Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want to shore up Social Security by raising the top rate of income tax by a third, and the top rate of capital-gains tax by more than a half. The Democratic senator...
Tag: socialsecurity
‘I am trying to feverishly save for retirement’: My fiancé pays $1,700 a month to the IRS and owes student debt. We’re both 57. Should I marry him for his Social Security and pension?
Dear Quentin, My fiancé and I met at age 42 after being recently divorced. We have (now-grown) children from our previous marriages, but none together. We keep our finances separate. Neither one of us...
‘I can no longer be an executive at a high level’: Workers with disabilities, including long COVID, are finding their place as companies become more flexible
Dana Pollard started a new job at the end of 2022, after spending three years recovering from a 2019 stroke. Pollard, 56, lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife. After the stroke, he could not reco...
Why ‘work longer’ isn’t great retirement advice
Financial planners typically advise you to work for as long as you can, so you can juice up your retirement savings while holding out for a fatter Social Security check. But such advice presumes that ...
This U.S. pension plan faces a bigger crisis than the U.K.’s
Could the U.S. pensions behemoth be hit by the kind of crisis that just swept across the U. K.? Don’t bet on it, says ratings agency Fitch. This kind of turmoil is “unlikely,” it says. We can only add...
Social Security’s ‘taxable maximum’ inches higher—but will it make a dent in the trust fund?
Social Security’s payroll tax cap was raised nearly 9% for 2023, meaning more income will face Social Security taxes next year, but the rise is unlikely to affect the solvency of the trusts underpinni...
Here’s how much your Social Security check is likely to go up next year
Good news — sort of. If you’re retired or just about to retire, next year’s Social Security checks are likely to see one of the biggest bumps on record as a result of surging consumer prices. The aver...
Here’s how much the average working boomer has saved for retirement
Three news items that say a lot about the retirement crisis facing Americans and what we can do about it—if we want to. The first is a survey of 1,000 working Americans conducted recently showing much...
Our retirement system hurts the middle class
America has a vast and elaborate system of public policies supposedly designed to help us all save for retirement and avoid the catastrophe of a penurious and poverty-stricken old age. But does this s...
These inflation protection funds are on sale
Actual panic about inflation seems to be spiraling upward. But investments that will try to protect us from the ravages of inflation seem to be getting cheaper. Weird, right? Only on Wall Street. But ...
You could be getting the wrong Social Security benefit check – here’s how to fix it
Want to get the most out of your Social Security retirement benefits? Make sure your work history and statements are correct. Retirement Tip of the Week: Look over your Social Security statements to ...
Opinion: Social Security blows it again
Social Security had another disastrous financial year in 2022 even as it hurtles toward insolvency. America’s main pension plan saw its investments badly trail the booming markets, competitors, and ev...
Opinion: At last — somebody is trying to ‘save’ Social Security
Rude Europeans used to tell stories, possibly apocryphal, about American tourists who would ask for directions to a famous landmark while actually standing right in front of it. The Parisian would loo...