| Check your retirement nest egg against these updated guidelines
From a quintet with credentials comes the answer to a question that baffles working Americans: How much do I need to save now to maintain my lifestyle in retirement?
The answer, in what is called a groundbreaking study, amounts basically to ''it depends.''
I am not trying to be cute. ''It depends'' must be the answer because how much you need to save depends squarely on how much you want to spend later, how much you've already saved and how long you have before retirement, among many factors.
But the study, involving considerable analysis and number-crunching, goes beyond generalities to set specific savings guidelines. ''The study creates savings guidelines for typical individuals with different ages, income levels, and initial accumulated wealth so the public can more easily determine how much to save for retirement,'' the authors wrote.
How the Pension Protection Act helps you (Part II)
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 took important steps to help you plan your retirement. Last month (March 2007 Retirement Benefit Counselor) we discussed how it enhanced your ability to contribute earned income to a company-sponsored retirement plan or an individual retirement account. In addition, the PPA made permanent the tax credits for IRAs and tax-free withdrawals from Section 529 plans for qualified education expenses. First made possible in 2001 by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, these had been set to expire in 2010, along with the larger contribution limits. Now they have been set in stone. Given the federal governments alarm over shortfalls in funding traditional pension plans, as well as the state of retirement saving by working Americans, the goal of these efforts was to strengthen workers ability to save for their later years.
BCE in Buyout Talks With KKR and Canadian Pension Funds
John Bethel submits: BCE (BCE) has announced it is in talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and three Canadian pension funds. If BCE gets bought, it would reportedly be Canada's biggest buyout in history. It would also be a reversal in BCE management's stance opposing any takeover. Many observers think BCE's institutional shareholders are pushing a deal. With BCE being Canada's largest telephone company, many Canadian institutions have probably been shareholders for years. The company's stock has been a fine performer since being I recommended it August -- but has lagged in recent years. Institutions that have owned BCE for ages now see the opportunity to rack up some gains. BCE 1-yr chart .
A Crisis Of Perspective: Why The Right Is Wrong On Comprehensive ...
However, many more of these workers are using false Social Security numbers. They are paying taxes, but they are not matching up to valid SSN's. It is estimated that to date something in the area of $700,000,000,000 has been paid into the system but is unaccounted for since the SSN"s used by the payees do not match up. If we were to get all of the undocumented workers to pay into the system, as well as the new guest workers that the economy needs to grow, it would really add up to quite a large sum of additional tax revenue. This brings us to what is perhaps the single most important reason to legalize the undocumented workers that are already here, as well as to add guest workers to our economy, and that is the issue of Social Security. The system was designed as sort of a pyramid, where many young workers at the base of the pyramid feed revenue into the system, so that the older workers at the top of the pyramid can receive Social Security benefits.
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