In case you missed it
Posted by Joellen LeavelleHere’s some of the latest news from the world of pensions:
▪    Have you see our new statistics pages? We’ve got a wealth of answers to your statistical pension-related questions. Check out our new Statistics section.
▪    In a new brief, Is Pension Inequality Growing?, researchers from the Center for Retirement Research show how trends in pension coverage contribute to a growing retirement income disparity between higher-income workers and lower-income workers. You can find other studies on pension-related issues in our Reports section.
▪    Over at U.S. News & World Report’s Planning to Retire blog, Emily Brandon uses two studies from the Center for Retirement Research (the one mentioned above and another one on pension coverage) to paint a troubling picture of retirement security.
▪    We’ve been in the news! Check out what PRC Director Karen Ferguson said about 401(k) matches in USA Today and read the Los Angeles Times to learn how PRC Policy Director Karen Friedman thinks 401(k) plans have fared in the stock market.
▪    The House Committee on Ways and Means has been granted an extension to debate 401(k) fee legislation, which has already been passed by House Committee on Education and Labor. Read our summary of this legislation.
▪    The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare has released a new video warning about the threats posed by the proposed Entitlement Commission. Watch the video on the National Committee’s YouTube channel. While you’re at it, read the blog entry PRC Policy Director Karen Friedman wrote about the proposed fast-track commission.
▪    Eric Schurenberg of CBS MoneyWatch.com takes apart a recent Investment Company Institute survey to show that 401(k)s still need a lot of fixing.
Print - 
E-mail
January 15th, 2010 at 12:57 am
“Last year, when the stock market collapsed, some investors with a 2010 target-date fund lost as much as 40% of their savings, while others with a different 2010 target-date fund lost about 25%. Target-date funds are supposed to shift investments over time to become more conservative.”…….this from the article mentioned above by Ferguson in the USA Today.
This is really the problem. So many participants within just a few years of needing to take distributions on their 401k’s are participating in WAY too much risk. Even in these target-date funds. The ones I have seen are far too aggressive for the close-to-retired folks.
And honestly, they’re the ones that really matter the most. It’s one thing for a 25-year old to lose one-quarter of his $7,000. It’s quite another for a 55-year old to lose one-quarter of his $700,000.
Jeff