TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett knows firsthand the struggle many Americans are facing as they try to figure out how they’ll get by in retirement.
Her own father, after three decades of work, had never contributed to his 401(k) plan, even though it was available to him. He had a pension, but it was small, and when combined with social security payments, it still wasn’t going to be enough for the retirement he was hoping for.
“That was a hard conversation, and it’s one American families are having every day,” Duckett, No. 7 on the 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women in Business list and one of only two Black women serving as CEO of Fortune 500 companies, wrote in a 2025 New York Times op-ed.
Her father’s situation is a common one among U.S. workers. Starting in the 1980s, employers largely changed their retirement vehicle of choice from pensions to 401(k) plans, essentially shifting the responsibility for retirement savings onto individuals. Yet, even those that enroll in their company’s 401(k) plan and contribute what they can over decades still have to deal with the stress of potentially running out of money in retirement.
Duckett wants to help solve this issue by encouraging people to shift their mindset from saving to achieve a giant lump sum at 65 to instead seeking to secure a guaranteed income for life.
One way to do this is through an annuity, by which a retiree can convert a portion of their life savings into a monthly check that lasts for as long as they live. These annuities, which sit at the core of TIAA’s business model, can be key to giving retirees peace of mind. By opting into an annuity, retirees need not worry about how much to take out of their 401(k) every year. They will receive a predictable payment every month, even when the market falls.
Lawmakers need to be sure to safeguard social security, the TIAA CEO wrote in the op-ed, but since social security alone is not enough to cover a person’s expenses in retirement, other steps must also be taken.
Some progress has already been made. Congress passed the SECURE ACT in 2019 and expanded it in 2022, and in the process made positive changes to America’s retirement system. Any employer with a 401(k) plan started after December 2022 must now enroll eligible employees automatically. The act also raised the age at which required minimum distributions kick to 73, which allows retirees more time for their money to grow. The act also made it easier for employers to offer annuities in the 401(k) plans they already provide.
Yet, these changes are just the start. Duckett has also used her platform as a Fortune 500 CEO to push lawmakers to broaden the types of annuities and guaranteed-income products that retirement plans are allowed to offer and push employers to incorporate them into default options.
She has also backed incentives such as tax credits that make it cheaper for small firms to start 401(k)s and has encouraged states to sponsor their own IRA programs that automatically deduct contributions from the paychecks of workers whose employers still don’t offer a retirement plan.
Finally, Duckett has strived to help educate people about the importance of taking steps today to secure a peaceful retirement. Before reaching retirement age, Americans need to understand how long their savings might last and how tools like annuities can turn an account balance into a predictable lifetime income stream.
“Making annuities more widely available may seem like a tiny fix. But it is a big step toward achieving the security that all American workers should enjoy in their retirement,” she wrote.
Explore the full 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women list here.
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