mbeals

7/31/2013 - Here's What Poverty Would Look Like If Social Security Didn't Exist (Huffington Post)

The nation’s poverty crisis would be a lot worse if it wasn’t for safety net programs — particularly Social Security, a new analysis finds. If Social Security didn’t exist, about 25 million more Americans would be in poverty, according to an analysis of 2011 Census data from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.… Read more 7/31/2013 - Here's What Poverty Would Look Like If Social Security Didn't Exist (Huffington Post)

7/24/2013 - Sell a Business to Cover Retirement? Don’t Count on It (New York Times)

When R. J. Lewis left a corporate job to start his own business in 1999, he knew his bank account would suffer. He gave up a six-figure income and assumed that the first few years of entrepreneurship would be lean. Still, he did not realize just how much of a toll running a business would take… Read more 7/24/2013 - Sell a Business to Cover Retirement? Don’t Count on It (New York Times)

7/23/2013 - Why 50% of workers are retirement have-nots (MarketWatch)

Retirement crisis? More like a catastrophe for the 50% of U.S. workers who don’t participate in a savings plan at work, many of whom work at small companies nationwide. Those businesses face steep hurdles in providing retirement plans to their workers, according to a new report—and without such plans, it’s even more challenging to save… Read more 7/23/2013 - Why 50% of workers are retirement have-nots (MarketWatch)

7/22/2013 - Health care: Pay less out-of-pocket in retirement (MarketWatch)

Most people nearing retirement underestimate what it will cost to pay for health care. According to Fidelity’s annual survey on health care costs, a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2013 would need an estimated $220,000 to cover their health care in retirement. Read the full article at MarketWatch.

7/17/2013 - Consumers Make Gut-Based Financial Decisions (MediaPost)

Researchers find that financial decisions are influenced more by people’s subjective feeling of how much they know than what they actually know about potential investments, according to a new set of studies. A paper that appears in the June 2013 issue of the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing Research shows that people are more… Read more 7/17/2013 - Consumers Make Gut-Based Financial Decisions (MediaPost)

7/16/2013 - Working women and their impact on Social Security benefits (Investment News)

Here’s a stunning statement: While an increase in women’s workforce participation and average earnings has boosted the income of many American families, it has also reduced household retirement income replacement rates from Social Security. Read the full article at Investment News.

7/10/2013 - Small business owners neglect retirement savings (CBS MoneyWatch)

For many small business owners, the golden years aren’t looking so shiny. Many have devoted so much time and money to their businesses that they have failed to plan for retirement. Catch-up plans for these owners usually consist of aggressively putting money aside, or taking another big risk: planning to sell their companies one day… Read more 7/10/2013 - Small business owners neglect retirement savings (CBS MoneyWatch)

7/8/2013 - Tackling America's retirement crisis (Politico)

We don’t have a Social Security problem in America. We have a retirement problem. We’re living longer — the average 65-year-old has nearly two decades of life ahead, and one in every four will live past 90 — but producing fewer workers. That combination is producing a big bill for longer retirements that we’re already… Read more 7/8/2013 - Tackling America's retirement crisis (Politico)

7/7/2013 - Coveting Not a Corner Office, but Time at Home (NY Times)

Sara Uttech has not spent much of her career so far worrying about “leaning in.” Instead, she has mostly been hanging on, trying to find ways to get her career to accommodate her family life, rather than the other way around. And like dozens of other middle-class working mothers interviewed about their work and family… Read more 7/7/2013 - Coveting Not a Corner Office, but Time at Home (NY Times)

7/7/2013 - College loan debt burden is growing for retirees (Asbury Park Press)

Seventy-nine-year-old Richard Hessert’s golden years have turned to rust. The college debt crisis is spreading deeper into families. Hessert is part of a growing group of parents, grandparents and others over 60 that has taken on five times more college debt since 2005. Read the full article at Asbury Park Press.