Free Republic

Lately I’ve been losing track of how old everyone is. Friends, co-workers and family members are resisting middle age with vigorous exercise, careful diets and regular doctor visits. Even when 50-year-olds look like they’re 50, they often dress or party as if they’re still in their twenties. Our capacity to fetishize youth never ceases to amaze. But while older Americans definitely want to look like younger folks, they certainly don’t want their finances. That’s because the wealth gap between generations keeps widening, and their children’s future is beginning to look ugly. Just two years ago, the median American born in...

An FBI agent who quit his top position over the bureau’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is heading to Congress to testify. John Giacalone, who led the Clinton investigation for the first seven months, will reportedly expose former President Barack Obama and fired FBI Director James Comey for corruptly helping Clinton. There’s a massive media blackout on this because Giacalone is expected to testify that top brass at the FBI rigged the investigative process so that Clinton could skirt charges for clear violations of the law. Exposing Comey also shines a big light on Obama, who many believe...

Retirement Choices: You can retire to Phoenix, Arizona where… 1. You are willing to park three blocks away from your house because you found shade. 2. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl. 3. You can drive for four hours in one direction and never leave town. 4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food. 5. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door at 500 degrees. 6. The four seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING...

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks suggested in a radio interview that Republicans are retiring en masse because of assassination fears. . . . . But Brooks said while there were multiple factors that contributed to a slew of Republicans leaving the House, he suggested fears of violence was a major one. “One of the things that’s concerning me is the assassination risk may become a factor,” he said. . . . . “Notice a trend here?” he said. “I have a congressman who is a friend here who has a three-year old daughter whose daughter was threatened with murder.” He also...

Newbie retirees may need to lower their expectations when it comes to their Social Security checks. According to a new survey released by the National Retirement Institute, more than a quarter (27%) of new retirees say their monthly checks are less than they expected. What’s more, nearly two in three of soon-to-be retirees (63%) admit that they are not confident in their overall knowledge of how Social Security works. That number is alarming because nearly one in four (26%) future retirees believe they can live comfortably on Social Security alone. “It’s problematic that so many people are planning to rely...

Do you think saving for retirement is just too tough? Think again. The number of people with 401(k) balances of at least $1 million hit a record 150,000 at the end of 2017 in plans run by Fidelity Investments. Likewise, the number of Fidelity-run IRAs with retirement savings balances of $1 million or more hit a record 152,000. And if $1 million seems out of reach for you — at least for now — don't worry, because those million-dollar balances were part of a broader pattern of retirement savings balances overall growing to record highs. Your retirement savings balances can...

Speaker Paul D. Ryan announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in November, ending a brief stint atop the House and signaling the peril that the Republican majority faces in the midterm elections.

Wow. Just wow.

The longtime head of public affairs at the FBI -- who was a confidant of former director James Comey -- is planning to retire, Fox News has learned. A notice went out this week for a retirement get-together for Michael Kortan scheduled for Feb. 15. Since 2009, Kortan has served as assistant director for public affairs, an influential job that controlled media access. He also served under former director Robert Mueller, now leading the Russia probe. The FBI confirmed to Fox News that Kortan is retiring. It's unclear whether the retirement was long-planned or in any way precipitated by recent...

The Social Security Administration says that one-third of retirees receive nearly all their income from Social Security. The true figure is only around one-third that amount. How much do Americans really rely on Social Security to get by in retirement. You can hear different numbers, some of which are truly scary. Writing for Marketwatch, Alicia Munnell of Boston College and the Center for Retirement Research cites a study that she hopes “will put the statistical debate to rest.” Sadly, I don’t see any rest for the weary on this issue. But looking at one additional study which uses the best...

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a huge part of the Millennial psyche. But while that extends to everything that goes down on social media, this generation doesn’t seem to be worried about missing out on retirement funds. Millennials—or Generation Y—are today’s late teens and twenty-somethings born in the 80s and 90s, and they number some 80 million people in the United States. And because FOMO is the Millennial common denominator, the financial detours are numerous. Thanks to the meteoric rise of social media advertising, Millennials have endless options for spending money, and they account for an estimated $1.3 trillion...

Countless workers dream of retiring early and reaping the benefits that come with it. But many folks don't pursue that objective, either because they're too scared to take the leap or are worried that they're not financially ready. Both are valid lines of thinking, but the problem is that the longer you wait to retire, the longer you'll miss out on the lifestyle you really want. If you've been on the fence about early retirement, here are a few good reasons to take the plunge.1. You've earned it Americans certainly aren't strangers to hard work. Collectively, we tend to forgo...

You probably think of your own home as your largest expense in life. Perhaps your kids, if you think of them as expenses. A recent study, in fact, estimated that buying a house and raising a child cost about the same — $245,300 for the house and $278,300 to raise a child from birth to age 18. How does that compare to the cost of retirement? Quitting work costs three times more, believe it or not. The average retirement in the United States runs $738,400. That feels like a made-up number, as precise as it might appear. Naturally, what you...

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said in a speech last week he believes Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, according to audio of the speech obtained by Politico. “Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,” Heller said in the speech, according to Politico. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.” Heller is facing a tough GOP primary ahead of the 2018 midterms as Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian challenges Heller for the Republican nomination.

At this rate, retirement is more of a fantasy than a reality for many people in this country. About 42 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for when they retire, according to a study by GoBankingRates released Tuesday.

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) on Monday said he will resign from the Senate next month, saying his "health has become an ongoing challenge." "I intend to fulfill my responsibilities and commitments to the people of Mississippi and the Senate through the completion of the 2018 appropriations cycle, after which I will formally retire from the U.S. Senate," Cochran said in a statement. He is set to resign from his seat on April 1, according to his office. Cochran is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His announcement comes as Congress aims to pass a mammoth government funding bill by...

CORONA, Calif.—Roberta Gordon never thought she’d still be alive at age 76. She definitely didn’t think she’d still be working. But every Saturday, she goes down to the local grocery store and hands out samples, earning $50 a day, because she needs the money. “I’m a working woman again,” she told me, in the common room of the senior apartment complex where she now lives, here in California’s Inland Empire. Gordon has worked dozens of odd jobs throughout her life—as a house cleaner, a home health aide, a telemarketer, a librarian, a fundraiser—but at many times in her life, she...

Roberta Gordon never thought she’d still be alive at age 76. She definitely didn’t think she’d still be working. But every Saturday, she goes down to the local grocery store and hands out samples, earning $50 a day, because she needs the money. “I’m a working woman again,” she told me, in the common room of the senior apartment complex where she now lives, here in California’s Inland Empire. Gordon has worked dozens of odd jobs throughout her life—as a house cleaner, a home health aide, a telemarketer, a librarian, a fundraiser—but at many times in her life, she didn’t...

I wish to pay full price. Thank you very much and have a nice day.

When Capt. Tia Morris turned 50, after about three decades in the Los Angeles Police Department, she became eligible to retire with nearly 90% of her salary. But like many cops and firefighters in her position, the decision to keep working was a financial no-brainer, thanks to a program that allowed her to nearly double her pay by keeping her salary while also collecting her pension. A month after Morris entered the program, her husband, a detective, joined too. Their combined income for four years in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan was just shy of $2 million, city payroll records...