Month: March 2016

401k Fees: An Employee Checklist

18-years ago, I worked for a company whose 401k offering had high fees, poor investment choices, and poor service. Employees felt powerless with exception to trying to ask good questions at the meeting once a year when the 401k provider came in. Unfortunately, our questions were never well answered and our employer did not hear our desire for improvements to the plan. The good news is that those days are fading quickly and employees are increasingly empowered.

Employees Advocating For Fiduciary Duty

Defined contribution plans like 401k's transferred a lot of responsibility for managing one's retirement investments from the employer to the employee. In an effort to best achieve retirement goals, it makes sense for employees to also be involved in fighting back against high 401k fees and for better investment options. After all, you've got to fight for your own self-interests.

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An impartial review of the Allianz Core Income 7 Annuity

The annuity business has grown in popularity as investors, especially those nearing retirement, look for options to protect themselves from stock market volatility and give them a decent income stream in retirement. With over $200 billion in annual sales, the annuity industry is big business with lots of salesmen trying to persuade you to make a purchase.

Today I will dig deep into the Allianz Core Income 7 annuity which has been requested by several readers in recent weeks. It currently is one of the top 10 best-selling annuities on the market. Sales of indexed annuities, a fixed annuity that provides a minimum guaranteed rate of interest combined with an interest rate tied to the movement of an index, increased to $54.5 billion in 2015, a 13% gain year over year. This is the biggest percentage increase of any form of annuity.

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Taking Too Much Risk May Sink Your Retirement

Thanks to the Fed's zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), baby boomers are facing a much tougher road to retirement than those in the past. While it may seem like an eternity, it was only 10 years ago when you could park your money in a savings account and earn interest of 5%. Retirees who worked hard and saved their money could safely invest their assets in retirement and not have to worry about suffering any losses.

Today is an especially challenging environment for investors who are looking to generate a safe income stream. No Treasury bond will pay a safe 5% return as a 30-year Treasury Bond yields just 2.69%. This is causing a massive gap between what boomers say they want in retirement and what they're doing to make it happen.

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