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An honest mistake with potentially huge consequences
What would you do if your opened your mail one day and found an application for Social Security benefits, complete with detailed personal information, that belonged to another person? And how would you feel when you realized that if you received…
Claiming Social Security early, and the risk of late-life poverty
Age 62 – the minimum age for claiming Social Security – is clearly the most popular age at which people claim their Social Security benefits. But by claiming at that early age, they are taking a significant cut in what…
Is it smart to withdraw from savings to delay claiming Social Security?
According to this Forbes article by John Wasik, withdrawing from your retirement savings in order to delay claiming to get a bigger Social Security benefit creates what he calls “opportunity risk”, a phenomenon of losing money that might otherwise be reinvested to…
Original Medicare can be costly
Yes, Medicare premiums are usually considerably lower than those for non-Medicare healthcare plans, especially with Part A being free to most people. But the costs of original Medicare over and above the premiums can mean a lot of extra out-of-pocket expense to…
Debating when to take Social Security
In this blog by Vanguard’s Senior Wealth Planner Jackie Youseff, the author jumps right into the ongoing debate about when is the best time to claim your Social Security benefit. But in stating her informed opinion, she lays out a compelling case…
Plan to work for the rest of your life? You still need a nest egg
It’s not at all surprising, what with longevity steadily increasing, that more and more people plan to work well past the “normal” retirement age, often into their 70’s. Some seniors even plan to work for the rest of their lives.…
Beware of phone scams trying to steal your Social Security information
In a chilling reminder of how low scammers will stoop to steal your identity, a senior citizen in Kentucky received a “robo-call” purporting to be from Social Security, which claimed his benefits were about to be suspended and asking him to…
Social Security: Keeping seniors out of poverty
There’s little doubt that Social Security is the most important program in the country for keeping America’s senior citizens from a life of poverty. According to a recent Gallup survey, 90% of seniors depend on Social Security as an important part…
Social Security Dependence Climbs
With 90% of America’s seniors reporting at least some level of dependence on Social Security for retirement living, The Motley Fool’s Dan Caplinger points out the importance of “today’s working-age Americans to budget wisely, save what they can, invest for…
Getting a Handle on Disability Terminology
Kiplinger contributor Michael Stein, in a post on www.kiplinger.com, takes a look at the overall area of disability, providing clarification on the nuances associated with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI, Long-Term Disability, and Worker’s Compensation. Stein’s post provides a definition of each, along…