Get Your 401(K) Plan On Track}

Get Your 401(k) Plan on Track

by

Ishan Goradiya

For many people, their 401(k) plan represents their most significant retirement savings vehicle. Thus, to make sure you have sufficient funds for retirement, you need to get your 401(k) plan on track. To do so, consider these tips:

* increase your contribution rate. With investment values down and future stock market returns uncertain, you need to boost your savings to help increase the value of your 401(k) plan. Strive for total contributions from you and your employer of approximately 10% to 15% of your salary. If you’re not able to save that much right away, save what you can now and increase your contribution rate every six months until you reach that level. One way to accomplish that is to put all pay increases immediately into your 401(k) plan. At a minimum, make sure you’re contributing enough to take advantage of all employer-matching contributions.

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* rebalance your investments. You can’t select your investments once and then just ignore your plan. Review your allocation annually to make sure it is close to your original allocation. If not, adjust your holdings to get your allocation back in line. Selling investments within your 401(k) plan does not generate tax liabilities, so you can make these changes without tax ramifications. Use this annual review to make sure you are still satisfied with your investment choices and your allocation is still appropriate for your situation. Avoid potential common mistakes made when investing 401(k) assets, such as allocating too much to conservative investments, not diversifying among several investments, and investing too much in your

Employer’s stock.

*don’t raid your 401(k) balance. Your 401(k) plan should only be used for your retirement. Don’t even think about borrowing from the plan for any other purpose. Sure, that money might come in handy to use as a down payment on a home or to pay off some debts. But you don’t want to get in the habit of using those funds for anything other than retirement. Similarly, if you change jobs, don’t withdraw money from your 401(k) plan. Keep the money with your old employer or roll it over to your new 401(k) plan or an individual

Retirement account.

* seek guidance. It is important to manage your 401(k) plan carefully to help maximize your future retirement income. If you’re concerned about the long-term impact of the recent market declines, call For a review of your 401(k) plan. Rebalancing, asset allocation, and diversification do not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining financial markets.

Ishan Goraydiya is passionate writer and loves writing about Retirement and Financial Planning. These days he is writing on

ingplans.com

Article Source:

eArticlesOnline.com

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Haile Gebrselassie announces retirement from athletics

Monday, November 8, 2010

Haile Gebrselassie, a 37-year-old Ethiopian road-running athlete, announced his retirement from the sport on Sunday, after leaving the New York City Marathon with an inflamed knee. Gebrselassie is widely considered “one of the greatest distance runners in history.”

“I never think about to retire. But for the first time, this is the day. […] Let me stop and do other work after this,” Gebrselassie said during a press conference. The athlete dropped out of the competition after running 25 kilometers. “Why should I retire? Why should I say I will retire in three or four years? You retire the very moment you utter those words,” he added.

New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said on Saturday that “he had his knee drained and was given cortisone,” and that “it was unlikely Gebrselassie would even start the race.”

Anti-poverty charity Oxfam criticises UK media portrayal of Africa

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Oxfam, an international organisation intending to eliminate poverty, has criticised the way in which Africa is depicted to United Kingdom (UK) audiences. In a press release, the charity said the continent was being portrayed in an “overwhelmingly negative” way which is “undermining popular support for efforts to bring an end to hunger on the continent”. Dame Barbara Stocking, CEO of Oxfam, has said the way in which the continent is being depicted to UK audiences “is obscuring the progress that is being made towards a more secure and prosperous future”.

Oxfam cited a survey of 2000 people conducted by marketing research company YouGov, suggesting three fifths of people have become less sensitive towards footage containing persons suffering from such problems as drought, disease and hunger, while 23% avoid looking at footage of this nature upon sighting it. Oxfam said the way in which broadcast media portrays developing nations, including those in Africa, was perceived to be “depressing, manipulative and hopeless” by those surveyed. Stocking believes “it’s a natural instinct to turn away from suffering when you feel you can do nothing to alleviate it.”

47% of respondents considered hunger to be one of the three largest issues for Africa next year. 43% of respondents thought media portrayal of conditions for persons living in developing areas suggested no hope for improvement. In the 2011 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme, over three fourths of the 46 countries ranked under the ‘Low Human Development’ category — the lowest-ranking category in the Human Development Index — were African. The Democratic Republic of the Congo ranked lowest on the list; the other fourteen entries in the bottom fifteen of this category were all African nations. Stocking has said Oxfam does not mean to “gloss over” issues surrounding African citizens at a significant risk of harm and stressed that malnutrition rates “remain stubbornly high”.

However, of people surveyed only one fifth believed they could actively assist in eliminating food poverty in Africa. Meanwhile, 74% believed it is possible to eventually resolve the issue of hunger in Africa.

“[W]e’ve come a long way since the 1980s and Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” Stocking said. Band Aid, a charity supergroup created by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, was formed following the broadcasting of footage of Ethiopian citizens experiencing a famine in the mid 1980s.

“We need to shrug off the old stereotypes and celebrate the continent’s diversity and complexity,” Stocking said, concluding: “If we want people to help fight hunger we have to give them grounds for hope by showing the potential of countries across Africa”.