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The cost of claiming Social Security early
You can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, but doing so will permanently reduce your monthly payment compared to waiting until your full retirement age. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute 2026 Retirement Confidence…
Stretching Finances in Retirement…Some Thoughts
Inflation is on the march again, fueled by rising fuel prices amid the conflict in Iran. Interest rates are trending downward, affecting return on savings (if you’re fortunate enough to have savings). Healthcare costs are outpacing other areas of senior…
Social Security to Fully Transition to Electronic Payments
(Source – Social Security Matters) As of September 30, 2025, federal law and Executive Order 14247 require federal benefits to be paid electronically. To improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance security in federal payments, the Department of the Treasury is…
Saving Social Security Via Elimination of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Examined
It is absolutely a noble and correct intent of the federal government to root out illegal misappropriation of funds from programs serving the taxpaying public, and it is equally noble and correct to seek a balanced budget for the country.…
What’s Happening on the 2027 COLA Front?
Proclamations about what could be a substantial increase in the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that beneficiaries could see in their January 2027 deposits are coming in fast as inflation grows amid oil price uncertainties. Estimates as high as…
Nursing Home Debt and Social Security Benefits–A Complicated Landscape
The average cost of residence in a long-term care facility has skyrocketed in recent history. That, of course, is not new news…we’ve been reading harrowing accounts of this trend for some time. Lately, though, the possibility of reduced Social Security…
The Importance of Adjusting Financial Plans to Account for Rising Medical Costs
Social Security’s race towards insolvency garners much of the news space these days, despite the quietly spoken likelihood that Congress will — eventually — step into the fray and address the problem. Unfortunately, six years is not a long time…
Payroll Tax Fraud and Its Potential for Impact on Your Benefits
When we think about scammers and fraudsters, we generally think about the direct contact between dishonest connivers and individual citizens. You know, the phone calls from crooks impersonating Social Security or IRS staffers, the AI-enabled voice-cloned phone call for help…
Weighing the Impact of Social Security Insolvency
Most folks realize that the rapidly approaching point of Social Security trust fund depletion would invoke a catastrophe for America’s seniors, plunging millions of them below federal poverty levels. The impact would blanket the entire beneficiary landscape, affecting some 70…
Commission Approach to Social Security Reform Back in the New…Again
Legislative efforts introduced by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL12) earlier this week are profiled in a newsweek.com report by Suzanne Blake, Consumer & Social Trends reporter, with his proposal calling for creation of “…a commission to recommend sweeping reforms to prevent the…