Summary: In this podcast, taken from Pensions & Investments' East Coast Defined Contribution Conference on Feb. 9, 2009, Darrell R. Spence, economist and vice president at Capital Strategy Research, a Capital Group Company subsidiary that provides macroeconomic research to CapGuardian, offers his assessment of the situation and provides keen insight into how the defined contribution industry and the investment industry can react. The powerpoint slides accompanying his presentation are available at www.pionline.com/dceast. A word of warning: Mr. Spence's assessment is not exactly rosy. He points out that the major sectors of the economy, housing, non-residential construction, consumer spending, trade and business investment are either all negative or turning negative. Nonetheless, Mr. Spence points out, in this very down-to-earth and valuable presentation, that a back-to-basics approach, with a focus on the long term, can soften the blow and prepare defined contribution plan sponsors and thus their participants for the recovery.
