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Access Social Security’s Educator Tool Kit
(Source: Social Security Administration) With so many students gone for the summer, teachers may now have time to prepare a different kind of lesson plan. Help students prepare a better future for themselves with practical knowledge about financial planning. There’s…
Scams, scams, and more scams…You need to be Advised!
It seems there’s a never ending series of frauds being perpetrated across the country these days, and Social Security beneficiaries are often targeted in these situations. Just today, for example, the news streams brought attention to two such scams in progress, one…
Spousal benefits — it requires thought and a good conversation
Diane Pearson, a wealth advisor at Legend Financial Advisors in Pittsburgh stresses the importance of being diligent when it comes to spousal benefits. Spouses are generally entitled to an amount equal to half of the higher earner’s benefits. Once the…
Social Security for Family Leave? It’s Controversial.
Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill that would allow parents to cash in a portion of their future Social Security benefits early to finance family leave. The proposal is to give new parents the option to take at least two months…
Some seniors not signing up for Social Security benefits at all
In this Social Security and You column, Tom Margineau addresses three issues from readers. Two wrote in that they never applied for Social Security benefits, despite one being age 73 and the other 85, mainly because they felt they did not…
Who is the typical Social Security beneficiary?
Social Security provides benefits to 62 million Americans each month. But who are they? Sean Williams of The Motley Fool looks at three metrics to get to who the “average” or “typical” recipient is. In short, it is a 70-year old retired…
Your birthday and Social Security–not necessarily one in the same
When it comes to Social Security, even one’s birthday is not as straightforward as one would think. As Jim Blankenship of Kiplinger’s notes, “bureaucracy can add an interesting twist to such a simple concept.” To understand all the rules before making benefit decisions, particularly…
Economic boom not enough to solve Social Security’s problems
Those who like economic forecasting, numbers, and aggregate data will enjoy this piece in The Motley Fool. While acknowledging Social Security’s troubles and the looming insolvency by 2034, Sean Williams asks if it could be that the economic boom and 4.1% GDP…
Spouses need to coordinate to maximize benefits
Among Lee Conrad’s round-up of recent retirement news he argues that spouses should coordinate their Social Security claiming strategies to maximize the amount of retirement benefits they will receive. This article first appeared in Kiplinger, A report shows that 82% of surviving spouses could have collected a…
Means-testing a viable solution to Social Security and Medicare’s funding problems
This opinion piece notes the problems associated with funding Social Security and Medicare for the long term. Congress chose not to act when the problems were noted years ago and continues not to act. The annual Trustees reports for each…