October 2008 - Posts
US News & World Report - October 28, 2008
Many baby boomers plan to sign up for their Social Security checks as soon as possible. A new survey found that 45 percent of those currently 61 years old will begin getting Social Security at age 62, the
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The Wall Street Journal - October 29, 2008
Many owners of variable annuities have endured a double whammy lately: Their investment-account balances have taken a hit, as have the financial-strength ratings on the insurers that issued their annuities.
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Consumer Affairs - October 29, 2008
Congress needs to reform flawed 401(k) laws that could push back retirement for millions of Americans whose savings have collapsed along with the stock market, a University of Illinois elder law expert says.
Law professor
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The Wall Street Journal - October 26, 2008
Recent housing legislation is likely to make reverse mortgages more popular among homeowners in need of cash. But the risks of such loans remain substantial.
The new law, enacted last summer, cuts the fees
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The New York Times - October 24, 2008
One of the hardest parts about working in (or writing about) the personal finance industry these days is that there are no consoling words to offer up to people in their 60s and older who had a lot of money in stocks.
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NRMLA - October 28, 2008
Yesterday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued Mortgagee Letter 2008-33: Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Home Purchase Program. We appreciate the fact that HUD incorporated NRMLA member questions and concerns
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The New York Times - October 24, 2008
REVERSE-mortgage loans have grown increasingly popular in recent years, but lately potential borrowers have been in a holding pattern of sorts, waiting for new federal laws to take effect.
President Bush signed
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Consumer Affairs - October 16, 2008
The financial meltdown shaking the economy from Wall Street to Main Street has dealt a staggering blow to millions of Americans nearing retirement or already in retirement.
With nest eggs already having lost an estimated
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Yahoo News - October 16, 2008
LONDON – Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the doomed Titanic. Now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help
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Center for Retirement Research at Boston College - October 16, 2008
Introduction
Today, the Social Security Administration announced that benefits payable in December 2008 would be increased 5.8 percent beginning January 1, 2009. This cost-of-living-adjustment
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US News & World Report - October 14, 2008
Baby boomers are nervously trying to navigate their nest eggs to safety amidst a stormy sea of wild stock market swings, falling home values, and precarious job security. It can take years for nest eggs to
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Rueters - October 14, 2008
reverse mortgage loan creation rose 4.2 percent to a record level in fiscal 2008 and growth is expected to accelerate next year due to an impending increase in the federally insured loan limit, a trade group said on Tuesday.
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The Washington Post - October 12, 2008
For many Americans, 401(k) plans were supposed to be their own little golden parachutes into retirement.
Now, it seems, those parachutes may not open in time.
The global financial crisis that revealed the flaws
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Newsday - October 12, 2008
Mutual funds aimed at retirees haven't been immune from the credit crisis.Target-date mutual funds geared to retirement dates in 2005 and 2010 and the new managed payout funds designed to invest a lump sum and automatically
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The Wall Street Journal Market Watch - October 13, 2008
The financial crisis starkly highlights the relative pros and cons of defined benefit pensions and 401(k) plans, according to experts at Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.
Broadly
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Lawrence Journal World & News - October 4, 2008
Getting a conventional mortgage is more difficult if you don’t have a high credit rating or an adequate down payment.
But credit ratings and down payments are not issues if you are interested in getting
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Newsday - October 5, 2008
What should I do now? It's a natural question for retirement investors watching the unfolding Wall Street financial crisis and worrying about their portfolios.For most investors, the best answer is: Do nothing. The collapse
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Ventura County Star - October 3, 2008
FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery announced today that the new HECM, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, nationwide loan limit will be $417,000. The target effective date is November 1. This is a target date right now,
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The Wall Street Journal Market Watch - October 3, 2008
When It Comes to Saving for Retirement, Average Americans Are Resigned to Muddling Through...Alone
To Middle-Class, Middle-Aged Americans, Golden Age Looking a Little Tarnished:
-- 59% give themselves
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**NR Note - The US is not the only ailing economy, effects are world wide
CNN World Business- October 4, 2008
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Governments across Europe scrambled to save failing banks on Sunday, working largely on their own a day after leaders
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US News & World Report - October 1, 2008
It's easy to issue the empty threat that you're going to pull your retirement stash out of the stock market. But most nest eggs aren't mattressbound. An admittedly preplunge Gallup poll released today found
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