Rustward
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2006
- Messages
- 1,684
I am having trouble figuring how to make retirement planning into a HS or college class. First day of class you could spend 5 minutes explaining LBYM, 5 more minutes talking about compounding, 5 more minutes talking about the advantages of tax deferred plans, 5 more minutes talking about the magic of employer match, 5 more minutes talking about dollar cost averaging into an assortmant of funds, 5 more minutes talking about leaving it alone till you have enough to retire. Then a quick five minute review and class dismissed. What else do you need to teach for the rest of the semester? Saving and investing basics which is all you really need for at least the first two decades of the accumulation phase really is dirt simple.
Good luck with that.
I am not sure that most people of high school age can envision ever 1) accumulating enough money to retire, or 2) ever getting older. That is just an audience that is not going to have a very good absorption rate. I sent my 19 year old great nephew a check for Christmas and found out that he doesn't even have a bank account. Had a friend who worked in an insurance agency about 12 years ago. The owner decided that all paychecks would be direct deposit only. The office was in an uproar because most did not have checking accounts. Adults. 401K participation rate: very low. In the little software company where I last w0rked the owner was not doing the 50+ catch-up deferral correctly and in the process of asking him to fix it, I found out that I was the only one doing catch-up and less than half of the employees were participating in the 401K.