Retirement Blog

Fidelity Investments announced this morning that its millionaire clients — those with $1 million, excluding real estate and retirement accounts — are feeling more optimistic about the economy. Does that mean the rest of us should be encouraged? Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, a division of Fidelity, says yes: “In many ways, the average

My husband is looking hard at retirement and over the last two weeks, we’ve interviewed investment managers to help us figure out how to live off our savings. Some of our friends have been surprised that we’re looking for outside help. After all, my husband is a CPA who has spent most of his career

Americans suffer from retirement angst now more than ever. A public opinion poll released earlier this week by the National Institute on Retirement Security reveals that eight out of 10 Americans believe their Washington leaders don’t understand how difficult retirement preparation is in this economy. And 80 percent say leaders should place retirement security for Americans

Controlling health care costs is an increasingly important part of retirement planning. Even if you’re already on Medicare, there can be expensive surprises. The most common is denial of payment for a prescribed drug — affecting about 20 percent of Medicare participants – says the Medicare Rights Center. Of those, about one in six, according to a

What’s going to happen to Social Security and Medicare? Humphrey Taylor, chairman of research giant Harris Interactive, has taken a personal interest in the latest Harris poll on the future of Social Security and Medicare. Taylor, who is 76 years old, has not yet taken retirement. He continues to work daily — except for 14

My accountant husband spent last weekend bent over the computer perfecting our retirement plan. He added up all of our expenses and eliminated costs that he didn’t believe we’d have going forward, like dog food; we put our poor Spike to sleep last week because he had bone cancer. I was assigned the job of

Former NBC commentator John Palmer, 75, has spent more than 40 years covering the news in all of the most exciting places. “I traveled the world on somebody else’s dime,” he says. After seven years on the “Today” show and three decades in the White House covering four presidents, from Jimmy Carter through George H.W. Bush,

I’m an admirer of 80-year-old billionaire Warren Buffett. Every year he writes a letter to the stockholders of his company, Berkshire Hathaway. In that letter, he sums up his view of the company’s business and the nation’s economy in terms simple enough that even those of us who aren’t investment geniuses can understand perfectly. In

Some 401(k) plan participants don’t get mad about fees. They get even. Such was the case with workers at Bechtel Corp., a privately owned firm in the engineering, construction and project management business. Recently a U.S. District Court judge approved an $18.5-million settlement by Bechtel in an excessive 401(k) fee lawsuit filed by employees. The

People engrossed in retirement planning have a lot of interesting ideas to share. Here are a few things that have arrived in my e-mail that are worth noting: Leonard McCracken, who on the occasion of his 107th birthday shared some of his financial acumen with us, also generated a little competition among the super-centenarian set.