An investment in members

I enjoyed Paul Gentile’s article on Tropical Financial CU and their progress with meeting members’ investment needs (CU Times, August 22). Providing members investment products and investment management services will be very important in the future. In a few years the Baby Boomers will retire with 401k balances that will have to last for the rest of their lives. Most credit unions do not have the expertise or the resources to help their members manage these kind of assets. In the past our members had defined benefit plans that issued them a check each month for the rest of their life. The only service the credit union needed to offer was direct deposit to a checking account. Credit unions that offer investment products actually get more of their member’s business even when the member withdraws shares to make an investment purchase. The credit union now has the investment relationship and the member frequently rebuilds their deposits as well. In a recent member survey of our members we noticed that the members who have more assets typically want more sophistication from their primary financial institution. They also have a preference for doing more of their business with one provider. A credit union can meet both the member’s need for sophistication and his desire for one stop shopping by providing investment products. Henry Wirz President SAFE CU, SAFE Financial Services Corp. North Highlands, Calif.