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A Novel Approach to Social Security Reform
With all of the headlines about Social Security’s impending solvency issues, the primary focus has been on two potential solutions – raising revenue and cutting program costs. For the former, most on the left want to raise the amount of…
2023 Changes to Social Security
With all of the hoopla about the 2023 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) yielding an historic 8.7% increase in the Social Security benefit amount, some other changes in the program may have gone largely unnoticed. They are, however, nonetheless important,…
Claim Your Social Security Now, If …..
Most Social Security advisors, including this author, will encourage you to delay taking Social Security as long as you can in order to snag the highest possibly monthly benefit. After all, a higher monthly check is a great way ensure…
Retirement Income – What is Your Goal?
Most financial planners will say your income in retirement should be at least 70% of what you income was before you retired in order to maintain your same lifestyle. That can be a pretty challenging goal for many of us,…
The COLA Rollercoaster Ride
The 8.7% COLA (cost of living adjustment) for 2023 becomes effective with your January Social Security payment – a welcome improvement in your monthly income to help offset the highly inflated prices we’ve all been paying for a long time.…
Long-term Home Care Isn’t Covered By Medicare
To be sure, Medicare is a complicated program and one that most American seniors over the age of 65 depend upon for their normal healthcare needs. “Normal healthcare needs” includes most expenses while hospitalized, and also most expenses incurred from…
SS Disability Approvals Now Taking Longer
Applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits were, before the pandemic, typically subjected to about 3 – 4 months wait time before a determination was received on their application. This was unless their disability was related to a condition…
How does Medicare affect your Health Savings Account?
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed dollars in a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for…
The two extraordinary measures Treasury anticipates implementing
The Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress that the department would take its “statutory extraordinary measures” and suspend investments in some federal retirement programs. What retirement programs are these? And no, it is not Social Security. To find…
Will the debt ceiling affect your finances?
What is the debt ceiling? The debt ceiling is the maximum amount the federal government is able to borrow to finance obligations that lawmakers and presidents have already approved. What happens if the United States defaults on its debt? U.S…