Plan

If your employer offers a 401(k) plan and you qualify, run -- don't walk -- to sign up."If anybody is saving money or would like to be saving money, it's probably one of the best first steps they can make because every dollar you save is pre-tax," said Hal Cumberland, a stockbroker with American Discount Securities in Wichita, Kan.When evaluating a company's 401(k) plan, whether you are deciding on a job offer or are already employed, check these aspects of the plan:* The level of the company's matching contribution.

When Anthony Cosgrove left a job with a small Connecticut payroll company in 2005, he left his 401(k) retirement account behind to avoid a tax liability for a loan he had taken out against his savings. Soon after, the company, Abacus Payroll Systems Inc., went out of business and Cosgrove, 42, has been mired in red tape since, as authorities, including the Labor Department, sort through the mess. He wants his money, but can't get it. Abandoned plans represent a tiny percentage of all company benefit programs, but they serve as a cautionary tale for retirement savers because they can drag on for years while denying participants access to their savings.

By now you've probably been lectured on the perils of cashing out your 401(k) retirement plan when you leave a job. You'll pay income taxes and possibly a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty (there are a few exceptions). Plus, using the money today means you'll be that much further behind in reaching your retirement goal tomorrow. Once you've pledged not to cash out, however, some important choices have to be made that can substantially affect your retirement options down the road. Leaving the money with a former employer, rolling it into your new company plan or stashing it in an individual retirement account each comes with its own set of pros and cons.

Some people call it Columbia's version of New York's Central Park.That might be a stretch, but the 40-acre Symphony Woods in Town Center has for years been known as one of the planned community's largest unspoiled expanses of nature -- unspoiled, and some say, largely unused."

The Maryland Prepaid College Trust wants the state to stand behind the trust's promise that it will pay tuition costs of those who invest in its savings plan.Legislation calling for a state guarantee -- to be introduced in the next session of the General Assembly -- is intended to attract more people to a plan that has failed to draw the anticipated numbers of investors."I think it will make a very significant difference in our marketing of the plan," said its executive director, Joan Marshall.

The Maryland Prepaid College Trust wants the state to stand behind the trust's promise that it will pay tuition costs of those who invest in its savings plan.Legislation calling for a state guarantee -- to be introduced in the next session of the General Assembly -- is intended to attract more people to a plan that has failed to draw the anticipated numbers of investors."I think it will make a very significant difference in our marketing of the plan," said its executive director, Joan Marshall.

IN 1996, California began implementing a massive $1.5 billion plan to improve lagging student achievement by reducing class sizes statewide. Since then, more than 27 states, including Maryland, have picked up on the idea of smaller classes.And why not? Such plans are wildly popular with parents. And some studies suggest students perform better -- particularly in classes with fewer than 20 students.But Gov. Parris N. Glendening doesn't have the money or mandate to initiate a California-scale plan.

IS IT A good idea to spend millions in taxpayers' money to turn Baltimore's old Hippodrome Theater into a 2,200-seat cultural center?Members of the House Appropriations Committee, touring the abandoned Eutaw Street vaudeville house recently, voiced reservations. They worry that the projected $35 million in renovation costs might go much higher. They also wonder whether the rundown neighborhood would scare away potential theater-goers.Their concerns are justified. Yet legislators ought to give free rein to their imagination and examine the Hippodrome project in a wider context.

Imagine spending some $16 billion on transportation over the next 20 years and still finding the Baltimore region more congested than it is today.That is exactly what the Baltimore regional planning organization is recommending, to the chagrin of some environmentalists and highway contractors. For vastly different reasons, they have attacked a draft, 20-year plan by the Transportation Steering Committee.The environmentalists say the plan has too many new roads that encourage sprawl, a bane of suburban living.

A bitterly contested plan to build upscale housing for the elderly next to the Beth Tfiloh synagogue near Pikesville has been sent back to the drawing board by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.The decision, released by the court Monday, was hailed yesterday by synagogue neighbors who have long fought Beth Tfiloh's plans to build 152 condominiums and assisted-living apartments in the midst of the affluent community of single-family homes."I'm pleased that the court agreed with our position," said Elaine O'Mansky, vice president of the Old Court-Green Spring Improvement Association.

In minutes you can drive northeast on Bel Air Road to Honeygo Boulevard, covering the short distance between landmarks of Perry Hall's suburban past and present - from the Perry Hall Square Shopping Center to the new library, from work that needs doing to a project completed this year to good reviews. Much has been done lately and much is yet to be done in and around Perry Hall, a community of about 40,000 people that can claim one of Baltimore County's august historic addresses - Perry Hall Mansion - even if the area has not been recognized with a formal county plan devoted strictly to its own aspirations.

The first public explanation of the new plan for building as many as 325 single-family homes in the northeast corner of historic Doughoregan Manor is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Ellicott City Senior Center, next to the Miller Library on Frederick Road. The session, called a "pre-submission meeting" in planning jargon, will let the public to hear an explanation of the proposal from the Carroll family's representatives before any plans are submitted to the county. Joseph Rutter, a former county planning director hired by the family, said they hope to stick to the division of land under a previous plan to build an Erickson retirement community on the site.

A new plan to build up to 325 detached homes instead of a retirement community at historic Doughoregan Manor in Howard County is being quietly presented to community groups in western Ellicott City. The Carroll family, descendants of the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, is preparing to take their new plans public early next month before submitting them to the county, said Joseph Rutter, a former county planning director who is acting as developer. The housing would take 12 to 13 years to be completed if approved, and the project would likely produce 171 new county schoolchildren for all grades, Rutter said.

The death of a Columbia tree by chain saw often provokes a public outcry, which is why the Columbia Association is moving cautiously as it cuts down 18 large, decades-old damaged trees in Symphony Woods, the town's grove bordering Merriweather Post Pavilion. "The public is going to be concerned when they see the trees come down," said Cynthia A.S.H. Coyle, who chairs the CA board's Planning and Strategy Committee. "The reason is obvious," said Steve Sattler, CA's communications director.

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio - Campaigning for the top priority of his presidency, Barack Obama pitched his economic recovery plan yesterday by using an old-economy plant now finding new business in alternative energy. Obama's stop at Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. came the day before he starts a weekend of activities - including his train trip from Philadelphia to Washington - leading up to his inauguration Tuesday as the 44th president. Ahead of all the partying, Obama sought to show he is in touch with the economic plight of Americans, as he pushed his plan for more than $800 billion in new spending and tax cuts.

Lampooning the prospects of a GM recovery plan was easy for Saturday Night Live writers. In a recent sketch, they simply cast an actor as a company executive and had him hold up a poster detailing the future dates of multibillion-dollar payments. The audience got it - easily. Sadly, there are few signs that GM will produce anything much better when its representatives send their plan to Congress tomorrow and return to plead their case Dec. 9. GM is continuing to bleed cash at a pace of $2 billion a month.

WASHINGTON - The House braced for a difficult vote set for today on a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry after a weekend of tense negotiations produced a plan that congressional leaders portrayed as greatly strengthened by new taxpayer safeguards. The 110-page bill, intended to ease a growing credit crisis, came after a frenzied week of political twists and turns that culminated in an agreement between the Bush administration and Congress early yesterday. The measure still faced stiff resistance from Republican and Democratic lawmakers who portrayed it as a rush to economic judgment and an undeserved aid package for high-flying financiers who chased big profits through reckless investments.

After more than three years of deliberation - and sometimes acrimonious debate - Columbia's developer is preparing to submit rezoning plans for the town's center early next month, officially launching the far-reaching transformation envisioned for the planned community over the next three decades. Gregory F. Hamm, vice president of General Growth Properties, told about 300 people at a public meeting Wednesday night that the firm would submit its plans to the county "early in August." The plan, which will require approval by the county government, calls for five neighborhoods around the Mall in Columbia and Merriweather Post Pavilion comprising: * 1 million square feet of new retail space; * 4.9 million square feet of office space; * 5,500 new townhouses and apartments; * 640 more hotel rooms; * 265,000 square feet of "cultural space" The affordable housing component of the plan is not finalized, Hamm said.

Roland Park residents are putting up a fight to preserve what they have come to consider their own patch of green within the city. They're pledging to oppose plans announced this month by Baltimore Country Club to sell some of its land to Keswick Multi-Care Center, which plans to build a $195 million continuing-care retirement community. "This is truly like a volcano erupting," said Philip Spevak, president of the Roland Park Civic League. But Keswick officials - who would need a zoning change from the City Council for the project - said that a portion of the 17-acre site north of Hillside Road would be kept undeveloped, and they plan improvements for some of that area with expanded parks and gardens.

An ambitious plan to expand the Tide Point development in Locust Point has been scaled back significantly in the face of community opposition, the developer told a city planning panel yesterday. The panel approved the plan, but it must clear other hurdles before ground is broken. Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse intends to build 129 townhouses, a seven-story building with 200,000 square feet of office and retail space, two parking garages, a museum and a building with 4,000 square feet of retail on the northern edge of Locust Point, near the Inner Harbor waterfront.