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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...

Aging population is boosting the costs of Social Security and Medicare as growth projections ease The Social Security program’s costs will exceed its income this year for the first time since 1982, forcing the program to dip into its nearly $3 trillion trust fund to cover benefits. This is three years sooner than expected a year ago, partly due to lower economic growth projections, according to the latest annual report the trustees of Social Security and Medicare released Tuesday. The program’s income comes from tax revenue and interest from its trust fund. The trust fund will be depleted in 2034...

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...

The AK-47. And liberals want to ban it.

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...

Article IV, Section 3 of our Constitution provides that "The Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." A Republican-run state might buy up a few square miles of unoccupied land and sell it and the state sovereignty over it to the federal government. The federal government might then sell it off to a state-authorized private party who promises to create a new republic on it with: 1. limits on taxation/governmental fees/fines/licensing, and 2. no foreign military force, and 3. no governmental...