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Calculating Your Retirement Needs
Tweet Share on Facebook February 24, 2010 Comment (2)Many Americans aren’t sure how much money they will need to save for retirement. Some 44 percent of all employed Americans and even 29 percent of those age 55 and older admit that they don’t know how much money they will need in retirement, according to a new ING Direct survey.
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Retiree Health Care Costs Expected to Double by 2040
Tweet Share on Facebook February 22, 2010 CommentPaying for health care in retirement is one of current worker's top retirement concerns. Although almost all Americans age 65 and older qualify for Medicare, the government health insurance program has premiums, deductibles, copays, and coverage gaps that leave some beneficiaries with substantial out-of-pocket expenses.
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Workers Choose Delayed Retirement Over Saving More
Tweet Share on Facebook February 19, 2010 Comment (2)Workers who haven’t saved enough to retire generally have three choices: save more, work longer, or consume less in retirement. Given these three potential solutions, employees generally seem more willing to delay retirement than to cut their current expenses and save more, according to a recently released Center for Retirement Research at Boston College survey of workers age 45 to 59.
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Don’t Count on Investment Returns to Finance Retirement
Tweet Share on Facebook February 18, 2010 CommentChasing returns within a 401(k) generally hasn’t paid off for investors over the past decade, especially those close to retirement. Most Fidelity 401(k) participants who chose a riskier asset allocation than Fidelity’s target-date fund earned lower returns between 1999 and 2009. Among the 65 percent of decade-long 401(k) participants who took on more equity exposure, 69 percent earned a smaller return than the target-date fund aimed for retirement at age 65.
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Survey: Employees Want Fewer 401(k) Decisions
Tweet Share on Facebook February 17, 2010 Comment (2)The typical 401(k) plan has about 18 investment options. Savvy and inexperienced investors alike are expected to choose among them. Account holders must also individually calculate how much they must tuck away each year to finance an unknown number of retirement years. It turns out that many workers would prefer not to have that responsibility.
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The Oldest Winter Olympians in Vancouver
Tweet Share on Facebook February 16, 2010 CommentWhile most of the winter Olympic athletes in Vancouver are in their late teens, 20s, and 30s, there are 30 Olympic athletes age 40 and older. A U.S. News analysis of 2,631 athletes found that 19 countries sent older athletes to the games to compete in 9 sports.
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Seniors Spend Less on Valentine’s Day
Tweet Share on Facebook February 12, 2010 Comment (1)Yesterday I previewed a new book about older adults finding new love after age 50. Fortunately, according to a couple of recent surveys, love in old age isn’t as expensive as that of young lovers – at least on Valentine’s Day.
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Finding Love Again After Age 50
Tweet Share on Facebook February 11, 2010 Comment (3)Many couples meet, date, and begin lives together after age 50. Former editor and art therapist Carol Denker has interviewed and photographed over 60 couples who found love after midlife. She published selected stories and photographs of new love in old age in her new book Autumn Romance: Stories and Portraits of Love after 50. Denker, 65, met her current husband at age 62 online. U.S. News asked Denker for some insights into finding love during the retirement years. Excerpts:
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Study: Older People Need Less Sleep
Tweet Share on Facebook February 10, 2010 Comment (1)Older adults may need less sleep than younger people to feel rested the next day, suggests a new study. Researchers at the Clinical Research Centre of the University of Surrey recently found that older adults between ages 66 and 83 sleep 20 minutes less than middle-aged adults age 40 to 55 and 43 minutes less than 20-somethings. The amount of time people spent in deep sleep also decreased proportionally for both older age groups, according to the study published in the February issue of the journal SLEEP.
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6 Ways Employers Will Change 401(k)s in 2010
Tweet Share on Facebook February 9, 2010 Comment (6)Employers plan to get more involved in their 401(k) plans in 2010. The trend of employers automatically signing their workers up for retirement accounts is expected to continue this year. Many companies will also attempt to steer their employees into more appropriate investments, according to a new survey by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm. “They are restoring their matching contributions and offering features and tools that push workers to save more throughout their working years,” says Pamela Hess, Hewitt’s director of retirement research. Here are six ways companies plan to update their 401(k) plans in 2010.
