Headlines
More households overestimating their retirement readiness
A new report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found “more than 25 percent of US households think they are on track to maintain their standard of living in retirement, but many are at risk of falling…
How to achieve more than the average benefit amount
Social Security beneficiaries, 37 percent of men and 42 percent of women, receive 50 percent or more of their income from Social Security. Also, among the elderly Social Security beneficiaries, 12 percent of men and 15 percent of women rely…
How to fix Social Security before benefits are cut
Many Americans think since Congress resolved the debt limit crisis by suspending it until 2025, all is well with the federal funding of government programs. That is not the case. For the past thirteen years, the Social Security program has…
What is an IRA recharacterization?
IRA recharacterization is a strategy that changes the type of IRA for a specific contribution. Recharacterizing gives you the opportunity to change your mind or correct a mistake. However, there are deadlines and rules for recharacterizing IRA contributions. Rebecca Lake…
Election 2024: Battle Lines Being Drawn on Social Security
Early candidates in the Republican primary race have indicated a wide disparity in their positions when it comes to Social Security. Specifically, former Vice President Mike Pence has gone on record calling for program reform, hinting at a change in…
COLA Watch 2024–Likely Nowhere Near 2023
Inflation is easing, and that’s a good thing for the economy in general. Unfortunately for seniors, though, that downward trend brings with it a similar trajectory in cost-of-living adjustments (COLA). In fact, current projections are that the COLA for next…
Clarifying the Banking Interactions Between the U.S. Treasury and Social Security
The charge that the political arena has, through the years, “stolen” money from the Social Security program is an enduring piece of folklore that surfaces routinely in social media and in a variety of news accounts. Some sources cite specific…
A Timeline Clarification for Millennials–Preparing for the Future of Social Security
Social Security’s impending solvency crisis has been in the news quite a bit in recent months and, unfortunately, much of the media accounts have created a misunderstanding of what’s really in the cards for this critical senior support program. Specifically,…
Candidate Haley Advocates for Retirement Age Setbacks, Benefit Trimming for the Wealthy
The long road to the 2024 presidential election is now being traveled by a host of hopefuls, so it’s logical to expect an outpouring of viewpoints on key issues and, equally logical, to expect Social Security reform to be one…
Four Principles Designed to Salvage Social Security for the Long-Term
The solvency dilemma Social Security faces has gotten some attention in the early days of the 118th Congress, but despite the urgency–full depletion of the program’s reserves is less than a decade away–proposals to ward off a catastrophe haven’t gotten…