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]
Do we really become more set in our ways as we age? Not according to a recent SecurePath by Transamerica survey. The C.U.R.E. Retirement Study (change, uncertainty, risk and retirement education) probed the attitudes of pre-retirees about how they deal with factors outside their control, such as the economy. The survey responses seem to contradict [...] [...more]
When the going gets tough, the older employees get going-often with a voluntary buyout package in tow. The economy is in its worst shape since the recession of 2001, and that has employers in the mood to cut jobs. Employers eliminated jobs at an accelerating rate through the first three months of the year, and the [...] [...more]
The income gender gap is well known. But did you know that the economic gap between men and women spills over into retirement?The largest segment of Americans living in poverty is elderly women. The gender gap in retirement income security is appallingly high, for several reasons. First, women earn about a third less than men make [...] [...more]
Americans’ confidence about their ability to retire comfortably has fallen sharply and stands at the lowest level in seven years, according to survey research released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The percentage of individuals highly confident about their retirement outlook dropped from 27 percent to 18 percent, according to EBRI. Other key findings: Health [...] [...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]
More than half of Americans expect to outlive their money, according to a new Gallup Poll. As a result, 45 percent said they would delay retirement in order to boost savings. Most worried were adults in their prime working years–between the ages of 30 and 64. Older people (65 and above) were less likely to [...] [...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]
Money can’t buy me love, wrote Lennon and McCartney. But loving couples could be doing a better job managing their money. So concludes a new study of couples’ financial management styles-and how they can get the best retirement planning outcomes. Released on Valentine’s Day, the study from Hartford Financial Services Group and the MIT AgeLab study [...] [...more]
Research by Ariel Mutual Funds and Charles Schwab shows a sizable gap in participation by African-Americans in wealth-building for retirement. Ariel President Mellody Hobson writes this week at Huffington Post about what she calls a “looming retirement crisis” in the African-American community: After struggling so long to join the middle class and fulfill the American dream, [...] [...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.
