Saturday, March 20, 2010
Posted by admin on March 18, 2010
Naturally, affording retirement isn’t an issue that weighs heavily on the minds of young people just starting off in the workforce. So it’s no surprise that only 28% of workers under age 25 contribute to employer-sponsored retirement plans, as reported by tax information service CCH.
Posted by admin on March 12, 2010
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Posted by admin on March 11, 2010
STAY-AT-HOME mothers are losing out when it comes to retirement. (source: The Australian)
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STAY-AT-HOME mothers are losing out when it comes to retirement. (source: The Australian) – RSS widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Posted by admin on March 9, 2010
The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday. (source: CNN) – RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com
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Usually I cringe when our leaders in Washington try to help improve our finances. I’m afraid their efforts may do more harm than good. But two new ideas being discussed inside the Beltway could actually make it easier to prepare for retirement. Both center on the income you’ll generate from your 401(k).
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The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday.
Posted by admin on February 19, 2010
Just as they are contending with massive gaps in their operating budgets, states and localities must also deal with a $1 trillion deficit in public employees’ retirement benefits’ funds, a new report found. (source: CNN) – RSS and News widget on Feedzilla.com
Posted by admin on February 18, 2010
Just as they are contending with massive gaps in their operating budgets, states and localities must also deal with a $1 trillion deficit in public employees’ retirement benefits’ funds, a new report found. (source: CNN) – News widgets and RSS feeds on Feedzilla.com
Posted by admin on February 16, 2010
If you were to go by the headlines, you might think happy days are here again for 401(k) investors. Employer matching contributions are coming back. Account balances have recovered (mostly). And workers are continuing to save. So, you can look forward to a smoother ride from here to a dream retirement, right?
If only. Truth is, even with a newly restored match and stronger stock market, 401(k) retirement plans still won’t enable most workers to build the retirement nest egg they need. And if you don’t believe that, chances are your boss probably does.
Consider these recent findings from a survey by benefits consultant Hewitt Associates: Only 54% of employers are highly confident or somewhat confident that their employees will retire with “sufficient retirement assets.” That’s down from 66% in 2009. And only 18% are highly confident that their workers will “make their retirement income last for the rest of their lifetime.”
Why are company execs having so many doubts about their own 401(k) plans? In a survey last year by benefits consultant Mercer, employers cited some of the biggest obstacles to retirement security: the failure of workers to participate in their plan, participants not saving enough, and the markets being too volatile to support adequate savings.
For workers, as well as retirement policy experts, these employer concerns should be raising a lot of red flags. After all, unlike many academic and think tank critics of the 401(k), employers have an inside view on how well their employees are preparing for retirement. And if the boss lacks confidence in the 401(k), there’s little reason for employees to have faith in these plans.
So are worried employers rushing to fix the faltering 401(k) system? Um, no. The weak economy is one reason. But the bigger issue is that despite their fiduciary duty as 401(k) plan sponsors, many employers don’t view their workers’ retirement security as their responsibility.
As the Mercer survey found, some 25% of employers, say that their workers bear the bulk of the responsibility for their own retirement saving. Not so coincidentally, nearly 50% of companies that halted their matches last year fell into this group.
Only 7% of companies see retirement security as mainly their responsibility, with the remaining 68% saying the duty is shared between workers and employer.
Washington may eventually try to apply some fixes for the 401(k). The Labor Department, for one, is expected to issue new rules for improved 401(k) fee disclosure. And the SEC is considering reforms for target-date fund marketing.
But even if those reforms are enacted, the big challenge remains: when it comes to building a retirement nest egg, you’re basically on your own. So if you’ve got a 401(k), max it out. And save outside your plan too.
