Employer Strategies

In a scenario where retirement income and wealth account for 100% of an investor’s simulated retirement expenses, a model projects that around a quarter of baby boomers and Gen Xers who would have had sufficient retirement income under interest rates at historical averages would run out of money if the current low rates were taken as a permanent condition.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said they have held off on hiring new employees as a result of the ACA. “One of the most concerning unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act is that we see employers looking to stay under the 50-employee threshold, if at all possible,” says one expert.

Making connections is as important as ever, though the process is changing considerably.

Wall Street banks collected $215.6 million that Denver’s public schools paid to unwind swaps and sell bonds since the district began borrowing to cut pension costs in 2008. That sum is about two-thirds of annual teaching expenses.

Detroit may run out of cash next month and must cut costs such as long-term debt and retiree obligations, according to emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr’s preliminary plan to improve services and keep Michigan’s largest city out of bankruptcy.

President Barack Obama’s health secretary has called companies and other organizations, seeking financial contributions to help promote the 2010 health care law that takes full effect next year.

Determining if your coverage is affordable is only one of several steps employers need to take before the end of the year, and that’s not even considering the preparations they should have made already.

A real opportunity for advisers lies in the ambitions of Gen X and Gen Y Americans, who aren’t planning on postponing retirement — yet.

The data from more than 3,000 hospitals that take Medicare, the government’s health program for the elderly, showed that in some cases costs can drastically vary for hip replacements, bone fractures and treatments for kidney failure. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it released the data for the first time to make the overall health system “more affordable and accountable.”

Ninety percent of Americans lack confidence that they have enough savings to cover emergencies and the long-term implications of serious illnesses, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s or heart disease, reports the National Institute for Wellness Solutions.