Retirement Savings Vehicles Microsoft Word Document (FINRA)
Social Security and employer pension plans may not be enough to allow you to maintain your standard of living in your retirement. Fortunately, Congress has created a variety of specialized retirement savings plans to give your efforts an added boost.

Retirement Savings Plans Tables Microsoft Word Document (FINRA)
Easy to look at charts that compare individual retirement plans, employer plans and small business plans

Retirement Calculator (FINRA INVESTOR TOOL)
Do you have enough to see you through your retirement years? Here's an online calculator to help you find out. TIP: You should recalculate every three to five years because your personal financial circumstances as well as our economy may change.

Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans & Individual Retirement Accounts (FINRA)
A good place to start investing for retirement is with your employer-sponsored retirement plan or with an Individual Retirement Account. This overview of all kinds of investment choices has good explanations of special kinds of investments for retirement.

Smart 401(k) Investing (FINRA)
401(k) retirement plans can make the difference between a financially secure retirement and the specter of running out of money. Whether you're just getting started or already retired, learn more about these retirement plans.

401(k) and IRA Minimum Required Distribution Calculator (FINRA INVESTOR TOOL)
The law requires that you begin withdrawing money from your employer sponsored retirement account or traditional IRA by April 1 of the year following the year you turn 70½. Your age and your account balance will determine the amount you're required to withdraw. Answer a few simple questions to find your minimum required distribution (MRD).

Putting Too Much Stock in Your Company 401k Plan (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
Stories of employees risking the loss of some or all their retirement income remain in the news.  Now is a good time to ask yourself if you hold too much of your retirement nest egg in your employer's stock. Employees who have the opportunity to invest in company stock may be concentrating too much of their retirement savings in a single security.  Of particular concern are employees who have all or most of their 401(k) assets in their employer's stock.  If the stock takes a beating, so does your retirement savings. Read more….

Think Twice Before Cashing Out Your 401(k) (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
If you are thinking about cashing out your 401(k) when you change jobs, think twice. Or maybe three times. You might be about to forsake a financially secure retirement. FINRA is using this Alert to educate investors to the potentially devastating impact cashing even a modest amount of 401(k) assets can have on retirement savings.  More ....

401k Debit Cards: Think Before You Swipe (FINRA INVESTOR ALERTS)
Many Americans tap their retirement savings before they retire, potentially harming their efforts to provide for a financially secure future. With the advent of a recent product—the 401(k) debit card—borrowing from a retirement savings account is as easy as swiping and spending. These cards are often marketed as ideal for employers whose workforce include young, seasonal, transitory, or union workers. Although they may seem to be an attractive feature of some 401(k) plans, taking money out of your retirement savings, even for a short period of time, can have enormous repercussions for your retirement security—particularly if you never put the money back.

Stretch IRAs -- Too Much of a Stretch for You? (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) have been extremely popular as retirement vehicles for the past generation of investors. The tax deferred savings for retirement has been described as the best tax break available to middle class Americans. In response to recent IRS rule changes, a new variation on the traditional IRA – "stretch" IRAs - offers potentially huge payoffs that will be difficult for most investors to get. Learn more….

Annuities & Senior Citizens
An annuity is a contract in which an insurance company makes a series of income payments at regular intervals in return for a premium or premiums you have paid. Annuities are most often bought for future retirement income, and can pay an income that can be guaranteed to last as long as you live. However, annuities can be subject to deceptive sales practices. Learn more….

Variable Annuities -- Beyond the Hard Sell (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
FINRA is issuing this Investor Alert to help seniors and other prospective variable annuity buyers to make informed decisions about how to invest for their retirement. This Alert focuses solely on deferred variable annuities and the unique issues they raise for investors.

Reverse Mortgages: Avoiding a Reversal of Fortune (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
If you are in your sixties, and own your home, chances are you have heard about reverse mortgages—or will soon. Reverse mortgages can be helpful to homeowners who want to stay in their homes but are having trouble keeping up with their mortgage payments, or who have no other source of funds to pay bills or meet unexpected expenses. But as more Americans near retirement age, some financial institutions are aggressively marketing reverse mortgages as an easy, cost-free way for retirees to finance lifestyles—or to pay for risky investments—that can jeopardize their financial futures.  More ....

Seniors Beware: What You Should Know About Life Settlements (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
Lately, more and more seniors are hearing about opportunities to sell their existing life insurance for cash in transactions known as life settlements. A life settlement, or senior settlement, as they are sometimes called, involves selling an existing life insurance policy to a third party—a person or an entity other than the company that issued the policy—for more than the policy's cash surrender value, but less than the net death benefit.  More ....

Look Before You Leave: Don't Be Misled By Early Retirement Investment Pitches That Promise Too Much (FINRA INVESTOR ALERT)
Early retirement is an alluring prospect. When faced with a pitch that promises that you can cash in your company retirement savings in your 50s, reinvest the money, and live comfortably off the proceeds for the rest of your life, many simply can't say no. But usually they should. FINRA is issuing this Investor Alert because we are aware of instances in which employees who had built up sizeable retirement savings have been misled, and financially harmed, by flawed, even fraudulent, early-retirement investment schemes.  More ....

Protect Yourself from Early Retirement Scams (FINRA INVESTOR PROTECTION)
Resources for both employers and employees to avoid falling prey to early retirement scams.

MyMoney.gov -- Retirement Planning
Title V of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACT Act) established the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (Commission) with the purpose of improving the financial literacy and education of persons in the United States. To reach the widest number of people possible, the Commission established a website and a toll-free telephone number (1-888-MYMONEY) to coordinate the presentation of educational materials from across the spectrum of federal agencies that deal with financial issues and markets.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy: Retirement
More than ever before, Americans need to take responsibility for saving for retirement.  Whichever savings vehicles you choose, from 401 (k) plans to mutual funds to annuities, it's never too early to begin preparing you for your Golden Years.

Senior Investor Resource Center
Like FINRA, the North American Securities Administrators Association has a long tradition of protecting investors through financial education. Use this link to get to many resources aimed at helping senior citizens protect their retirement nest eggs.

This program is made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart Investing @ your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association. The PLYMC has formed  local partnerships with the following community agencies to promote financial literacy initiatives especially to young families: Youngstown/Mahoning Valley United Way, Mahoning County  Financial Stability Partnership, Mahoning/Youngstown Community Action Partnership (MYCAP), Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley, Inc., Mahoning County Coalition for Community Reinvestment, Child Care Connection, Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, Youngstown Economic Development Office, WFMJ-TV 21, WKBN-TV-27, and WYTV-TV -33.