Retirement Email

Ready to Retire?

Staff and faculty members who are approaching the age of retirement may begin to receive emails from companies that offer retirement planning services. But are these companies all that they claim to be? In this article, you will learn how to recognize retirement planning services with poor reputations, as well as how to avoid them and which services to use as an alternative.

How Can I Tell if it is Real?

When you receive an email offering a retirement planning service, there are a few things you can do to ensure you are dealing with a legitimate business. First, try searching online for the business's name. Is the company an approved vendor by Kent State's Employee Benefits team? Have customers reported positive experiences with the company online? Has the Better Business Bureau reviewed this company? If the answer to some of these questions is “no,” the company may be a disreputable service.

If the company seems untrustworthy, it is best to block the sender's email address. If you have any doubts about this process or think the email may be a phishing attempt, feel free to reach out to phish@kent.edu.

Examples of retirement planning spam emails are given at the bottom of this page. Sections of each are highlighted to show you what to check when reviewing a retirement planning email.

Note: Even though these companies are not approved vendors and may be somewhat disreputable, most retirement planning emails are considered spam since they come from legitimate businesses and are not attempting to initiate a scam.

Alternatives

If you are interested in planning for retirement, we will again recommend that you consult the Kent State Employee Benefits team's list of university-approved retirement planning service vendors. You can view this list here or contact benefits@kent.edu for more information.

Examples

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The sender's email address belongs to a legitimate business, and the links in this email lead to this business's site. Note that the message specifies that the representatives are not affiliated with KSU. It is best to not click the unsubscribe link; simply block the sender's email address instead.

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This email also contains a legitimate sender address and links, and informs you that the agency is not affiliated with KSU. The information in this email is often publicly available on Kent State's website (your name, position, etc.), so this email does not contain any sensitive personal information.