NEW YORK, March 12, 2008 – MetLife Resources, a division of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, today announced the launch of MetLife’s Curriculum of Retirement Education (CORE), a seminar series designed to guide plan sponsors’ employees through the important financial decisions they face as they plan for retirement.
The CORE program educates employees about the changing lifestyle needs they may face throughout their career, encompassing the beginning, middle and end of the retirement planning process. The CORE series helps employees, no matter how far they are from retirement, set goals for planning and investing. Through a combination of workshops and face-to-face meetings, the program covers such topics as: 403(b) plans and retirement savings; staying out of debt; basic investing principles; saving for college; and understanding social security.
"Today, as people are living longer in retirement, they also face the chance of outliving their retirement savings. This makes retirement planning more important than ever," says Thomas G. Hogan, Jr., senior vice president and head of MetLife Resources. "MetLife Resources’ CORE program gives plan participants the tools to make informed choices as they plan and offers insight into their changing lifestyle needs. It also prepares employees as they transition into retirement with strategies for preserving income and maximizing potential growth."
CORE’s catalog of seminars is divided into three tracks: Plan, Invest and Retire. "Plan" seminars are designed for employees newer to the workforce and focus on savings options for retirement, including employer-sponsored retirement plans and investment basics. "Invest" seminars, for mid-career employees, explore different types of investments, their potential risk and tax benefits, as well as college funding and other savings options. The "Retire" track is designed for employees who are closer to retirement and highlights strategies for maximum investment growth and preservation of a consistent income stream.
By offering workshops and face-to-face counseling, the CORE program addresses employees’ interest in receiving more education on the products they need to build a personal safety net, as well as their desire to speak with a financial professional, according to MetLife’s second Study of the American Dream. In addition, the CORE program is customizable for each plan sponsor’s specific needs. MetLife Resources works with employers to design curriculums, offering sample curriculums or helping plan sponsors to survey employees and identify knowledge gaps.
MetLife Resources, a division of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, provides retirement plan and other financial services to healthcare, education, and not-for-profit organizations. MetLife is a subsidiary of MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), a leading provider of insurance and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Through its domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, please visit www.metlife.com.
