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More than a third of American adults have no retirement savings, including 14% of those 65 years of age or older, according to a new study released Monday. The low savings rate for people at or approaching retirement age is alarming, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com, which conducted the survey. About a quarter -- 26% -- of those age 50 to 64 haven't started saving for retirement, the survey said; the figure was 33% of people who are 30- to 49-years-old. Overall, 36% of those 18 years or older have not started saving for retirement, according to...

Phantom wealth cannot possibly fund unprecedented retirement and healthcare promises. The narrative that Social Security, Medicare and pension funds invested in stocks and bonds can fund the retirement of 65 million people is a misleading fantasy. The sad reality is we can't fund the enormous expense of retirement/healthcare for 20% of the populace out of our national earned income, and the savings that have been set aside are either fictitious (the Social Security Trust Fund) or based on phantom wealth created by speculative asset bubbles in stocks, bonds and real estate. I explain the fraud of the Social Security Trust...

One in five people who are near retirement age have zero money saved. Yes, you read that correctly. The sobering statistic was one of many released by the Federal Reserve on Thursday as part of its report on the economic well-being of U.S. households, which surveyed more than 4,100 people online last year between mid-September and early October. The study offered a stark reminder that as more Americans are made responsible for their own retirement, most are not saving nearly enough. Overall, 31 percent of people said they have zero money saved for retirement and do not have a pension....

More than half a million retirees receive their Social Security benefits abroad, according to International Living , a monthly newsletter focusing on retiring overseas. The Social Security Administration currently sends 613,650 retirement-benefit payments outside the U.S., more than double the 242,128 benefit payments sent abroad in 2002. And even that data likely under-represents the actual number of Americans retired overseas, says Dan Prescher, 60, special projects editor of the newsletter. (International Living gets much of its financial support from advertisers who sell overseas real estate to retirees, and other services for those wishing to relocate.) “San Diego has some of...

America is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. But as we become bogged down in our many problems, I see, unfortunately, a mentality in which we are becoming increasingly a nation of the unfree – the victim – and the timid, in how we’re approaching these challenges. Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman wrote a column this week drawing attention to the latest dire projections from the Congressional Budget Office. CBO projects the nation sinking deeper and deeper into an ocean of red ink. Under a business-as-usual scenario, the Senator notes, we’ll pile...

If the amount of press ink used to report a study is any indicator of its contribution to public understanding, the National Institute on Retirement Security's (NIRS) 2013 report, "The Retirement Savings Crisis: Is It Worse than We Think?" might be the gold standard on the subject of retirement security. The report concludes that 84% of Americans are falling short of reasonable retirement savings targets and, even when total net worth is considered, two-thirds are at risk of an inadequate retirement income. The total "retirement savings gap," NIRS claims, may reach $14 trillion. According to New York Times writer Nancy...

Retirement systems around the world are expected to face a significant burden in the next 50 years. The number of people over the age of 60 is expected to double from 841 million in 2013, to over 2 billion by 2050, according to the UN. What's more this has been accompanied by falling global birth rates. In fact, the global share of people over the age of 60 has gone from 9.2% in 1990, to 11.7% in 2013 and is expected to hit 21.1% in 2050, according to Bank of America's Sarbjit Nahal and Beijia Ma. The number of people...

Gender inequality doesn't end at the workplace. For many women, the gender gap haunts them well into their retirement years, when far more women find themselves living in poverty. In fact, women are almost twice as likely as men to live below the poverty line during retirement, with single and minority women struggling the most (see chart). On average, women 65 years and older rely on a median income of around $16,000 a year -- roughly $11,000 less than men of the same age, according to a Congressional analysis of Census data. And many elderly women rely exclusively on Social...

White House press secretary Jay Carney received a stiff rebuke at Monday’s press briefing after trying to spin the resignation of Dr. Robert Petzel, Veterans Affairs undersecretary for health, as proof of the administration’s accountability for the escalating scandal over veterans’ waiting lists. The spat began when ABC’s Jonathan Karl began questioning Carney about VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. “If this mess regarding wait times isn’t cleaned up soon, are General Shinseki’s days numbered as VA secretary?” Karl asked Carney. Carney pivoted to stress the president’s support for the VA before responding, “What the president wants is for the review and...

Every month when the employment data is released there is an almost immediate debate that erupts over the Labor Force Participation Rate. Like any good boxing match, both sides take to their corners. Defenders argue the decline is primarily due to retiring "baby boomers" and demographic trends while opponents suggest that it is a sign that employment remains far weaker than headlines suggest.As I discussed previously, recent employment increases, while encouraging have been little more than a function of population growth. As the population grows, incremental demand increases caused by that increase in population will create employment needs in areas...

Earlier this week, House and Senate conferees agreed to final language for the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA). While most of the attention has focused on the bill’s family and sick leave provisions, one particularly bad policy provision has attracted little attention. Specifically, WESA lays the groundwork for a “state-administered retirement savings plan” for employees in the private sector. Yes, this would essentially be a government-run retirement plan controlled by the State Board of Investment. The ramifications of such a plan could be devastating for private sector employees as well as taxpayers who would likely be on the hook for...

If you’re looking to retire some place warm and sunny then Minnesota probably isn’t high on the list. Aside from experiencing some of the coldest weather in the country, Minnesota also has an above average cost of living and residents pay some of the highest property, sales and state income taxes nationwide. Seniors will find it easier to get access to quality medical care and the crime rate is relatively low but you could end up shelling out more for these perks.

A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? Two million. That's according to a recent USA Today article, which claims that having $1 million saved for retirement might not cut it. "The new $1 million may be $2 million," it says. Financial professionals explain that $1 million of retirement savings translates to $40,000-$50,000 annually once you've bowed out of the workforce. Sure, someone could live on that, but the question is: could you?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The average age at which U.S. retirees report retiring is 62, the highest Gallup has found since first asking Americans this question in 1991. This age has increased in recent years, while the average age at which non-retired Americans expect to retire, 66, has largely stayed the same. However, this age too has slowly increased from 63 in 2002.

These words of Thomas Jefferson's are etched under the dome of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Imagine if Jefferson had finished that thought with these words: "Unless, of course, you're 57 years old and a U.S. federal law enforcement officer." In the beginning of our republic, our Founding Fathers fought for freedom from governing tyranny, including for those who worked in government. And if a man's work ethic, health and passions allowed him to labor until his dying breath, he...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHuXTEYqcX0 http://www.savetaxesbymoving.com A calculator

Retirement experts call it a game changer for the 50 or so million households in the U.S. that own an individual retirement account — an IRA. Uncle Sam’s Tax Court just ruled that the one-rollover-per-year rule applies to all of a taxpayer’s IRAs rather than to each IRA separately. And that ruling, say experts, is in direct conflict with IRS Publication 590, the bible for IRAs. “Industry leaders, financial advisers, and everyone else who handles IRAs are stunned,” said Denise Appleby, the editor and publisher of The IRA Authority According to Appleby, there are two ways to move money between...

ABC announced Monday that Barbara Walters’s final day co-hosting The View will be Friday, May 16. That same night, ABC will air a two-hour special at 9:00 p.m. ET highlighting her life and career. Walters announced last May that the 2013-2014 season would be her last on the daytime talk show she created in 1997. “In this business there are legends, there are icons, and then there is Barbara Walters,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive of The Walt Disney Company in a statement. “She’s a dear friend and colleague as well as someone I deeply admire, and...

Financial advisers for years have warned about a looming shortfall between what people have saved and what they’ll need to maintain their standard of living in retirement. And, certainly, what Americans have put away for retirement is paltry. Unless we all start saving like crazy, the pundits say, we’ll have nothing to live on during our so-called golden years. Or we’ll all have to work into our eighties — if they let us. But maybe we should look at it another way. For most Americans, Social Security will be their primary source of retirement income. Everything else — IRAs, 401(k)’s,...

Late night television talk shows have become an important part of the national political conversation, a forum for digesting news and personalities of the day. Although their individual audiences number in the single digit millions, the political quips of the hosts are recycled the following day on morning TV, radio talks shows, and the internet. The crucial low information voting bloc, in whose hands the destiny of the Republic now perilously rests, tends to favor late night shows over hard news sources. So even though it is trivial, the retirement of David Letterman, announced last night on his television show...