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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Nat'l. Save for Retirement Week: Not Much to Celebrate?

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011   

PORTLAND, Ore. - This is National Save for Retirement Week (Oct. 16-22), although many in Oregon don't have what is optimistically termed "disposable" income to sock away - or the desire to put it in a bank account that earns little or no interest.

Investing at least $1,000 in a certificate of deposit for two years in Oregon won't even net 2 percent interest. So, the incentive to save has to come from within, not from a bank or credit union, according to Joyce DeMonnin, outreach director for AARP Oregon. She teaches workshops around the state about how to plan for retirement, and points out that saving any amount, even without earning interest, is better than nothing. Or, she says, focus for a while on freeing up money to save when times get better.

"Obviously, it would make a lot of sense to pay that debt down as quickly as you can, because you're losing money on the balance that you owe all the time. So, pay down your debt - and then start saving all the money that you can."

Americans are saving more than they did at the start of this century, although the U.S. Commerce Department still pegs the personal savings rate at less than 5 percent. Also, 44 percent of baby boomers expect to work longer and retire later than they had planned before the recession, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

AARP has been active in recent weeks in the nation's capital to keep Social Security and Medicare intact for retirees. DeMonnin has found that many people nearing retirement have only a rough idea of how these programs will affect their later years - or in the case of Social Security, when they should sign up.

"Some people take it at age 62 - they want to get in early, they want to get it as long as they can. The thing they may not know is that you get about an 8 percent increase for every year that you delay. That's about the best return on investment that you can get."

AARP lists four keys to retirement income: Social Security, Medicare, private savings and either a pension or paycheck for staying in the workforce. Its research says that most people approaching retirement have saved less than $65,000 and only about half have pensions.

Compare savings rates for all Oregon banks and credit unions at depositaccounts.com/or/savings.


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