Headlines
Congress may soon enact retirement changes
The first significant changes in the laws related to retirement in 13 years could soon pass both chambers of Congress. Ben Werschkul writing for Yahoo Finance provides detail on four of the 50 provisions that appear most likely to be…
Social Security and retirement planning - How to avoid regret
Social Security is an immensely important program for the 63 million Americans who now collect benefits, but also to anyone who contributes payroll taxes with the plan to one day collect retirement benefits themselves. Russ Wiles of The Arizona Republic…
The Social Security COLA - Not Keeping Up
A dollar ain’t what it used to be is what folks often say. Social Security provides a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to all beneficiaries each January 1st. Some years in the past decade have seen no COLA though, as…
A fascinating look at Social Security’s very first beneficiary
Ida May Fuller, a lifelong Republican and high school classmate of President Calvin Coolidge, was the first beneficiary at age 65 of the new Social Security system when a check for $22.54 arrived at her home in February 1940. This…
Social Security’s scary unfunded liability
Laurence Kotlikoff, writing an op-ed in The Hill, laments that no one is addressing Social Security’s $43 trillion unfunded liability, up $9 trillion from last year. Buried at the end of the April 2019 Trustees report, he calls it “the…
Social Security reform - where’s the urgency?
This Pension & Benefits article by Brian Croce laments that little has been done to reform a Social Security program clearly headed for partial insolvency. Former Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) proposed a bill in the last session to match benefit…
Did Congress steal Social Security money? NO!
One of the most pervasive myths pertaining to Social Security is that Congress stole program funds for wars, social welfare spending, or a host of other programs. With a simple, common sense explanation, and by using easily understood analogies, Sean…
A complex question: “When should I take my Social Security?”
One of the questions most frequently asked of The AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory team is “When should I take my Social Security benefits?” and, of course, the answer is always “It depends.” It depends on your financial needs and,…
Many misconceptions about Social Security benefits
Though a large majority of Americans believe that Social Security will form a major part of their retirement income, many future retirees grossly overestimate how much their Social Security income will actually be. Few people understand that millionaires pay the…
Handling mismatches of worker’s Social Security numbers
Whenever the Social Security Administration (SSA) discovers that there is a name mismatch for a particular Social Security number, they issue a “mismatch notice” to the employer. Essentially, the “mismatch” is a case of payroll taxes (thus Social Security contributions)…