LYNN — Richard Biagiotti was first elected to the Lynn Retirement Board in June of 2001. Now 24 years later, he has been elected to his ninth consecutive term.
A former Lynn firefighter from 1978-2009, Biagiotti said it was his fellow firefighters who nudged him toward the board. He said it all started when he became interested in how their pensions worked.
“When I was hired at the department, there was an awful lot of the World War II veterans that were in the process of retiring during the first few years I had been on, and I was watching what they were doing for retirement,” Biagiotti said. “It seemed like a really good program, and I was very interested in it, and all of the guys were saying, ‘Why don’t you run? You’d make a good fit because you do a lot of this kind of stuff on this side.’”
Biagiotti is also the founder and owner of Personal Financial Management Plus, which is based in Lynnfield and has been providing financial services for 40 years. Biagiotti is a certified financial planner.
His role on the Retirement Board revolves around being up-to-date on State legislation and educating others on how that legislation affects them.
He said, “It’s doing research on that area so you can give information to the current retirees who may not be aware of it, the people who are going to retire, and the people who are working on the outside.”
Biagiotti has also been on the Mass Association of Contributory Retirement Systems Executive Board since 2007.
When considering what it meant to him to be able to continue his work on the Retirement Board, Biagiotti thought back to where it all started: alongside firefighters.
“I just got a wonderful award, a Lifetime Achievement Award, at the last fire department banquet, and that, coupled with speaking on the floor for a few moments at the convention in front of like 1,000 firefighters — it’s things like that that really make you feel like you’ve made a difference and that you’re helping people,” Biagiotti said.
He continued, “Doesn’t it feel nice to help people? I mean, I think it does. When you can help someone, and you see them smile, and they’re living a better life, you’re helping them with their quality of life. To me, it makes one heck of a difference, and I’m still able to continue it. You don’t age out of this.”
