I was recently asked a question by a friend whose grandchildren’s ages are similar to mine. He asked me to name two things they might encounter in the world after he and I were long gone. What two things would make it hard for them to live the lives we hope for them. To which …
Continue reading What Kind of World Will Our Grandchildren Be Tasked With Running?
A sub-title for this blog post might be: Mutual Funds? Annuities? ETFs? Or what? My not so clever answer is “It depends…”. To which you will ask “on what?”. Here’s a list to start with: What types of investments have you been successful with? What is your level of fear that you’ll run out of …
Chances are you are already thinking about Social Security if you were born in 1960 or earlier. You are also aware of articles all over internet about when it’s best to sign up and start taking your retirement benefits. As someone who has taught workshops about Social Security for years, I can tell you that …
Continue reading A Few Reasons to File for Social Security at Full Retirement Age
We've all probably read that most people file and start taking Social Security at age 62. We’ve also read that it’s a good idea to claim at 62. And for every message that it’s a good idea, there’s another saying it’s a bad idea. I identify four or five ideas here to help you define …
Continue reading What does it cost to file early for Social Security benefits?
In days past, if you were fortunate, your full time job included what is known as a defined benefit pension plan. Your ‘benefit’ was determined, or defined, by how long you worked for that employer, your age when you retired, and how much you were making when you retired. That last element might have been …
Continue reading Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Retirement
My Comments: 45 million people is a lot of potential voters. That’s the number of American receiving retirement benefits every month. As 2035 gets closer and it becomes obvious changes have to be made by Congress to maintain Social Security, how many of those potential voters are going to elect someone willing to let Social …
Continue reading High Income Inequality Hurts Social Security’s Finances
Can you believe it??? Capitalism and socialism working together? Whoever caused that to happen should be voted out of office… What were those bas**rds thinking? Actually, there are more than 60 million Americans today who rely on monthly checks from the Social Security Administration. And believe it or not, there is a damn good website. …
Continue reading Why You Should Create a My Social Security Account
My Comments: Social Security has become a critical financial component in the lives of millions of retired people. If you’re not there yet, you must learn the basics or live with the regret. I think of age 50 as a critical turning point for any adult who thinks they might retire some day. From this …
Continue reading 7 of 10 Adults Over Age 50 Get This Wrong About Social Security
My Comments: This problem is not going to get fixed any time soon. And not in time for most of the baby boomers looking at retirement in the next few years. Alternative solutions will have to appear if society is unwilling to find ways to help the elderly survive, if not thrive. If you are …
Continue reading This May be Why Americans Are So Bad at Saving for Retirement
My Comments: Most articles about retirement focus on money. Or how to avoid not having any. For millions of Americans, that’s the number one fear as the years roll by. What’s described here is both tragic in one sense and perhaps avoidable in another. And for each, there’s an underlying message to be learned by …
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