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On the fence if Richer Retirement is for you? Not sure if Richer Retirement can make a difference in your financial health?

Let Richer Retirement reviews of recent graduates speak to the course to help you determine if the online course is for you.

What is Richer Retirement

Before we jump into the feedback, you need to know what Richer Retirement is! Richer Retirement is our online financial course that guides you through organizing your financial life today in preparation to have the richest retirement. It also has a mental wellbeing twist to make sure you are ready for the mental transition to retirement.

It is not a textbook online, it’s an educational course grounded in research and best practices that are brought to life with real-life stories and examples.

It covers a significant number of topics, including:

  • Retirement plans
  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Taxes
  • Savings
  • Investing
  • Positive psychology

The course was written by Dr. Thia, MPower’s Director of Education, who has over 35 years of university-level personal financial planning education. She has presented over 3,500 face-to-face workshops that inspired 200,000+ people.

She has studied retirement planning for a significant number of years. She waded through research, read articles and books, and combined the critical information into one place so that you don’t have to.

Throughout the course, she provides actionable solutions. You have the ability to choose to implement any that fit within your goals and ideals of what you want your retirement to look like.

Now, for the feedback from our February Cohort of Richer Retirement:

Founders of MPower Co: Thia and Lea

There are real people behind our courses

Richer Retirement isn’t just about providing education—it’s about providing support through having a direct instructor.

Adult learners said:

  • “My coach was more than attentive and encouraging, she treated me as if she was my knowledgeable guide, stepping myself through the preparation for a successful retirement. I found solace in my coach’s feedback. Maybe, a little positive psychology was used.”
  • “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.”

At MPower Co, we believe our courses must both be high-tech and high-touch.

At the end of each Unit, there is an opportunity for you to communicate directly with your instructor. Your emails will be read and even more importantly, responded to with customized feedback! Your course instructor is here to support you and guide you so that you have an individualized experience that meets your needs. We are here to be your support system through the course.

One of the many reasons Thia’s courses are so unique is her positive perspective. She urges people to realize their past cannot be different and to leave it in the past. We are simply here to equip you to make better ones as you move forward.

While we love these quotes as a whole, the line “maybe, a little positive psychology was used” really sticks out. We are life-long learners and we implement what we teach into our everyday lives.

If we are not positive and certain in the fact that everyone can have a better life, how can we expect you to be positive about your future!

Course graduates see real results

Here are a few examples of successes that individuals who have completed Richer Retirement in 2020:

  1. As a result of this class, one individual began adding to a 457 retirement savings program.
  2. One couple shopped around for insurance. They figured out how to be well covered and managed to save $2,500 a year on their insurance.
  3. One couple purchased an HD antenna and are streaming TV and internet instead of using cable, saving themselves an additional $3,600 a year.
  4. One couple is increasing their creditworthiness by looking into having negative information removed from their credit report.
  5. One couple is more prepared going into retirement with respect to where to first withdrawal money to minimize their tax liabilities. Prior to the course, they did not understand the varied tax rates for different sources of income.
  6. One individual increased their investment into their work retirement fund and also got themselves “OUT OF DEBT!” They credit the course with being “the kick in the butt” they needed to take a real assessment of their financial picture. 
  7. One enrollee passed the information along to their 18-year-old, who was at college and working. The 18-year-old opened and invested $1,000 in a retirement fund.

Successes of implementing life-changing practices to better their future, or the future of the next generation in their family is ultimately what Richer Retirement is about. Richer Retirement has a lot of information about savings and investing, taxes, Social Security, and much more. Throughout Dr. Thia gives actionable solutions that can really make a difference.

There are a number of many actionable solutions in each Unit. Dr. Thia does not recommend tackling them all at one time as it could be overwhelming to do so. Implementing two or three from each Unit that are the most important to you can make a significant, positive, lasting impact on your financial health.

By providing a number of solutions and giving you the authority to pick which ones are most valuable to you, Dr. Thia is giving you the power to be the CEO of your retirement.

Richer Retirement has a lot of information and a lot of considerations to make, but actions like these show that even learning and implementing only one or two things can have a long-term positive impact. The impact of these comments is much greater than the one-time course cost.

woman holding son in the ocean

Retirement planning isn’t just for people nearing retirement

Two individuals that took Richer Retirement clearly saw that the material is written in a way to benefit anyone that wants to retire at some point. Here are the comments:

  • “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.”
  • “I wish I would have been able to take this course when I graduated from college. That is when this knowledge would have been most helpful.”

While the course material is perfect for those nearing retirement, it is a misnomer that those are the only people that should take Richer Retirement. It is uncanny how many people indicate they wish they had the information in the course earlier in their life.

Also, people who take the course at early, middle, and late in their careers find critical information relevant to their needs.

For instance, Social Security is one topic that many think is a topic only those nearing retirement need to know about. However, it is critical that we all know the facts regarding Social Security today (and it might not be what you think!) so that we know how changes to the program will affect those expecting to receive it down the road. 

Retirement isn’t just about money—it’s about living

In the Richer Retirement course, Thia recalls a story about how her mother told her that her goal for a year later in her life was to LIVE in all caps. Retirement isn’t just about finance and Dr. Thia does an excellent job of bringing that awareness to course participants.

Here are a few thoughts from course participants on how Richer Retirement gave them more to think about than just the numbers behind retirement: 

  • “It’s been interesting to investigate my psychological/emotional readiness to retire vs. a number (age.) Again, this is something I don’t believe most people think about prior to retirement. I know I hadn’t until taking this course.”
  • “The holistic approach for planning for retirement paints a bigger picture during the course. When hearing other’s plans for retirement, it is mostly about working until they think they no longer need to work. The best example of this approach so far has been the retirement goals worksheet that drives home the need to have a meaningful retirement.”
  • “The subject matter is presented in a succinct manner. The class makes the student realize that retirement takes preparation and knowledge. The class makes the student introspective. Unit 7 was a wake-up call to start changing my weekend and volunteer pursuits, so I can lay the cornerstone of good retirement habits. I truly need to work towards a plan to keep me active, when I transition my work hours in retirement.”

Richer Retirement shocks some (in a good way!)

Personal finance is hard to keep up with. Information is always changing. Lives are busy and can get in the way of us staying up-to-date. At MPower Co we want you to be the CEO of your retirement; however, it’s hard to keep up with everything. So, that’s why we made it our job!

It is our responsibility to provide up-to-date information that is truly accessible enough to be implemented.

We are glad that for some we can be a resource to supplement knowledge and know-how that individuals already have. For some, though, the information clearly seems to be a bit of a shock, in a good way:

  • The information – a lot of it I assumed I already had a handle on but I didn’t have a clue.
  • I never knew how much stress I was under not having a solid retirement plan until I developed one. Then a weight was lifted.
  • From the very beginning I realized the course was a great opportunity to get the necessary knowledge to have a financial plan for retirement: The earlier, the better!
two men laughing outside

Financial education with a sense of humor

We know some of the topics of Richer Retirement can be heavy. Throughout Richer Retirement we try to add humor where we can, and we appreciate when individuals share their humor back. This student made us laugh but through making a fantastic point, and we hope it makes you laugh as well!

  • “Thank you, I am really glad you are providing this service. Without it, I fear that I and perhaps many others would have our heads in the ground and our assets exposed.”

Richer Retirement is “life-changing”

We would be remiss to not mention a few of the heart-felt ‘thank you’ messages received from course participants. These words do truly show that an impact was made for these individuals and for that MPower Co and Dr. Thia are thankful they had the opportunity to provide this course:

  • “I finally can write down and not just talk about my retirement plan. This course is helping me to be proactive with my thoughts before I take the needed actions orderly.  Since everything I read was meaningful, I have only to thank you for the opportunity! I enjoyed every lesson and always think how nice if everyone I know could take advantage of much-needed knowledge.”
  • “Thank you and keep up the great work. I thoroughly enjoyed this class!! I just really enjoyed the class. I couldn’t wait to see the chapters posted every Tuesday I was looking so forward to them! Thank you for all your hard work and dedication as well.”
  • “I finally can write down and not just talk about my retirement plan. This course is helping me to be proactive with my thoughts before I take the needed actions orderly. Since everything I read was meaningful, I have only to thank you for the opportunity! I enjoyed every lesson and always think how nice if everyone I know could take advantage of such a needed knowledge.”

Ready to start on your way to a Richer Retirement?

Our course Richer Retirement begins the first Tuesday of July and August 2020, and then will be closed until 2021. There are only a total of 50 spots in each class, as we want to make sure that Dr. Thia can provide support during the course.

If you are ready to start on your path to your richest retirement, enroll in our retirement planning course!