Headlines
Future Retirees Growing More Pessimistic
Global analytics firm Gallup’s recent Economy and Personal Finance poll produced some significant indicators that future U.S. retirees are becoming less certain about their ability to adequately fund their retirement. Although up slightly from the previous year, pessimism has grown from pre-pandemic levels and…
2022 COLA Watch: The Good News, and the Bad News
If you’ve been paying attention to the financial markets over the past few weeks, you’ve no doubt heard quite a few references to the dreaded “i word” – inflation. The consumer price index (CPI) number for April registered a whopping…
What Declining Births Say About Our Values, Economics, and Social Security
Star Parker has a fascinating op-ed here that challenges the notion that families had fewer children in 2020 due to the uneasiness or economic challenges from the pandemic. Not so. Parker argues younger people are avoiding marriage and children because they…
Retirements Actually Increased During the Pandemic
It sort of defies logic, but indeed more people retired during the pandemic after decades of decreases. Compare that to the financial crisis of 2008-9 that wiped many out and actually negated any retirement altogether for some. Jed Kolko of…
Social Security’s Problems Should be Above Politics and Pandering
A plethora of bills are routinely introduced in every new Congress, mostly by Democrats, promising higher benefits, whether in the form of cost of living adjustments, one-time payments, or permanent minimum benefit increases. The problem with all of the proposals,…
Twelve Question Social Security Quiz – Getting Benefit Questions Wrong Could Cost You
Lorie Konish of CNBC has a piece here that recaps results of a recent survey from MassMutual based on when one should claim Social Security, generally regarded as the biggest retirement choice one will ever make. It was a 12-question true-or-false quiz given…
Seniors Report Social Security COLAs Not Enough to Pay Higher Costs
It’s a familiar refrain from seniors that their Social Security benefits just don’t keep up with rising overall prices. Benefits do increase every January 1st based on an inflation formula, but Josephine Nesbit of Yahoo Finance cites a survey from…
Everything You Need To Know About Stimulus Payments
In this very comprehensive C Net Personal Finance article by Clifford Colby and Jessica Dolcourt, the authors have provided detailed information about the latest batch of so-called “stimulus” payments. From explaining that some may get an additional “plus up” payment,…
SSA Commissioner Saul’s Letter to Congress
In a letter to key members of Congress, Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul offered insight into the status of Social Security operations today. Although his FY 2021 appropriation provides more than the previous year, it is nevertheless smaller than he originally requested…
Should You Take Social Security at 62?
It’s fairly well known that taking Social Security at age 62 will result in a smaller monthly benefit, and that waiting longer will mean bigger checks. And while those bigger benefit checks can be enticing, sometimes it simply makes a…