Published: May 08, 2009 12:50 am      

'Working for You' tour visits area

State treasurer pushes value of investing

FAIRMONT — As part of his duties as State Treasurer John Perdue’s field coordinator out of the Buckhannon office, Pat Jack spreads the word around about the SMART 529, the state’s college savings program.

But the things Jack has to say about the program, the tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage families to save for college, have more to do with him being the father of two teens than his job for the treasurer’s office.

“We have three years until they are both in college,” Jack said during the treasurer’s stop in Marion County Thursday afternoon. “I’ve tried to explain to them that it is their job to get a good education and make good grades, and we’ll make sure college is paid for.”

Perdue said today began touring the state to highlight financial and educational opportunities available to West Virginians of all ages. His ‘Working for You’ tour came to North Central West Virginia on Wednesday and Thursday with stops in Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgantown.

Among those stops in the local area was a trip to the Marion County Courthouse and the J. Harper Meredith meeting to meet city and county employees. Another program offered through the state treasurer’s office is the West Virginia Retirement Plus (457) Plan, where state and county employees can set something aside each month to save for retirement years.

“How many of you plan to live on the county’s retirement?” Perdue asked the staff of the Marion County Assessor’s office.

When no hands raised, Perdue said that state and county employees could build an extra retirement account for as little as $17 per month.

“When you get ready to retire, you’ll have a nice little nest egg on top of your county retirement,” he explained.

There’s a great deal of concern, however, about risk in the stock market, which has made some of the savings plans a hard sell in West Virginia, Perdue admits. And he understands how people could have some concerns as they near the golden years of retirement.

He admits that his own portfolio took a 40 percent hit during the recent downturn of the economy. However, checking online just Thursday morning, he said that there had been a 22 percent increase.

“This is the best time in your life to invest,” he said. “The point is that you’ve got to continue to push savings in good times, but in hard times, too.

“You shouldn’t get out of it — you’ve got to continue to invest and watch your nest egg grow,” he said.

Also while in Marion County, Purdue had the opportunity to visit the Youth Academy, the facility in Pleasant Valley that treats troubled youths. In the early days of the project, Perdue’s office helped the founders of the Youth Academy secure financing for the project. Now, Perdue considers it to be a model the rest of the state should follow.

“These are the people we can’t leave behind,” Perdue said. “This is a model that have been proven to work.”

E-mail Misty Poe at mpoe@timeswv.com.