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Rogean B. Makowski, Senior Vice President and Trust Officer of the Bank’s Wealth Management Group, was presented with the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Estate Planning Council of Rhode Island’s Annual Meeting held recently at the University Club in Providence, R.I. The award is presented to a member who has outstanding service and counsel to both clients and fellow estate planning professionals throughout their years of experience, has had a real and unique impact on the estate planning community in Rhode Island, and who exemplifies the best of what the Estate Planning Council of Rhode Island and this community have to offer.
Rogean is Senior Vice President, Client Services and is a member of the senior management team of the Wealth Management group of The Washington Trust Company. In this capacity, Mrs. Makowski is responsible for the Trust and Estate Division within Wealth Management. She is a Chartered Financial Consultant and earned the designation of Employee Benefit Certified Trust Professional from the American Bankers Association. She is a graduate of the School of Banking at Williams College and has more than 25 years experience in trust and financial services, with special emphasis in the area of retirement planning. Mrs. Makowski is a member of various civic and charitable boards, including the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and the Ocean Community YMCA.
For more information about Washington Trust Wealth Management, please click here or call 800-475-2265.
Twenty-five years ago, I was at the beginning of my banking career. The local economy was expanding and property values were rising, particularly in commercial real estate. Manufacturers were still key players in our local economy, and there were many more banks and credit unions. It was the pre-consolidation era, particularly in the financial services industry.
Fast-forward a quarter-century and our manufacturing base has been replaced by healthcare, tourism, financial services, and education. We used to make things here. Now we are more focused on business-to-business services. It’s amazing how quickly things have changed.
Certain stories stand out across the 25 years:
When I think about the people who have made a difference for Rhode Island businesses, I cannot ignore the bankers – Terry Murray and my old boss, Larry Fish. Stanley Goldstein and Tom Ryan at CVS also come to mind, as do Alan Hassenfeld and Al Verrecchia at Hasbro. These individuals not only proved themselves to be industry leaders; they are great community leaders, as well, and have had a significant effect on many good things that have happened in Rhode Island.
So where are we headed? The challenges are all about increased competition. As hard as it is to believe, I think businesses today need to get even more efficiency and productivity out of whatever assets they have. It’s funny: I remember back when the futurists would talk about the influx of new technology and how, with so much automation at our fingertips, we were going to have more leisure time than we knew what to do with. I think exactly the opposite has occurred and we are in a position today where we have to do more with less. If you’re selling something, customers want to know how it makes them more efficient and productive. I think that’s something you absolutely have to pay attention to, no matter what industry you are in.
Right now, our state is at an inflection point. I think we need to show people that we can make progress on state and municipal deficits, and the pension liabilities that we all read about every day. That would go a long way to make people and businesses in this state feel more optimistic.
I am fortunate to have spent my whole life here – I love Rhode Island. As a native, I know how special this place is, especially the culture and the environment. And right now, we’re at a stage in the development of the state where we have an opportunity to go forward to build a more sound financial base and, by extension, improve the business climate and the standard of living for everyone who lives here. That’s an opportunity we don’t want to miss.
National headlines continue to decry the poor state of the nation's economic climate. These news stories do an excellent job of capturing the public's collective fiscal anxiety, but rarely convey what individuals can do to empower themselves and alter their own personal financial landscapes.
The issue of economic empowerment is especially acute in the senior population, community that is often misunderstood and misrepresented when it comes to the debate over personal financial management. To cut through the rhetoric and misinformation, a national survey of seniors (and their adult children) was conducted in order to get an accurate snapshot of the key financial issues facing our nation's seniors.
In an effort to better understand public attitudes toward reverse mortgages, Marttila Strategies conducted six focus groups during late September 2010, and three national surveys during the final two weeks of October 2010. The research was extremely informing and it revealed a number of key strategic opportunities that we believe should guide National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association's public policy advocacy during the coming years as it seeks to increase public acceptance of reverse mortgages.
We began the research program by conducting six focus groups, two from each of the three target cohorts. The focus groups were informing in their own right and they also made an important contribution to the question wording and strategy of the national surveys. After the analysis of the groups was complete, we conducted three separate national surveys of 600 persons each among the target demographics.
As the conversation turned from economic woes to potential solutions, reverse mortgages emerged as not only a viable, but also an effective method of facing difficult economic circumstances. Rarely does a research program provide such decisive results as this one has.
The research clearly shows:
1. ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT FOR REVERSE MORTGAGES: Seniors who hold reverse mortgages are delighted with the product and give it exceptionally high ratings. These attitudes belie the negative accounts that have been widely reported in the media.
2. PLAIN DEALING, FEDERAL PROTECTIONS: Further, seniors with reverse mortgages believed they understood the terms of the product, were not pressured to buy it, were not misled and benefited from the mandatory financial counseling required by federal regulations. Again, the research is unmistakably emphatic on this point; another finding that counters widespread media presumptions.
3. PROVIDING A REAL SERVICE: Nearly half of the seniors who hold reverse mortgages would struggle to pay their monthly expenses, AND/OR, stay in their home without their reverse mortgages. The research is unmistakably clear on this point: seniors use reverse mortgages because they need to do so. What's more, nearly 25% of seniors without a reverse mortgage worry they will not be able to cover their monthly expenses in the future without supplemental income; 17% worry they will have to leave their home without supplemental income, clear future problems.
4. THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING IN THEIR HOME: 80% of seniors want to stay in the home in which they currently live for the rest of their lives. 85% of children with at least one living parent who own their home believe their parents would like to stay in their home for the rest of their lives.
5. INTERGENERATIONAL CONSENSUS REGARDING RETIREMENT: Seniors with and without reverse mortgages believe the best financial strategy for their remaining years is to pay their own bills so their children will not have to worry about them. And adults with at least one living parent do not want their parents to worry about an inheritance for them; they want their parents to take care of themselves. This really is a clarifying piece of sociological research. In this regard, 40% of seniors with reverse mortgages involved their children in their decision to obtain a reverse mortgage. Of those children who were involved, 65% approved of their parents decision to obtain a reverse mortgage.
6. HARD TIMES: The three surveys documented that these are hard times in America: all three cohorts are deeply worried about their current economic situation and are only slightly more optimistic about their future economic situation. The three surveys confirm widely documented polling on the profound economic anxiety that a majority of American's feel. And for many, their economic future is even more worrisome: seniors and their adult children believe the current generation of adults will face a much more challenging economic future than their parents did; another very informing piece of sociological/economic research.
7. A TARGET AUDIENCE NUMBERING IN THE MILLIONS: There are currently more than 36 million seniors in the U.S., the majority of whom own their homes. While the research indicated that the more well off seniors were less responsive to the arguments for reverse mortgages (understandably), that still leaves a potential audience of millions of seniors for reverse mortgage marketing.
Click here for more detailed results included graphs and tables. For more information about Reverse Mortgages, please contact one of our Mortgage Specialists.
Washington Trust has partnered with Rhode Island Monthly, to present the "I LUV RI" photo contest. Submit your favorite Rhode Island photo and you may have your photo printed in a 2012 issue of RI Monthly, and win one of twelve great RI experiences, like a night and dinner at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, a weekend at the Chanler in Newport, a giraffe encounter at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, tickets to Trinity Rep, RI Philharmonic, PBruins, PawSox, and more! "Like" our "I LUV RI" Facebook Page, and you will automatically be entered to win weekly giveaways of "I LUV RI" t-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags and car magnets. Click here for more information and to enter!