WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pension funds – those old guaranteed-benefit retirement plans your grandma might have told you about – outperform those in 401(k) plans year after year, according to new research from consulting company Towers Watson.

In 2011, the last year studied, defined-benefit plans had median returns of 2.74 percent, while 401(k)s and other defined-contribution plans lost 0.22 percent. It was the widest margin since the mid-1990s, the company said.

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – Pension funds – those old
guaranteed-benefit retirement plans your grandma might have told
you about – outperform those in 401(k) plans year after year,
according to new research from consulting company Towers Watson.

In 2011, the last year studied, defined-benefit plans had
median returns of 2.74 percent, while 401(k)s and other
defined-contribution plans lost 0.22 percent. It was the widest
margin since the mid-1990s, the company said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It isn’t like Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have it in for old people – I’m sure they are all very respectful of their elders. (The policy-setting reserve bank presidents typically have to retire when they are 65. Bernanke is 59.)

But their policy of holding interest rates as low as they need to be to keep the economy in modest growth mode is also hitting Grandma and Grandpa particularly hard: At ages when most people try to keep their money “safe” in bank certificates of deposit and bonds, retirees are having to contend with returns that would be considered laughably bad if they didn’t have to cover groceries and Medicare co-pays.

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) – It isn’t like Federal Reserve
Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have it in for
old people – I’m sure they are all very respectful of their
elders. (The policy-setting reserve bank presidents typically
have to retire when they are 65. Bernanke is 59.)

But their policy of holding interest rates as low as they
need to be to keep the economy in modest growth mode is also
hitting Grandma and Grandpa particularly hard: At ages when most
people try to keep their money “safe” in bank certificates of
deposit and bonds, retirees are having to contend with returns
that would be considered laughably bad if they didn’t have to
cover groceries and Medicare co-pays.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – Just when you may have thought
that federal tax policy was set – that January’s “fiscal cliff”
deal meant you could go about your financial life with
multi-year certainty – Washington is again talking of
comprehensive tax reform.

Both key congressional committee heads – Senate Finance
chair Max Baucus, a Democrat, and Dave Camp, the Republican
chair of the House Ways and Means Committee – have hinted that
the impending debt-ceiling increase could be the tree upon which
a new tax code hangs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – By the time you are nearing the pre-retirement years, you’ve probably heard all that nose-to-the-grindstone advice hundreds of times: Work longer. Cinch the belt tighter. Plow as much as possible into your 401(k) because you might live to be 100 and you’ll need that money later.

Yes, but what if? As in, what if you are impatient to start doing some of that travel you planned to do when you retire? What if you don’t want to defer the tennis lessons or woodworking shop or multi-generational family trip until you are 70? What if you don’t expect to live forever?

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – By the time you are nearing
the pre-retirement years, you’ve probably heard all that
nose-to-the-grindstone advice hundreds of times: Work longer.
Cinch the belt tighter. Plow as much as possible into your
401(k) because you might live to be 100 and you’ll need that
money later.

Yes, but what if? As in, what if you are impatient to start
doing some of that travel you planned to do when you retire?
What if you don’t want to defer the tennis lessons or
woodworking shop or multi-generational family trip until you are
70? What if you don’t expect to live forever?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – This is the time of year when high school seniors start to calm down and their parents start to get anxious. The students have received those coveted college acceptance letters, so they know they are going to go somewhere. But how will Mom and Dad scrape up the money to pay for it?

As has been widely reported, the numbers are significant. some schools have breached the $60,000 mark for one year of tuition and fees. The interest rates on federal student loans are slated to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent come July 1, unless Congress acts before then. And independent financial aid advisers like Fred Amrein in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, say they see schools increasingly optimizing their funds to drive the most money to the students they want the most.

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – This is the time of year
when high school seniors start to calm down and their parents
start to get anxious. The students have received those coveted
college acceptance letters, so they know they are going to go
somewhere. But how will Mom and Dad scrape up the money to pay
for it?

As has been widely reported, the numbers are significant.
some schools have breached the $60,000 mark for one year of
tuition and fees. The interest rates on federal student loans
are slated to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent come July
1, unless Congress acts before then. And independent financial
aid advisers like Fred Amrein in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, say
they see schools increasingly optimizing their funds to drive
the most money to the students they want the most.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The budget that President Barack Obama unveiled on Wednesday has a long way to go before any part of it becomes law. It is basically his opening play in a long game that will involve the House, the Senate and countless lobbyists.

That game may never end – Congress hasn’t passed a unified budget resolution since 2009. Federal programs have mainly been funded in a piecemeal way through so-called continuing resolutions that often keep money flowing without addressing policy.