Social Security
How Taxes Eat Away at Your Social Security Benefits
“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” This enduring statement was penned by Benjamin Franklin in 1789, and rings true…
The Links Between Saving and Early Retirement
While retiring early seems to be a growing trend, it’s important to keep in mind the fact that the longer you need to fund those retirement years, the larger nest egg you’ll need to amass. And in addition, the lesser…
The Impact of Using Social Security as a Means to Fund Family Leave
Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s several weeks ago floated an idea to enable workers to take two months of family leave and fund it via Social Security, calling it a “budget neutral” proposal. In response, the nonpartisan Urban Institute conducted a study that gauges…
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…