Brits to get paid for losing weight- Ivana Kottasova

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Thinkstock

Overweight Brits may soon find that shedding extra pounds would benefit their wallets as well as their waistlines.

The UK public health service, the NHS, wants to encourage companies to reward employees who lose excess weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Dubbed the 'pounds for pounds' program by Britain's biggest-selling newspaper The Sun, the initiative is part of a plan to tackle an NHS funding shortfall that is forecast to hit £30 billion ($48 billion) by 2020.
NHS executives plan to ask the cash-strapped government for £8 billion, but the rest will have to come from savings, including reducing spending on weight-related illness.
"Put bluntly, as the nation's waistline keeps piling on the pounds, we're piling on billions of pounds in future taxes just to pay for preventable illnesses," the NHS said.
Almost two thirds of English adults are overweight or obese, with low income groups worst affected, according to official data.
Only a handful of countries, including the U.S., Mexico and Australia have higher obesity rates.
Employees who manage to curb their unhealthy habits could be offered cash, shopping vouchers or prizes. The NHS declined to comment on the likely size of the incentives, but said some of the funding could come from taxpayers.
Employers measure workers' waistlines
Obese people are more at risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, degenerative joint diseases and some cancers, according to the World Health Organization.
The NHS proposal -- which comes about six months before the U.K. election -- follows similar efforts by companies in the U.S. to encourage their workers to get fit.
It hopes to save money and reduce the number of sick days people take. Sickness-related absence costs UK employers and taxpayers about $35 billion a year, the NHS said.
Individuals miss out on $6.4 billion a year in lost earnings.
There's evidence that dangling a juicy carrot works. A study by the Mayo Clinic, ranked the best U.S. hospital in 2014, found that 62% of obese people offered $20 a month succeeded in meeting their weight loss targets.
Just 26% of people given no financial incentive managed to hit their goals.

 CNNMoney in Yahoo celebrity

How to Plan for Your Ideal Retirement-Sienna Beard

Everyone knows that it’s important to save for retirement, but there are several factors that actually affect how much money you will need. Although you could calculate your necessary savings by a specific percentage, doing so neglects other important considerations — the same percentage won’t be right for each person. Your necessary retirement funds should be based on your unique situation. Knowing what matters to you during retirement can help you alter your saving goals and plan for the future. If you want to attain the ideal retirement, you can start by asking yourself several different questions. It’s important to consider whether you want to keep working after you retire, where you want to live, and whether you hope to travel or participate in other expensive hobbies. Answering such questions will help you to determine how much you need to save in order to support your ideal retirement, as well as which aspects of retirement living are important to you. With that said, here are five questions to ask yourself.

Source: Thinkstock

Do you plan to keep working?

If you enjoy work, you may plan to keep working part time after you retire from your full-time job. This might include putting in part-time hours for the same company, working as a contractor, or starting a completely different part-time job. Many people find that continuing to work during retirement is an ideal situation for them because they like being busy, or they enjoy the work that they do. According to a Merrill Lynch study, 72% of those older than 50 want to work in retirement. Others feel that working is a financial necessity. Determining whether or not you want to keep working will affect your retirement budget once you actually retire, as well as how much you need to save beforehand.

Do you want to be near family?
Many retirees decide to move closer to family, either to spend more time with their kids and grandchildren or to have more help as they age. If you plan to move to be closer to family, you need to factor in the costs of doing so. You will have to sell your house or finish your lease, and pack and move all of your belongings (or pay someone else to do it.)
Selling your house can take time, so it’s a good idea to plan ahead if you are hoping to move. You should also factor in the cost of living in the area that you hope to move to. You can try comparing your current cost of living to your desired area with this Cost of Living comparison by Relocation Essentials. If the place where you are moving is much more expensive, you also need to factor that into your retirement savings plan, in order to achieve that part of your retirement dream.

Do you hope to travel?

Traveling can be expensive, but it is a common hobby for retirees. Once you finish working full time, it can be fun to travel and to see new places. If you do plan to travel, though, it’s best to try to anticipate how often you might want to travel and where you will want to go. You will need to save the funds necessary to travel or find a way to build them into your regular budget.
If instead of traveling once in a while, you are hoping to move to a completely different climate, you will also want to factor costs for living in a different climate. If you want to move somewhere hotter, then you may have higher air conditioning bills. You also may face less transportation options if you are moving to a more remote location. CNN has a quiz that can help you determine your dream retirement.

Source: Thinkstock

Which activities are important to you?

Your anticipated hobbies and activities will affect where you want to live. If you hope to explore your love of horse racing once you retire, then you might be planning to move closer to Kentucky, or another state with a fun race track. If you love photography, you might want to move to an area with abundant natural beauty. In addition to affecting where you want to live, your activities and interests will also alter your budget. If you have expensive hobbies, you need to save more for those hobbies.
You also should consider long-term goals for your health and activity level. There are several different kinds of retirement communities, and some encourage a lot of socializing and participation from retirees, whereas others do not. Even if you see yourself moving into one way down the line, you should factor it into your savings plan. Or you should factor in other living expenses if you don’t plan to live in a retirement community.
Do you plan to live at the same level as you do now?
All the factors that go into planning for your ideal retirement include some consideration of potential cost. However, it’s especially important to also consider how the cost of your dream retirement will compare to your current spending. If you think that you will come close to your pre-retirement spending, you will need to figure out how you are going to fund your lifestyle. Once you stop working full time, you will not have the same income as you did pre-retirement, so your extra income will need to come from working, savings, or investments.
According to Smart401K, in order to calculate your replacement ratio, you should consider tax expenses, savings expenses, shelter expenses, education expenses, and health care expenses, as well as several other items. Even if you anticipate spending less than you spent pre-retirement (which many people do), you should still determine how much money you will need.
Many people attempt to calculate just how much money they will need once they retire, but it’s difficult to do this properly if you don’t consider the questions above. You may not be able to afford to participate in every activity you want to or move to an exotic location far away, but recognizing your ideal retirement ahead of time will help you come as close as possible to living your dream.

Culled from wallstreet

A written retirement plan can double your savings-Beth Braverman

A Written Retirement Plan Can Double Your Savings

Middle-class Americans with a written financial retirement plan are saving more than twice as much as people without one, according to a new Wells Fargo Retirement survey.

“People who have a written plan for retirement are helping themselves create a future on their own terms, with a foundation built on saving, and hopefully investing,” Joe Ready, Wells Fargo’s director of Institutional Retirement, said in a statement.

The study found that middle-class investors with a written plan are saving a median of $250 per month for retirement, versus just $100 for those without one. The study polled Americans with less than $100,000 in household income and investible assets of less than $100,000.
A third of the people surveyed aren’t currently contributing anything to retirement savings (though they may have some savings already), while 19 percent said they have no retirement savings at all.
Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed said that saving for retirement is harder than they anticipated. More than half the people plan on saving “later” for retirement in order to make up for not saving now.

Broken down by age, the median amount saved by middle-class savers in their 40s is $40,000 – but those in their 50s who answered this survey said they had only $20,000 in savings.
A majority of respondents said they’re not sacrificing a lot to save for retirement, but 72 percent said they should have started saving for retirement earlier.
Among those with access to a workplace retirement plan, two-thirds contribute enough toward the plan to get an employer match, with a median contribution rate of 7 percent.
Here are some wise retirement savings tips, as shared by Wells Fargo in its report:
Make it automatic: The beauty of a 401(k) plan is that once it’s set up, it automatically deducts the cash from your paycheck so you can’t forget to save. Even if you don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan, you can set up auto-deposits into an IRA account.
Ramp it up: The number-one factor in saving for retirement is your contribution rate and regular contribution rate increases. See if your employer offers an option in which you can automatically increase your contribution on a regular basis, or set a reminder to do so on your own.
Leave your savings alone: It can be tempting to pull cash out of your retirement accounts for unexpected expenses, but doing so can jeopardize your financial future.

Culled from Fiscal times in Yahoo finance

5 Best Ways for Companies to Improve 401(k) Plans-Eric McWhinnie

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Is your 401(k) plan the most important job perk? Retirement once included company pension plans that offered peace of mind to workers, but those days are numbered. More responsibility is being placed on Americans to save for their own retirements. As a result, 401(k) plans are playing a significant role in the recruitment process.
The majority of employers believe their retirement plans are beneficial for the work environment. According to a new report from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS), 89% of companies that offer a 401(k) or similar retirement plan say it helps attract and retain talent. In fact, 98% of companies with at least 500 employees and 95% of companies with 100 to 499 employees offer retirement plans. Between 2007 and 2014, the percentage of all employers offering 401(k) or similar plans increased from 72% to 79%.
The Great Recession affected these plans, but most participants focused on the future. “Despite the tumultuous economy in recent years, 401(k) plan participants stayed on course with their savings,” said Catherine Collinson, president of TCRS. According to the worker survey, participation rates among workers who are offered a plan have increased from 77% in 2007 to 80% in 2014. Among plan participants, annual salary contribution rates have increased from 7% (median) in 2007 to 8% (median) in 2014, with a slight dip to 6% during the economic downturn.
Although employers are increasingly offering 401(k) plans, more progress is needed. Let’s take a look at five ways companies can improve their retirement plans.

Source: TCRS

Automate retirement savings

Sometimes incentives alone are not enough produce positive results when it comes to saving money. Faced with a complex choice and unsure what to do, many individuals often take the “no decision” choice. In the case of a voluntary retirement plan, which requires that a participant take action in order to sign up, the “no decision” choice is a decision not to contribute to the plan.
Adopting an automatic enrollment feature takes the action many employees are unwilling to take but still allows them to opt out of the retirement plan if desired. Plan sponsors’ adoption of automatic enrollment is most prevalent at large companies. Fifty-five percent of large companies offer automatic enrollment, compared to just 27% of small non-micro companies and 21% of micro companies. Plan sponsors automatically enroll participants at a default contribution rate of 3% (median) of an employee’s annual pay. That’s probably not nearly enough as you should save, but it’s a step in the right direction.
“Automatic increases can help drive up savings rates: Seventy percent of workers who are offered a plan say they would be likely to take advantage of a feature that automatically increases their contributions by one percent of their salary either annually or when they receive a raise, until such a time when they choose to discontinue the increases,” said Collinson.

Source: TCRS

Seek professional help

Not every employee is willing to research investment decisions. Professional services such as managed accounts and asset allocations, including target date funds, can help make the retirement planning process less intimidating.
“For plan participants lacking the expertise to set their own 401(k) asset allocation among various funds, professionally managed accounts and asset allocation suites can be a convenient and effective solution. However, it is important to emphasize that plan sponsors’ inclusion of these options, like other 401(k) investments, requires careful due diligence as well as disclosing methodologies, benchmarks, and fees to their plan participants,” said Collinson.
Overall, 84% of plan sponsors now offer some form of professional help, including 56% that offer target date funds that are designed to change allocation percentages for participants as they approach their target retirement year.

Source: TCRS

Add a Roth option

While “Roth” is typically associated with individual retirement accounts (IRAs), Roth 401(k)s are becoming more widely available at employers. A Roth 401(k) grows tax-free, meaning you contribute dollars after Uncle Sam takes his cut, but you generally won’t pay taxes on withdrawals as long as you take them after you have reached age 59.5. It complements the longstanding ability for participants to contribute to a traditional 401(k) plan, which is on a tax-deferred basis.
“Roth 401(k) can help plan participants diversify their risk involving the tax treatment of their accounts when they reach retirement age,” said Collinson. Sponsors’ offering of the Roth 401(k) feature has increased from 19% in 2007 to 52% in 2014.

Source: TCRS

Expand coverage

In addition to companies providing 401(k) plans for full-time employees, they should also consider offering plans to part-time employees. To be clear, not every company has the resources to extend benefits to part-time workers, but some companies are leading the way. Starbucks offers a package called “Your Special Blend,” which allows employees working 20 or more hours a week the opportunity to receive 401(k) matching and discounted stock purchase options.
“Expanding coverage so that all workers have the opportunity to save for retirement in the workplace continues to be a topic of public policy dialogue. A tremendous opportunity for increasing coverage is part-time workers,” said Collinson. “Employers should consider consulting with their retirement plan advisors and providers to discuss the feasibility of offering their part-time workers the opportunity to save for retirement.”
Only 49% of 401(k) or similar plan sponsors say they extend eligibility to part-time workers to save in their plans.

Source: TCRS

Communicate with employees

Like every relationship, communication is a key component. The report finds that 95% of employers that offer a 401(k) or similar plan agree that their employees are satisfied with the plan. However, only 80% of workers who are offered such a plan say they are satisfied. Just 23% of employers have surveyed their employees on retirement benefits and even fewer workers (11%) have spoken with their supervisor or HR department on the topic in the past year.
“Starting a dialogue between employers and their employees could help employers maximize the value of their benefits offering while also helping their employees achieve retirement readiness,” said Collinson.

Culled from wallstreetcheatsheet

Read more: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/5-best-ways-for-companies-to-improve-401k-plans.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3GtGp0l4d

5 real estate mistakes retirees make-Amy Hoak

Most people heading into retirement inevitably make some sort of real estate decision—whether they downsize, relocate to a different community or make renovations to an existing home that makes the place more accessible to live in as they get older.

So, not surprisingly, there are numerous real estate mistakes people in this group make.
“Real estate is usually one of the biggest assets retirees have, but it’s the area with the most emotional attachment—and a place where it’s very easy to mess up,” said Larry Luxenberg, managing partner with Lexington Avenue Capital Management, a financial advisory firm in New City, N.Y.
Below are five common retiree real estate stumbles.
Not downsizing soon enough
Big homes come with big energy bills and large lawns to mow—not to mention sizable real estate taxes and homeowner-insurance premiums. The longer you delay a move to a place that better fits your current needs, the more savings you’re missing out on.
“You don’t necessarily need to wait until the last [child] gets out of college to pull the trigger,” said Thomas Scanlon, an adviser with Raymond James in Manchester, Conn. “Lots of folks wait until post-college, and then children boomerang into the basement—it could be an eight- to 10-year run of having more home than you need.”
Not investing the downsizing proceeds
When downsizing, not everyone walks away with cash at closing—some people buy a smaller home, but it doesn’t come with a less expensive price tag. If, however, you are able to purchase a home and bank some cash at the same time, it’s crucial to invest that windfall, Luxenberg said.
“People have a tendency to look at that as found money,” finding a way to spend it quickly, he said.
Individual circumstances will determine exactly what to do with the cash, said Scott Bishop, director of financial planning with STA Wealth Advisors, in Houston. In some situations, it might be best to live on the home equity money first, which would allow you to leave retirement funds untouched for a while, allowing them to grow for a longer period. (Doing so might also enable you to wait longer to claim Social Security, thus entitling you to larger benefits.) Also consider the tax implications when deciding which pot of money to tap for expenses first, he said.
Not researching an area before relocating
Those with dreams of relocating to a sunny locale need to research the place before moving—and early, Bishop said. Know how your taxes will be affected, the cost of the living in the new area, and generally how you’ll fill your days there.
But also be mindful about your health-care options, Bishop said. Research doctors and make sure the ones you’d choose are accepting new patients—and that they’d be in your insurance network. Those with specific health concerns should make sure there are specialists in areas they need.
“As you age, even if you’re healthy now, you may need to visit hospitals more frequently,” Bishop said. That might not be top of mind for people when they’re moving, say, in their 50s and 60s.
Maintaining two homes
Maybe you’re a snowbird, who likes living part-time in two locations. Maybe you’ve purchased a second home with the intent to retire there someday, thinking that you’d save money by buying at today’s prices. Either way, maintaining two homes is a drain on your finances, Scanlon said.
If you’re a snowbird, make sure both homes are small, with manageable running costs, Scanlon said. And if you’re buying now to live in later, reconsider, Luxenberg said. Buying now may end up not being that much of a savings, after factoring in the cost of running two homes—and may even cost more in the long run, he said.
“My own experience owning a house is that everything costs more than anticipated beforehand,” Luxenberg said.
Having a mortgage in retirement
Yes, mortgage rates are favorable, and owners can deduct mortgage interest when filing their income taxes. But most retirees live on Social Security, IRA distributions, their savings and portfolio, and for many, the tax deduction isn’t very significant, Scanlon said. Also, not having a mortgage can keep expenses down, perhaps allowing a retiree to delay taking Social Security distributions early, he said. When you wait until full retirement age, Social Security distributions are larger.
Scanlon also advises against taking out a mortgage if you downsize to a new home—despite low rates. “If someone is 50 years old, he’d have the mortgage until he’s 80,” he said.

Culled from Market watch in Yahoo Finance

How hackers could still get around Apple Pay security

Getty Images

Tim Cook announces Apple Pay during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California.

When CEO Tim Cook touted Apple's new mobile payments service as "easy, secure and private," he was at least partially addressing public concerns over the company's security infrastructure in light of recent high-profile hacks.
And while Apple Pay has yet to be put to a real-world test, some security experts--despite generally praising Apple's move as a step in the right direction--have already identified some potential risks inherent in the system.
"If correctly implemented it could add security benefits, but there could also be some gaping security flaws," said Chris Carlis, a security consultant for Trustwave. "We will see how it survives the initial contact with the enemy. .. It's not going to be a magic bullet that fixes fraud and security."

Apple didn't go into great detail describing the security aspects of Apple Pay when they introduced it this week. But there were a few things mentioned that shed some light on how the company plans to keep users' data safe.

For starters, Apple doesn't plan to store any of its users' financial information on its servers or in their device. Instead, the company is using a technology called "tokenization" to identify a user for payments.
Tokenization works like this: When a person adds a credit card to Passbook, instead of storing the user's actual credit card number, another account number is generated to identify the user.
This device-only account number is then stored in a new encrypted chip in the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus called the "secure element." (The Apple Watch will also have a secure element chip that will be used to store the device account number when used with an iPhone 5, iPhone 5S and iPhone C).
This is significant because the secure element is actually in the device and not stored on Apple's servers, said Rick Dakin, CEO and chief security strategist of Coalfire, an IT data security firm.


Because Apple doesn't store the credit card information, it is never shared with the merchant. So if a retailer's system is breached, the hackers won't have access to a user's financial information.
Given the recent hacks on major retailers, this could prove hugely beneficial. But other risks remain, experts said.
"Does this help prevent a nuclear bomb? Yes. When you are talking about a Home Depot-size breach, this could help prevent damage in a large scale attack," said Tom Pageler, chief of information security for DocuSign.
"But there are going to be smaller risks. People will find ways to try and take over accounts, whether it's by stealing a phone or using social engineering to hack an account or by getting a legitimate login."

<p>Apple Pay&#039;s unanswered questions</p> <p>Bill Ready, Braintree CEO, explains why Apple Pay is not really a payments product or network. Ready says issues like security and fraud are tough to solve and Apple has not address those questions.</p>

Mobile payments have usually been done via an app or third party add-on and only a few were targeted, said Mike Park, managing consultant of Trustwave. But with this type of payment functionality built into an entire platform, every device becomes a target, Park said via email.
When Apple Pay launches, researchers (and hackers) will immediately start looking for weaknesses, and there is little doubt they will find flaws, said Bob Doyle, a security consultant at Neohapsis, a security and risk management company.

"Everyone wants a thinner wallet. But the flipside of this is that it makes the mobile device so much more critical than it was before," Doyle said. "Even digital wallets will be picked."



One possible security risk could stem from Apple's decision to place more trust in third party app developers, experts said.
Companies like Target, Uber and Groupon will incorporate Apple Pay into their e-commerce apps to facilitate purchases, which is another potential security risks, Pageler said.
According to Trustwave's Global Security Report, 96 percent of the applications scanned in 2013 contained at least one security vulnerability.
Apple executives also stressed during the event that the Touch ID feature found in the iPhone 5S and both models of the iPhone 6 could be used to verify payments, adding a layer of security. But since Touch ID launched in the iPhone 5S last year, there have already been experiments where the fingerprint reader was hacked.


Also, given that people can access Apple Pay with an Apple Watch, which can be used with older models of the iPhone that do not have Touch ID, the fingerprint security feature is not necessary to use the payment service.
"It's still to early to tell where there are security weaknesses," Doyle said. "The devil is always in the details. Until we see the protocols we don't know what the vulnerabilities are."
Apple declined to comment.

By CNBC's Cadie Thompson

With Apple Pay, tech giant bets big on mobile payments-Josh Lipton

Are consumers ready to cast off their credit cards in favor of a smartphone application?
That would be Apple's best-case scenario as it officially launches Apple Pay, the new mobile payment service that allows users to buy goods with their smartphones. The tech titan is betting consumers will no longer want to carry their wallets, credit cards or cash.
Here is how Apple Pay works: users walk up to a checkout line while hold their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus up to a special reader. By simply pressing the fingerprint sensor, the transaction is completed.
Read MoreWill businesses bite on Apple Pay?
For online shopping within apps, apple pay is also available on the recently announced iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3.
The new service is enabled by a free software update to iOS 8.
"Taking out your credit card and swiping it is pretty easy," Eddy Cue, apple's senior vice president of internet software and services, tells CNBC. "We wanted to make something that was even easier than that."
With this new service, Apple is trying to capitalize on the swelling mobile payments market, which is set to quadruple to $90 billion by 2017, according to Forrester Research. The company has not yet disclosed how it intends to monetize this service.
The iPhone maker already boasts an extensive network of retailers and merchants jumping on the mobile payment bandwagon at 220,000 locations across the country, including Whole Foods, McDonald's and Macy's.

<p>Apple Pay launches Monday</p> <p>CNBC&#039;s Jon Fortt reports Apple Pay will launch Monday October 20th, and Apple WatchKit will roll out in November.</p>

Apple Pay also supports credit and debit cards from American Express, Mastercard and Visa. A wide range of banks have also signed on including Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo.
What are some potential challenges for Apple's new service?
Attracting more merchants could be a hurdle. To make Apple Pay work, stores have to install what's called an NFC reader at the checkout line. Currently, such devices are being used by fewer than 10 percent of merchants, according to research firm Gartner.
Industry analysts believe Apple Pay could prove an immediate hit with tech-savvy consumers, but some are cautious about the technology's broader appeal.
"It is very easy to conduct transactions with credit cards, debit cards and cash," says Bryan Yeager, an analyst at eMarketer. "You don't need a battery to be able to do that. Apple Pay will have to contend with ingrained consumer behavior when it comes to paying with credit cards."
Apple's Cue, however, disagrees with that analysis. He argues that Apple Pay will prove popular because it is much faster than traditional payment methods, and it is also more secure.
For the service to work, consumers use credit cards they already have on file with iTunes, or enter a new credit card number. A unique, 16-digit security code is then created each time a consumer authorizes a new purchase. That one-time code, if intercepted by criminals, cannot be used on another device –or by another person.

With the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, the transactions boast an extra layer of protection as well: the iPhone is unlocked with a user's fingerprint.
With hacking and identity theft being common nowadays, consumers might feel apprehensive about using their iPhones as digital wallets for another reason: the reams of data being generated about their habits. But Cue vows Apple will not track or collect information about what consumers purchase.
"Privacy is a key component of this," he told CNBC.
Apple's executives are clearly excited about this new service, as are the analysts who see it as a new source of revenue for the company.
The only question that remains is whether consumers will be as enthusiastic.

Culled from CNBC

An Aggressive Retirement Saver Portfolio-Christine Benz ( Morning star)

I've received several variations of that question in response to my model bucket portfolios. My answer, in short, is that the bucket approach--essentially segmenting a portfolio by time horizon--is most useful for retirement planning. Not only does an in-retirement bucket portfolio provide ready cash reserves if the long-term components of the portfolio are at a low ebb (and, therefore, not good candidates for selling) but in better market environments, it also facilitates easy rebalancing to shake off income for living expenses. By contrast, a bucketed portfolio will tend to be less useful for accumulators, who are relying on their salaries, rather than their portfolios, to meet their day-to-day cash needs.
That said, time-horizon considerations should be a key aspect of portfolio planning for accumulators, too. Given that the S&P 500 has had a positive return in rolling 10-year periods 95% of the time, people who won't need to tap their portfolios for another decade can reasonably steer the majority of their portfolios into stocks. Of target-date funds geared toward people retiring in the year 2025, for example, the average equity allocation is 72%. The typical equity allocation among target-date funds geared toward 2055 retirees is 92%.
In addition to tilting their portfolios heavily toward stocks, people with many years until retirement can also reasonably hold more in potentially more volatile sub-asset classes, such as small-cap stocks and foreign stocks and bonds, than individuals with shorter time horizons. With less concern for short-term portfolio gyrations, they can benefit from the extra diversification and potentially higher returns that these sub-asset classes can provide. (This article discusses how sub-asset-class exposures should become more conservative as you get closer to retirement.)
Saver Portfolios for Varying Time Horizons, Management Preferences
With those considerations in mind, I've created a series of model portfolios geared toward still-working people who are building up their retirement nest eggs. The first three portfolios, which I'll feature over the next few weeks, will consist of actively managed traditional mutual funds; I've created aggressive, moderate, and conservative versions. For investors who would rather use index funds than monkey around with actively managed funds, I've created all-ETF portfolios for aggressive, moderate, and conservative investors.
For all six portfolios, I've used Morningstar's Lifetime Allocation Indexes to inform the asset allocations and the exposures to sub-asset classes. To populate the portfolios, I employed no-load, open funds that received Medalist ratings from Morningstar's analyst team. Most of the funds earned Gold ratings, though I've used Silver- and Bronze-rated funds in cases when suitable Gold-rated, no-load options that are accepting new investments are unavailable.
Portfolio Basics
The Aggressive Retirement Saver mutual fund portfolio's weightings are as follows:
20%:  Primecap Odyssey Growth (POGRX)
20%:  Oakmark Fund (OAKMX)
15%:  Diamond Hill Small-Mid Cap (DHMIX)
30%:  Dodge & Cox International Stock (DODFX)
7%:  T. Rowe Price International Discovery (PRIDX)
3%:  Metropolitan West Total Return Bond (MWTRX)
5%:  Harbor Commodity Real Return (HACMX)
The Aggressive Retirement Saver mutual fund portfolio uses the allocations of Morningstar's Lifetime Allocation 2055 Aggressive Index to guide its weightings. That index devotes more than 90% of its assets to stocks, meaning that anyone considering such a portfolio should not only have a long time horizon but should also be able to tolerate the volatility that can accompany a very high equity allocation.
That said, such a portfolio could also make sense for investors with shorter time horizons until retirement but ample income coverage in retirement. For example, the person who intends to retire in 2020 with in-retirement income needs covered entirely by a pension might reasonably consider a similarly aggressive asset allocation.
Rather than employing separate holdings for large-cap value, blend, and growth stocks, the portfolio employs two large-cap holdings--Oakmark Fund, which employs a value-leaning strategy but lands in Morningstar's large-blend category, and Primecap Odyssey Growth Stock for growth exposure.
The portfolio tilts more heavily toward small- and mid-cap stocks than is the case with a broad market index fund. It also stakes more than a third of equity assets in foreign-stock funds: a broadly diversified large-cap offering, Dodge & Cox International, as well as one devoted to small- and mid-caps overseas, T. Rowe Price International Discovery. Both offerings include a sizable complement of emerging-markets equities. 
Due to all of these characteristics--a slight tilt toward small- and mid-caps and a large foreign- and emerging-markets weighting--the portfolio has an aggressive cast. As such, I would expect it to perform better than the broad market during strong equity environments and worse on the downside.
How to Use
As with the bucket in-retirement portfolios, my key goal here is to depict sound asset-allocation and portfolio-management principles rather than to shoot out the lights with performance. That means that investors with very long time horizons and/or very high risk capacities could use it to help size up their own portfolios' asset allocations and sub-allocations. Alternatively, investors can use the portfolio as a source of ideas in building out their own portfolios. As with the bucket portfolios, I'll employ a strategic (that is, long-term and hands-off) approach to asset allocation; I'll make changes to the holdings only when individual holdings encounter fundamental problems or changes. 
Nearly all portfolios for investors in accumulation mode will be stock-heavy, because longer time horizons mean these investors have time to ride out bad markets. This aggressive portfolio will be especially sensitive to stock market movements. It may likely lose more than the broad market in sell-offs. Investors need to be prepared to stick with it in those tough times or risk losing the longer-term benefits. To tamp some of that volatility, we'll be adding Vanguard Dividend Growth (VDIGX) and making other adjustments in our upcoming moderate and conservative portfolios.
I developed the portfolios with open architecture in mind--that is, I assumed that an investor wouldn't mind buying holdings from separate firms. But because all of the holdings shown here are mainstream in their exposures, investors who would like to stick with a single provider or supermarket could likely find funds with similar characteristics at their own firms. (Here again, Morningstar analysts' Medalist funds can come in handy.) 
I also developed the portfolios without consideration for tax efficiency--that is, I assumed they would be held inside of a tax-sheltered wrapper of some kind, such as an IRA. Investors who intend to hold their portfolios inside of a taxable account would want to put a greater emphasis on tax efficiency, emphasizing index funds and ETFs on the equity side, for example.

Culled from yahoo finance

THE MAJOR KEY TO SUCCESSFUL RETIREMENT-ODUNZE REGINALD C

Image is credited Retiree Medical benefit Trust

Henry Ford said “Think you can, think you can’t , either way you will be right” and according to Robert Schuller 1988 “ I can ! Said the retired postman.  He was a rural mailman for twenty years” Schuller (1988:64)

But when retired after two decades of postal service in Makanda, Illinois Wayman has acquired a small pension and $1100 savings. His travel company does nearly $7 million in sales a year with Presley Tours. How does a retired mail man become a prosperous businessman and according to Schuler, he did it by believing in himself and his abilities and by making people happy. Schuller (op cited)

But in my own opinion Wayman succeeded because he was doing what he loves most, and he has a positive mental attitude. Positive attitude in life is that all that matters and secondly  doing whatever you have been assigned to do with dedication and happiness  irrespective of how much you are paid. According to research it has been discovered that people who continued whatever they spend many years doing are more likely to succeed than those who change vocation, job after retirement.

On how many people fail during retirement, is a function of their ability to kick starting whatever they are used to even on a smaller scale during old age. Old age comes with it issues, problems, non  acceptance , health issues and  a disconnect with current happenings in life, there is also the generation gap, and so doing what you love most or whatever you have been doing most is the key to survival. So a retired policeman, or army officer can comfortable operate a security outfit  and consultancy.

And how did Wayman arrived at that, “one day someone said to him” I would love to see the ocean. That simple wish enthusiastically  expressed to Wayman led to a tour of 546 people to Miami Beach , Wayman made $120  and had such a good time that he decided to go into business” Schuller op cited.

But from my interaction with retirees within my six years in pension industry, I want to believe that what drove Wayman was not the money but the actual sharing of one’s thought and deepest hopes fulfilled. And as Chinua Achebe will say the sharing  of one’s thought and deepest hope fulfilled can drive human beings to success. And the keen desire to return and do what he was doing before was the actual driving force for Wayman Presley.

It has been proved that people always wish for what they don’t have, I believe that Wayman was looking forward to his retirement during his working career but it did not take time for him to realize that he could have love going back to work may be after staying for the initial period of six months. That is the irony of life. The irony of life is that people tend to be what they are not, that is why you see the whites sun tanning and the blacks bleaching.

What this is indirectly saying is that within the working career ,work with zeal and dedication, know all that you need to know about the job, because you may never can tell, that you are indirectly  developing a business for yourself during old age.

In an article captioned “You may never retired” that appeared in wall street journal it states” that sum sizable number of retirees  may continue to work after retirement due to so many reasons like their pension pot  was not enough, they were ripped off  of the retirement savings and majority because they love what they do.

And according to Walter Updegrave in an article captioned “ Three Little mistakes that can sink your retirement,  which appeared in Yahoo Finance it states that “It’s almost become a cliché. Virtually every survey asking pre-retirees what they plan to do in retirement shows that the overwhelming majority plan to work. Indeed, a recent Merrill Lynch survey found that nearly three out of four people over 50 said their ideal retirement would include working. Which is fine. Staying connected to the work world in some way can not only offer financial benefits, it can also keep retirees more active and socially engaged”

But a more interesting story was the story of life of Mary Calendar, “Mary was making potato salad in an inn in Los Angeles during world war 11, her boss asked her to make pies for a large crowd. That was the start of a new career for Mary” Schuller (op cited). Continuing he stated that in 1948, she and her husband sold their car, to buy a refrigerator and an oven “in 1964 they open their first pie shop in Orange county and by 1986, they sold the family business about 115 restaurants to Ramada Inn Inc for $90 Million “What a tremendous accomplishment as that business may be hitting 2 billion Dollars in 2014.

Finally life during retirement is a great and rewarding life and what you make out of it is a function of the zeal, knowledge and experience, you acquired during your working career and when you are happy you are more likely to live long, and others will be jealous of your state and according to Dave Bernard in an article captioned “Finding Retirement state of mind”  which appeared in US News .he stated that “they appear to be genuinely happy with their state of affairs and making the most of each day. When you ask about their retirement experience they shine a genuine smile and are happy to regale you – often at length – about how wonderful it is to be in their shoes. Their happiness is infectious and you may find yourself caught up in their joy. Although it is safe to assume not everything is perfect in their world, their overall outlook is positive”. But when these are lacking, the retiree may likely not live long, thereby prompting others to fear retirement.

Don’t Get Ripped Off: How to Avoid Financial Scams-AdviceIQ

It’s easy for investors to become a con artist’s mark, according to financial advisors. Many of the victims scammed in Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme were sophisticated at investing. Very sophisticated. One such person – a former trader – invested because he played basketball with Madoff’s accountant.

If successful people are prone to invest in fraudulent private companies, what is the common investor to do? Is there any hope for the average person to invest in private companies and not be ripped off? Here are some tips and red flags to look for before investing.
“There is a lot of hope [for the average investor]” to avoid getting taken, said Tom Orecchio, principal and wealth manager of Modera Wealth Management.
The panel, on “Avoiding Financial Scams,” was held recently as part of National Financial Advisor Week in New York’s Times Square. This event, which attracted hundreds of onlookers, featured financial advisors giving tips on personal finance, ranging from retirement saving to college funding. The panels also focused on how people can get the most out of advisors. At the event, Jennifer Rufener of Dover, Ohio, won a sweepstakes for a free college education.
There is no foolproof system to avoid being ripped off, but there is one major no-no that can help. “Don’t invest purely on trust, or on a friend’s experience without doing any due diligence first,” Orecchio said. He advised against investing with neighbors, or a parent whose child goes to your kid’s school just because you like them. “That’s the biggest red flag I see,” he said.
A cautionary note: Don’t put too much money with one manager. Orecchio had a client who played basketball with Madoff’s accountant. He consequently invested in Madoff’s fund and lost a substantial sum. Fortunately, his client, a former trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange, had the financial savvy to cap his investment to 5 percent of his net worth.
That’s another rule: Limit your speculative investments to no more than 5 percent of your net worth; that way your other investments can, over time, regain the amount you lost, Orecchio said.
Another way to avoid scams is by using the “keep it simple principle,” said Steve Giulietti, senior vice president at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “Too often the simple becomes complex for no reason.” If you can’t comprehend how an investment stratagem works or explain it to your spouse, or understand the fee structure, avoid it. He added that too often people invest on the “hope-it-works-out principle.”
Be skeptical of past performance, especially if the investment professional prepared the profit and loss statement itself. Numbers can be manipulated. Only invest with firms that are audited by a reputable accounting firm.
After all, “Everything on paper looks great,” said Orecchio, so one should visit the firm personally – look around, ask questions. And be sure a reputable third-party has custody of the assets in your investment account. Madoff’s firm was the custodian for his investors’ asset.
One more tip: A neighbor might say how great his returns are, the word gets around and an air of exclusivity intrigues people. “It’s who you know and not what you know … That’s how people get burned,” Orecchio said.
When choosing a financial advisor, the panel recommended using BrokerCheck, which is run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an industry regulatory body. BrokerCheck, on the Web, is a broker’s permanent record. Ask to speak to a client the advisor lost and one he recently gained. Advisor firms regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission must file a Form ADV, disclosing strategy, the names of the principles and lots of other minutiae.
Giulietti advised asking, “Is this too good to be true? Is there any chance that my objectives cannot be reached?” In the end, one has to go with his “gut” feeling, he said.
Honest advisors, of course, are the rule and the bad guys a small minority. Example: What moderator Paul Sullivan, New York Times Wealth Matters columnist, heard when asked the panel what was their biggest career mistake.
Giulietti, told how he blundered on a trade for a client due to a miscommunication; it turned out his client did not want the stock. Giulietti sold the shares, losing the firm $14,000. Giulietti told his management that they were going to have to “eat” the loss. “I never told the client, until one night the client was feeding me drinks,” the advisor said. The client was amazed. “He bought the dinner,” Giulietti said.
Sullivan responded, “So you bought a $14,000 dinner?”

Culled from Advice IQ

Read more: http://adviceiq.com/articles/david-geracioti-how-avoid-financial-scams#ixzz3GbJi9kNq

Social Security Do-Overs: How Do You Fix a Retirement Planning Mistake?-Advice IQ

Social Security benefits constitute a big part of many retirement plans. Advice abounds about how and when you need to file. What if you goof?

Generally, you can file for your Social Security retirement benefits when you reach age 62. Most financial advisors recommend you delay filing to better maximize your lifetime benefits.
Let’s say that’s the advice you followed when you first filed. After all, you paid into the system for your entire working life and you deserve to get the money back out, right? Plus, who knows when Social Security will go bankrupt?
Then a couple of years pass and you realize that taking early benefits short-changed you and your spouse. Turns out you didn’t need that money at 62 and you realize that no, Social Security will likely not disappear, at least in your lifetime.
Complete do-over options for Social Security ended some four years ago. Under today’s rules, you have three options:

Within a year

If within 12 months of your filing date you want to rescind your filing, just file Form 521, “Request for Withdrawal of Application,” with the Social Security Administration and pay back all benefits you received.
You can exercise this option only once in your lifetime. You are free to file again immediately or anytime in the future.

When you reach FRA – age 67 for anyone born after 1960 – you can suspend receiving benefits and allow your record to accrue Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs), which are roughly an increase of 0.67% per month of delay past your FRA.
If you start benefits at 62, for example, your reduced benefit is $750, a 25% reduction from your full benefit at your FRA. If you suspend your benefit at FRA and delay your benefit to 70, you receive a further 32% increase to your benefits.
This ups your retirement benefit from $750 up to $990, almost the same as if you wait until FRA to file in the first place. The key: You must wait until FRA (66 for folks born before 1955, by the way) before you can suspend.

Work it off

If you still work between when you file and your FRA, the amount of money that you earn can help improve your future benefits due to an earnings limit when collecting Social Security retirement benefits while still younger than your FRA.
Your benefits drop one dollar for every two dollars you earn over this year’s threshold of $15,480. Those reduced dollars are added over the years and the quantity of months’ benefits reduced are then added to your record when you reach FRA.
For example, say your benefit is $1,500 per month after you start receiving benefits at 62. Over the four years between 62 and 66, you earn $20,000 over the annual earnings limit each year; you return to Social Security $10,000 of the benefits each of those four years.
The total you return – your reduction – from your benefit is $40,000. That works out to 26 months’ benefits.
When you reach FRA, Social Security adjusts your benefit amount according to those 26 months and you receive a benefit as if you filed at 64 years, two months old: $1,756 a month.

Read more: http://adviceiq.com/articles/jim-blankenship-social-security-do-overs#ixzz3GbILL3gv

Culled from wallstreetcheatsheet

Fed Chief Rips Widening Gap Between Rich, Poor Americans

Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen speaks during a conference on economic opportunity at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston.

 

The head of the U.S. Federal Reserve voiced alarm Friday over rising economic inequality in the United States, questioning whether the growing disparity between rich and poor is compatible with the American ideal of opportunity for all.

Janet Yellen, in an address on economic opportunity, said trends in recent decades show the U.S. income and opportunity gap is approaching its widest point in nearly a century.
She cited data showing the average income of the top 5 percent of American households rising 38 percent between 1989 and 2013. She said household income for the remaining 95 percent grew less than 10 percent during the same period.
She also described the widening gap in overall wealth as even more stark. She said the average net worth of the bottom 50 percent of American families -- more than 60 million households -- was $11,000 in 2013. Adjusting for inflation, she said that figure is 50 percent lower than in 1989.
She contrasted those figures with data showing the real net worth of families in the top 5 percent  jumping from $3.6 million in 1989 to $6.8 million last year.
Yellen did not directly address the U.S. economic outlook or monetary policy in her speech to Federal Reserve officials in Boston.
She instead focused on four areas she described as "building blocks for opportunity." She identified those components as early childhood education, affordable higher education, business ownership and inheritances.

Culled from VOA news