What the experts say

The end of 401(k)s?

“The 401(k) plan has been sort of a failure,” said Linda Stern in Reuters.com. That was the consensus of “the nation’s biggest thinkers on retirement” when they gathered last month in a Senate hearing room to discuss America’s retirement future. The “once-vaunted” pretax savings plan is now widely considered unduly risky for the many individuals who don’t put aside enough of a nest egg to last until their death. As a result, policymakers are beginning to weigh reforms that would help guarantee lifetime income or pool risks. Proposals include allowing states to run private pensions for small employers and creating rules that compel employers and workers to put money in guaranteed benefit plans. “Anyone under the age of 50” should expect big changes. “Will the baby boomers be the only generation to retire with 401(k) plans? It could happen.”

How to bet on retail

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Even in this sluggish economy, “retail stocks have been knocking it out of the park lately,” said Carla Fried in Money, and they may deserve a place in your portfolio. “Retailers are like the canary in the coal mine,” says Alison Paul of consulting firm Deloitte. “They are the first place you can see where consumer sentiment really is.” Home improvement is one retail sector that looks poised to climb. Prices are low because of the weak housing market, but remodeling permits “shot up” last year nationwide. Similarly, retailers with a big presence in Europe, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, have seen their shares slump because of weak sales abroad, and now look more affordable. Investors who think the euro crisis might be a bit overblown will find buying opportunities.

Hunting down benefits for seniors

More than 2,000 federal, state, and private programs offer benefits to seniors for everything from health care to utility bills, and an online tool from the National Council on Aging can help you find them, said Rachel Louise Ensign in The Wall Street Journal. Benefits​CheckUp.org allows you to sort through programs and determine eligibility based on your income and location. A search on behalf of a single, 75-year-old man in Minneapolis who owns a home and has $50,000 in annual income, for example, turns up “regular free housekeeping, a free eye exam, and transportation to daily activities, as well as a special property-tax refund from Minnesota.”