NEW YORK (CNNMoney) As life expectancy continues to rise, a new report suggests that governments need to raise the age of retirement in order to keep up.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said that by 2050, the average woman and man can expect to live roughly 24 and 20 years beyond retirement age respectively, up from 20 and 17 years in 2010. At the same time, retirement ages across many countries have stayed the same.

Without a change, the OECD said governments wont be able to pay for more people needing retirement funds for longer periods of time.

Extending working lives in a situation of slowly growing or declining workforces should provide an important boost to economic growth in aging economies, according to the report, which was released Monday.

The United States could use a boost. Social Security has already begun paying out more in benefits than it takes in from workers payroll taxes. The trustees of the Social Security program reported in April that the program projects a $165 billion deficit in 2012. Social Security could pay promised benefits in full through 2033, the report said.

Raising the full retirement age gradually to 70 years-old could help plug this deficit by reducing Social Security outlays by 13 percent, the Congressional Budget Office reported in January.

With the fact that people are living longer, they should be partly responsible for meeting the cost of longer life expectancy, said Juan Yermo, head of the private pensions unit at OECD.

Today, the full retirement age in the United States is 66, up from 65 a decade ago. It is scheduled to increase by two months a year starting in 2017 until it reaches 67 in 2022. Meanwhile, 62 remains the age at which those who retire early can collect a percentage of their full benefits.

The OECD suggested, however, that 67 or higher is becoming the new 65.

Extending the period over which youre contributing to the pension system would be less of a burden for everyone, Yermo said.

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Retirement Age Must Rise, Says OECD

Australian batsman Simon Katich on Tuesday announced his retirement from first-class cricket in Australia, citing family reasons.

Katich, 36, is currently playing with Hampshire in the English county season and is committed to play for the Perth Scorchers in the Champions League Twenty20 in October.

But he was axed from the Australian team after the 2010-2011 home Ashes series defeat to England and was stripped of the New South Wales captaincy last year in the Sheffield Shield competition.

Katich released a statement through Cricket Australia saying personal factors were the main reason for his retirement.

"With a young family and a desire for an extended time at home, Simon has decided it is time to reassess his priorities," the statement said.

Katich, a left-handed top-order batsman, played 56 Tests from 2001 to his last appearance against England in Adelaide in December 2010.

He scored 4,188 Test runs at an average of 45.03 with 10 centuries, and made 44 one-day international appearances for 1,324 runs at 35.78.

His demotion from the Test team was highly controversial and his tense relationship with Australian skipper Michael Clarke was played out heavily in the media.

Katich began his Sheffield Shield career with Western Australia but joined New South Wales in the 2002-03 season and went on to score a total of 8,807 runs for the two states in 104 matches at 55.39, with 26 centuries.

He was at his best during the 2007-2008 domestic season, not only captaining NSW to their 45th Sheffield Shield title but receiving the Player of the Year Award with a record-breaking 1,506 runs at an average of 94.12.

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Cricketer Katich announces Australian retirement

As life expectancy continues to rise, a new report suggests that governments need to raise the age of retirement in order to keep up.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said that by 2050, the average woman and man can expect to live roughly 24 and 20 years beyond retirement age respectively, up from 20 and 17 years in 2010. At the same time, retirement ages across many countries have stayed the same.

Without a change, the OECD said governments won't be able to pay for more people needing retirement funds for longer periods of time.

"Extending working lives in a situation of slowly growing or declining workforces should provide an important boost to economic growth in aging economies," according to the report, which was released Monday.

The United States could use a boost. Social Security has already begun paying out more in benefits than it takes in from workers' payroll taxes. The trustees of the Social Security program reported in April that the program projects a $165 billion deficit in 2012. Social Security could pay promised benefits in full through 2033, the report said.

Raising the full retirement age gradually to 70 years-old could help plug this deficit by reducing Social Security outlays by 13 percent, the Congressional Budget Office reported in January.

"With the fact that people are living longer, they should be partly responsible for meeting the cost of longer life expectancy," said Juan Yermo, head of the private pensions unit at OECD.

Today, the full retirement age in the United States is 66, up from 65 a decade ago. It is scheduled to increase by two months a year starting in 2017 until it reaches 67 in 2022. Meanwhile, 62 remains the age at which those who retire early can collect a percentage of their full benefits.

The OECD suggested, however, that "67 or higher is becoming the new 65."

"Extending the period over which you're contributing to the pension system would be less of a burden for everyone," Yermo said.

More:
Retirement age must rise - OECD

retirement (Photo credit: 401K)

A recent report on the problems with our 401(k) retirement plan provides the latest example how public policy groups want the government to take control of your retirement savings.

A liberal policy advocacy group named Demos recently published a report titled The Retirement Savings Drain which rehashes old complaints about 401(k) plans, overstates the costs of many current plans, and offers a government plan as a solution.

Chief among the complaints by Demos are that current 401(k) plans have excessively high fees, and those fees are hidden from employees. While in many cases employees do pay high costs, 401(k) fee disclosure has been planned to be rolled out in 2012 for some time now, and may help address ignorance of what plans actually costs.

The Demos report lists four reasons for the problem of high fees with 401(k) plans:

1) Complexity

2) Employers lack of knowledge

3) Employees lack of knowledge

4) Inefficient market structure

While all of the above may have some truth, what Demos fails to acknowledge is that all four items are due to the lack of a free market in 401(k) plans, including burdensome rules and penalties on employers who choose to offer plans to help their employees save.

See the article here:
Ignore The Retirement Experts

By Kurt Rossi

Are you retirement-ready? Many people dream of a retirement filled with time spent traveling, enjoying hobbies and making lasting memories with family. However, the realities of retirement can be far more challenging.

Between the emotional issues and financial constraints, retirement can be one of the most difficult transitions for people to make. These challenges, coupled with the current economic environment, have forced many to unexpectedly postpone their retirement dreams.

In fact, according to the Insured Retirement Institute, 35 percent of Americans plan to work after age 66, with 23 percent expecting to work after age 70.

The misconceptions noted below highlight a few of the inaccurate assumptions that have forced many retirees to adjust their plans.

I will spend less after retirement.

People often assume that retirees will need 70 to 80 percent of what they currently spend during retirement. While some savings will be realized from a lack of commuting costs and the possible downsizing of a home, the reality is that retirement expenses are often nearly 90 to 105 percent of their expenses before retirement. This is partially due to the desire to spend more time on hobbies and traveling during the early years of retirement when many retirees are at their healthiest. In addition, health care costs can also take a huge unexpected bite out of the budget, further increasing expenses.

Basic Medicare will cover all my health care expenses.

According to Fidelity Investments, the average 65-year-old couple will spend about $400,000 out-of-pocket on health care throughout retirement until age 92, not including long-term-care costs. The complexities of these costs have made it difficult for many savers to accurately estimate their effect on expenses after retirement. In addition, many retirees inaccurately assume that basic Medicare will cover the majority of their needs.

Medicare Part A covers hospital benefits and is usually provided at no additional cost. However, the outpatient services provided by Medicare Part B and the prescription-drug coverage offered by Medicare Part D have additional charges associated with them. Also, remember that it is often necessary for retirees to choose a private Medigap policy that can help cover the costs that Medicare doesnt cover. So, many retirees end up spending significantly more than they had planned.

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Getting ready for retirement

Ultra-low interest rates on retirement accounts may force many Americans to delay their golden years, according to a new survey.

One-third of investors say they may have to put off retirement because low rates are preventing them from earning enough in retirement accounts, according to the poll by Wells Fargo and Gallup being released last week.

Would-be retirees are compensating by working longer or scaling back their retirement dreams.

Some people are taking more investment risks. Slightly more than one-quarter of pre-retirees, and 19 percent of current retirees, say they are making investments they otherwise "might have avoided," according to the Wells Fargo-Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index Survey.

The survey demonstrates the significant effects that low interest rates on bank accounts and many types of bond mutual funds are having on the retirement expectations of Americans.

"Some people may feel like they're pushing mud uphill," said Karen Wimbish, director of retail retirement at Wells Fargo.

The survey of 1,018 investors nationwide was conducted May 4-12. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Read more from the original source:
Low interest rates hampering retirement plans, survey says

Fans have speculated for months that Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva may be one devastating knockout loss away from retirement, but could Rich Franklin, his opponent on June 23 at UFC 147, be in exactly the same boat?

Franklin, now 37 years old, has three knockout losses on his resume since 2006, and his recent comments in an interview with Sherdog hinted that he's content with slowing the pace of his fighting career.

"With my fight career, mentally I'm at a point where I'm slowing down," Franklin said in the interview. "I remember there was a point when I was young when I wanted to try to fit six fights into one year just to see if I could do it. Now I'm like 'there's no way'. Two, maybe three and I'm good with that pace."

Franklin hasn't been in quite as many standup slugfests as Silva, so I'm not suggesting he'll be knocked into retirement due to health concerns.

In my view, Franklin simply has nothing left to prove inside the cage, and he has a long career in broadcasting and acting ahead of him. At this point in his career, he's taking meaningless fights that are essentially brawls against aging legends on the down slope of their careers.

In his last two bouts, he took on Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell in scraps that had nothing to do with moving up the ladder in the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions.

In each division, he's still a few fights away from notching a title shot, and the fighters he's been matched up against aren't legitimate top five contenders, which means he's essentially just spinning his wheels without moving up.

Franklin is still a professional fighter who can perform at a high level, but it's not likely that we'll ever see him step into the cage again with Anderson Silva. As for the light heavyweight division, it's doubtful that Franklin would ever go toe-to-toe with Jon Jones at this point in his career.

Where that leaves him is at a crossroads, fighting the likes of Cung Le, Wanderlei Silva and other fan favorites on the wrong sides of their careers.

Later in the Sherdog interview, Franklin said he would like to get involved with film work or sports commentating when his fight career is over.

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Is "Rich Franklin Vs Wanderlei Silva II" a Retirement Bout? Fan's View

Part of complete coverage on

From Richard Roth, CNN

updated 11:52 AM EDT, Sat June 9, 2012

Belmont without I'll Have Another

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Elmont, New York (CNN) -- I'll Have Another, the injured colt who won't have a chance to become horse racing's 12th winner of the fabled Triple Crown, will retire from racing in high style on Saturday.

The horse, which won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness but developed tendonitis before the Belmont Stakes, will have a nationally televised retirement ceremony before the race begins this evening, New York racing officials said.

The New York Racing Association said I'll Have Another won't lead the post parade with jockey Mario Gutierrez, as had been previously planned.

The coulda, woulda, shoulda Triple Crown winners

Instead, I'll Have Another's grooms will walk him to the winner's circle and trainer Doug O'Neill will remove his saddle. The ceremony is scheduled for 5:53 p.m.

Continue reading here:
Retirement ceremony planned for I'll Have Another at Belmont

NEW YORK (AP) -- The retirement of I'll Have Another on the eve of the Belmont Stakes is a big hit for the New York Racing Association and NBC.

Both had been hoping for a Triple Crown bonanza.

NYRA, the association that runs Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct, has been under political pressure. Last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo replaced the NYRA management following years of scandal and mismanagement.

Earlier in the week, NYRA spokesman Dan Silver estimated the Triple Crown try would draw "100,000, weather permitting."

It's hard to predict the impact of I'll Have Another's defection on the turnout. While all reserved and box seats are sold out, a good chunk of any Belmont crowd are walk-up general admission customers.

NBC, expecting a substantial ratings bump for the Belmont coverage, was scrambling to digest the news.

"While we are obviously disappointed that our show won't feature I'll Have Another going for the elusive Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes is still an iconic event on the sports schedule, and the NBC Sports Group broadcasts will treat it as such. We're working now to adjust the game plan accordingly," said Adam Freifeld, VP Communications, NBC Sports Group.

*****

TAGG RECALLS: The buildup to I'll Have Another's Triple Crown try that was derailed Friday brought back memories of 2003 and Funny Cide's bid for trainer Barclay Tagg.

Not all of them were pleasant.

Original post:
I'll Have Another's retirement hurts NYRA, NBC

A few days after Shane Mosley and Ronald "Winky" Wright announced their retirement from boxing, former WBO welterweight champion, Antonio Margarito, added himself into the mix.

Margarito announced his retirement on June 7, bringing an end to the controversial fighter's 18-year professional career.

"After 22 years of full dedication to the profession I love, I have made the decision to announce my retirement from boxing," Magarito stated. "After much thought and extended conversations with my family and team, we have all agreed that the time to hang up my gloves and begin a new chapter in life has arrived."

The 34 year-old was scheduled to face Abel Perry on July 21, but that bout has obviously been cancelled.

Margarito's aggressive fighting style made him a favorite amongst boxing fans, with 27 of his 38 victories coming via KO. Unfortunately, his legacy will always be linked to the hand-wraps controversy prior to his 2009 bout against Mosley - when California State Athletic Commission officials discovered a plaster-like substance in his wraps.

Prior to his bout against Mosley, some already had their suspicions about Margarito, due to the devastating effects of his punches against Miguel Cotto. Margarito damaged Cotto's face to the point that the Puerto Rican boxer was forced to throw in the towel.

The "Tijuana Tornado" was never the same after getting busted for loading his gloves, losing three of his next four fights. He simply didn't have the same power on his punches anymore, prompting some to question the legitimacy of his resume.

Margarito injured his orbital bone during his 2010 showdown with Manny Pacquiao, and that probably had something to do with his retirement as well. He took a serious beating in his rematch against Cotto (who still feels that the Mexican loaded his gloves for their first fight), and I'm sure the Puerto Rican boxer is feeling pretty good about himself right now, knowing he's the man that retired Margarito.

David is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and boxing practitioner that has watched and studied MMA for the past 7 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.

Sources:

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Margarito Announces His Retirement: Fan Reaction