All Articles Tagged "the Great Recession"
Not Good: Unemployed Workers Taking From Their Retirement Funds
Photo: Jakub Krechowicz
This year, one-third of the out-of-work have used money from their retirement funds to pay the bills. And there are many who are defaulting on their 401(K) loans and incurring taxes, penalties, and fees. That amounts to $37 billion in lost retirement savings per year.
And if that’s not enough, many unemployed people are age 50 and over, meaning they’re approaching retirement with little in the bank.
A report from Navigant Economics suggests loan protection insurance is a good way to protect against lost savings. The Los Angeles Times also offers a few tips for managing your 401(K) including:
- Brush up on the rules regarding your 401(K). Many people haven’t even bothered to look at what’s what over the past few years because of the toll The Great Recession has taken. And on July 1, new federal regulations went into effect that require companies to be more transparent about any fees they’re charging.
- Get hip to the different investment options your plan offers to make sure your plan is working hard for you.
- Increase the amount you’re saving from year to year.
Happy saving!
Longest Recession Since World War II
(CNN Money) – The Great Recession ended in June 2009, according to the body charged with dating when economic downturns begin and end.
But the news is little comfort to the millions of Americans still out of work, underwater on their mortgages or uncertain about the future.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, an independent group of economists, released a statement Monday saying economic data now clearly point to the economy turning higher last summer. That makes the 18-month recession that started in December 2007 the longest and deepest downturn for the U.S. economy since the Great Depression.
The U.S. Economy is Still in the Poorhouse
(Technorati) — Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau will issue a report on the 2009 poverty level and demographers expect the figure to rise from 13.2% to 15% which equates to 45 million people. This would be the largest year-over-year increase since the Census Bureau started keeping track in 1959. Among working adults aged 18-64 the figure is expected to reach 12.4% which is up from 11.7% in 2008 and the highest level since 1965.
The Economic Outlook Hits a Fork
(Smart Money) – Although the fall typically brings a seasonal uptick in trading volume after a summer lull, the current lack of major market jolts may well continue until the November elections are over and the economic outlook becomes clearer. As market watchers wait, their comments reflect a slow but widening difference of opinion between the doomsayers and what passes for optimism in a half-speed recovery.
The 13 Worst Recessions, Depressions, and Panics In American History
(24/7) — A recession is generally defined as two quarters of GDP contraction as noted by the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research. The GDP contraction definition is narrow and cannot be used to define the recessions and depressions that occurred in the first 150 years after The United States was founded.
Ten Signs of a Still-Troubled Economy
(Time) — Falling birth rates! Record numbers enrolled in anti-poverty programs! A spike in murder-suicides! Homeowners taking on remodeling projects! (OK, that last exclamation point wasn’t justified, but I was on a roll.) And more.
Labor Secretary Solis on Jump-Starting the Economy: 'We Have a lot of Ideas.'
(The Grio) – I first met Hilda Solis when she was President Obama’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor, and I was communications director for Sen. Ted Kennedy and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which would have to approve the nomination. Sen. Kennedy had come to admire Solis in 2000 when she received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her dogged efforts to end environmental injustice. As a California state senator and Member of Congress, Solis had earned the reputation as a work horse – more concerned about getting a job done than she was with seeing her name in the paper. Solis’s nomination was voted out of the HELP Committee and soon the full Senate. She would become the first Hispanic woman to serve as a Cabinet Secretary.
20 Funds to Guard Against Deflation
(Smart Money) — The debate over whether government stimulus poses an inflation threat has given way to new worries – a possible decline in prices, demand and even wages – caused by deflation. For most Americans, deflation is the stuff of history or case studies overseas. There has not been a major deflationary period in the U.S. since the Great Depression.
Where’s the Best Place to Put Your Money?
(AJC) — It’s not easy to decide where to put your money these days? The interest rates depositors earn from banks are at record lows — and Georgia banks’ rates are lower than most, according to a new study reported by AJC staffer Scott Trubey. The national average interest rate for all deposits — checking or savings accounts, money markets or CDs — dropped in July to 0.99 percent, according to Market Rates Insight. The average in Georgia was 0.75 percent, MRI said.
Entrepreneurs Don’t Love the Great Recession
(Businessweek) — Over the past decade, I’ve seen a bunch of articles arguing that recessions are good for people who run their own businesses. With headlines such as “Entrepreneurs Should Love a Recession,” these authors claim that the down economy isn’t “bad news for entrepreneurs.” Instead, they argue that recessions are“one of the best times to start, nurture, and incubate a small company”. Because entrepreneurs have “less to lose” in recessions and because recessions “enliven”entrepreneurship, are “a motivational boost” to would-be entrepreneurs, offer “excellent employee choices,” and“spur booms in innovation,” these authors seem to believe that the Great Recession is no problem for America’s entrepreneurs.
