Tuesday, May 23, 2006
What To Do When Your Personal Information is Stolen
If you’ve read TR for a while, you’ll know I’ve been the victim of personal information theft through my employer’s retirement plan. In my case, I did a lot of research and protected myself pretty well.
Unfortunately, many people find themselves in this situation. CNN has an excellent story that outlines what you should do if this happens to you, So your employer ‘lost’ your information. This is a link to bookmark and to also send to your friends and co-workers. Click here to read the story.
Chicago Tribune Begins Retirement Series: The Journey
The Chicago Tribune is searching for the new definition of retirement in a new series of article called
The Journey, looking at retirement: preparing for it and living it. It’s a topic with which we are obviously sympathetic. (Hence, the web site you’re reading.) Here’s the goal they set out for the series:
In this column we will explore the issues facing readers as they plan for, and live in, retirement. We’ll pair top financial experts with readers who have specific retirement-planning questions. We’ll try out financial products and opportunities geared toward Boomers in the second half of life. We’ll discuss Americans’ savings patterns and offer strategies for both feathering the nest egg today and tapping it after retirement.
The initial article introduces us to Mary Jane Good, who, at 71, still isn’t ready for a traditional retirement and continues to work. Happily, she has a job she enjoys. That’s the new retirement, at least for her. We’ll keep an eye on this series as it develops. I wish them luck with it. Read the first article here.
Friday, May 19, 2006
If You’re Starting Late in the Savings Game
The Motley Fool has updated an excellent article on their site called
Start Late, Retire Well. The solution they give to the I-forgot-to-save dilemma is simple. Get down to business and start working on your retirement. Treat your retirement as a “an eventuality, not a possibility.” You’ll get profiles of several people who have also started saving late and their solutions for dealing with their situations. One couple offers some advice:
Eliminate debt immediately by paying off credit cards and other outstanding bills. Always live below your means. Figure out how low your “cost per day” can be, and watch it like a hawk. And, finally, remember that the best things in life can be free—material goods don’t equal happiness.
The article is filled with tough love, but it’s a practical way out because winning the lottery is not a valid plan. Read the article.
10 Retirement Planning Articles
We often post articles about how unprepared many people seem to be for retirement. We’ll here’s an easy way to get started. It’s a link to About.com’s top 10 retirement planning articles. You’ll find some solid information on 401(k)s and the various types of IRAs, as well as links to a host of calculators to help you figure out where you are now, and where you’re headed. Enjoy.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
PBS Special Now Online: Can You Afford to Retire?
If you’re not a frequent PBS viewer, you may have missed Can You Afford to Retire? from earlier this week. PBS is now allowing you to watch the program in it’s entirety for free.
Visit the site and watch the program.
Update: I just finished watching the program. I highly recommend watching this program. It’s got so much good information in it. For example, one expert interviewed said a person should be saving 14%-15% of his salary for 30 years to retire successfully. Another expert said he would raise that to 15-18% for 30 years.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Saving for Retirement 101: A Primer
Scott Reeves has an excellent article in Forbes titled Eventually You’ll Retire, but it could just have easily be called Everything you wanted to know about retirement but were afraid to ask. Mr. Reeves covers a lot of ground in one relatively short article. He starts with how to begin saving, “start by saving 10% of your net income--make it 10% of your gross income, if possible.” By the end, he even talks about drafting a will. That’s a lot of ground.
Although the article claims to be for newlyweds, anyone trying to get his or her head wrapped around what to do regarding saving for retirement will benefit. Click here for the article.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
The Give and Take of Early Retirement
Walter Updegrave, at CNN/Money, takes an interesting question from a 33-year who wants to be able to retire at 55. He’s already got $75,000 saved towards retirement. Sounds impressive, but Mr. Updegrave points out the good and bad about retiring earlier. You get more years to enjoy your retirement but you’ve got to pay for them. It’s a give and take. He suggests checking out the
Where Am I Heading? calculator through the Alliance Bernstein site. You can easily adjust your savings rate, when you want to retire and see, in today’s dollars, how much you’re estimated to have as an annual income during your retirement.
Get the full story when you read the article.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Basic Financial Literacy
I posted a link to the site I’m writing about today as an aside a week or so ago, but I think the site deserves close inspection. It’s called 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy, and it is sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. There are a wealth of helpful tools an articles on the site, all designed to give you basic knowledge about every conceivable financial topic in life, including retirement. It’s really worth checking out. Visit 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy.
Monday, April 03, 2006
When Can You Retire?
The Wall Street Journal has a great article today on the factors that effect when you retire,
Seven Clues to When You Can Retire. If you take article as a whole, when you retire has everything to do with your lifestyle. More specifically, it doesn’t necessarily matter how much you make but how you live and how you save. For example, the article points out that if you’ve got children, you’re more likely going to need to work longer. Kids cost money, roughly “$184,000 to raise a child through age 17, figured in today’s dollars,” according to the article. Your hobbies and health play a roll as well.
Read the article. (Subscription to WSJ.com required)
Update: Jonathan Clements, the author of this piece was kind enough to point me to a link where you can read this article for free. Click here. Thank you, Mr. Clements.
Friday, March 24, 2006
How Long Should You Keep Financial Statements?
Since it’s tax time, you’re probably dealing with lots of statements. I’ve got them from my bank, my 401(k) plan at work, my IRA account, and my Roth IRA. That’s a lot of paper! If you’re in the same boat, check out
When Is It Safe To Throw Out Financial Documents?”>When Is It Safe To Throw Out Financial Documents? at Boston’s CBS station.
[T]here are several financial documents you only need to keep one of, says Walker. “When you get a new paycheck you can throw old ones out. You really only need to have the most recent one on hand.”
The same goes for 401k and social security statements. With this advice, Marcy is going to be able to throw out a lot of paperwork, giving her a lot more room in the attic.
Be sure you use your paper shredder before throwing them out though. Read the article here.
