Personal Finance Blog By MoneyRates - Money Market
Savings accounts, Social Security, pensions, investments: Will they provide enough income for retirement?
August 24, 2010
Seventy-five years after the Social Security program was launched, more than half of baby boomers who haven't retired yet plan to rely on Social Security for part of their retirement income, according to a recent report commissioned by the Insured Retirement Institute. Surprising? Maybe not. Worrying? Certainly. Many fear the wave of retiring baby boomers [...]
Retirement Savings: More Americans Worry They Won't Have Enough
July 6, 2010
As the recession's effects linger, worries about retirement savings grow. About a third of Americans are concerned they won't have enough income and assets to finance their retirement, up from 25 percent in February 2009, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends Project. Many of those already at [...]
'Frugality Fatigue': Could Higher Spending Lead to Higher Savings Rates?
June 15, 2010
In releasing its latest poll on consumer spending, Gallup coined a new syndrome with which most of us can relate: "frugality fatigue." Who, after all, hasn't grown tired of clipping coupons, putting off big purchases and saving every spare dime, only to find savings rates at minuscule levels during the recession? Unfortunately, the rich apparently [...]
Making Sense of Unemployment Numbers
May 7, 2010
With the announcement on Friday that the U.S. economy added 290,000 jobs in April--the biggest monthly gain in four years -- you'd think we'd be hearing champagne corks popping across the country. Unfortunately that statistic was accompanied by another, less uplifting number. The unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent. What Gives? The [...]
Why Tax-Exempt Investments Are No Longer So Exciting
March 4, 2009
It used to be that there was a difference between investments with taxable dividends and those which were not taxable. If your tax bracket was high enough, tax-exempt investments made real financial sense. For instance, back in the 1950s and 1960s the federal income tax rate was as high as 91 percent for earnings over $400,000. [...]
Do You Deserve More For Your CD?
February 20, 2009
Almost $130 billion has been paid out to financial managers in the past few years, money that savers and investors didn't get.
Dividend Income: Is It So Certain?
February 19, 2009
I was reading the words of a nationally-syndicated columnist recently who was recommending several stocks. This was interesting stuff, I thought, including the suggestion that now is the time to buy shares in long established companies that pay good dividends.
But, actually, as I looked at the author's list I saw several companies that are indeed [...]
