Wealth management

In its annual retirement confidence survey released last year, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 20% of workers intend to retire at a later age than they had planned. Of those who said they will retire later, the main reasons cited were the poor economy, a lack of faith in Social Security or the government, a change in employment situation or, simply, that they can't afford to retire.

Seventy may be the new 60 — but not where the Internal Revenue Service is concerned. People who turned 70-1/2 last year must begin taking required annual withdrawals from their tax-deferred retirement accounts no later than Friday, a reality many older workers weren’t aware of. Employers can help fill the education gap.

EBN Associate Editor Lisa V. Gillespie sat down with Gerald Wernette, director of retirement plan services for Rehmann Financial, to discuss multiple issues facing retirement plan sponsors today, including the obligation to provide participants with financial education and how to give those education programs tailored relevance to employees across all life circumstances.

Workers aren’t saving, but those who are, are doing in an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. In total, 60% of workers report that the total value of their household’s savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans, is less than $25,000. However, one area in which Americans are saving for retirement is an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k). In fact, 81% of eligible workers (38% of all workers surveyed) say they contribute to such a plan with their current employer.

Overall U.S. investor optimism has surged back up to the February 2011 level with a significant jump from September, according to a survey from Wells Fargo and Gallup. Seventy-two percent say they are either better off (40%) or no worse off (32%) than they were nearly four years ago, before the last presidential election, while 27% say they are worse off financially.

Sam Lazarus would love nothing more than to save money in his individual retirement account.

Over the past 60 years, women have entered the education system and the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and it would seem that because of this work, they'd be on equal footing with men when it comes time to retire.

Most retirement planning exercises begin and end with a simple question: How much income will you need to replace after you quit work?

Average life expectancy has risen dramatically during the last century. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the number of centenarians, people who live to be 100, rose from 2,300 in 1950 to nearly 80,000 in 2010, and will exceed 600,000 by 2050. And according to the Society of Actuaries, a 65-year-old couple now has a 31% chance of at least one spouse living past the age of 95

My grandmother had a coffee can for spare silver coins. My Dad saved at his local post office in a savings account. Those were a sign of the times — the U.S. postal savings system was the first government-guaranteed savings vehicle, but it disappeared in 1967.

The fifth annual national survey assessing household saving revealed that — despite hopeful macroeconomic signs — an increasing number of Americans are having difficulty saving to meet goals ranging from meeting emergencies to affording retirement. Over the last three years, the number who spend less than their income and save the difference, are building home equity, have adequate emergency savings, and think they are saving enough for retirement has declined. However, the survey also revealed that having a savings plan has beneficial financial effects, even for lower-income families.

Are workers really retiring anymore? A new study shows 57% of workers age 60+ say they will look for a new job after retiring from their current company, showing that retirement no longer means the end of one's career. The survey included more than 800 U.S. workers age 60 and older and more than 3,000 hiring managers and human resources professionals.

More U.S. workers with 401(k) plans are selecting or defaulting to simple target-date mutual funds, an investment strategy that took its lumps during the credit crisis, but have emerged with greater popularity.

If you're a high-ranking executive like Apple CEO Tim Cook, company stock is your best friend. He received a reported $375 million in restricted stock for 2011, one of the largest pay packages on record.

While many employees and retirees hope to stretch their 401(k) plans well beyond their original purpose, 84% of polled executives responsible for such plans say only some or very few employees will be financially prepared for retirement, a new Deloitte survey says.

A growing number of recently hired participants in 401(k) retirement plans, particularly those in their 20s, are investing in target-date funds, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

With tuition costs on the rise, employees looking for ways to pay for their children's college education can save with 529 plans, a tax-advantaged savings plan that encourages parents or guardians to save for a child's college education. Phil Chandler, a financial adviser for Edward Jones, says the tax-free gains feature is the primary driving force behind the popularity of 529s. Previous products did not allow this aspect to be used for higher education.

Financial security in retirement is one of our nation's cornerstone principles when it comes to the way of life we have come to envision after a lifetime of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. Originally, the underpinning of that retirement security for those in the private sector was to come from Social Security enhanced by private pensions and personal savings. Unfortunately, for many of us, the demise of most employer-funded primary pension plans and inadequate personal savings has shifted the role of Social Security from being a safety net of supplemental income to being the primary, and sometimes only, source of retirement cash flow.

The U.S. retirement market is projected to grow to nearly $22 trillion by 2016. That represents a 38% increase from an estimated $16 trillion mark for the end of 2011, due mostly to continuing market recovery, according to data released Monday by Cerulli Associates, a Boston-based research firm.

Baby boomers appear to be taking a second look at their life insurance policies as an alternative financial solution to paying for retirement, where they sell an unneeded life insurance policy for a portion of the face amount. These transactions, known as life settlements, have become a mainstream practice in the past several years, particularly as baby boomers begin exploring all financial options to paying for retirement, including previously unconventional alternatives.