This piece is going to be more like a meal than a snack. So, we’re serializing it. These are the things you need to know from five rooms we’ve been in this month. OK one was a chat room, it’s true! These five hot topics are culled from conferences and calls thoughtfully curated and hosted by the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, DCIIA’s Innovation Forum Team, Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives’ State Retirement Savings Program Network, NAST’s Legislative Conference Team, and even the Conference of the Western Region Chartered Financial Analyst Societies. So we’re going to spill it. The question is, what are you going to do with it?

We first met Aaron Schumm in the rooms where nerdy people talk about the future of retirement savings, and how it might be made better, faster. As a private sector expert he is, of course, anything but nerdy. Aaron is the founder and CEO of Vestwell, a “modern engine powering savings and investment programs for small businesses and individual savers”. So what do they think of Auto IRAs? We had to know.

If you know Alice, you love Alice. She will push you and make you better, gently and yet very firmly. Alice Tang started her financial advisory career in 2000, helping clients define their relationship with money and move toward achieving financial freedom using her financial planning process and leveraging tax-advantaged strategies. Many of her clients are female business owners and executives. Alice shares her current thoughts here.