On Saturday I created a LinkedIn Group – Retirement Planning (RP). RP is dedicated to helping those contemplating their retirement leverage the power of LinkedIn. My vision is to bring together retires, soon-to-be retirees, and service providers, such as financial planners, real estate professional, and legal advisors, to discuss options, concerns, ask questions and access specialized expertise in an open environment. 

I figured I can’t be the only one asking questions about the winter in Santa Fe, NM, the cost of housing in Tulsa, OK, and healthcare in Laughlin, NV. Sure, I can take the time to research all my questions but why should I when social media tools such as LinkedIn allows me to ask questions from a knowledgeable person. That’s the beauty of social media.

Instead of sorting through a gabillion Google results and trying to sort the advertising lies from the on-the-ground facts, I can just ask a real life person. Sure, I’ll still have to keep my crap-detector on high because people may try to sell me something or worse, outright try to steal my money. So what? It’s not like all of us don’t have to guard against that in the real world all the time.

It will be nice to have a place to go where people who are in similar circumstances can ask questions, get a bunch of answers, and decide what to believe, what to verify (everything), and what to toss out.

Anyone can join. Who knows, maybe you live in a town, we’ll say, Savannah, GA, and someone has a question about that town, you’d be a great person to ask. You already know the good and bad of Savannah. By the way, since I’ve been there many times I can tell you, Savannah is an awesome place. Tons of history to explore and they have some fantastic restaurants.

I expect to attract a few sales-types once the group gets going but that’s fine. The group will decide who’s legit and who is not. To minimize the spam I wrote a simple “Solicitation Policy.”

RP has a flexible non-solicitation policy. This policy prohibits broadcast solicitations and spamming. Our members are expected to provide value to the Group through their questions, answers and opinions.

External links to blog posts and webinars that are relevant to RP Members are acceptable but will be monitored.

External links to blatant promotional and sales pages are unacceptable. If a Member of our RP Group violates this policy, he/she may be subject to membership termination.

That will slow the selling down some. In the end, I’m going to be the final judge and jury. It’s my responsibility to insure RP delivers value, which we will.

Let me know if you have any questions

Steve

800-707-9150

shartkopf@aligned-marketing.com