Jennifer Meacham, March 15, 2007
Some of us weren’t blessed with pensions: We worked for employers that didn’t provide them, were self-employed or stayed at home. But even for those counting on their employer to help fund their golden years, there’s disturbing news. Employers are altering their pension plans so that “benefits accrue at a slower rate for older workers and … leaves employees without the ability to determine their monthly retirement benefit,” according RedwoodAge.com’s Pension Plan Challenge. This has major impacts on a retiree’s bottom line. This article not only illustrates the trend, it also discusses the steps workers like you are taking to challenge these changes in court. However, all isn’t lost if these cases don’t force change. A growing number of pension-fund recipients are wasting no time in rolling over their plans to self-directed Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs). The investors I’ve talked for other articles say their new-found ability to handpick the IRA’s tax-sheltered investments – into everything from real estate to business ventures – has helped them not only recover their 2000 stock market losses but also outpace their previous returns. This suggests that the negative impacts of pension restructuring can be abated, if those affected take this time to uncover how to make their money work double duty once it’s safely in an IRA.
Jennifer Meacham, March 15, 2007
Consumers regularly run-up credit cards, dip into home equity or sell off investments and other other assets to finance day-to-day expenses, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In January – the most recent month tracked by the bureau – the average American not only spent all of his or her earnings but also borrowed against or sold 1.2 percent of their assets. December assets dropped even faster, at 1.4 percent, following a 1 percent decline in November. That giant sucking sound isn’t a good thing, and it underscores my fears: Just yesterday I noticed that my local convenience store has posted a military recruitment poster on its front door … a seeming throwback to the Great Depression. Indeed, RedwoodAge.com’s article Going for Broke finds that today’s savings rates are at the lowest points since the Depression. I pledge to do my part to raise my own savings; I hope you’l l join with me. Together we can buck this foreboding trend – and increase our own in the process.
Tom Murphy, March 15, 2007
I haven’t visited Forbidden City since the mid-80s, when China was a very, very different place. At the time, I felt China most resembled Ireland in that the many people I met were kindly, had an almost idealistic notion of sharing, and took intense pride in their history. But it was clear then that things were about to change in a big way as the Chinese got their first glimpse of how the rest of the world was living. This was before the first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened near Tiananmen Square, and before the riots. It was before millions of automobiles clogged Beijing’s streets. It was before the country had emerged as one of the biggest polluters on the planet. Yes, so much progress, so many interesting times. There may be no turning back the clock, but a Chinese lawmaker is trying to draw the line by having a Starbucks removed from the Forbidden Palace. Good for him, I say. These were the hallowed halls where Ming and Ching emperors walked. Having a gourmet coffee shop there is no more appropriate that placing one inside Independence Hall. And, Howard Schultz, if you’re reading this, somehow I know you agree.
