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So, you have a million dollars in retirement funds. Good enough?
For many years, the goal of having an accumulated retirement fund worth $1 million was considered adequate to ensure a comfortable lifestyle in the final stage of life. Like many of the questions folks have about Social Security, the answer to whether…
Rep. Larson: Social Security 2100 Bill Likely to be Reintroduced Mid-Year
In an interview posted yesterday by Sr. Editor Tobias Salinger on www.financial-planning.com, Rep. John Larson (D-CT) indicated that the Social Security 2100 Act he introduced in January 2019 is likely to be re-introduced mid-year 2021 in the current Congress. During the…
SSA Offices Urged to Reopen
Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, is urging Federal workers to return to their normal workplaces. Citing updated CDC guidance on mask requirements, as well as the most recent progress in vaccination rates, Hice…
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…