Headlines
Most states won’t take a bite out of your Social Security benefits
Are you thinking of relocating to another state when you retire? Are you weighing the pros and cons of living in one state versus another? Besides the obvious reasons of moderate climate, family, housing costs, and good healthcare, there is…
Head into retirement with confidence
Social Security is the major source of income for older Americans. Over 8 in 10 Americans aged 65 and older receive Social Security. For 61 percent of those beneficiaries, Social Security is more than half their total income, and for…
Op-ed: Social Security can push the elderly into poverty when a spouse dies
Max Richtman, president and chief executive of the nonprofit National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, has a lengthy opinion piece here stating that survivor benefits are no longer adequate for many 21st century widows and widowers. He describes the…
Over Half of Americans Are Making a Huge Social Security Mistake
It’s a scary but accurate headline. Christy Bieber of The Motley Fool notes far too many people leave the workforce and claim Social Security benefits for the wrong reason. Bieber cites research from the Schroders Global Investor Study that found 51% of…
What Most Retirees Don’t Know About Social Security
Rob Poindexter of Yahoo Finance notes that only 3% of near retirees (age 55-65) recently answered 12 of 12 true-false questions correctly on Social Security. The program is clearly not well understood, and the author discusses nine things most retirees…
Social Security’s Problems Should be Above Politics and Pandering
A plethora of bills are routinely introduced in each 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 nearly all, which are intentionally…
Social Security to Enter the 21st Century
It might seem odd that business by phone and electronic signatures is not standard practice for the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the year 2022, when such is commonplace at so many entities in the private sector. Dave Kovaleski of…
Is Medicare Free? Not Really
Contrary to a popular belief, Medicare is not free. Well, not totally free anyway, especially for those with a higher income. Many think that because they pay a Medicare tax via FICA withheld from their paycheck, that all Medicare services…
About Social Security’s Customer Service Levels
The stories are almost legendary – calling the Social Security Administration for assistance, only to wait on hold for what seems like an eternity, and then have your call dropped. If you’re lucky, your call may be eventually answered by…
Fixing Social Security’s Finances
In this MarketWatch opinion article by Brenton Smith, the author sardonically describes how Congress has failed for decades, and continues to fail, to enact legislation which resolves Social Security’s looming financial dilemma. As Congress neglects solving a problem which has…