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A wide range of sweeping changes to the 401(k) system were proposed Tuesday at a hearing on how the market crisis has devastated retirement savings plans. Chief among them was eliminating $80 billion in tax savings for higher-income people enrolled in 401(k) retirement savings plans. This was suggested by the chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. “With respect to the 401(k), it appears to be a plan that is not really well-devised for the changes in the market,” Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said. “We’ve invested $80 billion into subsidizing this activity,” he said, referring to tax breaks...

A wide range of sweeping changes to the 401(k) system were proposed Tuesday at a hearing on how the market crisis has devastated retirement savings plans. Chief among them was eliminating $80 billion in tax savings for higher-income people enrolled in 401(k) retirement savings plans. This was suggested by the chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. “With respect to the 401(k), it appears to be a plan that is not really well-devised for the changes in the market,” Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said.

If you find yourself wanting to steal that McCain-Palin or Obama-Biden sign on your neighbor's lawn, you might want to factor that feeling in when you think about where you want to retire. More and more people are. Fact is, most retirees say they would like to live in a place where they fit in with the culture, and lifestyle choices increasingly tend to vary according to political party lines. ...Here are 10 great retirement spots that have skewed heavily Democratic or Republican in the past two presidential elections. Democratic: Chicago, Ill. Dearborn, Mich. Maplewood, N.J. Pembroke Pines, Fla. San...

WASHINGTON – Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months, Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday. The upheaval that has engulfed the financial industry and sent the stock market plummeting is devastating workers' savings, forcing people to hold off on major purchases and consider delaying their retirement, said Peter Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office. As Congress investigates the causes and effects of the financial meltdown, the House Education and Labor Committee was hearing from retirement savings and budget analysts on how the housing, credit and other financial troubles have battered...

New Deal on Medicare by: Bethany Stotts, October 06, 2008 The New Deal policies of Medicare and Social Security started out as small programs in the Thirties, but this year’s Medicare expenditures will total about $391 billion. The Medicare Trustees have issued a “funding warning” for the program in their last two annual reports. According to the Medicare Trustees 2008 statement, “Underlying health care costs per enrollee are projected to rise faster than the wages per worker on which payroll taxes and Social Security benefits are based. As a result, while Medicare’s annual costs were 3.2 percent of GDP in...

Two old guys in Florida are talking and one asks the other where his money came from. The answer was: “My factory burned down and I’m here on my insurance money. What about you?” The second man answers: “I’m like you, but my business was destroyed by a flood.” The first man pauses, and then asks: “How do you start a flood.”

Experts say it was the DOW's worst day since the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. For the first time in seven years, the DOW closed down 504 points. This is comes after news financial giant Lehman Brothers has gone bankrupt and Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America. Both were in trouble but unlike Bear Stearns six months ago, there was no bailout from the federal government this time. Jan Dunham told News 10NBC today, “There's a lot of things happening today that isn't good and it is kind of scary.” Janele Robinson said, “It just sends a...

Ok, Barack wants to raise the capital gains tax from 15% To 20-28%. Last time I checked that's a minimum of a 33% INCREASE in your capital gains taxes per YEAR! You have got to be kidding me! That means if you make $10,000 in a given year on your hard-earned investments, you will pay an extra $3300. per year to help support the government and the wonderful programs that "support" your lifestyle and future existence. I for one, think this is the most idiotic plank that has ever laid over over any platform.

Americans are changing the game plan for retirement, with millions laboring right past the traditional retirement age and working into their late 60s and beyond. For 64-year-old John Lee, "retirement" bears a strong resemblance to his full-time working career; full of 40- and 50-hour weeks as an IT technical support specialist. He's not strapped but likes the extra cash and the feeling of being needed. But for Melissa Fodor, a retired travel agent who works part-time as a caregiver for the elderly, the extra work "keeps my head above water" and there's no end in sight to that financial need...

Layoffs can turn social butterflies into near hermits who shun such outlets as book clubs and even church groups, finds a new study. < > The researchers suggest the reason could come down to tit for tat, or an attitude of "you don't scratch my back, why should I scratch yours?" "Social engagement often involves an element of social trust and a sense that things are reciprocal - that you give some support if you get some support, and you benefit from society if society benefits from you," said lead researcher Jennie Brand, a sociologist at UCLA. "When workers are...

GALESBURG, Ill., Aug. 29, 2008 – A tour in Vietnam, flood duty in 1993 and 2001, a tour in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, and flood duty in 2008. That is only part of the highlight reel for a 58-year-old Oquawka, Ill., man who is about to hang up his combat boots after a military career that has spanned nearly 40 years. Army Staff Sgt. Norris Crooks prepares to fire a final ceremonial howitzer round while Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 123rd Field Artillery, performs annual training at Fort McCoy, Wis., in July 2008. Photo courtesy of Army Sgt. 1st...

The Congressional Budget office latest update on the demise of Social Security.

Many people dream of retiring early, but few actually make it a reality. Taking certain proactive measures, such as investing in a 401(k) in your 20s and eliminating debt, will help set you on the path to early retirement. But even if you achieve these goals, it's nearly impossible to know whether that nest egg will be enough to get by. You'll have to consider certain factors such as the lifestyle you'd like to maintain, the number of years before you start receiving Social Security checks (full benefits kick in between age 65 and age 67, depending on the year...

Want to do something truly patriotic to help preserve the American way of life? Don't retire. At least not yet. That's the advice of Andrew Yarrow, a vice president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization Public Agenda and the director of its Washington, D.C., office. Yarrow urges the nation's 78 million baby boomers to forgo traditional or early retirement and work for a few more years, for their own sake and the good of the country. Talk back: Does delaying retirement make sense to you? If boomers all turn in their keys at age 55, 62 or 65 and head...

Just as resilient Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig eventually played his last game, just as every perennial Broadway hit one day rings down the final curtain, so Robert Novak has written his last newspaper column. The dramatic and unexpected end to Novak's newspaper career was announced Monday after a "dire diagnosis" of brain cancer. Novak's hugely influential run -- after the passing of William F. Buckley, he became the longest-running syndicated political columnist in America -- began May 15, 1963, in a column written with Rowland Evans Jr. Evans' boss at the New York Herald-Tribune had been pressing Evans to write...

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire." "The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy," Novak said.

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire." "The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy," Novak said. Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak says he has brain tumor The Evans-Novak column was first distributed by Publishers Newspaper Syndicate on May 15, 1963, with the New York Herald-Tribune, the flagship newspaper. When the Herald-Tribune folded in 1966, the Chicago Sun-Times became their home newspaper.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – A 35-year veteran police officer with the New Orleans Police Department was suspended, with only 15 minutes left on his last shift, for wearing the wrong uniform shirt. Sergeant Bobby Guidry was moving his personal belongings from his office to his car when he was informed by a supervisor that the older, powder-blue uniform shirt he was wearing was out of regulation. The department had recently changed from the powder-blue shirts to an unpopular all-black uniform following Hurricane Katrina. Superintendent Warren Riley, who has defended Sergeant Guidry’s suspension, says there are plans to switch back to...

In case you missed it, Angelo Mozilo retired from Countrywide Financial on Tuesday July 1, as Bank of America took over the firm. There does not appear to be a press release announcing his retirement...Mozilo's controversial reign ended with him facing a barrage of lawsuits from investors, borrowers and state regulators as he stepped up sales of his own Countrywide stock in late 2006 and unloaded more than $130 million of stock in the first half of 2007, while the stock was collapsing and he was reassuring shareholders...

...The Schwab study describes this thinking in detail: A Distress Call from Retirement Limbo: Respondents are thinking about their retirement futures and say they will need to have saved at least $500,000 to live comfortably in retirement – which is twice the median net worth of today’s Boomer pre-retirees. Additionally, only a quarter of Americans say they clearly understand Social Security and how it works. Just 11 percent of Americans say they understand Medicare very clearly. A Coming Era of Financial Self-Reliance: Looking forward, survey participants identify a need for self-reliance in retirement. Low Grades for Likely Resources: Survey participants...

Even baby boomers who prune spending when they retire risk outliving their assets as they likely will live longer and experience volatile rates of both inflation and investments, a new study said on Monday. Almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlast their savings unless they live more modestly after they quit the work force, said the study commissioned by Americans for Secure Retirement, a lobbying coalition for policies to help Americans retire. The oldest among the 77 million baby boomers are the best-prepared, according to the study, done for the coalition by accountants Ernst & Young. Middle-class...

According to Phil Gramm, senior economic adviser to John McCain, the retirement age will have to be raised. Gramm told the Washington Times that a bipartisan deal might include raising the retirement age to 70 over 30 years, indexing the benefits of wealthier retirees to inflation rather than the more generous wage rate, and creating a private account program for younger workers. This means that if you are 40 and under, you will be working 5 years more than your parents did...

Carol Fisher thought she did everything right to prepare for retirement--and to live her dream of seeing the country from a recreational vehicle. She and her husband, Larry, worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren. They planned to sell their log home in King George County after they retired and live off the interest, along with their pensions. But when Larry Fisher died two years after the couple began traveling, Carol Fisher's dreams ended, too. ------------------------------------------------------ She also had a decade-long spending spree, buying souvenirs from New York to Nova Scotia. When gas and grocery prices soared, she...

<p>Last week, Barack Obama revealed his plan to shore up Social Security's shaky finances by raising the income level on which the payroll tax is applied. Currently, incomes above $102,000 are exempt, with that threshold rising every year indexed to wage inflation. Mr. Obama would keep that limit in place, but then assess payroll taxes on incomes above $250,000, which his campaign claims would apply to only the richest 3% of Americans.</p>

For More Americans, Retirement Can Wait By TED ROELOFS   Julie Johnson, 68, of Grand Rapids, Mich., has been helping a nonprofit to organize and fill new residential space for the homeless. (Photo by Emily Zoladz)     [Grand Rapids, MI] -- At age 68, Julie Johnson is something of a fixer for the Heartside neighborhood nonprofit housing agency in Grand Rapids, Mich. Give her a tough job, and she will find a way. "I like to get things done,'' said Johnson, a former community college administrator.As the American work force continues to gray, millions of workers are rewriting the...

Here’s the statement Joe Bruno just issued regarding his decision not to seek re-election in November: ”Today, I met with my Republican colleagues in the Senate and informed them that I will not be running for re-election this November. “After 32 years in office, I have decided that it is time to move on with my life and to give my constituents an opportunity for new representation and my colleagues in the Senate who have supported me, an opportunity for new leadership. “Public service has been a blessing for which I will be ever grateful. I have had the opportunity...

Leonard Downie Jr. said today he is stepping down as The Washington Post's executive editor, ending a 17-year tenure in which the paper became a major online force and won a slew of prizes for high-profile investigations, including one that Downie published over President Bush's objections. Downie, 66, said his last day will be Sept. 8. The paper's new publisher, Katharine Weymouth, said she plans to announce a successor soon. "After 44 years, the notion of not working in the newsroom anymore brings a lot of emotions," Downie said in an interview. "I will really miss it . . ....

A Harvard University dropout who ushered in the home computer age and made billions of dollars along the way will have his last official day of work at Microsoft on June 27. Three people will essentially fill the void left behind when Bill Gates retires from the company he and friend Paul Allen co-founded in 1975. Since Gate's began his transition from leading Microsoft to heading his personally-bankrolled charity, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , his job as chief software architect has been handled by Ray Ozzie. Craig Mundie inherited Gate's chief research and strategy officer duties, while former...

With most Americans doing a lousy job saving for their Golden Years, Barack Obama says the government has to step in. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee proposes that companies that don't offer retirement plans be required to set up and automatically enroll employees in IRA-type_accounts. In addition, companies with plans would have to automatically enroll workers in them. Employees, unless they opt out, would have 3% of their salary directly deposited into the retirement account, typically into a low-cost index mutual fund. And the government would match part of the money certain employees contribute. "These steps will put a secure...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — As the C-130E Hercules slowly rolled down the taxiway, fire trucks on both sides gave the big, gray aircraft a shower and dozens of airmen lining its path quickly saluted. It was a final farewell for an old plane with more than 44 years of service and a heroic legacy. The 86th Airlift Wing said goodbye to the plane, which earned an honorary Purple Heart during the Vietnam War. The aircraft, known only by its 63-7865 tail number, left Ramstein on Wednesday for its final resting place at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. Staff Sgt....

An elementary school teacher retiring after a 36-year career died of a heart attack moments after saying goodbye to her final class for the summer. Sharon Smith, 57, died Friday on the way to a hospital according to her niece, Doreatha Jackson. Smith was a fourth grade teacher at Molino Park Elementary School, where she had worked since 1972.

ALPINE -- Here in the Republican stronghold of eastern San Diego County, Duncan Hunter the son is attempting to succeed Duncan Hunter the father in the 52nd Congressional District. The elder Hunter is leaving Congress after 14 terms and a failed try this year for the GOP nomination for president. When he first ran for Congress in 1980, he was a 31-year-old combat veteran from Vietnam. His son is a 31-year-old combat veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan. Father and son share the same brand of conservatism: Continue building the border fence; continue fighting in Iraq; cut spending and taxes; oppose...

Have you started preparing for your retirement? If not, you should -- now. The 401(k) is Americans' chief retirement plan, and the money you contribute at the beginning of your career has the most power to grow over time. A bill sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), likely to be voted on next month, would make it easier to make good decisions about your 401(k) by requiring clearer disclosures about fees and commissions, and requiring plans to offer a low-cost index fund option. That's great, because if you're like most young people -- heck, most people -- you feel you...

There's an old saying that the best time to fix a roof is when the sun is shining. Well, the storm clouds are on the horizon and time's a-wasting. At least, that's the case according to the findings of the 18th annual Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. U.S. workers and retirees are losing confidence in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement -- and with good reason. Health-care costs are rising, home values are dropping, and savings are modest, according to the report. In fact, fewer than one-in-five workers (18% to be exact) are very confident...

Sen. Patrick Leahy is privately indicating interest in taking over the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee from an ailing Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) if necessary, four Democratic sources said Thursday. The Vermont Democrat, third-in-line on the panel, strongly denied those claims. But all four sources said Leahy has sent several signals to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) about the move. “It’s been going on. There have been lots of whispers in Reid’s ear,” said one Democratic source. Leahy “has tried to meet with Reid several times” about Byrd’s chairmanship, according to another source.The 90-year-old Byrd has been ailing for months, after...

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (MarketWatch) -- Reports that the Social Security system will soon run out of money have been greatly exaggerated. As sure as day follows night, the annual report from the board of trustees of the OASDI fund (Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance otherwise known as Social Security) has brought forth alarms that the fund will run out of money in the not-too-distant future. Although flush with cash now and over at least the next 10 years, the Social Security system is expected to gradually begin paying out more in benefits than it takes in from payroll taxes...

The happiest people combine work, leisure and extra income. Baby-boomers asked to define R&R are more likely to say "rock 'n' roll" than "rest and relaxation." That's a good thing, given that the old-fashioned definition of retirement as 25 years of leisure is built on two misconceptions, says gerontologist and author Ken Dychtwald. The first, says Dychtwald, is the notion that "if you remove work from the lives of productive, intelligent and active individuals, they will still be happy." On the contrary, says Dychtwald, "for many, retirement becomes a time of boredom and isolation." The second misconception is one of...

When I hear my fellow baby boomers gleefully talk about their elaborate plans to retire ASAP, head for the Tuscan hills, or otherwise continue their lifelong quest for "self-actualization," I have to bite my tongue. It's not that I'm all work and no play. But there's just something - make that lots of things - wrong, in general, with retiring at 55, 62 or even 65. I would go so far as to call it profoundly selfish and unpatriotic. However, if Americans retired later, either staying in their current jobs or taking up "encore careers" - what Marc Freedman of...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state’s deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career. Craig’s political future has been in doubt since his arrest and guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges filed after an incident in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last June. The three-term senator, who previously served five terms in the House, denied the charges that he solicited sex from an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation to crack down on alleged gay...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2008 – The increased cooperation between coalition forces and Iraqis at the local level as well as economic progress in Iraq are leading reasons for increasing stability in an unstable region, said Navy Adm. William J. "Fox" Fallon, the retiring CENTCOM commander. Fallon said the command’s efforts, which include operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, aim to provide stability and security, restore hope in the region and allow future generations the chance to live peaceably. “There are a lot of challenges, but we’re succeeding, and we’re going to succeed because we have (the) best people in the world...

Multiple sources are reporting that U.S. Representative Tom Reynolds (R, NY) will announce that he is retiring. While, Reynolds' press secretary declined to confirm or deny the reports, his office confirmed that the congressman will hold a press conference at noon in Buffalo and at 2 p.m. in Greece on Thursday.

The common perception among economists is that the current housing bubble will be a relatively short-term affair that should see a return to normal within the next few years. But according to a study by two University of Southern California researchers, a bubble of even more monumental proportions lies just ahead. They call it the "generational housing bubble," and maintain that it will be fueled by the same Baby Boomers who have been bidding up prices since 1970 as they moved higher and higher on the housing ladder. Now, though, the 78 million Boomers are about to enter the years...

Seems like just yesterday we were here. Well, I think we all know why I'm here. First of all, sorry I'm late. But I am officially retiring from the NFL and the Green Bay Packers, and as much as I've thought about what I would say, and how ... I promised I wouldn't get emotional ... it's never easy ... you know, it's funny, I've watched hundreds of players retire, and you wonder what that would be like ... you think you're prepared ... but I was telling Deanna on the way over here, God has blessed me with so...

Aerospace and Defense Sector Braces for Potential Brain Drain As Cold War Workers Retire WASHINGTON (AP) -- The aerospace and defense sector is bracing for a potential brain drain over the next decade as a generation of Cold War scientists and engineers hits retirement age and not enough qualified young Americans seek to take their place. ADVERTISEMENT The problem -- almost 60 percent of U.S. aerospace workers in 2007 were 45 or older -- could affect national security and even close the door on commercial products that start out as military technology, industry officials said. While U.S. universities are awarding...

FOLLOWING THE FLOCK of other retirees to warmer climes may seem like the best way to spend one's golden years. But it may not be the smartest — especially during economic downturns. "A retiree always needs to be careful about where he or she chooses to spend retirement, but with economic conditions changing so quickly it's even more important to make a good choice," says Warren R. Bland, author of "Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada." Not all places are created equal when it comes to weathering economic woes like the current real estate slump,...

Question: It’s my understanding that starting in 2010 the rule that prohibits you from converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA (for modified adjusted gross incomes over $100,000) will be eliminated. If that’s the case, can I convert all types of IRAs - deductible IRAs, nondeductible and even rollover IRAs that contain money moved from a 401(k) plan? How long do I have to do this? Do the new conversion rules expire at some point? –Hussam, Bergenfield, New Jersey SNIP Second, while Congress kept the rule that prevents you from making annual contributions to a Roth if your...

Fidel Castro Steps Down...

Direct Deposit Expected To Be More Common VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The nation's first baby boomer received her first Social Security retirement benefit Tuesday in Vero Beach, Fla., local station station WPBF is reporting. Kathleen Casey-Kirschling was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946. The 62-year-old retired teacher who lives in Earleville, Md., and Vero Beach applied for her benefits online, and received her payment by direct deposit. "Like many of her fellow boomers, Kathy leads a full and busy life," said Jim Courtney, Social Security deputy commissioner for communications. "By choosing direct deposit, Kathy's benefit is safely...

When asked about the 29 Republican-held seats that will go up for grabs this fall, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., gently corrected this reporter."As of today," Cole said at a breakfast briefing for reporters. He didn't say that further retirements are expected, but he wasn't exactly ruling them out, either. Cole then recalled how one unnamed GOP leader recently said to him: "Cole, you and I better get out of here before all of the good jobs are gone." It was a joke. Sort of. One election cycle as the minority party and Republicans are stampeding to...

Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) will announce this evening that he will retire from the House upon the conclusion of his current term, according to a well-placed Republican source.