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Traveling outside the US? Check in with Social Security
Americans today are traveling around the globe for vacations, and sometimes to relocate in another country. If you travel abroad and receive Social Security benefits, a special website is available: “Social Security Payments Outside the United States.” Here are answers to…
The Future of Social Security
An organization is fighting to make sure that Social Security is available for future generations. The Montana Organizing Project held a meeting today to talk about the concerns they have if the federal government were to cut Social Security benefits. The group…
Slashing pensions at the ballot is foolhardy
There’s good reason why cities and counties are not allowed to unilaterally cut retirement benefits for their existing public employees. Imagine a police officer putting his or her life on the line for 20 years and planning for an eventual retirement, who…
Three things lawmakers can do to keep Social Security net intact
The 2013 annual report of the Social Security trustees pegs the system’s 75-year deficit, or unfunded obligation, at $9.6 trillion — that’s with a t — in today’s dollars. Two demographic trends will drive that shortfall: retirees live longer than they used to, and…
How does the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act impact Medicare?
Income-related Medicare premiums: Some Medicare beneficiaries will pay an extra amount for Part D because of their yearly income. The extra amount is paid directly to Social Security (not the Medicare plan). The income level that drives the additional premium…
Social Security, Medicare not the cause of US financial problems
The Washington elite are returning to their obsession with the long-term budget crisis, which means extremists are once again calling for benefit cuts to Social Security and Medicare. As the government reopened following the shutdown, President Barack Obama called for cooler…
What a small-ball budget deal could look like
Democrats, along with some Republicans, are desperate to reverse the across-the-board cuts. But in the current political climate, that means the cuts have to be replaced with savings elsewhere. So Congress is now digging through the couch cushions to scrape together…
Worldwide identity thieves steal millions in tax refunds
The Internal Revenue Service sent 655 tax refunds to a single address in Kaunas, Lithuania, failing to recognize they were fradulent. A2011 audit has since detected the fraudulent claims for refunds and corrected the procedure to prevent it from happening…
Calculating the financial impact of working longer
Often clients and friends who are baby boomers ask me: “How much longer do I have to keep working?” This is a familiar question, as baby boomers who once thought retirement was right around the corner now see it as way…
Baby boomers generally oppose changing the rules on Social Security
Baby boomers could be affected by the outcome of budget talks underway again in Washington, because in the interest of saving Social Security, those talks could change some of the rules; current projections have Social Security going dry in 20…