Planning to Retire
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New Investment Options for Your 401(k)
Continue reading… 1 CommentJust over half of companies have made changes to their 401(k) investment lineups since June 2008. Most employers have both added new funds and eliminated existing funds, according to a small Watson Wyatt survey of 85 senior-level financial executives at large U.S. companies.
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5 Tips to Maximize Your 401(k) Match
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe median Vanguard 401(k) account balance fell by 14 percent among continuous participants between 2007 and 2008. Ongoing contributions and maximizing your 401(k) match are the best way to recoup those losses. But all 401(k) matches aren’t created equal. Vanguard administered 401(k) plans with more than 200 different match formulas in 2008, according to a recent analysis of 2,200 Vanguard retirement accounts with over 3 million participants. Here’s how to make the most of your employer’s 401(k) match.
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Getting By on $35 a Day in Retirement
Continue reading… 5 CommentsRetirees spend far less money in a typical day than working Americans. A Gallup survey released today asked U.S. consumers to report how much they spent yesterday, excluding normal household bills and major purchases such as homes and cars. Those born before 1930 spent just $35, compared to $50 for the silent generation born between 1930 and 1945, $64 for baby boomers, $71 for generation X, and $61 for millennials.
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Would You Accept $15,000 to Retire Early?
Continue reading… 10 CommentsThe U.S. Postal Service offered 30,000 employees a $15,000 cash incentive to retire or resign before the end of the fiscal year. But is $15,000 worth of payments spread out over 2 years enough of an enticement to give up your employment at a time when new jobs are scarce?
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Are Pessimists More Prepared for Retirement?
Continue reading… 0 CommentsHaving a pessimistic outlook about life can spill over into your retirement plans. Investors who were determined to be pessimists based on a questionnaire are less likely than optimists to expect a comfortable lifestyle in retirement, according to a recent Fidelity Investments study. Those who see the glass as half empty are also less likely to take risks with their nest egg.
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Three Groups that Will Soon Face Higher Medicare Premiums
Continue reading… 20 CommentsMost Medicare beneficiaries won’t pay higher premiums for Part B medical insurance coverage next year. Under current law, Part B premiums cannot rise faster than Social Security annual cost-of-living increases. And the Congressional Budget Office predicts there will be no cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients in 2010 and 2011. But the law doesn’t protect all Medicare recipients from elevated health insurance costs. About 75 percent of people will be protected from the premium increase, according to Juliette Cubanski, a policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The remaining 25 percent of Medicare recipients will face larger than normal premium increases because the costs are spread across a smaller share of beneficiaries. Here is who will have to pay greater Medicare premiums in the near future.
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Life Expectancy Reaches a New High
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe typical life expectancy in the U.S. reached 77.9 years in 2007. Over the past decade the American lifespan has increased 1.4 years, up from 76.5 in 1997, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of death certificates in the United States.
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Baby Boomers Still Using Illegal Drugs
Continue reading… 7 CommentsSome baby boomers are continuing to use illicit drugs as they grow older. The number of 50-somethings who say they took drugs within the past year has nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007, according to a new analysis by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Among all other age groups the rates of drug use stayed the same or decreased. Over the same time period marijuana use among Americans age 50 to 59 increased from 3.1 to 5.7 percent and nonmedical utilization of prescription drugs climbed to 4 percent in 2007 from 2.2 percent in 2002.
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To Feel Young, Go West?
Continue reading… 1 CommentRetirees in the western U.S. say they feel younger than seniors in other parts of the country. Some 78 percent of adults age 65 and older who live in the west say they don't feel old, compared with 67 percent of older adults who live in the rest of the country, according to a recent Pew Research Center telephone survey of 2,969 adults. Only 21 percent of westerners age 65 and up say they perceive themselves as old, far fewer than northeasterners (28 percent), southerners (29 percent), and especially midwesterners (34 percent).
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Finding a Financial Adviser You Can Trust
Continue reading… 2 CommentsSometimes the people you hire to help manage your money are just trying to scam you out of it. Last week an Ohio broker was barred from the securities industry for stealing a $90,000 inheritance that two sisters received from a deceased aunt. He sent one of the sisters false account statements to cover up his theft. It can be difficult to know when you can trust a broker with something as valuable as your retirement security. U.S. News asked Kelly Campbell, a certified financial planner and author of Fire Your Broker, how to find a financial adviser who won’t run off with your children’s inheritance and just might help grow your nest egg. Excerpts:
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401(k) Matches May Return Soon
Continue reading… 1 CommentFor the 401(k) matchless, finally a reason for optimism: Employer contributions to retirement accounts may soon make reappearance. Almost a quarter (24 percent) of employers that eliminated their 401(k) or 403(b) contributions plan to reinstate them within the next 6 months, up significantly from 5 percent of companies in June, according to a recent Watson Wyatt survey of human resources executives at 175 U.S. companies. Another 40 percent of employers plan to resume 401(k) matches within 18 months.
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Woodstock’s Influence 40 Years Later
Continue reading… 12 CommentsThe influence of Woodstock, an upstate N.Y. music festival that took place 40 years ago this weekend, is still being discussed. About 70 percent of Americans age 16 and over remember learning about the 1969 concert in Bethel, N.Y., or have at least heard about it, according to a recent Pew Research telephone survey. But not everyone remembers it the same way, calling the concert everything from “a peace festival that was supposed to bring unity and togetherness” to “a hippie drug-fest.” The Pew Research survey suggests that the historic 3-day concert may have played a role in ushering the baby boomer’s musical preferences into the mainstream.
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Fidelity: 401(k)s are Beginning to Recover
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe average Fidelity 401(k) account balance rose 13.5 percent in the second quarter to $53,900. The increase, driven primarily by stock market gains but also due to new worker and employer contributions, follows a 27 percent drop in the average account balance from $69,200 in 2007 to $50,200 in 2008.
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Older Worker Unemployment Falls
Continue reading… 3 CommentsFor Americans searching for jobs after age 50, finally some hope. The unemployment rate for those age 55 and over decreased from 7 percent in June to 6.7 percent in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s well below the overall unemployment rate of 9.4 percent in July and represents a decrease of approximately 83,000 unemployed older workers since June.
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Still Working After Age 100
Continue reading… 1 CommentMany baby boomers are going to need to work during the traditional retirement years because they haven’t saved enough. But some seniors work long after their colleagues have exited the workforce simply because they enjoy going to the office each day.
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What Do Retirees Do All Day?
Continue reading… 9 CommentsThe typical employed person spends 7.6 hours at work each day. When you finally make your exit from the workforce those extra hours can be filled however you wish. Most retirees spend their newfound freedom lingering slightly longer than the total population over food, sleep, and household chores. Americans age 65 to 74 only spend about 2 extra hours per day on leisure activities than the population as a whole, according to the Department of Labor’s American Time Use Survey. Seniors spend most of their additional 2 hours of leisure time watching TV, socializing, and reading. Here’s what the typical retiree’s day looks like compared to the rest of us.
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Retirees Consider Returning to Work
Continue reading… 3 CommentsWhen many people retire, they don’t plan to give up work forever. Some people who leave the workforce plan to accept a new job if the correct opportunity arises. A new Longevity Alliance and Harris Interactive poll released today found that 43 percent of retirees seriously considered the possibility of going back to work when they first retired.
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Knowing When to Accept an Early Retirement Incentive
Continue reading… 0 CommentsFinancially struggling companies sometimes try to entice workers to give up their jobs with buyout and early retirement incentive packages. About 6,000 General Motors employees accepted buyout offers this month. Yet, it can be difficult to know when to take early retirement and when to try to hold on to your job. A cash bonus certainly sounds appealing at first glance. But retirees can come out behind if their pension payments will be reduced or they lose employer-subsidized healthcare.
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Workers with Pensions Save More in 401(k)
Continue reading… 0 CommentsWorkers with a traditional pension can generally get by saving less for retirement because they have a guaranteed stream of income above what Social Security provides. But employees with both a 401(k) and a traditional pension actually save more in their 401(k)s than workers with only a 401(k) or similar retirement plan. In 2007, the median balance in a 401(k) or similar retirement plan for families with a pension and a 401(k) was $56,000, while the median balance was $25,000 for families with only a 401(k)-type plan, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
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Labor Department Awards $10 Million to Retrain Older Workers
Continue reading… 3 CommentsThe U.S. Department of Labor awarded $10 million to organizations that connect older workers to jobs last week. The money is designated to retrain workers age 55 and older for jobs in high-growth industries such as healthcare and green jobs. The 10 grants worth approximately $1 million each were given to organizations in Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Atlantic Philanthropies will also invest another $3.6 million in this effort.
