August 2017

29Aug

US. Pensions May Yank Up to $1 Trillion From Stocks to Trim Risk

Pension funds are poised to shift as much as $1 trillion from stocks to bonds in coming years to lock in gains and limit the potential for big losses, according to Wells Fargo & Co. “Definitely there’s a lot of money that will want to move,” said Andy Hunt, head of global credit and liability-driven investing at Wells Fargo Asset Management, predicting it will happen within roughly five years. “Best case, it’ll be between a half a trillion and a...

August 29, 2017
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29Aug

Pension Fund Dumps Stocks Because ‘There Is No President In The U.S.’

A $53-billion public pension fund isn't sure, so it's dumping the American stocks in its portfolio. Finland's Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company— the country's largest pension fund— told Bloomberg it has reduced its exposure to stocks by five per cent, most of that reduction coming from U.S. stocks. "It seems as if there is no president in the U.S.," Varma CEO Risto Murto said. "If I look at what is the moral and practical power, there is no longer a traditional...

August 29, 2017
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25Aug

US. Health care will cost couples $275,000 in retirement

A couple retiring this year will need an estimated $275,000 to cover health care costs in retirement, according to Fidelity. That's a 6% increase over last year. Of course, it's a ballpark number. The true cost depends on a variety of factors like your health and how long you'll live. Plus, there's ongoing uncertainty about what the health care landscape will look like in the future. "No matter how you slice it, the number is brutal," said Adam Stavisky, senior vice...

August 25, 2017
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24Aug

US. Will the GOP destroy the 401(k)?

Republicans are ready to take on tax reform. And to make the numbers work, they may radically change the way your retirement savings are taxed. Both the Trump administration and the congressional GOP want to slash tax rates for individuals and corporations. The problem is that that strategy will lose the government money, and any bill passed by reconciliation — a procedural move in the Senate that avoids the filibuster — must be deficit-neutral over the long term. Republicans want...

August 24, 2017
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22Aug

US. How Far Does $1 Million Go in Retirement?

A million dollars—it has a nice ring to it. But as Dr. Evil learned after spending 30 years cryogenically preserved, it may not be enough—for many people, certainly not enough to comfortably retire on, depending on where and how long they live. A new report from GOBankingRates measures how long a million dollars would last for retirees 65 and older, state by state. It did that by multiplying the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ mean annual expenditures for that age group...

August 22, 2017
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18Aug

US. 401k ‘Cashout’ Craziness Continues

In May, Retirement Clearinghouse announced the National Retirement Savings Cashout Clock, a virtual clock that calculates 2017 year-to-date cashout leakage in real time from America’s defined contribution system. At the time it was announced, the clock had already registered $24.4 billion in cashouts. Since then, it’s added another $16 billion, and crossed the $40 billion mark in late July. As of this writing, $42.3 billion in cashouts have occurred thus far in 2017. If nothing happens to stem the flow,...

August 18, 2017
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17Aug

US. Volatility, Retirement Top of Mind

Americans worry almost as much about short-term market volatility as they do about achieving their long-term retirement goals, Franklin Templeton Investments found in its 2017 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations Survey. Forty-seven percent are concerned about short-term volatility and 53% about their retirement goals. Volatility concerns men more than women (51% vs. 44%) while for women, long-term retirement goals are top of mind (56% vs. 49%). Of the generations, Generation X is the least concerned about volatility—39% say they pay attention...

August 17, 2017
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02Aug

US. State, local pension plan funding dropped in 2016

As if there’s not enough to worry about in the retirement crisis, when people have so little saved, those who have pensions from states and local governments are likely not reassured about the performance of aggregate funding levels for those plans in 2016. A brief from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College finds that aggregate funding for state and local pension plans fell during fiscal year 2016, thanks to continued steady growth of liabilities even while poor stock...

August 2, 2017
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01Aug

Ladies, make sure you mind the pensions gap

There is a glaring gender gap when it comes to pension savings – a gap which grows as women age and means many face the prospect of spending their so-called “third life” in poverty. There are many factors behind this gap, ranging from the fact that women still pay a higher “parenthood penalty”, to the gender pay gap, and even the way retirement products are designed. While the number of men reaching the oldest ages is increasing, women still outlive their...

August 1, 2017
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July 2017

31Jul

US. 34% Of Entrepreneurs Have No Retirement Savings Plan

Fully a third of small business owners don’t have a retirement savings plan, according to a recent survey by small business site Manta. Of those who don’t, 37% don’t make enough profit to save for retirement, 21% used their previous retirement savings to invest in the business, and 18% plan to sell their business to fund their retirement. “I find that small business owners, especially successful ones, are typically very driven and optimistic people,” says Kirk Licata, a financial advisor...

July 31, 2017
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