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Retirement Risks: It All Starts With Longevity
With retirement, one sometimes sees the terms accumulation and decumlation. The accumulation phase is the pre-retirement period when we work and save for retirement. Upon retiring, decumulation begins. We need to determine the best way to spend down our assets and…
How to Maximize Social Security Survivor Benefits
Most people – maybe even most accountants – think of Social Security as just a government retirement plan. But perhaps just as important are the survivor benefits, the payments made to survivors following the death of the insured beneficiary. These payments can…
54 Statistics on Hospital Medicare Margins
In 2012, the average Medicare margin for a U.S. hospital stayed steady at -5.4 percent, according to the latest data analyzed by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. MedPAC released its March 2014 report to Congress late last week, which included several recommendations…
Iowa first to get TV ad decrying cuts to Medicare
A new front is developing in the political fight over Obamacare, and Iowa may be on the front lines. An advertisement hits TV screens today telling central Iowa residents that the federal health care law contained Medicare cuts to home health…
Full Medicare Coverage Needed for CT Lung Cancer Screening
National Medicare coverage of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for patients at high risk for lung cancer needs to be implemented, quickly, say several medical organizations, including the American College of Radiology (ACR). Medical and patient groups are requesting that The…
Does retirement help or hurt your health?
Does retirement better health, or make it worse? A new study published in The Journal of Human Resources points to the former. “Results indicate that the retirement effect on health is beneficial and significant,” Michael Insler, an assistant professor of economics…
We Know About Income Inequality. Now It’s Time to Talk About Lifespan Inequality.
On average, Americans live longer if they are rich than if they are poor. As the income gap in the U.S. has widened over the past 30 years, so too has the “longevity gap,” as Annie Lowrey puts it in…
The Big Long-Term Budget Squeeze. And What To Do About It
Two trends threaten to dominate government spending for decades to come — and slowly eviscerate the public sector as a dynamic agent for solving problems. First, and most obviously, we’ll be spending a boatload more money on old people as the…
Starting a business in retirement? 3 must-ask questions
There’s one sure way to fail at starting a business in retirement — and that’s by counting on its success. As a business owner, I’ll tell it straight — running and growing a business is the hardest thing I have ever…
Martin Feldstein: Saving retirement
Only if the United States and other countries act now will they be able to save the post-retirement social safety nets .Public pension programmes around the world are in financial trouble. Because of continuing increases in life expectancy, the number of…