New York SBDC Research Network

Excerpt from an article by Mia Taylor To read more, visit  The Simple Dollar "There are many upsides to the gig economy and freelance work, like the flexible schedule, the autonomy of being your own boss, and, if it’s a side hustle, the ability to earn extra income to pay off bills or save for special purchases. But a path to a stable retirement does not appear to be among the benefits, at least for a lot of gig economy workers. Betterment, an online investment platform, has just released new research focused on the finances and the future of retirement in today’s self-employed workforce. And it’s not all good news. Their report looks at the nation’s dated retirement system, and how it has left gig economy workers unprepared. The study notes that the rise of the gig economy is fundamentally changing the way Americans earn, spend, and save for retirement, pointing out that the freedom and flexibility of the gig economy is nice now, but, for many, unsustainable over the...

From: The Business Journals  When it comes to employee benefits administration, business owners typically think of health insurance but often neglect to consider their 401(k) plans. Since retirement plans don’t have to be renewed every year like some other benefit packages, it’s easy for 401(k)s and other retirement and investment vehicles to get overlooked. That’s about to change, thanks to updates to the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule, which is expected to have a huge impact on the costs associated with managing these plans, particularly for small businesses.    Historically, there’s been a distinct difference between how the two groups of financial advisers who work with investment and retirement plans are regulated. In short, the Fiduciary Rule essentially defines who is classified as a fiduciary and who is not.Registered financial advisors (or RIAs) have completed the necessary testing requirements to register with the SEC and any applicable state agencies....

From BizWomen The result of this baby boomer retirement surge? A massive brain drain that threatens to destabilize American business. Many companies are unprepared for the challenge... A recent study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals that less than 40 percent of employers have taken action to address the imminent loss of detailed know-how. Adding even well-trained millennials to the workforce may not be enough to restore the balance when your company is hemorrhaging its veteran employees... Dorothy Leonard, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, says there is a big difference between information and knowledge. Information is something you can get from Google. Knowledge is the critically important stuff in your head that has never been written down. And companies often fail to retain it. It is critical that longtime workers transfer the knowledge they’ve gained from decades of experience to employees who will be taking on th...

Baby Boomers — nearly 80 million of them in the U.S. – will redefine traditional retirement. The first boomers turned 65 in 2011, and year after year for the next 18 years, masses of them will choose to work beyond the ages of 62 to 65, the range long thought of as retirement time. There’s been a lot of conversation lately about boomers and the ‘unretirement’ movement. In fact, AARP predicts that a whopping 80% of boomers will have to work into their retirement years. The vast majority of them will move away from high-pressure corporate positions to reshape their professional lives as small business owners, consultants, part-time workers or “giving back” careers such as teaching or non-profit management. And what we’re seeing right now is the tip of the iceberg. More from the ASBDC .

The Office of Advocacy has just released two new reports on small business retirement planning. The research confirms that small business owner participation in retirement plans remains low but is unaffected in recessions. A study by Advocacy Economist Jules Lichtenstein, Financial Viability and Retirement Assets: A Look at Small Business Owners and Private Sector Workers , uses 2009 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to look at a broad spectrum of individual account retirement assets held by business owners and private-sector workers. Retirement, Recessions, and Older Small Business Owners , by Tami Gurley-Calvez, Kandice Kapinos, and Donald Bruce, uses the 1992-2010 Health and Retirement Study to focus on individuals nearing retirement. The study finds that older small business owners with IRAs and Keogh accounts are likely to have larger amounts of such assets than workers in the same age group. Should you need further information, please feel free to con...

by Alicia H. Munnell Since working longer is the key to a secure retirement for the vast majority of older Americans, it is useful to take a look at labor force trends for those under and over age 65 for the last century.