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Retirement Lifestyle Planning News From Other Weeks

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Retirement Lifestyle Planning News Archive by Headline

 

Headed for a Cliff—After the Election

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire are looking to establish a bipartisan task force that will eventually recommend Social Security and Medicare reforms. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would head the group. In hopes of avoiding congressional and presidential campaign politics, the task force report would be due on Dec. 9, 2008, one month after national elections.  

Gregg compares the upcoming demand on the nation’s entitlement programs to Hurricane Katrina. The storm will start in 2010 and “reach full force in 2025.” Conrad contends: “we’re headed for a cliff.”

Hopeful Biden Bidin’ 

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden has released his own plan to help Americans prepare for retirement.  Biden cites these woeful statistics:

In the 1980s, 83% of American workers were covered by pension plans, but today only 20% have pensions and many of those are not secure

The personal savings rate in the United States is less than 1%

Biden suggests raising the retirement age and upping the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax. It would require employers who do not offer retirement plans to allow employees to contribute to individual retirement accounts directly from their paychecks. It would also push for automatic enrollment in 401(k)s where those plans are available. Currently, employees must make a conscious decision to opt into a 401(k). Under Biden’s arrangement, they would have to decide whether to opt out.

Days of Costs and Promises

New Hampshire’s public employee retirement system will be costing its taxpayers more if it is to keep its promises to state and municipal workers. This projection comes from a new study that estimates that state contributions to the retirement fund will more than double in four years from $70 million in fiscal 2007 to $160 million in fiscal 2011.

How Depressing

Workers who suffer from depression tend to retire early, according to a new study published in the Health Services Research journal. "We found a strong relationship between people in their late 50s who had depressive symptoms and who two years later were retired," says researcher Daniel Polsky of the University of Pennsylvania.

New Role for the CIO

Chief Information Officers (CIO) need to launch skills assessment programs to deal with impending mass retirements of techies, according to a Forrester study "Skills Assessment, a 21st Century Imperative for CIOs." The report points out that because the information technology (IT) industry is only about forty years old, it has never experienced  a whole generation of professionals retiring. Baby boomer retirements will create unprecedented holes in IT organizations.

 

 

Beating out Scam 

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA), the major self-regulator of the brokerage industry, is trying to beat out scam artists from the workplace.

In several high-profile cases, financial advisors had persuaded groups of employees to hand over their employer-sponsored retirement plan assets for reinvestment. The results were disastrous. FINRA, in response, is developing tools to help employees evaluate financial professionals.

In one FINRA survey, 42% of 1,334 respondents said financial advisors had recommended that they roll over their pension, 401k or other employer-sponsored retirement assets so the advisor’s company could reinvest the proceeds.  Of those that said they had received such suggestions, 27% said they received them at investment seminars their employers had recommended.

In the past year, FINRA fined two firms $5.5 million and ordered them to pay $26 million in restitution to employees of Bell South and Exxon Mobil who had been stung by early-retirement investment schemes

What a Revolting Development

American Home Mortgage, a bankrupt business based in Melville, New York, is trying to take over approximately $27 million that employees had set aside from their paychecks as retirement savings. This attempt comes at a time when American Home wants to put funds into the hands of its approximately 1,000 creditors. If it succeeds, its workers may never see that money again.

401(k) Version 2.0

The Russell Investment Group, in its Retirement Report for 2008, contends that American corporations are redefining the 401(k) plan so fundamentally that they are creating a new generation of 401(k)s, a 401(k) version 2.0, if you will. While Russell cites fifteen characteristics of this new animal, the underlying thrust is a higher standard in promoting income security for retirement.

Excellence within the Industry

The Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA) is a national, not-for-profit organization for sharing information, strategies and research. Its members receive analyses of retirement income products and services. The association also sponsors educational programs and training

This year, for the first time ever, the RIIA is bestowing Excellence in Communications awards on achieving members. Awards recognize excellence in advertising and printed materials as well as Lifetime Achievement in Applied Retirement Research.

Excellence in Multimedia

The RIIA has available online a multimedia presentation that summarizes the Association. It demonstrates RIIA’s extensive efforts on behalf of the retirement income industry. Find it at www.riia-usa.org.

 

 

 

 

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