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Survey: Voters Oppose Most Social Security Changes
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2010 Comment (25)The federal government is considering a variety of ways to tweak Social Security benefits for people younger than age 55 in 2010. The Congressional Budget Office recently analyzed the financial impact of 30 potential Social Security changes including tax increases, benefit cuts, and raising the retirement age.
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5 Ways to Size Up Your 401(k) Match
Tweet Share on Facebook July 29, 2010 Comment401(k) matches vary considerably from company to company. Vanguard administered more than 200 different 401(k) match formulas ranging from less than 1 percent to over 10 percent of pay in 2009, according to a new analysis of 600 Vanguard retirement accounts with 1.3 million eligible employees. How soon you become eligible for the match and how much you need to save to get the full match also play a role in how prepared you will be for retirement. Here is how to tell if your employer’s 401(k) match is competitive.
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7 Industries That Are Cutting Retirement Benefits
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2010 CommentMost employers are now spending less on retirement benefits than they did a decade ago. The value of total retirement benefits provided to new, salaried employees declined by 19 percent from 1998 to 2008, according to a new Towers Watson analysis of an average of 642 companies in eight industries. Retirement benefit payouts decreased from 7.88 percent of pay in 1998 to 6.36 percent in 2008 among the over 9 million employees studied.
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Predicting Your Own Life Expectancy
Tweet Share on Facebook July 22, 2010 CommentOne of the biggest retirement challenges is figuring out how many years of retirement you need to plan for. A man currently age 65 can expect to live, on average, until age 83 and the average 65-year-old women will live until 85, according to Social Security Administration data.
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How to Find a Lost Pension Plan
Tweet Share on Facebook July 19, 2010 Comment (4)The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that insures private sector pensions, is holding almost $197 million in unclaimed pension benefits for over 36,000 people. The money is from private sector terminated pension plans now administered by PBGC.
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6 Reasons to Delay Retirement
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2010 Comment (8)The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing yesterday to discuss the increasing likelihood that seniors will need and want to delay retirement. Experts testified that Americans working until older ages will have a dramatic impact on the economy, Social Security, and especially their own personal finances. Here’s a look at the reasons the invited witnesses say Americans should choose to work during retirement.
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New Rules for 401(k) Fee Disclosure
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2010 CommentEmployees with a 401(k) may soon be able to get information about how much they are paying in fees. The Department of Labor issued new rules yesterday designed to increase disclosure of the fees deducted from retirement accounts.
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Retirees At Risk of Outliving Savings
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2010 Comment (5)Many Americans are likely to run out of money in retirement. Almost half (47 percent) of early baby boomers currently ages 56 to 62 are at risk of outliving their retirement savings, according to a new Employee Benefit Research Institute study. Even among late boomers ages 46 to 55 and generation Xers ages 36 to 45, who still have plenty of time to save for retirement, 43 percent and 45 percent respectively are at risk of not having enough money to pay for basic retirement expenses.
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Sharing Your Social Security Story
Tweet Share on Facebook July 14, 2010 CommentThe 75th anniversary of Social Security is this year on August 14. Almost all working Americans (94 percent) pay into the Social Security system and over 52.5 million Americans received checks in 2009.
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Government Analyzes 30 Social Security Changes
Tweet Share on Facebook July 12, 2010 Comment (5)Benefit payments from the Social Security trust fund exceeded tax income and interest for the first time in 2010, according to Congressional Budget Office calculations released on Friday. As the economy recovers from the recession, income will again exceed benefit payments until 2016. After that, Social Security payments to retirees will begin to draw on the trust fund’s reserves. Beginning in 2039 benefits will need to be cut by about 20 percent, under current law.
