Headlines
Sen. Cassidy Renews Push for “Big Idea”
Calling it a “tough decision” and urging his congressional colleagues to “not keep ducking it,” outgoing two-term Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) offered a plea for support to get his “Big Idea” to the finish line before the end of his…
Is Social Security’s Annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Guaranteed?
Interest in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is building, as it typically does around this time. Looking ahead to 2027, we’re seeing wild swings in media accounts of what the 2027 increase will be. Earlier this year, for example,…
Social Security COLAs are failing retirees
Social Security COLA is calculated by comparing the average Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of the current year to the same period in the previous year, with the percentage increase…
New legislation would put caps on retirement balances
New legislation introduced by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) would require distributions for individuals with very large IRA and defined contribution retirement plan account balances.…
Social Security Administration Announces New Online Tools and Notices for Disability Claims
Agency enhances online platform to expand service for disability cases The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced major enhancements to my Social Security, expanding self-service options and the notices available to individuals navigating the disability claims and appeals process. The…
Is the Flat-Rate COLA a solution to the insolvency issue?
One of the proposed parts of the solutions to the impending Social Security Trust Fund insolvency issue concerns how the annual cost-of-living adjustment is calculated and applied. Two terms that have been used are COLA cap and Flat-Rate COLA. …
LBJ and Social Security—Another Hotbed of Misunderstanding
Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th president, is remembered for many things, from his traumatic ascension to the presidency in the aftermath of President John Kennedy’s assassination to his pushing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the finish line and his historic signing of Medicare…
An Onerous Task for Congress: Social Security Reform
Social Security’s Trust Fund reserves are forecast to be fully depleted by the end of the year 2032. If that happens, everyone then receiving monthly Social Security payments will have those payments cut by an estimated 22%. What would that…
Resolving an Overpayment of your Social Security Benefits
No one likes to repay Social Security money they have received (and likely have already spent). But mistakes do sometimes happen, usually due to a beneficiary’s lack of knowledge of Social Security’s rules or, sometimes, because the Social Security Administration…
Social Security Insolvency: An Intergenerational Dilemma!
These days, the media is full of stories about Social Security’s financial status, with much emphasis on possible benefit cuts beginning in about the year 2032. And with that widespread coverage, many are nervous about the nation’s primary retirement program…