Not quite a year ago, I reported that Congress was considering suspending the required minimum distribution (RMD) requirement for retirees. The reason for this is that the stock market had just collapsed, and they didn’t want retirees being forced to liquidate holdings at the bottom.
While Congress ultimately acted, it was a classic case of too [...]

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Taxes are a huge consideration when planning for retirement. As you’re building up your nest egg, one of the big decisions that you’ll face is whether you should put your money in a traditional, tax-deferred account or a Roth-style account.
Of course, we don’t all face this dilemma. After all, access to Roth IRA accounts is [...]

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The topic of safe withdrawal rates is critically important to retirees. Earlier this week we talked about retirement withdrawal strategies, but that was a discussion of how to access your money rather than how much money you can safely distribute per year.
What’s a “safe” withdrawal rate?
While there are no easy answers, the stakes couldn’t be [...]

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The latest issue of Time Magazine featured an article that was very critical of the 401(k) system. In it, they argued that “the 401(k) is a lousy idea, a financial flop, a rotten repository for our retirement reserves.”
Why all the hate?
So just what is it that Time hates about 401(k) plans? For starters, 401(k) plans [...]

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In honor of National Save for Retirement Week, I wanted to take a minute to point out some excellent books about investing. Truth be told, I thoroughly enjoy reading about money and finance, but I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to these things.
With that in mind, here are three great books that [...]

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This is a guest post from Mike Piper, author of Investing Made Simple and proprietor of The Oblivious Investor. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
The Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA question gets a lot of press, and that makes sense. By choosing correctly, you can significantly reduce [...]

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Last week I mentioned the possibility that 401(k) limits might be reduced in 2010. This week, I wanted to highlight some proposed retirement savings changes that President Obama outlined in his weekly radio address. Here they are:

Auto-enrollment in retirement plans. The administration plans on clearing up some of the bureaucratic hurdles that make auto-enrollment a [...]

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According to human resources consulting firm Mercer, the IRS might be forced to reduce 401(k) contribution limits in 2010. Next year’s limits, which are tied to inflation, will be announced in October.
Inflation has been negative since March so, unless it picks up between now and October, the IRS will have no choice but to reduce [...]

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This is a guest post from Dawn of Frugal for Life. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to her RSS feed.
I’ve twice been given the opportunity to rollover my 401(k) instead of cashing it out, and I’ve twice failed to do so. In both cases, I mistakenly placed today’s concerns ahead [...]

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Last week, my wife and I received a letter from Vanguard informing us that one of our mutual funds accounts qualifies for conversion to “Admiral Shares.” For those that aren’t familiar with Admiral Shares, this is a very good thing. Here’s why:
“Admiral Shares are a class of Vanguard funds created to recognize and encourage the [...]

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