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Candidate Christie Breaks Ranks on the Social Security Issue, Advocates Cuts
While the prevalent mindset during the runup to the election year seems to be a consistent aversion to addressing the Social Security solvency problem head-on, presidential candidate Chris Christie stepped out of line recently with statements calling for reform provisions…
The Changing Landscape for Retirement Planning Strategy
Despite long-held attitudes toward the criticality of workplace retirement plans like 401ks, it appears that future retirees are paying more attention to other ways to accumulate wealth for their post-workforce lives. Yahoo Finance reporter Brian J. O’Connor, in a post…
The Disparate Effects of Social Security Reductions
GoBankingRate.com contributor Vance Cariaga, in a post today on their website, takes a look at what potential Social Security benefit cuts would mean for women. Using average benefit calculations as a basis for discussion, Cariaga notes that an across-the-board cut…
Reasons Behind the Rush to Early Filing
A recent study by asset management company Schroders reports that “40% of respondents who haven’t yet retired plan to begin receiving Social Security benefits between the ages of 62 and 65.” In discussing the reasons behind this statistic, The Motley Fool’s…
An Argument for Privatization of Social Security
Calling it a situation where there were “missed many opportunities” for improving the characterization of Social Security, European Fulbright scholar Ottumwan Siegfried “Sig” H. Sutterlin offers an essay on the history of the program and how there were occasions through…
The “Retirement Savings” Dilemma Continues in Full Force
The reasons are varied, but the constant conclusion is that many lower-income Americans are facing evaporating opportunities for financial security in retirement. In fact, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted last month that “only 1 in 10 low-income workers…
COLA Watch 2024, With an Interesting Observation
We’re into the second half of August now, and in the past few weeks there has been a flurry of news reports offering opinions about how far the 2024 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment will fall from its lofty 2023 increase…
Thoughts on Getting Social Security Assistance
Tom Margenau, a 32-year veteran of various Social Security Administration management positions and former director of SSA’s Baltimore public information office, routinely offers interesting and insightful facts and anecdotal accounts of Social Security situations. Usually using a question-and-answer format, he…
How Many Maximize their Social Security?
Maximizing one’s Social Security benefit is actually quite simple – just wait until you are 70 years of age to claim. Simple, right? That is unless there are overriding circumstances which require you to claim earlier, for example, if you…
Can Your Social Security Benefits be Stopped?
Here’s an interesting statistic: about half of all beneficiaries whose monthly benefit is below the 40th percentile depend on Social Security for 90% or more of their retirement income. A pretty sobering fact which highlights how painful it would be…