Some Retirement Account Suggestions

A recent Boston Globe article offered this: "When millions of U.S. investors open their second-quarter retirement account statements soon they might be disappointed with their dividends, analysts say.

"Most investors will find their stock and bond funds in 401(k) and individual retirement accounts sank between April and June amid skyrocketing fuel prices and a slowing economy." The temptation many fear is that these individuals will begin tapping those plans, seeing the balances as better used for day-to-day living expenses rather than day-to-day expenses in the future.

You should avoid touching that 401(k), now posing more as a 201(k) after recent market turmoil for two reasons: One, if you are well away from retirement (say fifty or below) you are looking at a long time for the markets (and your savings tied to those markets) to recover.

The second reason has more to do with why. If it is for debt relief, then scale back your contribution and use the extra cash towards debt (contribute only what matches). If it is for market relief, reduce the fees in your plan and index your savings. Normally, I suggest index funds be held outside your defined contribution plans for the better tax treatment but with the markets sending mixed signals and more aggressive funds failing to offer fee relief, perhaps the switch would make the losses less painful.

These times do make pensions (defined benefit plans), those antiquated savings stabilizers (like Social Security) look awfully good. I just hope next time some politician suggests privatization, that we remember these trying times.

Where You Live; What you are Worth - Retirement Planning and Credit

Do you live in a state where housing has taken a big hit? Do you live in, near or around a place where credit has all but dried up and foreclosures have appeared like so much acne before prom night?
Have you felt immune to the downside fallout of those events because you pay your bills (and more importantly, your mortgage) on time, have little or no debt and money in the bank?

The credit crisis is about to make itself known to millions of Americans who otherwise would have felt as though all of that bad financial news was not their concern. Even folks who have pristine credit, the very ones who use at it is supposed to be used and were proud of the lending power (credit limit) these credit issuers gave them. You were a good risk.

Lately though, credit card companies are estimating, or should I say, re-estimating that risk and its worth to their bottom line. Bad loan decisions and the overall tightening credit market has forced many lenders to rethink their generosity and with that, how much money you can borrow. What was previously a five figure credit limit on home equity lines and credit cards has been reduced often by as much as 90%.

What can you do?
In most instances, nothing. If the financial institution you do business with decides that there is overwhelming risk in your ability to pay off balances, even if you have done so faithfully in the past, the credit limit can and in many cases, without warning, be reduced. Primarily, this seems to be targeted towards small business owners who rely on those credit limits for business and travel decisions. But it is finding its way into the average person’s financial lives as well.

If there is so much as a hint of financial stress in your credit score, even if you don’t live in a state with a high degree of foreclosures, you will eventually come under scrutiny. Best thing to do is maintain your credit score. Do this by paying your bills on time and by communicating with your lender. In many instances, they would like to assess their risk and remedy the situation to not only their best interest, but yours as well.

They may lower or waive any fees on the account or renegotiate the terms of the current loan. Do this by threatening to shop around. There are some better risk-situated financial institutions willing to lure business away from competitors.

The last thing you can do is reconsider the project you might be starting around the house. Determining the value of a remodel has gotten more difficult with the best changes coming from structural improvements rather than upgrades to living spaces. Exterior maintenance and things like electrical, insulation, and plumbing will be more worthwhile fix-it projects than a new kitchen or bathroom.

Small businesses might reconsider the need for certain business trips in terms of return on that investment of time. In some cases, the credit companies may be unwittingly making a business decision for you.

Retirement Planning: The Annuity as a New Idea?

When the new ideas seem complicated, they are not workable for the average investor/employee. Pensions were simple. You worked and when that long career was over, you were rewarded. The advent of the 401(k), a Wall Street invention unlike any other profit generating idea ever created, was offered to the most captive group of investors, add a little fear of the future and you have the perfect income producing vehicle.

And then, say it could be better. Say it needs to be improved. Say it is not really our fault – we are smart enough just not as logical as previously thought. There are far too many of us not using these tools and far too many potentially profitable fees left uncollected.

Which gives folks like Professor Merton, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School and a winner of the 1997 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences an opportunity.

Its just too bad Prof. Merton mentioned annuities. He actually had my attention until that point. Perhaps I should begin with the thinking about retirement allocation that he so deftly describes as" "But that knowledge won't qualify you to decide how much mid-cap European stock you should have in your portfolio, any more than it would enable you to perform surgery on yourself." True enough, but removing a splinter is simple surgery; transplanting a heart on the other hand is not.

If knowledge and time truly are the only obstacles - although I believe that the ever complicated financial products that are available are designed to make us feel less than qualified to remove even a simple splinter, then Wall Street should demystify the process.

If annuities were truly the solution, then businesses could once again create a pension with guarantees. Why they don't is quite easy to answer: They do like the cost structure.

Retirement, as we have come to dream about, is a time in life when we can rely on an income that we worked hard for and the time to enjoy it. Granted, this has been redefined with every passing day - each uptick in inflation, each economic downturn and each political misstep with taxes and spending, keep that dream from fully developing.

But I should emphasize that the single biggest drag on any retirement savings is the cost of getting there. We can play "minimum/maximum needed income" games all day but the simplest solution would be to give the employee a financial review on the same day businesses take the time to give them appraisals. Having the employee opt for channeling their next pay raise or bonus into a long-term plan might be all the incentive they need to continue to work harder all while giving the employee a sense that the company is more than just a "gatekeeper" and closer to the good old days of pensions, when the company seemed to actually care about loyalty and rewarded it with a defined benefit.

Now I fully realize that we will never be able to go back to those days, but annuities - an investment/insurance hybrid of dubious nature and questionable need is not the answer.