Protecting Senior Investors is one of The Most Important Issues of Our Time

sec.gov, Sep 20, 2007

I've made it one of my highest priorities since becoming Chairman of the SEC. Some census numbers released just yesterday give us a sense of the magnitude of this issue. In 2006, there were more than 37 million Americans age 65 and older, accounting for 12% of the total population. There were five million people age 85 and older, and nearly two million in their nineties. Believe it or not, there are now more than 73,000 Americans age 100 or older. Longevity is now the norm in our country, and for that we can all be grateful -- but it also means we need to be prepared. Every year, as medical miracles allow us to enjoy a larger population of senior citizens, the task of protecting retirement nest eggs grows in importance.

The SEC is the investors' advocate -- and when it comes to senior investors, we have a special responsibility. We need to do everything we can to ensure that seniors are well-educated about the important choices they make, and that they are treated fairly and appropriately by brokers and others in the securities industry. And we need to see to it that anyone who takes advantage of seniors thru investment scams is brought to justice swiftly and effectively.

Since I became Chairman, we've been working hard on all of these fronts. We've strengthened our investor education initiatives for seniors, and partnered with other regulators and consumer organizations, including AARP, to sponsor over 40 events to educate senior investors. In total, more than 50,000 have attended. We've also added information for senior investors to the SEC's Web site -- and we've had over 89,000 hits to the Seniors Guide and other senior related topics. Many more educational events for seniors are planned for 2007, including our second Seniors Summit. I'm happy to announce publicly this morning that the officially scheduled date for the next annual Seniors Summit is September 10, in Washington, DC. Read more at sec.gov