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New Investment Options for Your 401(k)
Tweet Share on Facebook August 31, 2009 Comment (1)Just 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 28, 2009 Comment (1)The 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 27, 2009 Comment (5)Retirees 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?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 26, 2009 Comment (11)The 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?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 25, 2009 CommentHaving 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 24, 2009 Comment (27)Most 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 21, 2009 Comment (1)The 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 20, 2009 Comment (26)Some 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?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 19, 2009 Comment (1)Retirees 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
Tweet Share on Facebook August 18, 2009 Comment (2)Sometimes 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:
