By Steve Schullo*
FREE pdf download
If you have questions about the 403(b)/TSA, Steve’s book is A Must Read for all Los Angeles Unified School District Employees and public PreK-12 Educators across the country.
Read the reviews at the bottom of this page.
Table of Contents
Part I: The Roots of Exploitation. Problems: Chronic Silence, no fee disclosure, paltry returns and conflicts of interest!
Chapter 1, “Not Available” In 1993, how it all began.
Read Los Angeles Unified School District’s shocking response to my simple question about their 403(b) list of available low-cost, mutual fund companies.
Chapter 2, 403(b) Silence Is Broken. 1998
Part II: Self-help Group was Born
Chapter 3, A Faction is Born (1998) 403baware, our investment support group for LAUSD employees.
Part III: The Feds, unions, state reform efforts and the IRS addressed the 403(b) problems.
Chapter 4, The Feds to the Rescue? Not Quite (2001).
Also. Why we like TIAA CREF and Vanguard. It’s their Corporate Culture, Investment Philosophies of Low Costs and never charging commissions.
Chapter 5, TIAA CREF’s Effort to Get “Union-Approved” (2001).
Los Angeles Community College Union liked TIAA-CREF. However, read the shocking response to TIAA-CREF seeking union approved status from my local union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA).
Chapter 6, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Publishes Shark Attack! And seeks a National 403(b) Vendor (2001).
Chapter 7, California Assembly Bill (AB 2506, 2002) First state bill to fix Insurance Code 770.3 and the Insurance Industry goes berserk!
Chapter 8, Internal Revenue Service’s Problem with the 403(b) (2007).
Part IV: A Reason to be PROUD!
Chapter 9, Los Angeles Unified School District’s New 457(b) Plan (2006-2010). My Story (2006–2014) as a voting committee member
Chapter 10, Fiduciary Third-Party Administrator. Choosing CalSTRS/TIAA CREF for LAUSD’s 457b Plan (2011)
Chapter 11, Success, Challenges and the Future
PreK-12 public school district educators still struggle across California and the nation for the future of the voluntary retirement savings plans. 100% fee disclosure, paltry returns and conflicts of interest can be addressed with financial education and implementing the 457(b).
Reviews of Fighting Powerful Interests published on Amazon:
- Truly committed people do make a difference by Barbara Healey. Steve tells a very engaging true story about taking on bureaucrats with combined tools of integrity and tenacity. He is a true advocate for all investors but especially the K-12education employee. This is a great narrative on actual events that lead to “retirement plan” reform at Los Angeles Unified School District. I am honored to know Steve and be part of this story. I am honored to work with all the Retirement Investment Advisory Committee and LAUSD and applaud their commitment and hard work.
- A shocking account of a bad LAUSD 403b plan that was open-access by California state … by Yogibearbull. A shocking account of a bad LAUSD 403b plan that was open-access by California state law. Open-access meant that any vendor could be listed resulting in a huge number of plan vendors and options. Not all 403b are like that. A solution was found by switching to LAUSD 457b. The CA state law should be changed as open-access conflicts with fiduciary guidelines from the IRS. In my retirement plan in Illinois, both 403b and 457b with selected options were available.
* Steve’s Bio: Stephen A. Schullo, Ph.D. (UCLA ’96) taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 24 years and UCLA Extension, retired in 2008. The first generation Italian-American, ex-Marine, Vietnam vet wrote investment articles for United Teachers-Los Angeles’ union newspaper (circ. 40,000) for 11 years. A thrice featured volunteer retirement plan advocate, twice in the Los Angeles Times and once in U.S. News and World Report. He has recently been on the national broadcast PBS Frontline: The Retirement Gamle. He started an investor self-help group for LAUSD colleagues and wrote 5,000 posts in three investment forums since 1997. Frequently quoted and interviewed by the media, testified at state legislative hearings, honored by the 40,000 member Los Angeles teachers’ union for his retirement investing advocacy and currently serves on LAUSD’s Investment Advisory Committee for the past nine years as Member-at-Large and former co-chair. The committee oversees 457b/403b plans for 55,000 former and current LAUSD employees, assets of $2.1 billion.