Retirement Readiness: Ownership in 401(k)s on the Rise

Author(s): 
Donald Liebenson
More American families with a retirement plan at work are invested in a 401(k), while ownership of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) is declining, according to a recent report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a non-partisan organization.
The share of American families with a member in any employment-based retirement plan from a current employer increased from 38.8 percent in 1992 to 40.6 percent in 2007, before declining in 2010 to 37.9 percent.
Ownership of 401(k)-type plans among these families doubled from 31.6 percent in 1992 to 79.5 percent in 2007, and increased again in 2010 to 82.1 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of families owning an IRA or Keogh retirement plan (for the self-employed) declined from 30.6 percent in 2007 to 28.0 percent in 2010.
Retirement plan assets account for a growing majority of most Americans’financial wealth, outside the value of their home, EBRI found. Defined contribution plan balances accounted for 58.1 percent of families’ total financial assets in2007, and that share grew to 61.4 percent in 2010.  
Retirement readiness remains an upmost concern. EBRI research finds that many people are unlikely to afford a comfortable retirement. “Americans lost a tremendous amount of wealth between 2007 and 2010, and the percentage of families that participated in an employment-based retirement plan and/or owned an IRA decreased as well,” Craig Copeland, EBRI senior research associated and author of the report, said in a statement.
On the plus side, he added,  the percentage of eligible family heads who actually participated in a  defined contribution plan remained virtually unchanged during this time.
Among total IRA assets, rollover IRAs account for 44.5 percent of assets, regular IRAs 44.1 percent, and Roth IRAs 11.4 percent. Therefore, rollover IRAs account for a larger share of assets than regular IRAs, while the two together account for just under 90 percent of the IRA assets. “The report notes that tracking individual-account retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs is important because traditional defined benefit pension plans have long been declining in the private sector, while\defined contribution retirement plans have increased—a trend that makes it ever-more important for most private-sector workers to build their retirement wealth through individual-account savings plans,” the organization cautioned.
A recent American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey found that just over three-quarters (77 percent) of older Americans continue to work for access to a 401(k) or other type of retirement plan.

Source: http://www.millionairecorner.com/article/retirement-readiness-ownership-401ks-rise

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Need an Investor Education? Take Some Tips from Millionaires

Author(s): 
Adriana Reyneri
Investor education increases the chances of reaching personal financial goals. No wonder the most successful money makers put a high premium on financial literacy. Looking to boost your own investor education levels? Take some tips from America’s apex investors:
Investor Education Rule No. 1 - Acquire a Solid Knowledge Base: More than 60 percent of investors with at least $125 million describe themselves as “very knowledgeable” about financial products and investments, and roughly one-third say they are “fairly knowledgeable,” according to Millionaire Corner research.  Financial literacy helps investors set goals, evaluate their current financial situation and chart a suitable course toward retirement security and other desirable outcomes. Where do $125 Million Plus investors obtain their knowledge? They follow the daily financial press (55 percent), consult with financial advisors (50 percent) and follow other financial websites (50 percent), among other sources.
Investor Education Rule No. 2 – Apply Your Knowledge: Two-thirds of $125 Million Plus investors say they like to be actively involved in the day-to-day management of their investments, and 70 percent enjoy investing and “do not want  to give it up.” How much time do $125 Million Plus investors spend managing their finances? A lot. Nearly one-fourth spends more than 30 hours a week reviewing their investments, and another 24 percent spends 20 to 30 hours a week managing their finances. Wealthy investors commonly compare the performance of investments they manage themselves against the performance of investments they entrust to an advisor.
Investor Education Rule No. 3 – Use All Available Tools: America’s wealthiest investors use online resources to extend and apply their hard-earned knowledge. Nearly all of $125 Million Plus investors (98 percent) go online to access personal financial account information, while 96 percent use the Internet to research investments. Close to 90 percent pay bills online and 87 percent conduct trades over their computers, tablets and smart phones.
“The wealthy tend to enjoy a high level of financial literacy,” said Catherine McBreen, president of Millionaire Corner, “but an investor education is within the reach of any individual willing to work hard and make use of available resources.”

Source: http://www.millionairecorner.com/article/need-investor-education-take-some-tips-millionaires-1

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Retail Investors Rejoice: Even ETFs Beat Hedge Funds in 2009

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Retail investors who think they're missing out on the big money because they don't have a million bucks to get into a hedge fund should consider themselves lucky. Hedge funds had their best year in a decade in 2009 -- and yet they couldn't even beat the broader market.

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/01/07/retail-investors-rejoice-even-etfs-beat-hedge-funds-in-2009/

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Bibi's Botched History Lesson

Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast
Benjamin Netanyahu loves history. And he loves deriding his critics for not understanding it as well as he does. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly last year, he attacked journalists for their weak grasp of past events, calling for a "press whose sense of history extends beyond breakfast."But while Netanyahu's sense of history may extend beyond breakfast, he doesn't remember events the way most historians do. Take his comments in this year's U.N. speech, delivered yesterday, about the cold war. In his argument for why the...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2012/09/29/bibi039s_botched_history_lesson_291537.html

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TR35 winner Stephanie Lacour on stretchable electronics

Stephanie Lacour, a research project manager at the University of Cambridge in England, wants to take flexible electronics to the next level, by making them stretchable. Technology Review caught up with Lacour at the Emerging Technology Conference to ask her about the field's potential. In this video clip, Lacour also notes that the impact of her research might not be limited to biology: advertisers could benefit, too.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/VideoPosts.aspx?id=17425

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America's Policy on Bombing.

On the heels of the American drone attacks on suspected terrorist compounds in Pakistan, Bill Moyers Journal takes a closer look at America's history of and current policy on bombing, explores the ethics behind these assaults when civilians become the victims and asks: Does bombing work? Bill Moyers sits down with historian Marilyn Young, author of the forthcoming Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth Century History and former Pentagon official Pierre Sprey, who developed military planes and helped found the military reform movement.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bmjvodcast/~3/bG7MAxRPpHM/profile.html

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