The economic downturn and mortgage crisis are turning a growing number of Americans into retirement account raiders. The number of Americans tapping into their 401(k) savings accounts to pay debts or to fund other immediate financial needs rose sharply last year. The situation worsened during the first quarter this year as the mortgage crisis heated up, [...] [...more]
Ever feel like you’re on your own when it comes to planning for retirement? Over the last few decades, much of the responsibility-and risk-of on-the-job retirement investing has shifted to employees. Fewer workers have traditional defined benefit pensions. And while many employees still have defined contribution plans, such as matching 401(k) plans, they handle their own [...] [...more]
Retirement plan administrators tell USA Today they’ve seen a sharp uptick in the number of desperate 401(k) account holders raiding their accounts to make mortgage payments and hold off foreclosures. This disturbing and sad development in the mortgage crisis suggests homeowners are being forced to sacrifice retirement income security to keep their homes; in so [...] [...more]
Q: My family just experienced the recent deaths of both parents within in a 20-day period. In addition to other assets willed to the heirs; there exist IRAs that are worth a little over $40,000. For ease to obtain funds while our parents were alive, they made one brother the beneficiary for easy access if [...] [...more]
Americans saving for retirement aren’t letting the current tough economy deter them from saving more. That’s the conclusion of new survey research released today by Fidelity Investments. The survey shows that, among current Individual Retirement Account owners, 60 percent have contributed to their IRAs for 2007 or plan to do so. And 32 percent [...] [...more]
RetirementRevised.com is the companion website of Retire Smart, a column written by Mark Miller that appears in more than 30 newspapers each week. For millions of Baby Boomers, retirement is an opportunity for reinvention, rather than taking it easy. Mark is helping write the playbook for the new career and personal pursuits of a generation.
