Baker College of Flint to offer free retirement planning seminar

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Baker College of Flint to offer free retirement planning seminar
Thursday May 21, 2009, 4:27 PM
by Jill Blondin
The Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan -- Stay calm. Don't panic. Make a sensible plan.

That's the most important advice people will hear at a free retirement planning seminar next week at Baker College of Flint.

"Given the financial crisis of the past eight months, and its effect on people's pensions and retirement accounts, we felt this would be a timely event," said Baker's Dean of Business Adminnistration John C. Cote. "We wanted to do this as a community service, to help people formulate a plan to move forward and to encourage them not to panic."

The media has done a good job of reporting the recession, said John Roda, co-owner of Complete Financial Planning. What's lacking, he said, is perspective.

Many people don't realize the economy was in worse shape in 1973, when the stock market lost 40 percent of its value, accompanied by high unemployment and double-digit inflation, Roda said. There was less panic, though, because fewer people owned stocks and bonds.

"It didn't affect everyone so personally," Roda said. "This is the first time most people have gone through something like this."

Roda and three other financial planners will try to put things in perspective at the presentation, "Rescue your Retirement," from 6-8 p.m. May 27 in the Baker auditorium, 1050 W. Bristol Road.

Topics covered will include diversifying investments and assets, 401k/403b plans, IRAs and Roth IRAs, Social Security, Medicare and insurance in retirement and long-term care insurance. The other presenters are Harvey Lee and Jeff Fuert of Total Benefit systems, and R.J. Kelly of Raymond James and Associates.

Retirement planning strategies and determining readiness for retirement will be discussed, along with what people should be doing to plan for retirement at age 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60.

Roda said that in tough times it's best to adhere to basic fundamentals of sound financial planning, which vary according to individual assets and goals.

"Everybody talks about the loss of investments because of the market drop," he said. "Nobody talks about the loss of purchasing power because of inflation."

Roda illustrated his point as follows: If a person had $100,000 in a 401k, lost half of it, and took the $50,000 balance out of the stock market to invest in CDs, it would take 24 years to recoup their loss. Meanwhile, a 3 percent annual inflation rate would eat their gains from the CDs.

"If you're a long-term investor, you don't want your money in cash, expecially when cash accounts are generating zero interest" Roda said. "You need to have your money positioned appropriately."

Cote said financial advice specific to individuals will not be given at the presentation, which will consist of a general overview of financial planning.

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