sure where that really puts me at each
month. It just seems so far away.”
The planning often intimidates
people. Vincent and Pamela’s youngest
daughter, Emerald Martin, 24, goes to
school and works part-time in Arizona.
Her employer offers a 401(k) plan, but
she hasn’t enrolled. To her, the pro-
gram is confusing, and
she prefers to save on
her own, despite los-
ing her company’s
matching funds.
“I wish people
would explain it in-
stead of just being like,
‘Here’s a thousand
documents on our
website, and you can
determine whether
or not you want to
participate,’” Emerald
says. “It would be more
comprehensible if they
explained each one in
detail instead of just
throwing a ton of information at me.”
Petrenchak suggests that employees
focus on the fact that benefits are a part
of their compensation. If they don’t
use them, they aren’t being paid what
the job is worth.
Abigail Gunderson, a certified
financial planner and wealth adviser
at Tanglewood Total Wealth Manage-
ment, recommends that Emerald think
about smaller, more tangible goals for
now, rather than the big, far-off picture.
“Taking baby steps can help peopleClockwise from top left:
Pamela, Vincent, Cherlyn,
and Jasonwho are overwhelmed by the process,”
Gunderson says. “And even if they see
a financial planner or adviser for just
an hour, or talk with their parents, it
can help clear the confusion.”
In fact, kids whose families dis-
cuss retirement planning with them
seem to be better prepared for the
future. A report by the
FINRA Investor Educa-
tion Foundation and the
CFA Institute found that
50 percent of millenni-
als with taxable invest-
ment accounts reported
their parents had talked
to them about investing
before they were 18.
So even if Vincent’s
advice hasn’t yet fully
resonated with Emer-
ald, their open dialogue
around the topic has the
potential to benefit them
all in the long term.
So what’s next? Em-
erald hopes retirement conversations
with people her age will become sim-
pler and more relatable. Cherlyn plans
on getting together with her father to
go over her asset allocation. And Vin-
cent is doing his best not to let market
fluctuations shake him.
“Everyone needs to be an active
participant in his future,” Vincent
says. “Read as much as possible and
prepare as best you can.”
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