New 401(K) Rules Could Help 72 Million Americans Save More For Retirement
Posted: September 1, 2012 at 1:15 pm
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
Success inspires next generation
Posted: at 1:14 pm
1 September 2012 Last updated at 04:53 ET By Natalie Grice BBC News
In Beijing, Wales made up 16% of Team GB and was responsible for 25% of its gold medal haul. As an even larger number is fielded for London 2012, BBC News is looking at the factors behind Welsh Paralympic success. Here we look at the role inspiration and legacy play.
The two most successful athletes of the modern Paralympic era are racer Tanni Grey-Thompson and swimmer David Roberts, with 11 golds each.
What do these track and pool sporting greats have in common? Both are Welsh, and both have proved unparallelled role models for Welsh youngsters, whether disabled or not.
Grey-Thompson and Roberts came from a long tradition of Paralympian sport in Wales, which includes John Harris (discus), wheelchair racer Chris Hallam and table tennis player Jim Munkley.
The link between inspiration and participation is massive
Many veteran Paralympians get involved with inspiring the younger generation on a personal level by coaching.
Professor Laura McAllister, the chair of Sport Wales and former Wales football international, said: "Tanni Grey-Thompson and David Roberts have been fantastic role models because we have been able to say, look at Tanni's record.
"They are renowned worldwide and would never dream of allowing either of those two to tell you they're not Welsh.
"Now we have got for example [table tennis player] Sara Head who will talk to the others about being a Paralympian.
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Commission poised to vote on personal-care homes
Posted: at 1:14 pm
McDONOUGH An ongoing debate regarding standards for personal care homes in Henry County will soon come to a head.
The Board of Commissioners is set to vote Tuesday on proposed recommendations for such facilities.
Cheri Hobson-Matthews, Planning and Zoning director, said discussions stemmed from a moratorium adopted by commissioners in March.
As a result of that moratorium, the staff was charged with going back and revisiting provisions in our code as it pertains to personal care homes in residential zoning districts, she said.
Planning and Zoning staffers examined personal care home ordinances in neighboring jurisdictions to determine whether changes were needed in Henry. The ordinance regulates the development and standards of personal care homes within unincorporated portions of the county.
We were originally recommending that a conditional-use permit be required, said Hobson-Matthews. She added that the ordinance requires a hearing before the countys zoning advisory board in order to approve a personal care home in a residential zoning district.
A series of public meetings revealed opposition to restrictions on personal care home applicants, particularly from the special needs community in Henry.
Approximately 100 people attended a recent town-hall meeting on personal-care homes in Henry. They were sharply divided between on the issue of putting them in subdivisions.
That meeting followed a personal care home application submitted in January by Jeff Boyd, in Stockbridges Cottonfields subdivision.
Boyd said he began the endeavor while taking care of his elderly parents. His supporters said tighter restrictions on personal-care homes would make it difficult for special-needs individuals to receive care.
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Commission poised to vote on personal-care homes
Online universities blossom in Asia
Posted: at 1:13 pm
ONLINE EDUCATION BOOM IN ASIA. In a picture taken on August 27, 2012, students prepare for an exam in front of their computers at Kuala Lumpur-based Asia e University (AeU). AFP PHOTO / SAEED KHAN
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Thousands of kilometres from Kuala Lumpur in Cameroon, doctoral student Michael Nkwenti Ndongfack attends his Open University Malaysia classes online and hopes to defend his final thesis by Skype.
A government worker, Ndongfack could not find the instructional design and technology course he wanted in his own country, so is paying a foreign institution about $10,000 for the degree instead.
Online university education is expanding quickly in Asia, where growth in technology and Internet use is matched by a deep reverence for education.
"I chose e-learning because it is so flexible," Ndongfack, 42, told AFP via Skype from his home in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.
Web-based courses dramatically boost opportunities for students and are often cheaper than those offered by traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions.
But online learning has also caught the eye of some of the world's most prestigious universities, with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently teaming up to offer free courses over the Internet.
"With the improvement in technology, the number of institutions offering online education has increased, both in terms of numbers and the kind of classes offered," said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
The Malaysian government said about 85,000 people took online courses in the country last year, both at web-based institutions and traditional universities offering Internet teaching.
In high-tech South Korea more than 112,000 students at 19 institutions are taking web-based classes, all of which have begun since 2002.
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'Coaches gave me my life back'
Posted: August 31, 2012 at 11:13 pm
31 August 2012 Last updated at 06:18 ET
Paralympic cyclist Mark Colbourne has explained how sport and his coaches gave him back his life, after securing Britain's first medal at the Games on Thursday.
Colbourne, 42, from Tredegar, south Wales, secured a silver in the C1-3 1km sprint on Thursday and he is aiming for another medal when he competes later in his favourite event, the C1 3km individual pursuit.
Colbourne was badly injured in the Gower, Swansea, in a paragliding accident in May 2009.
His medal came on his Paralympic Games debut, and the first people he thanked were the coaching staff from Disability Sport Wales (DSW) who helped him on the road to recovery.
When I'm on the bike I do feel able-bodied again, so it's a great feeling that I look forward to every day
He underwent five months of gruelling physiotherapy just to learn to walk again.
Colbourne was left with a broken back and lower leg paralysis after his paraglider fell to the ground from around 40ft (12m).
With a natural passion for sport, as part of his treatment and rehabilitation he went on to compete in the Welsh indoor adaptive rowing championships.
In September 2009 he set himself a target of competing in his first Para-cycling event and went on to win two gold medals at the Wales Grand Prix in Newport.
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'Coaches gave me my life back'
#1 Health and Fitness/Weight Loss Challenge in North America! – Video
Posted: at 11:13 pm
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#1 Health and Fitness/Weight Loss Challenge in North America! - Video
CHRIST-EL 101: Health and Fitness with Mike Delice, CPT – Video
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CHRIST-EL 101: Health and Fitness with Mike Delice, CPT - Video
Weston hoping for unanimous support for fitness bill
Posted: at 11:13 pm
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Coast residents Bob Stanhope, left and Ron Pashkewych, right are pictured with West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP John Weston who was in Sechelt Aug. 22 riding the riding and promoting his National Health and Fitness Day bill.
Ben Ingram/Staff Writer
Member of Parliament John Weston is hoping his National Health and Fitness Day bill will receive unanimous support when it hits the House of Commons on Sept. 24.
The West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea to Sky MP said he has planned a walk from the steps of Parliament Hill to Ottawas city hall for that day, a symbol of the co-operation needed between different levels of government in order to improve the health of Canadians.
On a personal level I just saw when I reached Ottawa how unhealthy was the lifestyle that MPs lead so much time on airplanes and in committees and sitting in Parliament, Weston said, explaining the inspiration for his second piece of non-partisan legislation. I just resolved that if I was going to remain productive and useful to the people who voted me in, I needed to work at staying healthy.
Weston hopes that one day Canadian calendars will mark National Health and Fitness Day on the first Saturday of June. The bill encourages local governments to open the doors to their recreational facilities, something Weston hopes will help combat the sedentary lifestyle of Canadians.
He pointed to data released by Statistics Canada and public health agencies as indicators that the health of Canadians has declined since 1981 in terms of obesity, a risk factor for heart disease and even cancer.
Its not a silver bullet, he said, but the hope is that by filling recreation facilities across the country, more people will be encouraged to live a healthier lifestyle. There could also be economic benefits, Weston argued.
Were looking at a direct financial hit of $4.3 billion to our healthcare system relating to over-weightness and obesity, he said.
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Weston hoping for unanimous support for fitness bill
US Open 2012 Roddick Retirement Reaction – Video
Posted: at 11:13 pm
Will turmoil overseas hurt my retirement portfolio?
Posted: at 11:12 pm
My $200,000 retirement fund is sitting in cash because the political situation in the Middle East has me very concerned about the future of the stock and bond markets. How do you think I should be invested if I plan to retire in 30 years M.N., West Boylston, Mass.
I don't think the turmoil in the Middle East should play much of a role, if any, in developing an investing strategy for your retirement savings, especially since you probably won't even tap that stash for another 30 years.
That's not to say that the political upheaval and violence there isn't upsetting. Or that unrest in that part of the world can't influence the price of all sorts of assets in the short run, oil being an obvious example.
But as far as your retirement nest egg is concerned, the issue is whether problems there are likely to depress your returns over the long-term. A quick look at long-term returns in the wake of past flare-ups in the region suggests that's not the case.
Over the 30-year span following the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, for example, U.S. stocks returned an annualized 10%. After two other major incidents -- the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War -- U.S. stocks managed 30-year annualized gains of roughly 12%. Those figures are pretty much in line with the stock market's annualized return of 10% or so since 1926.
Besides, even if it became apparent that problems in that part of the world were so severe that they'd affect the financial markets for decades to come, I'm not sure what you could do about it.
Asset values adjust instantaneously as millions of investors worldwide react to new information. Even if you were able to figure out which investments were going to be the winners and losers in the years ahead, by the time you scoop them up chances are their prices will already reflect the new reality. Any advantage you hoped to gain would be blunted.
So while I certainly wouldn't discourage you from following events in the Middle East -- or Europe, Asia, Latin America or anywhere else -- I also wouldn't recommend you overhaul your investing strategy every time tensions build in that region or any other.
How, then, should you divvy up your dough in a world where political turmoil or the threat of it is pretty much a constant?
Clearly, going to cash is the wrong move. Cash equivalent investments like money market funds and FDIC-insured accounts provide security, but the returns are too low to create a large enough nest egg to maintain your standard of living once the paychecks stop rolling in.
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Will turmoil overseas hurt my retirement portfolio?