City of Marietta Retirement Readiness Meeting - October 24, 2025
Retirement Readiness Presentation for City of Marietta Employees
On October 24, 2025, Nationwide representative Christian Bryant delivered a presentation to City of Marietta employees focusing on retirement planning, specifically regarding the 457B deferred compensation plan. The session highlighted the necessity of a comprehensive plan to address inflation, healthcare costs, and longevity, while explaining the unique benefits of the 457B compared to 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
Consent Calendar
- No routine approvals or unanimous actions were recorded in this transcript, as the session consisted solely of a financial education presentation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony from attendees were documented during the session. The interaction was limited to the presenter addressing the audience rhetorically and providing contact information for one-on-one follow-ups.
Discussion Items
- Retirement Readiness & Major Costs: The speaker identified inflation, healthcare costs, and longevity as the three primary challenges to retirement readiness. The speaker explained that inflation erodes purchasing power over time, healthcare costs are inevitable and can deplete savings, and increased life expectancy (now up to age 80 for women) requires longer income streams.
- Income Sources Strategy: The speaker argued that relying solely on a pension and Social Security is often insufficient to maintain a standard of living, stating that most individuals will likely need to "live on a very fixed, strict budget" without supplemental income. The speaker emphasized that the goal of retirement planning is to "replace your paycheck" to maintain one's established standard of living, including property ownership and lifestyle.
- 457B Plan Specifics: The presenter detailed the advantages of the 457B plan for public sector employees, noting it eliminates the 10% early withdrawal penalty associated with 401(k) and 403(b) plans, allowing access to funds upon retirement regardless of age (e.g., at age 52 or 55). The speaker noted the 2025 contribution limit is $23,500 with a catch-up provision of an additional $7,500 for those over 50.
- Investment Philosophy: The speaker advocated for an "aggressive" asset allocation (focused on growth) during accumulation years and a shift toward bonds and conservative investments as retirement approaches. The speaker stated that a 7% annual return assumption in the presentation is conservative, citing S&P 500 returns of approximately 25% in both 2023 and 2024.
- Timing and Discipline: The speaker emphasized the "power of starting now," illustrating that starting early yields greater results than starting later with higher contributions, and shared that the most common regret among clients is wishing they had "started sooner" or "invested more."
Key Outcomes
- The speaker provided a contact number (678-557-5267) and offered to schedule one-on-one individual meetings for personalized planning.
- A single $100 American Express gift card was awarded to an attendee as part of a raffle.
- The City of Marietta confirmed that the 457B plan is actively available and adopted as a beneficial retirement option for its employees.
Meeting Transcript
Well, it looks like uh we might get a few more people joining us, but we're gonna go ahead and get started. Um good morning, everyone. Good morning. Great. I'm good now. Okay. Phone's ringing. My name is Christian Bryant. I am your local representative with Nationwide. And uh nationwide is somebody got it. Here we go. Okay, uh, this time together today, I know you all have had the last few days going over a lot of information as it relates to retirement readiness and open enrollment and all of that great stuff. I certainly want to spend this time highlighting and talking about this part. Retirement readiness. Uh, what does this mean? What does this look like? Especially as it relates to, or specifically as it relates to the 457B plan. Uh raise your hand in this room if you are enrolled in a plan. Want to know who I'm talking to. That is everybody, almost everybody. Great. So this information then is definitely for you. Alright. So when it comes to retirement, that is a valid question. What is your plan? What is it that you are trying to accomplish? What's the goal? A lot of times you'll hear things like, well, people will say, um, I need a million dollars to retire. My goal is to have X, Y, and Z. Now, that sounds good, but where did you get this information? How do you know that a million four or 1.5 is in fact what you need to retire? What I tell people all the time, this is not necessarily a money or dollar amount driver. What's important is that you need to have a plan. That's what matters. When you have a plan, you can approach retirement with confidence and with the peace of mind that allows you to prepare for what's next. So, what is planning look like? We begin our time together today with this powerful question. Will you have enough money to last through retirement? Notice the question doesn't say will you have money? Notice the question does not say will you retire? Enough money is in fact highlighted, and then it says to last through a retirement. If you're a thinking person like me, you already have identified, wait a minute. Retirement looks and sounds like a space. It sounds like a time period that I'm gonna be in, and rightfully so. Many of us, we plan for retirement and we see that happening somewhere in our 60s. Well, when it comes to retirement, there's always I tell clients and plant participants, three ages that people target and for specific reasons. Age 62, age 65, and age 67. And each of these ages have a specific benchmark to them. For example, age 62. That is the first year you are eligible to start uh taking social security.
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