Retirement Planning Near Me: Experience Richer Retirement from Home

Planning for retirement doesn’t start the days or week before retirement, it starts the first day we have earned income. This is something that Dr. Thia, MPower Co’s Director of Education points out in her online course Richer Retirement. If you’re looking for “retirement planning near me”, then this course is for you, because you can take Richer Retirement from the comfort of your own home. Read on to learn more about the course, how the course works, meet the course author and instructor, and, most importantly, what previous course takers have said.

Dr. Thia hopes to meet you soon in Richer Retirement! 

A Brief Introduction to Richer Retirement, for those looking for Retirement Planning Near Me

If you know that retirement preparation is important and want to increase your confidence that you are building towards a Richer Retirement, this course is for you.

This is an eight-unit, online course that will guide you through the retirement planning process from start to finish. 

People in their 20’s through 70’s have all found the course to be positive and life-changing.  The earlier in your working life you start building towards a richer retirement, the more time is on your side.  On the other hand, it is never too late to plan for a richer retirement! 

This course is not an online textbook; it’s an interactive learning experience that combines education, guidance, and support. This course is not a sales pitch; it’s 100% education you can trust, drawn from well-respected research and best practices. MPower’s Director of Education, Dr. Thia Crawford, combines her financial expertise with her passion for positive psychology to create a straightforward, holistic financial planning course.

Retirement Planning Topics Covered in Richer Retirement

Richer Retirement covers more than eight topics in preparation for retirement. All of the Units are broken down into smaller lessons, where you can make quick progress through the course. Here are the high-level topics covered throughout the course:

1. Retirement Errors Even Smart People Make

This unit is designed to ensure you are set up for success in the course. You will learn more about your instructor, the course agenda, and, perhaps most importantly, learn about the errors even smart people make when planning for retirement.

2. Assessing Current Finances

This unit will walk you through assessing your current financial situation. It will help you review your credit report, detail your current financial assets and debts, and work to organize your financial information.

3. Social Security

One critical source of retirement income is Social Security, which makes your knowledge of how it works vital. Be among the few that know correct information about the sustainability of Social Security. This unit will clarify claiming strategies and maximize monthly benefits. You may be surprised why you need to set up your online Social Security account now.

4. Employer Retirement Benefits and Retirement Goals 

Employer retirement benefits are changing rapidly, and not in the favor of the employee. This unit will help you discover if your employer provides retirement benefits and what they are today. It will also equip you to monitor for changes. The second half of the unit will focus on retirement timing and goal setting.

5. Savings and Investing

Many individuals know they need to be setting aside significant money for retirement, but need help knowing how to reach this goal. This unit will help you build your confidence related to saving and investing. Practical catch-up strategies for late saves are included in this unit. Best of all, the principals are presented in plain English and not in industry jargon.

6. Estate Planning

You have spent your adult life accumulating what you have.  It is your responsibility to decide who gets it when you are through with it. This Unit will take the mystery out of estate planning. It will teach you that estate planing doesn’t have to be as complicated or expensive as you think. Having an effective estate plan in place can be your last loving gift to those you love. 

7. Taxes and Insurance 

Taxes don’t go away when you retire. The need for insurance (especially health) doesn’t go away when you retire. The need to understand and manage taxes and insurance is as great as ever in retirement. This Unit will increase your confidence regarding tax and insurance management strategies in retirement and the years leading to retirement.

8. Richer Retirement Strategies

Having a richer retirement is expecting the unexpected. The unit starts with education relating to possible issues of aging, such as being suddenly wealthy, suddenly single, aging in place longer, and much more. It concludes with a power-packed list recapping strategies for a richer retirement. You won’t find this list anywhere else!

How the Course Works

1. Fully Online

This is Retirement Planning near me as closely as it can get! Richer Retirement is an online course that can be accessed with any device (we would recommend using a computer) that has internet access. While the course is electronic, we do our best to keep the technology side of the course simple. We have found that If you can register for the course and send an email, you will be successful in navigating the course. 

2. Three Months of Access

The course starts the first Tuesday of February (February 2, 2021). You will have access to course information 24/7 through April 30, 3021. This allows four weeks for students to have additional time during the course and to re-read units and/or catch-up if life happens.

3. Eight Units

There are eight individual units, which are detailed in the above section. The units are individually released on Tuesday mornings the first eight weeks of the course. This allows course takers to immerse themselves in one topic allowing for as much growth and knowledge to be transferred as possible.

4. Tuesday Reminder Emails

Each Tuesday of the course, your instructor Dr. Thia will send an email to introduce the week’s topic ensuring you are notified of the Unit release. The communication will provide encouragement and maybe even be a joke or two. Who says learning about retirement planning near me can’t be fun! 

5. Individualized Email with Instructor Weekly

As part of each Unit, there are prompted questions/discussion points for an email communication with the course instructor Dr. Thia. You choose which items you want to discuss with your instructor via email. You have the sole discretion to determine how much you want to share with your instructor. Each student receives a personalized, timely response to these communications. The purpose of these individualized emails are to ensure that each course taker receives the information they need to reach their goals for taking the course, and to provide encouragement for staying engaged in the course material. 

6. Progress Tracker

Once the course begins, you have 24 hour access to course materials until the course end date. MPower Co uses ZippyCourses to deliver the course content, which tracks each student’s progress. This allows you to know where you left off, so you can pick back up while working through the course. 

7. Downloadable Worksheets

Throughout the course there are a number of downloadable worksheets (digital assets inventory, an expense tracker, to name a couple). You are able to download the blank form, edit them, and retain them in your records. These worksheets are worth the course fee themselves. They will help you organize and prioritize your financial life so you are focused on what you want most. 

8. No-Stress Self Assessments

Throughout the course there are quizzes to test your knowledge. These are only for fun, as no grade is given. They’re simply a chance for you to test your knowledge. Quizzes are confidential.

Meet Course Author and Instructor Dr. Thia, who can help you with retirement planning near me!

Before joining MPower Co as Director of Education, Cynthia “Thia” Crawford served as an extension professor at the university level for over 30 years. Her expertise has reached over 300 million people through radio and face-to-face workshops and classes on subjects including financial education, leadership, management, and donor education. A highlight of her career has been traveling the world as a W.K. Kellogg International Leadership Fellow (class 1).

Although Dr. Crawford already holds advanced degrees in consumer economics and adult education, Thia continues to model life-long education, recently finishing graduate work focused on positive psychology and how it can make retirement planning more comprehensive and impactful. Thia is a university extension professor emerita, a scholar, an entrepreneur and business owner, radio personality, researcher and problem solver, college sports fan, international traveler, cattle rancher, and tree farmer.  

She is always excited about the opportunity to work with individuals, like you! If you’re looking for “retirement planning near me,” Dr. Thia has written this course with content in mind that it doesn’t matter what is actually near you, as long as you have a computer and internet. 

What Richer Retirement Course Takers Have Said

While we at MPower Co know that the information and the instruction in this course are top notch, don’t take our word for it. Richer Retirement graduates words speak even greater volume. Here are a few things they had to say about this online course:

1. “My main reason for enrolling was to learn what I needed to do to prepare for retirement.  The most important thing I learned is that there is so much I didn’t know (like the basics of social security). But you gave me the foundation not only for learning what I need to know, but also the confidence to know that I can learn it and take the steps to prepare myself.”
2. “The responses received from the lessons were priceless.  I found myself looking forward to each bit more of insight and it was delivered timely and appropriately.”
3. “The coach was attentive and encouraging, the first time I got the response from the coach I was surprised that my email was actually read and that I received comments that were very helpful. I believe the coach did a great job and I am sure if I needed additional help she would have assisted.”
4. “As a result of taking this class, I was shown an orderly progression of information.  I checked my credit report and Social Security account online.  I will make an appointment with HR and review my options for retirement and options for saving for retirement.  I set a goal of being ready to retire in four years.”
5. “I would definitely recommend this class to others. No matter when someone is planning to retire, the information is helpful.  They can benefit by starting, examining, or updating planning.”
6. “Would I recommend this course? You bet I will and to people that are starting their work career also. People are not trained to think about retirement at age 18.”

Want to read more about what students said about the course? Check out this blog. 

Register for Richer Retirement

Retirement planning near me can be hard to come by, especially retirement planning education from your own home. If you searched for retirement planning near me or found this post on Social Media and have read this far, you are ready to prepare for your best retirement. Registration for Richer Retirement is open from January 26 to February 2, 2021. Don’t miss out on this course. Here is the link to register and be on your way to your richer retirement. 

If you didn’t find this article during the open registration period, sign up for our waitlist to ensure you get notified the next time that Richer Retirement registration is open! 

More on Our Blog About Retirement

If you’re not quite sure that Richer Retirement is for you, perhaps reading a little more on our website would help. Check out this article about preparing for retirement or this article about how much to save for retirement.