A digest of timely information and insight about finance, investing, and retirement.
Veterans’ guide to financial success: 4 key steps in the march toward a comfortable retirement | Time-Money
Only about 15 percent of active-duty personnel will spend the 20 years in the force required to receive any benefit from the military’s generous pension. And even if you do qualify, 50 percent of your pay might not set you up for life.
Elizabeth Warren’s new warning about retirement affects everyone | Vanity Fair
A report released in October by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren examines bank practices in the Annuity industry, a subset of banking that advises customers to store their retirement savings in various investment accounts.
Warren has no issue with the concept but argues that too often agents advise their customers to purchase annuities completely unsuited to their financial situations – and, often, agents are incentivized by “non-cash rewards and prizes” from the companies offering the annuities. Warren calls for more scrutiny and the implementation of the fiduciary standard, saying that customers have a right to know whether their investment strategies are in their best interest.
Here’s why women have half the retirement savings of men | Fortune
Women have 50 percent less in their retirement savings accounts than men do – but it’s not because they’re less savvy investors. When it comes to retirement savings, women take as many risks as men do, according to a new study by Vanguard Research. The study also found that women are more likely to turn to investment professionals and the professionally managed portfolios outperformed those that were constructed by the plan’s participants. As in previous studies, Vanguard attributes the difference to the wage disparity between men and women.
It’s never too soon to plan your driving retirement | NPR
Dr. Emmy Betz, an emergency medicine specialist, studies the safety of older drivers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Studies show that if older drivers present a danger, it’s mostly to themselves and their passengers. Fatal crash rates are higher for older drivers, but that’s mostly because they don’t heal as well after a crash. But families need to plan for their “driving retirement.”
In many cases, drivers age 50 and older can get a discount on their car insurance by taking a driver safety class, such as the one taught by Chris Loffredo at a senior center in a suburb of Denver. Betz urges families to plan ahead, talk about it years before it happens and map out transportation alternatives.
The October job numbers are a big relief | The New York Times
The job market numbers for September were pretty terrible. Now the results for October look pretty terrific. There is no reason to think there was a radical yo-yo effect. More likely the United States job market has been improving at the same relatively gradual pace the last couple of months.
FiduciaryA person who manages money on someone else’s behalf and who has a sworn responsibility to manage those funds in the best interest of the client. AnnuityA type of financial contract in which a person pays a lump sum or a series of payments in exchange for a guaranteed stream of income for the rest of their life.AnnuityA type of financial contract in which a person pays a lump sum or a series of payments in exchange for a guaranteed stream of income for the rest of their life.AlternativesA broad category of investments that don’t fit into traditional categories like stocks and bonds.
