CHICAGO, May 23 (Reuters) – The Internal Revenue Service may
be having a bad week, but Mary Rich isn’t complaining about the
taxman.

The former nurse and hospital executive recently won a
10-year battle to get the IRS to reverse a ruling that would
have cost her and her husband, Riz Corpuz, $2,500 a month in
pension benefits from their former employer, the now-defunct
Hospital Center at Orange (HCO) in New Jersey.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A job and a paycheck – they go together like coffee and cream. But when you retire from your regular job, does that mean you have to give up the cream?

A growing number of 401(k) plans are including investment choices that can help savers convert nest eggs into retirement income. Participants can buy insurance annuities or other products designed to spread funds over a lifetime.

By Mark Miller

CHICAGO, May 21(Reuters) – A job and a paycheck – they go
together like coffee and cream. But when you retire from your
regular job, does that mean you have to give up the cream?

A growing number of 401(k) plans are including investment
choices that can help savers convert nest eggs into retirement
income. Participants can buy insurance annuities or other
products designed to spread funds over a lifetime.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Healthcare costs put a big squeeze on retiree pocketbooks, but the grip may be relaxing a bit.

A 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need $220,000 to pay for healthcare for the rest of their lives, an amount that is eight percent less than a year ago, according to a Fidelity Investments report issued Wednesday. Fidelity has been forecasting the cost of healthcare in retirement since 2002, and has forecast lower lifetime costs only once before – an eight percent drop in 2011.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Robin Brewton, who advises clients on Social Security benefit strategies, has boosted retirees’ financial security with a single question: Are you divorced?

It is a little-known fact: If you’re divorced, it’s possible to claim Social Security spousal and survivor benefits from your ex. It is a strategy that can dramatically boost your benefits – and it will be important for more retirees in the years ahead.

CHICAGO, May 9 (Reuters) – Robin Brewton, who advises
clients on Social Security benefit strategies, has boosted
retirees’ financial security with a single question: Are you
divorced?

It is a little-known fact: If you’re divorced, it’s possible
to claim Social Security spousal and survivor benefits from your
ex. It is a strategy that can dramatically boost your benefits -
and it will be important for more retirees in the years ahead.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Gary Bates was an airline pilot for 37 years, and in his last few years on the job, he noticed older travelers having trouble with the whole experience: the security lines, the delays and the increasingly expanding airports.

Those observations became the inspiration for Care-to-Go, a company he launched with his wife, Beth, in 2009, which provides a caregiver to make the trip with an elderly passenger or others who have special needs when they travel. The couple also launched a sister company that provides in-home care to seniors.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – If you’re strapped for cash or have a poor credit rating, the offer would sound tempting: upfront cash in return for your future pension payments.

But it’s a debt trap, according to a recent expose by The New York Times, a “pension advance” loan charging sky-high interest rates. A Times analysis of these deals found effective interest rates ranging from 27 percent to as high as 106 percent.

CHICAGO, May 1 (Reuters) – If you’re strapped for cash or
have a poor credit rating, the offer would sound tempting:
upfront cash in return for your future pension payments.

But it’s a debt trap, according to a recent expose by The
New York Times, a “pension advance” loan charging sky-high
interest rates. A Times analysis of these deals found effective
interest rates ranging from 27 percent to as high as 106
percent.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – PBS Frontline is shocked – shocked! – to find that investors hold retirement accounts that cost too much and eat into long-term returns, even though financial experts have been hammering away on these issues for years

The public affairs show turned its investigative eye to the financial services industry this week with “The Retirement Gamble.”