Durham, NC - As the global financial crisis continues to raise concerns among employees about their retirement savings, Duke has scheduled several information sessions with retirement vendors for faculty and staff.

Upcoming forums with Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, DWS Investments (formally DWS Scudder) and Vanguard are meant to help answer employee questions. A forum with a Fidelity representative, the first of the five sessions, is Oct. 27. Because of limited space, staff and faculty are asked to RSVP to attend a session.

Sylvester Hackney, Duke's associate director of benefits administration, said the sessions are important to employees because "in times of turmoil and turbulence, information is our best ally."

"I think it will take a lot of information and engagement to really plan successfully for retirement," Hackney told employees during a forum with AIG VALIC in early October. "It can't be a passive event when we look at [portfolios] once a year -- it has to be something that we're actively engaged with."

Duke began hosting the sessions with investment carriers on Oct. 8 when AIG VALIC senior vice president Glenn Harris visited Duke to discuss the status of the company. The sessions provide an opportunity for faculty and staff plan participants to ask the carriers questions about funds and the market. 

During the AIG VALIC session, Harris said that decreasing retirement accounts haven't been what Americans are used to seeing. He stressed that keeping a long-term outlook is important for investors, noting that with the financial world at a low point, "the secret to success is ultimately to buy low and sell high."

During the AIG forum, Duke employees asked a range of questions from what to do with their 403(b) retirement accounts to their options if the economy continues to sag.

Harris suggested that investors should review their retirement savings and investment allocations and not make rash decisions -- such as taking money out of their retirement savings because of fear over what might happen to the market.

Harris said that each investor has a different goal in mind when they start saving and that despite what has happened in recent months, Duke employees should still look ahead when planning for their retirement.