Related Articles: Part 1

Looking forward to retirement?

Retirement.

• I don’t even want to think about it! There is no way I can ever afford to retire. I can’t even live on my current income!
• I’m freaked out about the stock market, which seems to be eating my IRA for lunch.
• I have no house anymore. How can I ever even think about retiring?
• My husband lost his job three years ago and hasn’t been able to find another position yet. How can I think about retirement?
• I’m just praying that my health will hold out until I can save enough money to retire. Or maybe I will get lucky and die while I’m still employed.
• I’d like to retire someday. I’d love to serve another mission. But those things just don’t seem possible anymore.
• My only chance of ever being able to retire is to get remarried, to a person who has money. (Fat chance, I know.)

If any of the above thoughts have ever crossed your mind, it’s time to think again.

Think Business Management 205R: Planning for Financial Security at Retirement.

Yes, it’s that course about which you get flyers in your mailbox twice a year. This year, don’t throw that flyer away!

Yes, you absolutely can afford it. BYU employees and their spouses* get to take this $250 course for free. (Students can take it too, for credit, but they have to pay for it.)

And yes, you probably can take the time for this class. It’s offered Thursday nights, three hours per session, for six weeks—one evening a week for a month and a half. That’s 18 hours that will help you plan your life so that one day you will have 24 hours a day in which to play with your grandchildren, serve the Lord, work a part-time job, write a book, keep a big garden, move to Lake Powell, or whatever else you dream of doing.

And no, it’s NOT too late! Keep reading!

The course is taught by Scott Marsh, a part-time faculty member at the BYU Marriott School. He owns his own financial planning business in Salt Lake City—people pay him for teaching the same stuff you’ll be getting for free, as a BYU employee! The LDS Church hires him to teach this same information to CES employees too.

Scott has an MBA and an MS in financial services. He knows a lot about taxation, investments and economics. He’s taught this same course at BYU for more than a decade, as well as teaching at Campus Education Week for 15 years. He also gives seminars on preparing financially for retirement.

Well, yes, probably a lot of people are eminently qualified to teach the wise and frugal how to maximize their retirement. But right now, nearly half of those in the Baby Boomer generation of Americans are uncertain whether they’ll have enough money on which to retire, a recent Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll reports.

Market volatility, the housing market collapse, divorces, and the rising cost of living are taking their toll. Do the lessons Scott Marsh has been teaching since before 2008 still apply today?

I had a phone chat with Scott recently and I asked him that question and more. Read about it in part two!