New Jersey, the only state to have a pension funded status worse than Illinois’s (according to Pew’s 2020 compilation based on 2018 data), is quite pleased with itself because, as the state announced in a recent press release, “State Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio announced that the Treasury Department today kicked off the start of the
Retirement
By Barbara Field, Next Avenue The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported last summer that female-owned small businesses were “disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic and corresponding economic crisis.” The prediction for growth and revenue looked depressing. But these three women, all over 50, bucked the statistics by embracing digital technology and pivoting their businesses. During the
By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor When most of us (and retirement experts) think about how prepared we’ll be for a financially comfortable retirement, it’s typically about how much money has been saved for it. But University of Massachusetts Boston professor Jan Mutchler says there’s another way to look at it: Will you have enough income
People worry about money in good times and in bad. Surveys, pre-COVID, typically found that about seven-in-ten people were stressed about money at any given time. The impact of the pandemic on this stress? It exacerbated an issue that many of us already lived with. Between the worry over health and general well-being of the
Goal-based financial planning isn’t a new concept. Neither is diversification. We know that we’ve historically used life insurance as a risk management tool that helps with income replacement during your working years. But life insurance also plays an important role in a diversified and comprehensive financial plan. It’s important to first establish your goals, then
Rep Tom Suozzi (D-NY) has introduced a bill to create a public, catastrophic, long-term care insurance program. The monthly cash benefit, initially about $3,600 and indexed for inflation, would be funded with a modest increase in the payroll tax of 0.3 percent for workers and 0.3 percent for employers, or roughly $300-a-year for a median
If you have a 401(k) at work, you’re probably familiar with the standard advice about such plans: make sure to contribute enough to receive any employer match and make the maximum contribution if you’re able. But some employers offer both a traditional 401(k) and a Roth 401(k), and it can be difficult to determine if
From my perspective as investment counsel focusing on retirees, I want to see everyone paying themselves first by automating the savings process. And, the further retirement is away from today, the more impact those saved dollars have when invested properly. Of course, things can intervene, like losing a job, or being hit with the unexpected
The economic hardships caused by COVID-19 have been felt unevenly among Americans, with worse outcomes for women, people of color, lower-income workers, and those with less formal education. New government and private sector research highlights the financial challenges that existed before the pandemic and demonstrates the impact of the past year on the lives of
Earlier this month, the forensic investigation of the $90 billion-plus State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio commissioned by the Ohio Retired Teachers Association and performed by my firm, was completed. The damning preliminary findings have now been reported to Ohio legislators, regulators and law enforcement. ADVERTISEMENT The report concluded the state pension has long abandoned