Archive for the 'Activism' Category

A Ban on Banks Trading for Their Own Profit

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Erin

Here’s some hopeful news!  Recently, the FDIC announced that it was supporting a proposed rule that would ban the practice of banks trading to make a profit for themselves instead of their clients.  Currently, banks can bet on a risky investment with their own money.  This was the problem in 2008 when the bets the banks chose failed and the tax payers were forced to bail them out.  The rule also helps to limit a bank’s investment in hedge funds – banks would no longer be able to own more than 3 percent.

Any regulations guarding against another financial crisis seems like a needed step – but of course, the proposed rule has its loop holes.  The banking industry is already complaining that the new regulations would be too confusing and complicated.  Others have pointed out stiff rules could stop them from buying and selling the investments that their clients are demanding. Barlett Naylor, a financial policy advocate for the group Public Citizen was quoted as saying, “The regulators are proposing that they will detect the difference between various trades by fishing through complex data provided by the banks after the fact.  This is an invitation for evasion.”

What do you think?  Is this going to help protect us from another financial crisis?  Or do you think it’s just a temporary fix that people can easily take advantage of?

See at what age you’ll run out of money by using our Retirement Calculator.

Sign up for one of our newsletters!

 

 

Wall Street Protests

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Erin

Three weeks ago, a movement started on Wall Street.  A loosely organized group of people from all different walks of life came to New York to stand up to what they describe as the corporate greed of financial institutions that is causing the high unemployment in the U.S.  By using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the movement is spreading to other parts of the country – rallies have been planned for Memphis, Tennessee, McAllen, Texas  and Hilo, Hawaii just to name a few.

The crowd consists of anti-capitalists, anarchists, students, parents, business professionals who have been laid off and have no current job options and military members who are facing a bleak future.  The protests may have been loosely planned, but the message is getting out in mass.  People are tired of the current economic situation and are ready to fight.  Between unemployment, tax payer bailouts, astronomical student loan debts and retirement funds being eaten away, it seems that no one is immune from the problem.  Do you think the demonstrations will have an impact?  What do you think it will take to get the attention of the government and corporations?

How has the current economic environment impacted your retirement fund?  Use our retirement calculator to see what you can do to improve your plan.

Sign up for one of our informational newsletters.

Is Your Community Aging With You?

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Erin

You would think that with Baby Boomers hitting their 60s, America would be ready to age with them.  Think again.  In a survey entitled, “The Maturing of America.  Getting Communities on Track for an Aging Population,” it was found that only 46 percent of American communities have begun to address the needs of our aging population.

What are some changes that would help support the effort to make places more senior friendly?  Things such as road signs that are easier to read, adjusting the timing on pedestrian crosswalks to allow for mobility impaired adults, supporting meal delivery services and creating community centers where older adults can easily access recreation are just a few ways to create a better environment for older adults.  Click here to read the full report and see what’s being done to support communities maturing with their population.

Is your community prepared to age with you?  What are some suggestions you would give your city planners to improve where you live?

Are you planning on living out your golden years in your current home or exploring other options?  Check out your different options, here.

Looking for a way to stay in your home and tap into it’s equity?  A reverse mortgage may be right for you.

Sign up for our newsletter!

AARP Calls for Withdrawal of Fed’s TILA Proposal Due to Reverse Mortgage Revisions

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Jason

The New York Times, November 29th, 2010

AARP is requesting the Federal Reserve withdraw a proposal and defer
changes to the Truth In Lending Act (TILA) until next year due to
revisions relating to reverse mortgages and the right of rescission.

“Not only would those two provisions greatly undermine existing
consumer protections, they break with Congressional intent and exceed
the authority given to the Board,” said David Certner, AARP Legislative
Policy Director in a comment letter.

Earlier this year, the Fed proposed enhanced consumer protection
and disclosure requirements for reverse mortgages that prohibit lenders
from requiring the purchase of another financial or insurance product
as a condition of obtaining the loan.

“Unfortunately, this prohibition includes a safe harbor provision
that deems transactions to be in compliance if the purchase of such
financial products occurs at least 10 calendar days after the reverse
mortgage transaction has been completed. Allowing for such an exception
essentially nullifies this important prohibition,” said Certner.

According to the letter, the safe harbor proposal also appears to be
“contrary to the intent of provisions of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act.”  As part of the law, the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is required to conduct a study of
reverse mortgages within one year of being established.

The agency can also issue regulations as necessary for “protecting
borrowers with respect to obtaining reverse mortgage loans for the
purpose of funding investments, annuities, and other investment products
and the suitability of a borrower in obtaining a reverse mortgage for
such purpose.”

Read more of this article.

About Reverse Mortgages:  AARP has, for a long time, supported the expansion of the various reverse mortgage programs offered by HUD, and their concern reflects a worry that reverse mortgages may become more difficult to get.  Consider whether or not a reverse mortgage is right for you at NewRetirement.com.

Giving a Gift and Getting a Return

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Jason

The New York Times, November 10th, 2010

FOR retirees increasingly worried as interest rates on their savings
accounts and money market funds have plunged below 1 percent, an appeal
from their alma mater or a respected charity, offering a return of 5
percent or more on a charitable gift annuity, can seem like a rare
opportunity.

Is it? Or is there a catch? The answer to both questions is no. But the questions are simplistic.

Better to ask yourself: “Do I want to support the charity?” and “Is a
gift annuity a wise choice for me?” If you answer the first one with a
yes, then you need to assess your finances and understand what
charitable gift annuities are and how they work.

“Some people assume it’s like a bank account,” said Avery E. Neumark, a
retirement specialist and partner in the New York accounting firm Rosen
Seymour Shapss Martin & Company. “But it’s not. It is just what the
name says — a gift. You give away the principal, and you get a
guaranteed lifetime income. You can’t compare that with today’s money
market rates. The downside is you are locked in.”

The rates, which far exceed today’s annual 1.1 percent inflation rate,
might seem low years from now if inflation heats up.

For the choice to be a wise one, Mr. Neumark said, people should
generally be nearing retirement and charitably inclined, have liquid
assets and other income and have taken care of other needs. “I had one
client who did very well,” he said. “He was 90 years old, so the rate
was very high, and he lived until he was 103.”

The American Council on Gift Annuities
defines the product as a contract under which a charity, in return for a
gift of cash or property, agrees to pay a fixed amount over the term of
either one or two lives, usually the donors’. Most reputable charities
use rates recommended by the council, which vary with the annuitants’
ages and whether there are one or two. Because of the charity, there are
tax benefits.

For a single life, the latest rate table called for a 55-year-old to
receive 5 percent a year, a 60-year-old 5.2 percent, a 65-year-old 5.5
percent, a 70-year-old 5.8 percent, an 80-year-old 7.2 percent and
someone 90 or older 9.5 percent.

Read more of this article.

Annuity Advice for Retirement:  Even if a charitable gift annuity isn’t right for you, a standard annuity can provide many of the same benefits without some of the downsides.  Consider whether an annuity is the right move for you at NewRetirement.com

In the Health Bill, a New Focus on Elder Abuse

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Jason

The New York Times, April 23rd, 2010

Tucked into the huge new health care law is a whopping $777 million,
spread over the next four years, for programs to prevent and prosecute
elder abuse. Advocates for these programs have been begging Congress for
more money since 1978. Now they are celebrating as if they had won the
lottery.

The provisions
in the law are all but identical to those in the Elder Justice Act,
which was championed by the National
Center on Elder Abuse and its coalition partners for more than 30
years, through Congressional hearings and four failed attempts since
2002, despite bipartisan support, to get the bill to the Senate floor.

Under the new plan, state and local adult protective service programs
will have the first dedicated financing stream from the federal
government. These agencies investigate reports of abuse, neglect and
financial exploitation of elderly and disabled adults, and then insure
the safety of those proven to have been victimized.

“It’s a momentous day for the victims and the people who serve them,”
said Joe Synder, the director of older adult protective services at the
Philadelphia Corporation for Aging and the public policy chairman and
former president of the National Adult Protective Services Organization.
“We have been waiting for this forever.”

The act provides financing for 1,700 new investigators of elder abuse
around the country, for state demonstration grants to test various new
approaches to adult protective services, to support existing state
ombudsmen and to train new ones to investigate complaints related to
long-term care facilities, including assisted living facilities and
nursing homes.

Read more of this article.

Long Term Care Insurance:  With additional protections in place against Elder Abuse, the question now becomes one of whether you will be able to afford Long Term Care should you need it.  One way to ensure that you will is to consider insurance to defray the cost.  Consider the options at NewRetirement.com.

Retiree environmental volunteers less depressed

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Jason

Cornell University, April 16th, 2010

Heads up, retirees: Volunteering on environmental projects could not
only prompt you to get more exercise but also improve mental and
physical through old age, according to a new Cornell
study published online in The Gerontologist (Feb. 19).

The study found that environmental stewardship is strongly linked to
greater physical activity, better self-rated health and fewer symptoms
of depression over a period of 20 years. In fact, the researchers found
that environmental volunteers are half as likely as non-volunteers to
show 20 years later,
whereas other forms of volunteering lower one’s risk by roughly 10
percent.

What’s more, environmental volunteers gain more dramatic health
benefits compared with people engaged in other types of service,
according to the study, which was conducted by researchers in the
College of Human Ecology (CHE) and Weill Cornell Medical College.

“It’s very rare in society that we get to address two problems at
once,” said lead author Karl Pillemer, professor of human development
and CHE associate director of outreach and extension “As retire, they [create] a vast untapped
resource to help improve our natural environment, which is a pressing
need right now. The bonus is that by doing so they also gain substantial
health benefits.”

The authors analyzed data collected between 1974-1994 from the
Alameda County (Calif.) Study, an examination of health and mortality
that followed nearly 7,000 adults since 1965. They note that this is the
first study to examine the health benefits of environmental
volunteering in a large population over an extended period of time,
unlike past studies that have focused on a one-time survey or data set.

Read more of this article.

Working in Retirement:  Almost every study agrees that keeping busy is important for a retiree’s mental and physical well-being.  Be it volunteer work, a part-time job, or just active pursuit of hobbies, these options can help you get the most out of your golden years.

Pension reform: another election issue that will influence political races this year

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Jason

San Francisco Examiner, March 15th, 2010

While healthcare reform is going to be a major issue in elections this
year, there is another issue that may be just as powerful if not more
so-particularly at the local level. The healthcare debate will impact
U.S. Congressional races across the country, and there may be some
trickle down the ballot to state and local elections.

Much more potentially damaging to incumbents is the issue of pension
reform. I attended a town hall meeting last night in Towson sponsored by
Americans
for Prosperity. The subject was pension reform. This is an issue
that could prove disastrous to incumbents, if they choose to ignore it.

Most of the town hall focused on Baltimore County, but the speakers
noted that this is not a situation isolated to the County. The issue of
elected officials’ pension hit widespread consciousness with two recent
incidents.

First, convicted and disgraced former Mayor Sheila Dixon, as part of her
plea deal was allowed to keep her $83,000
a year pension, despite being found guilty by a jury of her peers
of stealing while in office. Second, Baltimore County Councilman Vincent
Gardina announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010. At that
time, it was published that he would begin receiving a pension at age
55, $54,000 a year for the rest of his life.

Some points about the Baltimore County Council and Executive pensions:

1. County Council is a part-time position, requiring an average of 1,000
hours per year, some members will work more and some will work less. By
contrast, someone who works forty (40) hours per week with two weeks
vacation will have worked 2,000 hours per year.

2. County Council salary was $38,500 in 1998, and now it is $54,000, a
forty percent (40%) increase twelve (12) years later. Then, if you are
elected by the rest of the Council to serve as Council President for a
year, you receive an extra $6,000 for that year ($60,000 total for the
year). Gardina has been quoted as saying that $54,000 is not enough for this part-time job.

Read more of this article.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess the state of your pension in regards to your retirement plans at NewRetirement.com

My Mother, the Octogenarian Activist

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Jason

The New York Times, December 12th, 2009

During a phone call with my elderly mother a couple of years ago,
she announced that when her time comes she’d like to die suddenly, in
her sleep. No pain, no fuss.

That plan didn’t work for me, and I told her so. “I’d like a week to
say goodbye, to say I love you,” I said. We debated which ailments — a
stroke? pneumonia? — could provide that crucial seven-day window
between onset and doom.

Not long after, she called me back. Her distinctive laugh — shrieks
audible as far as Siberia, punctuated by gasps — exploded in my ear.
When my sister heard about our conversation, my mother reported, she
put in her own request: three months’ advance death notice for talking
and sharing. (My sister’s a therapist.) After some hard family
bargaining, we compromised at three weeks, although we still haven’t
identified the ideal medical condition for our specific needs.

For a mother to joke with her children about the timing and cause of
her demise might seem ghoulish to some. To me, my mom’s ability to find
humor in life’s darkest corners represents a victory, however
transient, over the inevitable. She has a more prosaic explanation. “I
like to laugh,” she says. “It keeps me healthy.”

Almost half a lifetime ago, my mother made a critical choice: she
pivoted away from the wreckage of her marriage and propelled herself
toward a stellar second act. And as this funny, feisty and remarkable
woman completes the final lap of her 80th year on Dec. 14, she has
become a role model — my role model, in fact — for how to age with
grace, compassion and vitality.

My mother, then Judy Hofstadter, grew up in Brooklyn in a
middle-class Jewish family that promoted academic achievement, and
entered Harvard Law School in 1951 — one of a handful of women in the
second class to admit them. She married the following year and was
pregnant when she graduated in 1954 and settled into life as a
homemaker in Queens. Like many smart women of her generation, she gave
up thoughts of a career to become a full-time wife and mother.

My father was a brilliant physician and a decent man, but his drug
habit dominated our family life. (He died in 2002; he continued to
struggle with addiction but managed to find some peace and stability in
his later years through a second marriage.) My mother co-depended her
way through the mess because that’s what the wives of drug-addicted
doctors did in the 1960s. Even her therapist advised her to accept her
“feminine role.” She parried questions about my dad’s health with
strained smiles and excuses. “Who knew what co-dependence was back
then?” she says now.

Read more of this article.

About Reverse Mortgages:  Learn all about reverse mortgages at NewRetirement.com.

Professional Financial Advisers:  Find out what a financial adviser can do for you at NewRetirement.com.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess your retirement plan with the NewRetirement Retirement Calculator.

A standard for seniors

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Jason

San Francisco Chronicle, July 17th, 2009

It’s hard to believe, but there’s one section of the housing market
that’s going like gangbusters: the reverse mortgage industry, aimed at
senior citizens.

Responsible reverse mortgages offer a wonderful opportunity to cash-strapped seniors.

By allowing seniors to tap into their home equity without requiring
them to sell their homes, the loans give families greater flexibility
during hard times like these. It’s no wonder that the market for these
loans is exploding: The Government National Mortgage Association
announced a record of $590 million worth of reverse mortgage loans in
June, shattering the previous record set just a month earlier of $262
million.

But the key word there is “responsible,” and state Sen. Lois Wolk,
D-Davis, noticed that not every lender was behaving responsibly. Just
as prime-rate borrowers were sometimes sold subprime loans, some senior
borrowers have found themselves trapped in loans with mysterious,
onerous terms that were never right for them in the first place. Her
bill, SB660, would require any lender, broker or other financial entity
recommending the purchase of a reverse mortgage to a senior to behave
with “honesty, good faith and fair dealing.” It’s the same sensible
standard that applies to insurance products for seniors – and it works.

Read more of this article.

About Reverse Mortgages:  Learn all about reverse mortgages at NewRetirement.com

Professional Financial Advisors:  Find out what a financial advisor can do for you at NewRetirement.com.

NewRetirement Retirement Calculator:   Assess your retirement plan with the NewRetirement Retirement

« Older Entries
NewRetirement Blogs Home