During the first Presidential Debate the two candidates were directly asked to address the issue of Social Security. Here is what they said: LEHRER: All right? All right. This is segment three, the economy. Entitlements. First — first answer goes to you, two minutes, Mr. President. Do you see a major difference between the two [...]
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Archive for the 'SS in the News' Category
Social Security Nonsense Watch: Beware the Uninformed Expert
Statistics show that delaying Social Security benefits, as opposed to claiming immediately at 62, is becoming more popular. People realize the impact that a well thought out strategy can have on their bottom line, and they seek guidance from experts on how to implement such a strategy. More and more, people have stepped in to [...]
Nonsense Watch: Misinformation about Social Security is Rampant
A recent AARP survey makes clear that the public is unaware of many important aspects of the Social Security system. There are resources available to help individuals with their Social Security claiming decision, such as our custom reports, but the information deficit is not helped by errors made in news stories intended for public consumption. On [...]
Mitt Romney’s Social Security Proposal
A recent article by Peter Diamond (Nobel Prize 2010) and Peter Orszag (a former director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama administration) once again raises the question of the best way to bring the Social Security system into long-term financial balance. This is an important issue for anyone who will depend [...]
More on the Social Security COLA Adjustment
Calculating the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) with a 3-month snapshot of CPI change can generate COLAs that are unrepresentative of the actual rate of inflation for a year. For example, the 2008 COLA was 5.8%, based on the inflation in the 3rd quarter of 2008, relative to the 3rd quarter of 2007. In contrast [...]
Special Treatment for Spouses?
We talk at length on our website about the strategies available to married persons, and it is implied that those strategies are not available to single persons. There are literally thousands of distinct paths that married persons can take with respect to their Social Security retirement benefits, whereas single persons have only one choice to [...]