Articles
- What Are Your Fastest Rising Costs? Mary Johnson, editor Every year, I take a look at how the Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) compares with the rise in average retiree costs. Data that I collect for my report on the buying power of Social Security benefits examines the change of prices between January of the previous year to January of ...
- How the Corona Virus Affects Social Security The abrupt and severe contraction in the U.S. economy caused by the coronavirus has far-reaching consequences for Social Security. Twenty million workers filed claims for unemployment between March 15, 2020 and April 17, 2020, a level that has not been seen since the Great Depression. Both the wide-scale shutdowns and layoffs, as well as provisions ...
- Benefit Bulletin: April/May 2020 What’s Retirees’ Biggest Concern About the Future of Social Security? A $300 Benefit Cut By Rick Delaney, Chairman of the Board There’s a discussion about Social Security that we haven’t yet heard much about from the candidates yet. What’s their plan to address Social Security’s financing issues? The answer is critical because, according to the independent Congressional ...
- What It Looks Like to Live on Just Social Security — (It’s Not Pretty) Forty-three percent of respondents say they do not have any retirement savings according to a recent TSCL survey. This sobering finding is actually a slight improvement from a 2017 estimate by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that said 47% of Americans don’t have any retirement savings. What does trying to live on Social Security for ...
- Benefit Bulletin: February 2020 TSCL Endorses Legislation That Would Help the Public Understand Social Security Benefits By Rick Delaney, Chairman of the Board People close to retirement sometimes tell us they don’t have a clue about how much they will receive in Social Security benefits. This is concerning, because knowing your Social Security income is the key to retirement planning. Without ...
- How A Tax on “Wealthy” Retirees Ended Up A Tax On The Middle Class Mary Johnson, editor Roughly one-half of all retiree households report that a portion of their Social Security benefits is subject to taxation, according to TSCL’s Senior Surveys. That’s substantially more than expected from the time when the tax on benefits was first enacted in 1983. At that time, the tax was estimated to affect just 10 ...
- Benefit Bulletin: November 2019 Rick Delaney, Chairman of the Board Social Security Legislation Would Provide 75 Years of Solvency For Social Security If lawmakers wait too long, solutions for fixing Social Security’s financing could involve deep cuts and large abrupt tax increases. But Members of the House Ways and Means Committee are discussing an alternate path to solvency for the program ...
- Benefit Bulletin: October 2019 Rick Delaney, Chairman of the Board, TSCL Could Social Security Solvency Issues Be Even Worse Than Estimated? Recently we received a comment from Steve F. of California, who noted that, by his understanding, if Congress takes no action, Social Security benefits would have to be cut 30% by 2030. Steve asked what projections are available that estimate ...
- Social Security Benefits Lose 33% of Buying Power Between October of 2018, and January 2019, consumer prices fell according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On January 1, 2019, Social Security beneficiaries received a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2.8%. Theoretically, the combination of higher benefits, and lower prices, should translate into more money for retirees in the short term. But according ...
- Failing to Lift Debt Limit Would Be “Disastrous” For Social Security and Medicare The federal government shutdown that occurred from midnight December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019, was the longest in U.S. history. It was so disruptive that an analysis from Standard and Poor’s (S & P) estimated that the shut down cost the U.S. economy $3.6 billion. While the government shutdown was terrible for all affected, ...
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