Before It's Too Late: A Retirement Security Newsletter from Phyllis Borzi, May 20, 2013
"How do I make sure I don't run out of money in retirement? It is one of the most common questions -- and fears -- that arise.... A retirement account balance may seem like a very large amount of money, but seeing that broken down to an estimated lifetime stream of payments can be sobering." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Sens. Harkin, Alexander Initiate HELP Committee Investigation into Pension Lenders
"As an initial matter [the Committee is] seeking [National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG)]'s assistance in identifying the number of victims of improper and/or deceptive pension purchasing schemes and information about any enforcement actions taken. We also seek NAAG's assistance identifying which companies are offering these products and where they are incorporated as well as how these arrangements are structured." (Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, U.S. Senate)

How the Selection of a Financial Adviser Can Go Wrong
"[L]et's say you take a financial problem, or your retirement goals, to two or three financial advisers. New studies show that you're unlikely to get the same, or even similar, recommendations about what investment products to buy or what strategy to pursue. And that could make a big difference in your financial future... [R]etirement-savings recommendations vary greatly based on the type of firm for which a financial adviser works." (The Wall Street Journal)

Massachusetts Eyes Lump-Sum Pension Swaps
"State investigators have contacted the firms seeking information on whether the companies do business in Massachusetts and how the lump-sum offers are marketed. Massachusetts is concerned that the amounts offered are significantly less than the value of the future income.... The state also wants to know if the deals are structured as securities." (Investment News; free registration required)

Are Millennials Ready for Social Security Reform?
"[M]illennials are getting an early start on retirement saving ... First, they have watched their baby boomer parents struggle to prepare for retirement.... Second, this age group is not relying heavily on the solvency of Social Security. In fact, less than half of those surveyed plan on relying on public programs for retirement income." (National Center for Policy Analysis)

Five Steps Toward Fixing the Hole In Your Retirement Plan
"What's left for working Americans who expect to retire is a real puzzler. How can an individual replicate the predictability and solidity of a pension-style plan sized down to one? Is it even possible? The answer is yes, but it takes a fundamental re-imagining of the purpose of saving and retirement." (Forbes)

The Impact of an Advisor on Retirement Savings Levels (PDF)
"[T]he savings targets set by those in the lowest-income quartile who had sought the input of a financial advisor were associated with a lower risk of running short of money in retirement by anywhere from 9 to nearly 13 percentage points, depending on family status and gender.... As for those who 'guessed' at those retirement savings targets, the analysis also finds that for all four income quartiles, those who did so ... were less likely to choose an adequate target." (EBRI)

[Opinion] How Much Income Will Your 401(k) Provide?
"The [DOL] is developing rules that would require workers to get estimated income illustrations from their defined contribution pension plans so they can understand more thoroughly how long their retirement savings might last. The department is asking for input from retirement planning specialists, employers, workers and others as it looks for ways to educate people and help them save more effectively for retirement.... With each passing decade, workers increasingly are asked to shoulder the responsibility for their retirement as the share of employers offering traditional pension plans shrinks." (AARP)

Future Retirees at Risk of Downward Mobility, Pew Finds
"The report estimates that, at the median, Americans born between 1966 and 1975 -- so-called Gen-Xers -- will be able to replace just half their pre-retirement income once they stop working, well below the minimum 70 percent replacement rates recommended by most financial planners. Late baby boomers -- which the report defines as those born between 1956 and 1965 -- will be able to replace 60 percent of their working incomes in retirement, the report estimates. Both replacement rates are below what financial experts say is necessary for a secure retirement." (The Washington Post)

Retirement Security Across Generations
"This report explores how the Great Recession affected the wealth and retirement security of baby boomers relative to younger and older age groups.... Early boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) were approaching retirement in better financial shape than the age groups that came before them.... The picture of wealth accumulation and savings for Americans born after 1955 was more mixed.... Both cohorts of baby boomers and the Gen-Xers have significantly lower asset-to-debt ratios than do the older groups.... All groups experienced wealth losses in the Great Recession, but Gen-Xers took the hardest hit.... Replacement rate analysis shows that the youngest cohorts will not have enough assets for a secure retirement." (Pew Center on the States)

How to Choose an Investment Advisor: A Checklist for Consumers
The author presents a list of questions and accompanying discussion, including: "Are you a fiduciary under the law, and will you continue to be my fiduciary at all times during the advisor-client relationship we will enter into? ... Can 'financial planning' advice be separated out from your 'investment advisory' services? ... What conflicts of interest do you, your firms, or any affiliated firms possess with respect to the advice you may provide to me? Do you or your firm receive any material third-party compensation when I choose your investment advisory services or invest in investment or insurance products recommended by you?" (Ron Rhoades, via Scholarly Financial Planner)

Redefining Retirement Readiness
"[This study examines] how workers feel about their own retirement and financial situations, what they look for with respect to support and guidance, and how they would respond to employers who offer them additional Retirement Readiness support." [Includes links to summary, detailed findings, and infographics.] (ING)

Most 401(k) Participants Will Invest in Target-Date Funds by 2017
"Target-date funds' popularity over the last 10 years has soared, among both plan sponsors and participants, so odds are your plan offers these as an investment option.... 55 percent of all participants and 80 percent of new entrants will be invested in such a professionally managed option by 2017." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Considering Requiring DC Plans to Provide Lifetime Income Illustration (PDF)
"According to the DOL, the assumed 3% annual increase in the rate of future contributions is based on an expectation that wages, particularly for younger workers, will increase at an even higher rate.... However, for those individuals already contributing the maximum elective deferral amount to a 401(k) plan, this assumption may be too high when inflation is lower than 3%. Similarly, a 7% rate of return may not be achievable for employees near retirement age who invest more conservatively and may create an unreasonably high projected retirement annuity." (PricewaterhouseCoopers)

[Opinion] Pension Predators in New York
"By insisting that they are making advances, not loans, these firms elude state supervision, including usury laws, licensing regulations and the federal Truth in Lending Act, which requires lenders to disclose borrowing costs. These and other subterfuges have enabled the companies to ambush pensioners with 'advance' loans that carry interest charges ranging ... from 27 percent to 106 percent. This is clearly illegal in New York[.]" (The New York Times)

Consumer Fact Sheet: The Basics of Investing
"The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and the National Retirement Planning Coalition (NRPC) released a new fact sheet focused on the basics of investing as part of their six-month national retirement planning campaign.... According to research by IRI, only about 17 percent of Boomers believe that they are extremely or very knowledgeable about making financial investments. Even more alarming, more than 40 percent of Boomers say that they are not very or not at all knowledgeable about investing." (Insured Retirement Institute)

401(k) Sponsors Take to Social Media
"The use of social media, including Web sites and blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, You Tube and Twitter, is strongest among mid-sized plan sponsors, who represent plans with total assets of $20 million to $100 million. Among this group, 77 percent use some form of social media, with Web sites or blogs being the most popular and LinkedIn being the second most popular." (Financial Advisor)

Five Retirement Myths Worth Changing
"[W]ith only 7 percent of workers possessing a guaranteed pension ... some one-third of Baby Boomers will end up in poverty. 'If you're the most successful one in your family, you'll be the bank [for your less well-off siblings],' [psychologist Ken] Dychtwald said ... As a result, many of us will have to re-invent ourselves and scrap the conventional notion of a do-nothing retirement at 65." (Forbes)

Recession Not Entirely at Fault for Retirement Crisis
"Beyond the effects of the recession, the average respondent experienced a total of four 'derailers' in their lifetime, including family and lifestyle choices that have lasting financial consequences. Nearly two in five of the respondents (37%) experienced five or more unanticipated events, costing them approximately $144,000." (Financial Planning)

Industry Experts Question DOL's Lifetime Income Illustration
"Attendees and panel speakers at [the recent EBRI] Policy Forum ... said DOL was taking a step in the right direction by drawing up guidelines for ways plan sponsors can show participants how their current and future retirement savings will shape their future income stream. But among the questions the organization's leader posed was whether the proposal's longevity projections were too short." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

[Guidance Overview] EBSA Considering Rule on Lifetime Income for Plan Benefit Statements (PDF)
"Although over 700 comments have been reviewed on this topic since 2010, EBSA is seeking further comments on this new proposal, to be received no later than July 8, 2013.... The agency has suggested the possibility that it might stop short of issuing actual regulations on lifetime income streams if it can find an alternate means of achieving its objective. However, it is widely believed that EBSA will not allow a purely voluntary delivery of lifetime income projections to plan participants and beneficiaries." (Ascensus)

Top Five Actions Employers Can Take to Help Employees Become Super Savers for Retirement (PDF)
"Drive employee participation in the plan and encourage contribution increases over time.... Encourage employees to use resources that help evaluate retirement readiness.... Offer target date solutions that automate investment decisions.... Use proactive communications that motivate employees to take appropriate action.... Use leadership and centers of influence to promote retirement savings." (Transamerica Retirement Solutions)

Massachusetts Probes Firms Seeking to Buy Pension Income Streams
"The inquiry letters seek information on whether the company does business in Massachusetts; how and by whom it is marketed; whether Massachusetts residents have been contacted; as well as information needed to determine if the future income streams have been securitized." (Boston Herald)

Plan Sponsors Embracing Social Media
"While many providers continue to dedicate more time and money to more traditional forms of communication and outreach, such as e-mail or direct contact with an adviser or firm representative, plan sponsors are more often linking to plan providers through websites or blogs (39%), LinkedIn (24%), and Facebook (22%) to share or seek news and opinions related to 401(k) plans and providers." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

Optimistic About Their Financial Futures, Gen Y Saving Earlier and Planning Now for Retirement
"In addition to saving more aggressively and earlier, Gen Y is also optimistic about their retirement savings potential. Today, Gen Y mass affluent believe they will save on average nearly $2.5 million for their retirement, compared to those working mass affluent ages 51-64 who anticipate saving just $260,000." (Bank of America / Merrill Lynch)

[Opinion] Text of Comments to EBSA on Benefit Statement Proposals (PDF)
"EBSA has decided that the safe harbor disclosure of the monthly payment associated with the Current Balance should be determined by converting the current balance to a life annuity equivalent assuming the participant has reached his or her normal retirement age ... under the plan on the date of calculation, even if the participant is much younger on such date. EBSA explains the rationale for this calculation as the payment the participant would receive today for life if he/she were old enough today (i.e., [had] reached the normal retirement date). The result of this methodology is to effectively assume no investment return on the current account balance between current age and normal retirement date.... [T]his is not the accrued benefit associated with the current balance; it is potentially misleading and not particularly helpful to someone who is trying to plan for retirement." (Kenneth A. Steiner, FSA Retired)

[Opinion] The Social Costs of Choice, Free Market Ideology and the Empirical Consequences of the 401(k) Plan Large Menu Defense
"Under the 'large menu defense'" courts have held that, even assuming a failure to exercise due care in selecting plan options, the employer can nonetheless claim the protection of the employee-control safe harbor under ERISA because, when the plan's menu is sufficiently large, the plan participant is deemed to have exercised legal control over the relevant investment decision.... Research has shown that large 401(k) menus result in lower participation rates, overly conservative allocations, inferior investment options and other adverse effects that, collectively, cost workers billions of dollars every year." (Mercer Bullard via SSRN)

DOL Seeks Input on Guidance Regarding Lifetime Income Illustrations (PDF)
"EBSA hopes that providing defined contribution plan participants with 'a lifetime income illustration might spur better planning for the future.' EBSA's goal is to illustrate for workers what their lump-sum retirement savings would actually 'look like when they are spread out over all the years of retirement.'" (Benefits Bryan Cave)

[Opinion] Retirement Income Reporting: Signs of Progress
"[S]ince the goal of most defined contribution plans is to provide financial security throughout a retiree's lifetime, then the way in which account balances are reported needs to reflect that goal. This has been coming ever since the 401(k) plan started to evolve from a supplementary savings plan into the primary retirement vehicle for a huge section of the private sector workforce[.]" (Russell Investments)

Four Rules to Help Keep Emotion Out of 401(k) Investing
"[1] Do not base your contribution rate on how the market is performing.... [2] Do not adjust your retirement portfolio based solely on market performance.... [3] Do not take the ups and downs of investment and market moves personally.... [4] Be patient." (Smart401k)

Health Care Concerns & Retirement Planning (PDF)
"In 2012, 45 percent of individuals reported that medical expenses were extremely important when it came to planning for retirement, and 26 percent reported that they were very important ... Moreover, the percentage of individuals reporting that medical expenses were extremely important when it came to planning for retirement increased from 27 percent in 2003 to 45 percent in last year's [survey]." (EBRI)

[Opinion] So How Do We Make Retirement Less of a Gamble?
"The advice to participants to request formal acknowledgment from their financial advisors of their status as a 'fiduciary' is dubious at best (for one problem, it's unlikely the average participant could draft a meaningful fiduciary contract). Smith's piece does not reflect the recent legislative and litigation efforts -- enhanced fee disclosure, increased fiduciary responsibilities -- which, while slow to develop and long overdue, are nonetheless beginning to address the very problems Smith laments." (Retirement Town Hall)

Low Interest Rates Could Ding Retirement Plans, EBRI Warns
"In a scenario where retirement income and wealth account for 100% of an investor's simulated retirement expenses ... around a quarter of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers who would have had sufficient retirement income under interest rates at historical averages would run out of money if the current low rates were taken as a permanent condition.... [O]nly 5% to 8% of the same Boomers and Xers would run out of money under perpetually low rates if income and wealth accounted for 80% or less of their retirement expenses[.]" (On Wall Street)

[Guidance Overview] SEC, FINRA Issue Investor Alert on 'Pension Loan' or Settlement Income Streams
"The investor alert informs investors about the risks involved when selling their rights to an income stream or investing in someone else's income stream. The alert urges investors considering an investment in pension or settlement income streams to proceed with caution.... The investor alert contains a checklist of questions before selling away an income stream[.]" (Securities and Exchange Commission)

[Official Guidance] 'Pension Loans' or Settlement Income Streams: What You Need to Know Before Buying or Selling Them (PDF)
"After acquiring the rights to a future income stream (such as a retiree's pension payments), these pension purchasing or structured settlement companies ... may turn around and sell these income streams to retail investors ... [T]hese products go by various names -- pension loans, pension income programs, mirrored pensions, factored structured settlements or secondary-market annuities. [T]hey may be pitched to investors with words like 'guaranteed' and 'safe' -- and may tout robust returns ... [T]he advertised returns may sound enticing, but investors should be aware that these investments can be risky and complex." (Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Securities and Exchange Commission)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Proposes to Include 'Lifetime Income Illustrations' in Benefit Statements (PDF)
"Although the ANPRM only addresses a narrow issue presented under ERISA section 105 -- that is, how to present a description of a participant's 'total benefits accrued' under a [DC] plan, it is better understood as a next step in a broader DOL initiative to facilitate access to 'lifetime income options' that could provide a lifetime stream of income after retirement to American workers who now primarily save for retirement through [DC] plans." (Groom Law Group)

[Opinion] Text of ACLI Statement on DOL Draft Proposal for Translating Savings Into Lifetime Income
"The proposal represents a significant step forward in educating workers about retirement and helping them achieve their retirement security goals.... Most workers recognize the need to accumulate retirement assets, but many may not think about the need to manage their assets over the course of a retirement that could last 20 or 30 years. Understanding what a lump sum really means in terms of paying the monthly bills will help countless workers ensure they are on the right path to meeting their retirement goals." (American Council of Life Insurers)

For Advisors, Justifying Fees Means Justifying Value
"The strategy that self-directed platforms are using is clear: devalue the advisor and create the illusion that investors can achieve financial goals on their own without paying an advisor. In essence, these platforms claim that technology can do all the heavy-lifting. Because fee-conscious investors find such a prospect quite seductive, advisors must now act decisively to protect the economic health of their practices." (Financial Advisor)

Working with a Financial Advisor Lowers Boomers' Retirement Debt
"[B]oomers who developed retirement income plans generally were more optimistic about their retirement finances. Of the pre-retirees surveyed, 27% said they worked with financial advisors to develop retirement income strategies. Among pre-retirees who worked with advisors, 73% said that did not expect to carry debt into retirement." (On Wall Street)

Defined Contribution Plan Fees: One Plan Sponsor's Perspective (PDF)
"It did take some convincing for the Benefits and the Investment Committee to move away from a revenue-sharing approach and agree to charge participants' accounts directly for record keeping. ... Record keeping fees are not driven by how large an account balance you have; they are driven by the cost of maintaining your record -- making that cost fairly easy to quantify. Therefore, we decided to charge participants a quarterly account maintenance fee. It's not a large amount and it's fully transparent." (NEPC)

BancorpSouth Announces Voluntary Early Retirement Program
"The early retirement offer has been made to 418 employees, or approximately 10 percent of the Company's workforce, who were eligible because they met job classification, age, and years-of-service criteria as of March 31, 2013. The program offers pension plan enhancements based on each eligible employee's age and years of service. Of the 296 employees who have already responded, 194 have accepted the offer." (BancorpSouth)

Don't Let 'Dead' 401(k)s Skew Your Retirement Preparation
"Americans typically work at seven different companies during their career, and most of them have something to show for each stop along the way.... New research on the contents of Americans' IRAs and 401(k)s suggests that these orphaned retirement plans often languish untouched since the last automatic-deposit contribution, like dusty museums of our financial needs at the time, and out of whack with our current age and attitude toward investing." (CNBC)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Requests Comments in Advance of Proposed Regulation on Lifetime Income Estimates in Plan Participant Statements (PDF)
"The [advance notice of proposed rulemaking] effectively requests comments on all aspects of the proposed regulation it posits, including ... Are the mechanics of making the estimates of future account balances and income payments appropriate? For example, should Social Security retirement age be used instead of NRA? ... Would this approach adequately address the liability concerns expressed in response to the RFI? ... Are there ways to make the regulation more cost effective? For example, what would be the cost/benefit effect of requiring the estimates only annually, rather than quarterly? Would it be helpful for DOL to publish tables for making the estimates based on the safe harbor assumptions?" (Sutherland)

New York State Investigating Pension-Advance Firms
"New York's top banking regulator has begun an investigation into pension-advance firms, the lenders that woo retirees to sign over their monthly pension checks in return for cash. The regulator, the Department of Financial Services, sent subpoenas to 10 companies in the business on Tuesday. Federal and state authorities say that such advances are actually loans that require customers to sign over all or portion of their monthly pension checks in exchange for a lump sum payment." (The New York Times; free registration required)

[Guidance Overview] DOL Seeks Input on Lifetime Income Illustrations for Benefit Statements
"Since the [proposed regulation] solicits comments on reasonable alternatives to proposed regulations, including if there is a way to get plan administrators to voluntarily provide participants and beneficiaries with helpful lifetime income illustrations, it is unclear what illustrations (if any) the proposed regulations will require. While employers generally have been hesitant to offer annuities in their defined contribution plans due to regulatory barriers, guidance that makes it easier for defined contribution plans to offer participants the option of purchasing annuity contracts is expected soon ... If that guidance is issued shortly, coordination between this expected guidance and the guidance the ANPRM contemplates may be necessary." (Practical Law Company)

Plan Sponsors Focus on Retirement Readiness
"Automatic enrollment has had a positive impact on plan participation by employees, according to 86 percent of plan sponsors who have implemented it. The Roth 401(k) continued to increase in popularity, with 53 percent of plan sponsors reporting that their plans now offer a Roth option, a 6 percent jump from 2011. Individual financial counseling and advice is being offered by more plan sponsors -- from 50 percent in 2011 to 61 percent in 2012 -- further underscoring the emphasis they are placing on participant education." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Retirement Readiness Worries Persist Despite Record 401(k) Balances
"Only 12% of plan sponsors feel that most of their employees are or will be financially prepared for retirement, down from 15% who felt so a year ago. The vast majority of sponsors (70%) feel that only some of their employees will be prepared. The lack of confidence comes despite increased account balances averaging [a record] $85,000[.]" (Financial Planning)

[Official Guidance] Link to DOL's Online Lifetime Income Calculator
"Using assumptions described in the [proposed regulations], this calculator illustrates an annuitization approach to estimate the monthly lifetime income streams based on both the participant's current account balance and on the projected value of the account balance at retirement. For both balances, the calculator develops two level lifetime payments: one for the life of the participant (with no benefits to any survivors) and the second for the joint lives of the participant and the spouse with a fifty percent survivor's benefit for the spouse's lifetime. This calculator uses a simplified computation (e.g., annual contributions, mid-year retirement). Depending on the comments received in response to the ANPRM, the next version of the calculator may provide a more precise computation (e.g., monthly contributions, retirement in a specified month)." (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

[Official Guidance] DOL Fact Sheet On Proposed Rule for Illustrating Lifetime Income to Retirement Plan Participants
"The language and concepts would be part of the regulatory framework under section 105 of ERISA under which: A participant's pension benefit statement would show his or her current account balance and an estimated lifetime income stream of payments based on such balance.... For a participant who has not yet reached normal retirement age, his or her pension benefit statement also would show a projected account balance and the estimated lifetime income stream based on such balance. ... Both lifetime income streams (i.e., the one based on the current account balance and the one based on the projected account balance) would be presented as estimated monthly payments based on the expected mortality of the participant.... Pension benefit statements would contain an understandable explanation of the assumptions behind the lifetime income stream illustrations." (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

Designing Better Pension Benefits Statements: Current Status, Best Practices and Insights from the Field of Judgment and Decisionmaking (PDF)
"Currently, the information provided in pension benefits statements vary widely by plan provider as well as by the nature of benefits offered. The inconsistency could occur partly because recommended best practices for, and empirical studies that test, the design and content of statements vary widely in the literature. Furthermore, little is known on how people think about saving for retirement.... [This paper begins] by reviewing best practices and recommendations provided from the trade literature. Next, we describe the content and design of a cross section of statements that are currently being used by plan providers. Finally, we review the academic literature on individuals' understanding of, and information needs related to, pension benefits statements." (RAND Corporation, prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor)

[Official Guidance] Text of DOL Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Illustration of Lifetime Benefits by ERISA-Governed Defined Contribution Plans
"The rules being considered are limited to the pension benefit statements required of defined contribution plans. First, the [DOL] is considering a rule that would require a participant's accrued benefits to be expressed on his pension benefit statement as an estimated lifetime stream of payments, in addition to being presented as an account balance. Second, the [DOL] also is considering a rule that would require a participant's accrued benefits to be projected to his retirement date and then converted to and expressed as an estimated lifetime stream of payments." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Top Five Ways Financial Professionals Can Boost Retirement Plans' Effectiveness for Employees (PDF)
"[1] Define 'retirement plan success' as better retirement outcomes for participants.... [2] Use auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features to improve participation and savings rates.... [3] Help plan sponsors optimize the number of investment choices to improve savings rates.... [4] Advise on target-date solutions to help participants stay on track over the long term.... [5] Advise on structuring the company's matching contribution to drive savings rates to 10 percent or more." (Transamerica Retirement Solutions)

Boomers Usher in New Retirement Reality
"When it comes to retirement, baby boomers are favoring lifestyle choices over wealth preservation, bucking the traditions of the generations that came before them.... The majority of the baby boomers surveyed said they see retirement as a 'longevity bonus' or a period of time when they can pursue other interests outside of their career.... 57% said they look at retirement as a new life phase, while 51% of respondents who have not retired yet said they plan to keep working into retirement, but in a different field of work." (On Wall Street)

Americans' Perspectives on New Retirement Realities and the Longevity Bonus
"[A]chieving peace of mind is seven times more important than accumulating wealth (88 percent and 12 percent, respectively) to adults age 45 and older ... [R]etirement has been redefined -- with people expecting to live and often work longer than any preceding generation, and taking different approaches to preparing for and living their best life during these years." (Merrill Lynch)

Top Five Ways Financial Professionals Can Boost Retirement Plans' Effectiveness for Employees (PDF)
"1. Define 'retirement plan success' as better retirement outcomes for participants.... 2. Use auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features to improve participation and savings rates.... 3. Help plan sponsors optimize the number of investment choices to improve savings rates.... 4. Advise on target-date solutions to help participants stay on track over the long term.... 5. Advise on structuring the company's matching contribution to drive savings rates to 10 percent or more." (Transamerica Retirement Solutions)

Participants Need a Retirement Income Plan
"[W]hile retirement plan providers and plan sponsors are offering information, calculators and retirement income products, this is not enough.... Participants need help understanding how their investment allocation should be different in the distribution phase than it was in the accumulation phase." (PLANADVISER.com)

[Opinion] Retirement As a Cultural Concept Needs to Go Away
"Retirement as a national cultural concept arose because of concerns contingent to the Industrial Revolution... These conditions no longer obtain today.... Retirement is a little death.... The way we're dealing with old people today is not working and we need to get more imaginative.... Generational warfare on the young is, like, not good.... A truly flexible labor market would be truly flexible.... If poor people die sooner, that's not a retirement problem.... The safety net system should deal with problems qua problems and not age-based classes." (Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, in Forbes)

Forget the Nest Egg, Savers Expect to Be in Hock for $25K at Retirement
"67% of 495 pre-retirees polled said they expect to carry mortgage debt into retirement. Only 59% of the 526 retirees in the survey actually had that debt when they stopped working.... [I]n 2007, only 30% of the pre-retirees predicted they would carry a mortgage into retirement. That year, 53% of the retirees ended up having a mortgage in retirement." (Investment News; free registration required)

What Are Your Real Retirement Costs?
"[F]ive important yet often-overlooked retirement costs that you'll want to consider. Health Care and Long-Term Care ... Home and Car Upkeep ... Hobbies ... Taxes ... Inflation." (Smart401k)

Women Need to Plan for a Longer Post-Work Life Than Men
"[T]he repercussions of not planning for a long retirement are higher for women, who face strong odds their retirement will be far longer than that. Average life expectancy at 65 is 20 years for women, compared with 17 for men. There is a 50 percent chance a woman age 65 today will still be alive at 85. And that's just if you're average. Nearly a third of women age 65 today will celebrate their 90th birthdays." (The Washington Post)

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