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Florida Losing the Retirement Market
In 1980, 26.3% of all retired Americans lived
in Florida. By 2007, that percentage had declined to 12.5. Texas is one of
Florida’s chief competitors for the retirement market followed by Arizona,
California, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Workers should not be alone in
their concerns about recent declines in their 401(k) accounts. Employers and
plan sponsors also need to be more conscientious about a variety of retirement
account issues that could lead to corporate and personal liability, according to
Ken Bock, an independent financial planner and investment adviser in Thousand
Oaks, California.
Areas of liability include
lawsuits from present and past employees over money lost in their accounts as
well as excessive administrative fees funds pay. In a recent article in the
Venture County (California) Star, Bock warns of fallout from new U.S.
Department of Labor regulations requiring disclosure of fees - not only how
much, but who is paying for them
The Providence
(Rhode Island)
Journal recently published an article contending that, apart from the
battering 401(k)s have taken in the slumping stock market, the 401(k) system is
not working because it requires turning untrained amateurs, who do not have the
time, know-how, or interest, into professional investment managers. This system
contrasts with the more longstanding, but fading, defined benefit programs in
which companies guaranteed a pension for loyal workers. Under the pension plan
system, companies assigned professionals to mange pools of money to make sure
the funds would be there to cover a worker's retirement.
In 1983, 62% of
workers with retirement coverage had a traditional pension only, while a mere
12% had 401(k)s. Today, approximately 20% have a traditional pension while
approximately two-thirds have only 401(k)s. |
The Army Reneges on Promises to
the Alaska Territorial Guard
The U.S. Army has decided to
cut off retirement pay for veterans of a largely Native militia formed to guard
the territory of Alaska from the threat of Japanese attack during World War II.
The change means twenty-six surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard --
most in their eighties and long retired -- will lose as much as $557 in monthly
retirement pay.
The action comes almost a
decade after Congress passed a law qualifying time served in the unpaid guard as
active federal service. But an Army official contends the law has been
misinterpreted.
About three hundred members
are still living from the original 6,600-member unit called up from 1942 to 1947
to scout patrols, build military airstrips, and perform other National Guard
duties. But only a fraction had enough other military service to qualify for
retirement pay.
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe,
R-Maine, has introduced a Retirement Account Distribution Improvement Act of
2009. The legislation would "expand the temporary waiver of required minimum
distribution rules for certain retirement plans and accounts" especially after
age 70-1/2. The bill has been cosponsored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas,
and is currently under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.
The Colorado Public Employees
Retirement Association experienced investment losses of 30% in 2008.
Losses in
North Carolina
North Carolina's public
employee pension funds lost $17 billion in value in 2008, a 19.7% loss.
The director of the public
retirement system for Louisiana state employees is believes the state can afford
to retired employees a cost-of-living pay increase (COLA), but state law will
limit the amount. In the end, the COLA will likely be around 2%.
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