America faces a retirement reckoning, warns TIAA’s Kourtney Gibson

Nearly half of Americans lack adequate retirement savings, and TIAA CEO Corie Gibson warns time is running out — even for herself.

sarah

Nov 4, 2025 - 19:38

America faces a retirement reckoning, warns TIAA’s Kourtney Gibson

"45% of Americans are not saving enough for retirement, so every day that we're giving a presentation on something, or sitting in a room looking at each other without taking action, it's really a waste of time from an implementation perspective," Gibson told Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the "Changemakers and Power Players" podcast.

That means cutting through layers of bureaucracy at the 107-year-old firm, which was founded with the mission of creating retirement security for Americans, and empowering her team to move quickly and expand access to investment and savings products. "Because time is ticking, right?" Gibson says.

According to a recent TIAA survey, the traditional goal of retiring between the ages of 65 and 70 is considered difficult to achieve for two-thirds of Americans today, and many expect to work as long as their bodies allow.

"It's a difficult time for a lot of people right now," Gibson says. Millennial and Gen Z employees tell her they simply want to know they have "something" for later in life. "It provides security, and it can alleviate all kinds of burdens that people are feeling," she adds.

But according to Gibson, the retirement savings gap spans all generations, income groups, races, genders, and political parties. People are living longer, the number of Americans with access to traditional employer-funded pension plans has plummeted, and Social Security was never intended to be the sole source of income for retirees. She says, "Everything we're doing at TIAA—whether it's through us or just expanding the category—we're talking about what guaranteed lifetime income looks like," "as part of all pension plans." Gibson recalls, "When I had the opportunity to join TIAA and Thasunda Brown Duckett said, 'We have to make sure this company lasts for the next 100 years,' I thought, 'Count me in!'"

Gibson says she's energized by the challenge of helping more young Americans create retirement savings plans that will sustain them in old age, build diversified portfolios, and encourage consistent contributions, especially if an employer offers a company match. "Don't leave that money on the table," she says. "Explore, try, do whatever you have to do," Gibson says, to ensure that if an employer is offering a match, employees are taking advantage of it by contributing money from their salaries.

She believes that good ideas can come from anywhere, and leaders should engage employees at all levels of the company. Not afraid to step outside of traditional corporate structures, she frequently seeks feedback from younger employees, a practice Gibson says helps her maintain innovative thinking.

"There will be days when I'll walk out of my office and grab someone and say, 'Hey, are you on a call? Are you busy with something? I have a call with my CFO. Would you just like to come and listen?'... I'll ask them afterward, 'What did you hear? What did you learn? Did I miss anything?'" Gibson joined TIAA after working for 20 years at the financial services firm Loop Capital, where she worked under the guidance of her cousin, Jim Reynolds, the company's founder, who built one of the world's largest Black-owned investment banks. This entrepreneurial background has helped Gibson remain open to new ways of working, and she encourages TIAA's 15,000 associates to find better and more efficient ways of doing things.

"Is there something you can change to make it better, faster, smarter, and more efficient? Is there something you can take out of the process that will help you move even faster?" Gibson asks. "That's how you avoid bureaucracy and not just accept things the way they are simply because that's the way they've always been."

This approach fuels her mission to create better retirement outcomes for more Americans. "This becomes all of our problem, and it's a problem we can solve when you bring the right-minded people together, put your differences aside, and say, 'Let's figure this out.'"