Latest News
Student Loans and Social Security Penalties Being Examined
The Treasury Offset (TOP) program that allows for the offsetting of Social Security benefits in situations where student loans have defaulted is the subject of an investigation launched earlier this month. As explained in a post by Kiplinger Joey Solitro…
Social Security and Small Business…Good Together
Social Security Administration Public Affairs Specialist Sabrina Feliciano, in a post on patch.com, outlines the slate of online services available to small business owners through the agency. Her article provides a link to the SSA.gov website where small business owners…
Yet Another Viewpoint on Delaying Retirement
It’s been all over the media in the past few days. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has gone on record with an opinion that the popular notion of retirement age being 65 is crazy. In fact, in a Marshall News Messenger post…
Unpacking the Effect of a Change in Retirement Age
As noted in the last two days’ Headline posts on this site, the rhetoric is building on the subject of changing the Social Security full retirement age as part of the strategy to avoid the program’s projected payment shortfalls. It’s…
Sec. Yellin: Social Security Underfunding Missing Concrete Plan
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing and in response to questions concerning the Whitehouse FY 2025 budget, acknowledged that no specific steps have been outlined by the current administration to ward off the impending benefit…
Staff Re-build at SSA Set to Commence
Just a few months into his Social Security Administration post, Commissioner Martin O’Malley is launching a concerted move to quickly re-build a workforce decimated by turnover and hiring freezes in recent years. Aided by a slight increase in funding, O’Malley…
A Perspective on Social Security’s Customer Service
Much has been written over the past few months and years about public perspectives on the quality of Social Security’s customer service practices. Much of it has been negative, citing the painful wait times associated with the 800-number service, the…
Retirement Perspectives: Have the Golden Years Become a Luxury?
In a post yesterday on Business Insider, reporter Jordan Parker Erb poses the question of whether a growing retirement crisis has become “a luxury many workers can’t afford.” From the steady disappearance of defined benefit pension plans to the extended…
Immigration Emerges in the Social Security Debate (Again)
In an analysis of GOP presidential candidate Trump’s recent remarks about Social Security’s looming financial crisis, The Motley Fool’s Sean Williams cited the candidate’s campaign position on the program as “flawed” and pointed out several fundamental points omitted from its…
SSA Moves to Soften the Impact of Overpayment Recovery
Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley, facing up to the Agency’s mounting public criticism on the procedures used to recover overpayments, recently made good on his vow to eliminate one of the “heavy-handed” practices previously used. Before O’Malley’s announcement, the Agency’s…