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Retirement

FICA wage base increases to $118,500 for 2015

10/22/2014
The 2015 taxable wage base for the Social Security portion of FICA is $118,500, a 1.28% hike over the 2014 wage base. The 6.2% Social Security tax is payable by both employers and employees; in 2015, the maximum tax is $7,347.

Feds sue Keene company over missing retirement funds

10/07/2014
The DOL is suing a Keene-based rehabilitation therapy practice after investigators discovered that the owner had been deducting retirement plan contributions from employees’ paychecks for the past two years without forwarding any money to the plan.

36% of Americans haven’t saved a dime for retirement

08/27/2014
Over a third of all Americans (36%) have not saved any money for retirement, according to a new Bankrate.com survey.

Remind retirement plan participants: Don’t neglect stock investments

08/26/2014
Most Americans are unaware that the stock market is booming, according to a new Gallup poll. The S&P 500 gained 30% in 2013, yet only 7% of those polled knew that, and only 52% believe now is a good time to invest in stocks.

Low-wage baby boomers face retirement poverty

08/12/2014
Your lowest-paid older workers can look forward to retirements defined by even poorer income prospects, according to economists who study wage and financial-planning data.

Which has greater value to employees: Retirement or health benefits?

07/30/2014

Employees are more satisfied with their company-sponsored retirement benefits than they were five years ago, but satisfaction with health care benefits (especially the cost), has declined, according to a new survey by the Towers Watson consulting firm. How big is the satisfaction split?

Take it or leave it? What affects retirement rollovers?

07/29/2014
It’s a question that interests policymakers and employers alike: When workers leave or change jobs, what do they do with their employment-based retirement savings—and why?

Uncle Sam is getting rich on 401(k) withdrawals

07/11/2014
Employees who made early withdrawals from their 401(k) retirement savings plans paid $5.7 billion in penalties to the IRS in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available.

Retirement trumps health in benefits survey

06/23/2014
Employees are more satisfied with their company-sponsored retirement benefits than they were five years ago, but satisfaction with health care benefits, especially the cost of medical benefits, has declined, according to a new survey by the Towers Watson consulting firm.

401(k)s must recognize same-sex spouses

06/20/2014
The fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 U.S. v. Wind­­sor decision continues to affect employers. The IRS now says that 401(k) plans that define marriage and spouses in terms of heterosexuality must be amended to define those terms in a gender-neutral way.