NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU), today announced it will serve as recordkeeper for Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts Internationals 401(k) plan.

Prudential Retirement is pleased MGM Resorts selected us to recordkeep its 401(k) savings plan and we look forward to serving MGM Resorts plan participants, said George Castineiras, senior vice president, Total Retirement Solutions, Prudential Retirement. Through our open architecture platform which provides a broad range of fund choices and educational materials, we look forward to helping plan participants achieve superior retirement outcomes.

The plan has roughly 24,500 participants and approximately $858 million in assets, which were transferred to Prudential in the second quarter of 2012.

We selected Prudential Retirement as our plans recordkeeper because of Prudentials demonstrated results that drive successful participant outcomes, its low expenses, strong performance and excellent communications program, said MGM Resorts Executive Director of Benefits, Cindy Moehring.

Prudential Retirement delivers retirement plan solutions for public, private, and non-profit organizations. Services include state-of-the-art record keeping, administrative services, investment management, comprehensive employee investment education and communications, and trustee services. With over 85 years of retirement experience, Prudential Retirement helps meet the needs of over 3.6 million participants and annuitants. Prudential Retirement has $244.8 billion in retirement account values as of June 30, 2012. Retirement products and services are provided by Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company (PRIAC), Hartford, CT, or its affiliates.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU), a financial services leader, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudentials diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudentials iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/

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Prudential Retirement selected as recordkeeper for MGM Resorts 401(k) plan

I'm 24, make $65,000 a year and between contributions to my Roth IRA, 401(k) and the company match to my 401(k) I save 21% of my income. Am I saving too much for retirement? Do you think I should save less and spend more while I'm young? -- Matt, Hoboken, N.J.

There's no question that when it comes to saving for retirement, you, my friend, rank near the very top. Most people with 401(k)s contribute about 7% or so to their retirement accounts and the national savings rate isn't even close to double digits.

But just because you save way more than most of your compatriots doesn't necessarily mean you're saving too much.

When I plugged your numbers into one of my favorite retirement calculators, it estimated that you would have a greater than 90% chance of being able to retire at 65 on 75% of your projected pre-retirement salary. Most people would die to have those odds.

But as attractive as your retirement prospects may appear now, you need to step back and take a reality check. We're talking about forecasting 40 years into the future. So even though you manage to save more than 20% of your income now, is it realistic to assume that you'll be able to keep up that pace over the next four decades?

Maybe, but it would be tough. You're only 24, a point in your life where you probably have relatively few financial obligations. As you get older, you may want to start a family, buy a house, perhaps go back to school for an advanced degree. All of those things will place more demands on your income, possibly crimping your ability to continue salting away money at your current rate.

Related: 25 and 'scared stiff' of making an investing mistake

There are also plenty of things beyond your control: a layoff or health problems could derail your savings regimen, market setbacks might seriously impede the growth of your savings, possible changes in the Social Security system could make your benefit less generous than is currently projected.

All of which is to say that, from a purely financial point of view, I think it makes sense to stick to your ambitious savings rate while you can.

Think of it as an insurance policy of sorts, providing a bit of cushion should you find yourself unable to save as much as you'd like down the road or if poor investment performance prevents your nest egg from growing as expected.

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Retirement savings: How much is too much?

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVK6EVFfOA

07-08-2012 13:42 South African gold medalist Cameron van der Burgh admitted to taking extra underwater kicks during his world-recording setting performance in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Olympics, an illegal move that would have earned him a disqualification if judges had caught him. Swimmers are allowed one underwater dolphin kick during their underwater breaststroke pullouts. Replays show Van der Burgh took three on the start. He told the Sydney Morning Herald that he took extra kicks, but defends himself by insisting he's not the only one. ''If you're not doing it, you're falling behind," he said. "It's not obviously - shall we say - the moral thing to do, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my personal performance and four years of hard work for someone that is willing to do it and get away with it." Allowing dolphin kicks during breaststroke is relatively new. The rules were changed, in part, because of four-time gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima, a Japanese breaststroke star who routinely added rogue kicks underwater. When swimmers push off a wall and tighten into a streamline, their legs can arch slightly and resemble a kick. Kitajima and others tried to make this natural movement into an advantage by adding some force behind it. It was illegal and the move angered rivals, like American, Brendan Hansen. But the kick was tough to enforce, so FINA changed the rule to allow it.

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Cameron Van Der Burgh Gold Medal Swimmer Admits to Cheating in 100m Breaststroke - Video

Olympian Julie Culley rocked today, setting another personal best in the first trial of the 5000m and qualifying for the finals at Olympic Stadium Friday at 8 p.m.

Culley, 30, of Annandale set personal bests to qualify at the U.S. Trials in June and again in the 3000m in Monaco last month. Today she ran a 15.05.38. Teammate Molly Huddle qualified for the final in the second heat.

One of Culley's friends since childhood, Eric Eisenhart, is now a certified personal trainer and performance enhancement specialist at Pro-Activity. Culley and fellow competitive track club members trained there and Eisenhart accompanied family and other friends to London as part of "Team Culley."

Eisenhart Tweeted today's event. "Headed to #london2012 Olympic stadium to cheer 4 our girl @julieculley in my shirt designed specially just for today."

The red shirts had 2012 London on the front, along with the American flag, but the dominant graphic is a white race "bib" with CULLEY in big letters.

"We have some incredible seats . . . we'll be screaming our heads off!" he posted.

The warm-up commentary was on another race: "Just watched a guy get dq'ed in high hurdles and another bite it running through one in same heat #ouch."

Among the crew cheering on Culley were her parents Paul and Maggie Culley of Clinton Township, brother Dave, sister Carolyn, boyfriend Chris Farley and another friend since childhood, Kristen Haughey-Prendergast.

Eisenhart put his Twitter audience there with them: "She's warming up! Let's go Julie!"

Can you hear them screaming: "This is insane! 2.5 to go, looks good . . "

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Olympics 2012: Julie Culley qualifies for finals in 5000m, sets another personal best

From Alphonso O'Neil-White's eighth-floor downtown office on West Genesee Street, the view of the Buffalo outer harbor and the burgeoning downtown landscape is inspiring.

O'Neil-White, the president and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York and a member of the Cultures of Giving Legacy Initiative Council, shared his view of the city and his success story with 20 students from Buffalo schools Monday.

O'Neil-White spoke at the council's second "Success Looks Like Me" event about his journey and what it takes to be successful, and he answered students' questions about his job and how he made it to the top of BlueCross BlueShield.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson, an actor and director and a Lackawanna native, spoke at the council's first event in May.

The council, made up of multicultural leaders from across the city, is a collaborative, philanthropic effort to make a difference in the lives of young people living in Buffalo's low-income communities.

"Students can read about success in newspapers or in books, but until they see it up close and personal - I think it has a much better impact on them," O'Neil-White said. "One of the things the council is trying to achieve is giving them access to a variety of experiences, people and situations. So they know that they have choices, and for them to get a fix on what choice they might make when the time comes."

The council works with the Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo, the Buffalo Urban League and the Belle Center to find students in a low-income and challenging environment who demonstrate leadership qualities. Recently the council established a partnership with the Buffalo Public Schools and hopes to broaden its reach in the community.

W. Charles Brady, director of social studies for Buffalo Public Schools, said the council is doing commendable work and is mak

ing a difference.

"It allows students to interact with people that had similar situations, and now those individuals are able to give back," Brady said. "They can show young people how to be successful."

Continued here:
A front-row seat to success

SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) -

Tuesday was America's night out. It was achance for neighbors and law enforcement to come together and stop crime.

"It's an opportunity for us to re-connect with neighborhoods. We are already connected but we get to get a little more personal and get to listen to some of their problems or issues they have going on in the neighborhood," said Officer Randy Hardy, who is over crime prevention in Spartanburg.

He said Converse Heights is just one neighborhood where the crime stats have gone down. These days neighbors said all they worry about is the rareminor theft.

"WellI think we havehad our fair share of car break-ins and that sort of thing so it was a good opportunity to at least talk with our local police officers. The mayor was here so it was good to voice those concerns," said Josh Page, a neighborhood organizer for National Night Out.

Neighbors said the first step in dealing withcrime concerns is tomeet the person living next door and know who lives in the area.

"We have a lot of people in the neighborhood that walk around andjog... to come up and see them close up and meet them is great," said Leonard Nesbit who lives in the Converse Heights neighborhood.

Simply put, neighborhood crime and drug prevention boils down to neighbors being neighbors.

"If someone is out of town we try to keep an eye out on their house and not let the newspapers stack up and things like that," said Wesley Hammond who lives in Converse Heights.

Copyright 2012 FOX Carolina (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved

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National Night Out finds success in Spartanburg neighborhood

COSTA MESA, CA--(Marketwire -08/07/12)- MLC & Associates, Inc., a management-consulting firm focused on improving clients' people, processes, technology and facilities, is celebrating 25 years of positioning its clients for growth and success and has also announced the promotion of Prashant Kumar to president and CEO to lead the firm's aggressive plans for continued expansion. The company doubled sales between 2011 and 2012 and is aiming for similar annual growth for the next five years, including the addition of new offices in across the United States and India.

MLC & Associates helps large- and mid-size clients with business continuity, corporate performance management and organizational development, drawing from a team with a wealth of experience and expertise in finance, engineering and economics. The company's strengths have helped MLC beat the odds; just one in four new-employer firms survive beyond 15 years(1), and MLC has been thriving for 25.

"We've weathered three recessions because of our forward-thinking capabilities and honest, personal style," says Mary Carrido, Chairman and Founder of MLC & Associates. "Clients know they can trust us for the truly personalized service and honest assessments that guide them through major organizational change and transformational improvement. Prashant is part of our own corporate change, having brought a special expertise in corporate performance management as well as a keen understanding of our ambitious expansion projects. In a day and age where even major corporations often don't survive 25 years, we're confidently anticipating another quarter of a century of growth under Prashant's leadership."

The firm evolved since 1987, accommodating the service lines and expertise to best help clients' growth, including MLC's emphasis on business continuity and expansion of capabilities in corporate performance management and cloud technology. Leveraging cloud technology has broadened MLC's reach to offer smaller clients access to Fortune 500-level services by packaging its core services in a way that's affordable for smaller companies. While implementing changes in large organizations can take more time, opening MLC's services up to mid-size companies has allowed the management consultancy to make an impressive impact on clients' futures. Kumar's commitment to cloud technology has presented MLC's service lines to a previously underserved market.

MLC is uniquely able to bridge the gap between strategy, tactics and operations -- working with companies to see a plan through from start to finish. Clients benefit form MLC's strong focus on key performance indicators and metrics, which are integral to all of the firms' practices and offer clients the ability to track progress and ROI.

"We really practice what we preach, constantly examining and refining our own people, processes and technologies to better serve our clients," says Prashant Kumar, newly appointed president and CEO of MLC & Associates. "That's part of what puts us a decade ahead of any competitor, and it's what makes companies choose us time and again over larger firms that simply can't offer the same consistent ROI that we do. From implementing cloud technology throughout each of our practices, to expanding our service offerings and capabilities, and holding ourselves accountable with key performance indicators and metrics -- MLC works tirelessly to ensure programs are effective and efficient from ideation through execution. I'm proud to lead such a uniquely talented and dedicated team."

ABOUT MLC & ASSOCIATES, INC.: MLC & Associates, Inc. is a world-class management consulting firm that helps large- and mid-size companies in every industry with business continuity, corporate performance management and organizational development that draws from faith-based core values. Clients like AT&T, Sony Pictures, The Irvine Company, SAS and Mattel trust MLC's incredibly experienced team to position people, technology, processes and facilities to drive ROI and institute positive changes in company culture and efficiency, always with an emphasis on listening, integrity and exceeding expectations. MLC begins each relationship by understanding how to serve the client, the culture and the organization through organizational problem-solving, increasing efficiencies, reducing operational risk and achieving organizational goals. For more information, visit http://www.mlchq.com.

(1) U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics; U.S. Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, BED.

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MLC & Associates Celebrates 25 Years of Success and Appoints New President & CEO Prashant Kumar

By Michael Nolan - August 7, 2012 | Tickers: COST, LUV, TGT, WMT | 0 Comments

Michael is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

Costco. Normally, I like to build suspense about the stock I'm sharing with you, but, today, I'm coming right out with it: Costco (NASDAQ: COST) is a perfect long-term stock. But you shouldn't trust just anyone who tells you what to invest in: you should have evidence; you should have proof.

So, what's the secret behind Costco? Well, you already know its keys to success: wholesale prices, seemingly unlimited amount of products, etc. But what is the key behind the scenes that differs Costco from its competitors?

Well, what fun would we have if I gave everything away immediately. I mean, come on, I already gave you the ticker. I can't just hand over everything.

So before I get to Costco's secret, why don't I start with the long-term case for Costco.

Costco: Profile of a Company

Several elements of the goliath make Costco into the successful company that it is: the wholesale factor I mentioned earlier, the low-cost/high-profit element, in addition to a few other parts of the discount store. Yet, many successful companies are publicly traded. Success isn't enough to make me click "buy" for the long run. So what makes Costco perfect for years to come?

Check out Costco's Return on Equity (ROE): according to theory, the company with the highest ROE (in comparison to its competitors) typically brings the best returns to its shareholders. Costco's ROE is 12.50 -- a very competitive ROE. Rival SuperValu's ROE is negative ... not very impressive.

Now, how about their dividend? Well, a 1.1% dividend isn't whopping, but it is something.

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One Perfect Long-Term Stock...And the Secret Behind its Success

KHABAROVSK, Russia , Aug. 7, 2012 /CNW/ - Inesoft announced the launch its new product for financial management - Inesoft Cash Organizer Desktop. The program offers a handy and efficient approach to managing personal funds and financial planning on the user's home PC. Inesoft Cash Organizer has the following differential advantages: the option to be installed on several devices with automatic synchronization in the real time as well as data storage in the cloud.

Always running short on money? How about spendings accounting and controlling your expenses? Almost every person asks this or a similar range of questions and then purchases or downloads some program for personal finances management for free. Unfortunately, most of these programs are not designed for constant use since the interface is unusable, it is difficult to properly adjust reports, and in general, many users gave up on this hopeless endeavour having failed to manage their expenses.

Inesoft Cash Organizer was specially designed by Inesoft company as the maximally intuitive solution to manage personal finances. The program supports detailed classification of money transactions split into categories, sub-categories, projects, subprojects, budget planning, unlimited number of currencies with current exchange rates, credit calculators, customized reports and many other options. Moreover, the program can be downloaded for free. In addition, with the paid Premium-subscription, the Inesoft Cash Organizer user gets access to completely new options.

First, it is possible to operate the program with multiple users (for example, spouses or several business partners). Secondly, on subscription, the data of Inesoft Cash Organizer installed on PC and mobile devices are automatically synchronized in real time. Thirdly, the program can be installed on all the users' computers with no limits to the number of copies.

Premium-subscription to Inesoft Cash Organizer also provides safe data storage in the cloud (with 256-bit encryption). Third parties' unauthorized access to the data in the cloud is completely excluded, while partners can be provided with a partial access.

Prices and terms

For personal use - free; quarterly Premium-subscription costs USD $14.95 ; annual Premium-subscription costs to USD $29.95 .

References:

Product page: http://www.cashorganizer.com/rus/

Downloads: http://www.cashorganizer.com/rus/help.html

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Inesoft Cash Organizer Desktop: A New Approach to Personal Accounts Book-Keeping

EATONTOWN Women entrepreneurs and business professionals are invited to register for the kickoff of Act Like A Lady, Think Like The Boss, a 12-part personal development workshop series.

Led by experienced networkers and successful local netpreneurs Stacey Womble and Alonna Picket, Act Like a Lady, Think Like the Boss empowers entrepreneurialminded women to gain control of their careers and financial destiny by helping them learn and refine the skills necessary to thrive in business, according to a press release.

The kickoff will take place 7:30-10 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Sheraton in Eatontown.

Included in the cost of the workshop is access to an expansive online community that features guest interviews from accomplished women in business, a discussion forum, updates on live networking events, advice on business etiquette and tips for balancing career and personal life.

Monmouth County residents Pickett and Womble developed the workshop to help other local women avoid the struggles they encountered as college graduates following the traditional career path.

When I lost my job in 2010, it forced me to reassess my life. So, I went online and began researching, connecting, and building purposeful relationships with some of the most brilliant online entrepreneurs. It wasnt easy, but I learned so much about marketing my online business and becoming a well-rounded business woman, said Womble in the press release.

In 2008, Pickett accepted a full scholarship to Northwestern University to pursue a doctoral degree in African American history but instead discovered that the traditional route of going to school and getting a good job is failing miserably, she said in the press release. Today, both women own profitable web-based businesses.

According to the press release, a portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to 180 Turning Lives Around, a nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The cost for the series is $97. For more information, call 732-984-3257 or email stacey@actlikealadythinkliketheboss.com.

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‘Act Like a Lady, Think Like the Boss’ begins Aug. 23