On Oct 23rd we had the privilege of volunteering at the first Philadelphia Financial Planning Day. Attendees met one-on-one with financial planners to discuss their personal finance questions, concerns and interests. In addition they had the opportunity to select from a series of 50-minute educational workshops.

The free event was held at Ben Franklin High School for people lacking access to or resources for their own advisor. Advice was provided on a pro bono basis. Volunteering planners did not pass out business cards, marketing materials or promote services.

Philadelphia Financial Planning Day is part of the national Financial Planning Days initiative – a first-of-its kind effort involving city governments and financial planners nationwide united in an effort to provide free financial education to communities throughout the U.S.

Information and advice was available on a wide range of topics such as:

  • buying a home
  • debt management
  • building a retirement fund
  • building a college fund
  • Social Security
  • job loss
  • foreclosure
  • 401(k) and 403(b) plans
  • IRAs
  • changes in family status

To read more about the event and see the day’s agenda click here.

To hear Cathy Seeber from The Financial Planning Association discussing the event with Tracy Davidson of NBC10 click here.

Resources provided at the event along with a Flickr-based Photostream may be found here.

Finally what fun would there be if we didn’t poke fun at ourselves? A fellow named “Volunteer 24” is shown here helping a member of the community. (They couldn’t come up with something better to call me than “Volunteer 24?” I feel so generic.)