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Social Security serves as a lifeline for the millions of seniors who rely on it to pay the bills. If you're eager to make the most of your benefits, all the while avoiding unwanted surprises at present, here are a few key mistakes you'll want to steer clear of next year. 1. Not knowing your full retirement age Though your Social Security benefits are calculated based on your lifetime earnings, the age at which you first file for them can cause that number to change. If you want to avoid losing out on benefits, you'll need to wait until you...

I'm pretty sure most of you will find things here to like and things here to truly hate. Border Security 1. Allow Army and Marine personnel to take leave of absences of up to 52 weeks duration, with military command approval, to join the Border Patrol and assist in its operations, with a $800/week Border Patrol salary and their military pay and benefit package. 2. Allow the Director of Homeland Security to specifically designate border security areas as shoot on sight/fire as appropriate zones. 3. Denounce [get out from under] the “Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees”....

A former Chicago police commander who earned praise for overseeing big reductions in violence in one of the city’s most historically dangerous districts has been charged with stealing more than $360,000 in Social Security funds in a scheme lasting more than 23 years. A one-page criminal information filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court accused Kenneth Johnson of bilking the Social Security Administration out of $363,064 from about June 1994 to November 2017. Although the charge does not contain any more details, sources with knowledge of the investigation told the Chicago Tribune that Johnson is accused of stealing benefits intended for...

Social Security beneficiaries snared in the largest disability scam in U.S. history won a reprieve last week when the government said it will put off decisions on revoking their benefits until the new year. The reversal by the Social Security Administration comes after the federal government finally took possession of and named receivers for thousands of case files from Eric C. Conn, the lawyer who orchestrated the disability-fraud ring. The files, which had been sitting in Conn’s law office for years, contain evidence that might help the beneficiaries prove they were entitled to benefits the government is now trying to...

At a recent panel on modernizing Social Security numbers, Candace Worley, vice president and chief technical strategist for cybersecurity firm McAfee, laid out the core problem with the national identity system that has been in place since 1936. “You can’t have 80 percent of your numbers compromised and continue to consider it a secure form of identity,” Worley said. Social Security Numbers, or SSNs, remain an integral part of how Americans and U.S. residents are identified for everything from opening bank accounts and applying for loans to enrolling in Medicare and filing taxes. But a series of major data breaches...

There's a meme floating around that says all dems voted no on the increase to SS. That is apparently not true but I wanted to see if anyone here can shed light on previous votes that reflect that or any other clarity.

More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.1 According to a report released this year by the Congressional Budget Office, only the top two income quintiles in the United States pay more in taxes than they receive in government transfers. Not surprisingly, the lowest income quintiles receive far more in transfers than they pay in taxes:

In just two weeks, Americans will flock to the polls to cast their votes in the mid-term elections where all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs. The people we elect on Nov. 6 will make policy decisions that will shape the future of our country for years to come.  As a federal employee, it’s your chance to make your voice heard and hold politicians accountable. Besides Social Security, health care, voting rights, and other important issues, your entire livelihood is on the line. It’s not about...

IMPORTANT: This information should not be downloaded using government equipment, read during duty time or sent to others using government equipment, because it suggests action to be taken in support of or against legislation. Do not use your government email address or government phone in contacting your Member of Congress.Each week, AFGE browses the World Wide Web for stories that matter to AFGE members. Here are the five stories you shouldn’t miss this week:Trump Demands 5 Percent Spending Cuts from Every Cabinet Agency President Trump on Wednesday ordered Cabinet secretaries to develop a plan to cut 5 percent of their agencies’ budgets,...

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...