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Are You Weighing Down Your Retirement?
We’re all concerned about how to afford retirement. We check the balances on our IRAs, and obsesses about how to get the most out of Social Security. But we forget that there’s another way to help achieve a financially secure retirement:…
Mitch McConnell’s Sequestration Deal Would Replace ‘Crappy Cuts With Crappy Cuts’: Democratic Aide
Congressional Democrats aren’t jumping at the latest offer from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the two parties’ still-elusive search for a “grand bargain” on budget matters. McConnell said Monday that he would be willing to reduce –- in part…
Social Security Disability Demographics in Rural America
Summary: Document examines several employment statistics and rates of disability in certain rural areas of the United States. “The risk of experiencing a form of disability rises sharply as a person ages. The average beneficiary of SSDI is in their late middle…
Number of Physicians Opting Out of Medicare Nearly Tripled
The number of physicians who have opted out of Medicare has nearly tripled since 2009, according to CMS, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to CMS, 9,539 physicians who previously had accepted Medicare opted out of the program in 2012, compared with 3,700…
5 Retirement Variables Outside Your Control
One reason it’s difficult to prepare for retirement is that there are so many things we simply can’t predict about it. We don’t know how long we will live, how much our investments will earn and how much of our…
Social Security’s Collapse, Explained in Plain English
The Social Security debate has its own private lexicon wherein words take on new meanings, which at times even contradict the meaning those words have in the English language. The consequence of the Social Security pseudo-code is a stalemate, because it is virtually impossible to build any consensus in…
Congress gets ready for a summer break
Like college students putting off their homework until it absolutely has to be done, the Congress will clock in for a few more days this week and then beat it out of town until September 9, far behind as usual…
SLOBODIEN: Beyond aching knees and backs
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a federal entitlement created in 1956 as an insurance plan for long-tenured workers with the misfortune of becoming disabled before retirement. Today, the program has ballooned into a $135 billion behemoth threatening to collapse under…
Will your congressman retire richer than you?
Members of Congress receive retirement benefits that are far more generous than those earned by the average worker, according to a recent Bankrate analysis. Not only do congressional representatives and senators earn the guarantee of a monthly pension check — a…
Online scam hijacks Social Security benefits
Once upon a time thieves stole Social Security checks from mailboxes. That was so 20th century. Now, thieves steal the checks online directly receiving the payment and eliminating the middleman. Identity thieves obtain the personal information of Social Security beneficiaries and then reroute…