Social Security’s solvency has improved
Social Security paid benefits of $1.133 trillion in 2021. There were about 65 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year, according to the Social Security trustees' annual...
Social Security
Raising Social Security age may be necessary, actuaries say
Increases in US longevity point to a need to drive up the age for claiming full OASI benefits, says the American Academy of Actuaries. But the rich live longer...
Social Security Needs Our Attention
Time is money, and the longer we ignore the Social Security situation, the more we'll have to pay to fix it. The just-released 2021 Trustee's Report shows the cost...
The Fallen Angels of ‘Nomadland’
Many elderly poor in America have always been poor. But the elderly poor in 'Nomadland' seem relatively new to the game. We compare the people in the film to...
‘COVID-19 is not a retirement story’: CRR
'A hot topic these days is how COVID-19 and the ensuing recession have affected retirement. The surprising answer may be: Not very much,' write Alicia Munnell and Anqi Chen...
Does the Pandemic Limit Biden’s Fiscal Options?
Our guest columnists, from the Urban Institute, examine the impact of the pandemic on the Congressional Budget Office's projections for the state of US government finances in 2030. ...
Biden’s Retirement Policy
Biden has made strong promises about fixing Social Security, strengthening labor unions, and helping to finance a green economy. Will he be able to keep those promises? Does he...
A Look at Biden’s Social Security Plan
There's more to Biden's proposal than raising payroll taxes on >$400k earners. The wealthy would see their benefits go up more in dollars, while the poor would see theirs...
The Sacrificial Payroll Tax
Idle talk about suspending the payroll tax is making 'blue' Senators blue. We get answers from Social Security expert Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute.
‘A Payroll Tax Holiday Will Put the U.S. Back to Work’
A temporary payroll tax holiday could be offset by raising the retirement age for those who choose to participate. The full retirement age for Social Security, now 67, could...
Mike Bloomberg’s Retirement Security Plans
Bloomberg favors a public-option national workplace savings program, modeled on the federal Thrift Savings Plan. Its government match would be paid for with 'a reduction in the tax break...
Marshmallows and Social Security
Should US retirees delay claiming Social Security until age 70, even if they have to spend savings until then? The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College proposes that...
Many regret claiming SS early: MassMutual
Many people file early because they aren’t working, lack savings, and need the monthly income Social Security provides; yet the same people would benefit most from claiming later.
Why People Should Work Longer, but Don’t
New research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the National Bureau of Economic Research looks at the economic and situational factors that affect individual decisions...
New Social Security Bill Calls for Tax and Benefit Hikes
The bill proposes slowly raising the payroll tax by 1.2 percentage points for employers and employees over the next 23 years, and applies the payroll tax to incomes above...
How to Save Social Security Systems
'A mixed system that combines the existing PAYG system with a small investment-based component can achieve a higher expected level of benefits with little risk of lower benefit levels,'...
The Science (Not Sci-Fi) of Social Security
The overlap of Social Security policy and behavioral finance was the subject of several papers aired at the Retirement Research Consortium’s 20th annual meeting last week. Economists are trying...
Global Aging and Fiscal Solvency
The Harvard economics professor thinks the US should correct Social Security's impending shortfall by gradually raising the age for "full" benefits to 70 from 67, and not by raising...
Donald Trump’s $15,000-a-year Social Security Bonus
Where to begin reforming Social Security? Our guest columnist would start by eliminating the late-life fatherhood benefit that favors the president and others.
Social Security Started from Scratch–and That’s Its Biggest Problem
You can blame your grandparents for Social Security's looming shortfall. The ghost of their unpaid contributions still haunts us--and will for decades to come.
