-
15 Decisions to Achieve Retirement Readiness
Tweet Share on Facebook May 15, 2012 Comment (1)However you envision retirement—seashores and tennis, trips to visit grandkids, continued work, or all of the above—you won't get there without some serious thought and effort. Retirement is not an event, but a long process. So is the planning needed to prepare for it. However, according to research by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, there are 15 tasks that, if done, are likely to put you in the fast lane when you do get on your retirement track.
[See the Best Places to Retire in 2012.]
One of the key problems with retirement planning is that people don't know where to start, says John Migliaccio, director of research for the Institute. "With these 15 tasks they've got something specific, so if you start anywhere within this list, you're making progress."
-
Is It Time to Rethink 401(k)s?
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2012 Comment (3)Like the proverbial elephant, the view of 401(k) plans depends on which part of the retirement beast you're looking at. Started 30 years ago as a largely self-directed investment companion to traditional pensions, 401(k)s have been forced to grow up and become the nation's primary private retirement-savings vehicle.
[Find Top-Rated Mutual Funds and ETFs.]
A slew of recent studies have raised serious issues about the plans. For example, BlackRock, the large investment firm, concluded in its survey of 401(k) plan participants and managers that continued employment past the age of 65 will be the norm, not the exception. Charles Schwab has concluded that years of efforts to educate employees about how to use 401(k)s and plan for their financial futures have not succeeded. The firm advocates that employers hire professional investment managers to guide employee retirement activities.
-
How to Improve Social Security for Women
Tweet Share on Facebook May 11, 2012 Comment (9)Changing Social Security rules could substantially ease poverty among older women, according to a new set of proposals. The ideas include reducing the loss of benefits for lower-income recipients when their spouse dies, giving benefit credits for caring for children, enhancing disability benefits, and extending benefits to same-sex couples and their children.
[See 10 Ways to Boost Your Social Security Checks.]
The recommended changes are contained in a white paper, "Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling," sponsored by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare Foundation, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, and the National Organization for Women Foundation.
-
401(k) Plan Sponsors: Workers Can't Afford to Retire
Tweet Share on Facebook May 9, 2012 CommentThe retirement-plan industry regularly extols the virtues of 401(k)s and other retirement investment programs. Yet a survey of the heads of many big employer retirement plans found that nearly 80 percent of them agreed that "the days of working until the age of 65, retiring, and then never having to work again are generally over for most workers."
[See How Delaying Retirement Can Help You.]
BlackRock, the investment management firm, polled 118 heads of generally large employer retirement programs. Their sentiment about the need to continue working reflects inadequate retirement savings of older employees, the decline of traditional pensions, and the changing views about retirement among baby boomers.
-
Community Colleges Welcome Older Students
Tweet Share on Facebook May 8, 2012 CommentWhether it's older workers needing skills training to qualify for new jobs, baby boomers seeking encore careers, or retired folks pursuing a new hobby, community colleges are worth a serious look. Many community colleges have been expanding their offerings to older students, including developing more user-friendly ways for people to re-enter higher education after decades away from the classroom.
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is expanding its national "Plus 50" learning program with nearly 50 community colleges. Participating schools
are developing more expertise in meeting the needs of older students, and then acting as mentors to other community colleges. The group says there are about 1,200 community colleges in the United States, and that about 13 million people take courses each year.
-
Medical Costs Derail Comfortable Retirements
Tweet Share on Facebook May 7, 2012 Comment (1)The message about steeply rising healthcare costs has been at least partly received by older Americans, according to a new survey. Whether they can change their retirement planning to successfully accommodate these expenses is less clear.
National Financial sponsored a poll of relatively well-off people with $250,000 or more in household assets. Half were between ages 55 and 65, and half were older. In many respects, members of this group are poster children for successful retirements. They have saved and looked ahead to their later years in nearly all respects but one: healthcare expenses.
[See Health: The Biggest Determinant of Your Retirement Security.]
-
5 Steps to Greater Retirement Self-Reliance
Tweet Share on Facebook May 4, 2012 CommentPoverty rates have been rising for older Americans. They're not alone, of course. The meager recovery from the recession has left millions of us worse off. Younger people can at least hope for a rebound when things get better. But it is hard to find a silver lining in any of the clouds that hang over older folks.
[See The Case for Fixing Social Security Right Now.]
Tax rates are set to rise. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are under the gun. Federal and state spending will be under pressure for years, if not decades. And the flood of aging baby boomers promises to intensify demand for senior health and safety-net programs, just when it's clear that the money for any expanded efforts is just not there.
-
3 Inconvenient Truths About Taxes
Tweet Share on Facebook May 2, 2012 Comment (8)A lot of the talk between now and Election Day will involve the economy, federal spending, and taxes. The "right" level of taxation, if there is such a thing, is often in the eye of the beholder. But when you hear political candidates railing about taxes, it may help to know some basic tax facts. Here are three of the most prominent statements about the need for tax reform, and the reasons they're either wrong or dangerously oversimplified.
1. Federal Income Taxes Are Too High. There are lots of ways to measure how much we pay in taxes. So, when someone says taxes are too high, make sure you understand exactly what measure of taxes they're talking about.
One yardstick is the tax brackets that set the percentage tax rates for various levels of income. In terms of tax rates, the top brackets are clearly low by historic standards. In 1944, there was a 94 percent tax bracket on income above $200,000. The top tax rate dropped to a low in 1988 of 28 percent on income above $29,750 a year. The top bracket then rose to 39.6 percent between 1993 and 2000, before the Bush tax cuts helped reduce it to today's level of 35 percent. Tax rates thus are lower than they've been, not higher.
-
10 Ways Older People Withdraw from Life
Tweet Share on Facebook May 1, 2012 Comment (3)One of the greatest challenges in growing old is grappling with tendencies and pressures to withdraw into ever-tighter circles of restricted daily activities. There is no single word or phrase that captures this process, nor is there much research about it. But aging experts agree that withdrawing into an isolated lifestyle is a common practice that can create or worsen physical and emotional problems.
[See How Delaying Retirement Can Help You.]
There are, to be sure, some positive reasons for a more limited lifestyle. Downsizing a home, for example, can be a positive experience that helps people get out from under a house that has become too big. Perhaps the home is also filled with possessions and memories that encourage living in the past and not the present.
-
Why Employers Value Older Workers
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2012 Comment (4)As the imminence of baby boomer retirements becomes more of a reality for employers, many have realized that the departures of some of their most experienced and competent employees will create big gaps. There has been no significant erosion of the traditional retirement age of 65. But there is evidence that many more employers will be developing programs to retain or even recruit older employees.
[See Why the Early-Retirement Trend Reversed in 2011.]
A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, conducted in partnership with AARP, found that nearly half of all employers think the loss of older workers over the coming decade could be a problem for them. Nearly 40 percent think their entire industries will be adversely affected.
