Trick yourself into boosting your 401(k) contributions
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Looking for a way to spur your savings? Calculate how much income you'll be able to draw from your 401(k) when you retire.
That's the takeaway from a recent study in which workers received brochures showing how raising their 401(k) contributions would increase their retirement income. The employees who got income forecasts and changed their contributions set aside $1,150 a year more than did those who didn't get a pamphlet.
"For some people the projections helped overcome the tendency to procrastinate about saving," says study co-author Gopi Shah Goda, senior researcher at Stanford.
Related: How much are 401(k) fees costing you?
The U.S. Labor Department in May asked for comments on new rules that would require 401(k) plans to give workers retirement income projections; a MetLife study found 28% of large plans do. You can also run the numbers for yourself on T. Rowe Price's retirement income calculator.
Are your money market savings safe?
After earlier efforts to make money-market funds safer stalled, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a limited set of reforms in June.
One SEC proposal for money funds held by individuals: To head off mass withdrawals in financial crises, funds could add a 2% distribution fee. They could even block all withdrawals for up to a month.
But a requirement that money funds keep a cash cushion -- suggested by a presidential working group and previously floated at the SEC -- has been dropped.
Related: How fast will my retirement savings grow?
The SEC's plan won't make money funds safer -- especially those that are stretching for yield, says University of Mississippi securities law professor Mercer Bullard.
Your best bet in another meltdown? Have cash in FDIC-insured accounts.