Financial planning

As workers experience large losses in their retirement funds, a significant number are planning to delay their retirement, according to a new survey.

The SEC and the Department of Labor convened a hearing Thursday to decide whether to tighten the rules for financial services companies that offer target-date funds in their 401(k) plans.

A “perfect storm” of demographic, individual and financial elements is poised to undermine people’s retirement plans unless they prepare properly, warns a new global survey.

Penn Mutual Life Insurance has created a Professional Advisors Alliance program with the aim of bringing together financial advisors and CPAs to expand their services, distribution channels and revenue.

COALITION SUPPORTS FINANCIAL PLANNING REGULATION

To take a phrase commonly used in general aviation, "flying blind" is not a good thing. With storm clouds all around and visibility severely limited, qualified pilots have to rely on a combination of instrument flight rules and the air traffic control system to safely arrive at their destination. In many respects, estate planning is similar to flying, as the goal of estate planning is to transport your client from one point to another safely and securely without experiencing any major financial problems. Successfully accomplishing this goal requires a formal plan and proper decision-making by the client.

Retirees will need far more money to cover their health care expenses than previously estimated, according to a new study.

BNA Software and Scivantage’s Financial Guidance division have released BNA Wealth Manager, a wealth management software product designed for use by CPAs.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner described a series of reforms that the Obama administration wants to make to executive compensation practices, including support for “say-on-pay” legislation that would give investors more input into executive pay packages at public companies.

The recession has not prompted many people to change their behavior and start saving more for retirement, according to a new survey by Charles Schwab.

According to Leon LaBrecque, founder and managing partner of LJPR, LLC, a firm handling more than $300 million in assets, “Engineers who are frozen regarding their finances need to know that the financial planning process, at its core, is identical to the five steps they use for their Engineering Design Process. Once they understand this, they are on their way to building their ideal retirement plan.”

LONG-TERM PLANNERS EARN 40 PERCENT MORE

There are some classes of software that simply don't change much from year to year, and retirement planning software is one of them."

It has been said repeatedly that the one aspect most investors can really count on is that markets are cyclical.

The Treasury Department is advising Social Security check recipients who live in hurricane- and other disaster-prone areas to switch to direct deposit as hurricane season gets underway along the Gulf Coast and Eastern seaboard states and severe weather continues to impact other regions of the country.

A nanny who worked for a wealthy business owner was driving her employer's children to school, talking on her cell phone, when she ran a red light and crashed into another car, killing a family of three. State law stipulated that in such cases both the driver and the vehicle owner were liable. Both the business owner and his wife were named on the car's registration - as they were on all of their personal and professional assets. Due to the lack of protection planning, the accident ultimately put all of the business owner's assets in jeopardy.

POLL: INVESTORS PREPARING FOR LONG RECESSION

Award-winning author and financial planner Jonathan Pond told a crowd of more than 500 small firm principals and sole practitioners that while the current recession is life-changing for many, conditions will improve despite the media’s best efforts to portray the current climate as “hopeless.”

Do your clients have life insurance or annuity policies? If so, they - and you - may be in trouble.

The Internal Revenue Service now has a new interest in sports and entertainment - and not just as a spectator.