European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday. September 23, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 19_  matters time to Start retirement planning by Don Oldenburg the Washington Post the trouble with retirement planning is that it is usually the last thing on our minds when thinking about personal finances. With priority going to Day to Day expenses mortgage or rent payments automobile Loans medical Bills insurance premiums and College tuition often by the time we get around to investing in our own futures there is not much Money left. Or it s too late. A a retirement is going to come a whole lot earlier than you  warns personal finance columnist Jane Bryant Quinn. Never mind that in her new Book. Making the most of your Money Simon amp schuster $27.50. Quinn examines every aspect of financial planning before covering retirement in the second to last chapter. That is no Rufi Ocion of the urgency she feels on the topic. Like other financial experts Quinn is worried about what will happen when borrow and spend baby Boomers a now in their 30s and 40s and notoriously abysmal savers reach the end of their professional rope. The biggest concern is that As with practically every other dimension of life for Boomers their retirement in t Likely to follow the usual rules. A there is no such thing As an age 65 retirement any More Quot says Quinn a most people top out in their jobs in their Early 50s that s when you look around and Sav. This is what it s going to be for the rest of my life but the Boomer generation is going to top out in its Early 40s. Hang around getting inflation raises for another i years and then they re out. They think they Hae 20 years or More to save for their old age and they Don  other complications further threaten the stability of those retirement years. Many Boomer patents let their biological clocks tick Down before having babies. That Means College tuition costs will Hammer their Bank accounts later in life just when couples traditionally have been Able to bolster their retirement savings once the children had diplomas in hand. Boomers Are no strangers to divorce which often leads to starting new careers new marriages and second families a All major adjustments that tend to undermine savings. And of course there Are always life s wild cards forced Early retirement medical problems a crippling Economy. As Quinn puts it bluntly in her Book you need to save  according to a table there s also a Long form work Sheet in the Back for precise figuring that would mean a 30-Ycar-old earning $35,000 a year should invest about $3,660 annually for retirement regardless of any company pension. At 40, pensioned employees making $50,000 should be socking away at least $8,940 a 50-Vear-old making $50,000 needs to be saving at least $ 12,280. A Rule of thumb invest 10 percent of your income in our Early work years and gradually increase it to 20 percent a then higher As you close in on the end one. Among Quinn s lips for getting that under Way before panic sets in. Remember that social Security will provide a piece of that retirement albeit a Small one. If your employer provides a pension Benefit that will add to your income though again the trend is less instead of More. And Home ownership also can serve As a retirement nest egg Quot for people who have owned Homes in the past 15 years and made a lot of Money on them Quot she save. If your company offers a 401 k tax deferred Sav Ings plan Quot it s Era it a not to join Quot especially if the company matches a percentage of your contributions Quinn says. Once you Are fully contributing keep the Money in the Stock option fund instead of the i fixed income fund. If your employer has no 401 k or Vou want another easy Way to save a you can arrange to have Money automatically taken out of your paycheck if Vou invest in a Stock owning Mutual fund Quot she says Keogh plans and individual retirement accounts iras remain Good deals for the self employed or a pensioned  Blacks hit Glass ceiling Washington a College educated White men earn nearly one third a year More than Black men with similar backgrounds the census Bureau has reported. The study conducted in 1989 and 1990, showed Blacks lagging economically behind Whites by almost every measure. Higher education moved Blacks ahead of ices educated Whites but they still lacked the earning Power of Whites of equal education. Black men 25 and older with four years or More of College on average earned $31,380 in 1989, White men of equal Educa lion earned $41,090. The Gap Between Black and White women age 25 and older was narrower. College educated Black women earned $26,730 White women $27,440. Among people 25 and older with four years of High school but no College Black men earned $20,280 White men $26,510 Black women $16,440 White women $16,910. Ronald Walters political science chairman at Howard University said the study dealt a a devastating blow to the idea that race is declining in significance in the United states. As College educated Blacks climb the corporate ladder Many at some Point reach the a Glass ceiling a an informal Barrier to promotion. Rather than rising a they languish in jobs that Are below their qualifications or they Are siphoned out of the company to a new entry into the Black position of another firm a Walters said. The census Survey provided Broad confirmation of labor department research that found widespread barriers to promotion of minorities and women in nine Large corporations. The labor department report released in August said much of the Bias was unintentional caused by such practices As word of Mouth recruiting Lack of Access to management development and training and the failure of executives to Foster advancement of minorities and women. Other factors that lessened the monetary value of a College education for Blacks include a Urban residence. Jobs sought by College educated Blacks have moved from the cities where they live to the suburbs where there arc fewer Blacks Walters said. A Type of company. Claudette Bennett author of the census report said College educated Blacks Are More Likely than Whites to work in service industries where salaries Are Low. A time with a company. Taynia Mann a research demographer at the population reference Bureau a Washington research group said col lege educated Blacks Are relative newcomers to the labor Market and so have had less time than Whites to win promotion and higher pay. Although the monetary rewards of education were less for Blacks than for Whites Blacks were More Likely to have four years of College in 1990 than 10 years earlier the census study said. Last year 16 percent of Blacks Ages 35 to 44 had completed at least four years of col average 1 989 wages based on race sex and education 25 years and older 4 years of College 25 years and older 4 years of High school men women men women Black White Black White Black White Black White source a lege compared with 8 percent in 1980. In that age group 80 percent of Blacks had completed four years of High school in 1990, compared with 63 percent in 1980. But fewer Black men just out of High school had enrolled in College a 25 percent in 1988 compared with 26 percent in 1980. Black women were More Likely to go to College 31 percent of recent High school graduates were enrolled in College in 1988, compared with 29 percent in 1980. The study found that by other economic measures Blacks in 1989 and 1990 were less Well off than Whites a Black families had an average income of $20,210, virtually unchanged from 1979 when inflation is considered. A amps White families income averaged $35,980, representing a 3 percent increase in purchasing Power. A thirty one percent of american Blacks were poor in 1989, about the same As 10 years earlier. That works out to 9.3 million poor Blacks in 1989. A among Black workers 13 percent of the men and 19 percent of the women were in managerial or professional positions. Twenty seven percent of White men and women workers were in those positions. A four percent of Black men earned $50,000 or More. That compared with 14 percent of while men. The dil Terence among women was less i percent of Black women earned at least $50,000 and 2 percent of White women did. Despite Low rates remortgaging not so easy new York a it is a sign of the times and a Shock to homeowners who seek to lower their monthly costs by remortgaging at today slower interest rates the sign of the times is that lending standards applicable in the mid-1980s have been stiffened in the 1990s. The Shock comes when couples find they no longer qualify for a loan of the size they received in the 1980s. Confronted by stiffer standards such homeowners have no Choice but to continue paying monthly charges higher than would be the Case if they had remained eligible to remortgage. The discouraging situation is a consequence of several developments a the Market values of some Homes Are lower today than they were in 1987. For instance a House was assessed at $90,000 in 1987, and the Lender allowed a mortgage of 80 percent of the value or $72,000. Today the House May be valued at $78,000, allowing for a mortgage of Only $62,400. Unless the homeowners sped up repayments in the four year interim thus sharply reducing the original debt of $72,000, they might have to pay More up front in order to obtain the lower interest rate. The reason the amount remaining on the old loan might exceed the 80 percent allowable limit on the new loan. A while it May not be a consistent pattern there seems to be a tendency toward lower assessments. A banker who spoke on condition it get anonymity conceded that his Bank s assessments were Liberal in 1987. Now he said they Are conservative. A 4 he financial situation of owners might have changed. They might have run up More debts or have less income. Unemployment has risen leaving Many households with one breadwinner. The irony of these impediments is that Many households seek remortgaging in order to survive More difficult financial times. In some instances refinancing could save More than $100 a month a if the owners qualified