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Some Social Security Disability Claims Expedited
Tweet Share on Facebook July 31, 2009 Comment (12)When your Social Security statement arrives in the mail each year it tells you how much money you are eligible for if you become disabled. About 7,563,000 disabled workers received an average monthly benefit of $1,062 in May 2009.
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New Oversight Proposed for Pension Insurance Agency
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2009 Comment (1)Legislation was introduced today to overhaul the government agency that insures private sector pensions and pays out benefits if the plan fails. The bill proposes new oversight of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) including expanding the board of directors and requiring regular meetings.
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401(k) Matches Linked to Company Performance
Tweet Share on Facebook July 29, 2009 Comment (2)The most common way that companies contribute to employee 401(k) accounts is to provide a fixed match. The typical match is 50 cents for each $1 the participant saves up to 6 percent of pay. But an employer is under no obligation to continue contributing the same amount or even to provide a 401(k) match at all.
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The Baby Boomer Legacy
Tweet Share on Facebook July 28, 2009 Comment (10)The baby boomer generation has left its imprint on every aspect of American culture. This large, but hardly cohesive, social group has presided over sweeping social changes, but also watched their own retirement prospects vanish just as they were about to claim them. So, what legacy will the baby boomers leave for future generations?
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Would You Make Sacrifices to Retire Early?
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2009 Comment (1)Retiring in the near term might require a few sacrifices if you haven’t saved enough. Some people are willing to cut back on common expenses in order to be able to retire at a younger age. A recent survey found that many Americans are already spending less money by avoiding unnecessary purchases (64 percent), saving energy (57 percent), spending more time at home (57 percent), and cooking at home (51 percent). Only 6 percent of Americans say they would not sacrifice anything to save money.
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Social Security Debit Card Gains Traction
Tweet Share on Facebook July 24, 2009 Comment (14)Social Security recipients became eligible to get their monthly payments on a prepaid debit card last year. Over half a million Americans have now signed up for the Direct Express Debit MasterCard offered by Dallas-based Comerica Bank. The card is aimed at Social Security recipients without bank accounts who use often expensive check cashing services to process their Social Security payments.
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Laid Off Baby Boomers Seek Entry-Level Jobs
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2009 Comment (24)When you’re laid off at age 50 or older it can be tough to find a new job with the same level of seniority. Some out-of-work baby boomers are now applying for positions on a lower rung of the organizational ladder. The majority (63 percent) of workers age 55 and older who were laid off in the last 12 months say they have applied for jobs below the level at which they were previously employed, according to a recent online survey of 921 laid-off workers by Harris Interactive and CareerBuilder. About 44 percent of the baby boomers surveyed said employers told them they were overqualified for the desired position.
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Study: Freeze the Pension Plan, Hurt Your Company’s Bottom Line
Tweet Share on Facebook July 22, 2009 Comment (1)The decline in companies offering traditional pensions to retirees hit a new milestone this year. Almost a third of Fortune 1000 companies have now frozen this often valuable retirement benefit. Some 190 companies on the 2009 Fortune 1000 list now have frozen their pension plan, up from 169 companies last year and just 45 companies in 2004. Generally, employees can keep what they have already earned, but won’t accrue additional retirement benefits in the plan. New hires are also generally prohibited from signing up.
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Countries Where Seniors Are Most Likely to Work in Retirement
Tweet Share on Facebook July 21, 2009 CommentDon’t want to work after age 65? I hope you live in Europe. Less than 10 percent of employees in European Union countries continue to work after age 65, according to a report released yesterday by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the U.S. Census Bureau. The proportion of people working after age 65 in the European Union ranged from just 2 percent of older men and 1 percent of women in France to 8 percent of men and 3 percent of women in Poland in 2006. Most older people in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are also able to retire by age 65. In Australia and Canada, just 12 percent of men work after age 65, as do 17 percent of New Zealand men. In the United States 20 percent of men and 12 percent of women age 65 and older go to work each day.
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Almost Half of Workers Retire Earlier Than Planned
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2009 Comment (4)Many baby boomers say they plan to work longer to allow investments time to grow and to tuck more money into retirement accounts. But almost half of current retirees didn’t retire at the age they originally intended to. Some 47 percent of retirees left the workforce earlier than planned, according to a recent survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald & Associates.
