By Liz Weston; Reuters ~ Aug 25, 2015
LOS ANGELES – Marilyn Murphy of Torrance, California, contacted her local Social Security office this past spring to find out if spousal benefits based on her first husband’s work record might be worth more than the retirement benefit she already receives.
Murphy was surprised to hear that she could not qualify for spousal benefits from her first marriage because she remarried before age 60. The second marriage also ended in divorce.
By Brenton Smith; The Hill ~ Aug 24, 2015
One of the most pervasive myths in the debate about Social Security promotes the role of the program in the alleviation of poverty.
Common sense should tell us that something is amiss with this endearing myth. Social Security does not pay a penny of benefit based on need. The system does not even have visibility into need. So at best any benefit that goes to a poor person is more a matter of luck than systemic policy.
By Brendan Williams; The Hill ~ Aug 24, 2015
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) is justifiably outraged.
Prescription drug prices are soaring, and the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee wants majority Republicans to hold hearings. He has pointed to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll showing 72 percent believe drug prices are unreasonable.
By Kenn Tacchino; MarketWatch ~ Aug 22, 2015
A while back I wrote that arguably the most important financial-planning decision you’ll ever make is deciding if you can afford to retire. In that column, we explored how to determine if you have enough assets to take the plunge — to cross over from accumulating assets to depending on those assets to pay your monthly bills throughout retirement. The flip side of this monumental decision, and financial planning concern “1A”, is choosing the methodology by which you will create a stream of income from a pool of assets.
By Mary Beth Franklin; InvestmentNews ~ Aug 19, 2015
Many financial advisers rely on income replacement ratios to estimate the annual income needed to maintain a desired lifestyle in retirement. Although a general inflation assumption of between 2.5% and 3% may be appropriate for most future expenses, it could fall far short of actual health care expenses and derail the overall retirement income plan in the process.
By Jennie L. Phipps; Bankrate ~ Aug 19, 2015
Your Medicare costs will rise a lot or not at all in 2016.
Don’t panic. For about 70% of Medicare participants, Part B will stay the same as it has been for the last couple of years: $104.90. That’s because of the relationship between Social Security and Medicare. Inflation hasn’t been high enough to trigger a Social Security cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for 2016, according to predictions last month by Social Security’s trustees.
WASHINGTON – Under a decades-old program with the government, telecom giant AT&T in 2003 led the way on a new collection capability that the National Security Agency said amounted to a “‘live’ presence on the global net” and would forward 400 billion Internet metadata records in one of its first months of operation, The New York Times reported.
The Fairview program was forwarding more than 1 million emails a day to the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, the newspaper reported. Meanwhile, the separate Stormbrew program, linked to Verizon and the former company MCI, was still gearing up to use the new technology, which appeared to process foreign-to-foreign traffic.
From Tax Foundation; Forbes ~ Aug 13, 2015
Social Security is Turning 80
August 14th marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935. The program has done much to alleviate poverty among the elderly. Unfortunately, the system itself is showing its age. The Old Age and Survivors Insurance program (OASI, retirement benefits) is now running cash deficits as the baby boomers are retiring.
By Daniel White; TIME ~ Aug 13, 2015
Poll released for the 80th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law
More than half of all Americans who are still working doubt they will ever receive Social Security benefits, according to a new poll.
From Ted Jenkin; The Wall Street Journal ~ Aug 13, 2015
TED JENKIN: One of the more difficult questions I get from both younger and older people alike is whether or not it is a good idea to pay off their mortgage.
With interest rates still hovering around all-time lows, many people are still in the process of refinancing the mortgage on their existing homes or buying a new one. If your interest rate is in the 3% to 4% range, you may be wondering if you should take your excess monthly discretionary income to pay down your home note faster. Or would it be a better idea to take that cash and invest it for the long term? This decision has both financial and emotional ramifications.