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Medicare eligibility signals the end of middle age
Today, I became old. The Federal government told me so. An official letter from the Social Security Administration announced my eligibility for Medicare. The envelope also contained a red, white and blue Medicare card. The patriotic color theme continued in a 32-page…
Scannable VA cards put veterans at risk of identity theft
Anyone with a smartphone and a bar code app can scan any VA identification card issued since 2004 and the cardholder’s Social Security number immediately pops up on the screen. Tampa businessman and Army veteran Barry Landau wants answers. “I didn’t…
Toomey focuses on veterans
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., is leading a pair of efforts he hopes will improve employment opportunities and speed up access to disability benefits for national guard soldiers and reservists who’ve returned from Iraq and Afghanistan wars. His employment plan entails the construction…
New generations will redefine retirement
The power of stories is vastly underestimated when it comes to economics, managing money and other aspects of everyday life. Earlier this month, I attended a talk on big data and employment by Patrick Riley, chief executive and co-founder of…
IRS warns of typhoon relief scams
The Internal Revenue Service issued a consumer alert Friday about possible scams taking place in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. The organization said it’s common for scam artists to impersonate charities following major disasters in order to get money or private…
Retired union workers facing ‘unprecedented’ pension cuts
The proposed cuts are part of a desperate effort to head off insolvency at multiemployer pension plans, pensions that typically provide benefits for workers at several companies. It’s an unconventional move: Pension law has long maintained that cutting the benefits of those…
Amid Affordable Care Act’s problems, a reminder of computer-free times
Of course the Affordable Care Act is all screwed up. Computers are involved. Computers do everything for us. Couldn’t get anything done without them, right? So, how did we ever start Social Security and Medicare without computers, not to mention make them…
Reed lacks concern on Social Security
This is an open letter to Congressman Tom Reed on his letter proposing raising debt limit conditioned on changes to Social Security. Congressman Reed: We are stunned and dismayed that you recently signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner urging him…
Protect Your Retirement: Which Side of History Are You On?
“ It appears history is going to keep happening, despite our hopes for retirement.” – Gregory Maguire, Out of Oz.The question is: Will history keep repeating itself or are we writing a new page? Many in the financial industry believe we have…
Veterans Day Message: “Don’t Cut Veterans’ Benefits”
The Alliance continued holding events with coalition partners around Veterans Day this week, drawing attention to the fact that veterans’ benefits would be cut in multiple ways if the chained CPI cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) formula were to be adopted. The chained…