On the 84th anniversary of Social Security, we still must defend the program from a constant onslaught of disinformation from its opponents.
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Retirement, Social Security and long-term care:
Amid doubts about the soundness of the Social Security system, most Americans reject the idea of reducing benefits for future retirees. When asked to think about the long-term future of Social Security, only 25% say some reductions in benefits for future retirees will need to be made, while 74% say benefits should not be reduced in any way.
via Pew Research.
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We believe Social Security benefits should be BOOSTED for all working Americans.
Sign our petition asking Congress to BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans by clicking here.
Millions of Americans who rely on Social Security can expect to receive their biggest payment increase in years this January, according to projections released Thursday by the trustees who oversee the program.
But older Americans shouldn’t get too excited…
…“Opponents of Social Security may once again try to use this report as an excuse to cut benefits, including raising the retirement age,” said Max Richtman, who heads the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “We must, instead, look to modest and manageable solutions that will keep Social Security solvent well into the future without punishing seniors and disabled Americans.”
via Associated Press.
The 2017 OASDI Trustees Report confirms that the Social Security Trust fund is stable and healthy for now, but faces challenges in the future if corrective action is not taken.
via Trustees Say Social Security is Sound for Next Two Decades.
We also think it’s equally important to address benefit adequacy, because of the struggle that the middle class and working class have these days in saving for retirement.
via CNBC.
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Retirees should say ‘no thanks’ to Romney’s Social Security plan.
If history is a guide, retirees should not trust Romney with their Social Security benefits. During his 2012 presidential campaign, Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, advocated raising the retirement age (which is a benefit cut), lower cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), and the creation of private Social Security accounts.
If history is a guide, retirees should not trust Romney with their Social Security benefits. During his 2012 presidential campaign, Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, advocated raising the retirement age (which is a benefit cut), lower cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), and the creation of private Social Security accounts. The senator is clearly in the “entitlement reform” camp that purports to want to “save” Social Security by cutting it, implying that benefit reductions for seniors living on fixed incomes are somehow inevitable.
Read more from our new op-ed by clicking here.
Workers in Louisville face a major — and very real — retirement crisis. Wealth inequality and workplace changes have practically sawed off two of the legs of the traditional retirement stool: pensions and private savings.
More than half of today’s retirees rely on the third leg of the stool, Social Security, for most of their income. (The average Social Security benefit in Kentucky is roughly $16,000 per year, only about $3,500 above the federal poverty line for individuals.) Even with Social Security, some 13% of Kentucky seniors live in poverty. The good news is that workers can increase the size of their future Social Security checks by delaying retirement.
Read more from our new op-ed by clicking here.
Boost Social Security Benefits NOW
Social Security is the major source of income for most of America’s elderly with 46% of retirees depending on Social Security for 90% or more of their income and an average monthly benefit of just $1,269.
You can sign our petition here.
United Income, a financial planning advisory service, just released an important study called, “The Retirement Solution Hiding In Plain Sight.” Using government data and proprietary software, it calculates how much money retirees have lost, and are losing, by making mistakes about when to start claiming Social Security benefits. United Income’s answer: a whopping $3.4 trillion or $111,000 per household!
That’s enough to move half of the oldest Americans now in poverty out of that terrible state. Put another way, according to United Income, the average Social Security recipient would get 9% more income in retirement by making the “financially optimal” decision about when to claim benefits.
Increasing Your Social Security Benefit By 177%
According to United Income, someone who’d get a $725 monthly Social Security benefit by starting to claim at 62 (the earliest age) would see a benefit increase to $1,280 by delaying to age 70 — an increase of 177%.
via Next Avenue.
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We speak on this issue in our new education initiative, Delay & Gain.
Our goal is to help near-retirees make informed, financially sound choices through an understanding of the increased Social Security benefits gained by a delay in filing their claim.
- Since 2012, more than 40 states have acted to implement or consider legislation to establish government-run retirement programs for workers whose employers don’t offer a 401(k) plan.
- About a fifth of workers in such strategies could delay tapping Social Security by two years or more, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
- For every year a person puts off claiming benefits, their monthly payment jumps by about 8 percent.
via CNBC.
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When is the best age for Americans to claim Social Security?
- The timing of the claim is key. The earlier a worker files to receive Social Security, the lower the monthly payment for the rest of that worker’s life. The longer a worker waits, the larger the benefit.
LISTEN:
Claiming Social Security: Early or Later? Less Money Now or More Later?
Social Security is the most important retirement benefit for most American workers - it provides at least half of the income for 48 percent of retired couples, and for 71 percent of single seniors, according to the Social Security Administration. Also, Social Security benefits kept 22.1 million seniors, working-age adults and children out of poverty in 2015 according to an analysis of Census data released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
via REUTERS.
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And Congress should BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans.
After years of Republican-led debate over how to pare back Social Security’s rising costs, Democrats are flipping the script with an ambitious plan to expand the New Deal-era social insurance program while making gradual changes to keep it solvent for the rest of the century.
The Social Security 2100 Act, which was introduced this past week in the House and the Senate, represents a sea change after decades dominated by concern that aging baby boomers would bankrupt the government as they begin drawing benefits from Social Security and other entitlement programs.
via New York Times.
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A bill to boost Social Security will finally get a full and fair hearing.
Boosting — rather than cutting — Social Security makes good financial sense. The program provides more than one trillion dollars in fiscal stimulus to the nation’s economy, as seniors, workers with disabilities and survivors spend their benefits on goods and services in all fifty states.
Rep. Larson’s bill is a resounding rebuke to conservative proposals, because it maintains Social Security’s financial solvency for generations while giving seniors a bump in benefits. Among other things, the bill would:
- Provide a 2% benefit bump for all beneficiaries.
- Protect retirees against inflation with a new formula for calculating cost-of-living adjustments, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).
- Increase the special minimum benefit threshold so that more low-wage workers qualify.
- Cut taxes for over 12 million Social Security beneficiaries.