If you’re retired from a company that provides health insurance benefits, get ready for change over the next few years. Many employers have shed retiree coverage altogether or cut back benefits in recent years due to skyrocketing health care costs. Just 29 percent of large companies provided coverage in 2009, down from 66 percent in [...] [...more]
Media coverage of the 2008 market crash often focuses on investors close to retirement age. The story line is that pre-retirement investors took some of the worst hits in the crash–and that many compounded their difficulties when they panicked and sold at the market bottom. That’s all true. But here’s the under-reported story: The lifetime [...] [...more]
Chris Farrell is an optimist, so when he talks about the Great Recession he looks for the silver lining. The economics editor for public radio’s Marketplace Money, Farrell thinks the recession is ushering in some very healthy changes in our consumer behavior and personal financial habits. The debt-and-consumption driven 1990s are giving way to a [...] [...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]
How much money will you need to live comfortably in retirement? One way to calculate the answer is the old income-replacement rule of thumb–to retire comfortably, you must replace 80 percent of your annual pre-retirement income. But at best, this is a rough estimate. For example, it doesn’t take into account unforeseen spending needs such [...] [...more]
