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EARLY RETIREMENT PITFALLS - From NEFE: Getting to that first day of retirement is much more complicated than just picking up the gold watch, final check, and settling down to a leisurely life of traveling the world and playing golf. Brent A. Neiser, director for the National Endowment for Financial Education  (NEFE)  Strategic Programs and Alliances department, says soon-to-be-retirees have a number of questions they need to answer for themselves before actually "pulling the retirement trigger." On top of the list, deciding the not-so-simple question of when to retire can make a significant difference in how much money they'll actually have in retirement. Most fall into the trap of taking Social Security too early, which "can take...
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NAKED OPTIONS - From PathtoInvesting.org: When you write, or sell, a call option but don't own the underlying instrument, such as a stock in the case of an equity option, the option is described as naked. Similarly, you write a naked put if you don't have enough cash on hand or in liquid investments to purchase the underlying instrument. The risk you run, however, is that the option holder will exercise the option. If that price of the underlying instrument has moved in the opposite direction from the one you expected, meeting your obligation could result in a substantial net loss. Because of this risk, your brokerage firm may limit your right to write naked options or require that you write them in a margin account ...
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SMART INVESTING GRANT - From IPT: The Investor Protection Trust (IPT) has awarded a grant to the NET Foundation for Television to develop and implement the "Smart Investing" program. Statewide Nebraska public broadcasters NET Radio and NET Television are partnering on the "Smart Investing" project. The project includes an NET Radio series of reports offering investor protection at all ages, as well as a live radio call-in show with investment expert Chris Farrell and television specials later in the year from NET Television. A Web site with helpful information and links to resources and audio links to each of the NET Radio "Smart Investing" segments are available on NET Radio's Web site. Topics covered in the series include investment...
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DIVERSIFIED INCOME HARVESTING AND RETIREMENT INCOME - From FPA: The use of four distinct investment accounts can produce a higher percentage of income withdrawals to fund retirement, compared with more traditional retirement-withdrawal strategies, contends an award-winning article in the August 2008 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning, published monthly by the Financial Planning Association (FPA). The article, "Income-Harvesting Strategy: Achieving Inflation-Adjusted Income from a Lump-Sum Asset," by Zachary S. Parker, CFP, LUTCF, of Securities America, Omaha, Neb., won a Judge's Grant in the 2007 Financial Frontiers Award competition. To date, most income-distribution strategies proposed for retirement have been based on withdrawing a...
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FAIR FUND DISTRIBUTION TO INVESTORS - From SEC: The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the distribution of nearly $40 million to more than 600,000 investors who were harmed by undisclosed market timing and excessive short-term trading in certain mutual funds. This is the first in a series of Fair Fund distributions that will ultimately return a total of more than $150 million to more than 1.5 million mutual fund investors. In October 2003, the SEC and the Massachusetts Securities Division brought separate administrative proceedings against Putnam. In these proceedings, which were fully settled in April 2004, the mutual fund company agreed to pay disgorgement and financial penalties and to implement certain compliance, mutual fund governance, and employee trading reforms ...
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NEW LEADERS AT AIE - Dallas Salisbury is the new president of the Alliance for Investor Education (AIE), a nonprofit consortium of 19 leading U.S. organizations involved in investor education.  The other newly elected AIE officers are: Joy Howell, vice president; John Gannon, secretary; and Gloria Talamas, treasurer. Salisbury also serves as the president and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and chairman of the American Savings Education Council (ASEC)   ...
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LOAD VS. NO-LOAD MUTUAL FUNDS - Mutual fund investors should avoid unnecessary charges whenever possible. In most instances, <the easiest approach is to focus on no-load and low-load mutual funds. For every high-performing load fund, there usually is a similar no-load or low-load fund that can be purchased more cheaply. If you are investing larger amounts of money, however, load funds need not be written off entirely if there is one you find particularly appealing, according to the American Association of Individual Investors    ...
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REVERSE MORTGAGES AND SENIORS - If you are in your sixties, and own your home, chances are you have heard about reverse mortgages-or will soon. Some financial institutions are aggressively marketing reverse mortgages as an easy, cost-free way for retirees to finance lifestyles that can jeopardize their financial futures. A new podcast from FINRA tells you what you need to know to avoid a reversal of fortune ...
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SEC 'RETIRES' SCHEME - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained emergency relief to stop an allegedly fraudulent scheme that raised over $7.2 million from investors who were told the money would be used in a business shredding and recycling used tires. However, as alleged in the SEC's complaint, the tire shredding equipment did not work, there was no reasonable basis for purported income and return figures, and the investors never received a dime from their investment ...
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401(K) DEBIT CARD INVESTOR ALERT - A number of companies are beginning to offer a "401(k) debit card" to employees who invest in 401(k) retirement programs.  A 401(k) debit card allows you to borrow up to $50,000 or 50% of the value of your retirement plan, whichever is less, through use of a debit card.  The Securities and Exchange Commission recently released an investor alert to make consumers aware of the factors they need to take into consideration before using one of these cards     ...
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