Failed Company Pension Plans Hurt Baby Boomers and Elderly Say Recent Time and New York Times Articles
Boston, MA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005
The company pension plan that gave our parents and grandparents steady income during their sunset years is nearly dead. That’s according to recent press attention by The New York Times Sunday Magazine (10/30 and TIME (10/24).
Journalists reporting in these media blame weak public policy, bankruptcies by major corporations and accounting tricks that allow employers to underfund retiree obligations.
“Public policy reforms enacted in1974 — the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation that insures against underfunded plans are meager solutions. The PBGC only pays a percentage of benefits if your company plan fails,” says Paul J. Mauro, CLU, ChFc.
Mauro, whose Legacy Financial Advisors (http://www.lfsadvisors.com) serves baby boomers and older clients, says: “Laws that protect retirees have been outpaced by longer life expectancy. This overtaxes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the private pension system. Diseases that used to kill us now debilitate us. This means more costly long-term care for the elderly. Drug therapies that did not exist a few years ago for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and osteoporosis can cost $ 300-400 per month.”
Says, Mauro, based in Milford MA, “On the economic front, the loss of manufacturing jobs, weaker unions and a higher cost of living have contributed; allowing corporations to backpedal on pensions and retiree medical benefits in favor of a few more dollars in your paycheck.”
“Public servants; teachers, firemen, police, military and government employees, as well as unionized workers who have employer-sponsored Defined Benefit Plans that guarantee steady retirement income are a minority.
“The majority of workers retiring today are part of a failed experiment to shift the burden from employer to employee. Since the mid-70s Defined Contribution Plans, better known as 401(k) and IRA accounts, placed responsibility for retirement savings squarely on the shoulders of individuals,” notes Mauro adding, “Tax incentives and company matching funds have not encouraged Americans to save nearly enough for 10, 20 or even 30 years of retirement living. The average 401(k) has only $ 66,000 in it.”
Six Steps You Can Take
“Some baby boomers lucked out. Those owning homes in metropolitan areas have nest eggs that can be turned into income — if they stop using their home equity as a bank account. Others saved in dribs and drabs or religiously funded their IRA accounts when company pension plans were not available,” notes Mauro.
Mauro adds, “Federal pension policy reform is needed. But in the meantime, individuals can take steps to protect their retirement income.” Here’s how.
Consolidate. By age 50, most people wind up with CDs, several bank accounts, real estate, IRA accounts, mutual funds, you name it. “Get it all together so that you know what you have,” says Mauro.
Seek Professional Help. Work with an independent professional financial advisor who does not represent an insurance company or other financial institution with a bias toward single solutions or selling products.
Get legal protection. “Hire a lawyer with elder law and estate planning expertise,” says Mauro. Although Federal estate tax limits have been raised, couples need to protect assets from probate and extraordinary medical and nursing home costs. “Only a lawyer can do this properly.”
Don’t look back. “Don’t despair over not saving that $ 25 per week when you first married. Forty years ago mortgage payments were less than a $ 100 and you could finance a new car for $ 50.” Many in their 50s and 60s are at peak earnings with all their big expenses behind them. With a little discipline, you can build a $ 300,000 or larger nest egg during the next five or ten years.”
Protect Principal. “Transfer assets into principal protect mutual funds. These funds offer the growth potential of the stock market while guarantying return of all principal at the end of five or 10 years. The protection costs about one percent of growth per year. Earning 7% instead of 8% is better than having your nest egg lose a third or half of its value during a bear market.”
Annuities help. A partial solution endorsed by The New York Times Sunday Magazine article is for more corporations to invest a portion of their employee retirement obligations in annuities. Individuals can too. Annuities come in all shapes and sizes, but their main purpose is to guarantee income for the life of retirees and their spouses. Annuity income is taxed at a lower rate than, say, CDs and the principal can be tapped if needed.
Says Mauro; “Lots of retirees have assets that grow well, but do not pay out well. Having a portion of assets in annuities provides steady monthly income worry free. Money invested elsewhere can be drawn upon periodically for large purchases — including that luxury cruise.”
Paul J Mauro CLU ChFc is Managing Partner of Legacy Financial Advisors, Milford, MA.
Securities offered through Legacy Financial Services Member NASD/SIPC. He is an excellent, outspoken source who has appeared on several TV programs including …And Thou Shalt Honor, the PBS special on aging.
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Can a Credit Card Company Be Hacked? Andrew Rowland’s Debut Novel Tells the Inside Story of the Biggest Robbery in Criminal History
London, UK (PRWEB) March 11, 2006
Just published — Credit card insider Andrew Rowland’s debut novel “Dancing on the Brink of the World”:
Can A TPF Credit Card System Be Hacked?
Come on, I bet most of you have sat around on a boring night shift or supporting an implementation that was going without a hitch and wondered how you could wreak havoc on your TPF system…?
Well now someone has written a book about doing just that. Long time TPF’er Andy Rowland has just had his first novel published.
Conor Morgan has the perfect plan: recruit a team with hearts of larceny to pull off the greatest techno-heist in modern banking history.
The stakes: close to a trillion dollars. The target: neXus, the world’s premier credit and debit card payments system, operated by the power of invisible money.
With futurist weapons inspired by Zulu and Mongol battle strategies, the crew crashes neXus computer systems worldwide in a daring transcontinental robbery. But a Delta hit team of Enforcers hunt them down as Morgan’s plan unravels.
Dancing on the Brink of the World is interwoven with elements of the mysterious. Recurrent prime numbers and echoing supersymmetries converge in a morality tale of friendship and trust, betrayal and vengeance.
In San Francisco and London, Morgan’s team is on the run from the most sinister assassin since Jack the Ripper, with a ransom of untraceable diamonds, a dazzlingly erotic heroine and the ghostly messengers of ancient Celtic gods.
“Authentic as today’s dispatches from the 21st century battleground of cyber warfare, chilling and funny and brilliantly observed. A tour de force, infused with the carousing spirits of dreamy Irish rebels. Brendan Behan would be proud.”
~ Kristine Rosemary, author of “The War Against Gravity.”
“Credit card crime is hot news,” Andrew Rowland said at his home in London. “My novel describes the biggest robbery in criminal history. It takes the lid off the way the credit card industry works, and reveals how vulnerable the banking computer systems really are. In the best traditions of Clancy and Forsyth, the technical details are based upon meticulous research and my extensive qualifications as a mainframe computer realtime banking systems expert. Every aspect of the robbery plan – from the electromagnetic bombs, to the ability to bypass biometric ID passports and fingerprint intrusion systems — would work in real life. As a former Silicon Valley systems programmer I gained an intimate knowledge of all aspects of card fraud and the interchange between the worldwide credit and banking industries. A credit card robbery of this magnitude, with authentic technical and location detail, is perhaps unprecedented in heist and thriller novels of this genre.”
“Bankers who hire money hungry geniuses should not always express surprise and amazement when some of them turn around with brilliant, creative and illegal means of making money.”
~ Linda Davies, investment banker and bond trader turned novelist, in a 1997 speech to central bankers and financiers at a conference on the European Monetary Union in Amsterdam.
The story for “Dancing on the Brink of the World” came about in a similar way. Part of Andrew’s job description as a realtime systems troubleshooter in San Francisco was a remit to detect bank and card fraud within the company, or any of its 21,000 member banks worldwide. During graveyard shift lulls, Andrew and his colleagues brainstormed ingenious ways whereby opportunists with inside information could rob the major credit card companies blind. Andrew ran the novel’s scenario past some of the best minds in the business. First they laughed. Then they thought about the audacity and complexity of the plot. Unanimously, they agreed: this could really work. That’s when Andrew began amassing authentic detail to plot his novel about a neXus takedown, a financial thriller with a metaphysical twist, set in the no-limit, high stakes world of computer crime, with San Francisco and London backdrops.
“Vivid descriptions of the atmosphere and settings of San Francisco, lovely detail about Lotus race cars and amusing asides on the various “Da Vinci Code” topics all combine to make fascinating reading.
The book is likely to generate some controversy due to the author’s way of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, but this does tend to make for an eye-opening and sometimes illuminating read.
Highly recommended. Engaging story, absorbing characters and first rate prose style. With adept marketing, “Dancing on the Brink of the World” could find an audience worldwide in America and Canada, England, Europe, Australia. The book has won some stellar reviews from first readers at amazon.com in the USA and UK. A stunning literary prospect with every chance of international success.”
Since 1977 Andrew Rowland has worked on three continents as an airline and banking realtime computer expert. Past TPF consultancies include British Airways (London), Saudi Arabian Airlines (Jeddah), Galileo (Swindon), Continental Airlines (Miami), Amadeus (Stuttgart, Miami), SNCF (Lille, Paris), American Airlines (Tulsa), VISA (San Francisco, McLean), and United Airlines (Denver). Andrew spent seven years as a systems troubleshooter for the world’s dominant card payments platform, headquartered in Silicon Valley. He lives in London and writes online about geopolitics and society. This is his first novel.
Copyright
NewzealandAtoZ.com Will Help Travelers Find a Great Car Rental Company in New Zealand
(PRWEB) April 17, 2006
NewzealandAtoZ.com has just added a full list of New Zealand car rental companies. NewzealandAtoZ.com will provide an area for you to review New Zealand’s car and motorhome companies, which will help future travellers to New Zealand find the best car and motorhome rental company.
NewzealandAtoZ.com is a New Zealand based website created by New Zealanders for the world, to provide unbiased information about New Zealand products and companies.
NewzealandAtoZ.com is full of important New Zealand facts. It has a first; giving the tourist the ability to place reviews on all NZ car and motorhome rental companies. You will be able to read what other travellers have said about their car rental experience. This will extend to other areas of newzealandAtoZ.com over time. We want to help the tourist make an informed decision on what to do, where to stay, what to buy and on what to see in New Zealand based on travellers feedback.
NewzealandAtoZ has listed all major motorhome, campervan and car companies in one place so the tourist can see prices and conditions of rental without travelling all over the Internet . NewzealandAtoZ have also consulted with an experienced New Zealand rental vehicle operator, and put together common New Zealand terms and conditions when hiring a rental car or motorhome. This is to help the customer avoid extra charges.
NewZealandAtoZ also gives you the ability to review towns and cities around New Zealand. This will make sure travellers will not miss out on any of the wonderful sights and sounds that are New Zealand.
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AdminPro Connections, Inc. Launches Cutting-Edge Online Support Service With Internet, Company Offers Bigger Image, Lower Rates to Small Business Clients
Omaha, NE (PRWEB) May 18, 2006
Danielle Ruffin, a Omaha entrepreneur, announced the opening of AdminPro Connections, Inc., a virtual assisting practice devoted to helping small business owners handle administrative tasks so they can focus on growing their business. Using the Internet and email with other mainstay communications and technological tools, businesses are now able to pass along time-consuming chores without having to hire employees or temporary help alleviating a number of overhead expenses.
Danielle Ruffin, a graduate virtual assistant of Virtual Assistance U (VAU), explains that, AdminPro Connections, Inc. (AdminPro Connections) aids small business owners by handling such tasks as correspondence, travel arrangements, appointment setting, preparation of reports and presentations, notary service, and Internet research, as well as managing voice and email and other day-to-day, non-core matters.
Danielle is one of a growing number of home-based “Virtual Assistants,” leveraging the Internet to launch practices around the world. These professional administrative assistants represent a broad cross-section of society, including single parents, seniors, college students, people with disabilities, downsized executives, and many others with skills and expertise essential to the smaller enterprise.
Ruffin explains, “Virtual Assistants are the ideal staffing solution for the new breed of ‘wired’ small- business owner. Without requiring more office equipment or space, and without the hassles associated with hiring employees, Virtual Assistants offer expert support on an as-needed basis — billing only for time-on-task. Since Virtual Assistants themselves are also small-business owners, they have a direct interest in making sure their clients are happy with their performance, and better understand the small-business arena than either employees or temps.”
The small-business owner with a VA can have administrative needs handled “transparently,” with the client unaware that the assistant is hundreds or even thousands of miles away. “Small-business owners can pick up the phone in their car or at the airport and delegate work to their VA in ‘real time,’ knowing that the work will be completed professionally and on time, and at a reasonable fee,” says Ruffin.
AdminPro Connections, Inc. is a certified Protected Business Enterprise (PBE) with the City of Omaha, a registered vendor with the State of Nebraska, and a registered vendor with the federal government. In addition, Ruffin is a General Notary Public appointed by the authority of the State of Nebraska and Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce member.
Contact information: Danielle Ruffin, President, AdminPro Connections, Inc., P.O. Box 4418, Omaha, NE, 68104, http://www.AdminProConnections.com, 402.515.2999
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Fleet News Reveal Japanese Dominate Car Leasing Reliability in a Survey of Nearly 1 Million Company Cars
(PRWEB) November 23, 2006
A study of nearly single meg institution machine carried putout by Fleet News has confirmed the repute of Japanese framework as the most reliable on the marketplace.
The study gave Honda the capital honours for the S yr run in a reliableness study carried putout by Fleet News (http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/ ), the automotive newspaper for the establishment auto industry. The tautened took the work-clothing title for the Most Reliable Company Car Supplier to car leasing firms for 2006, with the Honda Accord securing the title as the most reliable establishment motorcar model by a significant margin over IT rivals. The Honda Civic took rank place.
Toyota retains second place in the maker league table that it secured last year, with the Avensis also retaining IT second position in the model array.
Audi also savouring a strong presenting this yr, taking third place, a leap of two places compared to finis year’s table. It also had two automobile in the top 10 most reliable company car framework, with the A4 in third spot and the A3 in eighth.
BMW retains fourth place, while Volkswagen moves up from eighth to fifth and Ford shifts from ninth to sixth.
Mazda is placed seventh this year, down from third in 2005, while Lexus enters the table for the first time in rank place. The match two places for Britain’s most reliable brands are taken by Vauxhall (ninth) and Mercedes-Benz (tenth).
The array of most reliable automobile leasing models includes many institution car favourites, such as the BMW 3-series, in seventh, Ford Focus, in ninth and Volkswagen Passat, in one-tenth.
This is the fifth twelvemonth of the reliability survey and this year’s coupon is one of the biggest on record, with 987,000 vehicles covered in the manufacturer survey and 918,000 vehicles covered in the model study.
Only multi-marque car leasing companies were included in the survey, cover the most reliable cars, according to the number of breakdowns per century of each type of model on their assemblage.
Points were awarded accorded to the frequence at which brands or modelling appeared in the tables supplied by the car leasing firmed and for the place in which they were placed.
Most reliable manufacturers
1) Honda
2) Toyota
3) Audi
4) BMW
5) Volkswagen
6) Ford
7) Mazda
Lexus
9) Vauxhall
10) Mercedes-Benz
Sample: 987,000 vehicle
Most reliable model
1) Honda Accord
2) Toyota Avensis
3) Audi A4
4) Lexus IS
5) Honda Civic
6) Toyota Corolla
7) BMW 3-Stations
Audi A3
9) Ford Focus
10) Volkwagen Passat
Sample: 918,000 vehicle
The Fleet News survey was part of the FN50 study, Fleet News’ yearly anatomy of the UK contract hire and car leasing manufacture
Notes to editor:
This and other article based on scoop investigating tin be salary on the Fleet News (HTTP://www.fleetnews.co.uk/ )’; website, a free to accession assets, including word, route test, business, provider phonebook, meeting and Dodgem run cost (HTTP://www.fleetnews.co.uk/running_costs/frame/scale.viper?s=running_costs ) information, asset a chancery of info tension dorsum 10 year. Further investigation cover velocity camera, gasolene terms, assemblage service, hydrothorax complaint, machine taxation calculators, train times, business mileage trackers, road test, news motorcar word and mobile aggregation tool, tin be salary on Company Car Driver (HTTP://www.companycardriver.co.uk/ ), also available from Emap Automotive (http://www.emap.com/Site-search-item.asp?ContentId=2334 )
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Car Hire Company Tackles CO2 Emissions
(PRWEB) December 21, 2006
The UK’s lead online auto employee institution Carrentals.co.uk has teamed up with The CarbonNeutral Company to offering client the adaptability to outset the environmental bump of drive an employee automobile.
Travellers engagement an employee machine through Carrentals.co.uk will present be presumption the derivative to brand their automobile Carbon Neutral by paying 25p per tomorrow to start the CO2 emission produced during the employee play. The get-go strategy selected by Carrentals is an undercut strategy in Snowdonia – every MT of CO2 produced by client will be matched by sufficient undercut to soakage up single MT of CO2 as the forest grows to adulthood.
The norm letting motorcar traveling 90 MI a tomorrow and emits a norm of .027 tonnes of C dioxide per day. Now Carrentals.co.uk customers tin reduce this impact by selecting the number of days they will be driving and paying to compensate for the CO2 emissions produced.
Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, said: “Car hire is a device element of travel, both in the UK and abroad, and as one of the solon companies in this area we wanted to give our customers the ability to offset their CO2 emissions as an achiever part of the booking.
“Every date we hear new figure on the impairment being done to the context. By paying a size positiveness automobile employee tin be made Carbon Neutral and we expect a development figure of our customer to yield up this derivative.”
The CarbonNeutral Company is 1 of the cosmos’s lead clime alteration concern, workings with 100 of business and K of mortal to assistance lineman CO2 emanation.
For solon info visit http://www.carrentals.co.uk/carbonneutral.HTML
About Carrentals.co.uk
Launched in February 2003 online car hire specialiser Carrentals.co.uk offering depression-disbursement automobile rental in maiden 4,000 destination around the macrocosm and booked IT century,000th client in August 2006.
Through agreement with statesman company such as Hertz and Europcar, Carrentals.co.uk provides client with grade appearance machine employee at winner eigenvalue damage.
Designed to brand engagement auto employee easy, the camp offer a wide pick of vehicle all booked in trinity herb measure online. Bookings are confirmed by e-message or by SMS direct to a mobile telephone.
The Carrentals.co.uk camp also characteristic maiden 6,000 link to useful holidaymaker info site, asset maiden 2,700 pages of travelling info in a miniskirt-usher formatting.
To book or for further info visitation HTTP://www.carrentals.co.uk
About The CarbonNeutral Company
The CarbonNeutral Company is the creation’s lead C outset and clime consulting concern. We enable business and mortal to lineman their clime alteration impact in a style which delivers eigenvalue – infomercial, environmental, personal.
The establishment work with maiden 200 B2B, B2C, NGO and authorities client including BSkyB, Honda, Avis Europe, Barclays Bank, The World Conservation Union, Berkeley Homes, Ricoh and the Radio Taxis Group as excavation as celebrity and 50,000+ chewer client.
CarbonNeutral
UK Car Insurance Company in Free Insurance Shock
Kings Lynn, Norfolk, UK (PRWEB) January 12, 2007
Adrian Flux Insurance has launched an offering of completely people legal concealment to motorist, rockers and vanguard user. And not just people to IT own policyholder, but people to anyone.
Typically, legal covert for automobile or minibike assurance tin disbursement between
Book Airport Parking With a Reputable Company — Airport Parking and Hotels
London, England (PRWEB) February 28, 2007
Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) is encouraging travellers to authority long visit airport room through a reputable establishment to ensure biosafety and peace of both rider and vehicle. APH’s own airport parkland and drive automobile parkland, situated near Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester Airports asset many of the other auto parkland on offering through HTTP://www.aph.com clutches the Park Mark
Masai Travel ‘Your Affordable African Safari Company’
Van Nuys, CA (PRWEB) March 22, 2007
Masai Travel re-launch IT object camp (HTTP://www.masaitravel.com) which present offer customer adaptability to browsing our affordable African safari in East and Southern Africa by land.
Masai Travel has option together deluxe campaign packet that include fare, commission &A; housing, competition thrust, competition parkland entranceway anchorage, airport conveyance and fully escorted tour as component of their programme for customer.
Masai Travel, a lead campaign circuit function, strives to brand the procedure of preparation an African flight as easy as possibility by providing all the info needed to brand knowledgeable travelling conclusion.
Every campaign and circuit listed on the object camp includes a detailed tomorrow-by-tomorrow route, seasonal damage and going date. We also specialize in fully customized travelling bundle developed to case your involvement and demand. We tin arrange your adjustment, transfer, circuit, flight and automobile employee based on your demand
At Masai Travel we pridefulness ourselves on offering choice service in a professional and friendly fashion. We believe our client are the quality judges of our turn and, accordingly, poor performance is not tolerated. Our clients expect – and merit – higher-up quality, work, and value.
Masai Travel also offer the lowest airfare from USA to anywhere in the world.
Customers interested in reserving a safari to any of our destinations should contact Masai Travel at (800) 587-1644.
Masai Travel is duly licensed by the California Department of Justice (Office of the Attorney General) to sell travel and an Areopagite of Better Business Bureau.
Web Site: http://www.masaitravel.com
Toll Free: (800) 587 1644
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Related Car Hire Press Releases
Outsell LLC, Leading Internet Auto Sales & Marketing Company, Names Tim Copacia as Executive Vice President, Customer Experience & Strategic Partnerships
Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) September 20, 2007
HTTP://www.outsell.com – Outsell LLC, the fastest ontogenesis Internet motorcar sale and merchandising institution in America, has announced the hiring of Tim Copacia as Executive Vice President, Customer Experience &A; Strategic Partnerships.
The add-on of Copacia to the administrator squad broadens Outsell’s ongoing attempt to aid automotive leader Converso solon of their internet lead to sale, and punter maintain and grow their juice client portfolio.
A seasoned authority mortal with 27 twelvemonth of automotive authority familiarization, Copacia cum to Outsell from Wunderman-Team Detroit; a WPP office formed in 2006 to work Ford Motor Company’s merchandising service concern. In his part as President of Wunderman, Tim LED the smut of the recently expanded consolidated bureau in Detroit that comprised the first Wunderman newsroom, as excavation as select practice from JWT and Ogilvy.
“Throughout his career, Tim has been a respected selling strategist and visionary, and is a strong advocator of differentiating brands and retailer through the concern scheme of customer experience direction,” said Mike Wethington, CEO of Outsell. “Tim will be a winner plus in Outsell’s efforts to mate with OEM’s, bureau, dealer ad associations, and size independent dealer groups to construct and bar a retail customer see that will Marrano more internet shoppers to emptor and increase client keeping and household loyalty — all contributing to statesman sales and profits.”