KUALA LUMPUR, -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today announced that Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is the first government-linked company to raise the retirement age from 56 to 60.

He said this was in accordance with the implementation of the Minimum Retirement Age Act 2012 passed by Parliament recently.

The prime minister also announced more good news for the TNB employees. He said the TNB board of directors and management had agreed to raise the employer's rate of contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the 56-60 age period.

He also said that new employees of TNB would contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso) beginning Sept 1 this year.

Najib made the announcements when addressing an assembly of TNB employees at the TNB Sports Complex, here. The event was also followed live over a video telecast by almost 30,000 TNB employees throughout peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.

Najib said he hoped that all TNB employees would garner better benefits and be more motivated to discharge their duties.

"And, what was expressed by your representatives will be your firm commitment to work hard.

"As such, TNB will excel and in 60 years from now, it will achieve greater excellence," he said.

Najib said the challenge for TNB now was to fulfil the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) pertaining to supply of adequate electricity and energy at a high rate of reliability compared to the early stages where it had to supply power to small towns and the rural areas.

"When we talk of quality, it goes with reliability. This does not apply just for domestic consumers but for industrial users such as in the sophisticated electrical and electronic fields where a slight disruption can result in huge losses," he said.

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Retirement age at 60 for TNB employees - Najib

Michael Phelps recruits fellow Olympians, such as Nathan Adrian, behind Phelps, for a Las Vegas Labor Day weekend celebration marking his retirement from competitive swimming. (Erik Kabik / September 2, 2012)

September 3, 2012, 5:06 p.m.

We're guessing any retirement party you've been to didn't include bikini-clad waitresses, chilled vodka shots and world class DJs. But then again, Michael Phelps isn't anywhere near retirement age.

But retire the 27-year-old swimmer did. Following a blaze of glory at the recent London Olympic Games that saw him named the most-decorated Olympian in history, Phelps celebrated the end of his competitive career in Las Vegas.

A Labor Day weekend bash awaited Phelps and athlete pals such as Allison Schmitt and Nathan Adrian, kicking off Friday at the Wynn Encore's Surrender nightclub.

"This is my first night of retirement!" Phelps told the screaming room, taking Grey Goose shots as Afrojack worked the turntables.

The following afternoon at the Encore Beach Club Phelps rolled shirtless in shades with Schmitt and Adrian but not girlfriend Megan Rossee, accepting kudos from party-goers and a cake decorated with gold medals from some scantily clad servers.

David Guetta, he of such hits as "Titanium" and Usher's "Without You," invited Phelps into the DJ booth, prompting cheers of "USA!" from the crowd.

Hotel owner Steve Wynn and wife Andrea Hissom joined the pair to take in the moment -- likely an exciting one for everyone present. After all, this is the kind of Vegas occasion you want documented. Others can be a royal pain.

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Michael Phelps celebrates retirement with Vegas rager

Before Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital, the enormously profitable investment firm he founded, he made sure to lock in his gains, both realized and expected, for years to come.

He did so, in part, the way millions of other Americans do with the tax benefits of an individual retirement account. But he was able to turbocharge the impact of those advantages and other tax breaks in his severance package from Bain in a way that few but the countrys super-rich can ever hope to do.

Graphic

Read the full text of Mitt Romney's tax documents.

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Mitt Romney exited Bain Capital with rare tax benefits in retirement

(MoneyWatch) If you're a boomer approaching retirement who's been keeping abreast of retirement planning issues, you're probably already aware of several common retirement planning mistakes that many people make, such as starting Social Security too early, drawing down your retirement savings too rapidly, or panicking and selling your stock investments when the market tanks. If these sound familiar to you, pat yourself on the back since you've been keeping an eye on your retirement money ball.

But planning for a retirement and rest of life that could easily last 20 years or more is an ambitious undertaking, and you'll need to keep your eye on many different balls, not just the money ball. So let's take a look at some common retirement planning mistakes that don't directly involve your money.

Mistake #1: Maintaining the status quo at work Many boomers are beginning to accept that they'll need to postpone their retirement because they don't have sufficient financial resources available to fully retire in their early to mid 60s. And most likely they're right: The majority of boomers don't have sufficient 401(k) balances or pension income to retire any time soon.

But that doesn't mean that you should simply suck it up and continue slogging away at the same old job for a few more years. One of the biggest threats to retirement for people currently in their 50s and 60s is the loss of their job. As a result, you should be doing everything in your power to secure that stream of wage income for many more years to come. Moves you can make include:

- Taking on new responsibilities - Learning new skills - Signing up for new training courses - Obtaining new credentials or updating your current credentials, and/or - Nurturing your network of both internal and external business contacts.

And don't overlook other actions you can take that can make your job and your life more enjoyable, thereby postponing boredom or frustration that can diminish your job performance. This can include:

- Easing your commute by moving closer to work, taking public transportation, or car-pooling - Taking all your vacation time (and maybe a little more), either all at once or little by little so you can enjoy time off from your job, or - Pursuing activities and hobbies you've always wanted to do in your spare time.

Another strategy to consider is working part time while you delay full retirement. It may be that all you need to do is to work enough to cover your living expenses, thereby allowing the continued growth of all your other retirement resources, such as Social Security, retirement savings, and a pension if you have one. By working just part time, you'll still have more time for yourself -- compared with working 40-plus hours per week -- so you'll be able to realize some of the advantages of being retired. Some advisors call this "practice retirement," and it's an idea that deserves your consideration.

Mistake #2: Complacency with living expenses According to a recent survey by the Society of Actuaries, reducing your living expenses is the number-one financial coping strategy named by retirees, yet many people wait until their backs are to the wall before taking a hard look at their living expenses. Instead of waiting until you have no choice, now is the time to consider downsizing your home, managing with just one car, doing all you can to cut back on your monthly utility bills, and postponing major, discretionary purchases, like a new flat screen TV.

Now is also the time to consider whether you should move to a less expensive area of the country or share housing to dramatically cut your living expenses. Now is also the time to consider what is "just enough" to meet your needs and make you happy.

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4 retirement planning mistakes you may be making

Bobby and Sue have 10 years until their goal retirement age, so they feel they need guidance. Both 52, the couple has concerns about their childs college tuition costs, which will start one year from now. They also plan some major upgrades to their home worth about $25,000, but they dont want to go into debt.

"For retirement, we would like to sell our house and move to another part of the country," Bobby says. "We would like to be comfortable, periodically travel and be as debt-free as possible."

The couple, whose names have been changed, set aside $111,100 in 401(k) plans, $10,300 in IRAs, $6,500 in bonds, $2,700 in savings and $200 in checking. They also have $34,000 earmarked for college tuition, and Bobby expects an annual pension of $64,650 at age 62.

The Star-Ledger asked Jody DAgostini, a certified financial planner with AXA Advisors/RICH Planning Group in Morristown, to help the couple plan for their future.

"Bobby and Sue are wise to begin to see if their retirement can take shape for them," she says. "One of the obstacles in knowing if you have enough to retire is first to visualize what you plan to be doing in retirement, and where you plan to be doing it."

Then, you can attach a price tag.

Bobby and Sue have several goals, including home improvements, which they have been putting off, and a college education for their child. Theyd like to retire in 10 years when theyre both 62.

First, retirement.

DAgostini says retirement often takes on three stages.

First is the "go-go" stage, where retirees often enjoy good health and want to maximize their days by traveling and engaging in new hobbies. "This can often be costly, resulting in expenses that exceed their pre-retirement budget by as much as 105 percent," she says.

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Get With the Plan: Sizing up retirement costs when there's tuition to consider

Janice Durflinger, 76, is still running computer software programs for a Lincoln, Neb., bank. She worries that a higher retirement age would be tough on people with physically demanding jobs. (Nati Harnik, The Associated Press)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Just how much the Great Recession reshaped what many baby boomers thought retirement would look like is becoming clearer: More than ever, they now expect to retire later or work when they're "retired."

In 1991, just one in 10 workers told the Employee Benefit Research Institute that they planned to wait to retire until they were older than 65. By 2007, three in 10 said that.

This year? More than four in 10.

Boomers cruising toward a traditional retirement suffered a financial comeuppance in the prolonged economic slump that began in late 2007. The downturn sapped jobs, stock and housing values, and interest on savings.

Many were also caught in the shift from defined-benefit pension plans to 401(k) plans that required workers to contribute toward their own retirement savings. Some didn't, a choice that will leave them short financially.

Small wonder that, according to the Pew Research Center, boomers are the gloomiest of all age groups about the health and future of their finances. Boomers were more likely than other age groups to tell Pew researchers that they lost money on investments since the recession hit. Nearly six in 10 said their household finances worsened.

Finally, employment-based health insurance for many retirees has been withering away, which is causing older workers to cling to paychecks.

Overall, the stage is set for a new normal: working in retirement.

That suits William Brockman just fine. The 65-year-old working retiree began a job this year at a child-care center in Overland Park, Kan., where he delightedly calls himself "a shepherd to flocks of children" four days a week.

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Baby boomers find retirement age now a moving target

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsDlQNk0guQ

30-08-2012 18:27 Andy Roddick holds press conference to announce his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 30. Roddick is a former world #1 and won the 2003 US Open.

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Andy Roddick Announces Retirement at 2012 US Open - Video

Anyone with a 401(k) retirement plan has been painfully aware of the gyrations in the stock market in recent years. The market has come back up lately, but the economy is still in low gear, so many analysts aren't too bullish in the short term. Also, treasuries and CDs are offering tiny returns.

So what's the average American trying to save for retirement to do? Answers are percolating at an annual economics retreat in Maine.

Every year in August, some of the nation's top economists, money managers and some Federal Reserve officials gather in the woods up near the Canadian border. They do some fly-fishing, they schmooze, and they talk shop about investing.

This year, one of the topics of discussion is fees. The takeaway, especially these days, is that you want to avoid paying big ones.

The 'Compounding Effect'

John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Advisors in Dallas, says annual mutual fund fees of 1 percent or 2 percent might sound small. But consider the advisers' fee, which is also required every year. Those, Mauldin says, are a very big deal.

"The difference of 1 to 1.5 percent in commissions on an annual basis over 30 years is the difference between $1 and $2 at the end of the time period," he says.

In other words, paying too much in fees is the difference between retiring with half a million or $1 million.

"It's a huge compounding effect. It only seems like a small amount today, but it compounds over time," Mauldin says. "I think Einstein said that compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world."

Keeping Down Costs

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Saving For Retirement? Here's A Tip

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- If that 401(k) retirement fund that you pay into each pay period is not growing as fast as you like, it might be because of hidden fees no one really explained to you. New rules will require disclosure of those hidden fees, which can add up to sizeable figures, especially in light of the 72 million Americans who participate in 401(K) type retirement plans.

"This rule provides uniform disclosure to workers about what they pay forinvestmentoptions in their retirement plans," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "For the first time, workers will have at their fingertips important and accessible investment-related information to comparison shop among the plan options available to them."

Due to new federal disclosure rules, most 401(k) plan participants will be able to clearly see how much their accounts are being charged in fees for the first time by the end of August. "Participants will be surprised by the size of these fees," predicts business and tax attorney Christopher Ezold (ezoldlaw.com). "In fact, many will be startled to see that they are paying investment management fees at all. The new rules will likely strengthen a trend to reduce fees on all 401 (k) plans as long as participants learn what action they should take."

Under the new rules, the Department of Labor will require plan providers to disclose detailed 401(k) fee information to employers in a new format for quarterly statements that will clearly lay out the fees and actual returns for each investment before taking out any fees. These fees often run more than 1 percent annually, which can become a sizable hit over time, especially when many workers need at least 7% annual return to reach their retirement goals (if not more).

According to a research group,New York City-based Demos, the total fees paid on401(k) plans reduce the total retirement accounts by 30 percent on average.

A partner at Philadelphia-based The Ezold Law Firm, P.C., Ezold agrees that the rule will be economically significant. But he warns that having the information will not necessarily spark a reduction in fees.

"Now that the proverbial curtain has been pulled away, the heightened focus on fees will empower the participants to demand a better return on their investment," says Ezold. "However, participants need to do their homework and take action. These new quarterly reports need to be examined and compared if the plan participants expect to see change."

Ezold suggests getting educated on your fund's expense ratio because higher fees do not guarantee a higher return. Then compare those ratios to other plans and consider shifting money into lower-cost funds.

Christopher Ezold is a partner at The Ezold Law Firm, P.C. (ezoldlaw.com), a Philadelphia-based boutique law firm focusing on business, employment and health care law.

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New 401(K) Rules Could Help 72 Million Americans Save More For Retirement

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HSYkyAD8fI

30-08-2012 20:06 US Open fans react to Andy Roddick's unexpected retirement announcement

Link:
US Open 2012 Roddick Retirement Reaction - Video