Jeff Pabst, CRC
I have had the opportunity to attend the National Pension Education Association’s conference for the past 3 years. This past year was in beautiful Tucson Az. When I return, I always have a feeling of affirmation that your LAGERS system is doing many things right, but I also return with new ideas to make our education efforts better. So, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of these ideas with you.
More direct custom communication. One of my biggest takeaways from the meeting is the need for more direct communication with you – from the start of your career to the finish. We have been gradually working towards this effort for the past couple years by directly mailing your newsletters and annual statements, but it’s not enough. So, one of my goals for our education team is to begin sending you content, both paper and electronic, specific to where you are in your career. Whether you just started with LAGERS or nearing retirement, the information you receive from LAGERS will evolve with you. So you may start seeing more digital and paper communications from LAGERS, so be on the lookout!
Why we make the financial decisions we make. One of the sessions was about “behavioral finance.” To you and me, that means why we make the financial decisions we make. I found this topic to be quite interesting and covered some topics that will be beneficial for you. So, another one of my goals is to seek further education about behavioral finance to make our member education better.
Kahoot. Finally, a software that was used a couple of times in the conference was Kahoot. This is an interactive quizzing app that allows users to answer questions and see the group’s results. There is a competitive facet to the software that scores users based on accuracy and quickness. As part of my efforts of making our presentations and education more interactive, I will be looking to find ways to incorporate Kahoot into our seminars and presentations.
One of the best benefits of attending conferences like this one is the ability to bring ideas back from other systems across the country and implement them to make our education efforts the best they can be. It is my hope that you will find that your LAGERS system has some of the best education efforts in the country.
