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Yesterday I did my presentation on retirement at the student affairs conference I talked about before. I'd say it went well.
I had felt I should prepare for up to fifty people. I had a plan for people to break up into five or more groups, with at least one for each theme (creative plans, physical plans, social plans, intellectual plans, and spiritual plans) or we could have one giant brainstorming session if it was a tiny group.
Twelve people appeared--the wrong number for either plan. I had them pair off and talk for ten minutes. But then I wasn't in any of the groups. At first I wandered around, trying to listen in. But I think that weirded people out. So once I confirmed that everyone was involved, I joined a group that had someone I knew in it.
Afterwords we all took turns talking. We had a couple of uncomfortable silences, but everyone participated and we started really getting into people's concerns, though no one seemed to have magic answers. The main concern seemed to be a fear that they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. And of course money and health concerns.
Traveling and gardening seemed to be the most popular ideas for things to do. Then volunteering and working part-time.
Afterwords a co-worker told me, "You should become a stand-up comedian." Although I should become no such thing, I took that as a fabulous compliment and additional evidence that the seminar went well.
**
I also met someone at the conference who didn't know she could contribute to an IRA. She thought she was limited to the plans made available by our employer. She had been hoping to get approved to use an investment company other than the nine allowed in our plan, so I recommended an IRA for the same benefits. You can add "only" $4,000 per year to an IRA, but that's generally not a problem for my co-workers.
I met another person who didn't even know there were additional retirement savings vehicles available and didn't even suspect that someone might want such a thing. Our employer has a pension plan to which we are required to contribute, and that's all the thought he'd done.
**
In other news, I've heard of that thing where rumors go around that layoffs are imminent, and then the company president sends out a memo that says no, they're not, and then layoffs begin almost immediately. It's so common that I feel if you ever get one of these memos, you better start seriously job hunting right away.
Here's a new tactic I just learned about. Tell an employee that they are in trouble, and if they don't prove themselves by finishing a new project in a few weeks, they will be fired. Give them a nice project that they like and that they can just finish and do a quite good job on. Compliment them on their work. Then fire them anyway.
Fortunately, the person who enlightened me about this tactic began serious job hunting with the first news and has had interviews and has attracted some exciting attention from another employer. I enjoyed telling this person that collecting unemployment compensation will cause the company's unemployment insurance rates to skyrocket, so it is practically a moral duty to collect unemployment between this and the next job.
I had felt I should prepare for up to fifty people. I had a plan for people to break up into five or more groups, with at least one for each theme (creative plans, physical plans, social plans, intellectual plans, and spiritual plans) or we could have one giant brainstorming session if it was a tiny group.
Twelve people appeared--the wrong number for either plan. I had them pair off and talk for ten minutes. But then I wasn't in any of the groups. At first I wandered around, trying to listen in. But I think that weirded people out. So once I confirmed that everyone was involved, I joined a group that had someone I knew in it.
Afterwords we all took turns talking. We had a couple of uncomfortable silences, but everyone participated and we started really getting into people's concerns, though no one seemed to have magic answers. The main concern seemed to be a fear that they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. And of course money and health concerns.
Traveling and gardening seemed to be the most popular ideas for things to do. Then volunteering and working part-time.
Afterwords a co-worker told me, "You should become a stand-up comedian." Although I should become no such thing, I took that as a fabulous compliment and additional evidence that the seminar went well.
**
I also met someone at the conference who didn't know she could contribute to an IRA. She thought she was limited to the plans made available by our employer. She had been hoping to get approved to use an investment company other than the nine allowed in our plan, so I recommended an IRA for the same benefits. You can add "only" $4,000 per year to an IRA, but that's generally not a problem for my co-workers.
I met another person who didn't even know there were additional retirement savings vehicles available and didn't even suspect that someone might want such a thing. Our employer has a pension plan to which we are required to contribute, and that's all the thought he'd done.
**
In other news, I've heard of that thing where rumors go around that layoffs are imminent, and then the company president sends out a memo that says no, they're not, and then layoffs begin almost immediately. It's so common that I feel if you ever get one of these memos, you better start seriously job hunting right away.
Here's a new tactic I just learned about. Tell an employee that they are in trouble, and if they don't prove themselves by finishing a new project in a few weeks, they will be fired. Give them a nice project that they like and that they can just finish and do a quite good job on. Compliment them on their work. Then fire them anyway.
Fortunately, the person who enlightened me about this tactic began serious job hunting with the first news and has had interviews and has attracted some exciting attention from another employer. I enjoyed telling this person that collecting unemployment compensation will cause the company's unemployment insurance rates to skyrocket, so it is practically a moral duty to collect unemployment between this and the next job.