WITH A NARROW AND HIGHLY FRACTIOUS REPUBLIcan minority now in control, it is a safe bet the House of Representatives will be the site of loud debates over government spending in the coming months. As part of the fighting over things like raising the debt limit, expect to hear renewed talk about reforming Social Security.
The GOP has made clear that what they mean by reform is cutting benefits. They'll argue that we cannot afford Social Security and that the program is going bankrupt. Both arguments are false. Social Security does face a long-expected shortfall in the years ahead but closing the gap is a manageable task. And we need to do more than simply close the program's funding gap. Millions of Americans are approaching retirement confronting a devastating decline in their standard of living.
The best remedy is to expand Social Security benefits, not cut them. The most important measure of financial readiness to retire is your ability to replace working income after you retire, in other words, your ability to maintain your standard of living. Financial planners say most people will need to replace at least 70 percent of their wage income in retirement.
Anyone who has not been able to save much for retirement will depend solely on Social Security, which typically replaces only about 40 percent of pre-retirement income. Federal Reserve data indicate the median balance in a retirement account in 2019 for a working household nearing retirement (age 55-64) was just $144,000, an amount that will not last very long in retirement. And far too many have not been able to save anything at all.
Denne historien er fra January 27, 2023-utgaven av Newsweek US.
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Can Alternative Therapies Treat Cancer?
Doctor and breast cancer survivor Liz O'Riordan addresses misinformation around managing the disease
Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout
Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance
HARSH HEADWINDS
President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH
Bridget Everett
BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.