Retirees Taking Early Social Security Benefits Hits 35-Year LowBoomers have got the message: For most people, it makes sense to delay Social Security benefits to age 70 if possible. More made the choice to delay in 2011 than at any time since 1976. Here's how you can afford to wait too. Getty ImagesStudio shot of social security card and banknotesRetirement-minded Americans are getting the message: it pays to delay triggering Social Security benefits. That was one of the chief findings of a GAO study last year, and now the “take-up” rate for those who are eligible stands at a 35-year low. This is great news. Financially speaking, it means more retirees will be in better shape for the long haul. Those taking benefits fell a ... Continue reading →
Families with children who aren't flying first or business class now have to board with their ticketed boarding groups.The airline adopted the policy last month "to simplify the boarding process and to reduce the overall number of boarding groups," says United spokesman Charles Hobart.Most airlines, including JetBlue Airways, Virgin America and Delta Air Lines, let families with small children board before most coach passengers."We work to make the travel experience as comfortable and easy as possible for our customers and know that families traveling with small children may have their hands full and need extra time to get settled in on their flights," says JetBlue spokeswoman Allison Steinberg.The move comes as airlines increasingly charge fees for passengers to board early and sit in certain seats. ... Continue reading →
Yvetta Fedorova The definition of an optimist:Someone, like me, who plans to get more done than time permits.Having failed to achieve the impossible, someone, like me, who is sure everything will somehow get done anyway.A more classical definition from the Mayo Clinic: “Optimism is the belief that good things will happen to you and that negative events are temporary setbacks to be overcome.”In one study, adults shown to be pessimists based on psychological tests had higher death rates over a 30-year period than those who were shown optimistic. No doubt, the optimists were healthier because they were more inclined to take good care of themselves.Jane Brody on health and aging. Unlike Voltaire’s Candide, I’ve yet to be stripped of my optimism, though there are clearly ... Continue reading →
APSure. Celebrate now. Because tomorrow you have to find a real job.By Eve TahminciogluNearly 2 million college graduates will be heading out into the tough job market this spring, and even though job opportunities are growing, the last thing grads need is to make dumb mistakes.Many employers are eager to hire newly minted graduates. According to a poll by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies expect to hire about 10 percent more graduates from the Class of 2012 than they did last year. But that doesn’t mean you’ll easily be able to land the gig you want, because with an unemployment rate above 8 percent you still have to make a good impression.According to a study of human resource managers by The Center ... Continue reading →
What President Obama Wants You To Tell Your Kids About Money — and WhenA useful new government website has just gone live, offering easy teaching points for parents who want to help their kids grow up knowing a thing or two about compound interest and 19 other key financial concepts. The White House has put the final touches on a nifty new website offering guidelines on how parents can reinforce money lessons with their kids, starting as young as age three. It’s called Money As You Grow: 20 things kids need to know to live financially smart lives, and it’s an outgrowth of the money milestones project that I first reported in January. The website is interactive and easy to use. It divides broad, easy ... Continue reading →
What President Obama Wants You To Tell Your Kids About Money — and WhenA useful new government website has just gone live, offering easy teaching points for parents who want to help their kids grow up knowing a thing or two about compound interest and 19 other key financial concepts. The White House has put the final touches on a nifty new website offering guidelines on how parents can reinforce money lessons with their kids, starting as young as age three. It’s called Money As You Grow: 20 things kids need to know to live financially smart lives, and it’s an outgrowth of the money milestones project that I first reported in January. The website is interactive and easy to use. It divides broad, easy ... Continue reading →
Michael Stravato for The New York Times Adrian Ortiz, a former lawyer, teaches kindergarten in Houston. HOUSTON — Wearing brick-red scrubs and chatting in Spanish, Miguel Alquicira settled a tiny girl into an adult-size dental chair and soothed her through a set of X-rays. Then he ushered the dentist, a woman, into the room and stayed on to serve as interpreter. A male dental assistant, Mr. Alquicira is in the minority. But he is also part of a distinctive, if little noticed, shift in workplace gender patterns. Over the last decade, men have begun flocking to fields long the province of women. Mr. Alquicira, 21, graduated from high school in a desolate job market, one in which the traditional opportunities, like construction and manufacturing, for ... Continue reading →
Kizzy shares five things you can do to get ahead this summer. You have waited all year for this. Visions of lying out by the pool, or running on the beach play through your mind on an endless loop. You’ve studied hard, finals are over, and you are finally free for the summer! While it is great to get in some much needed rest and relaxation, there are a few things you can do to make sure that when school resumes you are in a better place than when it ended. College is a time to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible so that when you enter the workforce you can actually obtain a job. Perhaps over this summer you could do one ... Continue reading →
The Future of Retirement? 401(k)s That Look Like Old-Fashioned PensionsA frantic search for safe, guaranteed monthly income in retirement is leading government and big employers to make their 401(k) plans look a lot more like a traditional pension. But you will still have to self fund One of the biggest flaws in most people’s retirement plan is something that previous generations rarely worried about: monthly income guaranteed for life. But the fix is in, and before long your 401(k) may look a lot more like your dad’s pension. That’s a good thing. Traditional pensions that pay a set monthly income to retirees, based on their wages and length of service, were once the foundation of retirement. Along with Social Security, this benefit covered the bulk ... Continue reading →
