Fighting Powerful Interests

Publisher Marketing: Steve Schullo knows the ins and outs of the troublesome tax-deferred retirement plan, known to the teaching community as the 403(b)/TSA (Tax-Sheltered Annuity). As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for years, he has experienced that in spades. His new book details a true and historic story about a type of retirement plan that has been stocked with the ubiquitous Tax-Sheltered Annuity by the insurance industry. In turn, this industry has profited handsomely from it over the decades - at great cost to PreKindergarden-12th grade educators and other nonprofit workers. TSAs - designed by insurance companies for insurance companies, not educators - are rife with sleaze, high fees and complexity. This book is reader-friendly and is a safe environment where reform of the 403(b)/TSA can be discussed openly and with clarity. Part how-to book, part autobiography, part resource and 100% teacher-to-teacher grass-roots guide, the author describes what worked and what didn't in his multi-decade odyssey to help teachers increase their retirement nest egg. The second half of the book provides a wealth of information: Steve's correspondence letters and his investing articles, recommended finance books, glossary, podcasts, and a how-to guide to find genuine fiduciary advisers. Most importantly, the book references 29 mainstream news reports and online articles (1994-2012) from many financial reporters and industry experts which are nearly universal in condemning the high-cost 403(b)/TSA scheme. Steve wrote his book as a call-to-action--a grass-roots advocacy--to enlighten his colleagues in the education profession. Unfortunately, runaway TSA sales and cost abuse continues, unabated and unchallenged, by powerful financial industry interests. Inside the huge Los Angeles Unified School District, two billion dollars of Tax-Sheltered Annuities remain locked-up in hidden - and therefore high-cost - products with punishing surrender fees. Nobody in the leadership of the educational establishment discusses this disgrace publicly. Most educators don't know that they are being ripped-off, and remain unaware about how costs will impact their financial well-being and the availability of low-cost mutual funds. A team comprised of educators, an iconoclastic benefits administrator and a financial reporter, exposed the self-conflicted and secretive 403b/Tax-Sheltered Annuity and replaced it with an award-winning low-cost supplemental retirement plan. Steve walks the reader through conflicts, accusations and utter indifference from those in power to eventual success. It took 21 years and uncalled-for drama to clear up the mess that was the 403b/Tax-Sheltered Annuity in the Los Angeles Unified School District. But it was worth every minute and readers will benefit from the lessons of this tale as they go about their own retirement planning.