Retirement Essays (Examples)

, et.al., 2005; Beam, 2001)).

Marketing Plan -- Each plan offers pluses and minuses depending on the unique situation of the employee. The basis, though, for either plan is a process of communication and buy-in from the employees so that we can move forward toward funding. For the plan to be effective, it must be hierarchical, transparent, repetitive, and explanatory.

Preliminary -- Management committee sets up plan, files required documents, has documents reviewed by CFO and Legal, and works with marketing to publish the plan and documents.

Step 1 -- hole company meeting. Presented by CEO, announcement of retirement plan using Power Point Presentation. The presentation will also be filmed for later viewing, podcast, and available through Internet access for those who cannot attend. In this presentation, the broad levels of the plan will be outlined, the timeframe explained, and there will be a brief question and answer period. In…

Retirement Plan

Financial Plan

The client is a married male in his mid-twenties. It is projected that the client will graduate from college within the next year or so and immediately enter the workforce. The client's degree is in engineering and he is expected to land a well-paying job in a relatively short time. He and his spouse are currently childless but plan on having at least two children. The couple lives in an apartment but are plan on purchasing a house in whatever city the job is offered. The client comes from a long-lived family with the average family member living well into their eighties. The client wishes to pass on accumulated wealth without paying a large percentage in taxes to the government. The client plans on retiring at the age of 70, and will then travel and enjoy life with his spouse.

Current income needs are approximately $2,000…

Retirement Planning

A comfortable retirement is a goal for most workers, but ensuring that comfort takes planning and foresight. Planning for retirement is much more complicated than opening a bank account or belonging to an employer-sponsored pension plan. hile these are excellent beginnings, workers must plan for any and all events that can and will happen after retirement. Employees not only need to plan for retirement income, but they must also plan for the disposition of assets upon death. Employees need to decide where they will live after retirement, how tax matters with be handled, what insurance will be needed, and the list goes on.

Planning for retirement should begin as early as possible in life. ith some careful thought, however, the planning process can be started at any time. The secret is to actually put together a plan at any age, however, the sooner workers begin planning, the more…

Of course, lower income workers have less economic advantage during their worker lives, but when considering retirement benefits, it is necessary to measure them against one's lifetime earnings -- a successful retirement plan is that which allows one to retain the same basic lifestyle, with minimal adjustments, as they did during their working life (Fox 2009). When it comes to Social Security, this perspective quite obviously puts the middle class at a distinct disadvantage.

Other more complex regulations concerning contributions to retirement accounts create other imbalances. There are limits to the yearly contributions that can be made to individual tax-deferred retirement accounts, usually based on both absolute dollars and percentages of income (U.S. Dept. Of Labor 2009). For many of these accounts, married individuals can maintain separate accounts, in effect doubling the amount of annual contributions that can be made to retirement savings (U.S.. Dept. Of Labor 2009). At the…

Retirement Planning

Retirement means different things to different people. For some, retirement means being sufficiently financially independent to travel and relax 24 hours a day. Others may view retirement as a "career change." However an individual views retirement will help determine how much he or she will need to retire. Will the lifestyle change dramatically in retirement, or will an individual continue doing the things you currently do, trading work for leisure and volunteering? Will they incur more expenses in retirement for leisure and travel, or will they prefer to spend more time with children, grandchildren and family?

To get better idea of what expenses will be when an individual is ready to retire, the expenses should be adjusted for inflation. Unfortunately, no one knows the future rate of inflation, so estimates must be made. The table below provides a multiplication factor for expenses for different rates of inflation. For…

etirement

Planning for retirement can be a significant source of anxiety for most people, even those who are currently financially secure. A lack of job security compounds the problem of being able to properly save money for retirement. Mandatory retirement laws make financial planning for retirement even more important, even for the very young. Ideally, I would like to have at least $500,000 in the bank, as cash, for my retirement. As a student on a relatively small salary, this sum seems enormous but I need to remember that if I save even small amounts now, by the time I am old enough to earn a healthy salary that I can perhaps put aside $10,000 per year with the goal of saving $500,000 for retirement. At an ideal interest rate of 7.5%, my retirement account would be sufficient for daily living expenses and regular medical care.

According to Krantz (2011),…

.. Neglecting to do this is the number one mistake made by spouses who inherit because it is the key to the survival of the account after the spouse's death, and it's the key to keeping it in the family."

On page 68 he says taxes on 401(k) NUA lump-sum distributions have changed. "At one time, this special break tax break for easing the burden on lump-sum distributions from ompany plans was available two ways: using 5-year averaging or 10-year averaging. Now just 10-year averaging is used if you qualify for this tax break." In order to qualify for 10-year averaging you must have been born before 1936, you must take the distribution all in one tax year and you must have been in the plan for at least five years before the year of the distribution. He suggests that 403(b)s be rolled over into IAs when one retires and…

To get a reasonable return on a corporate these days, one must sacrifice investment quality, at which point it makes more sense to purchase a higher-quality equity.

ith respect to asset classes among equities, diversification is the most important objective. ith that in mind, all three categories should be represented. Historically, the large caps are the most reliable of the three asset classes, with the lowest risk. These are companies with large markets and they operate in the U.S. so there is little information asymmetry with respect to these stocks. Since the other two classes are higher-risk, they should carry with them a premium. It is worth remembering, however, that most U.S. large caps have a lot of exposure to foreign markets. Rather than investing in a Chinese company you know nothing about to get access to China's growth, you would do just as well to invest in Starbucks or…

Every time I walked by your classroom, I would see the students with their desks together, working on projects, and the room was always decorated with educational media and students' artistic creations."

One of the parents of a special needs child stood up. "Your class, coupled with resource room help, was so important for my son. Brad is very gifted at physical skills and art, but he always struggled to catch up in language arts and math. You stayed with him after class, and taught him special visual and mnemonic devices that reinforced what had been learned during the day, enabling him to keep pace with his peer group. Now he is a college student and is no longer classified as special needs."

Another parent added: "I remember chaperoning with you on the Washington DC trip for the 8th grade. It was amazing how you always kept your sense of…

As Geisel (2004) notes:

Income-tax deductions are worth the most to high-bracket taxpayers, who need little incentive to save, whereas the lowest-paid third of workers, whose tax burden consists primarily of the Social Security payroll tax (and who have no income-tax liability), receive no subsidy at all. Federal tax subsidies for retirement saving exceed $120 billion a year, but two thirds of that money benefits the most affluent 20% of Americans.

Despite all that, the 401(k) is called, by some, "the envy of the world" (Calabrese & MacGuineas, 2003). Traditional and 401(k) pension plans have, between them, nearly $7 trillion in assets, and account for the "vast majority of financial assets accumulated by households in recent years (Calabrese & MacGuineas, 2003). The authors say that the system works well because it offers powerful incentives, tax breaks and employer matching contributions -- to encourage individuals to contribute to the plans. Other…

Retirement Options

Almost one-third of American workers are failing to prepare themselves for a comfortable retirement, according to a new survey conducted by American Express. The national telephone survey of working adult men and women who had recently left or lost their jobs revealed that 30% did not invest for retirement in their company's 401(k) plan.

The survey also revealed that 16% of these participants rolled their money into an IRA, and the majority of those who rolled their assets said they would make the same decision again. Eleven percent of those surveyed reported that they cashed out of their retirement plan because they needed the money to pay off debt or for everyday living expenses.

While these participants may have felt that these decisions were best for their situations, financial experts would have advised them against going through with their decisions. For example, money invested in a 401 (k)…

e. The employees) as well as on the tax returns of the company itself. Contributions are a tax deduction for the company and are tax-deferred to employees until the time that disbursal begins, but values will still need to be noted.

5)

Josephine's company would be required to make contributions to individual retirement accounts each year, however Josephine personally would not be required to make any contributions to her own 401(k) if she did not wish to (and if the legal documents creating the company's retirement plan policy exempt her from needing to have such a plan in place, and even without this legal provision only the company would be required to make contributions from its profits, not Josephine from her salary). In simple terms, no, Josephine would not be required to make a contribution to her retirement account each year.

7)

401(k)s are very simple -- they are basically…

retirement planning. Beginning as early as age, about what are their dreams for retirement? What goals are important for living during the retirement years? The individual should write their retirement plan and have it available to update when needed.

DESIGNING A STATEGIC ETIEMENT PLAN

People are living longer and having better health than ever before. "We're gained 25 years since 1900. That extra time is added to midlife. We have a second middle age - a period beginning at age 50 to 75" (Kanchier 2002). Often retirement hits before a person is ready? What are the dreams for the future? What is important to one person will be entirely different to another person. That is why determining and designing a strategic retirement plan at an early age is vital to reaching those dreams. The time to do this is "now" and not "later." Begin today.

Introduction/Background: Here Are Some Facts…

Two of the most notable ways to save for retirement include the 401(k) investment plan and the IRA. If possible, individuals should use both. The 401(K) offers tax-deductible contributions and taxes on interest are relatively low compared with regular savings accounts. Many large corporations also offer employees incentives to contribute to their 401(K) plans by matching contributions dollar for dollar. Employees should take full advantage of their employees offer to match 401(K) contributions. In addition to the 401(K) employees can also open an IRA account with a financial institution of their choice. Self-employed individuals or those whose jobs do not afford them matched 401(K) contributions would especially benefit from the advantages offered by an IRA, including tax-deferred growth and income tax deductions. The actual features of the IRA vary from plan to plan and advisors at financial institutions can help people plan for their retirement according to their ability and…

Age 60 ule is arousing problems and issues specifically to airline pilots with whom the policy is meant for. The "Age 60 ule" which states a mandatory retirement for airline pilots who reach the age of 60 is now being considered discriminatory especially to experienced pilots whose skills and competence in flying is perfected by their experience and age. Despite of the fact that this policy has been supported by pilot organizations, many pilot unions now see that the "Age 60 ule" is a problem to their aviation profession because of reasons that are based from failures of the medical science to provide sufficient information that the age of 60 is potentially unsafe for administering flights.

eason why the "Age 60 ule" is a Problem

The fact that the medical science is not able to produce a medical system that can provide significant and valid basis to confirm the premise…

Government Issued T-Bills & Munis

Government T-Bills & Munis

Treasury Bills (T-bills) provide a way for the United States government to fund projects by raising money from the general public. The simplicity of T-bills is attractive to investors, who purchase the securities at a price that is less than their face value (par value) and receive a payment from the government for the full value of the bills upon maturity. T-bill securities have a short-term maturity and are issued to mature at three-month, six-month, and one-year maturities ("Investopedia," 2015). A primary distinction of T-bills from, say, coupon bonds is when the interest is paid. T-bills pay interest upon maturity and coupon bonds pay interest semi-annually ("Investopedia," 2015).

As a money market instrument, T-bills are quite popular in large part because individual investors can afford them, and because neither local nor state taxes are levied on T-bills. While institutional investors commit…

etirement Plan

The company is instituting a retirement plan as part of our ongoing commitment to our employees. At this stage of the process, we have settled on two different plans, and we need the employees to carefully consider which plan they would prefer. The employees will be asked to read over the different plans and carefully weigh the pros and cons of each. This document will provide some information about the three different plans, and will also outline several critical issues regarding this process.

There are two plans from which to choose. The first, Plan A, is a defined contribution plan. This type of plan involves contributions being withdrawn from the employees' pay on an after-tax basis. The reason for this is that when the contributions are made on an after-tax basis, this reduces the tax on distributions in the future (Lambert, 2012). The company will match the contributions…

com, 2012).

Third, a service member needs to understand the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). All three of the retirement systems feature COLAs, which can significantly increase the amount of a service member's pension benefits. "The COLA for the Final Pay and High 36 systems is determined each year by the national Consumer Price Index. But the COLA for the CSB/EDUX retirement system is the Consumer Price Index minus 1%" (Military.com, 2012). However, the COLA is not completely fixed under the CSB/EDUX retiree. "At age 62 the COLAs and multiplier are readjusted so that the High 36 and CSB retirees get the same monthly pay" (Military.com, 2012).

The fourth factor only really applies to the CSB/EDUX retirees. For those retirees, when they reach their 15th years of service, they must choose between taking the CSB/EDUX with a $50,000 cash bonus and a 40% pension check or the High 36 retirement…

California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is the biggest public pension system in the nation with present resources of about two hundred billion. They fund pensions and health plans for retired California state and municipal workers. Yet, they and many other public pensions now face severe economic issues. In 2007, CalPERS had assets of two hundred and sixty billion. That dropped to one hundred and sixty billion in 2008 and has improved to just over two hundred billion, but is still down twenty two percent. Their game plan supposes a return of about seven percent a year to keep their funding stages steady. Clearly they are nowhere close to that. By law, California public pensions must be financed at one hundred percent. CalPERS has the authority to force municipalities to pay more in order to make up any funding deficits at CalPERS. Taxes may go up because CalPERS is forcing…

In this regard many studies on ageing concluded that there is a definite correlation between psychosocial factors and both physical and metal health. Stuart-Hamilton, (2006), in the Psychology of Ageing: an Introduction states that "... If an older person has a strong sense of social identity, this may cushion (but not remove) the negative effects of a decline in physical health" (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006, p. 183). However, retirees like Albert who do not have a sense of identity or of social 'belonging' can be subject to a wide range of negative effects. This is also supported by studies which suggest that "...psychosocial factors mediated the impact of illness on the ability of old people's daily living activities" (Stuart-Hamilton, 2006, p. 183).

3. Conclusion

In conclusion, there is a growing awareness of the psychological and sociological problems that the retired and elderly person faces when he or she retires from the active…

Forced Early etirement & Employment -- the Catch

etirement & the Changing WorkForce

Catch

A logical paradox arising from a situation in which an individual needs something that can only be acquired by not being in that very situation that will allow access to what is needed.

Older American workers are in a quandary and embroiled in a policy making conundrum. Social Security funding is not expected to keep up with the current and future payout to beneficiaries. Fearful policymakers, frustrated economists, and pessimistic actuarial have cobbled together public policy that reflects the multiple and competing exigencies. Older Americans are encouraged to work longer by a Social Security schedule that is lowest at earliest payout and has pushed the official retirement age to 66 -- with regular and loud threats to push it higher still. For someone retiring at age 62 years who was born between 1943 and 1954, the…

Corporate Finance

Essentially, most businesses view shareholders, i.e. The owners of a business as being the most important stakeholder group. It therefore follows that as per this view, a business entity has an obligation to put the needs of stockholder/owners first. It should, however, be noted that there are numerous other groups that also have an interest in the enterprise, and who are affected by the firm's actions. Key stakeholder groups according to Sims (2003, p. 74) include, but they are not limited to, "shareholders and investors, employees, customers, and suppliers…the government and communities…"

The table below ranks various stakeholders on the basis of: i) expected risk and return, and ii) importance to the organization's success.

Table

Stakeholder anking on the Basis of Importance to the Organization's Success

Stakeholder anking on the Basis of Expected isk and eturn

Shareholders/investors

Shareholders/investors

Government

Suppliers

3. Customers

3. Employees

4. Employees

4. Customers…

From the start, social welfare policy has been shaped by the work ethic and the belief that the provision of benefits to able-bodied persons will weaken their motivation to work. As a result, the cash assistance programs including Social Security benefits, Unemployment Insurance, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) enforce the work ethic either by rewarding higher paid workers over those who earn less or by encouraging able-bodied persons to choose paid labor (no matter what the wage levels or working conditions) over government aid. (Abramovitz, 1988, p. 1)

The desperation that is associated with seeking public assistance, even when the opt out option does not exist, and private pension plans have declined in popularity as other forms of retirement compensation have taken their place, and more and more people are required to simply save for their old age, no matter what. The social security system does not…

Since the ABC method is more apt to associate the correct costs to the processes that utilize them then it allows for more accurate billing to the clients. For example, an x-ray process can be broken down into four primary cost drivers, administrative check-in, patient exposure, patient return, and film processing, which can be accounted for and billed based on usage for each separate process.

ABC Costing at estmount

Given a reasonable amount of gross margin that should be expected in the industry (GMB, 2006) the gross margin should of provide a return of over 490,000 worth of profit on the financial statement. Therefore either there must be more revenue or better controls on costs; most likely a combination of the two. The calculation is as follows:

The current costing arrangement at estmount depended completely on the square footage of the residents unit. Thus it is reasonable to anticipate that…

early retirement incentives as a downsizing strategy sUMMAY: This is a thesis that analyzes and studies the use of early retirement incentives as a downsizing strategy by organizations. It has 23 references in APA format.

Chapter I- Definition of the Problem

Definition of terms-alphabetical order

Chapter II- literature eview

Health and security

Tax deferral

Financial targeting

Institutional ationale

Employees Impacted

Chapter III- Methodology

19-Data collection

19-Data analysis

Chapter IV- Data analysis

21-Analysis relevant to research

25-Analysis relevant to research

26-Analysis relevant to research

Chapter 5- Summary, Conclusions, ecommendations

29-Summary

32-Conclusion

33-ecommendation

EFEENCES

Definition of the Problem

-Introduction

Over the last fifteen years organizations strived to renew their relationships with employees and at the same time tried to survive through economic downturn. In this renewal process these organizations have experienced multiple intricate processes like structuring, resourcing, forestalling decline in profits as well as incorporating new state policies. The struggle to survive…

The American Association of Retired persons found that pension plans' coverage is quite unstable, differing greatly based on ethnicity, age, pay grade, and education.

In addition, the AARP also found that social security benefits are becoming a problem in many countries, as the number of retired persons who receive benefits rise and the number of births fall.

As people who live in troubled economic times, some are not following government advice to save for retirement.

The United States Department of Labor advocates managing a retirement account with the same amount of attention and importance one would give a bank account.

Mr. C did not follow this advice, and his reliance on government and employer-based plans fell through.

He and his wife were both forced to work after retirement.

This cut into the traveling and relaxing plans that he had made.

Now, Mr. C cannot live the lifestyle that he always…

Merging Current etirement Plans at Company Y: Memo to CEO

In the wake of the recent merger, employees of Company Y are understandably anxious about the decision to create a single, unified retirement benefits plan for all employees. One segment of the company has a defined contribution plan, in which employees contribute to the plan with a portion of their salary, which is then matched by the company. The employees with this plan have sometimes benefited from the fact that a defined contribution plan can change in value, based upon market circumstances. "There is no way to know how much the plan will ultimately give the employee upon retiring. The amount contributed is fixed, but the benefit is not" (Defined contribution, 2011, Investopedia).

ecent market uncertainty has caused some employees to question the value of such a plan, given that many people nationwide lost a substantial part of their retirement…

Forced Retirement

Monetary Considerations for the Retirees

Psychological Implications

Discrimination

Costs to Society

Forcing individuals to arbitrarily retire once they reach a certain age, no matter what that age might be, is not only counterproductive in its contribution to society, but it also serves as a form of discrimination against a particular segment of the population. This argumentative essay will provide clear and unfettered evidence that this policy is both ineffective and unjust. It adversely affects the individuals being forced into retirement both monetarily as well as psychologically. It indirectly affects society as a whole by limiting great segments of the population from employment; many who are often extremely well qualified and experienced. Therefore under no circumstance is this policy a plausible solution.

Monetary Considerations for the Retirees

Retirees are detrimentally afflicted by mandatory retirement financially primarily for two reasons. First, they lose their income potential. This may occur even…

Trudeau Case Study

Situational Analysis

Alternatives including Analysis

Recommendation and Implementation

Surviving Accounts

Current Account Balances/Payments for Trudeaus at Ages 60-13

Current Account Balances/Payments for Trudeaus at Age 67.5

The Trudeaus are seeking to retire in either 6 years at age 60 or in 13.5 years at age 67.5. They will have 1.5 million dollars in savings at age 60 and north of 3 million dollars in savings at age 67.5. They want to be able to live on $10,000 per month. If they live until 85, the Trudeaus could do this -- but one of two things will happen: they will use all their money and have nothing left for their children; or they will have to wait until they are older to retire in order to live off the interest and save the rest for their children. However, the Trudeaus could compromise and reduce their income per month…

12

Furthermore, EISA issues aside, according to Linda Sanchez (D-California), "It concerns me when those who work hazardous jobs don't get the care they deserve, whether a coal miner, tire factory worker or football player... " referring to the questionnaire distributed to the NFLPA requesting medical data pertaining to their retirees, she said, "I look forward to timely responses to our questions so we can determine what steps might be necessary that those who made football great aren't neglected."13

AP, 2007

Carpenter, 2007

Conclusion:

Professional football is, by all accounts, a violent sport whose participants frequently suffer significant physical injuries on the playing field. Because of the nature, frequency, and intensity of the collisions inherent to the game, especially at the professional level, the effects of football injuries often persist long after retirement. Most insidious are the cumulative effects of repeated cerebral concussions, only recently identified as a specific injury…

Hernando County, Florida, is the site of one such success story; though the union asked for a raise in recent contract negotiations, it did not insist on one, instead accepting an increase in healthcare benefit payments to offset Blue Cross/Blue Shield's premium hike of fourteen percent (Marrero 2009). Though no one emerged from the deal exactly ecstatic about the situation, there was a sense of realism and pragmatism that has been notably lacking in the loud and vociferous insistences of both teachers' unions and administrative offices in many other districts and at other institutions (Marrero 2009).

Conclusion

t is still abysmal and largely unacceptable that educational districts and institutions entered into contracts that they were unable to uphold. t is equally unacceptable that a growing number of educators facing retirement, or already retired, are unable to receive the pension payments and/or healthcare benefits upon which they depend. The situation is…

Participants are also protected by prohibiting employers from deducting costs from their tax liability of not complying with ERIA6.

Both ERIA and the Prudent Investor Rule prohibit certain types of transactions. According to Laura Jordan6, the U.. labor secretary has the power to grand exemptions from prohibitive rules under ERIA. When such exemption is not granted and fiduciaries engage in prohibitive activities regardless, the result could be liability to repay losses, return profits, and IR penalty taxes.

ERIA includes considerably more prohibitive rules than the Prudent Investor Rule. ome of these include a prohibition from engaging in transactions that are a direct sale of property between the plan and interested party; a loan or credit extension; furnishing of goods, services or facilities; or a transfer to a party of interest that will result in benefit to such a party. Among others, further prohibitions include any form of self-interest in the…

However, if they are strapped every month then this scenario may be the best that they can do. This creates a dismal retirement for the Smiths. Therefore, let us examine some financial planning strategies that will help the Smiths to achieve their goals.

hen one examines the Smiths' investments, they are only relying on what is available from their employers as the basis for their savings. The 401 (k) is not considered to be an aggressive investment strategy. They typically only manage to match or slightly outperform inflation by 1-2%. This means that using a 401(k) as a sole means of retirement income will only yield a little more or less than one year's salary at the beginning of the retirement. This is hardly better than a passbook savings account, and in some cases is less. However, the real advantage to the 401 (k) is the matching contribution from the…

ole Transitions Into Old Age

Centuries ago, growing old was uncommon and those able to transition into old age were revered by their community as teachers, tribal historians, and sources of wisdom (Nelson, 2005, p. 208-209). Growing old was therefore something to look forward to. In contemporary American society, however, transitioning into old age carries a number of negative connotations, including being useless and a burden on society. Once the perceived value was stripped from reaching old age, other pressing concerns began to dominate social attitudes toward elder citizens. Terror Management Theory (TMT) posits that social constructs help protect individuals from the indifference and chaos of the world we inhabit and among the most prominent examples is religion. Ageism likewise helps protect individuals from thoughts and feelings about their own mortality by distancing themselves from those inhabiting old age. If TMT accurately reflects attitudes toward old age in American society…

Myths About Social Security

The Social Security Act was passed in 1935 during a period in which the unemployment rate was among the highest that it has ever been in history and few families had the resources for the elderly to retire with a level of dignity. In this environment, Social Security was established to give senior citizens a minimal standard of living and the program is often associated with poverty. However, there are many characteristics about the program that are often misunderstood by the general public such as the case that the elderly is not as poor as typically perceived. For example, the Social Security payment system is based upon the consumer price index (CPI) which has substantially raised the effective payments significantly overtime and as a result the current generation of SS payees receive considerably higher payments relative to previous generations.

Many people also believe that the SS…

etirement Interview Analysis

etirement is a period of life only made possible for large numbers of people by virtue of the tremendous improvement in human health in the last century. Prior to that, life expectancy for the average person was not much greater than their professionally productive years. Today, many people look forward to several decades of retirement after they leave the workforce. In many respects, the quality of life after retirement is a function of staying active and involved rather than withdrawing from active life (Ekerdt, 1986). In other respects, a fulfilling retirement is a function of advance planning, especially with respect to financial matters to ensure that retirement income is sufficient for the retirement lifestyle or plans of the individual.

Analysis of Interview Subject #1

This subject is a 74-year-old man who retired from a career in law enforcement at the age of 52 after working as a…

Advice (SOA): Financial Planning

Purpose of this document is to prepare a statement of advice (SOA) on the financial planning for David Smith and Brenda Smith to achieve their financial goals. The advice is to communicate important information to clients in order to make informed decision about their financial portfolios. This document is a Statement of Advice or 'SOA' used to explain my advice, and highlights the important points. Please, be sure to read all sections of the SOA.

Summary of my Advice

I recommend that you sell your shares and reinvest the funds in the managed funds, which will assist you to get a return between $17,000 and $29,000 a year. Moreover, I recommend that you invest 60% of your superannuation in the managed funds. I carefully choose the categories of the managed funds that you could invest your money. Based on my recommendation, you are likely to get…

The gradual decrease in income, eventual dependency on other people and the government for financial resource, lack of activities to do, and the onset of physical and/or physical limitations as a result of aging are known causes of frustration, stress, and even depression among elderly people who have retired (Blekesaune and Solem, 2005, p. 80). In the case of Mrs. a, she has not experienced these negative feelings or emotions as she had been flexibly and intermittently engaging herself in house-, family- and community-related pursuits. However, she did admit that her husband's death had been a pivotal point in her life, when she felt that she, too, must be with her husband because, as far as she is concerned, she has already accomplished what she was supposed to do as a "wife, mother, and woman."

Interestingly, with Mrs. a, work and retirement is not the conventional kind of retirement one…

Asset Allocation and Industry Sectors:

There are several economic concepts that affect an individual's daily finances and investments such as asset allocation and industry sectors. Asset allocation is primarily described as the manner with which an individual divides his assets among various asset categories like cash, bonds, stocks, and real estate. This fundamental principle also refers to an investment strategy with which an investor can lessen risks through diversification. One of the major goals of asset allocation is that it seeks to balance risk and reward through distributing a portfolio's assets based on a person's goals, investment horizon, and risk tolerance. Notably, the process of determining which combination of assets to retain in a portfolio is usually a very personal one ("Beginner's Guide to Asset Allocation," 2009).

The other common financial term or concept is industry sector where the two words have been used interchangeably to refer to a group…

Mandatory Retirement

The issue of Mandatory Retirement in Ontario is a controversial one. Implemented as a method by which employers may terminate or refuse to employ workers who have reached the "normal age for retirement in similar positions" (DOJ, 2004), the practice was designed to promote safety in certain occupations (those that may involve a compromise to public safety due to age-related performance factors), allow for staff renewal, especially in "tenured" positions, as well as reduce the cost of health care costs for employers. Unfortunately, however, the practice has been extremely detrimental to those workers who do not wish to (or feel that they economically are unable to) retire at 65.

Although there are many issues to consider as to how the Ontario and its economy might be affected by the ending of mandatory retirement, among the most interesting are how the change might impact social and human rights issues.…

Given the declining ratio of workers to reitirees, the level of increases to fix the shortfall would be too burdensome and would negatively impact consumption of workers who aren't retired.

Reducing the rate of growth in benefits for future retirees could work if implemented in an appropriate manner. An outright reduction in benefits would be too punitive on retirees and would further dampen consumption. Instead, the reduction in benefits would need to be accompanied by a new model called consumerism where consumers have greater accountability for the costs of their healthcare decisions. but, dramatically improved transparency in quality and pricing would be necessary for this model to work. In this way, consumers could shop for healthcare services just as they already shop for other goods and services. This would help healthcare services be more subject to the market forces of supply and demand and would help to contain healthcare costs.…

Also, many counties public pension pogams and/o pensions fo public employees ae inceasingly in peil. The United States is anothe example of that with public pensions getting moe and moe insolvent and thei Social Secuity and Medicae pogams hemohaging money quite quickly with many pundits saying that the pogams will un out of money in 1-3 decades at best. Othe counties like Canada and much of Euope ae having much the same poblem in thei own ways.

Howeve, this study does have a lot going fo it. Fist, they did the study ove an entie decade and they suveyed a lot of people fo the study. Thee wee 25,000 esponses and about 4,500 wee included in the final esults accoding to the "what you should know" section on the fist page of the aticle. The time hoizon and the size of the study ae both vey good in tems of…

The result will be empirical based on relative individual factors. If both senior and junior workers have to be retrained every year, the senior worker may be the better investment after all. One depressing outcome of this competitive push to reduce retirement-benefit cost by offering short-term, part-time and outsourced employment rather than the traditional career, is an implied peak after which workers become less employable the more expertise they have, such that the slide to senility is marked by lower and lower status jobs, because they earn too much at what they're trained for. Competitive incentive to reduce payroll by getting rid of the highest earners complicates and is driven by the demographic anomoly of the Baby Boomers outnumbering GenX. Electricians and biologists would call this a feedback loop.

The difference may result in a new construct based on why or for whom one works. If work is something we…

Ethical Advantages and Disadvantages of an Appointed vs. An Elected Judiciary: The Case of Justice Harry L. Carrico

Following more than four decades of noteworthy judicial service, Justice Harry L. Carrico retired simply because he finally became too old to remain on the bench after he turned 70 years old. The valuable service by Justice Carrico is a good example of one of the advantages of an appointed judiciary, but his retirement has raised some questions concerning the ethical advantages and disadvantages of an appointed vs. An elected judiciary. To gain some further insights in this area, this paper provides a review of the article, "Carrico Ending 42 Years On High Court, Virginia's Chief Justice etires After 42 Years of Judicial Service," followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

eview and Discussion

A wide range of appointed and elected approaches are in place for…

Forty years ago, when ALPA still championed the rights of all pilots to remain employed, former ALPA president Clarence Sayen challenged FAA Administrator Elwood Quesada to justify his hasty decision to enact the Rule. Quesada responded with 41 highly questionable articles culled from the medical archives of the 1950's, the majority of these having been published decades earlier. In addition to being astonishingly outdated, these articles described characteristics of the general population and not of airline pilots.

Medical evidence was therefore manipulated. A closer examination of the "facts" would have revealed that there was much that was not applicable to the situation at hand. And if these data were years out of date more than two generations ago, one can only imagine that the picture that they present is even more inaccurate today than it was in 1959. In countless other fields, 60-year-old men and women pursue their careers without…

According to the United States' Government's Medicare program, coverage of nursing home care is offered only on a limited basis. In order to be eligible, the Medicare must only receive services from a Medicare-approved facility, and must have a "qualifying hospital stay" just before entering the nursing home; this stay is generally three days or longer ("Nursing Homes: Paying for Care").

In light of these potential medical costs, one must be careful when advising this couple. The goal of retirement is to allow them to maintain their quality of life, but their quality of life is not maintained if they are constantly sick or worrying about their health. The father's skepticism about taking out a policy that would cover nursing homes or home nursing services is warranted. First of all, no one wants to think about the time when they will no longer be able to take care of him…

Another possibility is to allow companies to convert traditional defined-benefit pensions, which encourage retirement as early as age 55, to cash-balance plans, which have no built-in incentives to retire. Perhaps the most controversial idea is to break the typical link between pay and seniority. As more people work into their late 60s and 70s, pay should be adjusted to match how much people work and what they accomplish on the job.

Basing pay on performance is a controversial idea because what the criterions of performance for most hi-level professional jobs that older workers are performing are ambiguous at best. How does one determine success at a professional job? Unlike a manual job, where productivity can be measured in, for example, widgets per hour, professional job performance involve intangible factors such as interpersonal relations and communication skills. In many cases, performance may be defined solely in terms of what your boss…

ampell, C.. And Saltmarsh, M. (2009, September 2). A reluctance to retire means fewer openings. The New York Times.

From the earliest years of the program, Social Security has been a three-legged stool steadied by a precarious balance of retirement savings, social insurance, and transfer programs.

Economists have recognized for decades that the economic well-being of an aging American society has been undermined by a "perfect storm" brought about by the Industrial evolution, urbanization, the reconfiguration of families from extended to nuclear, and a considerable increase in life expectancy. The social and demographic changes have eroded traditional strategies -- charity, labor, family, and assets -- that fostered economic security. An agrarian society linked labor to prosperity and generally ensured that families could subsist through their own efforts. In the move from farms and rural villages to cities and towns, people traded crops ruined by weather and pests for recessions and…

" She initially came out of retirement to work three days a week, but now she only works one day per week. Mitre in fact offers workers a phased-in retirement, with fewer hours and fewer workdays; but they keep a core of "reserves at the ready" like Doreen. Now Doreen has a little extra income so she won't have to dip into her nest egg, and the company doesn't have to worry that "it could lose too much institutional knowledge as its workforce retired," Fetterman explains.

In the same article, Joyce Montgomery of Detroit retired from her job as a counselor at a children's home, after her husband also retired. But soon they "...got tired of sitting around...I wanted to come into the workplace to be around people." So she applied for a part time job at CVS pharmacy, planning on perhaps ten or fifteen hours a week, but now,…

For example, Massachusetts and California have made recent improvements by upgrading care quality and professionalizing care; by contrast, despite Florida's large population of seniors and the beginning of a coalition of patients, families, and workers on behalf of better care, the state administration remains inflexible in their funding approach (Fitzgerald 30).

Nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities are unique among low-wage labor markets in that government, in effect, sets wages and career paths by setting reimbursement rates. Government also regulates the conditions of care and subsidizes training programs for nursing assistants and other paraprofessionals. Unlike other low-wage sectors, a broad-based, middle-class constituency for better wages and benefits potentially exists in the form of family members of nursing home residents. Therefore, there is a potential solution that benefits all the stakeholders by providing higher reimbursements together with tighter regulation and deliberate professionalization of the direct-care workforce; unfortunately, while some states have…

Qualified Benefit Plans

Why company set qualify benefit plans tax benefits company employees maintaining qualify plans. Also, company comply benefit laws regulations order maintain qualify status plan.

Employers sometimes offer their employees and other beneficiaries within the organization retirement plans which they sponsor. These are often referred to as qualified plans. These qualified plans are either established as defined benefit plans or defined contribution plans. When established as defined benefit plans, the employee receives benefits on a formula that factors in personal factors such as the employee's salary history and the duration of contract or employment. In these plans, the risk of investment and management of the portfolio is run by the employer. In these schemes, the employer sometimes has to find funds from alternative sources such as the company's profits in order to fund employee's retirement when there is a shortfall in funding. The other type of qualified plans…

etirement Plans

When it comes to defined retirement plans, there are two major forms that have dominated the employee benefit landscape. Indeed, those two types of benefits are defined contribution and defined benefit. While employers favor one of the two, employees roundly and definitively tend to favor the other. The form that employees tend to prefer will be answered and the same will be done for employers. There will also be an explanation of the answer given. While employees may like defined benefit plans, they come with a major financial obligation on the part of the employer and thus the employer favor defined contribution plans the vast majority of the time.

If there is a major distinction to be identified when it comes to the difference between defined contribution and defined benefit plans, it would be that one of them focuses on what employees are required to contribute and the…

Pension Schemes

Benefits of Pension Schemes

An overview of the UK Pension system

The weaknesses in the UK pension system

The UK has been indicated by Aviva (2011) to be facing a significant change in population with a large number of the older citizens approaching their retirement. The current retirement market is in a downward spiral with its trend of failing today's generation of UK retirees. The trend has been predicted to be on the rise and is noted to have potentially devastating consequences for the retiree's income as well as the general security of the future generation of baby boomers/retirees. In order to illustrate the intensity of the problem, it is worth noting that 385,00 individuals bought annuities last year alone (2010) and the figures indicated that only about 32% of the clients bough annuities from firms that are different to the ones that they saved with. In this…

Compensation

The current plan is a defined contribution plan, but the employees are not using it effectively. Many are heavily weighted in money market, and over 70% of employees are not even making contributions. Both of these problems need to be addressed.

The first question that should be raised with senior management is whether to offer a defined benefit plan, rather than a defined contribution plan. Part of the reason that many employees do not use the plan is that they probably do not truly understand the plan. A defined benefit plan is much easier to understand for employees because it gives them a set benefit (DOL, 2012). The risk in a defined benefit plan, however, is on the company, whereas with a defined contribution plan the risk falls to the employees. So from the company's point-of-view it is probably better to have the current plan, and maybe we just…

Social Security

ecommendations to Change Social Security in United States of America

Social Security is one of the major federal programs prevalent in the United States of America. It is a collective insurance system by which retired and disabled workers, their family members, and family members of the dead employees are paid benefits. The total number of Social Security beneficiaries till 2009 were 52.5 million. Approximately 156.3 million workers were covered by Social Security in 2010 (Nuschler, 2010).

In the past, the Social Security system has faced financial deficits. In 1977 and 1983, a number of measures were endorsed by the Congress to address the monetary imbalance of the system. Those actions consisted of "constraints on the growth of initial benefit levels, a gradual increase in the full retirement age from 65 to 67 (i.e., the age at which unreduced benefits are first payable), payroll tax increases, taxation of benefits…

psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, while suffering numerous hardships in his life as a prisoner of war in a Nazi work camp that included being isolated from the rest of the world including his family along with the prospect of facing at the hands of his captors death every day began to question the meaning of his own existence and the meaning of life in general. Frankl eventually came to the conclusion that people derive meaning from their lives as either as result of their suffering, their ability to love another, and their work (Frankl, 1985). A person's work helps them to define a sense of themselves, contributes to their feeling that they are useful, and helps to keep them active (Frankl, 1985; Shacklock, 2006; Waddell & Burton, 2006). These benefits occur at any age; therefore, by continuing to remain in the workforce elderly people can both produce benefits to their community…

At some point, the burden on those still working to support those who have retired will become untenable. Solutions will have to be found, and those solutions will involve deciding who gets what, when, and how. This fiscal problem will require a forced distribution of wealth, something likely to upset most affected by it. Retirees will be outraged if they get less from Social Security than the generation before them did. Those still working won't be willing to contribute more to Social Security only to get less when they retire. The cost of health care has been spiraling upward for some years, and new and economical solutions will have to be found to meet the medical needs of the elderly.

Solutions may require raising the retirement age, encouraging the elderly to continue working, providing less in retirement benefits, or raising taxes. These fundamental political changes will be necessary and may…

Countering this argument of ethical responsibility is the fact that many companies mentioned in the article have intensive pricing, product development, service and support pressures on them. Yet, given the efforts placed in planning their businesses and the intensive processes in place for financial forecasting, the costs of fulfilling these financial commitments to employees must be included in all strategic plans. To not pay these benefits is comparable to not paying for a factory or production center once created, or in the case of United Airlines, reneging on paying for a new commercial jet from Boeing. If United had done that, Boeing would repossess the jet. Yet the workers promised these benefits cannot repossess years of effort and commitment; therefore it is the ethical and one could argue legal responsibility of these companies to pay the pensions and healthcare costs promised.

Pensions Fund

Pension Fund Analysis

The school was founded in 1839 and is Missouri's largest research university offering more than 280 degree programs (Mizzou, N.d.). The school is also the largest employer in the area with more than thirteen thousand full-time employees. The Retirement Trust and the Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust hold the assets of the Retirement Plan and the OPEB Plan. The university is require to fully comply with the GASB reporting requirements and the Trusts are managed by external firms that are restricted to investing in certain asset sectors.

The externally-managed Trust funds are allowed to invest in asset sectors such as U.S. And international equity, emerging markets debt and equity, absolute return strategies, private equity, real estate, global fixed income, high yield fixed income, bank loans, and Treasury inflation protected securities (University of Missouri, 2011). This fund represents the pension and OPEB benefits for a wide…

If we take the former approach, we must now combine men and women together demographically; women now work far more outside the home than they did in 1935. According to the United Nations, this is now roughly 80 years, meaning the retirement age should be pushed to 70, allowing 5-8 more years of pay ins, and far fewer years of pay outs (World Population Prospects, 2006). In addition, if we follow the original mandate, Social Security is a supplemental or emergency program, not meant for those who do not need it.

So, if we take a two-pronged approach; moving the retirement age to at least 70 and recategorizing those who take retirement benefits based on their savings and investment programs, we are in more of a fiscal position to tweak the system already in place. While this may seem unfair to some, if we think about it logically, those "baby…