My wife and I turned 65 last year, and applied and received Medicare. She chose to receive her Social Security benefits now. I myself am still working. I was thinking to get Social Security at 66 ½, w...
Tag: Welfare/Social Services
Opinion: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s bold tax hike to shore up Social Security
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...
Want to be a homeowner in 2023 — or continue to rent and save for a down payment? Read this first.
If you’re a renter dreaming of homeownership in 2023, here’s the hard truth: It may be cheaper to remain a tenant, at least for now. Across the 50 largest metropolitan markets in the U.S., renters, wh...
I’m still working at 75: Do I need to take RMDs from my 401(k)?
Dear Fix My Portfolio, I retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2004 and have a yearly pension from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). I also work part time at a big hardware chain and have a...
Scammers are out to get your mortgage money and even your home. Here’s how to fight them off.
We’ve all seen the email scams: “This is a genuie request.” “Your lendar has detected an unpaid sum.” “I’m a prince and I need your help.” Digital fraud has become highly sophisticated and, according ...
These 2 states account for a third of America’s public sector pensions crisis
Step forward, California and Illinois! Your state and local pension funds are so badly funded that you two states, alone, account for about a third of the entire pension fund crisis of the entire coun...
‘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...
Opinion: Opinion: Household wealth falls $13.5 trillion, second worst drop on record
American households lost about $6.8 trillion in wealth over the first three quarters of 2022 as the stock market SPX, -0.73% DJIA, -0.90% COMP, -0.70% shed more than 25% of its value, the Federal ...
This is the No. 1 source of income for millions of older Americans — and that may pose a problem
Just one in four retirees say they have not experienced any kind of shock event in retirement, according to a study from the Society of Actuaries. Getty Images/iStockphoto Where is the 65 and older cr...
Do Democrats have momentum for a second round of boosted child tax-credit payments?
A day after Raphael Warnock held onto his seat in Georgia’s Senate race, giving Democrats a 51-49 edge in the Senate, Democrats are hoping that momentum can quickly turn into a financial boost for par...
I’m 56 and plan to retire at 62. I’ll have both a state retirement plan and Social Security — but I also have a child starting college, which I want to pay for. Do I need professional help?
Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I’m 56 years old and working for a state university, so I will have a state retirement plan. I previously worked full time and contributed to Social Security for 20 ...
Opinion: Opinion: High debts and stagflation will bring mother of all financial crises
NEW YORK (Project Syndicate)— The world economy is lurching toward an unprecedented confluence of economic, financial, and debt crises, following the explosion of deficits, borrowing, and leverage in ...
Opinion: You can’t rely on Social Security to fund your retirement — it’s time to rethink your retirement savings strategy
Following a period of record inflation, Social Security’s latest cost of living adjustment (COLA) means retirees will see the biggest bump to their benefits checks in 40 years. While this move will pr...
Pension problems, caregiver burnout, saying ‘no’ to nursing homes and more retirement news
From MarketWatch Retirement: Here’s why you should be worried about state and local pensions. About 26 million people are relying on state and local pension plans to take care of them in their retire...
Judge Blocks Student Debt Relief Program. What That Means for Navient.
A federal judge from Texas blocked President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program on Thursday. This could be good news for lenders like Navient In August, Biden announced his student loan debt plan...
Here’s why you should be worried about state and local pensions
America, about 26 million people across America are relying on state and local pension plans to take care of them in their retirement years. That figure includes 15 million retired teachers, police of...
Move over Florida — Pennsylvania dominates ‘Best Places to Retire’ rankings
Sure, Florida still has some allure for retirees, but Lancaster, Pa. nabbed the top spot for the best retirement destination amid concerns about housing affordability. According to U.S. News & Wor...
China outnumbers the U.S. for the first time in this ranking of the world’s ‘best’ universities and U.S. economy will likely fall into recession, former Fed official says
Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. China outnumbers the U.S. for the first time in this ranking of the world’s ‘best’ universities Artificial intelligence is among the few fields that b...
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...
Inflation Pushes Social Security COLA to 8.7% in 2023, Highest Increase in Four Decades
Social Security checks will be 8.7% bigger in 2023, the largest cost-of-living adjustment to benefits in four decades, the Social Security Administration said Thursday. The extra funds will provide re...
Americans are souring on the housing market and California is now giving residents up to $1,050 of ‘inflation relief’ — here’s who is eligible
Hi, MarketWatchers. Don’t miss these top stories. September jobs report highlights major shift in white-collar work — as Labor Department plans changes to jobs questionnaire ‘The old question was beco...
Opinion: The Federal Reserve is missing a crucial turning point in its fight against inflation because it believes in flawed data
The Federal Reserve can’t see the probable economic crash that is coming because it’s still looking into the rearview mirror, where it sees nothing but high inflation. The danger arises because the co...
6 in 10 people with credit-card debt say they’ve owed money for at least a year
Nearly half of all credit-card users say they’re carrying debt each month — and 60% of people with credit-card debt have owed money for at least a year, according to a new report from Bankrate’s Credi...
Social Security’s retirement age is 70
An informal survey of staff at the Center for Retirement Research asking “What is the current retirement age for Social Security?” produced a range of responses. About half — mostly the “old hands” —...
Will Social Security Run Out? No, but It Will Hit a Breaking Point. What It Means for You.
Will Bowron doesn’t give much thought to retirement. The 32-year-old from Birmingham, Ala., is busy with his job at his family’s coffee and tea roaster, his wife and young child, and a side career wri...
‘Social Bonds’ Help People. Investors in Them Get Paid.
When Rook Soto lost his law enforcement job in 2010 for health reasons, he had big medical bills and had to take temporary jobs to survive. For a month, he was homeless and lived out of a van. Soto ha...
My $10,000 in student debt is canceled. What should I do now? Save for retirement, invest in the stock market and bonds — or buy a home?
President Joe Biden made a long-awaited announcement in August that individuals earning less than $125,000 a year would have $10,000 in federal student loan repayments forgiven, but that would rise to...
Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan Refunds Borrowers Who Paid During Pause
The few Americans who continued to make student loan payments during a federal pause enacted at the beginning of the pandemic will now be eligible for a refund. On Wednesday, President Biden announced...
Goldman Sachs has run the numbers on student-loan relief. This is its assessment.
The White House on Wednesday finally released its program for student-loan-debt relief, saying it will cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower to households earning as much as $250,000. Read: Biden ...
Biden Forgives Up to $20,000 in Student Loan Debt. What It Means for Nelnet and Navient.
Text size President Joe Biden said he met a pledge to “provide student debt relief.” Getty Images The Biden administration announced Wednesday the cancellation of $10,000 in federal studen...
‘Student-loan socialism’ — Republicans blast Biden’s debt-forgiveness move, as Democrats praise his ‘effective action’
President Joe Biden on Wednesday made his long-awaited announcement on federal student loans, saying his administration plans to cancel $10,000 in debt per borrower for individuals making under $125,0...
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...