"If it has to do with money–how to spend it, save it, invest it, insure it, or retire with it–that's what I teach about," says Karen Chan, Extension Educator in Consumer & Family Economics. Chan holds a master's degree in family and consumption economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech.
Chan also holds the Certified Financial Planner designation. She uses that training in her workshops and publications to address issues that confuse many people, including investing, retirement plans, Social Security, insurance, and income taxes. Her expertise also includes credit issues, consumer problems, and money management.
Chan partners with Chicago-area agencies and organizations to offer financial workshops for a wide range of audiences. She also provides train-the-trainer sessions for social-service professionals, equipping them to assist their clientele with money management and consumer issues.
Many of Chan's programs are available on the web, including Plan Well, Retire Well (www.RetireWell.uiuc.edu), Tax Breaks for Higher Education (www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/taxbreaks), Rules for Taking Distributions from Tax-Deferred Retirement Plans (http://www.ace.uiuc.edu/cfe/retirement/), and Dealing with Clutter (http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/clutter/).
She is a member of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, the American Council on Consumer Interests, and Eastern Family Economics-Resource Management Association. She is an academic affiliate with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.
Chan received the 2003 Professional Staff Award for Excellence in Innovation and Creativity from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
All My Money Train-the-Trainer Workshop
Learn to teach financial and consumer skills to adults in this interactive, hands-on train-the-trainer workshop. All My Money is recommended for staff of community organizations, social workers, bank CRA reps, and others working with limited resource audiences. Registration fee includes the curriculum. Spanish supplement available. Read more about the curriculum at http://www.ace.uiuc.edu/cfe/money.
Credit Reports & Credit Scores
Today, your credit history impacts everything from how much you pay for auto insurance to whether you can get a cell phone. What's in a credit report, and why does it matter? What's the right place to go for my free annual credit report, where I can get my report without a sales pitch? Get all the answers in this workshop.
Informed Investing
Have you ever wondered what your financial advisor really means when she says an investment is low risk, your portfolio is diversified, she uses asset allocation, or that your mutual fund is a load/no-load/rear-load fund and has 12(b)1 charges? Maybe you'd like, for once, to clearly understand stocks, bonds, mutual funds, munis, dividends, and capital gains. This session will help you gain a true understanding of key investment concepts and strategies.
Your Retirement Dollars: When and How To Tap Tax-Deferred Retirement Savings
You have money sitting in a previous employer's 401(k). Or you're retired and trying to decide when to begin taking withdrawals from your IRA. If you need to make decisions about rolling over or taking distributions from a retirement plan, this workshop is for you. Learn how to avoid tax penalties, when you must start taking money out, what rules apply if you inherit your spouse's IRA, and what happens to the money when you're gone.
Making Your Money Last in Retirement
Learn strategies for managing your investments, retirement plans, and expenses in retirement to insure you don't outlive your money. How can you determine a sustainable amount to withdraw from your assets each year? Should you buy an annuity? Most financial workshops talk about ways to build your wealth while you're working; this workshop will talk about how to stretch what you've got.
Choosing Financial Professionals
You'd like to consult a financial planner or investment advisor. But how do you find someone you can trust, someone who's right for you? Learn what questions to ask, what those credentials and letters after the advisor's name mean, and the red flags that you should watch for.
Planning for "What If...?"
What tools can you use to aid you and your family in the event of disability, incapacity, and death, or marriage, remarriage, and divorce? Whether your assets total $60 or $60,000,000, you need to have a plan for who will pay your bills and handle your finances, where the money will come from in case of emergencies and illness, how your property will be distributed, and how your dependents will be cared for. This is estate planning for real people.
