djaworski

5/26/2015 - How to Protect your IRA (CBS MoneyWatch)

Failure to name a person as a beneficiary means the IRA assets pass through your estate and that’ll cost your heirs. That’s because if you hadn’t already started taking distributions by the time of your death, the IRA assets must be distributed to your estate’s heirs within five years of death. Or if you had started, distributions… Read more 5/26/2015 - How to Protect your IRA (CBS MoneyWatch)

5/24/2015 - Public-Sector Jobs Vanish, Hitting Blacks Hard (The New York Times)

Working for the government has long provided a dependable pathway to the middle class and a measure of security harder to find in the private sector, particularly for those without college degrees.Roughly one in five black adults works for the government, teaching school, delivering mail, driving buses, processing criminal justice and managing large staffs. They… Read more 5/24/2015 - Public-Sector Jobs Vanish, Hitting Blacks Hard (The New York Times)

5/23/2015 - Ways to make a smooth transition to retirement (USA Today)

Many people have the time of their lives in retirement, while others feel adrift, especially when they are in transition to their new lifestyle. About two-thirds of retired Baby Boomers say they had challenges adapting to this change in their lives, one survey showed. Among the toughest parts: Missing the day-to-day social connections with colleagues,… Read more 5/23/2015 - Ways to make a smooth transition to retirement (USA Today)

5/22/2015 - What the Supreme Court’s fixes for retirement savings may do to your 401(k) (MarketWatch)

The U.S. Supreme Court prescribed some fixes to the retirement-savings world this week, but the long-term side effects could have some workers thinking they’ve been given bad medicine. The high court ruled unanimously in favor of current and former workers at Edison, a California-based utility, who claimed that the retail-class mutual funds selected as investment options… Read more 5/22/2015 - What the Supreme Court’s fixes for retirement savings may do to your 401(k) (MarketWatch)

5/22/2015 - The Risks and Rewards of Self-Managing Portfolios (The New York Times)

There are good reasons for retirees to manage their own financial lives: Saving money on fees is one benefit, and more closely aligning investments with personal goals is another. But there is dangerous ground along the way: Taxes, estate planning, rules around gifting to relatives, timing of withdrawals from retirement accounts and other issues can be immensely… Read more 5/22/2015 - The Risks and Rewards of Self-Managing Portfolios (The New York Times)

5/21/2015 - How the New-Model 401(k) Can Help Boost Your Retirement Savings (Money)

If you want evidence that the 401(k) plan has been a failed experiment, consider how they’re starting to resemble the traditional pensions they’ve largely replaced. Plan by plan, employers are moving away from the do-it-yourself free-for-all of the early 401(k)s toward a focus on secure retirement income, with investment pros back in charge of making that happen.We… Read more 5/21/2015 - How the New-Model 401(k) Can Help Boost Your Retirement Savings (Money)

5/20/2015 - A Promising Trend in Taking Social Security Benefits (CBS Money Watch)

Not all news is bad when it comes to Social Security benefits. A recent study of claims data shows that the percentage of workers turning age 62 who start Social Security benefits at that age has declined significantly since 1996. Why this is good news: Most retirees will be more financially secure in retirement if… Read more 5/20/2015 - A Promising Trend in Taking Social Security Benefits (CBS Money Watch)

5/19/2015 - Good news on retirement trends (MarketWatch)

With lower Social Security replacement rates, vanishing traditional pensions, and longer lifespans, people need to work longer to ensure a secure retirement. Working longer directly increases current income; it avoids the actuarial reduction in Social Security benefits; it allows people to contribute more to their 401(k) plans; and it shortens the period of retirement. The… Read more 5/19/2015 - Good news on retirement trends (MarketWatch)

5/19/2015 - Supreme Court: Employers must monitor 401(k) plans (NPR Marketplace)

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that employers have an ongoing obligation to monitor the 401(k) plans they offer their workers. The court also established a more flexible reading of the statute of limitations on when employees can sue should they believe their employer failed to uphold its responsibilities. The case, Tibble v.… Read more 5/19/2015 - Supreme Court: Employers must monitor 401(k) plans (NPR Marketplace)

5/18/2015 - Court makes it easier to sue over 401(k) retirement plans (USA Today)

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday in favor of participants in employee retirement plans who object to companies’ investment decisions that eat into retirement savings. The justices revived claims by current and former employees of energy company Edison International. The employees argued that the company chose mutual funds with excessive fees. Edison offers employees roughly 40… Read more 5/18/2015 - Court makes it easier to sue over 401(k) retirement plans (USA Today)