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Closed-End Funds and the Search for Returns
Tweet Share on Facebook July 31, 2012 CommentWith market results depressed by a sluggish economy and near-zero interest rates, there are few attractive options for investors, especially those looking for investments that produce a steady income stream. One of them may be closed-end mutual funds. "For people looking to enhance their returns, closed-end funds are one of the key investment vehicles to do that," says Morningstar analyst Mike Taggart. But as with all investments, it's important to understand the performance details of a closed-end fund before buying one.
[See The 10 Biggest Closed-End Funds.]
Many closed-end funds, for example, are designed to produce regular payments to investors. These payments may be similar to a dividend, but fund earnings don't always cover the full amount of such distributions, forcing fund managers to liquidate holdings. In effect, part of such a fund's distributions is a return of the investor's own capital—hardly a cause for celebration. Yet Taggart says many investors don't appear to understand that a good part of their fund's performance may be nothing more than a return of their own money.
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22 Ideas for Better Retirements for Women
Tweet Share on Facebook July 30, 2012 CommentWomen have made impressive gains in the workplace and are emerging as leaders in a growing number of professional fields. These gains, however, mask a much gloomier economic portrait for many older female employees. And the story is particularly dire for retired women struggling to avoid poverty as they age.
[See 10 Places Where Retiree Income Has Declined the Most.]
The reasons women generally face worse retirements than men are well-known. As recently cataloged in a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), they include:
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How New Health Insurance Subsidies Will Work
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2012 CommentBeginning in 2014, enormous insurance premium subsidies and payment supports will be available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to millions of lower-income individuals and families. While Obamacare could always be overturned before then, the law has been upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. And short of historic landslide victories in this November's elections by the law's largely Republican opponents, changing major aspects of it will be difficult.
[See Seniors Win Big in Court's Obamacare Ruling.]
U.S. News spoke to officials in the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Treasury, which have primary oversight of ACA tax and subsidy benefits. They are producing a growing mountain of rules to implement the law. Beyond ideological and financial disputes, the ACA is also an extraordinarily extensive and complex package.
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Target-Date Funds Now Look Like Other Mutuals
Tweet Share on Facebook July 25, 2012 CommentAs target-date funds mature, recent research confirms, they are expanding beyond their initial focus and beginning to look more like other mutual funds. Of course, given the popularity of the such funds in 401(k)s and other employer retirement investment plans, they are becoming a bigger share of the overall mutual fund market as well. So perhaps it also can be said that the mutual fund industry is starting to look more like the target-date universe.
[See Target-Date Fund Performance by Fund Years.]
Target-date funds took off because of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. It opened the way for employers to automatically include employees in retirement plans unless they opted out. This raised participation levels among employees, and was paired with the heightened development of the sorts of default investment choices available for these automatic enrollments. Target-date funds emerged as the big winner here.
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Incontinence Afflicts More Than 10% of Americans
Tweet Share on Facebook July 24, 2012 CommentIncontinence may never be a cocktail-party topic, but in an aging society it needs to shed its taboo status. An estimated 33 million Americans suffer from incontinence, according to the International Continence Society and SCA, a global hygiene company and maker of the TENA brand of personal-care products.
[See How Caregivers Vacation With Dementia Victims.]
Of course, these numbers will get larger as society gets older. But they already are large enough. Incontinence sufferers as well as caregivers surely could use more support and reassurance. It is hard not to be embarrassed when you've lost some degree of bladder or bowel control. But when you're in the same boat as 33 million other people, it should be a bit easier to take.
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Tips on Social Security Spousal Benefits
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2012 CommentMany people are living longer lives, nest eggs are exposed to investment turmoil, and government benefit programs face mounting financial and ideological pressures. Against this backdrop, the stakes are high for making smart moves about when and how to claim Social Security benefits.
Among Social Security claiming decisions, few areas are more complicated than the program's provisions allowing a person to claim benefits based on their married (or even divorced) spouse's Social Security earnings record. Before wading ahead, here are two important overview considerations to keep in mind:
1) The best advice on Social Security hinges on a combination of variables that may be unique to an individual person or couple. What's your health and longevity outlook? How much money do you have set aside already? Do you have any traditional pension income coming your way? Are there special family health and financial obligations? What are your preferences regarding leaving assets for your heirs? Then there are the specific facts about your Social Security statement —how long have you and your spouse worked, what are your respective benefits likely to be, what is the time difference between your ages, and how old are you now?
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How Personal Health Reform Taxes Will Work
Tweet Share on Facebook July 20, 2012 CommentThe Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare for short, may affect some people's tax returns even more than their health. Beginning soon after its enactment in 2010, and extending out to at least 2018, the law includes an array of tax charges, credits, and subsidies affecting individuals, employers, medical service providers, drug companies, health insurers, and other businesses.
Putting aside whether the individual mandate really is a tax, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, individuals face six prominent tax changes in the coming years. Details here are from a health reform tax guide published by experts at CCH after the court ruling.
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Here Are the Best Places to Live—in 2032
Tweet Share on Facebook July 18, 2012 CommentOne of the few truly fun things about contemplating retirement is dreaming about where you might want to live. Before the tough financial, family, and lifestyle decisions must be made, we can spend at least some time musing about dream homes and locales. These decisions will be made in the future, of course. So what better rose-colored guide could there be than a set of rankings geared to predict the best places to live in the United States in 20 years?
[In Pictures: The 10 Best U.S. Regions to Live in 2032.]
Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, followed this logic in rating different regions of the country using a series of 13 measures of personal well-being that are based on extensive national polling efforts. They reflect, to a large degree, how people in the area feel about themselves and their communities. The Well-Being Index is a partnership between the Gallup polling organization and Healthways, a wellness services firm based in Tennessee, south of Nashville.
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How to Start Your Own Aging-in-Place Program
Tweet Share on Facebook July 17, 2012 CommentAs the "aging in place" movement matures, what's become known as the "village" model is slowly gaining traction and foundation funding support. A village comprises like-minded seniors who join together in neighborhood-centric groups to benefit from shopping discounts, social activities, transportation, home repairs, and a variety of volunteer support activities.
Members get the support they need to stay in their homes—age in place—rather than move into institutional settings. The networks provide them cost-effective access to services and a social network that can augment the support of friends and family.
The MetLife Foundation recently awarded a $250,000 grant to the movement's major umbrella organization, the Village to Village Network.
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Baby Boomers Get on With Life on Their Terms
Tweet Share on Facebook July 16, 2012 CommentMany people nearing retirement age have decided to end the pity party over how badly the recession, stock-market decline, and housing bust combined to batter, if not ruin, their retirement dreams. According to research sponsored by PulteGroup, most working Americans who are 55 and older are looking forward to successful retirements—although retirements that will be different than they may have envisioned five years earlier.
[See 10 Ways Baby Boomers Will Reinvent Retirement.]
PulteGroup is a home-building company whose holdings include Del Webb, which invented the concept of senior housing communities in 1960 when it opened Sun City in Arizona. It regularly polls older Americans about their future retirement and housing plans.
