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“Just hang up” on Medicare card scammers
Here we go again. It seems like scammers and cyber-criminals will exploit every possible opportunity to get your personal information to use for their nefarious purposes. The latest con is perpetrated via a telephone call from someone pretending to be from…
Misunderstandings about the Social Security program
An uncomfortably huge portion of American seniors simply don’t understand how the Social Security program works, which means that they could very well end up losing a considerable amount of the benefits available to them. Fully two-thirds of future retirees…
Planning for your “golden years”: The key elements to your retirement comfort
Although specifically targeted to Federal employees, this FedSmith.com article by Ian Smith provides an excellent model for all future Social Security beneficiaries by highlighting how a “three legged stool” approach – that is, pension, Social Security, and savings – will…
Options available for a couple claiming Social Security
In his regular column appearing at Arizona’s Tucson.com, retired Social Security employee Tom Margenau handles a question from a couple who are both 66 and looking to chose the right path forward, considering that the wife was a homemaker her…
Will your Social Security be as much as you think?
Expectations form a large part of retirement planning, and how your Social Security benefit fits into the overall plan for your golden years is worthy of careful consideration. Interestingly, a sizable percentage of retirees originally believed that their Social Security benefit…
High earners beware: You can’t live on just Social Security in retirement
At its inception, Social Security was never intended to be the sole source of income for people in retirement, and beneficiaries today will find that their benefit check provides, at most, only about 40% of what they need to live.…
Thoughts on Social Security as an “investment”
While it’s certainly not an “investment” in the traditional sense, viewing Social Security through the lens of a financial planner and comparing those “returns” to more traditional investment vehicles affords one a better understanding of the true value of this…
College students concerned about Social Security’s solvency
In a somewhat refreshing departure from much of what the main stream media portrays as students’ concerns these days, one non-partisan organization known as “Free the Facts” recently presented students at Villanova University with a treatise on Social Security’s financial woes,…
You’ll need more than just Social Security to retire comfortably
This isn’t exactly breaking news, but if you’re planning on Social Security being your sole source of retirement income you’re in for a very unpleasant surprise. At the very most, Social Security will make up only about 40% of what you’ll…
Many have unrealistic hopes about Social Security
More than half of future Social Security beneficiaries, and more than 40% of current beneficiaries, have or had an overly optimistic view of how Social Security will fit into their overall retirement plans. This information comes from a recent survey…