|
Business Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff
and wire services
|
FAST FACTS HAWAII
NATION
How to figure retirement needs
If you want to spend retirement tangoing on all-you-can-eat Caribbean cruises, start planning today.
While more than two-thirds of Americans in a recent Bank of America Corp. survey said they had heard of Individual Retirement Account (IRA) savings accounts, only 40 percent said they had one.
"Baby boomers are putting more pressure on Social Security," said Dan McNamara, who oversees financial planning and personal retirement solutions at Bank of America. "Companies are not really offering as many pension plans, people are living longer and health care costs continue to rise. You have to have a plan."
Maintaining a post-retirement lifestyle akin to what you're used to requires 85 percent of a working year's pretax income for every year of not working, McNamara said, but 40 percent of those surveyed found it difficult to figure out how much money they'll need to live comfortably in retirement.
Take advantage of financial calculators -- Bank of America's Web site has a free, simple six-question quiz, for example -- company savings plans, such as 401(k)s, and individual, low-cost investment accounts.
The random telephone survey of 750 nationally representative U.S. adults was conducted March 7-13.
Higher-paid workers still confident
Recent employment data has economists and working Americans jittery, but jobseekers with salaries higher than $100,000 aren't so worried.
The survey, conducted by executive jobs Web site TheLadders.com, found that while 74 percent of those looking for new employment said there are fewer interviews available, 65 percent still think they'll get a new job within six months. That number hasn't changed much since late 2006, when 70 percent were sure they'd land a new job in six months or less.
"They're still optimistic," said Robert Turtledove, chief marketing officer of TheLadders.com. "This group is used to some of the vagaries of the job search market."
And while hiring by consumer goods companies, construction and manufacturing may be taking hits, pharmaceuticals, the health care industry and high-tech companies are reassuring pockets of strength, he said.
TheLadders.com surveyed 655 of its members online in March.
City goes online to sell fire rigs
BAYONNE, N.J. » Are you out of gift ideas for that hard-to-buy-for relative? How about a used fire rig?
Through an online auction Web site, this city is soliciting bidders for four city fire vehicles that the Fire Department says it can no longer use.
If the sales work out, interim Mayor Terrence Malloy says the city will look to expand its use of GovDeals.com to sell other types of surplus municipal property.
City Purchasing Agency Andrew Balik said that the city should get a bigger buck online "because we expect broader participation than through a local auction. We intend to sell surplus items year-round, to eliminate storage and depreciation issues."
Bidders can check out the four fire rigs by visiting the city Web site -- www.bayonnenj.org -- and clicking on "Recent Changes" and then clicking on "auctions GovDeals" and following the directions.
Up for grabs are: a 1986 Seagrave 100-foot rear mount aerial truck, with a minimum price of $2,900; a 1979 Mack Aerialscope 75-foot fire truck; and a pair of 1986 Seagrave MB-400B pumper trucks, each priced at a little more than $2,000.
Bids will be accepted through Thursday.
BUSINESS PULSE
