Recent Stories
Medicare enrollment: Timing, costs and common mistakes
As you might guess, I get plenty of questions from family, friends and readers about how to sign up for Medicare. In these conversations, I’m always struck by the complexity of the Medicare program - and the challenging task of transitioning to it from other types of...
Social Security is on the ballot this fall – or, it should be
The Social Security trustees issued their annual report this week on the program’s financial health. They continue to project depletion of the combined retirement and disability trust funds (OASDI) in 2034, although some underlying factors in the numbers continue to...
A closer look at Trump’s retirement saving plan
Donald Trump has signed more than 250 executive orders during his second term as president, so you could be forgiven if you missed the one that aims to fix the biggest problem with the US retirement savings system: the coverage gap. Only about half of private-sector...
Seven numbers shaping the retirement landscape in the new year
More people are saving for retirement than ever before - and they’re saving more. But health care costs in retirement are soaring, and and poverty rates among older Americans are rising for the first time in decades. The competing trends sum up the state of retirement...
Social Security Disability Insurance is at a crossroads
Many older Americans have a simple plan for paying for retirement: keep working longer, or never stop working at all. But for a large share of workers, that plan falls apart. About 40% of people who are employed end up leaving their jobs earlier than expected, often...
One way the “big beautiful bill” does touch Medicare
The White House has insisted that the “one big beautiful bill” does not touch Medicare benefits. And it’s true that no standard Medicare benefits are reduced or eliminated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). But largely unnoticed is an OBBBA...
Social Security just turned 90, and the program is at a crossroads
Social Security was signed into law 90 years ago this month by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Over the years, we’ve come to think of this critical program as just one component of retirement income - intended from the start to be just one leg of a “three-legged...
It’s Time to Shop for Medicare, and 2025 Brings Big Changes
Some big, positive changes are coming to Medicare next year. The program’s prescription drug insurance will be much stronger — and easier to understand — as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. But the changes make it all the more important to review your...
How Trump or Harris would address Social Security’s problems
The next president and Congress will need to tackle the financial challenges facing Social Security if we’re going to avert a sharp cut in benefits to the 68 million retired or disabled Americans who rely on the program. Social Security’s combined retirement and...
Social Security: Why It Matters for Young People, Not Just Retirees
Young people are skeptics when it comes to Social Security - polling shows that most don’t think the program will pay them a benefit when they retire sometime down the road. You might think that’s the result of the barrage of negative, often misleading news...
The time is right for a national retirement savings plan
Experts on retirement saving have plenty of ideas for making 401(k) plans work better. But most agree on the top priority: get these accounts into the hands of more people. Only about half of private-sector workers are covered by an employer-sponsored retirement...
Are 401(k) matching contributions all that?
When you’re saving for retirement in a 401(k) account, the standard advice is to contribute enough to capture your employer’s matching contribution. That makes sense, since the contribution represents a risk-free 100% return on every dollar you save. The match...