Retirement Plan

Five county residents are being sought to serve as members of the Pension Oversight Commission, overseeing management of the county's new employee retirement system, county officials announced last week.Commission members will serve five-year terms.Applicants should be knowledgeable about pension administration and funding but should have no connection with the county government or businesses involved with the county and state retirement systems.In April, 987 county employees switched from the current state ++ retirement plan to a new county plan.

THE BOARD responsible for managing the federal government's retirement plan will oppose the addition of a real estate investment fund because it would cost too much and duplicate other investments in the plan's portfolio, the agency announced this week. In testimony submitted to a congressional subcommittee Tuesday, the board's executive director, Gary A. Amelio, said that the Thrift Savings Plan already holds $1.1 billion in real estate investment trusts, called REITs, making it the nation's 13th-largest investor in such funds.

AS THE END of the year rapidly approaches, taxpayers need to be concerned about more than where they will toast in 2000. While you may not file your taxes until April, the final days of the year offer a last chance to make moves that will help to save money on taxes. What can taxpayers do this week to save on taxes?Jonathan Pond, C.P.A.Author of "Your Money Matters"The main thing to do is to make all your charitable donations, including any usable but unneeded clothing and furniture. When you make those donations, be sure to make a detailed list of what you donate so you can support a generous deduction, including the label and condition of items.

When the federal government recently raised the benefits for Social Security recipients, it also lifted the amount of money you can salt away in tax-friendly retirement accounts. Beginning next year, you can put away up to $17,000 - $500 more - in a 401(k), 403 (b) and most 457 plans. Catch-up contributions for workers 50 and up, though, remain at $5,500 a year. Workers, covered by a retirement plan on the job, can make a full or partial tax-deductible contribution to a traditional IRA if their adjusted gross income doesn't exceed $68,000 for singles and $112,000 for joint filers.

THANKS to years of amazing stock gains, and the growth of 401(k)s, much of your wealth may be tied up in retirement assets. If you die, they'll probably pass to your spouse or children. But will they really? Some people make a mess of their beneficiary forms. Or your company or plan sponsor might make the mess, by severely limiting what you're allowed to do with your money. Here are seven ways to make sure that your retirement plan passes to the right people and does them the most good: (1)

NEW YORK -- If inheritance is a major factor in your retirement equation, it might be wise to do the math again. The prediction of a huge generational transfer of wealth may, in fact, be a bust. At one time, experts forecast that the World War II generation - reputed to be a generation of savers - would pass on about $10 trillion in assets to their children, the baby boomers. The boomers - a generation of spenders - thought they could use their inheritance to pad their retirement, finance college education for their children or spend as they pleased.

Howard County Police Chief G. Wayne Livesay hopes he's seen an end to retirement parties, at least for a while. Since a sweeter pension package kicked in two years ago, Livesay has stood by as 35 officers retired from the force, many of them high-ranking commanders. The vast majority took their pensions and left for jobs elsewhere. Maj. William Jeff Spaulding, one of the chief's two deputies, left in December to become Westminster's police chief. "I'd say 95 percent are going to other employment," Livesay said.

The economy is improving and so is employment, but workers' optimism about a comfortable retirement has fallen to a new low, according to the annual Retirement Confidence Survey released Tuesday. Just over half of workers say they are either very confident about their retirement prospects or somewhat so. But 28 percent - a record high - have no confidence while an additional 21 percent express pessimism about their retirement future. The survey by the Employment Benefit Research Institute gauged the outlook on retirement among 1,254 U.S. workers and retirees interviewed in January.

Is the average American going to be helped, if Congress lets them contribute more money to a retirement plan? Naturally, Congress says yes. In July, the House overwhelmingly passed a retirement-savings bill, sponsored by Reps. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, and Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. The vote was 401 to 25. This month, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a similar bill from its chairman, Republican Sen. William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware. Among other things, these bills would raise the maximum IRA contribution to $5,000 per person and $10,000 per couple (compared with $2,000 and $4,000 today)

County police officers, angry and frustrated over stalled contract talks, have started a publicity campaign, protesting a pension plan that requires them to reach age 50 before retirement.The campaign, which began Wednesday with officers passing out leaflets in Arnold and West River, will include full-page newspaper ads, bumper stickers and meetings with County Council members, said Dennis Howell, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 70, the union representing officers under the rank of sergeant.