Headlines
Scammers now targeting Social Security beneficiaries
In a devious twist to an old scam, criminals are now targeting Social Security recipients in their efforts to relieve you of some of your money. Not long ago, scammers claiming to be from the IRS used their tricks and…
Social Security Spousal Benefits: How they are computed
The spousal benefit and how it is computed is clearly one of the most confusing and misunderstood aspects of the Social Security program. Many people think that a spouse simply gets 50% of the other spouse’s benefit amount, but it’s much…
Crucial tax deadline is approaching fast, are you ready?
An important deadline is approaching fast: December 31 is the last day to take your required minimum distributions (RMDs) from your traditional 401(k) or IRA. If you are age 70 ½, this is the amount you must withdraw annually from…
Waiting isn’t always going to be the best option
Based on an analysis from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, out of the more than 62 million current recipients, Social Security is responsible for keeping an estimated 22.1 million individuals above the federal provider line every month. Because…
How to use and interpret online retirement calculator
Yes, it’s impossible to predict the future on how much money you’ll need down to the dollar in your retirement, but you can make an educated guess by using a retirement calculator. In Kailey Fralick’s article for the Motley Fool, she…
Social Security is going to change
According to a survey by Nationwide, Social Security is the primary source of income for 49 percent of adults who have been retired for more than 10 years and 43 percent of recent retirees. The same study found that only…
How to avoid losing your Social Security benefits to the tax man
Your entire working life you paid into Social Security with the understanding that when you reach retirement age you can collect those benefits, but what you might not realize is that some of that money will likely go back to…
Deficits, Debt and how They Relate to Social Security – A Primer
Jeff Szymanski works in political communications at The Association of Mature American Citizens. He wrote this piece to explain the deficit, the debt, and federal spending in an easily understood way. The federal budget deficit (amount of overspending for one fiscal year) is predicted…
Social Security’s Future: Not the Program Grandpa Knew
That Social Security is unsustainable as we know it long-term is hardly news. Martin Feldstein’s opinion piece in MarketWatch explains how the increase in life expectancy, the decreased birth rate, and the payroll tax rate not having changed since 1983 have combined…
Social Security: A wildly successful antipoverty program. Can that continue?
By any calculation, Social Security’s role in greatly reducing poverty rates among America’s seniors cannot be disputed. David W. Rasmussen’s article notes that poverty rates among Americans aged 65+ were as high as 78% in 1939, down to 35% in 1959,…