We're Just Not Feeling the Happiness

Yesterday was a pupil-free day in Qld schools. Following the theme of Wellness month, one of the compulsory PD sessions all staff had to attend, as it was compulsory, was by a local financial planner drumming up business. It was compulsory because, well, you know, you have to have financial literacy in schools. We can agree on this.

Earlier in the day the Teacher Aides checked in with our Business Manager and we were assured it wasn't just about Wealth Creation, the title, there would be lots of other stuff about wellness and well-being and we would all benefit from attending. So we went, even though our Head of Dept had a lot of jobs for us to do that we barely scratched because we had five compulsory sessions to attend and only one of them was relevant to us. I attended the Wealth Creation talk last year. I dont remember any of it, but I do recall noting that I already knew everything that was presented and I certainly had more important things to do in my own work area.

So the presentation started with the usual "Speak to a licensed financial planner, this is general advice only bit". He then went straight onto the chart about Happiness and how as your income rises above a certain amount, your level of happiness does not increase. The presenter mustn't have received any memo to inform him that some of the people in the audience would be earning $15-$30k pa. He immediately pointed out that everyone in this part (below $40k pa), pointing at the LHS of his graph, was in trouble. Any happiness I had from the first two sessions evaporated.

The remainder of his talk was addressed to those in the room earning $60k and above. There were plenty of jaws dropping when he suggested that "everyone" could save $20k a year to invest for early retirement, he doesn't have children he added sheepishly. He proceeded to inform everyone how a typical household earns $130k a year and he was going to teach us how to save some of it now so we can retire "early". The single mum sitting next to me burst into tears and left the room.
The lady on the other side of her commented that she only earns $20k. Another lady I work with commented about this being a slap in the face and I said this is so insulting and we should all leave. The day went downhill from there.

At the end, the Principal came over to us naughty children who were rude and talking all through the session. I have to see her later to explain why I was blabbering about this being so insulting.

Edited to add: I believe the presenter could have been more sensitive to his demographic in the presentation. He was talking as though everyone in the room was on average to above average incomes.

 

I have mixed thoughts about this. Because it's a compulsory session where everyone needs to attend, I think the 'reality check' he was trying to give was probably out of line and in poor taste.

IF, this was a session where staff could choose to attend to or not depending on their interests, then I have no problem for already financially successful talkers dishing out some 'slaps in faces' where appropriate. A lot of people are just in robot mode and sometimes need that slap to wake them up imo.

 

Exactly. For many the information would have been truly beneficial.

 

I'd say this is the exact same presentation he gives for people working in industries where much better money is paid as a rule. Sorry to you all

Now I'll say there is truth to what he said. I also think you all did him a big favour so he is aware of the issue and thinks about it the next time he presents to school teachers or in a nursing home etc. I can only hope he learnt that lesson.

I agree with @Leo2413 that the talk was much more appropriate if it was non compulsory.

To you and your colleagues on low incomes forced to be told in your face your situation is s#it and you'll won't be able to have a half decent retirement.... Omg... I suspect you already know your pay is pretty poor... you don't need it rubbed in your faces.

 

It sounds like that Financial Planner failed to understand their audience prior to presenting.

Spruiking figures that disenfranchise 50% or more of your audience is just dumb. Perhaps using Qld income figures would've been a good start....

In my experience, the majority of Financial Planners are ever only interested in ~10% to 20% of those attending. Ironically, they're predominantly sales people.

When will these muppets learn to structure the information in a tiered manner that can be of benefit to all...... or are FPs all as ignorant as I think they are?

 

Do you have your charts and graphs ready for when you see her this afternoon? I would be explaining in detail why adding to my/some other people’s financial stress levels does nothing to address Wellness. I do feel for the person out the front though. Who briefed them? Who told them who the target audience would be and what the pay/salary range of the group would be? Sorry it was a bad start to the term for you

 

What a waste of time.

No one needs to put up with this crapola. The person who walked out.... good on ya, you should have all walked out in protest.

 

Obviously a typical sales pitch. No different to walking in and speaking to majority of financial planners.

I remember reading something from poor dad, rich dad, if someone is going to talk to you about building wealth, they better have actual experience too - rather than simple text book learnings.

Unfortunately there are way too many "financial advisers" who wouldn't know a financial strategy if it slapped them in the face. I deal with these muppets on a regular basis and the amount of schooling I need to give these idiots makes me sad (and I'm referring to the non bank affiliated financial planners - they can be just as bad if not worse than bank based ones - there are good ones, but so far the only ones I have felt are decent are less than the fingers on one hand).

Unfortunately Finanacial literacy (e.g. Understanding cashflow and the game of money) doesn't pay the bills for them, so hence the product flogging.

 

Very poor on the part of the presenter.

Surely the first thing he/she should have ascertained was the type of group he would be addressing. It is not exactly secret knowledge that teacher aides aren’t particularly well paid (I should know as I was one for 26 years!).

Maybe thought the presentation was to teachers?

@Angel, make sure you tell the principal exactly why the presentation was irrelevant to the group, as he was speaking to people on $60K or above. Maybe suggest a substantial pay rise?
Marg

 

Oh @Angel, that is brutal. The presenter dude needs to do his homework before presenting. It would take 2 minutes at the start of the class to ask how many people earn less than $30k, $30k to $60k etc. Better still ask the principal before the talk.

Telling people earning less than $40k that they are in trouble is incredibly insensitive and unprofessional. Did he have any useful advice for those people? No? They should have hired Barefoot Investor instead.

 

If this was compulsory and for finincial literacy in schools - was it something that is suppose to be passed on to students ? That would influence the content and working with average income etc would be appropriate.

If it is just for the benefit of staff themselves then it should not be compulsory.

But I agree the presenter need to know his audience and tailor the content to them.

 

No idea about your salaries up there, but I would assume that the financial planner frogot about teacher's aids and part time. Teachers in NSW actually earn a fairly decent wage. I think between $70k to just under $100k, depending on years of service. And then DP, AP and principals obviously earn more.

 

I got my friend who was feeling a bit financially lost to attend a Steve McKnlght seminar with me. He talked about owning a certain amount of wealth at a particular age to have a good retirement. It confirmed the future wasn’t bright as she was approaching 50 and practically starting all over again and supporting two teenagers. It was pretty awkward and I felt horrible asking her along. I can understand it would benefit younger people creating goals or people doing ok that they are on the right track.

 

No, we had this discussion last month. NSW teachers earn a lot more than Qld teachers. Probably half the people in the room would be between $60k and $70k. Only a small number who are HODs and DPs would earn $80K or more.

 

Who organised this person to come? On a pupil free day where staff are partaking in PD, why did the school think this choice appropriate? How does improving staff's financial literacy correlate with their mental health and well being let alone improve outcomes for students?
I would say the buck lies with the school and the person responsible for organising the session.

 

Agree, these things are useless (case in point) if you don't know who you're presenting to. I'm sure with reasonable enquiry this could've been better understood, but perhaps some responsibility lies with those that organised the day as to how applicable the content could've been.

 

The vast majority of PDs are all about student outcomes. You still have to benefit staff. Last year there was a session from QSuper. Surely everyone on this forum would understand the link between well-being and getting onto the path to financial freedom. I have seen plenty of comments over the years suggesting teachers are all idiots who dont know anything about financial management.

 

We have similar but as information sessions that are not mandatory. It will be announced that x from x super or x from teachers mutual bank or x from x will be running a session for those interested. We even had a local GP come and run a session on men's health etc.
I was surprised by this as I have never seen this included as a PD session for all staff to attend.

As a part of a staff meeting, we had a salary packaging firm speak to the staff group. I found their sales pitch misleading to some if not most of the audience and at no time did they advise that those considering salary packaging should consult their accountant for advice.
Interestingly you could salary sacrifice to pay school fees - but only if your children attended a different school. Their reasoning for this is that it would be unfair for a staff member to discount off child's fees and then be able to salary sacrifice as well (even though the % discount was minimal, applies only to the tuition component of the fees and only to the first child). However, one could get around that by signing up for the personal expenses card and then pay the fees with that. At the end of the day there was less than $900 pa benefit for the average wage of the people who attended. Most of these people would save that by investing much less time and reviewing current bills.

As an aside and I realise I have gone off track - from time to time there are people who get on the scrap negative gearing band wagon. How is Salary packaging any different?

 

I should say to the readers who disapprove of teachers having any spare time that the salary packaging companies came out a couple of weeks ago and staff were able to meet with them any time during the two hour time slot. Too bad if you didn't get a spare period that day. I cant stand salary packaging, but then I call most financial products ..... something "for dummies".