"The Prosperity Foundation" (not its real name) claims to offer a non-profit retirement education seminar, delivered by "academic" instructors. As I explained last month, TPF's marketing brochure initially impressed my NEA colleague. But his research revealed TPF's creator to be an FMO and its "instructors" to be financial advisors. Although the seminar curriculum sounded excellent, TPF appeared to engage in dubious marketing practices in order to generate attendees.
The first few minutes of the program confirmed that impression. The initial PPT slide identified the presenter as being with TPF and displayed a TPF email address for the person. Soon after, the advisor revealed his true identity as a local retirement planning professional and his actual email address. Charade over!
Introductions completed, the presenter got to work. To be fair, the seminar, which unfolded over three weekly sessions, was quite informative. The attendee kit had an impressive array of useful resources and the presentation slides were engaging, though, in several instances, outdated. Regardless, the advisor really knew his stuff and handled attendee questions capably.
On the final night, the advisor offered attendees a free one-hour strategy session and invited them to complete a computerized retirement questionnaire to be reviewed in person. His attempt to generate appointments was well handled, and participant reaction was positive.
