Free Republic

The Big Beautiful Bill is making waves, and it's bringing some important changes for retirees—especially when it comes to tax deductions. In this video, I'll break down exactly how this new legislation affects retirement savings, tax breaks, and the financial future of retirees by drawing out the various deductions in context with your income. If you're wondering how the Big Beautiful Bill could impact your taxes, pension plans, or deductions, this video is for you! How the New Tax Law Will Actually Affect Your Tax Bill ($6,000 Senior Deductions, Roth, IRA) | 17:31 The Retirement Nerds | 198K subscribers |...

**SNIP** A study released this week by GOBankingRates calculated the amount of money that a "comfortable" retirement would require without income from Social Security factored in and the associated yearly expenses a retiree would face in each U.S. state. **SNIP** Alabama ($70,492 cost of living per year): $1,409,839 Alaska ($110,457 cost of living per year): $2,209,137 Arizona ($100,281 cost of living per year): $2,005,627 Arkansas ($67,502 cost of living per year): $1,350,045 California ($155,117 cost of living per year): $3,102,333 Colorado ($114,744 cost of living per year): $2,294,882 Connecticut ($105,428 cost of living per year): $2,108,563 Delaware ($94,392 cost of...

Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel — infamously known for pocketing rental income from his Caribbean cottage without disclosing it — has apparently left behind a modest estate, court records show. Rangel, who died May 26 at age 94, had assets worth only $300,000, according to Manhattan Surrogate Court filings. That is far less than his net worth of more than $1.7 million upon his retirement from Congress in 2017, as reported by the watchdog group Open Secrets. The current assets of the once-powerful chair of the House’s Ways and Means Committee were not detailed in court filings. His daughter, Alicia Rangel-Haughton,...

Former President Joe Biden made a rare reentry into the spotlight Thursday to attack President Donald Trump’s landmark legislative victory, posting on X just hours after the “One Big Beautiful Bill” cleared the House. “The Republican budget bill is not only reckless — it’s cruel,” Biden wrote. “It slashes Medicaid and takes away health care from millions of Americans. It closes rural hospitals and cuts food assistance for our veterans and seniors. It jacks up energy bills. And it could trigger deep cuts to Medicare while driving up the deficit by $4 trillion. All of this to give a massive...

We’ve all heard the advice: Wait until you’re 70 to claim Social Security and you’ll get the biggest possible monthly check. Tim F., a retired healthcare worker from Arizona, followed this advice to the letter. But now, at 75, he’s having second thoughts. GOBankingRates spoke with Tim to understand why he wishes he’d claimed his benefits earlier. His insights might just change the way you think about your own retirement plans. Tim thought he was doing everything right. “Everything you read says you should wait until 70 if you can,” he shared. “I guess I thought, well, I can, so...

I never invested in stocks. I've been putting my money in CDs, 4-5%. It just keeps growing without even trying. It's just amazing that I have so much because I didn't plan for it. I have about $750,000 in cash, and my home is worth $600,000. I'm from El Salvador and moved in 1946. My first long-term job was working in a bowling alley in 1958. I didn't go to college. For 17 years, I worked in the bowling industry. ..My next job of 27 years was as a scale technician, which I trained myself to do because I knew...

Warren Buffett shocked an arena full of shareholders on Saturday by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year. Mr Buffett said he will recommend to Berkshire Hathaway’s board that Greg Abel should become chief executive at the end of the year. “I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end,” Mr Buffett said. The sudden announcement comes after the 94-year-old investor had always insisted he had no plans to retire. Many investors have said they believe Mr Abel will do a good job running Berkshire, but...

Key Points Claiming age impacts your spousal benefits, but the rules are different than those for personal retirement benefits. You must work with your spouse to come up with a smart claiming strategy for the household. Some divorced spouses can still receive spousal benefits based on their ex-partner's earnings record. A lot of time is spent discussing rules and strategies about claiming Social Security to ensure you make the most of the program's benefits. But one feature of the program that might not get enough attention is spousal benefits. Spousal benefits can be a lifeline for seniors who established a...

North Liberty, Iowa — At the weekly senior lunch social in North Liberty, Iowa, chicken was on the menu, but Social Security was top of mind. Iowa, like the U.S., is aging. One in four people in the state is age 60 and older, according to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Uncertainty in Washington means anxiety here. Anne Bacon tells CBS News the issue gives her "daymares." Bacon relies on the $1,600 a month she receives from Social Security to pay for the 24-hour care of her brother, Rick Clark, who has dementia. "Every day I'm worried...

Turmoil on Wall Street is keeping financial planners’ phones ringing as 401(k) holders watch their retirement account balances fall with the stock markets they’re tied to. For the most part, they’re being told to sit tight and breathe through it. Vanese Pitts said she watched her husband’s 401(k) shed $8,000 on Monday, when a wide-ranging market selloff pushed the S&P 500 to its lowest close since September. The sharp downturn in recent days followed several weeks of losses on Wall Street that have left the stock index about 4.8% lower than where it started the year. Many 401(k)s follow the...

The number of detectives in the NYPD has dropped below 5,000 for the first time since the pandemic – and union leaders warn that 1,600 more gumshoes could retire by the end of the year... There are 4,948 detectives in the NYPD today compared to 7,000 at the staffing peak following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Another 1,676 investigators with at least 19 years or more on the job will be eligible to retire in 2025 ... The Detectives’ Endowment Association said 359 gumshoes have already put in for retirement in the first two months of this year — compared...

The head of the FBI's New York field office resigned Monday afternoon, facing pressure from President Donald Trump's administration. James Dennehy announced his resignation in an email to staff, NBC News reported. His resignation comes after Kash Patel began his first week leading the bureau last week. Before that, Justice Department deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, began a search for all FBI staff who worked on cases around the Jan. 6 attackers. Dennehy clashed with Bove over that probe into the staff.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) touted bringing home the bacon to Kentucky and his “unfinished business” perpetuating a national defense strategy crafted in the 1980s in a Senate floor speech Thursday announcing his retirement. McConnell, who turned 83 Thursday, has been expected to retire following his resignation under pressure as Senate Republican Leader in early 2024, but reports of his upcoming retirement announcement Thursday morning still reverberated across Washington. In his speech, the longtime Senate leader told colleagues, “I’ve only really answered to two constituencies, the Republican Conference and the people of Kentucky.

U.S. Sen. Tina Smith announced Thursday she will retire after next year, opting against a 2026 bid for another six-year term and putting a Democratic-held seat in play in an increasingly competitive Upper Midwest. The decision comes after Smith had been conveying her plan to run again for a seat she has held since 2018. She has won two prior Senate elections, including a 5-percentage-point victory when last on the ballot in 2020. She had more than $700,000 in her campaign account to start the year. "I have loved my job as United States Senator, and also, after 20 years...

Federal employee retirements are processed using paper, by hand, in an old limestone mine in Pennsylvania. 700+ mine workers operate 230 feet underground to process ~10,000 applications per month, which are stored in manila envelopes and cardboard boxes. The retirement process takes multiple months.

Years ago, while studying for my master’s degree in human behavior, I became deeply intrigued by the concept of personal goal setting and how important it is for people to have goals simply in order to stay healthy. What I learned changed my life. Human beings are, by nature, goal seekers. We are the only living creatures who can look into the future and project images of ourselves. Within the context of every other living creature, even the simple act of scheduling a lunch meeting for next week or planning a family get-together is an amazingly complex and miraculous task....

Every year the age when American retirees can begin to claim Social Security benefits without a penalty has been getting higher. Here’s what it is in 2025 The new year will bring a series of changes to Social Security. Every year the Social Security Administration announces a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) which applies to beneficiaries’ payments starting with the disbursement that corresponds to January. The increase this year was 2.5% which will also raise the amount contributors must earn for each Social Security credit, also known as a “quarter of coverage,” as well as the wage cap for Social Security taxes....

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vented his displeasure Monday after two Democratic-appointed federal judges reversed their decisions to retire in what appear to be efforts to stop President-elect Trump from nominating their successors. McConnell called the unusual decisions to forgo retirement following Trump’s sweeping victory last month a “partisan” gambit that would undermine the integrity of federal courts. “They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace them and now that he won’t, they’re changing their plans to keep a Republican from doing it,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “It’s a brazen admission. And the incoming administration would...

The J6 riot was not an insurrection but a protest that escalated into an out-of-control riot because then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund was denied intelligence about potential threats that day and denied National Guard backup that he was begging for. In the cold light of hindsight, a new Trump administration will ensure that the narrative of J6 is rewritten to reflect the truth of that tragic day instead of the lies spun by Democrat Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s J6 committee. Sund is a crucial witness to history. Pelosi made him her scapegoat, firing him immediately, but she knew that he...

Mitch McConnell is retiring, prompting an election in the GOP Senate caucus to select a new leader. For reasons that were not clear to me, Florida’s Rick Scott was the favorite of some MAGA Republicans. But the caucus elected John Thune, who served as Whip under McConnell. In an interview with Breitbart, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson had some strikingly candid comments about the contest for Majority Leader. I have a lot of respect for Johnson, a successful businessman who is serving in politics out of principle and has three times overcome underdog status to win Senate elections in Wisconsin: “John...