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Is anyone paying attention to Social Security?
Molly Dahl, Congressional Budget Office’s Chief of Long-Term Analysis, testified in front of the Senate Budget Committee on the fiscal health of the Social Security Trust funds. “The Social Security trust fund will run out of cash in fiscal year…
Medicare has two trust funds
How are Medicare claims paid? Medicare has two trust funds – Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund -accounts held by the U.S. Treasury. Heather Hobbs explains how Medicare is paid for and who pays…
A working estimate of next year’s COLA
Do you know how the Social Security Administration calculates the annual cost-of-living adjustment? The simplistic version: Based on changes to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of the year, from…
Why you should not rely on working in retirement
According to a new survey by CNBC and SurveyMonkey, over 25 percent of workers intend to work in retirement. However, research has shown that workers “often retire earlier than planned, perhaps due to a layoff or poor health.” Granted, it…
H.R. 3784 Victims of Identity Theft Act
The U.S House of Representatives H.R. 3784, the Improving Social Security’s Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act, was passed unanimously by the Ways and Means Committee. The bill will force the Social Security Administration to streamline its processes for…
Has auto-enrollment in retirement plans worked?
Has auto-enrollment for employees into the company’s retirement plan worked? According to new research, these features helped less than previously thought. Why? “In the real world, looking at how people behave — people leave jobs, cash out their 401(k)s or…
Retirement is evolving
Many people still hold the traditional idea that the retirement age in America is 65, but that is no longer the reality for many Americans. Individuals and companies base their decisions on this traditional retirement age concept. Those decisions range…
Are you guilty of napkin math?
Are you guilty of “napkin math” when deciding when to take Social Security? I think we all are, but how reliable is the math? Do you have all the necessary information to make an informed decision? Dana Anspac explains how…
Do you know what COLA means to retirees?
Although the official annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will not be announced until October 10th, the news media is buzzing with estimates on the percentage of the increase. But what does COLA mean to retirees? Adam Levy outlines…
Optimism about reaching your retirement goals
Have Americans turned the corner in their confidence that they will be able to meet their retirement goals? The latest survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute found that 65 percent of workers say they “are on the right track when…