Retirement Planning for Young Educator's

[Ketul Thaker]

How can we reach today's Gen X and Gen Y Educator's to convince them to start saving for retirement NOW? If they start now and start small, it will be a much more effective way for Educator's to retire comfortably, but the challenge is in how to reach them and convince them to start. Any ideas? Should the process be online, what resources would Educator's appreciate, what would cause them to take action instead of letting inertia take over? Thanks!

[Jessica]

I have a IRA that I contribute to monthly. I think so much of it stems from how our parents raised us. I was raised to save money and plan for the future. Too many people today have that "live for today" mentality. But also...I don't think there is enough advertising about saving. I hear about IRA's once a year from the advisor that visits...and that's through an e-mail announcing he will be visiting. It doesn't even encourage anyone to come.

[Ketul Thaker]

I totally agree, the "saving" mentality (or "spender" mentality) starts from a young age. Having started my first IRA at 17 years old, and given that the topic of my first speech in a communications class was to convince undergraduate college students to start saving $50/month in an IRA, I am definitely a saver. I have a favorite saying: "live for now, but plan for the future." It's my feable attempt to balance those competing interests of enjoyment vs. sacrafice.

Do you think more Gen X and Y educators, would who have come of age during the internet revolution, would save if it were easier to do? What if they didn't have to wait for an advisor to visit the school, what if they could do it themselves online with easy options (like just picking their expected retirement year and letting money management professionals do the rest behind the scenes), what if the costs and fees were low and transparent? Finally, what if it could be demonstrated what starting early (and the effects of compounding interest) would do over the long-haul. Would this be enough to push young educators to take the plunge in to saving? Each educators life that could be impacted in a positive way would be a win -- this is a passion of mine!

[Jessica]

I think most young people just don't think about it, especially if it's not something they heard at home. I think if they were shown the effects of saving early, it would make a huge difference in their decisions to save (at least in moderate amounts such as $50 a month). I just don't think anyone ever shows them. I think it would make a great addition to new teacher induction programs at schools. I wish I knew more about how to do it myself than to have to rely on someone else to do it for me. But, I don't have the confidence or the know-how to do it myself so I just bite the bullet and go ahead and let someone do it for me.

[Ketul Thaker]

In case you're ever interested in learning about a do-it-yourself approach, check this out: www.ingeducatorsdirect.com (on the right-center of the screen, there's a quick little demo you can view).

Thanks for the insightful dialogue.