Retirement Blog

This is National Save for Retirement Week. A good time to encourage the next generation to start doing some retirement planning. If you’ve ever tried it, chances are you know that getting kids in their 20s to save is a challenge. One of my sons just cashed out the automatic retirement plan he had when

We went to my husband’s Navy reunion last week. The group had shrunk — 24 guys died last year, a record for us. But the other thing that kept people away from the event in Mobile, Ala., was the cost. So many people won’t or can’t travel because they are worried about money. Their savings

My husband and I are building a house on Lake Erie. We hemmed and hawed about it for a long time and finally decided that this was a part of our retirement planning that we didn’t want to forgo, even though the housing economy in Michigan is dreadful. We came to this conclusion after looking

More than half (54 percent) of full-time workers from ages 21 to 64 participated in their employer’s retirement plan last year, according to a report released earlier this week by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Among all workers, including part-timers, the participation level was 40 percent. That means a lot of people slip through the

If you are considering enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan during this year’s open enrollment, which starts Saturday, Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7 — earlier than it has in previous years — be prepared to do some research. This is not a retirement planning decision to be made lightly. Here’s some advice, some of

Here’s more about Medicare Open Enrollment, which starts Saturday, Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7 — earlier than it has in previous years. Figuring out how to manage health care costs is a key part of retirement planning. Here are some of the things the Medicare Rights Center advises that you do: Read your Annual

Picking the right Medicare plan is retirement planning 101. Choosing wisely can save you a bundle. Medicare open enrollment starts Saturday, Oct. 15, and runs through Dec. 7. Compared to previous years, open enrollment both starts and ends early. I don’t know about you, but our mailbox has been filled daily for the last couple

I wrote about required minimum distributions, or RMDs, on Thursday — something that many people consider an annoying — and possibly unfair — part of retirement planning. Here’s another way to look at them. At 70½, the IRS requires that you start taking annual distributions from your tax-advantaged retirement savings or face a 50 percent

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a barometer of widespread dissatisfaction with our country’s value system, in which the well-to-do get a bigger share of the proverbial pie at the expense of the proletariat. The dour mood extends to Americans’ retirement planning outlook. In a survey released yesterday by Americans for Secure Retirement, half of

Here’s more evidence that the retirement planning industry is figuring out that lots of us who are living on retirement savings — or contemplating it — need help. If you have IRA accounts and are over age 70½, then you’ve had to deal with the required minimum distribution, or RMD, rules and know how complicated they