Local Edward Jones financial advisor meets with U.S. lawmakers on behalf of individual investors
Michael J. Hirsch, a Villa Park financial advisor for the financial services firm Edward Jones, recently met virtually with U.S. legislators from Washington, D.C., to discuss a number of investment-related issues on the minds of individual investors, particularly advancing bipartisan retirement savings legislation to help more Americans save for a secure and dignified retirement.
Hirsch serves on the Grassroots Task Force, a volunteer group of financial advisors from all 50 states who are dedicated to voicing the investment concerns of individual investors to local, state and national lawmakers. Now in its 36th year, this is one of the longest running nationwide grassroots outreach efforts to Congress in existence.
The theme for this year's virtual meetings was "Living our Purpose."
"I believe this is a powerful way to live our purpose, which is to partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues and together better our communities and society," Hirsch said. "I am grateful for the opportunity to speak directly with our legislators in order to share the concerns of individual investors, especially those here in Villa Park, Lombard and Elmhurst and make sure they are heard on Capitol Hill."
According to research Edward Jones conducted with Age Wave and Harris Poll (EdwardJones.com/NewRetirement), at the end of 2020, 22 million Americans stopped making monthly retirement contributions. For the past two years, the Grassroots Task Force has been focused on advocating for bipartisan retirement savings by hosting virtual roundtable events across the country to build momentum for bills that will help millions of Americans save for a secure and dignified retirement.
The group's current priorities, which Hirsch discussed in his meetings include:
• Establishing a new catch-up contribution to help workers 60 and older who have not been able to save sufficiently for retirement.
• Increasing the required minimum distribution age from 72 to 75 to help more workers who are working and living longer to save longer.
• Enhancing the small business start-up tax credit, which will enable many small businesses across the country to provide retirement benefits to their employees.
• Permitting employers to make matching contributions with respect to student loan repayments that will help workers burdened with large student loan debt to start saving for retirement.
• Launching The Military Spouses Retirement Security Act, which helps address the unique challenges military spouses face in saving for retirement by providing a tax credit to small businesses to make military spouses eligible more quickly for retirement benefits.
"Edward Jones is dedicated to understanding the needs of our clients and partnering together to help them live their best lives. We are passionate about improving the possibilities for them, which is why we advocate for issues that will help investors save for a more secure and dignified retirement," said.
Edward Jones, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in St. Louis, provides financial services in the U.S. and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm's business, from the investments its financial advisors offer to the location of branch offices, caters to individual investors. The firm's nearly 19,000 financial advisors serve more than 7 million clients with a total of $1.7 trillion in assets under care. Visit edwardjones.com or the recruiting website at careers.edwardjones.com. Member SIPC.