Latest News
Social Security-based Scams…The Importance of Due Diligence
It was once a seasonal thing, this emphasis on scams and fraud operations based on Social Security data. No longer. It’s now a constant, year-round situation, and a post on tylerpaper.com by contributor Leo Rossler drives this point home. In addition to discussing…
Social Security Myths and Misunderstandings
The AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory Service has, for the past several years, sought to unmask the popular myths surrounding this massive program (see this article from earlier this year as an example). Despite these efforts, the misunderstandings remain pervasive,…
More Commentary on the Inadequacy of Social Security’s COLA Calculation
Financial Planning’s Paola Peralta, in a post on https://bic.financial-planning.com, offers additional commentary on how seniors fall behind in the inflation race with a 1.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Citing health care premium increases of 5.6% as an example, Ms. Peralta notes, “Expenses for…
Retirement Savings: Doing the Math
Just about daily, we see articles lamenting the statistics indicating that Americans are not financially prepared for retirement and, worse, aren’t doing much about it. Savings rates seem to be much lower than they should be to build an adequate…
FICA Tax Limit for 2020 Also Announced
Although much of the hoopla and teeth-gnashing this week related to the 1.6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security beneficiaries (and specifically it’s drop-off from 2019’s 2.8% increase), the Social Security Administration also announced the wage base limit for 2020.…
The “Missing Trust Fund” Issue
Referring to “a policy decision in the late 1930s to pay benefits far in excess of contributions for the early cohorts of workers,” an article posted on FEDweek discusses ways to compensate for this policy decision and its impact on the…
Planning on Working Forever? You’re Not Alone
Northwestern Mutual’s 2019 Planning & Progress study reports that almost a quarter of Americans have accumulated less than $5000 toward their eventual retirement, and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research has determined via polling that one-in-four Americans do not…
Another Article on the Retirement Savings Dilemma
While we’re on the theme of insufficient retirement savings (see today’s Headline article), here’s another post from The Motley Fool on the subject, this one by Maurie Backman. Ms. Backman focuses in her post on millennials and what appears to be…
Opinion: Trump’s Medicare Executive Order has Clear Positives
Robert Graboyes, a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, offers opinions in a insidesources.com post on the positive aspects of President Trump’s October 3 Executive Order, suggesting that “there’s quite a bit to like among…
SSA Urged to Adopt GAO Recommendations on Nursing Home Oversight
In a statement issued jointly with Rep. John Larson (D-CT), U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) called for prompt adoption of recommendations developed by the Government Accountability Office regarding nursing home management of resident Social Security benefits. The recommendations, published in a…