Latest News
Key dates in 2019 for pre-retirees and retirees
A few of us make the yearly New Year’s resolution to be better organized or improve how we manage our finances. But where to start? Developing a road map will make things easier and having a calendar with critical dates…
Wealthy Diligence: A website to plan for early retirement
A 20-year old University of Northern Iowa student has a website that may help teach how to save and plan for early retirement. His website called Wealthy Diligence and with his own blog post about investing, retirement planning and money…
Avoiding the difficulties of early retirement
Seems like a great idea, taking early retirement, but it can have its difficulties. Most people find the prospect of early retirement appealing; assuming you have the financial wherewithal and you haven’t been forced to retire. But the general rule…
Don’t fall for this scam!
The Social Security Administration is warning the public to be on the lookout for scammers pretending to be from SSA. So far this year, more than 35,000 people have reported the scam compared to just over 3,000 last year. Read…
Monitoring Your Earnings Can Really Pay Off
(Source – blog.ssa.gov) You work hard for your money. You’re saving and planning for a secure retirement. Now you need to make sure you’re going to get all the money you deserve. Regularly reviewing your Social Security earnings record can…
Tips to boost your Social Security benefits
As the new year approaches, it pays to be strategic. Whether you’re close to retiring or years away from it, the moves you make in the coming year could improve your benefits. The attached article gives three tips you can…
How big will the average Social Security benefit check be next year
As we prepare for the new year, a few changes will be headed to Social Security recipient’s way. Of course, the most notable is the largest increase in year-over-year benefits since 2012. To find out what does this 2.8 percent…
The Double Edged Sword of Taxing Social Security Benefits
Social Security benefits are subject to income tax for middle and upper income taxpayers. But as Liz Weston points out in this piece, when benefits were made taxable in 1983 and then further in 1993, the brackets were never indexed for…
My benefits got cut. Welcome to WEP.
It’s a little known and even less well understood provision that affects a small number of people who worked in some public sector jobs and had at least ten years of employment in the private sector. It’s the Windfall Elimination…
What’s New in 2019 for Social Security?
Tom Margeneau’s comprehensive piece here looks at all the major changes to Social Security for 2019. There are no substantive changes in the law, but there are a number of adjustments due to inflation. In addition to the across the…