February 2010 - Posts
Investment News, February 23rd, 2010In an attempt to pull further away from the transactional nature of
annuity sales, brokerage executives are using tools to help their
advisers fit product sales into a planning context.“It’s a process — retirement
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Credit Cards.com, February 24th, 2010Your Social Security number is one of the keys to your financial
health. It's a unique indentifier lenders use to assess your
creditworthiness. It's also exactly what a would-be thief needs to
apply for a credit
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The New York Times, February 17th, 2010Eight states have been given failing scores for their pension
management under a new grading system developed by the Pew Center on
the States, which also found a $1 trillion gap between what all 50
states have
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RIS Media, February 23rd, 2010There we were, a whole generation with the brass ring in sight.
Flush with equity in stocks and real estate, portfolios of blue chips,
bolstered by ERISA protected pensions,
insured by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation
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The National Mortgage Professional, February 23rd, 2010In the beginning, there were 50 lenders chosen by lottery in a pilot
program. The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
authorized each lender to make just 50 Home Equity Conversion
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HR Morning.com, February 11th, 2010In the coming weeks, the Department of Labor is hoping to issue new
rules governing the investment advice given to retirement plan
participants.
The new 401(k) rules are now being reviewed
by the Office of Management
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Yahoo News, February 18th, 2010Too many American seniors
who need a new kidney have to wait longer than necessary for a transplant,
researchers say.
In a new study, Johns Hopkins researchers analyzed kidney donation data
from
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Yahoo News, February 18th, 2010States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, according to a new study that warns of even more debilitating
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The New York Times, February 10th, 2010My father is a relentlessly upbeat guy. “Up and around!” he reports
when I call. “Keeping busy!” He tells me about his volunteer work, his
card game winnings, the (seated) yoga class he enrolled in at the
library.
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The New York Times, February 15th, 2010I’m trying, with some difficulty, to imagine myself as a woman in
her 80s, someone with such advanced cognitive impairment that I can
correctly answer fewer than a third of the questions on a commonly used
test.
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Encore.org, February 10th, 2010Chris Farrell is drawing big crowds as he tours the U.S. to promote his new book, The New Frugality,
which paints a picture of a seismic shift in our society away from
unfettered spending, toward healthier financial habits.
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The Wall Street Journal, February 6th, 2010A reverse mortgage is an appealing way to extract cash from your house—but it comes with baggage.
Reverse mortgages, which homeowners who are at least 62 years old
can use to tap their home equity, have become
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The New York Times, February 9th, 2010Hip replacement is one of the most successful operations in all of
medicine, which prompts many orthopedic surgeons to think, as one
leader in the field put it, “Why change something that doesn’t need
fixing?”But
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The New York Times, February 9th, 2010No one at the hospital noticed that Tina Bell-Jackman was dying.On the night of June 26, 2007, Ms. Bell-Jackman turned restlessly in
her bed in Room 7 at Select Specialty Hospital of Kansas City, a small
medical
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Financial Edge, November 19th, 2009Yep, it's been a tough year. There's still much to lament, such as
decades-high unemployment, rising budget deficits and shaky financial
institutions, but considering the abyss we were staring squarely into
at this
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US News & World Report, March 6th, 2009Once you retire, you have to make sure your nest egg lasts the rest of
your life. It takes shrewd calculations and a even bit of luck to fund
your own 30-year retirement in the best of times. But the stock
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Shine, February 10th, 2010If you’re reading this,
there’s a good chance you’re going to live a long life—centenarians
(folks who make it into the triple digits) increased 51% from 1990
to 2000, which certainly bodes well for us younger folks. Advances
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The Wall Street Journal, August 17th, 2007Strategies outlined in a new study could sharply lengthen the amount of time a nest egg survives in retirement.The
study, soon to be released by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
Financial Institutions
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USA Today, February 2nd, 2010Hi, Gladys, I'm 73 years young and I need
to make money to supplement my Social Security. I would like to try
selling the fire extinguishers that you talked about in your book. I
think I can sell them at flea markets and
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US News & World Report, February 2nd, 2010President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2011 includes many proposals aimed to help workers prepare for retirement. Here’s a look at the retirement projects the White House is asking Congress to fund.
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The Oklahoman, February 3rd, 2010DEAR BRUCE: A few months ago I purchased a car for $28,000. Now I'm
regretting my decision. I was so excited about this shiny car that I
jumped into a deal that I just can't afford. I have been to several
dealers hoping
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The Seattle Times, February 4th, 2010Washington State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Louise Ryan, an
advocate for the elderly and others in long-term-care facilities,
answered questions Wednesday online about caring for those in adult
family homes and other
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Dallas Morning News, February 4th, 2010My wife and
I are retired, in our 70s and live comfortably on Social Security,
dividends and some CD interest. We have recently received an offer
through AARP to invest in a fixed immediate annuity with a cash
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Business Week, February 4th, 2010
Workers approaching retirement are often told by experts that they will
need only about 80% of their income after they stop working to maintain
the same lifestyle.
After all, expenses fall when retirees don't need
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The New York Times, February 4th, 2010During my training, I took care of a man in his 50s with a devastating
surgical complication: His abdominal incision had split open a week
after an emergency operation. Even after we had taken him back to the
operating
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San Francisco Chronicle, February 6th, 2010A 25-year-old former customer service representative with a San
Francisco branch of Bank of America has been charged with swindling
$61,000 from a 96-year-old woman who entrusted him with her finances. Saul
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Deseret News, February 5th, 2009When given the opportunity, criminals will target whom they perceive
as the weakest among us. And that notion could become even more
apparent as Utah and the nation cope with the bursting of the real
estate and economic
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The Kingston Whig-Standard, February 5th, 2009A formalized savings plan is one of the soundest
ways to turn your retirement dream into a reality. Taking advantage of
the tax benefits of an RRSP, TFSA and RRIF are strategies that I have
always recommended.
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Montana Billings-Gazette, February 4th, 2009A disproportionate number of Montana nursing homes rated below
average by the government are operated by for-profit corporations,
an analysis shows.
Almost 60 percent of the state’s skilled-nursing facilities
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AP Newswire, February 4th, 2009The financial strain of caring for older relatives can be
devastating without proper planning. Here are some online resources for
those who want to put the proper safeguards in place and for caregivers
who may be looking
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The New York Times, February 4th, 2009Re “Annuities Get Obama Fist Bump” (Your Money column, Jan. 30):
The Obama administration is rightly promoting annuities as part of its
strategy to give Americans a better shot at a more secure retirement.
But
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The New York Times, January 27th, 2009Annuities are a basic staple of modern portfolios, the financial equivalent of a backstop to guarantee a minimum of income in retirement.
They work like an old-time corporate pension plan, paying out a regular
amount
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The New York Times, January 29th, 2009Annuities: The official retirement vehicle of the Obama administration.As slogans go, it’s hardly “Keep Hope Alive,” or even “Change We Can Believe In.”But there were annuities, in a report
from the administration’s
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The New York Times, January 31st, 2009Jiang Ruming, a marketing manager, owns a van, but for many errands, he
hops on a futuristic-looking contraption that lets him weave rapidly
through Shanghai’s messy traffic. He rides an electric bicycle.Half a
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