Moving and Retirement
Which States Have the Most Job Growth Since the Recession? The 50 States and DC Have Added Nearly 12 Million Jobs
In 21 states, employment has increased less than 7 percent. But in other states, employment has bounced back strongly: In 14, employment has increased 10 percent or more since their low points. North Dakota has led the way thanks to its oil boom. Other top performers are Texas and Utah, where employment has increased more than 15 percent since December 2009 and February 2010, respectively. Next are California and Colorado, where employment is up more than 13 percent since their lowest points in early 2010.
May 13, 2015
By Jake Grovum
© AP
Although the nation’s unemployment rate is at a seven-year low of 5.4 percent, job growth among the states has been uneven, with several showing… more »
Safari To the Serengeti For A Birthday Trip, Both Hair-Raising and Life Transforming
Sonja Zalubowski writes: The scenes stirred something in my bones, my blood, my very genes. This sense of witnessing how the world must have been once at the very beginning. The Serengeti is not far from the Olduvai Gorge where Mary Leakey in 1978 discovered the footprints of our earliest known ancestors, the hominids known as Australopithecenes from more than three million years ago. No cattle drivers or farmers here. The animals were doing quite well at maintaining nature's balance all on their own. I felt humbled, reverent and in awe. But, I also recognized how raw and dangerous and right there in front of us all this was. more »
States Try More Tax Breaks for Seniors: 36 States With An Income Tax Allow Some Exemptions For Pension Benefits
For some of the states looking to cut taxes, it’s an effort to stop older folks from decamping to more tax-friendly places when they retire. For others, it's a way for lawmakers to curry favor with one of the most politically plugged-in demographic groups, which also is the wealthiest. "They are worth more, dollar-wise, than young people," said US Census Bureau spokesman Robert Bernstein.
About a half dozen states are considering giving new tax breaks to seniors over 65, although they already enjoy favorable treatment by the federal government and by most states on their income and property taxes.
For some of the st… more »
Working in Your Best Interest: A Proposal to Protect Consumers From Conflicts of Interest in Retirement Advice
"This boils down to a very simple concept: if someone is paid to give you retirement investment advice, that person should be working in your best interest," said Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "As commonsense as this may be, laws to protect consumers and ensure that financial advisers are giving the best advice in a complex market have not kept pace. Our proposed rule would change that. Under the proposed rule, retirement advisers can be paid in various ways, as long as they are willing to put their customers' best interest first." more »