Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1036712
X X Retirement Planning 17 When it came to retirement planning, I needed a nudge By Vicci Colgan, Wyoming Retirement System Trustee, and a retired person, expressing her own views. * Almost in spite of myself, my retirement is relatively secure. I can't take much credit. I was lucky enough to work for the State of Wyoming for 34 years. Maybe I was underpaid in the marketplace, especially when I started, but I took comfort from two things when pay raises were small and slow to come: public service was my life's work, and my pay came in a total package that included great retirement benefi ts. As one public servant to another, there is a lot your employer and you can do to support good retirement outcomes. Most public employees in Wyoming, including school district employees, are in the Public Employee Pension provided by the legislature and managed by the Wyoming Retirement System (WRS). WRS also sponsors a tax-advantaged supplemental savings plan to which employees can voluntarily contribute, specifi cally the WRS 457 Plan. School districts can off er the WRS 457 Plan, as well as vendor provided 457 plans and another type of plan known as a 403(b) plan. I'm not in your shoes, but if I had it to do over again, I would think much more consciously about what I could have done, some of it with my employer's nudge, to make my retirement even more secure. So I'm going to itemize some of my mistakes because they're probably not that unusual, and you and your employer can take some easy steps to avoid them: Lack of knowledge. When I started state employment, I knew there was a tax-advantaged savings vehicle, but I just never gave it much thought. I didn't know how important it is. If you are not yet in this type of plan, you need to be. It's just as necessary as the pension and Social Security system you contribute to. It is a vital part of the "three-legged stool" of retirement security. Procrastination. Even after I was aware of its importance, I wasted fi ve years before enrolling in WRS 457 Plan. I told myself I had justifi cations: I was tired of having little discretionary income; we had a house payment to make; it was great to have a new car; we needed to plan for children. Well, guess what? When I did start to contribute every month, I didn't miss it. What I did miss out on was a lot of investment growth. The state now automatically enrolls new state agency employees in the 457 plan, with an opt-out provision. As of this article, none of the school districts are auto enrolling. I encourage school district employees to ask their employers to auto enroll.