Retirement Prospects for the Millennials: What is the Early Prognosis?
Published: | 3:37 pm | Posted in: Social Security
Various policy developments and long-term economic, social, and demographic trends raise worrisome questions about the financial security of future retirees. An erosion in employer-sponsored defined benefit pension coverage and the increase in Social Security’s full retirement age could shrink future benefits. Stagnating employment and earnings for men could threaten future retirement security, because retirement benefits […]
Modernizing Social Security: Caregiver Credits
Published: | 6:48 pm | Posted in: Caregiving, Social Security
Women still tend to work fewer years and earn less than men, which leads to less income in retirement. One reason is that women are often still the main family caregiver. Traditionally, Social Security has recognized this role by providing spousal and widow benefits for married women. Today, however, many women are not eligible for […]
Replacement Rates for Hypothetical Retired Workers
Published: | 4:39 pm | Posted in: Social Security
Adequacy and equity of Social Security benefits are major policy considerations for the program. One measure of adequacy is the percentage of pre-retirement earnings that Social Security benefits replace, or the “replacement rate”. The numerator of this replacement rate is well established as the Social Security benefit. One indicator of equity is the degree of […]
Medicare and Social Security: What you paid compared with what you get
Published: | 5:41 pm | Posted in: Social Security
Earlier this week, we published a story and several charts showing that average government spending on each elderly person is $26,355, compared to $11,822 for each child. Almost immediately, readers wrote to condemn us for overlooking what they considered a key issue. “Your statements as to expenditures on the elderly is specious at best, and at the […]
The Impact Of Social Security Income On Cognitive Function At Older Ages
Published: | 7:05 am | Posted in: Alzheimer's Disease: Cure & Care, Social Security
Prior literature has documented a positive association between income and cognitive function at older ages, however, the extent to which this association represents causal effects is unknown. In this study, we use an exogenous change in Social Security income due to amendments to the Social Security Act in the 1970s to identify the causal impact […]
Why raising the Social Security retirement age really does hurt the poor the most
Published: | 8:57 pm | Posted in: Social Security
a Social Security check means something very different to someone with no retirement savings than it does to someone with hefty retirement savings. Cutting 11 percent of the check someone lives on and 11 percent of the check someone barely notices are not the same thing. And, finally, cutting 11 percent of the check of […]