Self-directed retirement saving has come up short in many ways when it comes to building long-term retirement security. But one of the most damaging trends has been the tendency among savers to make early withdrawals from their accounts. Most experts aggressively discourage withdrawals, since they come with penalties and damage your long-term returns. The Internal [...] [...more]
In the wake of the 2008 market crash, lawmakers and policy experts have been scrambling for ways to improve on investor protections. Nothing’s happened yet, mainly due to Congressional pre-occupation with health care reform. But 2010 could be the year for reforms that affect retirement investors, including fee disclosures, required annual projections on lifetime income [...] [...more]
The author of the investing classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street is back with more on how to keep it simple when it comes to investing, even in tough times. Burton G. Malkiel and co-author Charles D. Ellis recently published The Elements of Investing, a small volume that lays of principals worthy of your [...] [...more]
It’s time to gather your wits and face the market. After last year’s harrowing plunge, it looks like most of us will finish 2009 with a small gain–Fidelity Investments reports that its retirement investors’ median return for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 was 0.4 percent. OK. it’s not much to write home about but [...] [...more]
Get ready for a big push from the mutual fund industry this fall urging you to convert your traditional tax-sheltered retirement account to a Roth IRA. The inspiration for the marketing drumbeat is a change in federal law next year that lifts the household income limit for eligibility to convert traditional IRAs to Roth accounts. [...] [...more]
