Many workers counting on pensions that aren't there - MarketWatch

This article from Market Watch shines a light on why we should all have a home based business. Face it, if you're in a lower income bracket, you aren't going to be able to save 25% of your income and even if you did, would that be enough to live the comfortable life you deserve after years of hard work? I don't think so.

The best way to put away some cash is to increase your income and barring getting a second or third job, working from home is the best way to increase your income.

Many workers counting on pensions that aren't there - MarketWatch

RETIREMENT LIVING
The land of pension fantasies
New survey finds 61% of workers expect a pension
By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Apr 4, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Corporate America has changed the retirement-plan landscape but a good portion of workers don't seem to realize that yet.
Sixty-one percent of workers say they expect to receive a traditional pension when they retire, despite the fact that just 40% of those surveyed say they or their spouses have such a plan, according to the 16th annual Retirement Confidence Survey, of 1,252 U.S. adults 25 and older.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a nonprofit research firm, produced the report with Mathew Greenwald & Associates, a survey-research firm.
Plus, there's plenty of evidence that many employers who still offer traditional pension plans are moving away from them, often freezing new employees out of such plans or, in the case of companies filing bankruptcy, turning them over to the federal government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
"I'm sure anyone who's read the paper lately would know that the likelihood [of receiving a traditional pension] is going down very rapidly," said Jack VanDerhei, an EBRI fellow and co-author of the report. Read the full report.
If workers think "that's going to be a major component of their retirement income, I think they're likely to be sadly mistaken."
Confident to a fault?
Overall, workers continue to demonstrate a confidence about retirement that seems to ignore financial facts.
About 65% of current workers say they and their spouse have less than $50,000 in retirement savings (not including their primary residence or the value of a traditional pension plan).
Yet 68% of people are somewhat or very confident that they'll have enough money to live on in retirement.
In fact, of the 24% of workers who are very confident about doing just fine in retirement, 22% are not saving for retirement now, 39% have less than $50,000 saved, and 37% have not yet calculated how much they'll need in retirement.
Still, older workers are likelier than younger ones to have a heftier amount saved up: 26% of workers 55 and older have saved $250,000 or more (not including primary residence or defined-benefit plan) compared with 5% of workers 25 to 34 who have saved that much.
Nine percent of those 35 to 44 have saved $250,000 or more, as have 16% of those 45 to 54.
Seventy-three percent of workers 25 to 34 have saved less than $25,000. The same goes for 49% of those 35 to 44, 43% of those 45 to 54 and 43% of those 55 and older.
Set my plan on autopilot
A majority of those surveyed are eager for their employers to take back some of the responsibility and choices that have been shifted to workers' shoulders in recent years, as companies have moved from traditional pension plans, also called defined-benefit plans, to defined-contribution plans such as 401(k)s.
Sixty-nine percent of the workers surveyed would like employers to automatically enroll employees in retirement-savings plans, 65% think firms should automatically increase workers' contributions when workers get a pay hike and 59% would like to see companies automatically investing workers' contributions.
"The trend from defined-benefit to defined-contribution plans has not come because employees have wanted to take on that risk. It's because employers have wanted to get rid of that risk," VanDerhei said.
Rate of change is glacier-like
In many ways, this year's findings are similar to previous year's findings. About the same portion of respondents -- 70% this year, 69% last year, 67% in 2002 -- said they or their spouse has saved at all for retirement.
Still, that portion has risen over the past decade: In 1996, just 60% said they had saved for retirement. (That number was 74% in 2000, before the bursting of the Internet bubble.)
"It's kind of like watching a glacier move," VanDerhei said.
VanDerhei says the retirement situation is dire for many Americans, particularly those in the lowest income brackets.
"There's absolutely no chance for a sizable portion of future retirees to have sufficient retirement income unless they start saving at least 25% of their compensation a year," he said, citing this survey and other EBRI research.
"As we know, there's no chance, especially for people in the lower-income quartiles to do that." End of Story

Ford to slash jobs, close factories

Hopefully the numbers I reported a while back are included in these 30,000.


Ford to slash jobs, close factories: "Monday January 23, 2:59 PM EST


Monday January 23, 2:59 PM EST

By Poornima Gupta

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. (F) on Monday said it would slash up to 30,000 jobs and shed more than a quarter of its production capacity as it moves to cut costs and stem market share losses, building on a surprising 19 percent gain in fourth-quarter earnings.

Ford's bonds rose and its shares gained 6 percent after quarterly results topped Wall Street expectations on strength at its finance arm and a narrower loss in the crucial North American market.

Ford, which has faced a deepening financial crisis and struggled with a junk bond rating on its debt, said it would shut 14 manufacturing sites, including seven assembly plants, and cut between 25,000 to 30,000 jobs from plant payrolls by 2012.

The announcement follows a similar announcement from Ford's larger rival, General Motors Corp. (GM), which said in November it would cut 30,000 manufacturing jobs and close a dozen plants. Both automakers are struggling with high pension and health care costs and increased Japanese competition.

Ford said its restructuring, which will idle plants in St. Louis, Atlanta, Michigan, Ohio and Canada, would reduce 26 percent of its production capacity by the end of 2008.

Ford also said it would cut material costs by $6 billion in five years, vowing to streamline parts purchasing, even as it rolls out more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles and small cars to respond to consumer concern over high gas prices.

"We must reduce capacity in North America," Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford said. "From now on our products will be designed and built to satisfy customers, not just fill a factory."

Ford projected that its market share would stabilize or improve in 2006, but suspended its practice of providing full-year financial forecasts, saying it wanted to focus investors and staff on its longer-term turnaround effort.

It forecast that its North American operations, which lost $143 million during the fourth quarter, would be profitable again by 2008.

'A STEP FORWARD' OR 'EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING'?

Analysts were encouraged by Ford's improved fourth-quarter earnings, but more cautious about its restructuring plans, dubbed the "Way Forward."

Brian Johnson, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, called Ford's announcement "a step forward," but said it still left key questions unanswered for investors.

"A lot of people on the Street are looking for more details, not just financial guidance," he said. "Can they defend market share? Can they get early retirements to match the pace of plant closings?"

Another analyst said Ford might have to cut even deeper if it fails to turn around its loss of market share, which slipped to 17 percent as of end-2005.

"With them losing market share the way they have been, they are most certainly going to lose more, so this just will not be enough," said Argus Research analyst Kevin Tynan.

Union leaders, who must negotiate a new contract with the car maker in 2007, called Ford's restructuring "extremely disappointing."

"Certainly today's announcement will only make the 2007 negotiations all the more difficult and all the more important," UAW president Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement.

For the fourth-quarter, losses at Ford's auto operations shrank to $12 million, before taxes and excluding special charges, from $470 million a year ago, while its finance arm contributed a profit of $737 million versus $859 million.

Ford earned 26 cents per share, excluding special items, soundly beating the average analyst expectation of 1 cent a share.

UBS auto analyst Robert Hinchcliffe called that result "much stronger than expected," saying better North American performance and improved results in Europe for the automaker's luxury division had made the difference.

Ford ended 2005 with a market share of 17.4 percent, excluding its luxury brands, the lowest level since the late 1920s.

Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford said total fourth-quarter revenue rose to $47.56 billion from $44.92 billion a year earlier. Automotive revenues jumped to $41.82 billion from $38.87 billion.

Ford reported a pretax gain of $1.08 billion on the sale of Hertz in the fourth-quarter, which was completed in December. The unit was sold to an investor group in a deal valued at about $15 billion, including the assumption of debt.

The company said it would invest $7 billion in plants and equipment in 2006 and end the year with over $20 billion in cash in its core automotive operations.

Shares of Ford rose 48 cents to $8.38 on the New York Stock Exchange, down from earlier high of $8.59. Ford's 7.45-percent bond due 2031 rose 1 cent to 71 cents on the dollar, according to MarketAxess.

(Writing by Kevin Krolicki in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Jui Chakravorty in Detroit)

©2005 Reuters Limited.

Alcoa stopping defined benefit plan for most new hires

I've been reading Rich Dad Prophecy and even though I'm only a few chapters in I can tell it isn't a feel good book when it comes to ERISA and 401k plans.
If you're planning on retiring, you really should read that book. Seems that a major flaw is that with these plans, you HAVE to withdraw money at 70 1/2 years of age and with all the people withdrawing from the stock market at the same time, it will take a dive.
Alcoa stopping defined benefit plan for most new hires



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alcoa Inc. (AA) said on Monday it will eliminate its defined benefit pension plan for most new U.S. salaried employees, effective March 1, 2006.

The world's biggest aluminum producer said that in its place, the company will offer a 401(k) defined contribution plan for new hires. The changes will not affect current Alcoa employees or retirees, who will continue to participate in their current defined benefit pension and defined contribution savings plans.

Brian's Blog

In addition to this Blog, I also have a personal blog at Powerful Intentions. If you want to see what I write about there, feel free to visit.
Brian's Blog

Namaste,
Brian

Just one more reason to start a home based business .


A Guide to Office Survival - All Business - Yahoo! Finance

Is Your Boss Killing You?

By Drew Armstrong
Fast Company

New research suggests that employees who see their bosses as unfair may be at significantly greater risk for heart disease. Here's how to fight back.

If you've ever felt your heart skip a beat after being screamed at by your boss, it may be more than just your imagination.

A study of 6,000 British male office workers over a four-year period, published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that employees who felt their supervisors treated them fairly had a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world. Put another way, caustic, abrasive, and overbearing bosses just might be taking years off their employees' lives.

Sure, we all feel on-the-job stress at one point or another, but even the most harried among us rarely address it as a potentially serious health problem. A recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, however, found that high stress levels or depression because of work run parallel to traditional risk factors like high cholesterol and smoking. For cardiologists, who don't typically get mixed up in psychology, the study points to growing evidence that the head can have a lot to do with the heart. Consider a "killer boss" right at the top of the list of causes.

But not all hope is lost. According to doctors and other stress experts, lowering your health risks is as much about managing the rigors of your job as it is being blessed with a fair-and-just boss. You can't change your boss's stripes, but you can learn to handle the pressure and anxiety he or she induces.

Recognizing the problem, some hospitals have already developed programs to help people in high-stress jobs lead healthier lives. For example, the University of Michigan's Cardiovascular Executive Health Program works with executives to address diet, exercise -- and stress reduction. "A lot of executives have lifestyles that are conducive to developing heart disease," says Dr. Melvyn Rubenfire, director of preventative cardiology at Michigan. "They have high stress, they're traveling a lot, they're eating on the road."

The Michigan program conducts a thorough physical examination and makes recommendations about fitness and nutrition, but Rubenfire also places high importance on dealing with stress in the workplace. And even with all the sophisticated tests the program runs, some of the recommendations it makes on stress reduction are remarkably simple -- applicable to managers and employees alike. "You get them to understand that you can relax just by closing your eyes," Rubenfire says. "The program helps them understand" that they don't need trips to a spa or a mountaintop resort to relax.

Rubenfire advises patients to employ simple techniques, like looking at pictures of their families, visualizing a beautiful vacation spot, or even trying to imagine a problematic situation as comical rather than stressful. "What we try to teach people is to recognize [stressful situations] before they happen," he says. "They don't wait until the crisis, but because they know what it means to be relaxed, they can feel the subtle changes before they get to too high a level of stress."

Rubenfire is not surprised by the study's findings on reduced risk of heart disease for workers who felt they had fair bosses. "It's not that justice at work is the key, it's how that interacts with job satisfaction," he says. "It's important in making you happy at work." With Americans continuing to work some of the longest hours in the industrialized world, too many unhappy hours can take a toll.

Psychologist and executive coach Michael H. Kahn has studied the way workers manage stress and how it affects the way they do their jobs. He says he sees many companies -- and employees -- failing to understand that managing stress every day leads to a happier, healthier, more productive working environment. Managers would do well to take note. When companies don’t find ways for workers to reduce the small stresses of the workplace as they occur, he says, productivity falls.

And most of us don't really know how to keep this buildup from boiling over. "People work, work, work, and then on the weekends or once a month, they do something to relieve their stress," Kahn says. Workers are better off building small, five-minute breaks into their day, and learning how to anticipate and react to stressful situations.

"Even though it adds time on to the work day, you're going back with better energies," Kahn adds. "Think of what happens at a sporting event -- they take time outs, they have quarters, halves. All of that allows the players to take a mental and physical break so that when they come back, they're reenergized. But if you look at what goes on in business, it's rare."

In part because of domineering bosses, many workers have come to feel like they need to stay at their desks, instead of stepping away for a few minutes to refocus. Kahn says this leads workers to “keep trying to override those messages that you need to take a break. As the day progresses, it takes more energy to override those messages, and productivity goes down.”

So, the next time the big cheese calls you in for that meeting you’ve been dreading, or when worrying about tomorrow’s deadline is keeping you from finishing today’s project, slip in five extra minutes to step back, take a deep breath, and relax. Your heart -- and very likely your employer -- will end up thanking you.

Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide

I don't understand. As a previous post shows, we lost almost a million jobs (964,232) and this story shows that a portion of them were replaced by lower paying jobs (3.6% lower household income) so I'm confused about the strength of the economy.
Maybe I need to take an economics course to figure out how wages can go down, we can lose that many jobs and still have a healthy ecomony.
I still believe that the best way to weather these things is to build a home business and not worry about being laid off. It's hard to be scared of losing a job you aren't that interested in if you have a business that is sending a check every month.

Namaste,
Brian Baldwin

Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide

Bush Says Tax Cuts Must Be Permanent to Ensure Growth (Update1)

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said the strength of the U.S. economy demonstrated the need for Congress to make his tax cuts permanent.

``There are a lot of people in Washington who don't believe in tax cuts,'' Bush said in a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago. ``The United States Congress must make the tax cuts permanent.''

Bush and other administrations fanned out across the U.S. today to take credit for an economy he said has a ``full head of steam'' and a jobless rate of 4.9 percent. Democrats assert Bush is out of touch with the middle class, which is struggling with higher prices for medicine, college tuition and home heating costs, amid stagnant or declining wages.

``Bush has his eye on the big picture, claiming credit for the economy,'' said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. ``This is Ronald Reagan politics: Cut taxes, get the economy back.''

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said in a statement yesterday that his party would work to increase the minimum wage, push for lower costs prescription drugs through government negotiations and offer more home heating aid. ``Democrats are concentrating on other parts of the economy that aren't doing very good,'' Black said.

Household Income

Average household income, after inflation, has fallen 3.6 percent to $44,389 today from $46,058 when Bush took office, Census Bureau figures show.

``Unfortunately, the record they're touting is not the reality for most Americans,'' Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a statement yesterday. ``Life is getting tougher for the average American, not better.''

The Bush administration maintains that the tax cuts during the past five years helped the economy emerge from a 2001 recession and contributed to 10 consecutive quarters of growth that exceeded a 3 percent annual rate.

``The president and I have no intention of letting the big spenders in the Washington take a bigger share of your paycheck,'' Vice President Dick Cheney said after touring a Harley-Davidson motorcycle plant in Kansas City. ``Our job now is to maintain the momentum of this economy, and to keep the confidence level high.''

Bush also laid out a 2006 agenda that included controlling health care costs and expanding global trade.

The president said the U.S. would push for a conclusion of world trade talks, with a goal ``to see that this world trades more fairly, and more freely.''

Yield Curve

While the administration points to the economic improvements, some economists and investors say bond yields herald an economic slowdown later this year or early next. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes ended 2005 below those of two-year notes for the first time since December 2000. Such an inversion in the yield curve has preceded the past four recessions.

``That's a horse with a track record we would rather not go against,'' David Rosenberg, chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, told clients this week.

U.S. employers added 108,000 workers in December, less than the 200,000 median forecast by 62 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Today's Labor Department report also showed the jobless rate fell 0.1 percent to 4.9 percent.

At stake for Bush and his allies are the mid-term elections in Congress, where all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for grabs and one-third of the U.S. Senate. Republicans now control both chambers.

Gasoline Prices

Average retail gasoline prices that peaked at $3.07 cents a gallon on Sept. 5 after Hurricane Katrina have fallen to $2.23 a gallon, Energy Department figures show.

With falling gasoline prices, Bush's handling of the economy has improved, though it's still below 50 percent. An ABC News/Washington Post poll taken Dec. 15-18 showed 47 percent of those surveyed approved of his stewardship, the highest since June, and up from 36 percent in a Nov. 2 Post/ABC survey. The telephone poll of 1,003 adults had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

After the economic shock from the Sept. 11 attacks, the ``real story of the last few years is the incredible resilience of our economy,'' Cheney said.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow visited the New York Stock Exchange and did three television interviews today to hail the economy. ``The fundamental news here is a good story, a wonderful story,'' Snow said in an interview. Snow predicted the unemployment rate would continue to drop. ``It is already lower than the average in the '70s, '80s and '90s, but I'm confident we can continue to make progress.''

In addition to Bush, Cheney and Snow, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and about 20 other officials from the Treasury, Labor, Energy and Commerce departments were scheduled to talk about the economy in speeches or meetings in 19 different states, according to a White House schedule.

`Under the Surface'

``Democrats are predictably trying to draw attention to things under the surface'' that the economy isn't quite so rosy, said Charles Gabriel, a senior political analyst at Prudential Equity Group in Washington. Still, ``inflation is controllable and energy prices are peaking,'' he said.

Cheney and Bush will maintain their argument for spending restraint, as the administration prepares for the State of the Union address on Jan. 31 and a budget message on Feb. 6.

The federal budget deficit was $319 billion in fiscal 2005, down from $412 billion the previous year. Bush took office in 2001 with a budget surplus of $236 billion. The administration's goal is a deficit of no more than $260 billion by 2009. The official budget numbers don't include spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been funded through ``emergency spending'' measures totaling $326 billion since September 2001.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Brendan Murray in Chicago at  brmurray@bloomberg.net
Holly Rosenkrantz in Kansas City  hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 6, 2006 13:32 EST

Economic Report: U.S. planned layoffs rise 22% in November - Automobiles - Manufacturing - Bond Market - Economy

I'm not including these numbers in the total at the top since there is no way to know how many were already reported but it's easy to see that I wasn't even close to finding them all. The article goes on to say what sectors added jobs but the retail sector added 8500 which we all know doesn't pay as well as many of the jobs that were lost.

If I could stress anything; it's to make it a new years resolution to have a plan B and start a home based business. Start it in your spare time and maybe by the time your number is called, you can say it doesn't bother you.

Namaste,
Brian

Economic Report: U.S. planned layoffs rise 22% in November - Automobiles - Manufacturing - Bond Market - Economy

Layoffs rise 22% in Nov., Challenger says
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:06 AM ET Dec. 7, 2005

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Led by sharp cuts in the automotive industry, planned job reductions by major U.S. corporations increased 22% in November to 99,279, according to a monthly tally released Wednesday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.


Planned layoffs have increased three months in a row.

Layoffs were down 5% from November 2004's 104,530.

So far in 2005, corporations have announced 964,232 job cuts, up 3.6% from the year-to-date total a year ago. Layoffs are likely to surpass 1 million for the fifth straight year. In 2004, 1.04 million job reductions were announced.

More than 10% of the job cuts this year have come from the struggling automotive sector, which has announced 105,886 cuts this year, including 16,870 in November.

"Downsizing in the auto industry is expected to continue well into the new year, as companies try to bring production capacity in line with the reality of the market," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of the outplacement firm.

The Challenger tally doesn't include published report on Wednesday that Ford Motor Co. (F:
Ford Motor Company
News, chart, profile
Last: 8.20+0.09+1.11%
4:15pm 12/07/2005

More F
F8.20, +0.09, +1.1%) will increase its planned reductions from 20,000 to 30,000. The new restructuring plan is to be approved by the board of directors on Wednesday and Thursday, the Detroit News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. See full story.

Government and nonprofits groups announced 14,195 job reductions in November, Challenger said. Transportation, pharmaceutical, industrial goods and telecommunications also had large numbers of layoffs in November.

The Challenger data cover only a small portion of job losses in the United States each month. Layoffs at small companies are not included, for instance. In the most recent government data, 1.77 million layoffs and discharges were reported in September.

The layoffs can be accomplished immediately or over time. Some jobs are cut through voluntary means, such as quitting or retiring.

"There clearly are areas of the economy that are struggling to find a foothold but, for the most part, the economy is very strong," Challenger said.

In November, U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 215,000, the 30th consecutive month of job growth, the Labor Department reported last week.
See full story.