in retirement, there are some risks that are not specifically investment-related (eg, longevity). Are there specific investment strategies that you would recommend to mitigate those risks? Do you think insuring those risks ever made any sense?
• To what extent and how should an individual’s investment strategy take account of the variability of his/her future cash flow needs?
• NQDC participants have more “buckets” to draw from than most employees who might only have their own house, a 401(k), and Social Security to live on. In what ways do those different buckets call for different investment strategies?

About our guest: Mendel has over 30 years of experience as an executive and leader in the world of investments and asset management, serving as both President and Chief Investment Officer at several major financial institutions. At CapAcuity, Mendel serves as Chief Investment Officer, where he is responsible for leading the firm’s investment advisory services and chairs the firm’s investment committee. He and his team analyze trends in investments and recommend appropriate asset allocation, funding and hedging optimization for CapAcuity’s clients. As a member of CapAcuity’s executive committee, Mendel collaborates on the strategic direction and policies of the firm to effectively grow the organization and to ensure its financial strength and operating efficiency.

In addition to his role at CapAcuity, Mendel also serves as an investment committee member of multiple investment partnerships and leads a family real-estate management firm. Since 1984, Mendel has held multiple senior positions with leading investment firms. For 15 years, Mendel was President and Chief Investment Officer of Newport Group Securities. In that role he built, staffed and oversaw an institutional broker-dealer and investment advisor with over $25 billion in assets under advisement.

About CapAcuity: In the executive benefit plan marketplace, change is always part of the landscape—whether driven by markets, by regulations, or by evolving customer preferences. Currently, non-qualified plan sponsors are most concerned about market volatility, investment product costs, service provider consolidation, the participant experience, regulatory compliance, and transparency. At CapAcuity, we recognize these and other significant issues affecting these plans—and through our thought leadership and innovation, we bring a fresh perspective. Our consulting and asset management services help improve financial results for non-qualified plan sponsors, and enhance retirement outcomes for plan participants.

About Peter Neuwirth, FSA, FCA: Pete is an actuary specializing in retirement plan issues. He is a 1979 graduate of Harvard College with a BA in Mathematics and Linguistics. After leaving Harvard, he went to work at Connecticut General Life Insurance, now CIGNA. For the next 38 years, he worked continuously as an actuary, holding significant leadership positions at various firms around the country, including most of the major consulting firms (Aon, Hewitt Associates, Watson Wyatt, Towers Perrin, and finally Towers Watson). He spent 5 years as a chief actuary at a regional benefits consulting firm (Godwins), 7 years running a small actuarial firm (Coates Kenney), and one year in a large accounting firm (Price Waterhouse). At the end of 2016, he retired from Towers Watson to focus on writing and researching financial wellness issues. Pete is currently the Senior Consulting Actuary at CapAcuity. 

Pete continues researching various financial wellness issues, including using home equity to generate retirement income. In 2018, he taught a graduate seminar on this subject for the actuarial science department at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is currently associated with the Academy for Home Equity in Financial Planning at the University of Illinois.

In addition to his books “Money Mountaineering” and “What’s Your Future Worth?”, his research has been published in professional journals, including the Journal of Deferred Compensation, Contingencies, and Journal of Financial Planning. His articles have also been published in numerous online actuarial web publications. He frequently speaks at professional conferences such as the Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Enrolled Actuaries, and Western Pension and Benefits Conference. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.

Click here to learn more about actuary and author Peter Neuwirth: www.PeterNeuwirth.com • Listen to our podcasts on PeterNeuwirthRadio.com • Watch all of our episodes: www.PeterNeuwirth.tv