Kids give the answers to some of the most complicated retirement questions in the latest educational video from The Vanguard Group.
What's a 401(k) plan? It could be anything from "news station . . . that they talk and sing a lot" to "a pair of jeans . . . pretty jeans," according to students at Marshall Street Elementary School, Norristown, Pa. Vanguard mixed the views of the 6- and 7-year-olds with the facts of life after retirement.
Vanguard has shown the seven-minute video to clients and has received a "very favorable response so far," said Jim Norris, principal and director of participant education. Clients have yet to start using the film, he added.
The "experts" in the video understood that some amount of money is needed for retirement and gave figures ranging from $100 to $400 to be used for food, vacations and "to go to birthday parties." Vanguard later provides viewers with the approximate figure of $500,000 to $750,000 as what most retirees should plan on needing for their golden years.The video also features the children's drawings and the voice of Earl Hindman, who plays Wilson, the man behind the fence on TV's "Home Improvement."
Retirement could mean that "You could just say . . . boss, I'm getting old, can I please go home now? I'll forget about the money, forget about the working, forget about everything . . . I'm going home and rest . . . and that's all," says one boy. Vanguard hopes, though, that employees get the message that retirement really means saving.
