Credit and Credibility

The most recent episode of PBS’s “NOW” program had an interesting examination of the role credit rating agencies played in the current economic crisis.  See the full program here, where you can also find selected emails and documents from “NOW”’s investigation, links to related news stories, and video of other NOW reports on the economy.

New on the Resources page

New on the Club’s Resources page:

Consumer Retirement Plan Information
Links & publications from the Department of Labor, including these booklets handed out at our meetings: Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning, and What You Should Know about Your Retirement Plan.

and a new section for information on

Pensions

Employee Benefits Security Administration
EBSA (part of the U.S Department of Labor) protects the integrity of pensions, health plans, and other employee benefits.

Pension Action Center
From the Gerontology Institute at U. Mass/Boston, the Pension Action Center includes the New England Pension Assistance Project, which offers free counseling and assistance on pension issues, and a legal referral service.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
PBGC, a federal corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, protects the pensions of nearly 44 million American workers and retirees in more than 29,000 private single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. See their publications list, including Finding a Lost Pension.

Estate planning links

Some Club members asked at the meeting for more estate planning resources. 

We have a new bibliography I forgot to distribute at the meeting, available here:
Middlesex Probate and Family Court: An Overview
It lists many books covering the topics discussed at last night’s meeting.

You’ll find additional books primarily in the 346.73 area (with a few more with the retirement planning books in 332.024), and listed in the first section of our latest BookLetters list.

Many e-books on the topic are also available online via Net Library:
NetLibrary® Home Access | In Library Access

Keywords to search would include “estate planning,” wills, probate, Nolo (for Nolo Press).

And the Mass. Trial Court Libraries has a page on their website, Mass. Law About Wills and Estates, with links to relevant legal statutes and other information.

November meeting notes

Last evening John J. Twomey, Deputy Register & General Counsel for the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court, presented a very helpful talk on wills and probate court issues.

He started out with the basics:  everyone should have a will, be sure to date and sign it (yes, it happens!), and initial and number each page (page 1 of 4, etc.).  A will must be witnessed by two disinterested persons (over 18 and not a beneficiary of the will).  Always ask the person named as executor if they want this responsibility (an executor can be named in the will).  It’s best to name only one executor; naming multiple people can complicate decision-making.  Wills can’t be changed by cross-outs or adding to the bottom; you must add a codicil (or draft a new will).

If you want to leave a specific item to a specific person, be sure to mention it.  Likewise, the omitted child statute in Massachusetts only allows you to disinherit a child by specifically mentioning that in your will.

Attorney Twomey then gave some specific examples from the news of what can happen when you don’t make your exact wishes known in the proper legal manner.  Bottom line:  draft a will and see an attorney!  He also handed out a form to use to notify those left behind of where important papers can be found (we’ll have copies at future meetings).  Following the talk, Attorney Twomey took questions of individual concern from the audience, of which there were many!

More from “On Point”

If you can stand to hear more about the economic crisis, WBUR’s “On Point” interviewed historian Niall Ferguson about the new world of finance and his new book, The Ascent of Money.  Audio of the interview and listener comments can be found here.

Solving the Caregiving Puzzle

The Wall Street Journal’s Retirement section, mentioned in the previous post, currently has a special report, Solving the Caregiving Puzzle, including audio and video reports. 

And be sure to check out their list of Five Books to Retire By–the Newton Free Library owns all of them!

Retirement in Crisis

With guaranteed pensions few, 401(k) values falling, and the possibility of working longer looming, this was the title of WBUR’s On Point show yesterday, “a sobering new view of retirement” after the crash.  Audio and (many) comments can be found here.

Guests were Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research and author of When I’m Sixty-four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them (you can read a sample chapter here), and Glenn Ruffenach, co-author of The Wall Street Journal Complete Retirement Guidebook: How to Plan It, Live It, and Enjoy It.  Ruffenach also edits Encore, the Wall Street Journal’s very useful Retirement section.

Credit and Bankruptcy, and more

Three members have now been appointed to the Congressional Oversight Panel,  created as part of the bailout bill to provide independent review of the government’s recovery program.  Appointed to the panel by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was Elizabeth Warren, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University, where her research areas include bankruptcy (focusing in particular on women, the elderly, and the poor in bankruptcy) and commercial law and financially distressed companies.  Professor Warren is the founder and contributor to the interesting blog Credit Slips, which covers all things credit and bankruptcy from an academic perspective.

If the blog is too wonkish for your taste, Professor Warren also writes on personal finance issues for the general reader–and is an occasional guest on Oprah!  The library owns both of Elizabeth Warren’s books (both written with her daughter):

All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan (also on audio CD)

The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke (With Surprising Solutions That Will Change Our Children’s Futures)

Obama’s Challenge

On NPR’s “Fresh Air” this afternoon, Terry Gross interviewed journalist and economist Robert Kuttner about his new book, Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency (audio of the interview is available on the NPR website).  In the interview he addresses the next step in the bailout process, appointment of a treasury secretary, and other current economic issues.

Track the bailout

Chris Carey, a former business reporter for the St. Louis Dispatch, has created a blog, BailoutSleuth, to study SEC documents and court filings to keep track of how the $700 billion bailout money is being spent.  The site plans to monitor the government’s purchase, and eventual sale, of bad mortgages and other distressed assets. It will provide regular reports on the process, tracking and analyzing deals and providing information about the companies and people involved in them.