12 Steps Corporate America no longer offers a pension plan. Retirement planning and saving is your responsibility. How will you handle this responsibility? Research shows that 77 percent of American workers don’t understand financial planning or investing. Some people give up managing money because of the increasing complexity of financial products. For example: • Have you allowed the company’s contribution to remain in the cash/stable value account? • Have you been working for 6 months, about to become eligible to participate, and you have never looked at the company’s guidelines? • Has it been a year or more since you looked at your investment portfolio? • Do you have all of your money in bonds? • Are you making any contributions to your 401(k) plan? When do you plan to start contributing the maximum? • Do you pay yourself first? Are you deducting money and putting it in a separate account before you receive your check? • Do you know what a target fund is? • Is your emergency fund tied up in a certificate of deposit or savings account? • Do you know if the mutual funds you are investing in pay dividends or capital gains? • Are you planning to rollover all of the monies in your 401(k) plan into an annuity when you retire? • Do you leave investment decisions solely in the hands of a financial planner? • Your 401(k) plan offers 20 different mutual funds, did you allocate 5% to each? This list represents basic fundamental information you should know. If you can’t answer the questions, buy the self-help book “Getting Started On Your 401(k) Plan”. All graduating seniors entering the work force should own this book. |