Made This 401(k) Mistake in 2021? Avoid it in 2022 - The Motley Fool

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Saving money in a 401(k) is a great way to build a retirement nest egg. And to be clear, you'll probably become quite reliant on your personal savings once your time in the workforce comes to an end.

Social Security only provides enough income during retirement to replace about 40% of the average worker's wages. Most seniors, meanwhile, need more like 70% to 80% of their former paycheck to maintain a decent standard of living, all the while keeping up with expenses like housing and healthcare. And so personal savings are often what it takes to bridge that gap.

Now clearly, a 401(k) isn't your only choice when it comes to choosing a retirement savings plan. Anyone with earned income can sock money away for retirement in an IRA.

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But 401(k) plans offer a few distinct benefits over IRAs. For one thing, they come with much higher annual contribution limits. And also, they offer the opportunity to snag free matching dollars.

Many employers that offer 401(k)s also match worker contributions to some degree. To claim that match, however, you'll need to put a certain amount of money into your savings from your own paycheck. And if you missed out on your 401(k) match in 2021, it's imperative that you do your best to avoid that fate this year.

Don't pass up free money

It's not every day that somebody offers you a large sum of money. And so if your 401(k) comes with a matching incentive, find out what it looks like and make every effort to allocate enough funds from your paycheck to claim that match in full.

If you don't snag your 401(k) match, you won't just be giving up free money. You'll also lose out on the opportunity to invest those matching dollars and grow them into a larger sum.

Imagine your employer will match your 401(k) contributions dollar for dollar up to the amount of $3,000. If you don't put $3,000 into your 401(k), you'll lose that opportunity. But you won't just be out $3,000 at the end of the day.

If you were to take your $3,000 match and invest it at an average annual 8% return (which is a bit below the stock market's average), after 35 years, you'd be sitting on a little over $44,000. That's a pretty large chunk of retirement income to give up.

Rethink your expenses

Some people genuinely can't manage 401(k) plan contributions due to their limited income or financial circumstances. But if there's room to cut back in your budget to free up cash for your 401(k), then it pays to make that effort. That could mean dining out less frequently, taking more modest vacations, or even downsizing to a smaller living space.

Remember, even if your 401(k) plan doesn't come with a matching incentive, you'll still need savings of your own to pay your bills once you retire. And if you're able to use your employer's generosity to help you build up that nest egg, then that's an opportunity you really don't want to pass up.

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How the E.U. Allowed Hungary to Become an Illiberal Model - The New York Times

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After years of complacency and wishful thinking, Brussels is finally trying to rein in the country’s pugnacious leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

BRUSSELS — After long indulging him, leaders in the European Union now widely consider one of their own, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, an existential threat to a bloc that holds itself up as a model of human rights and the rule of law.

Mr. Orban has spent the past decade steadily building his “illiberal state,” as he proudly calls Hungary, with the help of lavish E.U. funding. Even as his project widened fissures in the bloc, his fellow national leaders mostly looked the other way, committed to staying out of one another’s affairs.

But now Mr. Orban’s defiance and intransigence has had an important, if unintended, effect: serving as a catalyst for an often-sluggish European Union system to act to safeguard the democratic principles that are the foundation of the bloc.

Early this year, the European Court of Justice will issue a landmark decision on whether the union has the authority to make its funds to member states conditional on meeting the bloc’s core values. Doing so would allow Brussels to deny billions of euros to countries that violate those values.

The bloc has consistently worked on political consensus among national leaders. But Mr. Orban has pushed Brussels toward a threshold it had long avoided: making membership subject to financial punishments, not merely political ones.

The new frontier could help solve an old problem — what to do about bad actors in its ranks — while creating new ones. Not least, it could invite the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, to exercise a new level of interference in the affairs of member states.

How Mr. Orban has forced the European Union to such a juncture, and why it seemed helpless to stop him for so long, says much about the bloc’s founding assumptions and why it has stumbled in the face of populist and nationalist challenges.

Interviews with over a dozen current and former European officials show how sentiments toward Mr. Orban and his illiberal project evolved from complacency and incomprehension to a recognition that he had become a serious internal threat — despite Hungary’s having fewer people than Paris and a language so esoteric that it bears no relationship to those of its neighbors.

The willful neglect was encapsulated neatly in 2015 at a meeting, when Jean-Claude Juncker, then the European Commission’s president, saw Mr. Orban arriving and said, “The dictator is coming,” before greeting him with “dictator,” and giving him a friendly pat on the face.

No one in power wanted to confront Mr. Orban over issues like rule of law and corruption — especially not his fellow national leaders, who each have a seat on the powerful European Council.

“At the council myself I felt the reluctance of Orban’s peers to deal with these kind of issues,” said Luuk van Middelaar, an aide to Herman Van Rompuy when he was council president. He added that the council was “like a club, where Viktor is just one of them — and they are political animals, and they respect each other for the simple fact of having won an election.”

The leaders “prefer not to deal with hot potatoes or each other’s business when they can avoid it,” Mr. van Middelaar said.

Some European lawmakers recognized early on that Mr. Orban was trampling on democratic norms but were stymied by national leaders, particularly those from the European People’s Party, the powerful center-right political grouping that has dominated the European Parliament for the past decade.

Among those conservatives who protected Mr. Orban was Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany at the time. German companies had major investments in Hungary, and Ms. Merkel saw the Hungarian leader as a political ally in Brussels. One prominent member of the European People’s Party said Ms. Merkel and her aides brushed off complaints about Mr. Orban, saying that he could be difficult, but that it was important to keep him in the family.

“The biggest failing — the one that we are still paying the price for today — is the European Council,” said Rui Tavares, a former European legislator who helped write a report on Hungary’s violations adopted in 2013. “The European Council did nothing.”

Mr. Orban and Angela Merkel, then the German chancellor, in 2020 in Berlin. Ms. Merkel saw him as a political ally in Brussels.Odd Andersen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

When Mr. Orban proposed — and later introduced — a new Constitution that violated European principles, Didier Reynders, then Belgium’s minister of foreign and European affairs, said he tried to raise the problem in a meeting with E.U. leaders in 2011 but was shut down.

“The reaction was that this is not an issue for the member states,” said Mr. Reynders, who is now the E.U. commissioner for justice, adding that “maybe the commission, maybe the court” should deal with it.

“But now it’s a permanent discussion,” he said.

Ivan Krastev, a Bulgarian analyst of Europe, said Mr. Orban was careful for several years after his election in 2010 “not to cross Brussels’s red lines but to dance along them in what he called ‘the peacock dance.’”

Mr. Krastev said many European leaders assumed that the nations that joined the bloc in 2004 would be grateful, relatively compliant partners and miscalculated how “countries like Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic felt later that you have to assert your own identity and reject Brussels to differing degrees.”

Mr. Orban’s party adopted the new Constitution and a new media law that curbed press freedom. It overhauled the country’s justice system, removed the head of its Supreme Court and created an office to oversee the courts led by the wife of a prominent member of the governing party, Fidesz. Election laws were changed to favor the party.

External factors strengthened Mr. Orban as well, including in 2015 when a record number of migrants made their way to Europe and when the right-wing Law and Justice party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski came to power in Poland. He suddenly had an ally there, and his tough stance against migrants won him support elsewhere, too.

“What liberated Orban was 2015 and the migration crisis,” said Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “He was suddenly standing for more than Hungary but for wider issues of migration, with support in Germany and Austria and the other Central European states, and that gave him power.”

Hundreds of families waited outside a train station in Budapest during the 2015 migrant crisis.Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

A sharper inflection point came in May 2018 at a meeting between Mr. Orban and the leaders of the European People’s Party: Joseph Daul, the party president, and Manfred Weber, the German Christian Democrat who ran Parliament.

They warned him that his party risked being expelled from the parliamentary grouping. Fresh from another electoral victory the month before, Mr. Orban “felt he was on steroids” and struck back, according to an official who was immediately briefed about the meeting.

“If you try to kick me out, I’ll destroy you,” Mr. Orban said, according to the official.

It would take 10 months before Fidesz would be suspended. Two years after that, in March, Mr. Orban quit the conservative alliance when it became clear that it was going to oust his party.

Mr. Weber still regrets the loss of Fidesz. “On one level, it is a relief,” he said. “But Orban leaving is not a victory, but a defeat” in the effort to hold the center-right together as “a broad people’s party.”

It has helped Mr. Orban that the European Union has few and ineffective instruments for punishing a backsliding nation. Even the Lisbon Treaty, which gave enhanced powers to the European Parliament, has essentially one unusable tool: Article 7, which can remove a country’s voting rights, but only if passed by unanimity.

In 2017, Frans Timmermans, then the European Commission first vice president responsible for the rule of law, initiated the article against Poland. The European Parliament did the same against Hungary in 2018.

But both measures inevitably stalled because the two countries protect each other.

The treaty also allows the commission to bring infringement procedures — legal charges — against member states for violating E.U. law. But the process is slow, involving letters and responses and appeals, and final decisions are up to the European Court of Justice. Most cases are settled before reaching the court.

But according to studies by R. Daniel Kelemen of Rutgers University and Tommaso Pavone of the University of Oslo, the commission sharply reduced infringement cases after the addition of new member states in 2004. José Manuel Barroso, a former commission president, “bought into this to work more cooperatively with governments and not just sue them,” Mr. Kelemen said. Mr. Barroso declined to comment.

Attitudes have shifted. With taxpayer money at stake, the next seven-year budget in the balance and the disregard for shared values shown by Mr. Orban and Mr. Kaczynski on leaders’ minds, Brussels may have finally found a useful tool to affect domestic politics, with a mix of lawsuits charging infringement of European treaties combined with severe financial consequences.

A marker has finally been laid down, Mr. Reynders said.

The big moment comes this month, when the European Court of Justice issues its ruling.

If Hungary and Poland lose the case, as expected, it is unclear what will happen if both countries simply refuse to comply. The European Union will be thrust deeper into unknown territory.

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Unable to seal the deal versus Raiders, Colts get another win-and-in shot at Jacksonville - Fox 59

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Unable to seal the deal versus Raiders, Colts get another win-and-in shot at Jacksonville  Fox 59

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Fantasy Football Week 17 running back rankings: Sunday injury updates - CBS Sports

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Opportunity isn't everything when it comes to Fantasy value at running back, but it's incredibly important. And that's especially true for the right kind of opportunity, as we saw with Justin Jackson in Week 16. Jackson is a career backup whose role as the Chargers lead back without Austin Ekeler was questioned, but he basically took Ekeler's role in the offense, and while I don't think he's as good as Ekeler as a player, who did a mighty fine impression en route to a massive game both on the ground and as a pass catcher. That's what you're looking for when it comes to replacements as well as waiver-wire claims and buy-low candidates.

A good example of that is David Montgomery, who is suddenly playing a massive role in the passing game and looks like a potential league-winner as a result. After having just 15 targets in his first seven games, Montgomery has at least six in each of the past four (31 overall) and is averaging 19.4 PPR points per game in that span. And, with a matchup on the way against the Giants, he's a top-five RB for Week 17.

Ekeler will be back for Week 17, but there are more than a few players looking like must-start options all of a sudden this week, including Devin Singletary, Ronald Jones, Darrel Williams; Boston Scott might be in that group as well if Jordan Howard's stinger keeps him out, as could Chase Edmonds if James Conner is out. 

Here are the injury situations we're watching: 

• Out: Antonio Gibson (COVID), Miles Sanders (hand), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (collarbone/shoulder), Tevin Coleman (COVID), David Johnson (COVID)

With Gibson out, I expect Jaret Patterson to be the lead back, but Johnathan Williams will have a significant role and might actually be the better option for Fantasy since he's more likely to take on passing situations while getting a share of the running work. In PPR especially, he's closer to a starting RB than Patterson, who will likely need a touchdown against a tough Eagles defense to be worth using.

With Sanders out, Jordan Howard and Boston Scott figure to split time. I would expect Howard to be the "lead" back and get a bigger goal-line share, but both he and Scott are worth using as low-end RB2/3 options. Darrel Williams is the best of the injury replacements for this week, as he should have goal-line opportunities and third downs for the Chiefs; he will still split with Derrick Gore as well, however. 

And Michael Carter and Rex Burkhead should be in line for significant roles in their offenses. I would rather take a chance on Carter than Burkhead, despite the latter's big game in Week 16. 

• Legitimately questionable: James Conner (heel), Cam Akers (Achilles), Kareem Hunt (knee), Alex Collins (abdomen)

My guess is Akers is more on the doubtful side, while Colins will likely have little role even if he's active. Conner's presence looms large, because Chase Edmonds is a top-six RB if Conner is out. If Conner plays, they're more in the RB2/3 range, with Edmonds preferred in PPR especially. Hunt is in that RB2/3 range if he plays, too. 

Likely in: Damien Harris (hamstring), Elijah Mitchell (knee), Melvin Gordon (hip/knee), Javonte Williams (knee), Jordan Howard (stinger)

I'm assuming Harris is in after playing last week, especially since we haven't heard of a specific setback. However, because it's the Patriots, we really don't know. Rhamondre Stevenson is expected back from the COVID list, and I expect they'll share work, but keep an eye on inactives in case one is a surprise inactive. 

Mitchell presents a tough decision. He was a must-start option before his injury, and the question now is whether he'll return to being the lead back, or if he'll be in a timeshare with Jeff Wilson. I'm worried it'll be the latter, so I'm wary of trusting Mitchell if I can avoid it, especially with Lance at QB likely to play a big role in the goal line area. 

Reports Sunday indicate Howard will be active and that both Williams and Gordon will play. 

Here are my Week 17 rankings for running back. To see the rankings from Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings, make sure you head here. 

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Week 17 RB Rankings

1. Jonathan Taylor vs. LV
2. Austin Ekeler vs. DEN
3. Dalvin Cook @GB
4. David Montgomery vs. NYG
5. Chase Edmonds @DAL
6. Alvin Kamara vs. CAR
7. Josh Jacobs @IND
8. Joe Mixon vs. KC
9. Sony Michel @BAL
10. Ronald Jones @NYJ
11. Nick Chubb @PIT
12. Najee Harris vs. CLE
13. D'Andre Swift @SEA
14. Ezekiel Elliott vs. ARI
15. Darrel Williams @CIN
16. Rashaad Penny vs. DET
17. Aaron Jones vs. MIN
18. Devin Singletary vs. ATL
19. Javonte Williams @LAC
20. Saquon Barkley @CHI
21. Michael Carter vs. TB
22. AJ Dillon vs. MIN
23. Damien Harris vs. JAX
24. Cordarrelle Patterson @BUF
25. Melvin Gordon @LAC
26. D'Onta Foreman vs. MIA
27. Devonta Freeman vs. LAR
28. Dare Ogunbowale @NE
29. Kareem Hunt @PIT
30. Jordan Howard @WAS
31. Elijah Mitchell vs. HOU
32. Boston Scott @WAS
33. Rex Burkhead @SF
34. Jonathan Williams vs. PHI
35. Jaret Patterson vs. PHI
36. Myles Gaskin @TEN
37. Rhamondre Stevenson vs. JAX
38. Jeff Wilson vs. HOU
39. Jamaal Williams @SEA
40. Ameer Abdullah @NO
41. Mark Ingram vs. CAR
42. Devontae Booker @CHI
43. Alexander Mattison @GB
44. Mike Davis @BUF
45. James Conner @DAL
46. Chuba Hubbard @NO
47. Brandon Bolden vs. JAX
48. Justin Jackson vs. DEN
49. Cam Akers @BAL

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Shoreham-Wading River introduces state Seal of Biliteracy program - Riverhead News Review - Riverhead News Review

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Shoreham-Wading River High School.

Shoreham Wading River School district has joined over 60 other districts on Long Island in offering the Seal of Biliteracy to their students.

The Seal of Biliteracy is a formal recognition of students who have studied and obtained a high proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. Students who obtain the seal and compete the requirements set by the state will have the seal on their diplomas and the recognition will be listed on their final transcripts upon graduation.

Nicole Waldbauer, director of humanities and director of the program at Shoreham-Wading River, said it was a joint effort to bring it to the school.

“It was kind of a joint effort through our district’s strategic planning. We were looking at ways to broaden the World Language Program and just bring about a little more cultural awareness,” she said.

Ms. Waldbauer said the school currently has 26 students that they will be evaluating for the seal, with eight of those students being seniors.

“You can start working toward the seal, as a sophomore or junior; you can only be awarded the seal in your senior year,” Ms. Waldbauer said.

According to the New York State Education Department, for students to earn the seal they must have completed all requirements for graduating with a state regents diploma and earn three points from the English criteria and three points from the World Language criteria.

Students can earn those points in various ways and the school will work through the criteria with each student because the program is very individualized, according to Ms. Waldbauer.

“It’s very student-centered,” she said. “There are different pathways that a student can take. It’s not like a ‘one size fits all’ way to achieve this.” 

Students can take courses, tests and submit a culminating project to accumulate points and show proficiency for speaking, listening, reading and writing in both English and a world language of their choice.

To be able to offer and award the seal to their students, the state requires the district to read through the New York State Seal of Biliteracy handbook, designate a seal coordinator and establish a biliteracy committee.

The district has to submit three required forms to the state education department each year to continue to offer the Seal of Biliteracy. The first form is the school notification form, due Dec. 1 each year, which identifies student subgroups in the district eligible to pursue the seal. 

The culminating project notification form is due March 15 and notifies the state education department of the projects that will be presented by students and the languages they will learn. 

The last is the End of Year Data form, due May 15, which provides the education department with the demographic information on successful candidates as well as the criteria they met to earn the seal.

District Superintendent Gerald Poole emphasized that the seal will serve the students of Shoreham-Wading River long after graduation and said that he appreciated the hard work of the staff that makes it possible for students to receive this recognition.

“The seal will demonstrate to employers and colleges that these students are biliterate,” Mr. Poole said. “I am very grateful to the team of educators in our district who developed the program on behalf of our students.”

The Seal of Biliteracy program was started in New York State in 2012. New York State was the second state in the country to implement the program. It has since been adopted by most states.

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Troeckler's 1000th Point Helps Seal 62-58 Win - SIUE - SIUE Cougars Official Athletic Site

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Next Game:

at Austin Peay

1/6/2022 | 5:00 pm

MARTIN, Tenn. – Allie Troeckler scored her 1,000th career point on a key free throw in the final minute of SIUE's 62-58 victory over UT Martin at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.

Saturday's win broke an eight-game slide against UT Martin and is the first road win for the Cougars in Martin, Tennessee, since an overtime victory during the 2016-17 season.

Troeckler scored a team-best 16 points on New Year's Day, helping the Cougars and Head Coach Samantha Quigley Smith win their first Ohio Valley Conference matchup of the season and the first road OVC contest. Troeckler shot 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free throw line.

"I could get emotional talking about her because of the impact she has had on this program and specifically this year," said Smith. "I know it's not easy to be a fifth-year senior and have a new coaching staff come in. She is one of the hardest workers if not the hardest worker I have coached in my 10 years as a head coach."

Gabby Nikitinaite and Mikia Keith joined Troeckler scoring in double digits with 11 points each. Nikitinaite added a team-leading nine rebounds. SIUE improved to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the OVC.

The two teams were close early with the Cougars taking an 18-16 lead after one period. Once UT Martin tied the score 20-20 with 7:48 to play in the first half, SIUE raced to a 13-0 advantage over the next four minutes of play. That set up a 38-24 lead at halftime.

UT Martin climbed back into the game in the second half behind Paige Pipkin, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shae Littleford scored 14 overall, and Kyannah Grant added 13 for the Skyhawks, which dropped to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in the OVC.

Despite the lead being as much as 19 in the second half, UT Martin pushed back to within four points as the Cougars held them off with a basket by Mikayla Kinnard with 43 seconds left and free throws from Troeckler and Keith in the final 20 seconds.

"We have to be an aggressive team all the time – on the offensive end and on the defensive end," said Smith.

The Cougars commanded 22 assists in the game and outrebounded UT Martin 33-31. SIUE's defense held UT Martin to 1-of-13 shooting on three-pointers.

"We did a really nice job of keeping someone in front of us," said Smith. "A lot of time three-point shots occur when you have to go and help your teammate. UT Martin didn't get that many attempts so that was us with our one-on-one defense."

Smith believes many more close contests are to come.

"A lot of the league is up in the air right now," said Smith.

SIUE's next contest is Thursday at Austin Peay as the Cougars face off against the Governors in a 5 p.m. game in Clarksville, Tennessee.

 

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Parts of Huntington Beach, Seal Beach Added to Areas Off Limits Due to Massive Sewage Spill - Times of San Diego