Scorching heat and drought shriveling up crops in the Midwest and eastern Africa. A continued pandemic. War in Ukraine. Rarely has the world seen such a confluence of disasters, threatening the abilit...
Tag: Welfare/Social Services
Investors are snapping up homes at a furious rate — in some regions they bought up to 20% of houses for sale
First-time homebuyers who struggled to snag a property this past spring might have been competing with deep-pocketed investors. While the share of investor purchases has fallen from its February peak...
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...
Millennials Are Right to Expect Cuts in Social Security. What to Do Right Now.
Text size Millennials need to save more over the course of their careers, according to a new report. Dreamstime Millennials will probably collect less in Social Security than older generations, but a ...
3 markets in which housing is more affordable than its historical average
Here’s where housing is relatively affordable. Getty Images Home prices have skyrocketed in recent years, with CoreLogic revealing in its latest report that home prices grew by 20.9% year over year in...
A Near-Retiree Wants to Maximize His Social Security. Here’s Some Advice.
Noli Cabantug has spent his career going back and forth between the public and private sectors. Now, at age 58, he’s wondering what his retirement income will look like and what he can do over the nex...
Opinion: What does Social Security insolvency mean, and how can it impact your retirement?
In the last several months you may have seen news headlines announcing that the Social Security program will be insolvent by 2033. This could be alarming if you’re planning to retire, but it doesn’t n...
Opinion: There’s a big hole in the Fed’s theory of inflation—incomes are falling at a record 10.9% rate
The most concerning thing about Thursday’s report on U.S. gross domestic product for the first quarter wasn’t that the first line of the first table showed that real GDP fell at a 1.4% annual rate. It...
I have a government job and a small pension. I’m planning to work a few more years. Should I file for Social Security now or wait?
A recent reader email introduced the very common question: Should I file for Social Security now or wait? Here’s the email: I am turning 66 in June, approaching full retirement. I am a federal employe...
Here Are Some Answers to Common Questions on Social Security Disability and Spousal Benefits
Photo illustration by Barron’s Staff; (reference) Dreamstime (4) Text size Have a question about saving for retirement or your personal financial situation? Whatever the question, Barron’s Retir...
I’ve been paying my student loan for 37 years, but now I’m earning $11K a year
How to get out of student loan debt Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I have a student loan from 1984 that I defaulted on. I am 72 years old and have been paying through a deduction in my Supplementa...
Make Estimated Quarterly Tax Payments on Roth Conversions. Or Penalties Will Bite.
Dreamstime Text size Have a question about saving for retirement or your personal financial situation? Whatever the question, Barron’s Retirement can try to help. Email [email protected], and we ...
Keep a Lid on Social Security Taxes and Medicare Costs. Consider Roth Conversions.
If you’ve become a 401(k) millionaire or amassed large sums in other tax-deferred retirement accounts, you can potentially shave your lifetime taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars by converting p...
Is the Housing Market Going to Crash? With Rising Mortgage Rates and Sky-high Home Prices, First-Time Buyers Are Being Locked Out
When Kellie Stofko and her fiancé, Liam McRae, started house hunting last August, it was with the vision of trading their 800-square-foot Atlanta apartment for a roomier home of their own in time for ...
Opinion: Social Security benefits should not be cut
The American Academy of Actuaries — a group of usually sober and sensible people — recently issued a brief making the case for “Raising the Social Security Retirement Age.” Their argument is strai...
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: The Trust Act is not the way to fix Social Security
Last month, I was invited to a forum on “Trust Fund Solutions,” which means Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is still pushing his TRUST Act. One of the bill’s co-sponsors — Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) — also a...
Do I need to file a tax return if most of my income is Social Security?
Recently we received the following email from a reader: I would like to know if I live off my Social Security check and have no other income must I file a federal tax return? I have a yearly income of...
I cosigned student loans for my daughter, but am now disabled. What can I do?
How to get out of student loan debt Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I cosigned on a private student loan for my daughter in 2006. Soon afterwards my health deteriorated, and I was granted disabilit...
U.S. Retirement Funds, Heavy on Stocks, Brace for Losses
Volatile stock markets are eroding the retirement savings of America’s teachers and firefighters after public pension systems ended last year with equity holdings at a 10-year high. Public pension fun...
It’s time to get rid of Social Security’s not-so-hidden tax
End the Social Security double tax Now comes the news that about half of Social Security beneficiaries expect to be taxed on their benefits this year. So reports The Senior Citizens League, a group th...
The Outlook for Housing, Malls, Workspaces, and Other Real Estate
Carly Tripp grew up playing in corn fields in Olney, Md., about 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C. But by the time she graduated high school, five grocery stores had popped up within a one-mile radi...
Retiring early this year? Look through Affordable Care Act plans now before the deadline Saturday
Healthcare is one of the largest expenses in retirement, and one of the biggest risks for people who retire before age 65. Retirement Tip of the Week: Before the open enrollment period ends on Jan. 1...
Public pension hole now $11,000 per U.S. worker
Top state and local pension funds lost $250 billion on the markets during the month of June and are down more than $600 billion for the year, according to a new study. The 100 biggest public sector pe...