Snail mail or e-mail? The Labor Department wants to know.
How would you prefer to receive information about your retirement plan: delivered by regular mail on paper or electronically by e-mail? What if you don’t use a computer at work and only have access to a computer at home? What if your home computer is old and doesn’t work very well, or if you don’t […]
Do You Have a Pension You Don’t Know About?
Late last year, Vicki and Dale Lloyd opted to begin receiving pension benefits after 57-year-old Dale was diagnosed with cancer. After careful consideration the pair decided that a 75 percent distribution was the best option to meet their financial needs.
How Much Are We Really Saving in Our 401(k)s?
Most people approaching retirement who are lucky enough to have an employer-sponsored retirement plan will have a 401(k). This pattern is particularly true in the private sector where defined contribution plans dominate; most public sector workers continue to be covered by traditional defined benefit plans, which pay benefits for life based on years of service […]
Report: Working Women ‘Markedly Less Confident’ About Retirement than Men
Working women not only earn less on average than their male counterparts. They also set aside less money for retirement, raising the prospect of financial difficulties later in life, according to a report released June 14.
Workers Unhappy with 401(k) Plans
Workers who save in 401(k) plans generally like the tax perks and employer matching contributions these accounts often provide. But many employees remain skeptical that a 401(k) alone will propel them to a secure retirement.
Hey, Republicans and Democrats: Are you listening?
On NPR this morning, Morning Edition aired a story on the Republican Leadership Conference, which is taking place in New Orleans this weekend. At one point, the reporter interviewed two women who were waiting in line to meet former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. The interview includes this brief exchange, which comes at 1:20 in the […]
The good news about public pensions
A funny thing, even as foes continue to slam the cost of public pensions, the pensions themselves and the plans that provide them continue to become more stable and affordable.
Study Says You Might Need to Work into your 80s…But Where?
Say hello to the new breed of worker. 80 is the new 60. Plan to work into your 80s is the message of a new study, Retirement Income Adequacy, The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age released last week by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
No Pension, No Security
Using a carrot rather than a stick approach, traditional pensions encourage workers to retire after they reach a certain age, allowing employers to structure compensation to reflect the obsolescence of skills and potential physical and cognitive limitations associated with aging. But the advantages of defined benefit pensions appear to have been forgotten in the headlong […]
Proposal To Protect Retirees’ Nest Eggs Becomes Latest Lobbying Flashpoint
Is it too much to ask of professionals who give investment advice to retirement plan participants to have the best interests of those retirees in mind?
Retirement USA statement to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensionson on retirement security (June 14, 2011)
Retirement USA submitted a statement to the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for its hearing on “Retirement Security: Challenges Confronting Pension Plan Sponsors, Workers and Retirees.” The statement discusses the Retirement Income Deficit, the need to keep Social Security and Medicare strong, and Retirement USA’s 12 principles for a new retirement system,
Pension tax breaks not off-limits to deficit fighters
Two leaders of a group of senators who are trying to convert last year’s recommendations from the presidential deficit commission into legislation say they will take a hard look at eliminating tax breaks that they say contribute to the nation’s fiscal imbalance.
