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Do You Get The Maximum Social Security Benefit?
You probably don’t get the maximum monthly Social Security benefit. or anywhere near it, because it is somewhat of a theoretical number. That maximum benefit is only possible if your lifetime earnings for at least 35 years were more than…
About Fixing Old Social Security Grudges
In his inimitable fashion, retired Social Security employee and current Social Security columnist Tom Margenau writes about those who have been collecting Social Security benefits for many years, perhaps decades, living with a belief that they’re not getting the right…
Women in Retirement: Dealing With the Financing Gap
Statistics published by the National Institute on Retirement Security indicate that the gender gap in financial preparedness for retirement remains a concern for women. J.P. Morgan Wealth Management’s Alison Cenname assesses the impact of this disparity in an article posted at…
Life Expectancy Declines and Social Security Solvency…Is There a Connection?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports on their website that life expectancy for the U.S. population in 2020 was 77.0 years, a drop of 1.8 years from the previous year. This raises somewhat of a question regarding…
Weighing the pros and cons of working in retirement
It is unclear whether the pandemic-induced increase in retirement among older adults will be temporary or longer-lasting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests it will be temporary. BLS projects large increases in labor force participation among older adults from 2020…
Not Knowing Social Security Fundamentals Can Hurt You!
Social Security is complex. Yes, that’s an understatement, and that’s why the AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory Service was established almost seven years ago. We regularly provide service to a public desperate to understand Social Security’s rules and how they…
Thoughts on the Popular Question of When to File for Benefits
It’s one of the most frequently handled questions fielded at the AMAC Foundation Social Security Advisory Service…When should I file for my Social Security monthly benefits? We typically begin our discussion in response to this question with the phrase “It…
A preliminary estimate on the 2023 COLA
The official Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2023 will not be released until October; early estimates are predicting even higher than 2022. The Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, also known as CPI-U, has reached a new 40-year…
What is the retirement earnings test is and how it works
MassMutual, an insurance and financial services company, found in their recent survey that nearly 52 percent of people failed or barely passed a 12-question survey regarding Social Security. A commonly misunderstood concept about Social Security was the earnings test: “If…
Don’t put off Social Security until you’ve really thought things through
Starting your Social Security retirement benefits is a major step in the next phase of your life. You can begin your retirement benefits as early as age 62 or as late as age 70. If you choose to start receiving…