Got your New Year’s Resolutions ready to share at the party Tuesday night? Did you get that nice year-end bonus? Curious about how the world’s richest fared in 2019?
As 2019 comes to a close with the drop of the ball at midnight in Times Square Tuesday night, here’s a trio of stories that provide a little snapshot of the year that was, and maybe even a little hope for an increased focus on retirement savings for 2020.
The problem(s) with financial New Year’s Resolutions
It’s New Year’s Resolution season, and according to a new WalletHub survey, nearly 99 million people are planning to make a financial resolution for 2020.
In fact, the survey found nearly 4 in 10 people plan to make a financial resolution for 2020, and money trails only health in resolution popularity. The bad news? Fewer than 50% of resolution-makers expect to keep their vow for a full year.
The No. 1 financial resolution for men is to save more, while women are focused on paying off debt.
“The top New Year’s financial resolutions that people should make for 2020 are to pay off existing credit card debt and to save as much as possible,” said WalletHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou.
Sadly, WalletHub’s full list of the Top 10 Financial Resolutions for 2020 makes no mention of contributing (or contributing more) to a 401k or even saving for retirement in general.
Year-end bonus bonanza
Roughly 3 in 4 employers give year-end bonuses, according to new research from global staffing firm Robert Half, and almost half (48%) of companies that offer year-end bonuses planned to increase them this December.
Only 4% of executives anticipate reducing the amount given to employees, and 52% of employees expect a bonus.
Of note, 52% of workers plan to direct that bonus money toward long-term savings (put it in that 401k, baby!), higher than a vacation in the new year (47%), holiday shopping and paying off debt (46%).
Organizations in Nashville, Austin, Denver and Minneapolis were most likely to increase bonuses this year, the survey found. Among the 28 U.S. cities in the survey, Dallas, Miami and Houston have the largest number of organizations that offer year-end bonuses.
Meanwhile, a real estate company in Baltimore, Maryland dropped a big gift for all 198 of its employees: a shared $10 million bonus.
The unprecedented surprise bonus announcement was made internally by St. John Properties founder and chairman Edward St. John at the company’s annual holiday party on Dec. 7, in celebration of achieving its goal of developing 20 million square feet of office, flex/R&D, retail, and warehouse space in eight states.
The bonus amount varied from employee to employee based solely on years of service. The average employee received $50,000 from the bonus pool. That can point you toward a Happy New Year!
Shocker: The rich get (much) richer
The world’s 500 wealthiest people tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index added $1.2 trillion, boosting their collective net worth 25% to $5.9 trillion in 2019.
Bloomberg News points out that in the U.S., the richest 0.1% control a bigger share of the pie than at any time since 1929, prompting some politicians to call for a radical restructuring of the economy.
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have proposed wealth taxes during their campaigns aimed at thinning the ranks of billionaires.
Only 52 of the top 500 on the list saw their fortunes decline in 2019—including world’s richest person Jeff Bezos of Amazon, who saw his worth decline by $8.75 billion because of his divorce settlement, leaving him with a total net worth of $116 billion. That’s a scant $3 billion more than No. 2 Bill Gates, whose fortune increased $22.7 billion in 2019 to $113 billion.
One of the year’s losers was Interactive Brokers Group Inc.’s Thomas Peterffy, “who saw his wealth slump by $2.1 billion as investors weighed a reshaped competitive landscape for brokerage businesses after rival Charles Schwab Corp. eliminated commissions and agreed to buy TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.,” Bloomberg News notes.
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
