Social Security
Tales of the FIRE movement: “Financial Independence, Retire Early”
There’s a cultural shift evolving across the blogger community, and it involves folks putting their dreams of vacating the 9-to-5 world as early as possible into play. In a www.marketwatch.com article by Alessandra Malito, anecdotal accounts of two who have looked beyond…
An Update on Social Security’s Spousal Benefit Provisions
The issue of qualifying for spousal benefits under Social Security can be confusing, given the rules for divorced spouses, the rules for Restricted Applications, and so on. This “Help with My Social Security.com” post on player.fm offers some interpretations that can…
Now is the Perfect Time to Check on Your Retirement List
(Source: Social Security Administration) With every change of season, there’s usually a list of essential items that must be done. If you’re getting your house ready for winter, you are likely getting your furnace serviced and cleaning your gutters among…
Social Security: There’s A Lot More Than Meets the Eye
Social Security is big…and complicated. There are more than 2700 separate rules that govern who gets what, and there are thousands of pages of documentation (called the Social Security Administration Program Operations Manual System (POMS)) in support of these rules. The…
Social Security’s Crisis is Here
With several disquieting comments summarizing the legislative inaction that has marked Social Security’s advance toward insolvency, EconLib contributor David Henderson speculates that the ability to bank on the nearly $3 trillion maintained in the Social Security Trust Funds has enabled a resolution…
Social Security Shows Up Big in Campaign Platforms
Along with health care, the topic of Social Security and the need to preserve it as a senior benefit program occupied a fairly significant place so far in election campaign ads. An article by reporter David Wright, posted on www.cnn.com, itemizes the…
Social Security Misunderstandings (and Just Plain Wrong Answers)
It’s been said that whenever you have a question or a dilemma you need to resolve, there are two readily available sources of advice: the neighbor on your left and the neighbor on your right. Unfortunately, these two sources often differ…
Filing Early? Watch this.
In an informative video that covers just about a minute and a half, USA Today presents an overview of Social Security in terms of how early filing impacts monthly benefits. The video, titled “Your social security check might be less…
Understanding the Social Security Trust Funds
So much is written these days about Social Security’s long-term solvency problem, with this year being a landmark year in the relentless march toward the currently-projected 2034 depletion of Trust Fund reserves. 2018 is the first year in which the…
Social Security COLA Watch – A Six-Year High?
USA Today’s Karl Gelles, in a post on www.usatoday.com, offers COLA watchers some new excitement: The highest cost-of-lving adjustment since 2012 may be on the horizon. It all depends on the August and September, but there’s even the possibility that a 3%…