Based on President Obama’s 2013 budget, one would think he is an avid supporter of all things “research and development.” He proposes $140 billion on the research and development of green energy (been there, done that and we have reaped the consequences), and other things such as wireless communications and cybersecurity. But what is noticeably [...]
Another sobering article about retirement, or lack thereof: Households that expected to find retirement just around the corner will have to work longer. The main reason? Debt, debt, and more debt: mortgages, home equity loans, kids’ college expenses and credit card debts are saddling 60- to 64-year-old households who expected their retirement-age years to be [...]
An article from yesterday’s Wall Street Journal was disconcerting — and misleading. It said there may be unintended consequences to the law that allows firms to automatically enroll their employees into 401(k) plans. In one of many scenarios, an analysis done by the Employee Benefits Research Institute for the WSJ found that up to 40 percent [...]
A recent article at the Wall Street Journal’s smartmoney.com explains why mutual funds still charge fees, despite the fact that the transaction costs for stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are getting cheaper. According to an industry spokesperson, customers are paying for a service they are not receiving from other investments, namely fund managers trying [...]
The Employee Benefit Research Institute released a sobering report on the state of personal retirement. According to EBRI, the lowest 25 percent of income earners among baby boomer households would need to work into their mid 80s before 90 percent of them would have an even 50 percent chance of having retirement income to meet [...]
For the past few years, the Department of Labor has wrestled with what kind of fee disclosure requirements to impose on 401(k) plans. Currently the DOL has several pages of fiduciary rules that, if adhered to, will protect employers and plan administrators from potential liability. While these rules are voluntary, most companies make certain they adhere to [...]
A word to the states and the people: ignore what the federal government is doing in terms of how to manage a budget. Among the dire predictions about the solvency of state and local employee pension funds (see our NCPA study on this topic), Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently announced that unless the debt ceiling was [...]