Money in the bank

Kind of interesting...

According to several recent studies, we would rather make $100k if our neighbors also make $100k, than we would $200k if our neighbors make $300k.

Huh??....

I’d move to a $200k neighborly area and take the $200k if it seemed to be that much of a problem!

National and regional independent agent P&C carriers wrote $800M less premium in 2007 (year 2008, don’t know) versus $5B and $4B increases in 2006/2005.

You’d think that as a result 2008 search positions would have been correspondingly fewer than the previous 3 years, but I didn’t notice it until probably 10/08.

It’s probably 40% quieter so far this year, but the first quarter has tended to be that way for the past 6 years or so.

Hope it’s just a first quarter trend!

Harvey Dorland

Money in the bank

Some interesting tidbits to consider...

· If you invest $20k in your 401k that earns 6.5%/year for 20 years, you’ll have $70,500 if the annual expenses are .5%; but you’ll only have $58,400 if annual expenses are 1.5%.

· Only about half of American workers have a retirement account.

· Only 66% of workers join their 401k, and only 10% contribute the max.

· The average 401k account balance of near retirees has fallen more than 20% (their accounts were too stock-heavy, considering their age – not conservative enough).