“I dislike all this money talk. It isn’t refined.” – Meg, to her sisters, in the film Little Women
Investing and Retirement Planning Workshop: Spring 2026
For Writers, Artists, and Other Creative Types
If you identify with any of the following statements, this workshop might be for you:
I don’t know if I’m saving enough for retirement, and it’s stressing me out.
I ran a retirement calculator and it told me to save an impossible amount of money. Now what?
I invested my money in a target date fund, but I don’t really understand what’s in the fund and whether I’m doing it right.
I’m nervous about investing in the stock market.
My parent/sibling/friend/coworker told me I should do XYZ, but I don’t know if I should take their advice.
I desperately need motivation to get my finances in order.
I want to pursue a big passion project/go on a creative sabbatical/pivot to a new career/take time off for caregiving, but I’m worried that the temporary drop in income will throw me off track for retirement savings.
My spouse/financial advisor handles all our investment decisions, and I want to understand what they’re doing.
Many writers, artists, and other creative types don’t feel confident in their investing skills and retirement planning projections. Why? No one taught us how to do it, it’s considered impolite to talk about it, and the industry is bound up in silly, unnecessarily complicated jargon.
What we’ll cover: In this workshop, we’ll break down the following topics with simple language and concrete examples.
Investing
Investing 101: Stocks, bonds, returns, indexes, and mutual funds
The “small” fees that can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars (that’s not a typo)
Your biggest decisions: Risk tolerance and asset allocation
Choosing the target date fund that’s right for you, not just the default
Retirement accounts galore, including SEP IRA vs solo 401(k), the secret spousal IRA, and the Roth-ification of everything
Nuts and bolts: Brokerages, fund providers, and DIY portfolios
Retirement planning
How to calculate your nest egg target: Your two most important numbers
Whether (and how much) to count on Social Security
There’s no way I can save that much, now what?
Pitfalls of retirement calculators
How to find a trustworthy financial advisor
You can read a more detailed syllabus here.
What you’ll leave with: Participants will be given homework to get a handle on their finances and retirement plan. You’ll come up with:
An estimate of your target nest egg and how much to save per year to reach that target
An estimate of how much you spend each year
A plan for how much you need to increase your income and/or cut expenses to meet those annual savings goals
An estimate of your Social Security benefits (accounting for possible benefit cuts)
An understanding of your risk tolerance and appropriate asset allocation (% stocks/% bonds)
A big-picture view of your overall finances, including assets, debt, taxes, and investments
I’ll assign people to small groups to provide accountability and motivation. There will be three assignments, and each will likely take a couple of hours (but possibly more, depending on the complexity of your finances). The homework is for your eyes only; I won’t be reviewing it, and no one is expected to share numbers or private data with the class. However, we may discuss the assignments in a general way and questions/issues that arise.
Extras: You’ll receive a packet of resources, including “money snapshot” and retirement planning spreadsheet templates, asset allocation guidance, sample lists of funds, calculators, and further resources/readings on the topics above, as well as on long-term care, annuities, reverse mortgages, taxes, saving for college, and general personal finance.
When: The workshop will have four sessions:
Thursday, March 12 from 1-3pm PDT/4-6pm EDT
Thursday, March 19 from 1-3pm PDT/4-6pm EDT
Thursday, March 26 from 1-3pm PDT/4-6pm EDT
Thursday, April 2 from 1-2pm PDT/4-5pm EDT
The first three sessions will have 1.5 hours of instruction and 30 minutes of small group discussion and/or virtual coworking on homework assignments. The fourth session is a shorter “office hours” session where I’ll answer any final questions that come up from the last assignment.
Where: Zoom. (Please note that I do ask participants to keep their cameras on if possible. I like to connect with the people I’m teaching, and that’s hard to do when I can’t see them.) The sessions will not be recorded.
Who: For writers, artists, and other creative professionals, including freelancers and employees at organizations. The group will be limited to 12 people.
Instructor bio: Roberta Kwok is a freelance writer who regularly covers investing, economics, and finance for publications at the Yale School of Management and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She has written stories about topics such as margin trading, private equity, meme stocks, Federal Reserve policy, ESG investing, financial crises, market volatility, debt relief, antitrust rules, bankruptcy systems, and corporate loans. Roberta is also a science journalist who has contributed to NewYorker.com, NYTimes.com, Nature, Hakai, Audubon, U.S. News & World Report, and many other publications. Her nonfiction book LOST IN CURIOSITY: Field Notes From Scientists’ Adventures into the Unknown, funded partly by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and MIT’s Knight Science Journalism Program, will be published by Sourcebooks in July 2026. Roberta holds a B.Sc. in biology with a minor in mathematics from Stanford University, an M.F.A. in creative writing (fiction) from Indiana University Bloomington, and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently teaching her 11-year-old daughter how to invest.
Why I teach: Although I'm a writer, I’ve always liked math and am by nature a type A planner with a deep love of spreadsheets. After many years of covering finance, I’ve become the type of person who enjoys spending my evenings learning about topics like exchange-traded funds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. At some point I realized that although this knowledge was readily available to anyone who wanted to read about it, most people probably didn’t, and I could help my fellow creatives — that’s you.
Registration: The workshop is now full.
Refund policy: If you cancel your registration at least 2 weeks before the workshop begins, you’ll receive a full refund. Less than 2 weeks before the workshop begins, I can no longer give refunds.
Absence and recording policy: In order to keep the sessions more relaxed, allow people to feel comfortable asking questions, and protect sensitive financial information that I or participants may share, I don’t record the sessions. If you have to miss a session due to illness, emergency, or an unexpected conflict, you’ll have access to the slides and other online resources; you can ask other participants if you can borrow their notes; and you can attend the day you missed for no additional fee if I hold another workshop in the future.
What we won’t cover: I can’t give legal advice, tax advice, or financial advice about your individual situation; I can only teach general principles. Many other personal finance issues will be outside the scope of the workshop — for example, paying off debt, buying a home, credit scores, taxes, insurance, saving for college, supporting aging parents, and estate planning. While we may touch briefly on some of these topics as part of our discussion, the focus will be on investing and retirement planning. Also, the workshop will cover saving for retirement, but we generally won’t cover what to do during retirement, which can involve some very complex decisions.
The official disclaimer: This workshop is for educational purposes only. It doesn’t create an advisory, fiduciary, or professional services relationship, and it’s not a replacement for getting personalized advice from a certified financial planner, certified public accountant, or lawyer.
Questions? Email me at robertakwok (at) gmail (dot) com.
Image credit: ArisSu