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Retirement: Smart ways to save and spend
Trying to save enough for retirement and then figuring out how to live on your nest egg can be overwhelming. Many people struggle with saving even a minimal amount. About 36% of workers have less than $1,000 in savings and investments…
Why maximizing your Social Security won’t bankrupt the system
If you’re a reader of my PBS NewsHour Social Security columns, you’ll know I’ve written a book with Paul Solman and Phil Moeller (a long-time personal finance columnist) called “Get What’s Yours — the Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social…
Is Your Social Security Safe from Debt Collectors?
With several important exceptions, your social security check is safe or “exempt” from claims of creditors. For example, if you can no longer afford to make payments on your credit cards because of illness, job loss or other reason, the…
Can achieving retirement security be easier than we think?
With traditional pensions on the wane, wages for typical workers flat-lining and many people living longer, it is no secret that Americans face an ever-increasing challenge to achieve financial security in retirement. Most are not meeting the test. The Center for…
Tips for people behind in retirement savings
Financial planners often tell stories about 50-somethings who come to them for help and have saved little or nothing for their retirement. There are millions of people like that out there. “It’s really common for people to never plan for retirement,” says…
The Growing Divide Between the Retirement Elite and Everyone Else
Americans are on track to replace 60% of income, but only one in five pre-retirees report good health. That’s likely to prove costly. There’s a growing retirement savings gap between workers with 401(k)s and those without. Overall the typical American worker…
Seven Essential Things You Need to Know About Social Security
As more baby boomers reach retirement age, they’re realizing the valuable role Social Security will play as a source of lifetime income. Claiming Social Security benefits can be far more complex than you may realize. Here are seven essential things…
Here’s When Most People Are Retiring. Should You Do the Same?
A recent survey from Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research found that the average retirement age is now 62 for women and 64 for men. That has some interesting implications, and it can have each of us pondering our own…
Preserving existing pensions has to be part of reform: Tony May
Switch Pennsylvania teachers and public employees from traditional “defined benefit” pension plans to 401(k)-style “defined contribution” plans, say conservatives, “because no one in the private sector has old fashioned pensions anymore.” This, they add, will solve Pennsylvania’s pension problems once…
US Sen. Whitehouse to discuss Social Security benefits
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is holding a roundtable discussion on Social Security disability benefits. Whitehouse will be joined Monday by Congressman Jim Langevin, state Sen.Donna Nesselbush, and representatives of the Social Security Administration and disability groups. Read more… Notice: The “Read…