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Free workshops help seniors eliminate estate debates

OAK BROOK, Ill. - August 23, 2016 - The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF), the state's second-largest and best-funded public pension plan, is helping retirees plan for the future distribution of their assets, through a series of free workshops offered across Illinois.

The "Estate Planning Toolbox" workshop is a daytime, two-hour presentation from IMRF and Karen Chan of Karen Chan Financial Education & Consulting, LLC. With eight different locations, Chan will kick off the fall season by highlighting the benefits of solidifying final plans for financial, personal, and medical issues. In this financial literacy workshop, Chan says participants will:

• Learn the purpose of the major estate planning tools

• Understand how adding joint owners could have unintended consequences

• Be better prepared to work with an attorney on an estate plan

• Learn how estate planning choices may impact income taxes for themselves and heirs

"Proper financial planning is vital to peace of mind. However, when it comes to thinking about finances and our own mortality, many of us avoid the subject altogether," says IMRF Executive Director Louis W. Kosiba. "It's understandable, but we want to give our retirees a chance to face this difficult task - head on - in an easy-to-understand format and a friendly atmosphere."

The "Toolbox" covers popular topics, including: wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and titling of property. The Naperville workshop, on September 26, runs from 10 a.m. to noon at the Naperville 95th Street Library, 3015 Cedar Glade Road. While the presentation is open to the general public, registration is required. IMRF retirees can register online through Member Access at www.imrf.org and non-IMRF members can register by calling 1-800-ASK-IMRF (1-800-275-4673), Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST.

"We believe the Estate Planning Toolkit will empower our retirees and neighbors," continues Kosiba, "giving them the confidence to outline and share their wishes with family members, instead of leaving their most cherished possessions and treasures to chance."

Karen Chan is a Certified Financial Planner™ and has been educating the public about financial topics for twenty years. She holds a master's degree in family and consumption economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech. Chan is the Illinois Chair for Money Smart Week, and in addition to her various presentations throughout the greater Chicago metropolitan area, she coordinates financial education efforts around the state for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She maintains several professional organization memberships, writes for the University of Illinois Extension's "Plan Well - Retire Well" blog, and leads a team of educators who are revising "All My Money," a train-the-trainer curriculum for social service agencies and other organizations working with limited resource audiences on basic money management skills. This is the third year of IMRF's financial literacy workshop collaboration with Chan.

For the nearest workshop, retirees can view the full schedule with locations, on the IMRF website: https://www.imrf.org/en/retirees/retirees-must-know/retiree-workshops.

All presentations are free of charge and the "Estate Planning Toolbox" runs from Thursday, September 22 through Wednesday, October 5, 2016. Space is limited and reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis.

About IMRF

This year, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) is celebrating its 75th year of service to people across the Land of Lincoln. Active since 1941, IMRF has partnered with local units of government to provide retirement, disability and death benefits for public employees. With a funded status of about 87.4 percent and nearly $34.5 billion in assets, IMRF is well-funded and sustainable. Today, IMRF has more than 413,800 members and serves nearly 3,000 different units of government, including towns and villages, libraries and park districts, and counties and school districts (non-teaching personnel). The average member who retired in 2015 is receiving a monthly pension of $1,791. For more information, visit www.imrf.org.

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