Although the marginal tax rate gets high when Social Security benefits become taxable, the effective tax rate is still very low. Marginal tax rate is high precisely because the effective tax rate is low.
2014 Social Security COLA
The government shutdown in the first half of October delayed the CPI release by two weeks. Inflation was very low in the last 12 months. According to the government, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in September 2013 was 1.2% higher than the same measure a year ago in September 2012. The annual […]
Happy Trails With Income Poor
This is the third and final installment on my Asset Rich Income Poor strategy. The road to asset rich sounds simple at a high level but it’s not that easy at the details level, because every decision you make has tradeoffs. The tradeoffs affect the final outcome in ways you can’t know for sure. I […]
Obama Budget Proposal: Chained CPI and Cap on Retirement Accounts
The news media, Internet discussion boards and Twitter are full of protests about two things in President Obama’s budget proposal, leaked to the press before its official release: chained CPI for Social Security and cap on retirement accounts. First of all, these are only proposals. The President does not make law. The proposals get fed […]
Social Security Penalizes Two-Earner Families
A two-earner family with the same income as a one-earner family receives lower Social Security benefits. The difference gets much larger when one spouse dies.
Social Security Benefits Increase More Rapidly For Retirees Than For Those Still Working
Retirees on Social Security will receive a 3.6% increase in their monthly Social Security checks in 2012. For those who aren’t yet eligible for Social Security (myself included), do our future Social Security benefits also increase by 3.6% due to this cost of living adjustment? The short answer is no. All else being equal (no […]
2012 Social Security COLA Increase
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released CPI changes for September 2011. With that, we can calculate the 2012 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for Social Security recipients. Social Security COLA adjusts with changes in CPI-W. We take the Q3 average CPI-W and compare it with the Q3 average in 2008 because the 2008 number […]
Retirement Income: OAS and CPP in Canada vs Social Security in US
Canada’s retirement programs OAS and CPP have a much better setup than Social Security in the US.
Social Security Family Benefits Mess
Most of people think of Social Security as a government managed savings program similar to a 401k plan: you pay into the system when you are working; you draw from the system when you retire. More informed people will point out it isn’t so. It’s a pay-as-you-go inter-generation transfer program. The money you (and your […]
Payroll Tax Cut and Social Security Benefits
News came President Obama and Republicans agreed to a “payroll tax holiday” in 2011. For one year only, an employee’s portion of the Social Security tax will be reduced from 6.2% to 4.2%. This will replace the Making Work Pay tax credit in effect in 2009 and 2010. Making Work Pay is a flat tax […]