The #1 Thing I Wish Every CalSTRS Employee Knew [video]

transcript

If you're a CalSTRS employee, you likely need to supplement your pension with additional retirement savings.

You have a LOT of options. Don’t let that paralyze you.

Now this is where people get stuck. So for the rest of us, we typically have one employer plan that we choose from and we just have to pick the investment options within there. For CalSTRS employees, they have dozens of employer plan options and each of those options has a list of investment funds that they could be choosing. So they are paralyzed by all of these choices. When I talk to people about why they're invested where they are, they say they pretty much just chose whoever came to their lunchroom and whatever they were selling, which ends up mostly being high-cost annuities. But there is a better alternative that is really simple once you know the process and what to look for.

403bcompare.com is a great site that will help you find the best plan for you.

That is the website that you want to go to. In the upper left-hand corner, you're going to choose "Find Employer" so that you can see the investment options available for your particular employer.

I am in Coronado now, so why don't we look for "Coronado Unified" to see what options these employees have available to them. So it's easy to search that up and we can see here the list of all of the investment companies, which– it's just so many - again, non-CalSTRS employees have one to choose from - I'm going to click on Vanguard because I do like their options.

You can also see here if this plan is "Roth eligible" or not. So I'm going to go ahead and just look at all of the investment funds available to Vanguard. It's going to show me the list as well as the expense ratios so you can go ahead and decide what you want to invest in going forward.

How to sign up for a 403b as a CalSTRS employee.

One final tip - when you go to open the account, I would follow the instructions on the 403b Compare site. I would use those links, those phone numbers. They will lead you to fill out a salary reduction agreement with the district. I have had people try and go to their HR person, their point of contact, and they have not been super helpful. They're not very informed on the plan options. They didn't even know, for example, Vanguard was an option. So I try to instead have people go through the website, follow up directly with the investment companies and they have more success with that.

My name is Linda Rogers, Owner of Planning Within Reach.

Linda Rogers, CFP®, EA, MSBA is the owner and founder of Planning Within Reach, LLC (PWR). Originally from New Jersey, Linda services clients throughout San Diego county and nationwide. She leads the design of PWR's investment portfolios which utilize broad, low-cost investments that integrate environmentally, socially, and governance (ESG) factors.

Planning Within Reach, LLC (PWR) is a fee-only and fiduciary wealth management firm offering one-time comprehensive financial planning, ongoing impact-focused investment management and tax preparation services in San Diego and nationwide. PWR is a woman-owned firm that specializes in busy professionals and impact investors. Planning Within Reach, LLC and their advisors do not receive commissions and do not hold any insurance licenses or brokerage relationships.