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Retirement Guide 2009

Putting the nest egg together again
Amid investment losses, a lousy job market, falling housing prices, and rising health-care costs, is it possible to build - or rebuild - retirement finances? Yes, insist financial experts, and the sooner the better.
When was the last time you adjusted your retirement portfolio?
Last month
Less than six months ago
More than six months ago
Last year
Before 2008
Never
View results
Sticking with 401(k) plans even after painful 2008
PhillyInc: Back in October, as the markets went haywire, I wrote about what I was doing with my investments. I did so because people kept asking me.
Increasingly, housing is best when it's shared
In this era of high living costs and shrunken nest eggs, retirement might mean a forced move in with the kids - or even with strangers.
 
Saving to Retire
Here are tips on how to make saving for retirement easier: 1. Pay off credit cards first. Paying down debt with high interest rates such as credit cards is essential.
 
Thinking honestly about savings
Better to cut back now than come up short later
It's time for an uncomfortable conversation about the facts of life. Some financial advisers are forcing their clients - even those with portfolios worth millions - to look at what remains in their nest eggs and ask themselves if they have enough to keep spending what they are used to spending.
Biting the bullet: Investment risk in these tough times
What you do depends on how close you are to retirement.
After the worst year for the stock market in decades and a financial crisis that has rocked the nation's banks, who could blame investors for wondering if there is a safe place to put their money now?
 
Survey: Calculating a comfortable retirement
Rising costs and uncertainty about the economy have workers less confident in their ability to save enough money to retire comfortably, say the authors of a new study released last month.
Reverse mortgages jump into high gear
Stimulus package has made them cheaper, easier to get.
Their retirement accounts flattened by the sour economy, older homeowners are increasingly turning to so-called reverse mortgages - the sometimes expensive loans that don't require payments until the borrower sells the home or dies.
For older workers, a paycheck is security
In tight times, retirements are being delayed - or ended.
In these scary economic times, older workers are putting off retirement and hanging on to their paychecks. And some retirees struggling to make ends meet are scanning help-wanted ads for the first time in years.
Retirement planning
These Web sites could help you plan retirement finances for yourself or for a member of your family. There is even one site that can assist you in preparing a retirement speech.
Pondering a 401(k) plan
Small firms should see retirement benefits as an important tool in the recruiting game.
One of the first questions many small-business owners hear from their accountants at tax time is whether they've started or funded a retirement plan. That's a painful topic during a recession.
Public pension funds are masking a funding crisis
The Chicago Transit Authority retirement plan had a $1.5 billion hole in its stash of assets in 2007. At the height of a four-year bull market, it didn't have enough cash on hand to pay its retirees through 2013, meaning it was underfunded to the tune of 62 percent.
 
Graphics: Retirement adjustments, preparing, working
More Retirement Advice
PhillyDeals: Should 'forced savings' replace 401(k) plans?
PhillyDeals: Should the government force workers to save more?
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Before buying a house, get smart about money
Alan J. Heavens: Certain rules about managing money are fairly obvious. But things that seem like a good idea at the time - buying a house, for instance - can go horribly wrong.