I posted this report on my old blog in 2014. I want to show you a shortened version of what to expect when you attend one of the current UTLA financial literacy 403(b) and 457(b) Webinars.
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Some of the presenters have changed, but the primary content remains the same.
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From the beginning, Sandy Keaton and I held informal after-school meetings at a restaurant several times a year for several years. We have always wanted to provide helpful (and rare) investment information to help our colleagues get started on their tax-deferred 403(b) retirement plans (NEVER COSTLY ANNUITIES!).
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We know when you begin INVESTING, not saving, your hard-earned money in the lowest-cost companies on the 403 (b) (Vanguard, TIAA, and Pension2) or the twice-awarded 457(b) plan, you will do so with confidence!
Why You Don’t Want to Miss the Next Webinar!
If you have already attended, please encourage colleagues who have not participated to sign up. It’s all on Zoom, so you can watch and listen from home!
If you’ve ever wondered whether a single Saturday can change the trajectory of your financial life, let me answer that for you: yes—absolutely.
Our all-day LAUSD/UTLA Investment Seminar was packed, energizing, eye-opening, and—judging by the feedback—life-changing for many who attended. If you weren’t there, this recap will give you a taste of what you missed… and why the next workshop should be non-negotiable on your calendar.
This isn’t your typical “retirement talk.” These workshops cut through the noise, the sales pitches, and the expensive traps that educators fall into every day. Instead, we focus on real, practical, empowering information that can help you build a 403(b) or 457(b) plan that truly works for you.
Setting the Tone: “The Retirement Gamble” & a 33-Year-Old Rockstar LAUSD Teacher
We opened the day with PBS Frontline’s The Retirement Gamble. Those first three minutes alone wake you up to the reality of America’s retirement system.
And then—she walked in.
Crystal Mendez, a young LAUSD elementary teacher featured in the PBS documentary and on the Front page of the L.A. Times (2013), was about 33 years old with a breathtaking $133,000 invested (according to Frontline Documentary).
How did she do it?
No tricks. No lottery. No inheritance.
Just reaching out to Sandy and me at that restaurant meeting (mentioned above): got out of that terrible, high-cost, low-return annuity, chose low-cost investments, and paid attention.
Crystal’s message to the room was simple and powerful:
“If I can do it, any teacher can.”
Her story alone is worth attending the next workshop.
Rick Rogers: How the Stock Market Really Works
Our keynote speaker, Rick Rogers—Consultant, VP, and Director at Innovest Portfolio Solutions—broke down investing in a way that made the complex feel simple.
His big takeaways:
- Biggest problem #1: No goals.
- Biggest problem #2: No budget.
- Biggest problem #3: Not tracking your money.
Then came the chart that stopped the room:
Risk of Stock Market Loss Over Time (1926–2013).
Year-by-year returns? Volatile.
Five-year returns? More stable.
Ten-year returns? Even more stable.
Lesson: If you stay invested long enough, your odds dramatically improve.
Rick also played a hilarious Candid Camera clip showing how people “follow the herd”—a perfect metaphor for why so many teachers pile into high-fee annuities just because colleagues do.
A reminder: In investing, the crowd is often wrong.
Scott Dauenhauer: Five Things You MUST Know About Financial Advisers
Enter Scott Dauenhauer, CFP®, CalSTRS Consultant, and long-time friend of LAUSD. His presentation alone is worth giving up a Saturday.
Scott’s essential checklist:
- Work with a fiduciary. (Not a broker, not an insurance agent.)
- Understand compensation. (Fee-only is your safest bet.)
- Verify competency. (CFP® or Registered Investment Adviser.)
- Do your due diligence. (Use FINRA, the SEC, and Brightscope.)
- Request disclosures. (Conflicts of interest, fees, services.)
Most people have never seen the inside of a financial adviser relationship explained so clearly. At the workshop, we handed out evaluation tools and a fiduciary oath—forms that can save people from a lifetime of bad advice.
Dan and Me: Two Regular Teachers, Real Mistakes, Real Results
When Dan and I took the stage, the room had already absorbed tons of professional information. We wanted to show something different—what happens when two regular teachers actually put this knowledge into practice.
We shared:
- Our mistakes
- Our successes
- Our decision to diversify
- Our 10-year portfolio results
- How we learned without ever taking a finance course
Participants said our candid stories helped them realize that investing isn’t just for “experts”—it’s for everyone.
And because Rick had already explained asset classes earlier, we showed how using small, mid, and large cap stocks, international stocks, and bonds transformed our own long-term results.
The Finale: Q&A Until 3:00 PM!
Here’s what impressed us most: almost every one of the 40 attendees stayed until the end—a full-day workshop, and they didn’t want to leave.
That tells you something.
Why YOU Should Attend the Next Workshop
Because 20 years from now, you don’t want to be the person saying:
“I wish someone had told me this sooner.”
Well, we’re telling you now.
LAUSD teachers have access to a nationally recognized 457(b) plan, low-cost investment options, and experts willing to guide you.
And the workshop is free.
Whether you are:
- starting your career
- mid-career and overwhelmed
- close to retirement
- or simply curious
… you will walk away smarter, empowered, and ready to take action.
A Quick Preview: LAUSD 457(b) “Cookie Cutter” Choices
If you want a simple, diversified, ready-made starting point:
- Vanguard Wellington
- Vanguard Wellesley
- BlackRock Target Date 2020
- BlackRock Target Date 2030
- BlackRock Target Date 2040
- BlackRock Target Date 2050
- BlackRock Target Date 2060
These are real investments—not indexed annuities, not gimmicks.
Final Thought
If you skipped this last workshop, that’s okay.
Just don’t miss the next one.
Your future self will thank you—loudly.
Steve’s Bio
Stephen A. Schullo, Ph.D. didn’t set out to become a retirement-plan advocate. He was just trying to be a good teacher.
Steve taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 24 years and, like so many educators, he trusted that the retirement plans offered at work were designed to help him retire with dignity. Instead, he discovered something very different: layers of high fees, sales commissions, confusing products, and a system that seemed to benefit everyone except the teachers it was supposed to serve.
That discovery changed the direction of his professional life.
Working in the classroom by day, Steve began learning everything he could about investing at night, eventually earning a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1996. He started writing retirement articles for the United Teacher newspaper, helping colleagues untangle the maze of Tax-Sheltered Annuities and 403(b) vendors. Over 13 years, his writing reached tens of thousands of educators across the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Along the way, he co-founded 403bAware, a teacher self-help group where colleagues met after school, asked questions, compared statements, and learned how to recognize high-cost products. He became part of an online community of thoughtful investors, contributing more than 7,500 posts since 1997. His advocacy has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, and he has testified at California legislative hearings. His union honored him with its “Unsung Hero” award for retirement-plan advocacy.
Steve’s personal financial journey is also a love story. Together with his late spouse, Dan Robertson, they wrote the book Late Bloomer Millionaires, a candid account of how two ordinary public educators, after years of being sold high-cost annuities, finally discovered low-cost index investing and built financial independence later in life. The book is part memoir, part roadmap, and fully a testament to partnership, perseverance, learning, and grace. Dan’s optimism, wit, and steady presence remain at the heart of Steve’s work today.
For 19 years, Steve has served as a volunteer “Member-at-Large” (and former co-chair) on LAUSD’s Investment Advisory Committee, which oversees the district’s 403(b) and 457(b) plans for more than 55,000 current and former employees. Today, those plans hold over $3.8 billion in assets, and the committee continues to push for transparency, responsible stewardship, and low-cost investment access for all employees.
Steve launched this blog in 2012 to share what he learned the hard way:
• Teachers are not “bad with money.”
• The system was built to confuse us.
• When educators help educators, we change the outcome.
He is part of a small but spirited national network of teacher advocates who gather at 403bwise.org, where we support one another, share resources, and work toward reform.
Because every educator deserves a retirement plan that honors the work of a lifetime.
