Social Security
Calculate Your Social Security Benefit
In this comprehensive overview piece, Eric Reed of theStreet.com takes readers through who is eligible for Social Security and how one calculates benefits. The starting point is meeting three basic criteria: must be older than 62, must have enough eligibility…
Highest Benefit Goes to Those Who Wait– Until 70
If you can do it, the evidence is clear about achieving the absolute highest Social Security benefit to which one is entitled. That would be age 70. Generally speaking, if one is in good health, is the higher earner between…
A “Real” Raise in the Works for Most Social Security Recipients in 2019
With all important cost of living adjustment (COLA) for 2019 due to be announced for Social Security recipients on October 11th, many are wondering if they will actually see their monthly benefit payment go up after Medicare premiums are taken into…
Modernizing Social Security benefits
Mary Beth Franklin, writing in InvestmentNews, highlights the looming insolvency date of 2034 for Social Security that is so well noted elsewhere. She notes so little has changed over the years from the original law in 1935. Franklin discusses some of…
Enjoy retirement. Maximize income. Here’s how.
Lloyd Carroll, a certified public accountant and professor of accounting, guides seniors through the retirement years on a variety of topics in this piece which is also in the Fall 2018 Senior Living Guide. He discusses Social Security benefits, 401k…
Social Security and Age 62: Three Things to Know
It is literally one of the most important decisions one can make in retirement, and perhaps even in one’s lifetime– when to take Social Security benefits. Imagine realizing years after electing to receive a monthly Social Security payment for life at age…
COLAs – Do they really “keep up” with actual inflation?
Paul Solman’s brief piece here in Making Sense examines whether annual Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLAs) actually keep up with “real” inflation? The shortest answer is this– not entirely. This year’s COLA is predicted to be higher than most from the past…
Changes in the law in 1983 mean Americans are retiring a bit later
This Bloomberg article by Peter Orszag notes that one of the effects of the 1983 law that made significant changes in Social Security is that Americans are now retiring and taking their benefits later. This contrasts with other anecdotal evidence from the Great…
Clamping Down on Social Security Fraud – What YOU can do
Social Security fraud is such a problem that the Social Security Administration along with its Office of the Inspector General announced last week that it will be opening three new units to investigate and prevent fraud specifically related to the…
Social Security Trustees – who is overseeing this important program?
This year’s Social Security and Medicare reports found both programs in deteriorating health. The insolvency date for Medicare is 2026 and 2034 for Social Security. But in 2018, for the first time in 36 years, Social Security’s expenditures will exceed its annual income,…