Retirement planning

For most Baby Boomers, even younger ones, the recession has done such a number on their retirement savings that they are gearing up to work longer, set aside more now and live a more modest lifestyle in their so-called golden years, USA Today reports.

At the hearing on target-date funds that the Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission is holding tomorrow, the focus is likely to be on better disclosure of holdings.

To help parents and their children alike manage their finances better, Wells Fargo is promoting online budgeting and savings tools available on its website, and releasing the findings of a survey of parents on their children that demonstrate a generational knowledge gap.

The number of people who believe their financial security is worsening is now 45%, down from 49% in April, a survey by Country Financial found.

The Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission have released the agenda and list of speakers at this Thursday’s hearing on target-date funds.

Americans are increasingly worried about their preparedness for retirement, The Hartford found in a survey. Thirty-four percent were either “extremely” or “very” worried about their ability to save for retirement, and 56% said they feared they would have to cut back on their contributions.

Although there have been reports of one-third of employers cutting back on or eliminating 401(k) matches, for the most part, they have continued to add other features to the plans to increase participation and investment rates, Charles Schwab found. And that has helped most workers stay the retirement savings course.

A recent cartoon in The New Yorker surely sums up many retirement investors' feelings toward their financial advisers: It depicts them being sacrificed to a volcano.

The U.S. House of Representatives has reintroduced a 401(k) fee disclosure bill, the fifth such bill to be considered by Congress.

Although there have been reports of about one-third of employers cutting back on or eliminating 401(k) matches, for the most part, they have continued to add other features to the plans to increase participation and investment rates, Charles Schwab found. And that has helped most workers stay the retirement savings course.

Even though their financial health may have been seriously impaired by the economic downturn, most couples are not in agreement when it comes to their retirement plans, Fidelity found in a survey of 502 married couples between the ages of 45 and 72. To qualify, they had to have household income of at least $75,000 and investable assets of $100,000 or more.

The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced the Retirement Security Needs Lifetime Pay Act, designed to encourage Americans to invest lifetime income annuities through tax breaks.

Citing the positive effects of diversification and continued contributions, Vanguard announced that the median decline in the three million defined contribution accounts it administers fell 17% in the 15 months ended March 31, as opposed to the market’s overall 44% decline.

Variable annuity sales declined 27% in the first quarter to $30.7 billion, compared with $41.9 billion in the first quarter of 2008, LIMRA announced.

Thanks to shady money managers like Bernie Madoff who ruined it for everyone, the lucrative and surreptitious heydays of hedge funds may be gone for good.

From recommending different products to rethinking their risk management strategy, some financial advisers say they have changed their approach in the wake of last year's market slump. Indeed, many retail investors remain on the sidelines of the stock market, with assets in equity funds only half of what they were in late 2007 before the economic crisis began and the market lost 56% of its value.

NEW YORK - Many financial advisers are feeling extremely guilty for failing to protect their customers from the 30% equity drop in 2008, but it will take more than remorse to earn clients' forgiveness.

The growing trend for companies to suspend or even eliminate 401(k) matches in this recession will inevitably translate into fewer people contributing to their retirement savings, writes Rockefeller Foundation Associate Vice President Janice M. Nittoli in an editorial in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Now Is No Time to Skimp on Retirement Plans.”

Great-West Retirement Services has launched an updated set of target-date funds that it believes will address some of the problems that were found with target-date funds in 2008.

The retirement centers of E*Trade, Fidelity and Ameritrade are the most complete of 14 leading brokerages, according to a new report from Corporate Insight.