Learn more about the proper steps to retirement at this event in Topeka

The Housing and Credit Counseling Inc. is offering a guide giving the proper steps toward retirement.

The free program, which is open to the public, is titled Roadmap to Retirement. It will go from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday in the Marvin Auditorium of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Lynne Crabtree, of HCCI, said the event will focus on people from ages 30 to 80 and older.

The event is geared toward those "who are considering retiring or are younger adults helping parents and extended family members who are already retired or considering retiring," Crabtree said in a release, or who are "helping parents and extended family members who are already retired or thinking about retiring."

HCCI serves a 26-county area that includes Johnson-Wyandotte Counties, Lawrence, Manhattan, Topeka, Emporia and Flint Hills area.

What will take place at Roadmap to Retirement?

Roadmap to retirement will include three guest speakers: Rhonda Cathey, Rogers Brazier and Connie Mason Michaelis.

Cathey will present at 6 p.m. on the topic of organizing and discarding or keeping household possessions and the importance of organizing financial and health records.

Brazier will address how to recognize and prevent identity theft, cyber theft and when to recognize phishing. Brazier will speak at 6:45 p.m.

Brazier said he hopes participants learn to pay attention to their money and personal information.

"The big thing is, just assume," Brazier said. "People just need to assume, and statistically, it's very foreseeable that someone is going to steal something from you. "The other thing we can do is understand what's in our credit reporting agency files. Don't just look at a credit score. Actually, sign up for Credit Karma. It's a wonderful website."

Retirement is about looking at 'age in a healthy way'

Mason Michaelis will share a few readings from her book, "Daily Cures: Wisdom for Healthy Aging." Mason Michaels will go on at 7:30 p.m. and will speak for about an hour.

Mason Michaelis said because her columns in the Topeka Capital-Journal focus on aging, she thinks that's what makes her so relatable for the event.

"I think the most important thing that I emphasize is that aging is not about a number," Mason Michaelis said. "It's about an attitude. In our culture in general, aging is not seen as a very positive thing.

"But we want to age in a healthy way, an adaptive way. So, we have to have a good attitude about it."

Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka's Housing and Credit Counseling is hosting a retirement course