A nonprofit organization is looking to teach millennials about personal finance and in the process give them $1,000 toward their retirement. The name of the program is 3rd Decade that is offered by the TCI Foundation, founded by a financial advisor, Bob Swift, at TCI Wealth Advisors in Tucson, Arizona.
The target audience for this program is millennials who work full time and bring in an income between $35,000 and $100,000. Nearly 300 students have graduated from the program since 2016 and so far 143 applicants have signed up for the fall of 2018 and winter of 2019 classes that are taught in Arizona (Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff). An online may become available in the near future.
3rd Decade came about after Swift noticed a shortage of financial education available to young employees. “This is really the graduate financial course people should have had some time in their junior and senior year in college, right before they hit the working world,” Swift said.
The course takes three months and covers everything from insurance, planning for retirement, investing and budgeting basics. With successful completion of classwork, an exam is taken and two years of free financial advice with a fee-only financial advisor (who don’t receive commissions, but are paid hourly or fee based on assets they manage) is offered. Individuals who pass the exam and sign up for financial counseling receive a $1,000 contribution from TCI Foundation to a Roth individual retirement account of the participant’s choosing.
