TOKYO — For more than a decade, Setsuko Hikita spent her working days selling snacks and newspapers in the bowels of Tokyo’s bustling metro system. Amid the chaos of morning commutes and the scramble to catch the last train home, she kept her employers’ tiny kiosks a haven of well-ordered commerce. Her company once awarded
Retirement
When Dray Farley was 15, he watched a video his favorite gamer had posted on YouTube. But it wasn’t about Call of Duty. “It was how to get rich in 22 years, and the general math and concept of compound interest, the snowball effect, and how eventually your gains are making gains,” Mr. Farley said.
Paula Brynen has been finding a sense of purpose in volunteer work for years — and even more so after her job as a fund-raiser for public television in California was eliminated two years ago. Having survived leukemia in 2011, she volunteers with the local chapter of the nonprofit Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, work that
Social Security has always seemed like a future problem, with experts long predicting a benefits squeeze in the decades ahead. But the coronavirus has put tens of millions of Americans out of work, and economists are predicting that the recovery will take years. That means the future is now. If nothing is done to shore
In early 2000, Michael and Lynn Terry started a business selling horse trailers that were lighter than their competitors’ and customized to each client’s needs. Nearly two decades later, their company, Cimarron Trailers, with tens of millions of dollars in sales, employed over 130 people in Chickasha, Okla., and their trailers were sold at 30
A pension fund for Pennsylvania teachers said it had frozen new investments with Apollo Global Management amid concerns about ties between its founder, Leon Black, and Jeffrey Epstein. The $63 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System said it spoke with Apollo officials last week after a New York Times report detailed the financial ties
In April, Dave Summers lost his job as director of digital media productions at the American Management Association, a casualty of layoffs brought on by the pandemic. Mr. Summers, 60, swiftly launched his own business as a digital media producer, coach and animator who creates podcasts, webcasts and video blogs. And in September, he and
Ben Meng got the job of chief investment officer of CalPERS by convincing the trustees of the nation’s largest public pension fund that he could hit their target of a 7 percent annual return on investment by directing more of the fund’s billions into private equity. Now, Mr. Meng is gone — only a year
When someone retires, three substantial changes take place, said Ken Dychtwald, psychologist, gerontologist and founder and chief executive of Age Wave, a consulting and research company. “They struggle with their identity, relationships and activity,” he said. “Some people feel unsettled, anxious or even bored, but eventually they realize that relationships, wellness and purpose really matter
Today’s record low bond yields could not come at a worse time for many baby boomers. Owning U.S. Treasuries, the undisputed safest bond for retirees, means signing on for next to nothing in earnings for the next five to 10 years. That’s because the current yield of a Treasury bond is a solid estimate of
David Jarmul and his wife, Champa, long envisioned what their retirement would look like. After returning from a two-year Peace Corps stint in Moldova in 2018, the couple, both 67, planned extensive travel, including trips to the Baltics, West Africa and Sri Lanka. “Travel is our passion — it’s what we love to do,” said
The Labor Department is seeking a new federal regulation that could discourage retirement funds from making investments based on environmental, social and governance considerations. The department said in a news release Tuesday evening that it was taking the action to “provide clear regulatory guideposts.” Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, in an opinion article Wednesday in The
Guys, the stock market is up! Yay? Or should we just scream? I can’t make up my mind. Let’s face it, things are scary. Millions of people have gotten sick, hundreds of thousands have died worldwide and the economy nose-dived. And yet, the stock market is … not so bad. Which is also scary. I’m
John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, had a mantra throughout his long career in the mutual fund industry: “Costs matter.” The amount of fees you pay to a third party to manage your money eats into your retirement savings. That has never been more important, although it is probably not foremost on your