Headlines
Are you “guesstimating” your retirement budget?
derestimating your retirement expenses is a more common issue than you think. A recent survey by Transamerica found that most workers estimated they’ll need $400,000 to $500,000 to cover their retirement expenses, while the true costs are likely to exceed $1…
Expect a very low Social Security cost of living adjustment in 2020
Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be announced in mid-October, but projections are for only a 1.6% COLA for 2020, down from 2.8% in 2019. A 1.6% adjustment would equate to an added $23 per month for someone receiving the average retirement benefit of $1,460. COLAs have…
Is Sen. Warren trying to turn an earned benefit into a welfare program?
John Cogan, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and author of “The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of Federal Entitlement Programs,” pens this op-ed in The Wall Street Journal highly critical of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s plans for Social…
How Social Security could change under three Democratic presidential candidates
Lorie Konish of CNBC profiles what Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and former Vice President Joe Biden have in mind for Social Security. Each seeks to expand Social Security benefits, and each raises taxes on the wealthy to pay…
Elizabeth Warren & Social Security
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Social Security plan is out, and though it has not been “scored” by actuaries, one estimate is that it would extend the life of the Social Security Trust fund by only 20 years. That is far short of…
Managing Multiple Social Security Benefits
That Social Security is a complex program is hardly news. Christy Bieber’s comprehensive article here takes readers through the four types of benefits: retirement, spousal, disability, and survivors’ benefits. The article explains how each benefit is calculated. It is possible to qualify…
Can we shore up Social Security and grow the economy?
By 2035, the Social Security trust funds will be exhausted, automatically triggering a 20 to 25 percent across-the-board benefit cut under current law. A thoughtful Social Security reform plan must be in line not only to prevent insolvency but go…
Avoid fraud – create your “My Social Security” online account now
Social Security is moving inexorably to more use of online capabilities to provide services to beneficiaries, and a key part of that initiative is to allow you to create a “My Social Security” online account to give you access to all…
Dispelling Social Security myths
Sometimes, myths about Social Security take on a life of their own. Proving that if you say something enough times people will believe it, so many misconceptions about Social Security exist that it seems hard to count them. But in…
Paying Income Taxes on Social Security Benefits
As the old adage goes, “nothing is certain but death and taxes” and that includes income taxes on your Social Security benefits. While it is a cause for great consternation, and even anger, among those who receive Social Security, it…