A defined benefit plan is the granddaddy of retirement plans. Unfortunately, in the years to come, these plans will likely become the retirement equivalent of a dinosaur. In a defined benefit plan, as noted earlier, an employee’s years of loyal service are rewarded with the continuation of income post retirement based on a predetermined formula defined by the company. These formulas vary from company to company, so if you’re covered by a defined benefit plan, be certain to ask your human resources department to provide you with the information you need to review your benefits. (more…)

The thought of retire early may be an illusion for some and a punishment for others. Everything is, as the saying goes, depending on how you look at it. First, is it the decision whether retirement is voluntary or forced? Often when companies offer their employee early retirement is not really such an offer since the other option is to be fired. (more…)

If you, like many Americans today, are longing to leave the rat race and retire from your job, but don’t feel that you can yet afford to do so, this third and final article in a series on “Redefining Retirement”, discusses one of the most critical success factors in starting and building a successful home-based business as a baby boomer entrepreneur or retiring baby boomers: Time Management. (more…)

If you are counting on your 401k plan for retirement - beware! The current financial crisis and stock market collapse are troubling enough, but what many retirement savers don’t know is that their 401k plans may not be up to the task.

401k’s have become the predominant retirement funding tool in the U.S. Twenty-five years ago, traditional defined benefit pensions plans were the primary type of retirement plan covering more than 60% of the workforce that had pension plan coverage. Today, defined contribution plans (mostly 401k) are the primary retirement plan for 63% of the covered workforce. (more…)

Virtually all industrialized countries have enacted legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment or occupation on the basis of race, religion, sex and various other grounds. Very few have laws banning age discrimination.

Among those that do, the United States has the best-established legislation. Age discrimination laws have been adopted at the federal level and by most states. The principal federal legislation is the (more…)