by Jessica Haug

The option of the 403b retirement scheme is a great way of saving for when you finish working. It is a plan that has been created specifically for employees of educational institutions, non-profit businesses and clergymen. There are a number of options available on this plan and it has advantages for both the employee as well as the employer.

The employer can rely on the fact that the plan features the facility for the funding to be shared by both parties. It is sometimes stipulated that only the employee can contribute, however. Employers can rest assured that the benefits an employee gets on the 403b retirement plan will keep them with that employer for a long time to come.

Workers will love the range of advantages that this plan has to offer them. Firstly, they can revel in the fact that they will get a reduction of tax …

by Joe James

There are many retirement saving options out there for people looking to invest in their future. The two most important ones are the 401k and the IRA. There are many different types of each of these options. Both options have different rules too. However, if you use these two options together, you will be able to save a lot of money for your retirement.

A 401k is an option that is set up by your employer. They give you a select number of stocks and mutual funds to invest in and you can set the ratio you want to invest in. This is an optional plan. The money is taken out before taxes meaning your contribution is not taxed. However, when you retire, the money you take out is taxed so if you are in a higher income bracket than when the money went in you …

by Justin Blackmore

The earlier you can start saving for retirement in a 401K the better. Those that begin a 401K in there twenties do quite well by the time they retire or can access their 401K. A 401K is retirement account. It basically works in the following way. When you are working for a company you can dictate how much of your salary to put into a 401K each month. This contribution to the 401K is not taxed, so you get more money, and many times the company will match what you put into the 401K.

One of the best advantages to having a 401K fund is that you can make a lot of money in the long term as well as save money on taxes. Your contributions will be subtracted from your salary and then your tax is calculated. So you still receive the full salary but are …

by David C Lewis, RFA

Most Americans rely on employer 401k plans for the bulk of their retirement. A serious problem with 401K plans is the investor’s reliance on employer matching for the plan. This may cause an employee to rely too much on the employer and not contribute enough to savings. But, if you have not taken a serious look at retirement planning yet, nothing will give you a wake up call like using one of the many retirement calculators available on the internet. Retirement planning, which is essential for every adult, certainly is a difficult task and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Even if a professional financial planner is helping you, the financial planning process is hard. There are a lot of variables. The age you want to retire at, when you start saving money, how much you save, and the interest rate you earn are …

The purpose of IBOR is to protect financial markets and to create self-sufficient investors who produce economic growth instead of government deficits. IBOR standards create transparent financial markets, regulate speculation, and protect retirement portfolios. Here’s a sampling:

Section One: Product Transparency. All investors have a right to see precisely what securities are inside any investment product by accessing real time information that includes names and cost-based allocation percentages.

Section Two: Regulation and Education.

Section Three: Protection from Speculators. Investors have a right to protection from risks added to portfolios without their control, knowledge, or permission.
Naked shorting, index fund ownership of large share positions, and all naked option transactions would be prohibited.

Section Four: Controls of Hedge Funds.

Section Five: Brokerage Account Statements. Investors have a right to account statements that: 1) help manage asset allocation targets, 2) report realized gains and losses, 3) track …

More than fifty years ago, LaVern Baker & The Gliders, brought Jim Dandy into the fray to lasso runaway horses, dry the tears in little girls’ eyes, and to save special mermaids from the hooks of villainous fishermen.

(Black Oak Arkansas’ rendition on You Tube will help you understand what your parents and grandparents survived.) Go, Jim Dandy! Go, Jim Dandy!

This generation’s “runaway train” is a slip sliding housing market victimized by lender’s greed, Wall Street’s creative dark side, and congressional tinkering with a process that worked well for centuries— and all by its lonesome, George.

Our little girls’ tears are those of small, vulnerable, main-street-residing investor’s whose retirement dreams have been shattered by securities markets that are little more than casinos, and instruments of mass financial destruction that even their creators cannot explain.

The mermaids? They are the taxpayers who …

Crash! The 2007 thru 2008 financial crisis halved 401(k), IRA, and Mutual Fund values in a matter of months. For many, retirement dates had to be pushed back; for others, new jobs had to be found. The tragic flaw? No income allocation in the investment program. Market value builds egos; income pays the bills.

Few employers cautioned Savings Plan participants that 401(k)s are just not defined benefit programs. Few mutual fund distributors suggested to benefit departments that their programs were missing something of critical importance.

Throughout the meltdown, all investment securities fell in market value. But the vast majority of income securities, including closed end income funds (CEFs), have continued to pay interest and dividends. Market value builds over-confidence; income pays the bills.

The Working Capital Model (WCM) is a comprehensive system for investment management that is based on uncompromising rules of engagement. …

What if there was an easy way to implement a whole new approach to retirement funding, pension planning, and Social Security? Would the politicians be interested? Let’s find out.

What if the new plan actually reduced payroll taxes, cut prices, created jobs, increased salaries, raised shareholder dividends, partially funded decreased healthcare costs, and was available to everyone?

Sound too good to be true, but it’s actually doable. The reasons for the present system’s failure are mostly political; the solutions are clear, practical, and non-partisan. What we want is a less expensive system for assuring that everyone is able to retire with an adequate income, higher than that provided now by Social Security.

What we need is a simple program, part mandatory and part voluntary, using experienced trustees who operate within the strictures of the prudent-man rule— a risk-minimizing legal doctrine that …

Dateline Raleigh, NC, November 6, 2008: Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives discuss confiscating our 401(k)s and IRAs, by Carolina Journal Online reporter Karen McMahan.

This shocking pronouncement is certainly an attention grabber, which if even partially true, would have an impact on nearly every employed and retired American. The basis for the report is testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor in early October.

Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci is one of many witnesses (scholars, retirees, activists, an investment mogul, and benefits experts) who were interviewed by the committee members. (I was skipped over once again, but a receptive person in the HCEL was willing to forward a listing of my articles to the right person. I expect an invitation to testify momentarily)

McMahan writes: “Dr. Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research, …

SIBORAP includes these ten specific sections: (1) Product Transparency, (2) Regulation and Education, (3) Protection from Speculators (4) Control of Hedge Funds, (5) Brokerage Account Statements, (6) Retirement Account Investments, (7) Executive Compensation, (8) Corporate Financial Statements, (9) Taxation of Investment and Retirement Income, and (10) Transactional Greed and Fear Controls.

Section Seven: Executive Compensation – continued from Part Three of the SIBORAP report.

Every dollar paid to corporate executives, directors, and employees (in any form whatsoever) in excess of two million dollars would be matched by a ten-cent per share extra dividend to all shareholders and a 10%-of-annual-pay bonus to all employees.

All golden parachutes, separate “non-qualified” retirement plans, stock option and deferred compensation programs, and others that do not benefit all employees and shareholders will be unwound over a three to five year period. Any employee who receives …