Changes for the nearly 500,000 people in the S.C. Retirement System would not take effect until Jan. 1, according to the latest proposal to pass the House of Representatives.

The proposal is an attempt to fix the Retirement System, projected to run out of money. Accountants say the fund will fall $15 billion short of meeting its obligations a deficit that would grow larger each year. Taxpayers would have to make up the difference. Ignoring the problem also would hurt the states credit rating, meaning it would cost the state more to borrow money in the future.

To fix the deficit, state accountants say lawmakers have to make changes to the Retirement System that affect current employees and retirees difficult to do in an election year.

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Both the House and the Senate have passed sweeping proposals to change the retirement system. The original House plan would have paid state workers less once they retired. The plan passed by the Senate would require state employees to work longer before they retire.

Wednesday, the House attempted a compromise between those different plans to mixed results.

Were going in the right direction, said Carlton Washington, executive director of the S.C. Association of State Employees.

Its horrible, said Wayne Bell, president of the State Retirees Association of South Carolina.

Current state workers like the House compromise passed Wednesday because it would not affect the amount of their future retirement benefit checks. It also keeps the controversial TERI program available to current workers, allowing them to earn a paycheck and a retirement check at the same time for up to five years.

However, if retired state workers continue to work after the five-year TERI period, their retirement checks would stop once they earned $10,000 in salary in a year. The retirement checks would start again the following year but only until they reach the $10,000 cap.

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Retirement system compromise attempted by SC House

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28-05-2012 22:36 Jason "Mayhem" Miller announced his retirement on The MMA Hour on Monday. He also said what happened backstage at UFC 146.

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Jason "Mayhem" Miller Announces Retirement - Video

SAN DIEGO, May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LPL Financial LLC, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer* and a wholly-owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc. (LPLA), and Retirement Benefits Group ("RBG"), a highly specialized retirement plan consulting firm based in San Diego, CA, today announced the continued expansion of Retirement Benefits Group through the addition of five top retirement plan consultants to the firm. The five advisors - Matthew Haerr, Christine Soscia, Amir Arbabi, Peter Littlejohn, and William Brown - will provide retirement guidance to institutional clients in the areas of plan design assistance, compliance updates, and investment due diligence, as well as participant communication and education. These new advisor additions will be based out of the San Diego, CA, Akron, OH, Las Vegas, NV, and Idaho Falls, ID offices of Retirement Benefits Group.

Retirement Benefits Group is supported by the Retirement Partners division of LPL Financial LLC, which is focused on supporting retirement plan-focused advisors.

Darrell Alford, Principal of Retirement Benefits Group, said, "In an increasingly complex retirement landscape for participants, plan sponsors are looking for advisors with fiduciary expertise to help them choose plan structures and investment options that have the potential to offer greater retirement security for their workers. We are proud that Retirement Benefits Group has expanded over the years as a leader in this space by acting as just such a partner to plan sponsors. Our rapid growth continues with the addition of these five leading advisors who have many years of experience in the retirement plan space. With new offices in Idaho and Nevada, we now cover most of the western United States and will continue to expand east, even as we maintain our total focus on providing retirement plan financial advice that is second to none. Equally important, we are delighted to work with LPL Financial Retirement Partners, which has acted as a strong enabling partner in our ongoing growth."

Bill Chetney, Executive Vice President of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, said, "We congratulate Retirement Benefits Group for their continued successful growth as a leading firm within the retirement plan space. We are proud to be an enabling partner to Retirement Benefits Group and other advisor practices focused on this space as they work to help Americans realize their retirement aspirations, and we expect to see strong continued growth in this area."

Matthew Haerr has been a Financial Advisor for over 20 years. He has worked with company sponsored retirement plans, family and personal wealth management, and personal retirement planning throughout his career. Matt has helped business owners and corporations develop strategies for company retirement plans including 401(k), profit sharing and pension plans.

Christine Soscia has been in the financial services industry for over 15 years. She works with business owners in helping design, audit and implement employee benefit programs. Christine also specializes in working with business owners in the areas of strategic tax planning, wealth management, business planning, estate planning and succession planning.

With her primary focus on 401(k) plans, in 2004 Christine was one of the first to graduate from the 401(k) Coach program. In 2006, she purchased a TPA firm and managed more than 160 plans. She has appeared on CNBC and Fox Business and has been quoted in various financial publications. Christine holds Series 63, 7, 24, and 66 registrations with LPL Financial and Life and Health licenses and is a founding member of the Professional Business Advisor group in Las Vegas.

Amir Arbabi assists companies on plan design, fiduciary oversight and investment due diligence. Utilizing his years of experience with retirement planning, Amir creates customized plans to meet his clients' unique goals and needs. In addition to his expertise in plan consulting, Amir has extensive knowledge of wealth and investment management from his training at firms such as Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Peter Littlejohn joins the Retirement Benefits Group as the practice leader in the Midwest, currently domiciled in Akron, Ohio. Peter has over 27 years of retirement plan experience, most recently at Highmark Capital Management in San Francisco, where he led the DCIO advisory business beginning in 2009. Earlier he led retirement businesses at Ivy Funds, Wells Fargo, Strong Capital Management and Cigna Retirement and Investment Services, where he was responsible for sales, marketing, client service and strategic development.

About Retirement Benefits Group Retirement Benefits Group ("RBG"), one of the premier retirement plan consulting groups in the country, offers access to brokerage and related retirement-plan services to corporations, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations and their employees through LPL Financial. RBG, which is headquartered in San Diego, CA with additional offices in Irvine, Riverside, Westlake Village, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Gresham, OR, Las Vegas, NV, Idaho Falls, ID, Temecula, CA, Akron, OH, and White Plains, NY, consults on more than $7 billion in retirement plan assets. Visit http://www.rbgnrp.comfor more information.

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LPL Financial and Retirement Benefits Group™ Announce Addition of Five Top Retirement Consultants to Retirement ...

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Transamerica Retirement Services announced today that it has received DALBARs prestigious Seal of Excellence for its plan sponsor and participant websites for the eighth consecutive year. DALBAR awards are recognized as marks of excellence in the financial community.

Transamerica excels at providing the best online experience in the most accessible and effective way possible, said Stig Nybo, president of Transamerica Retirement Services. DALBARs recognition shows that we are harnessing todays technology to develop industry-leading tools that offer added value to our clients.

For nearly a decade, Transamericas plan sponsor and participant websites have received distinct recognition of improvements and innovative new features. For participants, Transamerica offers plan participants access to account information via mobile devices, as well as 24/7 education via the online Transamerica Institute for Retirement Readiness. For plan sponsors, Transamerica offers Total Plan Management, which brings together three vital aspects of retirement plan fundamentals education, fiduciary and annual review to help sponsors assess and identify specific plan needs, set goals and take action to enhance their plans overall success.

Transamericas recent Seal of Excellence award comes on the heels of its plan sponsor website earning the Excellent designation and the top position in DALBARs analysis of provider websites for the ninth consecutive calendar quarter. Each quarter, DALBARs WebMonitor identifies and recognizes industry-leading websites that achieve a top-ten ranking. Websites are scored on results from DALBAR website evaluations, and points are given for achievement in set criteria within the following five categories: functionality, usability, behavior centric attributes, content currency and consistency.

About DALBAR

DALBAR, Inc. is one of the financial communitys leading independent experts for evaluating, auditing and rating business practices, customer performance, product quality and service. DALBAR has earned the recognition for consistent and unbiased evaluations of investment companies, registered investment advisers, insurance companies, broker/dealers, retirement plan providers and financial professionals. DALBAR awards are recognized as marks of excellence in the financial community.

About Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation

Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation (Transamerica or Transamerica Retirement Services), which is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, designs customized retirement plan solutions to meet the unique needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. Transamerica has more than 17,0001 retirement plans totaling more than $20 billion1 in assets. For more information about Transamerica, please refer to http://www.TA-Retirement.com.

1As of December 31, 2011.

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Transamerica Retirement Services Awarded with DALBAR Seal of Excellence for Top-Rated Websites

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Newport Group, a leading provider of retirement and executive benefit plans, has been in the forefront of helping financial advisors and plan sponsors prepare for new DOL fee disclosure regulations.

The Newport Group, a leading provider of retirement and executive benefit plans, is helping educate financial advisors and plan sponsors about new Department of Labor (DOL) regulations which will require retirement plan recordkeepers to disclose service fees and investment expenses differently than in the past.

Newport has been preparing for these new fee disclosure requirements for over a year, in advance of final regulations issued this spring. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Newport has conducted a well-received communications campaign to both retirement plan sponsors and their financial advisors, through a series of newsletters, webcasts, sample disclosures, and online presentationsas well as a special presentation during its annual Advisor Conference. The firms longstanding practice of full fee disclosure fits well with the new requirements, noted Rob Schaffernoth, Newport Vice President, Retirement Services.

At Newport, we fully support the DOLs efforts to help plan sponsors and participants understand the true costs of their retirement plans, said Schaffernoth. For many years, Newport has led the industry in fee transparency, and our plan sponsors have consistently recognized this by naming us best in class for both fee disclosure and fee fairness.

Deadlines for the disclosures are drawing near, Schaffernoth noted. The deadline for providers to disclose fees to plan sponsors is July 1, 2012. Sponsors themselves must begin to provide full fee information to their employees beginning August 30, 2012.

For plan sponsor fee disclosure, service providers must provide sponsor fee disclosures not just by the deadline, but as any changes are made to service agreements, investment menus, or fee structures. Newport will deliver its disclosure to each associated financial advisor and subsequently to each plan sponsor. It will also be available online through the firms plan management website plandestination.com.

Plan sponsors must provide participant fee disclosure when employees initially become eligible for the plan and at least annually thereafter, after initial disclosures in August. Newport will support sponsors and their advisors by providing a draft participant disclosure delivered to advisors and plan sponsors. Newport has redesigned its quarterly retirement account statements to show any administrative and transaction expenses incurred by the plan participant.

Schaffernoth added that Newports in-house experts are available on a consulting basis to support advisors and plan sponsors in understanding the new regulations.

Clearly, compliance with the DOL regulations entails a significant marshalling of resources, Schaffernoth commented. Were encouraged by the feedback weve received from plan advisors, who have been very complimentary about the amount of information weve provided, and the guidance offered by our in-house legal staff. We look forward to helping to usher in a new era of openness about plan fees in the retirement services industry.

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Newport Helps “Usher in New Era” of Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure

ONGAR, England, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Award-winning Bower Retirement Services offers a real alternative for retired property owners looking to use their homes to finance their retirement

A recent investigation by the Independent on Sunday found some 250,000 people will owe thousands of pounds on interest-only mortgages when they retire over the course of the next decade. With no income and little in the way of pension to pay this off, many elderly people will be faced with losing their homes.

3 trillion is locked up in property in the United Kingdom. Even taking aside the 1 trillion that is mortgaged, that's a huge amount of money just sitting there, locked in bricks and mortar. Faced with mortgages and no income many people of retirement age sell their homes and downsize, using the cash from the sale to clear their mortgage and pay off outstanding debts.

But it shouldn't be the case that just because a person retires with a mortgage they need to sell their home. There is another way.

With so much money locked up in property, it makes sense to unlock some of this wealth and Bower Retirement Services has the key. It is an equity release firm that can help unlock money from a property to help pay for an existing mortgage or to provide a living allowance to supplement a state pension. Homeowners can find out just how much equity they can release from their property with Bower Retirement Services using its free equity release calculator.

There are four different types of equity release plans on offer from Bower Retirement Services: lump sum lifetime mortgages, lifetime mortgage with flexible cash release, interest only lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans.

The first works in a similar way to a standard mortgage except interest and the outstanding mortgage balance are paid only when vacating the property.

The second, also known as a drawdown mortgage, works in the same way as the above except homeowners can also withdraw cash from a cash reserve at an agreed frequency over a pre-set number of years.

Interest only mortgages, as the name suggests, only require the interest to be paid each month. The amount borrowed remains intact and is repaid when the property is sold.

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Equity Release Can Prevent Retired Property Owners Losing Their Homes Report Bower Retirement Services

ONGAR, England, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Bower Retirement Services offers advice on how the elderly can ride out the double-dip recession

The UK is officially back in recession. This is bad news for everyone, but particularly savers. A new round of quantitative easing is likely and this will further subdue interest rates, eroding the value of savings and pensions in real terms. This puts great pressure on people nearing retirement age, particularly those with mortgages. Smaller pensions and savings will mean retirement dreams remain dreams and homeowners with mortgages face loosing their homes. But there is a way to prevent all this: unlocking the collective 3 trillion the UK has tied up in property.

Bower Retirement Services is an award-winning equity release advice service that puts homeowners in touch with the UK's best equity release providers. It offers impartial advice, a free equity release calculator and information on each and every equity release scheme available to homeowners.

There are four equity release products to choose from, which a homeowner will pick will dependent on their current financial situation and the purpose of the equity release.

Lump sum mortgages are best suited to people looking to minimise monthly outgoings. With this product, homeowners pay the interest and the remaining mortgage value when they vacate the property. There are no monthly repayments.

A lifetime mortgage with flexible cash release, also known as a drawdown mortgage, works in the same manner as the above with the addition of regular cash withdrawals. Interest is charged on these withdrawals but is only paid upon sale of the property. This is most suitable for retirees looking to supplement their state pension.

Interest only lifetime mortgages are for people looking for a lump sum to pay off debts or to go on the trip of a lifetime. Interest is paid each month, but a percentage of the property's value is borrowed and awarded as a lump sum. When the property is sold the original capital borrowed must be repaid. This product requires credit checks to make sure the property owner can repay the interest each month.

Home reversion plans are for people looking to release large sums of money from their home but don't want to move to a smaller property. The property or a percentage of it is sold to the equity release firm providing a lump sum. People can stay in their property but pay monthly rent to the equity release firm. The balance will be cleared when the property is sold.

About Bower Retirement Services

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How the Double-Dip Recession Will Impact the Elderly, Report Bower Retirement Services

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --MassMutual's Retirement Services Division continues its web-based RetireSmart(SM) interactive participant education series with "Social Security and Your Retirement," directly addressing a key topic of interest for participants of all ages based on 2011's post-event surveys.

MassMutual's live online seminar is scheduled for Wednesday, June 27 at 12:00 p.m. ET. During the 30-minute presentation, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will discuss the role Social Security will play in today's retirement plans. Specifically, the SSA will cover:

A 30-minute interactive question and answer session will directly follow the presentation.

"MassMutual's RetireSmart participant education series is just one way we engage participants and help them make smarter retirement decisions," says E. Heather Smiley, chief marketing officer for MassMutual's Retirement Services Division. "With the future of social security a top concern today, we knew participants were seeking more information on the role it will play in their retirement plans. MassMutual went straight to the source and is pleased to have a speaker from the Social Security Administration lead this much-anticipated presentation," adds Smiley.

MassMutual's latest RetireSmart online seminar, "Understanding Target Date & Target Risk Investments," featured three leaders of its own investment and portfolio teams to help explain the basics of target-date and target-risk investment strategies. The 30-minute presentation, led by Michael Eldredge, CFA, vice president; Bruce Picard, Jr., CFA, investment director; and Frederick (Rick) Schulitz, CFA, investment director, discussed how to take charge of retirement investing in today's market environment, the ABCs of target strategies, and how these investments may fit an overall retirement plan. Following the presentation, 60% of attendees indicated their intent to review their investment mix and 28% planned to consider a target-date or target-risk investment strategy based on the post-event survey. A free replay of this seminar is available for anyone who missed the live event.

Space for the upcoming "Social Security and Your Retirement" seminar is prioritized to retirement plan sponsors and participants on MassMutual's platform. MassMutual retirement plan clients can register by logging in to their retirement plan account at http://www.retiresmart.com or by visiting http://www.retiresmartseminars.com.

For more information about MassMutual Retirement Services, please contact your retirement plan advisor or call MassMutual at 1-866-444-2601.

This presentation is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as, and is not intended as, investment, retirement, tax or financial planning advice. No securities or other financial products or services will be offered for sale.

About MassMutual

MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) [of which Retirement Services is a division] and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. MassMutual is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts and its major affiliates include: Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; The First Mercantile Trust Company; MassMutual International LLC; MML Investors Services, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC; OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB.

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"Social Security and Your Retirement"

Retirement planning is about more than saving money. It's about what you're going to do. Here are three ways to stay active in retirement.

In 2009, Rusty Arnesen was forced into retirement. He hadn't planned to leave his job as chief deputy public defender for San Diego County in California quite so soon. He was shocked.

"I'd had a very busy job overseeing 100 lawyers and working at least 50 hours a week," says Mr. Arnesen, who now golfs, does some pro bono legal work, and has several high-level volunteer jobs. "Now, I'm looking for more things to volunteer for. I hadn't figured what it would be like" in retirement.

Neither do many Americans. For all the emphasis put on saving for retirement, planning for what to do in retirement is often lacking. While that may not pose an immediate problem new data from the MetLife Mature Market Institute show 70 percent of 65-year-old retirees thoroughly enjoy retirement it's not clear that enjoyment endures. That's why many experts suggest embracing some second act during this period that can last 30 years or more.

"There's the honeymoon period for the first six months. Then restlessness sets in, and you wonder what to do with the rest of your life," says Todd Tresidder, founder of FinancialMentor.com in Reno, Nev. "That's where [today's] whole new retirement comes in."

The transition tends to be more difficult for men. While 77 percent of men (72 percent of women) have planned financially for retirement, more women have "thought about what they'd like to do in retirement," says a survey released in January by Ameriprise Financial. For example, 41 percent say they plan to spend more time with family (34 percent of men); 21 percent place importance on their proximity to friends (13 percent of men); 25 percent say they've spent time determining how they will rest and relax in retirement (19 percent of men).

"Women tend to have many friends, while men tend to have relatively few friends," says Donald Strauss, codirector at RetireRight Center, a Chicago-based retirement planning firm and coauthor of "Customize ... Don't Minimize ... Your Retirement." Since men have been focused on work through much of their adult lives, they've built structures and an identity around it. Retirement "leaves them with a vacuum to be filled."

What to do? Sure, take a breather after a busy career. But then reengage in something. Here are some options:

Turn your passion into a new career. Instead of "retiring," reinvent yourself, says Mark Walton, author of "Boundless Potential." Do something that "lets you be as successful as you were earlier in life." It doesn't matter if that role creates income, he adds. The shift can be dramatic, such as moving from something technical to an artistic endeavor.

To get started, determine what absorbs your attention; explore how to convert it into real work, then envision a working structure to make that happen in the marketplace. For many, "it will involve inventing and marketing something themselves being an entrepreneur," says Mr. Walton, chairman and founder of the Center for Leadership Communication in Chapel Hill, N.C.

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Retirement: 3 ways to enrich it without adding money

(credit: Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

BOSTON (CBS) The reality is that you are going to be responsible for your own retirement savings. Fewer employers are offering pensions to employees.

Waiting to start to save until you are 40 is a big financial mistake. You have already let the key years for saving pass you by.

If you start at forty and plan to retire at age 67 you have 27 years of savings and investing. But if you start at age twenty you have 47 years.

The longer you wait to start saving for retirement the more money you will need to save.

If you want a $1 million in your retirement nest egg, and I used an 8% return which is realistic, and you start at age 20 you will need to come up with $160 a month for your retirement account. That will amount to about $94,000 saved over 47 years.

If you wait until age 40 to start you will need to invest $880 a month, thats $284,000 or 3 times the amount if you had started earlier.

At 40 you could have kids needing braces, college tuition, a car. Then there is really no money left over for retirement savings.

I have included a chart to illustrate retirement savings at various times in your working career on our website.

You are never too young to start thinking about saving for retirement. A kid in high school with her first job should be introduced to retirement planning by her parents.

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Retirement Myths: I Can Start Saving For Retirement When I’m 40