Finance Solution

Archive for November, 2009

If you’re like many Americans, you may expect to enjoy a comfortable retirement, but you probably haven’t taken the actions needed to turn those hopes into reality.

The latest survey showed many Americans’ retirement expectations are like a piece of Swiss cheese-full of holes. For example, many have accumulated only modest retirement savings, underestimating the share of their preretirement income they are likely to need in retirement, and have made no estimate of how much they will need to live comfortably once they retire.

The Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), begun in 1991, is the country’s most established and comprehensive study of the attitudes and behavior of American workers and retirees toward all aspects of saving, retirement planning and long-term financial security. The survey is sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Matthew Greenwald & Associates.

Here are some of the survey results:

• Saving: More than two-thirds (68 percent) of current workers say they and their spouses have accumulated less than $50,000 in retirement savings.

• Health care costs: Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of current workers say they and their spouses do not expect to receive any health insurance from their employers when they retire. Recent EBRI research showed that individuals age 55 who live to age 90 would need to have accumulated $210,000 (by age 65) to pay for insurance to supplement Medicare and out-of-pocket medical expenses in retirement-far more than all but 10 percent of workers currently have saved for all retirement expenses.

• Longevity: Two-thirds (66 percent) of current workers think they have some chance that they will live until age 90-or spend 25 years in retirement, assuming they retire at age 65. These findings suggest many workers may not be planning and saving enough to finance the full amount of time they expect to spend in retirement, thereby increasing the odds that they will outlive their retirement savings.

• Income replacement: Fourteen percent of current workers said they thought they would need less then 50 percent of their preretirement income to live comfortably in retirement. Another 36 percent expected to need 50 to 70 percent. However, 62 percent of current retirees say their income is 70 percent or more of their preretirement income.

• Planning: Nearly six in 10 current workers (59 percent) said they hope to have a retirement standard of living equal to or higher than their working years. But when current workers were asked if they or their spouse have calculated how much money they will need to retire comfortably, nearly six in 10 (58 percent) said no.

“Recent research has found that when a ‘traditional’ pension is frozen, many workers in the pension are unlikely to get an equal benefit value contributed to their 401(k) plan,” said Jack VanDerhei, a Temple University professor, EBRI fellow, and co-author of the Retirement Confidence Survey. “Each case is different, but it’s clear that people currently working should factor into their retirement planning the long-term trend away from ‘traditional’ defined benefit pensions and toward 401(k)-type plans.”

He added: “We find there are a lot of people who need to be saving more than they are, if they hope to be able to afford a comfortable retirement.”

“Working ‘in retirement’ may be one partial solution,” said Michael Falcon, chief operating officer of the Retirement Group at Merrill Lynch-a sponsor of the EBRI study, as well as its own New Retirement Survey. “Seventy-seven percent of our respondents say that ideally, they would work either full-time, part-time, or cycle back and forth between work and leisure before they quit work completely,” Falcon said. “Working beyond normal retirement can obviously help financially, but Americans also say they are interested in working to stay socially and physically active.”

Money, according to a classical definition, is what money does. And truth, as they say, is like a rubber band. Stretch it and it can do wonders. So if we can really make money in order to do whatever we want, there is nothing like that.
To provide 10 quick tips to save money is almost like a first-aid approach to a very intricate problem perhaps faced by almost each of us. It is important to know how to manage money efficiently to ensure bulky savings. Whether to save some part of what we have to spend or whether to spend at all on a service or commodity should be the first question to be answered.
Firstly in case of large investments, the first step for a prospective buyer is to identify and correlate the valuable item or service with need or desire. It is better to test its utility first, for example, by borrowing it for a fixed time period. If you are satisfied and convinced about its necessity and think that you really need that, you may buy it. But to save money, you as a wise consumer must find the best seller in terms of comparative pricing, quality & market reputation.
For lower priced items, one has to shop for the lowest prices, also keeping an eye on the quality aspect. For example, if you take the instance of buying clothes, the best purchase is off-season discount sale, wherein you can get good clothes at cheap rates.
For financial investments, like the stock market, follow the golden rule of buying volatile stocks when the price of an item is down & sell it when it is at a high. The profit thus earned can be invested in the equity market for steady items.
Today’s Internet has provided the best opportunities to shop vigorously for the best price before you actually drop the money. Especially for insurance, loan facilities and financial management, one is spoilt for choices. Proper analysis of rates and amortization goes a long way in saving even hundreds of dollars in a year.
Change of plan in case of services like telephone, insurance, etc. can save you costly dollars provided you simply have the knowledge about the best existing plan.
Making a monthly budget for buying the essential items and regulating the number of luxury items can yield considerable savings.
Expensive weekends and extravagant outings should be replaced by reasonable excursion for wholesale entertainment.
Proper food planning and food habits result in better living, both financially and mentally. Stay healthy and you can save on medical bills. Having a proper food plan also prevents food from being wasted.
Paying the bills within due dates provides invaluable savings, because, in this case, as you have to pay, it is better to pay in time to avoid penalty.
If you are an employer, you should encourage flexible job responsibilities for your task force, making each one compatible with the work within a department. This will help in cutting down employees cost and help complete a task within time, even if someone is absent.
There are obviously several other ways to save money and lead a frugal life without tension. It is always told that money saved is money earned. Just keep it in mind and stay happy.

0% APR credit cards are an appealing option for frequent shoppers that rely on having a low monthly interest rate when they cannot pay off the entire balance of the credit card in any month. But what you really need to know about 0% APR credit card offers, often times is never discussed.

For starters, the APR is the commonly-used acronym for “Annual Percentage Rate,” which is the annual month-to-month rate that you can expect to get for your credit card balance. Naturally, if you frequently carry your credit card balance over from month-to-month, it is important for you to have a low or even 0% APR credit card.

How it Works

Every credit card company makes money when shoppers use the card, but do not pay off the balance at the end of each month. Because the credit card company has lent shoppers money so that they can make their purchases, the credit card company will charge interest on the balance until the entire balance is paid off. The credit card company has the potential to make a generous profit from the balances of their customers each month. Naturally, as a consumer, having a 0% APR credit card means that your balance is carried over from month-to-month without any charges applied.

Beware of High Interest Rates

It may seem like credit cards actually lose money by investing in a 0% APR credit card promotion. However, the 0% APR credit cards actually help credit card companies find customers. For example, if there is a shopper that has a high APR (some are up to 20%) and he or she is having a hard time paying down the balance of the credit card, the purchaser is in an ideal situation to transfer their balance to a 0% APR credit card for a period in which they can focus on working down their debt. The situation is ideal for someone who is in short-term debt. However, to balance the 0% APR credit cards against the credit card company’s need to make a profit, as soon as a trial period expires, many credit card companies will increase their rates drastically. As a consumer, you need to read the fine print so that you are aware of the deadlines associated with this change-over.

Where to Find a 0% APR Credit Card

It may seem harder than it really is to find a 0% APR credit card. It’s advantageous to find a card that doesn’t require you to pay a month-to-month rate on the unpaid balance. However, credit card companies frequently   enact 0% APR credit card promotional deals, so take a look around for what deals are available to you currently.

0% APR credit cards can make managing your debt very easy. While most of them do not require annual fees, it is important for you to understand what you are agreeing to before you sign a contact with a company. While most 0% APR credit cards eventually increase the rate after a set period of time, the duration of the promotional period varies by company. As with any credit card agreement, a little research and education into the details of a 0% APR credit card can go a long way towards helping you make a decision that can positively effect your finances. Choose wisely!