Posts tagged as:

defined contribution plans

No Match for Your 401(k)? Keep Investing

August 19, 2010

We’ve got a problem and we know it.  Speaking generally but based on the numerous reports about us since the financial fall of 2008, we have changed, in most cases dramatically.  We can’t really be faulted for it.  We’ve been trained since we were young and we are genetically hardwired to be able to recall [...]

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How to Live with Your 401K

August 5, 2010

I have yet to meet anyone who is thrilled with the concept of the 401(k). Dan Solin, writing in the Huffington Post suggested: “For outright greed and deception, it’s hard to top the 401(k) system. It’s rife with conflicts of interest, exorbitant and often hidden fees, poor investment choices, little participant education and deception about [...]

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A Match Made in 401(k) Heaven – Almost

July 30, 2010

We talk about the 401(k) match as the benefit most needed for investors to achieve the kind of retirement they need.  We call it free money – which it really isn’t.  We call it an incentive – which isn’t always the case. We call it a benefit worth considering – which it can be depending [...]

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Middle Class: The Money Class? Part Two

July 29, 2010

Part one of our series on the Middle Class: The Money Class? can be found here. Who are you? The mutual fund industry has been asking that for decades and the answers still aren’t quite clear.  But they are getting closer to understanding that the vast majority (85%) of the owners of mutual funds are [...]

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Middle Class: The Money Class? Part One

July 28, 2010

According to the most recent Investment Company Institute Factbook, the fund industry, based on what they refer to as emergence of fund entrepreneurs have made the middle class the money class.  With 90 million households owning mutual funds, either in their 401(k)s or some other type of defined contribution plan available n the workplace or [...]

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Congratulations, You were Warned

July 24, 2010

The line in the Vanguard press release dated October 6th, 2009 offered the following: “We also caution against using short-term performance figures—however attractive—to guide your investment decisions.”  Why would they say such a thing after the run-up, that even they suggested was, too-far-too soon?  And could the worry that this short-term outlook would tempt the [...]

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The Retirement Wonder Years

July 17, 2010

The older you get, the more apt you are to think about your retirement.  And according to some recent indicators, you are also thinking, perhaps even worrying about your children’s retirement.  The dilemma is not easy to answer and in some instances, will not truly unfold until many of are able to anything constructive to [...]

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Making the Financially Clueless More So

June 29, 2010

By now, most of my regular readers know what I do not like in the world of financial products. The annuity galls me (a mix of insurance and mutual funds that doesn’t do either well), the ETF (which mimics the indexed mutual fund but allows you to trade it just like a stock and pay [...]

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A First Class and Sustainable Retirement

June 28, 2010

The goal to a first class and sustainable retirement is often simplified to the following: having enough to money to retire when you want and be able to outlive your accounts. And while there are numerous chances for the average worker to do exactly that, the odds are, most of us will not be able [...]

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The Financial Croupier: Hidden 401K Fees

June 17, 2010

What would you do if you knew how much you were paying in fees to the retirement plan you use? Not the fees to the mutual funds you invest in. Those are, for the most part, your decision. Unless of course your 401(k) is not-so-good, stocked with mediocre funds or too many options. I’m talking [...]

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