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Quiz: Are You Ready to Sign Up for Social Security?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 31, 2008 Comment (759)Social Security prevents poverty for millions of older Americans. But the rules about when to sign up and how much you get can be complex. Take this quiz to decide if you know the basics or need to spend more time reading up on your retirement options at the Social Security Administration page online.
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Survey: Economy Causes Workers to Stop Saving for Retirement
Tweet Share on Facebook October 30, 2008 Comment (2)Many Americans have stopped saving for retirement. Completely. A new survey found that 63 percent of Americans say they have given up tucking money into their nest egg. An additional 35 percent say they have reduced their retirement plan contributions.
But curtailed savings aren't due to a fully funded retirement account. Only 21 percent of survey respondents say they currently have $50,000 or more in investable assets, according to an Opinion Research Corp. and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. telephone survey of 1,005 adults conducted in mid-September.
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Where the Worst Stock Market Declines Occurred
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Survey: Baby Boomers Will Claim Social Security at Age 62
Tweet Share on Facebook October 28, 2008 Comment (19)Many baby boomers plan to sign up for their Social Security checks as soon as possible. A new survey found that 45 percent of those currently 61 years old will begin getting Social Security at age 62, the first year recipients can apply. Boomers cited financial necessity, health and longevity concerns, and a desire to collect as much as possible from the system as their reasons for early claiming.
But collecting your due at age 62 could be a mistake. Social Security benefits will increase by approximately 7 percent each year this group of boomers delays claiming from age 62 to 66 and by 8 percent per year until age 70. That is almost certainly a better return than investors are getting from their investments right now, and it can insure healthy retirees against the possibility of outliving their savings.
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Stephen Hawking, 66, Will Retire
Tweet Share on Facebook October 27, 2008 Comment (6)Cosmologist Stephen Hawking plans to retire next year. The 66-year-old author of the popular science bestseller A Brief History of Time became famous for his theories about gravity, black holes, the big bang, and the nature of time.
Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (a position once held by Isaac Newton), plans to step down at the end of the academic year, in accordance with a University policy of retirement at the end of the academic year in which officeholders turn 67, the Associated Press reports.
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U.S. Pension Insurance Agency Lost $3 Billion in Stock Investments
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2008 Comment (4)The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), a government agency that insures private-sector pension plans and pays out benefits if the a plan fails, lost at least $3 billion in investments during its fiscal year, which ended in August, U.S. Rep. George Miller announced at a hearing today in San Francisco. Miller, a California Democrat, heads the congressional committee that oversees PBGC.
According to a document containing preliminary, unaudited figures, the losses were caused by the agency's stock holdings. Miller says PBGC invested a significant portion of its funds in mortgage-backed securities.
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Republicans Are More Confident About Retirement Than Democrats and Independents
Tweet Share on Facebook October 22, 2008 Comment (2)Roberta Tim Quan, 74, a retired elementary school educator in San Pablo, Calif., recently sustained a loss of $38,000 in her 403(b) retirement account. "My situation is in shambles, with expenses exceeding income," she said at a congressional hearing about retirement security this morning. "I am retired and unable to re-earn the lost funds."
Quan, like many retirees who have experienced catastrophic losses in their retirement accounts, is looking for the government to provide some answers. But how the government should address the retirement needs of retirees who suffered market losses is hotly debated.
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The Baby Boomer Retirement Game
Tweet Share on Facebook October 21, 2008 Comment (3)In some ways, it's fun to ponder retirement: where you might live, hobbies you might take up when you're not tied to a job, and how you won't have to deal with a commute or a boss or coworkers. But if you're worried about the financials of retirement—as everyone without a pension is right now—the prospect of running out of money is a less pleasant contemplation.
In financial downturns, people often turn to pleasant distractions to ease their apprehension about real life. The Ashland, Ohio-based company SWL Retirement Inc., thinks one of these happy diversions should be a new board game about retirement: The Baby Boomer Retirement Game.
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Retirement Plans on Hold
Tweet Share on Facebook October 21, 2008 Comment (24)Older workers are delaying retirement plans indefinitely. A whopping 70 percent of workers plan to work during their retirement years, according to a new AARP survey that confirms a growing body of research indicating that older Americans have no intention to drop out of the workforce.
Part-time work was the top choice in the survey of 1,500 Americans ages 45 to 74 who were working or looking for work in spring 2007. Common motives for post-retirement work were for interest or enjoyment (29 percent) or for needed income (22 percent). The percentage of respondents working for pleasure has decreased since the survey was last conduced in 2002, while the proportion working out of financial necessity has increased. Boomers planning to work primarily for enjoyment typically have post-graduate degrees and household incomes of at least $80,000 a year.
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Survey: Race Plays a Role in Retirement Savings Behavior
Tweet Share on Facebook October 20, 2008 CommentAfrican-Americans and whites who make at least $50,000 annually are equally likely to have access to 401(k)'s and contribute regularly. But blacks save less each month and have smaller nest eggs, according to a new survey.
Blacks contribute a median amount of $169 monthly to their 401(k) plan, while whites contribute about $249, according to a telephone survey of 503 African-Americans and 506 whites with household incomes of at least $50,000. These disparities quickly compound over time. The median household savings for retirement reported by black respondents is $53,000, while whites say they have more than double that amount in $114,000.
