Dr. Alan Greenspan Calls for Baby Boomers to Take Action in Preparing for Retirement

New York City – April 24, 2007 – Dr. Alan Greenspan – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman (1987-2006) – today encouraged Baby Boomers around the world to take more responsibility to prepare for their retirement. Dr. Greenspan offered his perspective as the keynote speaker at the MDRT BoomertirementTM Industry Summit.

"We have to recognize that what we’re going through is unique in world history,” said Dr. Greenspan. “Retirement is a relatively new phenomenon. As a society we’ve dealt with it successfully in the past few decades but we’ve never had such a huge group of individuals going into the system at once and then living so long in their retirement years.”

Greenspan said the government will find it increasingly difficult to keep all the financial promises it has made through Social Security, Medicare and other programs in coming years. He added that the longer we collectively wait to deal with these key issues, the more difficult they will become to address.

Greenspan added that, as life expectancy continues to increase, Baby Boomers will likely look for additional ways to remove the financial uncertainties that will come from a longer retirement by analyzing their lifestyle, determining the resources at their disposal, and ultimately making decisions to best prepare for their future.

Currently being held in New York City, the Boomertirement Summit was convened by MDRT – a leading non-profit association representing 35,000 financial services professionals around the world – to help lead the development of solutions to the looming Baby Boomer retirement crisis. The event brought together top economists, scholars, financial services industry leaders and other thought leaders for two days of presentations and interactive discussions.

“The Boomertirement Industry Summit was designed to help facilitate solutions to the looming Baby Boomer retirement crisis – and to encourage the financial services community and Boomers to work together to implement those solutions. At the end of the day, taking any action to better prepare for retirement is better than doing nothing,” said MDRT President Philip E. Harriman, CLU, ChFC – a retirement, investment and estate planning advisor from Yarmouth, Me. “Dr. Greenspan’s unmatched insight and unique perspective on economic issues – and his ability to create awareness and prompt action – will certainly help us meet that goal.”

About MDRT and Boomertirement

MDRT is The Premier Association of Financial Professionals. Founded in 1927, MDRT is an international, independent association of more than 35,000 or less than 1 percent, of the world’s best life insurance and financial services professionals. With membership from 77 nations and territories, MDRT members demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of sales excellence in the life insurance and financial services business.

By hosting the Boomertirement Industry Summit, MDRT is providing leadership that will help the financial services industry provide solutions that will encourage the biggest generation in history – Baby Boomers – to take action to navigate the financial challenges they confront as they retire.