Gen X won’t be overlooked by financial industry for long
Posted On August 22, 2019
As the Baby Boomers enter retirement and millennials are now the largest segment of the workforce and the consumer base, we’ve noted before that Generation X has somewhat of a middle child syndrome. This might seem particularly true in the financial industry, where Boomers essentially built the industry as we currently know it, and millennials are the group that seems to have grabbed its attention as investors. That leaves a generation in the middle that, despite being in its peak earning years, has gotten less attention from the financial industry despite likely needing it the most, according to a story… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation X, Retirement
Are we on the verge of a retirement crisis?
Posted On November 4, 2018
Are we on the verge of a retirement crisis? It depends on who you ask. Conflicting reports abound on the state of American retirement plans. Some say we, on average, are looking OK. Others say we aren’t even close to being ready. Wesley Carpenter, a financial planner with Merrill Lynch, offers his take in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston.” Corporate America has shifted from pensions toward 401k plans – fewer than 20 percent of private sector employers still offer a pension plan, Carpenter says, down from over 60 percent in the early 1980s. That shifts the… Read More
Categories: Retirement, What's Working with Cam Marston
Setting up a Self-Directed IRA? You Really Need to Know These 5 Things
Posted On May 23, 2018
One of the pieces of research we cite the most is the lack of Baby Boomer retirement savings, especially in the younger half of the Boomers. This lack of savings has many implications from their longevity in the workplace to Gen X’s inability to get promoted. Today I’m posting a guest blog from Rick Pendykoski about a self-directed IRA – a type of retirement savings tool. If you’re a Boomer and haven’t begun retirement savings, maybe this is the right one for you. -Cam If you are setting up a self-directed IRA to expand your financial portfolio beyond stocks and bonds,… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Retirement
Climbing toward retirement: How do you know when you’re ready to attack the summit?
Posted On April 26, 2018
Many of us think of the years after 40 as all downhill. But Jeanne Thompson, head of Workplace Solutions Thought Leadership at Fidelity Investments, looks at them as an uphill climb – with retirement as the summit. Thompson, our guest for this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,”sees three different phases of retirement: climbing, base camp and the summit. And she says research commissioned by Fidelity shows that the factors that drive our decisions about retirement and preparing for it and largely dictated by where we are on this expedition. Those in the climbing stage are 10 or more… Read More
Categories: Podcast, Retirement
Come visit! Well, maybe…
Posted On December 14, 2017
America’s Baby Boomers are at the age where they are either retiring or thinking about retiring. Many of them will move south to Florida – a state that has become known as much for its retirement communities as its beaches and theme parks. Others will go west to Arizona, drawn by the warm, dry climate. Increasingly, however, they are venturing outside their homeland. According to Forbes contributor Alexandra Talty, an increasing number of Americans are retiring abroad. The Social Security Administration sent 100,000 more payments per month overseas this year than it did in 2016 – up to 500,000 from… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement
Retirement With Gobs of Debt – A Boomer Dilemma
Posted On October 4, 2016
How much debt are you carrying? Most of us have some credit card debt. Many of us also have mortgages or student loans. Some of us are also carrying debt from home equity loans or lines of credit. As we get older, the volume of debt we’re carrying becomes an exponentially greater threat to our retirement – particularly with the demise of pensions and private-sector retiree healthcare benefits. One might think Baby Boomers would be past some of this, having gone to college before tuition skyrocketed and having had plenty of time to pay off their homes. But while they… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Home Ownership, Retirement
Boomers delaying retirement? Not wanted. Needed.
Posted On May 24, 2016
Retirement? What’s that? Though there is some disagreement as to the degree of this phenomenon, it appears that Baby Boomers are typically working longer than their forebears and retiring later in life. TheStreet.com cited a Northwestern Mutual study that found our typical target retirement age is now 68. A Wall Street Journal examination of the trend in 2014 found that 25 percent of 70-year-old men were still in the workforce or looking for work, compared to 20 percent in 2000. The 20 percent of 70-year-old women still in the workforce in 2013 was nearly double that of 2000. Why are… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement
Succession Planning – The Time is Now
Posted On May 17, 2016
The Great Recession of the late 2000s wreaked havoc on most of our plans in some way. Plans to buy or sell a house, plans to fund a college education, plans to move up in our careers to a better job – all had to be postponed, downsized, or even abandoned until the economy started moving again. The downturn also affected succession planning for Baby Boomers, many of whom set aside long-term necessities while dealing with short-term realities. A recent story at campdenfb.com cited a 2016 Kreischer Miller report, which surveyed family businesses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement, Succession Planning, Workplace
Because betting on Social Security is like standing on 15 when the house has an ace showing.
Posted On July 30, 2015
The Government Accountability Office’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances has revealed a rather frightening statistic: About half the U.S. population age 55 or older has no retirement savings. The GAO report found that 48 percent of households age 55 or older have some retirement savings; 23 percent have a defined benefit plan – which typically provides a monthly payment for life — but no retirement savings; and 29 percent have no defined benefit plan or retirement savings. What will that 29 percent live on? It’s likely that they’re counting on Social Security, which is a major gamble. About half of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement
70 IS the new 50
Posted On May 14, 2015
We all like to think that 70 is the new 50, but according one group of researchers in Austria, it’s actually so. According to the Telegraph, academics from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis believe that what we call old age shouldn’t be defined by a starting point, such as the trusty retirement age of 65. Instead, they argue, we should judge it by how much time we typically have left to live. And with life expectancies growing, they contend that “old” is older than it used to be. The article cites an estimate from Great Britain’s Office for… Read More
Categories: Retirement