A digest of timely information and insight about finance, investing and retirement

7 reasons to volunteer in retirement |U.S. News & World Report

Americans donated $358 billion last year, most of it coming not from corporations but from families and individuals. Americans also offered almost 8 billion hours volunteering for charitable causes, from church activities to political organizations to helping out neighbors and strangers.

In fact, some 60 percent of Americans regularly engage in some kind of charitable activity, compared to an average of about 40 percent for other developed countries. And while Americans of all races and ages contribute their money and time, retirees are the ones who reach out the most.

How teacher retirement system pension and Social Security benefits work together | NerdWallet

Laws that amended the Social Security Act in the 1970s and 1980s aimed to keep individuals from “double dipping” — receiving both a Social Security benefit and a pension from a job for which they did not pay into the Social Security system.

The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) are results of these amendments, reducing benefits for those who worked in a job in which they qualified for a pension and did not have to pay Social Security taxes. This is not limited to teachers; it can also include firefighters, police officers and numerous other state, county and local employees.

Investors overly focused on short-term returns | PlanSponsor

A new study from TIAA-CREF warns that Americans are overly focused on short-term financial performance and misunderstand the nature of investment risk, negatively affecting their financial well being and their long-term retirement planning goals. According to the survey, more than half of investors look to short-term performance when making investment decisions, and nearly one-third mistakenly believe all investments carry the same overall risk. (Read more about PERA’s “white-label” approach to help defined-contribution plan investors better align their investment decisions with their retirement savings needs.)

Please don’t kill all the pensions | Bloomberg View

In many ways, traditional pensions are much better than defined contribution plans – mostly 401(k)s – that have largely replaced them in the private sector.

But pensions aren’t perfect. Most were designed with the idea that people would spend decades with the same employer, which few do anymore. More important, they are often plagued by governance problems. Pension commitments made today don’t have to be paid out until decades in the future, and there’s a long history of those responsible for pensions promising too much while failing to set aside enough money.

Missouri insulated from nationwide teacher shortage by pension program |KOMU 8

In an age where a nationwide teacher shortage is well documented, many believe Missouri’s public school teacher retirement benefits have become quite the draw. But, others are drawing a target on the system.

States planning to offer retirement plans | PlanSponsor

Four states have passed laws allowing them to offer their own retirement plans, and the Department of Labor has issued guidance about state-run retirement savings plans. Some states are interested in offering retirement plans because of the high percentage of workers who are not covered by any retirement plan other than Social Security. And if half of American retirees are below the poverty line, it will have broad economic consequences.

Maybe you’ll be able to retire after all | The New York Times

Millions of people moved closer to a secure retirement last week when the Labor Department issued guidelines to help states establish savings plans for private-sector employees who do not have retirement benefits through their jobs.