More investment-advice sessions available
Given the effect of the current economic crisis on people's retirement accounts, Stanford Benefits has arranged to increase the number of free one-on-one financial consultation sessions held on campus for faculty and staff to meet with representatives from Vanguard, Fidelity Investments and TIAA-CREF. The latter two firms also have offices in Palo Alto.
All three financial institutions offer free counseling by phone as well, and some appointment times for in-person sessions are still available for this year. A schedule of 2009 dates will be announced at the beginning of the year.
To schedule an appointment, the institutions can be contacted directly: For Fidelity, call (800) 642-7131 or visit http://www.fidelity.com/atwork/reservations; for Vanguard, call (800) 662-0106, ext. 14500, or visit http://www.meetvanguard.com; and for TIAA-CREF, call (800) 842-2007 or visit http://www.tiaa-cref.org/moc.
In addition, Stanford Benefits has asked the firm Financial Knowledge to return to campus with a new series of financial education classes to help faculty and staff make informed investment decisions in the current economic climate. Each class will be two hours long and include a workbook that can be taken home for use as a reference. The cost will be $20 per person, which can be paid with STAP funds.
The courses will be listed in the Stanford Training and Registration System (STARS) as "Investment Basics," "Managing Your Finances in Challenging Times" and "Retirement Planning Strategies in Challenging Times." The courses will be listed starting in early January and repeat several times during the first part of the year.