MutualFundWire.com: TIAA's Chief Says He Doesn't Want Bernanke's Job

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Monday, July 15, 2013

TIAA's Chief Says He Doesn't Want Bernanke's Job

Former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve and current CEO at TIAA-CREF [profile] Roger Ferguson discussed the Fed announcement, retirement plans, bond funds and his future with USA Today's Maria Bartiromo.

When asked if he were interested in a role as Fed Chairman, Ferguson said he is happy where he is:

I'm always honored, being a kid from a moderate income home in Washington, D.C., to have my name mentioned for such lofty positions. But I'm fully ensconced in my role at TIAA-CREF. I love what I do.

Bartiromo isn't the only one talking about Ferguson as chairman. The WSJ Real Time Economics blog's Victoria McGrane looked at PaddyPower's betting on likely chairs and said the new money is on Ferguson.

On discussion of an exit plan, Ferguson said the announcement was expected and only time will tell if the market reaction was exaggerated. He added that the Fed is not doing anything rash:

The other thing I would note is that there's some flexibility here. The Fed was quite clear that their plans for tapering are dependent on having an economy that is back to robust growth ... If the economy's strong enough, then the Fed will be able to execute its exit plan.

Ferguson advised against investing in any one class in light of outflows of bond funds but added that fixed-income should be part of a well-diversified portfolio. To save for retirement, he suggested some adjustments in lifestyle expectations, diversify, and understand that some investments will be weaker than others.

He also gave Bartiromo the low-down on what he's investing in:

Diversified across many different classes of equities, including international equities. The second approach that I always take is I do something called dollar-cost averaging, which is to invest exactly the same amount on a monthly basis. What that means for me is with good diversification and dollar-cost averaging I naturally tend to, you know, buy low, if you will. I buy more stock when prices are low as opposed to when it's high.