Latest News
April 2012
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Good health keeps wealth in old age
Posted: 4/30/2012
By By Donna Gehrke-White
Sun Sentinel
Ruth H. Clark of Pompano Beach is a 95-year-old aerobic wonder, working out seven days a week.
But Clark is not just flexing her muscles, she's protecting her retirement nest egg by staying healthy.
Economists say health care will become more crucial in retirement planning as medical expenses climb for the elderly.
People on Medicare already spend three times more as a percent of income out-of-pocket for health care compared to non-Medicare households ? 14.7 percent vs. 4.9 percent, according to the National Council on Aging.
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More Nonretirees Expect to Rely on Social Security
Posted: 4/30/2012
by Dennis Jacobe, Chief Economist
GALLUP Economy
Fifty-seven percent of current retirees consider it a major source of income.
Thirty-three percent of American nonretirees now anticipate that Social Security will be a major retirement funding source. In 2007, prior to the recession and financial crisis, just 27% did so.
Even after this increase, nonretirees are much less likely to see Social Security as a major retirement funding source (33%) than current retirees are to say they rely on it as a major source of income today (57%). This gap in nonretiree expectations versus retiree reality has been a consistent trend over the past decade.
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8 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Save for Retirement
Posted: 4/30/2012
By Emily Brandon
US News & Reports
Retirement researchers are examining what causes us to save for the future.
Motivating yourself to save for a retirement that's decades in the future can be a daunting challenge. Behavioral researchers are testing exactly what triggers cause people to sign up for retirement accounts and increase their contributions. It turns out that a variety of experiences, including spending time with your grandparents, worrying about problems you could face in old age, and even picturing what you will look like in retirement could pursuade you to boost your retirement account contributions. Here's what researchers say motivates us to save for retirement:
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The Takeaway: Saving for Retirement? Why Not to Think Big Picture
Posted: 4/28/2012
By Elizabeth Nolan Brown
AARP Blog
News Roundups
When it comes to saving enough for retirement, it?s important to keep the big picture in mind, right? Wrong, say researchers from Boston College's Center for Retirement Research; the best strategy is to think in small, concrete steps.
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Avoid Church and Rotary In Retirement
Posted: 4/28/2012
By Robert Laura
Contributor
FORBES
As shocking as this may sound, when it comes to planning and investing your retirement savings, religious and civic organizations are quickly becoming places to avoid. In the not-so-distant past, you could rely on the fellow who lead the pledge of ...
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Frame your goals when picturing retirement
Posted: 4/27/2012
By Carolyn Bigda, special to Tribune Newspapers
Chicago Tribune
Saving for retirement when you're in your 20s requires some imagination. You have to imagine yourself in old age, needing the money that you put aside today. You have to imagine the size of your nest egg, a formidable amount. And you have to imagine balancing this need with other important financial goals, such as paying off student debt and buying a first home.
None is easy to do.
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Why Save for Retirement?
Posted: 4/27/2012
By Joe Udo
US News & World Report
Retirement saving is hard. Why should I save when I can spend my money now? I can use the money to buy new clothes, tickets to shows, eat out, and many other fun things. There are many practical and emotional reasons why we should opt for delayed gratification and squirrel a portion of our paycheck away in 401(k) and other retirement accounts. If you think saving is tough now, just think how much harder it will be when you?re 65 years old. Here?s why saving for retirement is becoming increasingly important:
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'Do I really need my savings to last until I'm 100?'
Posted: 4/27/2012
By Walter Updegrave
CNN Money
(MONEY Magazine) -- Why do I need my savings to last to age 100 if my average life span is much shorter? -- Mike Johnson, Fairfield, Ohio
In "The Flaw of Averages: Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty," Stanford management-science professor Sam Savage illustrates the folly of planning using averages by recounting the tale of the statistician who drowns crossing a river with an average depth of three feet. The rub, of course, is that while the stream is shallow near the shore, it's 12 feet deep in the middle.
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Retirement Income: 5 Steps To Better Prepare
Posted: 4/27/2012
By Melissa Stusinski
The Inquisitr
Retirement income can be a daunting question for anyone, especially when they begin to think about retiring. In a study published Thursday by Fidelity Investments, researchers found that 38% of current retirees to not have enough monthly income to cover their bills.
The study also discovered that Americans who are currently working can expect a 28% income drop when they retire. This leaves a huge gap, made wider by additional false illusions.
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Why Retirement Saving Trumps College Tuition
Posted: 4/26/2012
By David Ning
US News
Many parents give their children financial support to attend college. Helping them to earn a college degree without taking on debt will certainly give your children a great start in their adult life. But too many parents lend support without considering their own financial circumstances, which could turn out to be a huge mistake. While living frugally to pay for college tuition is a worthy goal, it's not a good idea to fully fund your child's college costs if you need to neglect your retirement savings plan to do so. Here is why you shouldn't sacrifice your retirement finances to pay for your child's college tuition:
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IRA and 401(k) retirement drawdown: Just tell me what to do!
Posted: 4/26/2012
By Steve Vernon
CBS News
How can you generate income from your retirement savings that lasts the rest of your life, no matter how long you live and no matter what happens in the economy? This is one of the most difficult retirement planning challenges facing boomers, and you'd get lots of different answers if you were to ask financial planners or analysts that question.
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Scary Statistics About Retirement For Women
Posted: 4/26/2012
By Ana Gonzalez Ribeiro, (I)Investopedia
SF Gate
The 2012 "Women: Let's Talk About Retirement 12th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey" found that out of more than 1,800 women workers, 53% expect to self-fund their retirement through 401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs or outside savings and investments. Thirty-one percent expect to rely on Social Security. However, a huge disparity exists between younger and older women. Sixty percent of women in their 60s expect to rely on Social Security, while 77% of women in their 20s expect to self-fund. Most women are aware that they are not building a large enough nest egg. Only 8% strongly agree that they are building a large enough retirement nest egg compared to 33% who strongly disagree.
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Tackle debt now to build your retirement savings
Posted: 4/26/2012
By Jean C. Setzfand, AARP Education and Outreach
NorwalkPlus.com
According to a University of California-Berkeley study released in February, poverty rates are twice as high among elderly African-Americans and Latinos compared to the U.S. elder population as a whole.
As a result, those two groups rely on Social Security for a greater share of their income than other ethnic groups.
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Don't let debt weigh down your retirement
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Karen Cheney, Money Magazine
CNN Money
Not so long ago debt "was a four-letter word when spoken in the same breath as "retirement." Before waltzing into their golden years, older Americans paid off their loans, then celebrated by burning the mortgage.
How things have changed!
Now a third of folks 65 and older have a mortgage vs. 20% two decades ago, according to recent Census data. Median balance: $56,000.
Meanwhile, seniors 65 and up carry an average $10,235 on credit cards, think tank Demos reports.
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The Great American Social Security Lie
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Rick Ungar
Forbes
The headline machine was in overdrive on Monday with the arrival of the latest Trustees? Report on Social Security and Medicare. And while much of the media continues to herald the coming bankruptcy of Social Security, they do so at the risk of ignoring the real story?a story that is neither difficult to explain nor hard to understand.
Technically speaking, an entity is deemed bankrupt when its obligations exceed its revenues. Therefore, if the projections are accurate?and absent modifications to resolve the funding problems?Social Security will, indeed, be deemed bankrupt in 25 years.
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The top factors in retirement planning
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Larry Swedroe
cbsnews.com
When planning for retirement, most investors and financial advisors alike tend to focus on how much to allocate to risky stocks and safer bonds. A recent working paper out of Boston College's Center For Retirement Research examined whether this is the right approach or if other metrics are equally, or even more, important to achieving one's goals. Specifically, the authors looked at how allocating assets, delaying retirement, tapping housing equity (through a reverse mortgage), and controlling spending impact the ability to retire having saved enough money to allow a targeted level of spending.
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If Social Security is Plan A, it's time for Plan B
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Robert Powell, MarketWatch
The Wall Street Journal
Based on this week's report from the folks responsible for the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds, Americans'and especially those under age 40 need to reconsider their retirement plans.
Absent major action by lawmakers, the annual reports say that the combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance trust funds will be exhausted in 2033. That's three years sooner than was projected last year. And the Disability Insurance, or DI, trust fund will be exhausted in 2016, two years earlier than last year's estimate.
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How to Fight Back in the War on Retirement
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool
Daily Finance
If you want to retire rich in today's tough investing environment, you need to use every advantage you can get. Unfortunately, many workers are finding it increasingly difficult to hang onto the advantages they once had.
While pining for the good old days doesn't do anyone any good, it's instructive to look back at some disappearing resources that retirement savers used to have working for them. Even though their absence may make saving for retirement harder, you can still overcome the additional challenges this raises if you work hard and follow a smart financial strategy.
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Late to the Game? How to Ramp Up Retirement Investing in Your 40s and 50s
Posted: 4/25/2012
By Rachel Koning Beals
US News
Like any anti-aging regimen, retirement planning takes regular maintenance
Maybe you looked in the mirror this morning and found a new crinkle on the face staring back at you. Doubtful, however, that your very next thought was: "Boy, am I way behind in retirement savings."
The reality is, like any anti-aging regimen, retirement planning takes regular maintenance. We often skip a few preventative measures on both fronts.
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Retirement savings: How much is enough?
Posted: 4/24/2012
By Trent Hamm
The Christian Science Monitor
Everyone wants to know how much money they need to save for retirement. When planning, don't forget to account for inflation and fluctuations in investment returns, Hamm says.
Over the last few months, I've read several articles that center around the idea that people should be saving every possible dime that they can for retirement. For example, Daily Finance recently had an article entitled Forget the 4% Rule: Retirement?s Common Wisdom Is Obsolete...
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Putnam's Reynolds is worried about future of retirement savings incentives
Posted: 4/24/2012
By Mark Schoeff Jr.
Pensions & Investments
Despite emerging unscathed from an initial review by a House committee, tax incentives for retirement savings could be curbed or eliminated as part of comprehensive tax reform and deficit reduction, prompting concern from Putnam Investments CEO Robert Reynolds.
Last Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee expressed support for provisions of the tax code that allow workers to put money into 401(k) and individual retirement accounts on a tax-deferred basis.
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Retirement: Protect against risk
Posted: 4/24/2012
By Chris Farrell
Kiplinger's Money Power
Stocks have always been the core plank in the Wall Street framework for retirement investing. According to this strategy, stocks are superior long-term investments compared with any other asset class, including bonds. The real risk with retirement savings, the thinking goes, is being too cautious with your money and earning a meager return.
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Retirement Income: 5 Steps to Fill the Gaps
Posted: 4/24/2012
By Dan Kadlec
Time Moneyland
It's never too late to start planning your retirement security. Here's a one-size-fits-all strategy that will help secure an adequate stream of income in your later years.
With the giant baby boom generation entering traditional retirement years largely under-saved, the issue of how to secure adequate income for these years has been thrust under a national, if not global, spotlight. Thankfully, this is a fixable problem.
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The Millionaire Club: Twenty-Something
Posted: 4/24/2012
By Dee Lee, WBZ NewsRadio 1030's
CBS Boston
Retirement folklore seems to have everyone believing you need $1 million to be able to retire. However, millionaires make up only 5% of the population.
If you are looking for an income of $40,000 in retirement and don?t want to dip into your principal then indeed you?ll need the million. But most people do retire with a lot less than $1 million.
Any savings makes life in retirement better. Often the savings do not provide enough income so retirees dig into principal to supplement their Social Security benefits and pension. And often they must change their lifestyle because of a lower income stream.
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Scary Retirement Numbers--No Matter How You Calculate Them
Posted: 4/24/2012
by Gail Buckner
FOXBusiness
The average baby boomer will fall far short on their necessary retirement income.
About 44% short.
That's the grim prediction in a new study by Fidelity Investments which looked at average amounts saved, projected Social Security benefits, home equity and other factors across three demographic groups: baby boomers, Gen-Xers, and Generation Y (aka echo boomers).
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A Decade of Employee-Benefit Change
Posted: 4/23/2012
By Michael J. O'Brien
Human Resource Executive Online
A recent study on employee-benefits trends finds some interesting trends since it first began annually analyzing the space 10 years ago. There are more worries about retirement savings, of course, but the study also shows a disconnect between employers and employees on the desirability of various insurance coverage.
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Retirement bottom line: Many will have to work until 70
Posted: 4/23/2012
By Dinah Wisenberg Brin, CNBC.com
USA Today | Money
Will the old thirtysomething gang still be showing up for work at seventysomething?
That could be the case if they hope to enjoy a financially secure retirement.
Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to be on track for a solid retirement ? but some experts say the forecast for the generation born from 1946 through 1964 isn't necessarily so rosy.
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401(k)s Are Failing Millions Of Americans
Posted: 4/23/2012
Business Insider | Your Money Contributors
What's the case against 401(k)s?
They're failing to provide enough money for older Americans. As the country's principal way to save for retirement, the 401(k) program allows employees to set aside a portion of their paychecks, often supplemented with matching funds from their employers, and to defer taxes until they start withdrawing funds. But most of the nearly 80 million baby boomers ? the oldest of whom are just now starting to turn 65 ? haven't put aside nearly enough, and are in...
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Once Again, Academics Get an F When It Comes to Retirement Math
Posted: 4/23/2012
Jane White, Author, 'America, Welcome to the Poorhouse'
Huff Post | Money
As an advocate for 401(k) participants, the only thing more frustrating for me than not being able to get Capitol Hill to make the plans walk and talk like pensions is tackling "innumeracy" on the part of academics who portray themselves as experts, but apparently never consulted pension actuaries about how the plans actually work...
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Among Rich Nations, U.S. Retirement System Needs Work
Posted: 4/23/2012
By Dinah Wisenberg Brin
CNBC.com
Comparing the lot of US retirees to their counterparts in other wealthy nations can be challenging, given differences in public and private benefit programs, the age at which citizens leave the workforce, and various pension reforms of recent years.
Generally, though, many economists view public retirement benefits in the United States as less generous than those in many other wealthy nations...
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Retirement Bliss May Turn to Blues for Some Boomers
Posted: 4/23/2012
By Dinah Wisenberg Brin
CNBC.com
Will the old thirtysomething gang still be showing up for work at seventysomething?
That could be the case for many of their real-world contemporaries if they hope to enjoy financially secure retirements.
Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to be on track for a solid retirement ? but some experts say the forecast for the generation born from 1946 through 1964 isn?t necessarily so rosy...
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Downturn leads to rise in costly 401(k) loans by minorities
Posted: 4/20/2012
While millions of workers used money from their retirement savings to pay expenses during the Great Recession, African Americans and Hispanics dipped into their 401(k) plans at a much higher rate.
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Gen Y faces retirement as a go-it-alone affair
Posted: 4/20/2012
by Jennifer Leigh Parker
CNBC
Think of retirement as a family dinner table. It's an heirloom that is meant to weather the years, and a central fixture in the lives of each relative...
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Will you need a job when you're 75?
Posted: 4/20/2012
by Anne Kadet, SmartMoney
MSN Money
Disappearing pensions, an uncertain economy and shrinking home values are keeping many seniors in the workforce -- or bringing them back.
After Ailika Thomas woke up from a snooze, her husband brought her coffee in bed. It was 7 p.m., and the 73-year-old was facing a long, moonlit drive from her rural Indiana home to Chicago; Dean wanted to make the...
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Many are saving lots for retirement
Posted: 4/20/2012
by Anne Tergesen
MSN Money
Retirement crisis? New data suggest that only 15% to 25% of Americans will be poorly prepared for their retirement years...
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Make it your business to start retirement plan
Posted: 4/20/2012
by Gail Marks Jarvis
If you started a business during the last few years, and then watched too much of your earnings evaporate at tax time, you might be able to change that.
If you aren't putting any money into a retirement savings plan for your business, you are probably giving more than is necessary to Uncle Sam and short-changing your future too. And that is easy to fix.
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Majority of U.S. Companies Do Not Measure Effectiveness of Retirement Plans
Posted: 4/19/2012
Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal
Only 5% of those surveyed say the new fee disclosure requirements will lead participants to "make better investment choices." Companies say they want to prepare employees for retirement, but far less than half are measuring whether employees are on track for an adequate 'paycheck' in retirement or taking steps to measure plan success, based on a Wells Fargo study of about 450 companies that sponsor 401(k) plans...
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Catch Up on Retirement Savings in 5 Simple Steps
Posted: 4/19/2012
The Blog, Huff Post Money
Saving for retirement can be a sore subject for Americans approaching their golden years.With so much gloom-and-doom surrounding Social Security -- a 2011 report from the Social Secuirty Board of Trustees said Social Security will be insolvent by 2017 -- a self-funded retirement is more of a reality for many Americans...
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Working Americans Facing Significant Drop in Income in Retirement
Posted: 4/19/2012
Market Watch, The Wall Street Journal
Fidelity Investments(R), the leader in helping Americans save for retirement(1), today unveiled its Retirement Savings Assessment(TM), the first industry analysis that provides actionable and quantifiable steps across three generations...
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Five Financial Goals Every Boomer Should Make
Posted: 4/19/2012
by Casey Dowd
FOXBusiness
There are more than 70 million baby boomers reaching retirement age, and we are a diverse bunch: some of us plan to hit the road and see the world, others are heading back to the classroom, and some of us are even starting our own business as encore careers...
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Retirement savings crisis
Posted: 4/19/2012
By Jerry Kronenberg
BizSmart, Bost Hearald.com
The typical U.S. worker faces as much as a $2,100-a-month shortfall during retirement if current trends continue, a new study from Boston?s Fidelity Investments predicts.
What we're trying to do is help the individual get a better sense of what (future) they're tracking toward, Fidelity Senior Vice President Chris McDermott told the Herald.
The nation?s largest 401(k) and individual retirement account provider, Fidelity yesterday released a glum ?Retirement Savings Assessment? based on an analysis of investors? current finances...
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Take a second look at reverse mortgages
Posted: 4/19/2012
By Robert Powell
MARKETWATCH
Fidelity Investments this week joined the fray with a survey noting that working American households may face a potential 28% drop in income in retirement and that four in 10 retiree households already report not having enough income to cover their monthly expenses.
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Tax breaks for retirement savings should be simpler, Camp says
Posted: 4/18/2012
The Washington Post
Camp also said he supported the idea of requiring automatic enrollment in individual retirement accounts. President Barack Obama and Representative Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, support making employers who don?t offer retirement plans enroll their workers in IRAs...
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The Takeaway: Congress Talks Trimming Tax Breaks for Retirement Savers
Posted: 4/18/2012
By Elizabeth Nolan Brown
AARP NEWS
Tough on Tax Breaks? Members of Congress gathered Tuesday to begin considering changes to the US tax code. Great, right? Everyone agrees the American tax code is absurdly complicated and could use some reforming. Unfortunately, that's where the ...
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More people save for retiree health care costs
Posted: 4/18/2012
By Steve Vernon
CBS NEWS
(MoneyWatch) According to the results of a recent survey by Fidelity Investments, the number of employees with health savings accounts (HSAs) at the firm jumped 61 percent last year as more employees took advantage of the tax-free savings vehicle to fund current and future health expenses. HSAs offer three key tax advantages:
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Lawmakers consider changing tax breaks on retirement savings
Posted: 4/18/2012
The Washington Post
The painful trade-offs of tax reform came into sharper focus Tuesday as lawmakers for the first time began considering specific tax breaks to reduce or otherwise change, starting with laws that allow millions of Americans to avoid taxes while saving for retirement...
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Retirement Plans From Around The World
Posted: 4/17/2012
San Francisco Chronicle
Retirement is becoming more and more of a pipe dream for workers all over the world. A troubled global economy paired with longer life expectancies are forcing many to continue to work far past the age they imagined because of a lack of sufficient savings. Governments have resorted to increasing the age that citizens can receive money from social security plans in an effort to...
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Survey: Debt Affecting Many Workers' Retirement Savings
Posted: 4/17/2012
Fox Business
The survey indicated that a third of workers are not currently saving for retirement and more than half expect to delay their retirement. Together, these factors have contributed to a high level of employee distress, with 61 percent of those surveyed ...
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How To Protect Your Retirement Savings During A Divorce (VIDEO)
Posted: 4/17/2012
HUFFINGTON POST
From managing your combined debt as a married couple, to separating certain accounts, Epperson reveals steps to protect your retirement funds. Check out the video for more helpful ways to hold on to your retirement savings during a split.
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Baby Boomers are ready for retirement, mostly
Posted: 4/17/2012
Generation is generally wealthy enough, but how Golden Years are paid for is changing
Will the old thirtysomething gang still be showing up for work at seventysomething?
That could be the case for many of their real-world contemporaries if they hope to enjoy financially secure retirements.
Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to...
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No "magic number" target for retirement savings
Posted: 4/16/2012
By Mike Miles
FEDERAL TIMES.com
Think of determining such a number for the value of your retirement savings portfolio as shooting an arrow from a bow. You're standing in an exposed hilltop field, and your goal is to hit a small target 50 yards away. This is important, because you ...
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Fearful that SEC has been overworked, lobbied and bullied into a SIFMA stupor
Posted: 4/15/2012
At this time last year, hopes were high in the investment adviser community that the Securities and Exchange Commission would follow up its Section 913 Study with a proposed rule on a uniform fiduciary standard. But with an eerie silence on the ...
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Retirement fund keys: Work longer, start saving earlier
Posted: 4/15/2012
By Chris Farrell
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
Investing dominates most discussions of retirement planning. How much are you saving in your 401(k), 403(b) and similar retirement savings plans? What's your asset allocation in the portfolio, your mix of stocks, bonds, and cash?
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Retirement: It's All About Savings, Part 2
Posted: 4/15/2012
SEEKING ALPHA
In keeping my promise to the younger generation that reads Seeking Alpha, we are now in part 2 of this series, and it has just as much importance in retirement planning as savings does. Look, this may sound very academic for many of my readers; ...
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Break Through These Myths and Start Saving for Retirement Today
Posted: 4/15/2012
LIFEHACKER
"I have to pay off my debt before I think about retirement." They're all common refrains from people who may think they're setting themselves up for a solid retirement, but may actually be deluding themselves into putting off saving the money they'll ...
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Retirement May Be Mission Impossible for Gen X
Posted: 4/14/2012
By: Jessica Rao,
Special to CNBC.com
Though they've watched parents and grandparents nestled with pensions, Social Security and strong economic growth, these are no longer guarantees. On the other hand, longer life spans with more medical bills and greater need for cash are the reality ...
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5 Questions Every IRA Owner Should Ask
Posted: 4/14/2012
By Robert Cirrotti
Head of Retirement Solutions, Education & Health Savings Products Pershing LLC
President Obama recently released his proposed $3.8 trillion budget for 2013, and one thing is crystal clear: taxes are going up. While no one can predict which of Obama's proposals will actually make it through Congress, this should serve as a wake-up ...
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Fear for pensions protection as judge rules debtors CAN raid retirement savings
Posted: 4/14/2012
By Andrew Oxlade
THIS IS MONEY
The High Court has recently considered whether a bankrupt individual of pensionable age can be forced to draw his pension to pay his creditors.
The law that protects the pension savings of bankrupts has been thrown into doubt by a landmark High Court judgement. Experts are warning that those of the 'right age' - aged over 55 - may now have to hand over their nest egg to ...
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Retirement Bliss May Turn to Blues for Some Boomers
Posted: 4/14/2012
By: Dinah Wisenberg Brin,
Special to CNBC.com
That could be the case for many of their real-world contemporaries if they hope to enjoy financially secure retirements. Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to be on track for a solid retirement ? but ...
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Catch Up On Retirement Savings In 5 Simple Steps
Posted: 4/14/2012
By John-Michael Haines
Here are some steps to increase your savings as quickly as possible. Achieving a retirement savings goal means living below your means, which is why lowering your monthly expenses is critical. While you work, a lower cost of living allows for more ...
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Gen Yers Shoulder Retirement Themselves
Posted: 4/14/2012
By: Jennifer Leigh Parker
CNBC.com
"We used to talk about the three legs of retirement, including social security, pensions, and a 401k. Pensions guaranteed defined benefits. But much more weight and pressure applies to the 401k and personal savings now," says Suzanna de Baca,
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How Baby Boomers are Picking a Retirement Age
Posted: 4/14/2012
US NEWS MONEY
Some baby boomers received a boost to their retirement savings from their parents. Almost a quarter (23 percent) of baby boomers have inherited money, averaging $110000. Many people who inherited money say it helped them to meet their retirement ...
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ASK SETH & BRAD: Retirement Ready?
Posted: 4/14/2012
ASK SETH & BRAD
DAILY SOUND
Dear S&B: I am considering retirement but concerned if I have saved enough and a little apprehensive of moving from a regular paycheck to none. Any tips I should consider to calm the nerves? Stanley ? Santa Barbara. The retirement decision is often ...
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Money Watch: How should I invest my money in retirement?
Posted: 4/13/2012
USA TODAY
Q: In September, I turn 66 and will continue to work, but will retire at the end of 2013. Should I invest my monthly Social Security checks into an IRA or increase monthly mortgage payments to have home ownership before retirement?
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Three Simple Steps to Get Your 401(k) Back on Track
Posted: 4/12/2012
By Stuart Robertson
FORBES
As recently as five years ago, saving for retirement was ?smooth sailing? for a lot of Americans with 401(k)s. But when the markets dropped and a volatile economy rolled in, many saw their retirement plans begin to drift off course ? due, in part, to some tough decisions to reduce or suspend contributions.
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Transamerica Launches New Program to Help Retirement Plan Participants Recommit
Posted: 4/12/2012
PRESS RELEASE
Transamerica Launches New Program to Help Retirement Plan Participants Recommit to Saving for Retirement.
"RENEW Your Commitment to Retirement Planning" helps investors maintain retirement savings strategy and build sustained progress toward savings goals
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How Your Employers' 401(K) Plan Is Hurting Your Retirement
Posted: 4/11/2012
By Jill Krasny
BUSINESS INSIDER
Lousy spending habits aren't the only thing tightening workers' cash-flow, according to the latest PwC Financial Wellness Survey.
The fact that many of us are forced to tie up our money in employer-sponsored IRAs and 401(k)s is also to blame.
PwC found more than one-third of American workers (35 percent) said they're more likely to use retirement funds to pay other expenses and are consistently carrying balances on credit cards.
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NY Life: Stable Value Remains Core Asset Class
Posted: 4/11/2012
PRESS RELEASE:
Analysis Reveals 20% of Defined Contribution Assets Are In Stable Value Options, and Heavy Utilization Across All Age Demographics
In a recent analysis of its client base, New York Life Retirement Plan Services, a leading provider of retirement solutions to U.S. corporations and unions, found that despite a low interest rate environment, principal preservation investment solutions remain a heavily utilized retirement plan investment option with 50% participant utilization.
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SEC Commissioner Aguilar Issues Separate Statement on Extraterratorial Study
Posted: 4/11/2012
Today, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Aguilar issued a separate statement to highlight the inadequacies of the SEC staff study regarding the ramifications of the Supreme Court's decision (Morrison) which severely restricts investors' rights pursuant to the extraterritorial scope of Section 10(b).
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3 Better Ways to Withdraw Your Retirement Savings
Posted: 4/11/2012
By David Ning
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Yet, this group of people has the unique need to ensure that their retirement sum will last their lifetime. Individuals depending on their personal savings to finance their retirement years need to avoid both spending down their assets too quickly and ...
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TSP sets launch of Roth-style investing
Posted: 4/11/2012
By David Yoder
THE WASHINGTON POST
The Thrift Savings Plan, the retirement savings program for federal employees, will begin accepting Roth-style investments as of May 7, the TSP announced Wednesday.
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PwC Study- Employees' Financial Concerns Escalate, Eroding Retirement
Posted: 4/11/2012
PRESS RELEASE
Employees' Financial Concerns Escalate, Continuing to Erode Retirement Confidence and Work Place Productivity, According to PwC Study
PwC's Financial Wellness Survey tracks the financial and retirement well-being of working American adults nationwide. It incorporates the views of almost 1,700 full-time or self-employed adults.
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Do This or Your Retirement Is Doomed
Posted: 4/10/2012
By Dan Caplinger
THE MOTLEY FOOL
Ever since the financial crisis began almost four years ago, many retirees and near-retirees have grown increasingly concerned about their financial prospects during retirement. That made plenty of sense, ...
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Cold Hard Reality: You Must Save For Retirement
Posted: 4/9/2012
By Frank Armstrong III
FORBES
Of course, the overarching problem is that across the entire American public, no one is saving anything. Savings rates are grossly inadequate to provide for retirement, even if that was the single objective a family had. The EBRI study found that over ...
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Prudential Promotes Retirement Savings Via MSEPs, VAs with Guaranteed Features
Posted: 4/9/2012
by Elizabeth Festa
LIFE HEALTH PRO
Prudential is marking National Retirement Planning Week beginning April 9 by encouraging American workers who are not currently saving for retirement to begin investing at least 1% of their income in a 401(k) plan with the hope of increasing those ...
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The key to enjoying your golden years?
Posted: 4/9/2012
By Mark Schoeff, Jr.
INVESTMENT NEWS
If you want to enjoy your golden years, start saving in your 20s and use an investment adviser to help you afford life after work, financial industry officials and retirement savings experts said on Monday.
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Financial Services Roundtable: Start Saving Early for Retirement
The FSR urges workers to start saving now for the long walk to retirement (J Pat
Posted: 4/9/2012
by Arthur D. Postal
LIFE HEALTH PRO
The report, Saving Early--The Road to a Secure Retirement said that investing even small monthly amounts of money in a 401(k) or IRA early in life can make a real difference in an individual's ability to retire comfortably.
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How to Hedge 7 Retirement Risks
Posted: 4/9/2012
by Emily Brandon
US NEWS MONEY
These strategies will help you cope with common retirement worries
Here's how to manage seven of the biggest retirement challenges: Inflation. Inflation will erode the purchasing power of your retirement savings over time. Most retirees (69 percent) and pre-retirees (77 percent) are concerned about the value of their ...
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Boomers really are retiring, after all: MetLife study
Posted: 4/4/2012
By Andy Stonehouse
Despite what we've been hearing for the last couple of years, those millions of Baby Boomers now reaching retirement age are ... yes, actually retiring, and not postponing their retirement to work extra yea
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6 Myths About Saving for Retirement
Posted: 4/3/2012
By Dan Kadlec
TIME
With just 14% of workers saying they are confident in their retirement plan, it's time for most of us to kick saving into high gear. It's doable if you can get past these 6 myths about saving.
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ED (the Department of Education) Celebrates National Financial Literacy Month
Posted: 4/2/2012
In honor of National Financial Literacy Month, experts from federal and state agencies and nonprofit, educational, and private sector ...
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