News For, By and About People
By Mark Miller
Tribune Media Services
If you’ve spent hours analyzing the investment strategies of the mutual funds in your retirement portfolio, here’s some bad news: You could have saved a lot of time just focusing on the fees.
Meet the new boss: you.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that the unemployment rate for teens this summer is expected to be 26.4 percent — the highest number since they began tracking in 1948. Double that number and you begin to come close to the unemployment rate for black and Hispanic teens. Summer jobs that many of us were accustomed to growing up are virtually non-existent. Research shows a direct correlation to criminal activity and lack of meaningful work experience among teens.
No matter what changes are made, it’s a sure bet Social Security isn’t going away anytime soon-and it’s 100 percent certain that the program will be one of your most important sources of security in retirement. But the amount you’ll receive over the course of your retirement isn’t assured or automatic.
Work in retirement? It might sound like a contradiction in terms, but we’re looking for ways to achieve financial security over a retirement that could last 20 years or more. One of the best ways to do that is to work just a little longer than you might have planned. Working for even a few additional years can pay a surprisingly large bonus.
By Robert Pagliarini, Tribune Media Services
By Robert Pagliarini
“The nature of any human being, certainly anyone on Wall Street, is ‘the better deal you give the customer, the worse deal it is for you.'” -Bernard Madoff, convicted Wall Street swindler
Remember the Bo Diddley song “Who Do You Love?” When it comes to financial advice, a better question might be, “Who do you trust?” Bernie Madoff’s victims certainly wish they’d thought harder about that question, and the general cloud of scandal hanging over Wall Street these days reinforces the need to work with trustworthy-and competent-financial advisers.