Dan Puplava: Helping Teachers to Retire

Dan Puplava is a strong believer in education. He knows that an education is a priceless thing, and that teachers work tirelessly to impart knowledge and to change lives. As hard as teachers work, however—and as much good as they render within our communities—our teachers are sometimes forgotten. This is especially true when it comes time for them to retire; surprisingly, the retirement options available for teachers are often incomplete, and are certainly not always as much as these civic servants deserve.

Enter Dan Puplava. A long-time financial planner, Puplava is no mere finance guy. He is an educator in his own right, showing public school teachers how they can sufficiently prepare to retire. For teachers throughout San Diego County,Imperial County, and Riverside County, the good work done by Puplava has yielded remarkable, invaluable results.

Read on to learn more about this man. Learn about his career in financial planning, and the work he is doing now. Find out for yourself why Dan Puplava is not only a friend to teachers but a real advocate for them  throughout the San Diego, Imperial, and Riverside  region.

Where He is Today

We might begin with a summary of his current activities. Puplava was hired by the San Diego County Office of Education in 1997. His task, from the get-go, was to help develop, design, and implement a Financial Planning Program made to assist educators in mid-career financial planning. In the course of doing so, Puplava conceived and designed a new educational delivery system on how  CALSTRS defined benefit program was going to be delivered to the educator at the San Diego County Office of Education. Puplava accomplished this by using technology and teaching them the real fundamentals of their retirement plan. His supervisor at the time, Dr. Terry Ryan, received praise from his colleagues for Puplava’s style of delivery and out of the box thinking.   He is effectively doing the same thing even today, helping teachers understand the fundamentals of their retirement planning but he also includes CALPERS in his presentation.

His Background

Puplava has long worked in the field of financial planning. He has a wealth of experience in life insurance, for example. He has a CLU (Certified Life Underwriter) Designation NASD Series 7, 24, 65, and a California Life License. In addition, he has served as a columnist for the business page of the Times Advocate. He has written numerous well-received articles on the topic of financial planning, primarily for educators and public employees.

His list of achievements goes on from there. Puplava cultivated the first 403(b), 457, and 401(a) Group Pension plans for multiple school districts in the country, on behalf of the San Diego County Office of Education through the Fringe Benefits Consortium for 42 local San Diego school districts. He developed these retirement options with input from the IRS, ensuring total compliance and legality.

It is difficult to overstate what Puplava ultimately achieved with the development of this program. His retirement savings options have led to spectacular savings on behalf of educators, who now have options for avoiding high commissions and sales charges and without any surrender charges or penalties. His retirement program has proven so successful, in fact, that the IRS has actually worked with him on the initial development of his Idea. The IRS coached him with all of the problems that they had been running into during IRS audits of school districts regarding compliance for the 403(b).  He even had several discussion with the IRS regarding the new 403(b) reg’s that recently came out in 2008.

With the Fringe Benefits Consortium

Currently, the man is running his retirement program through the Fringe Benefits Consortium, specifically its Deferred Compensation Program. The FBC Deferred Compensation program works alongside such prestigious organizations as the NTSAA and ASPPA, providing full transparency regarding all fees and costs associated with the FBC approved vendor list for the 403(b). He said that they have already sent out new sharing agreements for the vendors to sign that request information regarding fee’s and commission, he hopes this will be up and running by mid 2013. Dan also said that this information is long over due for the educator and that is FULL DISCLOSURE.   What Dan Puplava and the FBC are doing on behalf of local educators is unparalleled, anywhere in the country.

Seminars and Workshops

All of these achievements are impressive in and of themselves, but what Dan is really known for are his educational workshops. He has spent years delivering and fine-tuning these financial workshops, in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial County. They include his Comprehensive Financial Planning workshop as well as seminars and workshops focusing specifically on the current economy.

His most recent workshop, focusing on current economic trends, is called “The Coming Federal and California Debt Time Bomb.”  The workshop has proven well received among those who have participated in it. For example, Dr. Ed Brand, current Sweetwater Union High School District Superintendent, says “Mr. Puplava’s economic foresight has helped many.”

Outside the Office

It warrants a mention that this man is not only interested in numbers—and indeed, though he is passionate for helping educators to retire, this is hardly his only passion. He is also an avid football fan, rooting for the Florida Gators and a couple of Arizona teams, as well as the 49ers. He also coaches high school  football, something that brings him ample pride and enthusiasm, Puplava said he can think of no other reward as a coach than seeing a young man grow into a chapion for life.

Dan Puplava: Work with the FBC

We have provided a sort of birds-eye view of Dan Puplava and his various activities. Now, we might turn to focus on one of those activities more narrowly—specifically, his work with the Fringe Benefits Consortium Deferred Compensation Program. Read on for a few comments about what this organization is all about.

The FBC at a Glance

The FBC Deferred Compensation Program was designed to help educators. Serving member districts in San Diego County, Riverside County, and Imperial County, it is essentially a retirement program, conceived to assist educators as they build their savings and seek to enjoy the retirement of their dreams.

That there is a need for a program like this speaks to the relative lack of options that otherwise exist for public school teachers. Indeed, though private vendor offering 403(b) plans and retirement options do exist, most of them are very costly, at least in these counties. Often, the different fees, commissions and penalties are simply too high—and as a result, educators have lost millions of dollars over the years!

Puplava and his associates believe that this is wrong, and that there is a better, nobler way to treat our educators. These are public servants who devote their lives to informing, inspiring, and changing lives, yet retirement savings accounts often steal money from their pockets. Puplava, through his work with the FBC, is seeking to remedy that.

In Conclusion

Through all of this, we see a few important traits on the part of Dan Puplava. For one, we see that he is a man who cares deeply about education. Not only does Dan Puplava work tirelessly on behalf of educators, but he also serves as a financial educator himself. Additionally, he is devoted to excellence in financial planning. Dan Puplava provides superior retirement savings options to individuals throughout his area through the FBC Deferred Compensation Program at the San Diego County Office of Education.