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Bernard Madoff, convicted of running an $65 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in jail. What’s your take on his punishment?

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By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

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I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

-- fender

What Employers Need to Know about Older Workers

It's no secret that workers are staying in the workforce longer. Employers hoping to keep or attract older workers need to understand why.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

October 2007

Craig Copeland

Employee Benefit Research Institute

Craig Copeland is a Senior Research Associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Before joining EBRI in 1997, Copeland taught economics at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
Employee Benefit Research Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established to enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research.

It would seem serendipitous: Just as a prolonged labor crunch is anticipated, some of the most experienced and reliable workers around -- those near retirement age -- are planning to make themselves available. But companies that just assume their older workers are going to stay put indefinitely could be making a big mistake.

Older people are working past traditional retirement age for a multitude of reasons, according to Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Socking away more cash and continued access to health insurance are especially crucial, so employers hoping to lure older workers should make sure that defined benefit retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and health insurance remain attractive and affordable. And with health care a growing worry for those approaching retirement, consider extending health benefits to retirees if you don't already do so; it's a hard-to-find benefit attracts and reassures often-anxious older workers.

But financial security is not the only reason so many older workers are returning to -- or remaining in the workforce. "There also is an increased desire among Americans to work longer, particularly among those with more education, for whom more meaningful jobs are available that can be done well into older ages," EBRI says. That means employers hoping to land older workers may need to go to extra lengths to ensure that a given job is appropriately challenging and fulfilling so that a current employee doesn't look get restless or a prospective worker doesn't get turned off.

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