Practice

Successful retirement preparation is driven by three variables: consistent saving and investing, access to financial advice and access to workplace retirement plans, according to a survey by Putnam Investments released on Wednesday.

In a recent survey of nearly 3,300 working Americans to determine current levels of retirement preparedness, Putnam Investments identified three key variables that boost workers’ retirement savings, regardless of their income: consistent, long-term saving, access to financial advice and workplace savings plans.

Couples approaching and even already living in retirement are struggling with communication, planning and management of their retirement finances, Fidelity Investments found in a May 2011 survey of 1,296 husbands and wives.

While couples are saving for retirement, they don’t seem to be discussing their retirement goals, according to a new survey by Fidelity Investments.

Memories of the 2008-2009 market crash are keeping Baby Boomers from investing at a time when many are fearful they'll outlive their retirement savings, according to a new survey by Allianz Life Insurance.

The Treasury Department has unexpectedly allied with state regulators and consumer groups in their bid to force the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to dial back its preemption standards.

If your clients have money in retirement accounts they won’t need to live on, they can put that money into a Roth IRA and avoid paying taxes on any gains. Now, grandkids can inherit up to $5 million tax free.

In a panel discussion at the Insured Retirement Institute’s (IRI) regulatory conference on Tuesday officials from the Departments of Labor and Treasury discussed increasing access to guaranteed lifetime income products and the proposed rule on the definition of a fiduciary that would regulate retirement savings programs and professionals.

The new cost basis reporting rules, which got under way in January, remind this blogger of her big water excursions -- scanty as they were -- mainly because of the potentially heart-racing chops that lie ahead for advisors and clients. There are several new reporting forms to help investors and their brokers conform to the new cost-basis reporting rules, but they are complex and did not come with instructions.

Brinker Capital this week became the latest independent investment management firm to add a suite of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its defined contribution retirement plan offering, adding seven new ETFs that range from defensive fixed-income funds to aggressive equity-based funds.