July 2, 2026
The Fortune 500 CEO is urging Gen Z to prioritize retirement savings from their very first paycheck even if money is tight
TIAA President and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett says one of the smartest financial decisions she ever made came when she was earning just $26,000 a year.
The Fortune 500 executive recently shared that while working in an entry-level position after graduating from the University of Houston in 1996, she immediately prioritized saving for retirement—a habit she says helped shape her financial future.
“I made $26,000 when I graduated from college—that was $26,000 more than I made ever—and so I immediately maxed out on my 401(k) plan,” Duckett said during Fortune‘s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast.
Duckett, who began her career at Fannie Mae before leading JPMorgan Chase’s Consumer Banking division and later becoming CEO of TIAA, said her retirement strategy has remained consistent throughout her career.
Her advice to young professionals is simple: don’t wait.
“Especially for young people, retirement seems so far away, but there’s a hack,” Duckett said. “The hack is: first job, first dollar.”
She encouraged workers to contribute to their employer-sponsored retirement plan before they become accustomed to spending their full paycheck.
“The first thing I tell young people is, your very first job, max out before you get the check, because once you get it, you will find ways to spend it,” Duckett said. “Power of compounding: $1 today is worth more than $1 tomorrow…You want to make sure you take full advantage of that match.”
Duckett also recommends building wealth beyond a 401(k) by maintaining an emergency fund and investing in vehicles such as Roth IRAs, stocks, and high-yield savings accounts.
“For young people, max out understanding that you have to save to invest…Max out on your retirement, have your rainy day fund to make sure that you can afford the flat tire and all the basic things that life will give you,” she said. “Then you can start investing.”
Her commitment to retirement planning was also shaped by her family’s experience. Duckett recalled discovering that her father, who had worked for decades in a warehouse and as a truck driver, never contributed to his employer’s 401(k), leaving him with limited retirement savings.
“We definitely had financial insecurity growing up,” Duckett said. “I’m like, ‘Dad, this is not enough money for retirement’…He never contributed $1. That’s 30-plus years of compounding that never got compounded.”
Although her father began contributing later in life, Duckett said the experience reinforced the importance of starting early.
“I just want to remind this next generation, if you go back 250 years and you look at where we are today, there is no better day that I want to be in than today,” she said. “The future is always brighter because we get to decide.”
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