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For 2019, Social Security is getting a 2.8% increase. Medicare Part B is increasing from $134 to $135.50. Other rates for high earners.

Nothing is too low for the left. On Wednesday, Capitol Police arrested 27-year-old Jackson Cosko of DC for "allegedly posted private, identifying information (doxxing) about one or more United States Senators." It's worse than we thought.Accused doxxer 27-year-old Jackson Cosko threatened to leak Republican Senators' children's health information if any witnesses dared go to the authorities about his criminal activities.FOX News reported: According to a sworn statement by Capitol Police Captain Jason Bell, a witness Tuesday saw Cosko at a computer in a senator's office, where he used to work, a day after two other unnamed senators' information had been...

President Donald Trump's top economic advisor has given Democrats fresh ammunition for one of their most used midterm attacks. Asked Monday if the Trump administration would address "entitlement reform," White House chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said it will "probably" look at "larger entitlements" next year. Entitlement reform generally refers to changes or cuts to large government social programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or food stamps.

The Immigration Reform Law Institute said that from 2012 to 2016 there were “39 million instances where names and Social Security numbers on W-2 tax forms did not match the corresponding Social Security records.” The group said that there is a “thriving black market” used by illegal immigrants to get Social Security numbers needed to get a job. Their report draws attention to a move by former President Obama to stop sending so-called “no match” letters to employers notifying them that numbers used by employees on the wage forms do not match their identity. The change followed the president’s decision...

"The unemployment rate held near a generational low of 3.9 percent," CNBC reported today. Wait. That cannot be. That was not what Hillary said would happen, and as everyone knows, she is the Smartest Woman in the World. She is never wrong. "Hillary Clinton says Trump's economic policies will trigger another recession," The Guardian reported on June 17, 2016. The experts had told her so. The story said, "To support her claims, Clinton seized on a report released on Monday by Moody’s Analytics that suggested Trump’s economic policies, if enacted, would trigger a 'lengthy recession'' and lead to the loss...

Social Security is running out of money. You may not believe that, but it's a fact. That FICA money taken from your paycheck was not saved for you in a "trust fund." Politicians misled us. They spent every penny the moment it came in. This started as soon as they created Social Security. They assumed that FICA payments from young workers would cover the cost of sending checks to older people. After all, at the time, most Americans died before they reached 65. Now, however, people keep living longer. There just aren't enough young people to cover my Social Security...

Late last summer, and with great fanfare, Xcel Energy announced its proposal to close the Comanche I & II power units in Pueblo a decade ahead of schedule. They offered as replacement the euphemistically titled “Colorado Energy Plan” , a massive $2.5 billion fuel-switching scheme to move its Colorado customers away from baseload, reliable hydrocarbons in favor of intermittent renewables. ... the Minneapolis-based monopoly utility will force captive ratepayers to cough up at least another $287 million. That’s on top of the modeling errors we already found in their accounting, and Xcel acknowledged. In other words, ratepayers will pay higher...

The maximum monthly Social Security benefit for a person retiring in 2018, at their full retirement age, is $2,788 per month , or $33,456 per year. To achieve this benefit, you must have had the maximum taxable earning for a whopping 35 years. It is for this reason, that most people’s benefits will be far less. Forget this number if you plan to retire ahead of your full retirement age. Do you think you could live off $2,788 per month? Before you think about that, it’s important to note that the average check for 2018 is just $1,404 per month....

Legislation that would dramatically increase an important contribution limit just cleared a major hurdle. The House of Representatives recently passed two pieces of legislation that would make significant changes to health savings accounts (HSAs), including a massive increase in the amount of tax-deferred contributions that could be made to them. These changes could not only allow Americans to get more of a tax deduction for their healthcare expenditures, but they could also help participants build their retirement nest eggs at a faster rate. Here's a rundown of what the new HSA contribution limit could be, why it matters for retirement...

It's not too late to increase your take-home from America's most important social program. There's a really good chance you'll be reliant on Social Security when you retire. According to data from the Social Security Administration, 62% of today's aged beneficiaries lean on the program to provide at least half of their monthly income. Of these folks, 34% rely on Social Security for virtually all of their income (90% to 100%). As for future retirees, national pollster Gallup found a strong expected reliance in an April 2018 survey. When polling nonretirees, Gallup observed that 30% expect Social Security to be...

Social Security benefits can be claimed at any point after a recipient turns age 62, and most Americans take their Social Security as soon as they can. Claiming benefits early can be smart, but it can pay off to wait. If you're deciding when to start receiving Social Security, here's what to consider. Estimate your expenses Retirement usually means a big drop in income, and if you don't have a solid grasp on what your spending is going to look like in retirement, then you won't be able to make the best decision on when to claim. Depending on who...

I'm at that age where I'm trying to determine whether or not to take social security a year early or wait until I turn 66. To that end, I called social security and asked them what my benefit will be at 65. They told me. I informed them I'm going to keep working and make far more than the $45k I'm allowed without penalty next year. The social security benefits will go directly to the savings account. I don't need it to live on. My question was, since I'll get no check for the last 3 months of this year...

A really big problem of the Social Security system is the low rate of return the system gets on contributions, around 2% now. The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates during recessions, which means the Social Security system gets low rates of returns for long periods of time. What I propose is a number of ways the Social Security system could tap the investment markets. Participation would be through state-managed retirement funds that each state may choose to let its residents invest in. These are generally well-managed and have decades of investing experience. The percentage amount invested would partially be a...

It would also steer Social Security towards the old-fashioned way of children helping their parents in their old age. I would add three years to each way to get standard Social Security payouts, i.e. full standard benefits would be payable at 70 instead of 67. Instead, for the three years, (1) the last year, 69, would be 50% of the SE/FICA taxes paid for the third & fourth best calendar years by the best SS contributing natural child (and its employer(s)) of the SS recipient, prior to age 55 of the recipient, (2) the penultimate year, 68, would be 50%...

Summary The 2018 "official" U.S. debt figure of $34 trillion is 120% of GDP and projected to double as a percent of GDP within the next 20 years. It's big.If we add "off-the-books" net obligations like Social Security and Medicare, our all-in debt, or so-called "fiscal gap", rises to $110 trillion, or 390% of GDP. It's scary.Raising taxes and reducing benefits won't restore solvency. Something is going to break, and it won't be pretty. We're broke and no one seems to care. We're all aware that this country owes a lot of money, but no one cares because we're leading...

If you read the latest Social Security Trustees Report, you're aware that the program's combined trust funds are expected to run dry in 2034. And clearly, that's not great news. But before you start panicking about your benefits, it's important that you understand the implications of those trust funds running out.Social Security won't go broke The most important thing you should know about Social Security's trust funds is that they're not the program's primary source of funding. Rather, the bulk of the revenue that Social Security takes in comes from payroll taxes. Now for the first time in multiple decades,...

Americans are reaching retirement age in worse financial shape than the prior generation, for the first time since Harry Truman was president. This cohort should be on the cusp of their golden years. Instead, their median incomes including Social Security and retirement-fund receipts haven’t risen in years, after having increased steadily from the 1950s. They have high average debt, are often paying off children’s educations and are dipping into savings to care for aging parents. Their paltry 401(k) retirement funds will bring in a median income of under $8,000 a year for a household of two. In total, more than...

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...

Social Security is like the classic children's tale, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." So many warnings have been made, no one listens anymore. Well guess what? The wolf's now at the door. Are you listening now? For the first time in 36 years, Social Security will take money out of its "trust fund" — an accounting fiction that would get you jailed for fraud in the private sector — to pay retirees. The truth is, Social Security is for all intents and purposes bankrupt. Since 2010, Social Security has been spending more than it took in, making up the difference...

Social Security will spend more than it collects this year, the program’s trustees said Tuesday, marking the first time in more than 35 years that it will run an annual deficit as it slides toward insolvency by 2034. Medicare’s main trust fund is in even worse shape, scheduled to hit insolvency in 2026 — three years earlier than last year’s estimate, the trustees said. The twin warnings add even more pressure to a budget already strained by last year’s tax cuts and this year’s deal to boost spending on defense and basic domestic needs, leaving few bright spots in the...