Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is often cited in discussions of Social Security reform for backing a blunt move: removing (or significantly raising) the cap on earnings subject to the payroll tax. His reasoning is simple. High earners stop paying the Social Security payroll tax on wages once their earnings pass a…
Social Security’s retirement trust fund is now projected to run dry in 2033, one year sooner than previously estimated, a shift that could force automatic benefit cuts of roughly $460 per month for the average retired worker unless Congress intervenes. The 2025 Annual Report from the Board of Trustees, released in mid-June, accelerated the depletion…
The Social Security Fairness Act has restored benefits for more than 3.2 million former public workers whose checks were previously reduced or eliminated, but the lump-sum retroactive payments now landing in bank accounts are creating an unexpected tax problem. Signed into law in early 2025, the legislation repealed two long‑standing provisions that had penalized retirees…
Social Security will send larger checks to roughly 75 million Americans starting in January 2026, but how much any household actually depends on that money varies dramatically from state to state. A 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment takes effect this month, and the latest federal data on where beneficiaries live reveals a widening gap between states…
Nearly half of Americans between the ages of 62 and 70 who collect Social Security retirement checks also earn wages from a job. That overlap between benefits and paychecks challenges the long-held assumption that claiming Social Security means leaving the workforce for good. The trend reflects a mix of financial pressure, shifting career expectations, and…
Social Security benefits will rise by 2.8% in 2026, a bump that adds roughly $50 a month to the average retired worker’s check. But that extra income will not go equally far everywhere. In states where housing, groceries, and utilities cost well below the national average, retirees on fixed incomes can expect their dollars to…
The Social Security Administration released its 2025 Annual Trustees Report on June 18, projecting that the retirement and survivors trust fund will be exhausted by 2033 and the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance reserves will run out by 2034. Under the report’s most pessimistic economic assumptions, that combined depletion date accelerates to…
The Social Security Administration announced plans to restore a 100% default withholding rate on overpayments, a policy shift that could erase an entire monthly benefit check for some retirees. For a beneficiary receiving $2,000 a month, even the agency’s more moderate 50% recovery rate would cut that payment to $1,000, while a lesser withholding percentage…
On March 7, 2025, the Social Security Administration quietly announced a policy change that could halt monthly benefit checks entirely for recipients flagged with overpayments. The agency said it would raise the default withholding rate on overpaid Title II benefits to 100%, meaning affected retirees and disabled beneficiaries would receive nothing until their debts were…
The Social Security Administration has completed a massive wave of retroactive payments to more than 3.1 million people, distributing $17 billion in back pay tied to the repeal of two provisions that had reduced benefits for public sector workers for decades. The payments, which cover the period from January 2024 through June 2025, arrived ahead…