The Financial Education Elf
Oh hello, you're probably here about the story us Deferred Comp folks or DCS as we like to say like to tell a good story. Another interesting deferred comp fact is that there are only three jobs available to a DCer. The first is the big boss which requires working all night and creating to-do lists while everyone else sleeps. That's a great idea! we are totally doing that tomorrow! You can update publications, create videos, send emails, do data entry, and so on in the office but as you can imagine it can get rather overwhelming and even dangerous when the big boss has one of her crazy ideas. Uh, I don't think this is safe! But the third job, some call it the show or the big dance, is the profession that every DCer aspires to be and that is to be a financial education professional. No nonhuman, specifically an elf, has been hired for this position before. Well, until six months ago and as you may have guessed that's where the story begins.
Hi I'm Buddy the elf! Hi. Buddy began his financial education professional training with the basics. Treat every day like an opportunity to invest your money. There's room for every state employee in deferred comp. The best way to spread savings cheer is sharing planned resources throughout the year. One day when Buddy was caught up to speed we let him in on a little secret. As silly as it sounds a lot of people in Missouri don't believe in saving and investing for retirement. What? How do they think they're going to retire with enough income? Well, there's a rumor floating around that their defined benefit pension and social security will cover all of their expenses in retirement. That is just ridiculous! I mean retirees couldn't live on that could they? What about unexpected expenses, like health and long-term care? I suppose their defined benefit pension and social security income is going to cover that too? Yeah, I know every year less and less people save enough to close their income gap in retirement. I mean we have a real savings crisis on our hands, let alone everyone's trying to time the market. Oh boy, it looks like the local office has a lot of calls coming in, do you want to help out? You want me to help? As much as Buddy was accepted by his DC colleagues there were few drawbacks to being an elf in the deferred comp world. He worked fast but he lacked the knowledge, experience, and well, general office etiquette. Wow! What is this place? This is the local deferred comp office. No it isn't. Yes, it is. No it isn't. Yes, it is. No it isn't. It is. No it isn't, if it was then where's all the money? Why are you smiling like that? I love to smile, smiling is my favorite! Answering the phones, working, helping, that's your favorite, okay? Got it! Hey Amanda, 10a.m. Don Wilson's going to be in the office tomorrow. Donnnn? Oh my God! I know him! I know him! Don's coming here?
Buddy the elf! What's your favorite kind of Investments? Stocks, bonds or real estate? Give me that! Give me that! Hello, deferred comp. Hello? Hello? Please don't touch anything! I'm sorry. And then there were some issues when Buddy went to State agencies and universities to meet with employees. Like I said before Buddy tried hard and he meant well, he was just a little over the top and his methods were, well, unconventional. Are you heading to work? Have you ever seen a dog? I actually saw a dog today, I think dogs are really cute! In fact, they're fuzzy and friendly, kind of like other state employees! Did you know that I now work for Missouri deferred comp and I'm actually meeting a whole bunch of people on the the third floor of that pretty building over there. You should really come by and talk to me or maybe, maybe Kate Kuse. She knows everything about your retirement goals. You should really come say hi! We're amazing! [Music]
[Music] Wow! You have such a pretty face, you could be in a MO Deferred Comp Christmas video! Thank you! Are you going to give us the deferred comp song and dance or something? A song? Uh yeah, anything for you all here! There's tons of state employees and they want me to sing a song? Well, okay, um you should save and invest lots of money for retirement to fill your retirement income gap! Pre-tax, roth, auto increase, target date funds. I love it, I love you, we love it!
Buddy the elf, what's your favorite color?
Yellow. Thank you! Congratulations on your retirement, you should really think about rolling out and investing your backdrop with our company. Remind me again, what's your name? Don't tell him your name, Rob! How do you know my name? He's a liar! Let him talk. You disgust me. Back off dude! How could you live with yourself? I'm not kidding! You live on a throne of lies and high fees, and you're not transparent! Transparent with what? Your fees, and you stink! In fact, you smell like salami and Diet Mountain Dew, you do not smell like a deferred comp financial education professional. You're a fraud! After much trial and error, failed trainings, and well, numerous complaints, we decided the financial education professional position wasn't right for Buddy, but we found a solution that worked for everyone. Why don't you just say it, I'm the worst financial education professional in the world. I'm a cotton-headed ninny muggins. No Buddy, you're not a cotton-headed ninny muggins. We all just have different talents, that's all. It seems like everybody else has the same talents except for me. They're all great at explaining the deferred comp plan, making sense of complex investment information, helping state employees estimate what kind of balance they need to save for retirement and then calculating what they should be saving to reach that balance goal, and everybody else knows just what to say to encourage people to increase their contributions and stick to a specific investment strategy. The only thing I'm good at doing, saving money, cuz I've been doing it my whole life thanks to Papa elf. I'm just not good at explaining how it works or answering questions. Buddy! That's it! I have a great idea! And so with a little help, Buddy managed to share his personal savings story and became a great spokesperson for the MO Deferred Comp Plan on saving and investing for retirement. First I traveled to each and every state department, through 10 state of Missouri campuses and then I walked right into the MO Deferred Comp Plan's office. His spirit, testimony, and story influenced many state of Missouri employees to start or increase their current contributions to their deferred comp retirement savings account and schedule a meeting with a real financial education professional. [Music] No, no, no I don't want, I don't want. Oh okay, thank you, thank you. Mmm, mmm so good, so good.
So disgusting. All right Xavier. You know what's sad, is that's not as bad as I thought it would be.
