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Retirement tips and ideas
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March 18, 2000: 7:42 a.m. ET
Some solid advice on issues ranging from a new IRA bill to gambling among seniors
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lawmakers are reviewing a bill that could increase the annual maximum you can put in your IRA to $5,000 from $2,000. And while you wait for the potential change, you could be taking steps to improve your 401(k).
This week, CNNfn.com's new retirement planning section took a look at several retirement issues ranging seniors who gamble away their retirement money to savvy Generation Y investors.
CNNfn.com also launched CNNfn/Morningstar report as part of our mutual funds coverage.
Snake eyes snare seniors
When "Sally" was widowed at age 62, she was left with a house that was paid for, several retirement accounts, and no debt. A decade later, she was $50,000 in hock, hadn't paid her real estate taxes in years and had spent her life insurance money.
 Her kids thought she must have been the victim of a scam, but her friends knew better. They never saw her anymore, they said, because she spent her nights and weekends at the casinos, where she would often tap the on-site ATM machines to fund her gambling habit.
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Generation Y savings
When high school senior, Ross Treyz of Brooklyn, N.Y., isn't babysitting part time or blasting tunes on his Walkman, he dabbles in the stock market by buying AT&T and pharmaceutical stocks.
 Thanks to his parents who introduced him to their broker, 17-year-old Ross is saving some money on the side for the future.
"If it weren't for them, I'd be putting my money under a mattress," he said.
Ross, like most of his peers who comprise Generation Y, is working harder and spending more money. And financial planners say it's not too early for parents to get them into the habit of saving more. Even though retirement seems light years away to most kids, the sooner they get started the better off they'll be down the road.
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A new IRA era
Back in the early 1980s, the Dow Jones industrial average was below 1,000, "Dallas" was a hit TV show, and Congress approved a law allowing you to save up to $2,000 a year in individual retirement accounts.
 Nearly 20 years later most of that has changed, except you still can't save more than $2,000 a year in your IRA.
Lawmakers are considering proposals to raise the savings limit to $5,000 from $2,000, the level established in 1981. Financial advisers say it's about time.
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Dow fund has a good week
While most on Wall Street were buying up technology stocks recently, fund manager Rich Moroney was quietly buying battered Dow Jones industrial average issues such as Merck and Citigroup.
 But on Thursday, Moroney, of Strong Dow 30 Fund, had the last laugh when the Dow posted its biggest point gain in history.
In just two trading sessions, Moroney's fund, which tracks the benchmark index, gained about 6 percent.
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Japan fund stays upbeat
Japan fund manager Todd Jacobson is optimistic -- really.
 The Tokyo stock market fell more than 3 percent this week after new figures showed that Japan's economy is in a recession. And Jacobson's Warburg Pincus Advisor Small Companies Fund, which earned a robust 329 percent in 1999, is down about 20 percent this year. But Jacobson thinks the numbers are deceiving.
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Switching to a Roth
 Converting your IRA to a Roth may make good tax sense at any age, assuming your adjusted gross income is less than $100,000. But when you're near the end of your life, it can be a great gift to your heirs.
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Managing your nest egg
The market rises or falls and you read that investors are "taking profits." But what does that really mean, you wonder? Should you do the same thing?
 In response to a reader's question, Barbara Steinmetz, a certified financial planning from Burlingame, Calif., and a member of the Financial Planning Association, said people "take profits," or look at how much their investments have gained, when the market is soaring.
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Merrill Lynch star goes to work
Jim McCall sounds pretty relaxed for somebody who has waited nearly a year to start his new job as a fund manager at Merrill Lynch Asset Management.
 After a nasty and litigious departure from PBHG Funds, McCall is heading up two new aggressive growth funds at Merrill Lynch -- Focus Twenty and Premier Growth. The funds took in more than $1 billion during a subscription period and started trading March 3.
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My 401(k): Peach or lemon?
If you find your 401(k) lacking in relation to other plans out there, the good news is you may be able to convince your company to make some improvements.
 The difference between a winning plan and one that just passes muster depends greatly on fund choice, expense, matching, eligibility and vesting policies.
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--Compiled by staff writer Lucy Banduci
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