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When best-laid retirement plans meet grand-baby
That’s colloquial Spanish for “What can I do for you?” or simply “Yes?” But Elizabeth isn’t a native Spanish speaker. Neither am I, nor is her grandmother Pam. Spanish is colonizing our household speech because we all live together most…
Medicare Could Save Billions By Scrapping Random Drug Plan Assignment
A new study finds that Medicare is spending billions of dollars more than it needs to on prescription drugs for low-income seniors and disabled beneficiaries. In 2013, an estimated 10 million people who participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, known…
Social Security Disability Approval Rates Drop To Lowest Level In Five Years,
The approval rate for people seeking Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits has dropped to its lowest level in five years, according to Allsup, the nations premier disability representation company®. Only 48 percent of those who sought disability benefits were approved…
Retirement planning as marriage counseling
We marry for a combination of reasons — mutual attraction, shared values and a common vision of a desired future. That future, however, is often near term, making a home, raising a family — but very few young couples discuss…
THE INDIVIDUAL NEED FOR DISABILITY INSURANCE
Many people believe that their biggest asset is their home. For most of us, our biggest asset is the ability to work and earn an income. Not being able to work – due to a job loss or a disability…
Faces and Facts of Disability
Social Security benefits are for much more than just retirement. In mid-May, I wrote about the start and growth of the Social Security disability program. To add to SSA website information about disability benefits and how to apply for them, recently the Social…
Washingtonians Weigh In on Future of Social Security
Free public forums this week in Bellingham and Seattle will cover the future of Social Security. For just over half of married couples and three-quarters of single people, Social Security makes up at least half of their retirement income. And it…
Pension options that provide flexibility for retiring couple
I was approached by a couple, in their mid-60s, who wanted me to settle an argument. They are planning to retire at the end of the year. They both have pensions. The dispute was over how they should take their…
Not Satire: Despite Waiting Lines, Some VA Employees Got Bonuses
The Veterans Affairs Department health care scandal has deepened, with new revelations of incompetent management and misplaced spending priorities, including millions of dollars paid out in bonuses at the very hospitals where services were the worst. Now-resigned VA secretary Eric…
Speaker: Obama Must ‘Make Things Right for Our Veterans’
House Speaker John Boehner, commenting on the resignation today of the nation’s top veterans advocate, said President Barack Obama is ultimately responsible for the rampant problems in health care facilities run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The resignation of Veterans Affairs…