African Americans Retiring Earlier but Saving Less

New study shows the Black community only saves an average of $9,000

African Americans have stopped working sooner, but with less money saved up. 

A new study by Prudential shows that African Americans retire earlier than the general population.  

About 25 percent of African Americans are expected to retire before they are 60 years old, compared to 20 percent of the general population. 

The average age for African Americans is 56, that is three years younger than the general population, according to the study. 

In terms of savings, they have a median savings of $9,000 in their employer-sponsored plans, compared to $20,000 among the general population. 

One of the reasons for saving less, the study found, is that African Americans take out loans or withdrawals from plans before retirement age for immediate needs. 

Another reason is that African Americans seek safety rather than growth. The survey shows nearly three-quarters of those surveyed have saving accounts, but they are half as likely to invest in IRAs and less likely to invest in 401(k) than the general populations.

Are you saving up for your retirement? 

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Barbara Walters Announces Retirement

The television news pioneer will leave her career next summer

After over 50 years of being on television, broadcast journalist icon Barbara Walters will retire in the summer of 2014. 

Walters made the official announcement on her talk show “The View” Monday morning after news leaked the day before that she would make a statement in regards to her career. 

“I have been on television continuously for over 50 years, but in the summer of 2014, a year from now, I plan to retire from appearing on television at all,” Walters said. 

Walters said she will continue with “The View” as co-executive producer.  

“I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on ‘The View’ and with ABC News,” Walters said. “I created ‘The View’ and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it.” 

She joined ABC in 1976, where she became the first female co-anchor on an evening news program. Before that, she began her career at NBC News where she spent 15 years and served as co-host of the “Today” show. 

In 1997, she created “The View” where she has been a co-host ever since then.

Throughout her career, Walters has interviewed notable public figures such as Fidel Castro and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Benachem. 

She has also interviewed every U.S. President since Richard Nixon and was the only journalist to get the exclusive interview with Monica Lewinsky after her romantic affair with President Bill Clinton.  

“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” she said. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women and ok, some men too, who will be taking my place.”

You can view the entire official announcement here: 

Americans Increasingly Working Past Age 65

Plans to retire pushed back

The percentage of Americans 65 and over who are still working has continued to increase in the past five years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 18.5 percent were working in 2012. Additionally, research has shown that people ages 55 to 64 are more likely to keep working for a few extra years because they didn’t think they could afford to retire. At one time, from the late 1940s through the mid-1980s, the percentage of people over age 65 who were in the labor force fell as they took advantage of pensions and Social Security payments. Now, however, people work longer and wait to collect more lucrative benefits, but more companies have moved from pension-type retirement plans to 401(k)-type plans. Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for  Retirement Research at Boston College said that those still working partly do it by choice: "When you’re talking with people older than 65, people are healthier and better educated and jobs are less physically demanding, and that makes it attractive to stay in the labor force." (TODAY)

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CEO Push To Make Employees Retire Later

Group calling to raise the retirement age to 70.

According to Think Progress, a group called The Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of the largest corporations in the nation, is calling to raise the retirement age to 70. 

The group claims that Social Security is no longer affordable and plans to lobby Congressional lawmakers and the Social Security Administration with its plan.

The also want to partially privatize the health insurance program for older Americans.

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Americans Increasingly Dipping Into Retirement Savings Account

Using money to spend on current expenses

Americans are increasingly dipping into to their retirement savings accounts for non-retirement needs, according to new data. More than one in four American workers with 401(k) and other retirement savings accounts use them to pay current expenses, like mortgages, credit card debt or other bills. The withdrawals subsequently drain nearly a quarter of the $293 billion that workers and employers deposit into the accounts each year. Those in their 40s have been the most likely to do so with one-third turning to their retirement accounts for relief. Data from Vanguard, one of the nation’s largest 401(k) managers, show a 12 percent increase in the number of workers who took loans against their retirement accounts or withdrew money outright since 2008. (Washington Post)

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Are LGBTs Better Off Financially?

Lack of rights may foster frugality

As the U.S. continues to rack up more than $1 trillion of new debt every year, there's one group that's reportedly handling their finances more favorably. According to a survey by Prudential, members of the gay community manage their money better than the average American.

Prudential's poll results show that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people earn significantly more in income, owe less in debt, have more in household savings, and are more efficiently prepared for retirement than their heterosexual counterparts.

Michele Meyer-Shipp, chief diversity officer at Prudential, cites a number of factors, one being that many members of the LGBT community tend to feel uncertain about the future of gay rights, thus they become more prudent with their paychecks.

Susan Stryker, professor of gender & women's studies at the University of Arizona, agrees. "LGBT people are often excluded from family support both emotionally and financially," she said. "So they sometimes have to develop the capacity to fend for themselves and be very self-reliant. Because they've historically been less likely to have a marriage, there has been less likelihood of getting survivors benefits or pensions in old age, and less likelihood of having children, and thus the need to plan to take care of oneself."

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Still, Stryker is wary of who Prudential counted as participants because, to her knowledge, "trans[gender] people suffer far higher rates of unemployment and underemployment than other Americans, and lesbian women make less money than men."

Equally unsure of Prudential's findings is Marianne LaFrance, professor of psychology, and of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Yale University.

Katt Williams Announces Retirement

No more stand-up for the comedian

Katt Williams is having a rough few weeks and, in light of the recent events, the comedian has announced his retirement from stand-up. On Sunday (November 25), he allegedly led police on a street chase through Sacramento, Ca. after they observed him riding a 3-wheeled motorbike on the sidewalk. Moments later, he walked into a Target and slapped an employee. On Thursday (November 29), Williams was a no-show for the first of a planned two-night engagement at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Wa. This past Sunday, he was arrested on charges of assault, harassment and obstruction after allegedly threatening people at a sports bar in South Lake Union. Early Monday morning, Williams' tour manager Suge Knight posted his bail and he was released from the King County Jail. Hours later, he was kicked out of the Courtyard Seattle Downtown Lake Union Marriott because several guests complained about the smell of marijuana coming from his room. Later that night, in an interview with local Seattle TV station KOMO, he announced his retirement, saying:

"I'm just going to go ahead and announce my retirement from stand-up. I'm kinda done. I've already discussed it with my kids. I wasn't really going to do it on a Seattle street. I was going to Los Angeles and do it in the offices of ICM or LiveNation."

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Women Worse at Retirement Saving: Here's What to Do

Start putting your needs first and don't be afraid to talk dollars and cents

Women are increasingly the breadwinners in their households, but a recent report finds that they are worse at saving for retirement than their male counterparts.

Investment firm Scottish Widows revealed that, at 10 percentage points, the gender gap in retirement saving has reached a record high, equating to a difference of $48,100. Though the report was specific to the UK - stating that their women save an average of $1,252 less than men each year - the United States sees its women lagging behind, too.

Vanguard, an investment company, found that its male clients' account balances were 50 percent to 60 percent higher than those of women. Men's average account balance was $94,063, compared with women's $59,104, while their median account balance was $31,388, compared with women’s $20,877.

The report acknowledged that women in its sample tended "to have lower incomes and shorter job tenure than men."

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However, experts also cite personality traits and lifestyle choices as reasons behind women's savings shortcomings, not just the circumstances of their employment.

"Women typically watch after the 'village' not after 'self,'" said Kimberly Friedmutter, an acclaimed life management expert. "It literally takes a village to urge a woman to spend on herself, let alone to save for herself because we are nurturers by nature. Women are also positively driven versus negatively driven, meaning we don't often see our futures as consequential. We overestimate our health and wealth, not fully believing in the rainy day."

And while women need to understand that "rainy days" are possible, the tendency for women to view their savings as the "rainy day" fund can be just as detrimental, according to Lynn Graves of Scottish Widows. In an interview with CNBC, Graves said women too often view their savings as a pot to dip into to cover unexpected costs at any time, and not as a fund to pay their expenses when the time comes that they either cannot or do not wish to work any longer.

And as people continue to live longer while having fewer children, ever more older retirees will be completely reliant on their pension or retirement funds to support themselves.

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AARP Creates Social Security Online Tool

People over 50 can track retirement with new technology.

AARP members are joining the digital age with a new online app being made available to them.

The Social Security Q&A Tool will give members answers to the most frequently-asked questions about Social Security retirement benefits. 

Example questions on the website include:

"What benefits can I get from my ex-husband?" 

"How do I know if I worked long enough to qualify?" 

"Can I get my Social Security benefits if I'm imprisoned?" 

Sounds like some serious stuff.