Website Review

[Old Ball Coach]

Hey all!

I'm not sure if this is allowed or not, but a teaching buddy and I have put together a website for teachers to go to get help with finances. Many of our teaching friends have no clue when it comes to finances and think that their teacher pension is going to completely support them in retirement, so we wanted to put something out there that gets them at least thinking and maybe even planning. 403(b)'s are really bad for predatory "fees" in comparison to many 401(k) programs.

Please take a look and see what you think. If you have any constructive criticism or ideas, please let me know. We are going to be adding links to our favorite websites on the main page, and of course, Mr. Money will be one of those links. Just have to figure out how to add that widget. Thanks!

https://teachersstacking10s.com/

[fuzzy math]

I just wanted to state that a 403b is similar to a 401k but for public / non profit agencies. It is not unique to education.

I have had 2 separate employers (one public, one private/religious, both not for profit) who offered extremely low cost 403b plans through Fidelity. It seems that education and state/county govt employment in particular go for cheapass plans that pass fees on to people. You are doing a disservice to your colleagues and others who may go on to universally think that 403b's are a waste.

[YttriumNitrate]

Shorten the URL if you can. For example, www.stacking10s.com appears to be open.

[dandarc]

Couple of things right off the bat -

1. "The Blog" looks bad when you click on it - may look fine on a phone, but looks like a sidebar with no real content on a computer.

2. Some of your posts have headlines with markup in them:

On the whole, I like the clean look of it, but get those details right.

[Old Ball Coach]

@dandarc

Thanks for pointing that out! We didn't realize that nothing was showing. All this website stuff was new for us.

@fuzzy math

You are probably right in me shortchanging our 403(b) plan. We just got Vanguard added as a servicer, which is a big upgrade as far as fees. I think the biggest problem we have is there is no transparency in fees for these third-party administrators. It took me two years to get our current servicer to admit that their company takes a 1.1% fee from your account value each year! So maybe I'm a little sour on the whole 403(b) system..

[dandarc]

Your 403B may be shitty - glad it sounds like it is getting better. Not all of them are, and it usually has to be really, really bad to get to where you should invest elsewhere due to the tax savings and the match if there is one.

[Old Ball Coach]

@dandarc

You are correct. We need to be teaching our colleagues how to look at expense ratios and fees when they are deciding how to invest their money in their 403(b). We always stress that you have to contribute enough to get the full match from the school.

[Old Ball Coach]

@YttriumNitrate

I'm not sure we will change the site name. We want to stick with the teacher part. The reason we went with the name is because of the play on "stacking Benjamins" concept, but we are teachers and can only stack 10's. Shortening may help, but not a negotiable part.

Anyone else have any thoughts? We did change up the look of the front page to make the posts visible there. We also added a favorite links widget.

[dandarc]

It's all about the Hamilton's baby!

[Old Ball Coach]

HAHAHA! I like it!

[mancityfan]

First of all, thanks for doing this. Bookmarked, good luck!  I am a teacher myself, and 2-3 years away from retirement. The 403b situation for teachers is near and dear to my heart. Having sat through Insurance company presentations at faculty meetings for years, I have been shaking my head, and trying to help individual teachers who seem open to a different path. There is a very good New York Times series of articles from a couple of years back about how teachers are fleeced by insurance companies. You really should link to it on your site:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/your-money/403-b-retirement-plans-fees-teachers.html