Posts filed as “US mature finance”
Do-it-yourself retirement v the plan that guarantees your income for years
A new idea in California could wrest retirement away from the financial industry and guarantee income for generations at risk
There is a long-running idea in American life that all trends start on the west coast and move east. When it comes to the subject of retirement planning, let's hope that's true.
The do-it-yourself revolution in retirement savings has left the United States on the verge of a crisis; 30 years of...Read more.
Pensions? Always someone else’s problem
Detroit's workers are not the first to see their retirement finances suddenly reduced – they are only the most recent
If a city declares bankruptcy and its current and retired workforce ranging from librarians and sanitation men to police officer and fire fighters are forced to take permanent reductions to their promised monthly pension benefits, will anyone care besides the impacted employees and the unlucky retired workers dependent on that income?
Thanks...Read more.
Pensions? Always someone else’s problem
Detroit's workers are not the first to see their retirement finances suddenly reduced – they are only the most recent
If a city declares bankruptcy and its current and retired workforce ranging from librarians and sanitation men to police officer and fire fighters are forced to take permanent reductions to their promised monthly pension benefits, will anyone care besides the impacted employees and the unlucky retired workers dependent on that income?
Thanks...Read more.
Retirement savings: the million-dollar myth
Conventional wisdom in the 1990s told people saving $1m would be enough for retirement – today, that's not enough
When I got my start writing personal finance in the 1990s, it was conventional wisdom to tell people that if they could save and invest their way to $1m – via their 401(k) and other retirement accounts – their golden years would be a glorious event. They could travel, indulge in a hobby,...Read more.
Retirement savings: the million-dollar myth
Conventional wisdom in the 1990s told people saving $1m would be enough for retirement – today, that's not enough
When I got my start writing personal finance in the 1990s, it was conventional wisdom to tell people that if they could save and invest their way to $1m – via their 401(k) and other retirement accounts – their golden years would be a glorious event. They could travel, indulge in a hobby,...Read more.
Social security payments: grandma and grandpa need a raise
Traditional retirement savings strategies are fast becoming a thing of the past – social security is just about all we've got
It's time to discuss raising social security payments.
What? Aren't the talking heads in Washington trying to cut social security?
Right you are. Their idea is that social security is running out of money, and that unless we raise the age of eligibility, cut benefits, or preferably both, the system will collapse on...Read more.
The economic plan to rob grandma’s bread basket | Helaine Olen
Republicans insist the government is spending too much on social security. Their solution? Something called chained CPI
Here is one of the problems in retirement planning: you can go along for years, faithfully using retirement calculators, re-balancing your stock market investments, reading your estimated social security payouts, just sure you are on track and – well, poof! – the rules of the game can change in an instant.
And, apparently, the United...Read more.
Your 401k won’t save you | Helaine Olen
Most of us have less than $100,000 in retirement savings, less than half what some estimate is needed
Most of us respond to questions about our financial prospects after retirement with sentiments that could be best be compared to the look on Captain Quint's face when he realized he was about to be eaten by the shark in the 1970s classic Jaws.
There is a $6.6tn gap between what we...Read more.
About Helaine Olen
I am the voice of The Bills, a column about the intersection of money and life, at Slate. At Inc., I contribute to the Spread the Wealth personal finance column. My work on politics, economics, workplace culture and women’s issues has been published in numerous other print and on-line publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, Pacific Standard, and The Los Angeles Times, where I wrote and edited the popular “Money Makeover” feature.
I'm the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, and The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn’t Have to be so Complicated, which I co-wrote with Harold Pollack.
What else? I’m a passionate bibliophile, a fan of 1970s pop music and a lover of rummage sales. I live in New York City.
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