Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PCGC), the federal government's pension insurer provides website information for people in defined-benefit plans that were terminated.  Remember, these are pension plans-not 401k benefits.

Type in your last name or the company's name at the PBGC website.

Vanguard provides 401k retirement plans to over 3 million participants.  Each year they look at the plans and particpants and provide a detailed report.  It's a 84 page document that has a lot of interesting info...Here's a look at the Vanguard 401k balances:

In 2009, the average account balance for Vanguard participants was $69,084; the median balance was $23,140.  The wide divergence between the median and the average balance is due to a small number of very large accounts that significantly raises the average above the median.

As a result of rising markets, median account balances for Vanguard participants grew by 33% in 2009,
compared with a decline of 31% in 2008.  However, account balances remain below 2006 levels.

How America Saves 2010

A Report On Vanguard 2009 Defined Contibution Plan Data

Your 401k retirement plan sends out periodic statements...or allows you to log in and look at the account.  I hope you monitor on a regular basis!

You'll probably see a summary of the investments and a "pie chart."  The pie chart shows the ratio of stocks, bonds and cash in your plan- the asset allocation.  The asset allocation is important.  If you're a long way from retirement the stock ratio should be higher...if you're closer to retirement stock ratios need to be scaled back.  And it's important to monitor the amount of company stock in your plan.

Here’s a suggestion: If company stock represents more than 50% of the total value of your 401(k) plan, you’re probably taking too much risk.  Diversifying into other investments within your 401(k) plan, like mutual funds that hold a portfolio of stocks and bonds, you can immediately cut risk. Make some adjustments!

NBA
NBA players have one of the most generous pension plans in all of professional sports. They are vested into their pension plans after playing at least three seasons in the league. The minimum benefit for a player that retires at the age of 62 is $56,988 - not a bad retirement for a three-year career. The maximum benefit for any player is $195,000, and it takes 11 years of NBA service to qualify for this benefit.

When the Senate allowed the estate tax to lapse at the end of last year, it encouraged wealthy people near death's door to stay alive until Jan. 1 so they could spare their heirs a 45% tax hit.

Now the situation has reversed: If Congress doesn't change the law soon—and many experts think it won't—the estate tax will come roaring back in 2011.

Not only will the top rate jump to 55%, but the exemption will shrink from $3.5 million per individual in 2009 to just $1 million in 2011, potentially affecting eight times as many taxpayers.

The math is ugly: On a $5 million estate, the tax consequence of dying a minute after midnight on Jan. 1, 2011 rather than two minutes earlier could be more than $2 million; on a $15 million estate, the difference could be about $8 million.



More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong break for Independence Day.

And hundreds of thousands more will lose their benefits in the coming weeks.

The House voted 270-153 Thursday to extend jobless benefits for people who have been laid off for long stretches, but the gesture was made futile by the Senate’s inability to pass the bill. For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a similar measure Wednesday night before senators adjourned for vacation.

A little more than 1.3 million people have already lost benefits since the last extension ran out at the end of May, according to the Labor Department. By the end of the week, the number will jump to 1.7 million. By the end of July, it would top 3 million.



Our US markets have focused on Europe the last month- especially Greece and news from France on a changing retirement age. Yes, the French do retire early and their retirement age will rise gradually to age 62.  Here's a look at retirement ages around the globe:

For persons born during the years 1943-1954, the full retirement age is 66.  If you start receiving benefits early- at age 62 your benefits will be reduced:

25 percent at age 62

20 percent at age 63

13 1/3 percent at age 64

6 2/3 percent  at age 65

I'm getting closer to age 62 and will start to explore reverse mortagage information.  MetLife is one provider available.  Here's the MetLife Reverse mortgage page.

May has not been  a great month for the stock market.  If you look at your IRA or 401k statements you'll probably be disappointed.  I have a feeling many of us will put our portfolios on the back burner this summer and focus on....a backyard barbecue!  Here's some insight from TheStreet.com:

One of the most widely touted market calendar myths is that you should "sell in May and go away." This system apparently worked well from 1950 until about 2003. The Stock Trader's Almanac has assembled data for all the midyear swoons since 1950, but I'd like to bring you the data before 1950 and since 2003.

Last week, S&P strategist Sam Stovall took a new look at the "Sell in May" theory, taking the data back to 1933 (through 2009). He discovered that the S&P 500 index gained 2.5% on average during the months of May through October. More importantly, Stovall also looked at the 15 years like this one - the second year of a bull market -- and he found that the May-October gains in all 15 of those instances (since 1933) averaged +5.5%. Only once (in 1971), did the May-October months deliver a major loss.