Roadmap to retirement

The Pension Rights Center has collected links to fact sheets and other publications that serve as a roadmap to helpful information about retirement plans for private-sector workers. Following a section on general information about planning for retirement, the links are organized according to stages of employment:

1. Starting a job
2. Participating in a retirement plan
3. While you are working
4. Switching jobs or retiring
5. When your family status changes
6. When your employer or plan changes

This information only applies to pension and retirement savings plans offered by companies, unions, and nonprofit organizations other than churches. Information about government plans, IRAs, and church plans can be found elsewhere on the Pension Rights Center website.

General information about planning for retirement

• Retirement Toolkit (U.S. Department of Labor (DOL))

This toolkit includes links to publications on retirement planning from three agencies: the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

• Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement (DOL)

• Taking the Mystery out of Retirement Planning (DOL)   

• Retirement Plan Basics, a publication from the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER)), features retirement information for women.

• Women and Retirement Savings (DOL) 
• Information on the importance of saving for retirement is included in the Saving Matters section of the DOL website.

• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor have useful glossaries of terms and definitions. 
  • IRS glossary
  • DOL glossary  
• Additional helpful publications are on the Consumer Financial Education section of the Actuarial Foundation’s website.
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a master list of retirement plan topics.