The Retirement Counseling courses provide you with intermediate knowledge of retirement preparation, counseling and investment management for retirees. This program is most beneficial for individuals who are interested in taking the CRC® exam and to those who want detailed instruction in the area of retirement counseling. Both Course I and II are offered by Texas A&M University-Commerce. The following is a description of Course I.

Once the course begins you will have weekly reading assignments, audio PowerPoint presentations covering course material, and weekly exams that generally consist of about 25 to 35 multiple choice questions. You must get 75% of the exam questions correct to pass the course.

Fundamental and preparatory topics include:

• Retirement planning and budgeting across the life cycle
• Behavioral finance
• Cash management
• Debt management
• Tax and estate planning strategies
• Elder care
• Extended sources of retirement income outside employer sponsored plans

Counseling topics include:

• Effectively counseling clients with unique communication needs
• Helping pre-retirees understand the importance of preparing psychologically, socially, physically, geographically and financially for retirement
• Ethics

Investment management topics include:

• The basic investment instruments
• Common and preferred stock
• Bonds
• Short-term instruments
• Mutual funds
• Annuities and guaranteed contracts and various fee structures associated with these investments
• Managing risk through diversification, asset allocation and portfolio management
• Important aspects of time horizon and goal appropriate investing

IMPORTANT NOTE:
All students are required to enroll in Retirement Counseling I before taking Retirement Counseling II.