McRae: Protecting Retirees

By Treasurer David McRae

Mississippians work hard for their retirements. We put in long weeks – and sometimes nights and weekends too. We treat that money with respect and think carefully about how to spend it wisely. Shouldn’t the financial industry that is often trusted to protect (and grow) those same dollars for our retirements do the same?

Sadly, some Wall Street elites have put your financial needs to the side in favor of their own environmental and social agendas. In fact, in recent years, the shareholder proposal process (an activity designed to give “the little guy” a voice) was weaponized by activists who encouraged harmful ESG and DEI policies rather than the financial security of their fellow investors. Specifically, some entities staged a coup to replace board members with anti-oil activists, an abuse of the system.

Earlier this winter, I joined a letter with 22 other state financial officers in urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Labor to force the financial industry to prioritize your retirement over the advancement of their own ESG and DEI agendas (or what many have begun calling “wokism.”)

In the weeks since our letter was issued, new guidance was released by the SEC to better protect retirees’ finances from fiduciary breaches. The SEC’s new guidance would force fund managers that hold 5 percent of public companies to disclose why and how they acquired their stake, and the purpose they have for investing in the company.

I applaud the SEC for hearing our concerns and issuing these critical protections for retirees and investors.

This is one step in the right direction as we continue our fight against the elite’s harmful ESG policies. I’m proud to have helped secure this protection for retirement accounts, and I will continue to keep the pressure on regulators and financial professionals. It is critical that everyone within the financial ecosystem upholds their fiduciary duties and keeps your future (not their political agendas) top of mind.

Mississippi Treasurer David McRae is the 55th Treasurer for the State of Mississippi. In this role, he helps manage the state’s cash flow, oversees College and Career Savings Mississippi, and has returned more than $100 million in unclaimed money to Mississippians. For more information, visit Treasury.MS.gov.