Warning to pensioners

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As Presidential Hopefuls Spar on Social Security, This Expert Separates Fact from Fiction

Besides death and taxes, there’s one more thing you can be sure of: Americans like the Social Security program — a lot. The vast majority, despite partisanship and political rhetoric, seem to agree that a secure retirement is a good thing: Poll after poll shows that voters in the U.S. — across the aisle — strongly support Social Security and do not want to see the program cut. A whopping 9 out of 10 of them who receive benefits have a favorable view of the program. Another 80% are opposed to raising the retirement age, and the majority would like to see wealthy citizens pay more taxes on their earnings to strengthen the program.

That’s what actual people think in America.

Politicians eyeing Washington (and listening to big money donors), not so much. For them, what voters want often fades from focus, the tune changing as the political winds blow. Biden once supported cutting Social Security, now he says he wants to expand it. Donald Trump once wanted to privatize the program and called it a Ponzi scheme, now he bashes fellow Republicans for demanding changes and cuts. Ron DeSantis has talked about changing (code for cutting) the program for younger Americans, now he blasts Nikki Haley for promising to raise the retirement age for young folks if she’s elected.

More:

As Presidential Hopefuls Spar on Social Security, This Expert Separates Fact from Fiction

Eric Laursen, author of The People’s Pension, explains to INET’s Lynn Parramore what’s at stake for Americans in a year of sneak attacks and misinformation.
www.ineteconomics.org
 
That's what the mediuh would have us believe that others are thinking.

Just as they'd have us believe that Bidet is beating Trump in the polls. And that most people **KNOW** Trump is "Literally H!tl3r."

Well, let's assume the report is basically honest. If people HAD BEEN EDUCATED ABOUT MONEY FROM THE TIME THEY STARTED WORK...they wouldn't insist on a program that will pay them back less than a third of what was taken from them, for the most part.

They would have saved, themselves - and opted out.

Since the program is pure Ponzi, money coming in is immediately sent out in benefits...reducing the scale wouldn't have cost the government anything. It would have saved the government, money and temptation.

Just make it OPTIONAL. The re-tards and druggies could pay into Saint Ponzi Security. The rest of us could save, ourselves.
 

West Virginia House OKs bill to phase out Social Security tax​

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Republican-led House of Delegates approved a bill Thursday that would cut and gradually phase out the state income tax on Social Security benefits.

Eliminating the tax is a key priority for GOP Gov. Jim Justice, who announced it as part of his annual budget proposal during his final State of the State address last month.

Income tax cuts may be coming for those on Social Security in West Virginia

In 2019, the Legislature passed a bill cutting the income tax on Social Security benefits for the state’s lowest earners — those making less than $100,000 filing jointly and $50,000 for a single person — over three years.

The proposal passed Thursday, which now heads to the Senate, would eliminate the tax for everyone else, also over three years. The tax would be cut by 35% this year — retroactive to Jan. 1 — and 65% in 2025. The tax would be phased out completely by 2026.

It’s unclear what Justice will make of the proposal. His version would have eliminated the personal income tax on Social Security this year, retroactive to Jan. 1.

More:

 

Kodak Explores Tapping Pension Fund’s $1.2 Billion Surplus​

(Bloomberg) -- Eastman Kodak Co. is contemplating a move to unlock gains created by its overfunded pension system, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The company is weighing a so-called pension reversion, which would enable it to take control of the surplus rather than leaving excess capital to current and future retirees, said the people, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss confidential information. The maneuver would involve selling its portfolio of illiquid investments while liquidating other positions, the people said.

Proceeds may be used for corporate purposes such as paying down debt and investing in growth initiatives, according to the people. No final decision has been made.

Shares of the company surged, closing 53% higher at $5.34, after Bloomberg News reported the potential plan, the biggest jump in more than three years. They extended those gains in after-hours trading.

More:

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Interesting article about pensioners in Switzerland. Will probably never happen here (at least in my lifetime) but it would sure be nice. Congress critters can vote themselves raises why not American retirees.

Swiss Voters Back Higher Pensions, Reject Working Longer​

(Bloomberg) -- Swiss voters backed a plan to raise pensions, the first time in the country’s history that social benefits got an increase via plebiscite.

The proposal to introduce a 13th annual payout to pensioners was supported by 58.2% of the electorate and also met the additional requirement of being passed in the majority of Switzerland’s cantons. A second initiative to raise the retirement age — and subsequently tie it to life expectancy — was rejected, garnering only 25.3% of votes.

Polls ahead of Sunday had suggested that passing the measure that boosts pensions by about 8% would be a close call. Since 1848, Swiss voters had never approved plans to boost social benefits paid out by the state. The initiative was introduced by labor unions, who said higher costs of living had diminished pensions’ purchasing power.

More:

finance.yahoo.com

Swiss Voters Back Higher Pensions, Reject Working Longer

(Bloomberg) -- Swiss voters backed a plan to raise pensions, the first time in the country’s history that social benefits got an increase via plebiscite.Most Read from BloombergWhat to Remember If the Stock Market Takes a DiveHaley Casts Doubt on Nominee Pledge After Trump’s Power PlayYoung Hong...
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
 
BI

Just over half of Americans over the age of 65 are earning under $30,000 a year, and it shows how stark the retirement crisis is​

  • A new report from Senator Bernie Sanders signals a looming retirement crisis for Americans.
  • Many older Americans are financially vulnerable, with over half living on incomes of $30,000 or less a year.
  • Potential solutions might include enhancing Social Security checks and setting up automatic retirement accounts.
There's a retirement crisis looming for many Americans — and some are already living on scant incomes. Retirement becoming a luxury for Americans hoping to get a reprieve in their later years is something a handful of lawmakers are hoping to change.

A new report from Senator Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, looks at the bleak future facing some older Americans and those who hope to retire someday.

The report cited the National Retirement Risk Index which found that around half of households "will not be able to maintain their pre-retirement living standard," and 56% of low-income households — and 45% of those who are middle-income — were "at risk" of not maintaining those pre-retirement standards at age 65.

Even more glaringly, 73% of those in the bottom group of wealth holders were similarly at risk, compared to 28% of those in the highest wealth group.

"After a lifetime of hard work, Americans deserve to retire with dignity. But with our retirement system focused on increasing profits for Wall Street, a financially secure retirement is beyond the grasp of many workers. The time to change that is now," Sanders' report said.

More:

MSN

www.msn.com www.msn.com
 
The idiot DemocRatic Socialist solution.

Print off moar money.

Liberate the poor, by enslaving everyone. Let's SEPARATE money from wealth. The rubes want money? PRINT MONEY!

When they're done, the railroad pension I worked hard for, at 0300, often standing up for hours on mid-watch hours...running trains in blizzards; in blazing heat waves, and through ghettos in Columbus, Cleveland, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Chicago...

...all that work, for the gold-plated retirement...

WILL NOT BE WORTH A FECAL STAIN. Already the Gnu Yuck Schitty government is paying INVADERS...THREE TIMES my monthly income. FOR INVADING.

Now Comrade Bernie is gonna compleat the job.
 

Social Security’s COLA formula could change under new proposal — and mean higher benefits for seniors​


Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment could face changes under new proposals in Congress that aim to make it more reflective of the everyday costs incurred by older adults.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona introduced the Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, legislation that would change the calculations for Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustments. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

Each year, the Social Security benefits for about 71 million Americans get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). It’s not a raise, but an adjustment to help keep pace with inflation.

Since 1975, the COLA has been based on the previous year’s consumer-price index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W). CPI-W reflects spending that a worker would face, such as expenses for food, consumer goods, transportation and housing.

More:

 
We're Useless Eaters.

This is PR disinformation. What they want, is for us to get Jabs until we die.

A few might see a bigger increase in government-managed entitlements or pensions. Not many will live long enough for it to matter.
 
It's hard to imagine the exponential growth of government debt lasting another 10 years. It seems like we really are facing the end game.
 
Could have sworn there was a thread on this. Searched for around 15 minutes with no luck. Oh well........

From the link:

It now seems like an eternity ago, but the latest big play in the long-running Kentucky Retirement Systems case, with the centerpiece a deeply underfunded pension fund reaching for return, was the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron rousing himself to enter the case on behalf of allegedly all potential plaintiffs. This was despite the previous AG havingfiled a motion supporting the effort by the legal team lead by Michelle Lerach, with her formidable and controversial husband, one-time top securities litigator Bill Lerach, and a cast of other able lawyers to obtain damages from some of the biggest names in finances, KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO (a one-time affiliate of bond giant Pimco), their top execs (!!!) and many co-conspirators and enablers. The basis for action was over fiduciary duty breaches and other bad conduct in the sale and management of custom hedge funds.

This is a very hard won and important victory for the plaintiffs. As you may recall well from the financial crisis, individual executives are virtually never successfully targeted for their misconduct, let alone figures as prominent as these. Here, they are subject to punitive damages and their personal finances are discoverable. So expect more pitched battles to try to continue to keep this case from advancing.

Forgive me for skipping over the extensive legal and factual arguments to focus on the high points of the progress of the case; Footnote 1 presents some of the major evidence and arguments.

Game Finally On! Judge Denies Key Motions to Dismiss in Kentucky Retirement Systems Litigation, Subjecting KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO, and Top Financiers Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Steve Schwarzman, and Tomlinson Hill to Discovery | naked capitalism

The much-delayed Kentucky Retirement System cases are finally moving forward, causing heartburn to some top names on Wall Street.
www.nakedcapitalism.com www.nakedcapitalism.com
 
Grandma was turning tricks in the card room at Century Village to pay her electric bill and for a new pair of orthopedic shoes.
 

Manchin, GOP senators move to overturn retirement investment planning rule​

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a group of Republican senators are moving to overturn a retirement investment planning rule that was finalized by the Labor Department last month.

The Labor Department unveiled the new rule last month that would update the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Manchin and 15 Republican senators joined in co-sponsoring a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would overturn this new rule.

More:

 

The idea that you could work longer if you didn’t save enough is just not true: Teresa Ghilarducci​

Jun 6, 2024
Teresa Ghilarducci, New School for Social Research professor of economics and labor economist focusing on retirement security, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss America's retirement crisis, why she believes the call to work longer is misleading, and more.


6:36
 
en.wikipedia.org

Wanamaker's - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Dozens of Wanamaker’s employees never got their pensions​

Bill Whiting’s job at Wanamaker’s holds a dear place in his heart. For Whiting, who worked there in his twenties and thirties, it was a deeply formative time — and a whole lotta fun.

He was hired as a corporate designer in the `70s, back in the renowned department store’s heyday, and during his nearly seven years there, he worked on fashion shows, window displays, and even designed a massive Shinto shrine for the store’s Japan fair.

He immortalized the tie and shoelaces he wore to the interview, using them as upholstery on two tiny French chairs he made for a 19th-century replica of a Spruce Street townhouse. Decades later, he still keeps in touch with many of his coworkers.

But there’s something about the job that doesn’t sit right with Whiting, who’s now 74:

He never got his pension.

He’s certain he contributed to it — and he’s not sure how to access it. Through a Facebook group, he’s found more than 40 former employees who are in the same boat.

More:

 
www.investopedia.com

SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022: Overview, Rules, Limits

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2023, is legislation that contains 92 provisions aimed at strengthening retirement savings in important ways.
www.investopedia.com www.investopedia.com

What Secure 2.0 Changes Mean For Your Retirement - 6/11/24 | Market Sense | Fidelity Investments​

Jun 12, 2024

The Fed is holding their June meeting. Plus, our Fidelity pros help make sense of the changes passed under the federal Secure 2.0 Act and explain what it could mean for your retirement savings.


21:11

00:00 Intro
02:03 Federal Reserve meeting
05:02 Secure 2.0 legislation
07:28 Secure 2.0 changes
09:04 RMD rules
12:05 Catchup contributions
14:28 529 changes
16:18 Roth IRA assets over time
18:38 Timmer’s Take
 
In this 16 min vid Rob talks about holding cash as a retiree for emergencies, different vehicles to hold the cash and more. It's an opinion piece so take it fwiw and dyodd.

How Much Cash Should You Hold in Retirement?​

Jun 25, 2024 #robberger #cash #retirement

Many things change when we retire. There’s the obvious change–we stop working. And there’s a less obvious change–how we approach cash.

Before retirement, we might have an emergency fund of three to six months’ worth of living expenses. After retirement, we need cash for so much more. The ideal cash reserve depends on individual circumstances, including income stability, potential emergencies, and comfort level during market volatility.

In this video, I’ll walk through the seven main reasons retirees hold cash. For each, we’ll look at how much cash one should have for each reason and the type of account best suited to hold the cash.



Resources

- Savings Accounts: https://www.allcards.com/savings-acco...
- No-penalty CDs: https://www.allcards.com/no-penalty-c...
- T-Bills: https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw...

Timestamps

0:00 - How Much Cash Should You Hold In Retirement
1:33 - Cash Investments
2:20 - Monthly spending
3:30 - Emergency fund
5:11 - Short term savings
6:19 - Taxes7:18 - Income gaps
9:08 - Peace of mind
11:17 - Stock market crash
15:39 - Episode recap
16:15 - Financial Freedom
 
One moar reason the stonk market is melting up. Not only the Fed-Bankster complex, laundering printed-up money; but that Boomers are constantly seeking yield to simply retain what they have. They're running in place - if we had stable sound money, they'd be fine with the one-percent a legitimate bank would pay on savings; but in an era of 20-percent real inflation per year, they have to gamble in Ponzi stawx.

Like most market distortions and manipulations, and like all fiat fake monies, this is gonna end badly.
 
Here's several links concerning the latest shenanigans concerning fiduciaries.

GOP's attack on Americans' retirement savings just went to the …​

WEBThe American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was asked to comment on these heinous Republican actions, and said this: “What they’re (GOP and these financial …

 
searcher said:
Could have sworn there was a thread on this. Searched for around 15 minutes with no luck. Oh well........

From the link:

It now seems like an eternity ago, but the latest big play in the long-running Kentucky Retirement Systems case, with the centerpiece a deeply underfunded pension fund reaching for return, was the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron rousing himself to enter the case on behalf of allegedly all potential plaintiffs. This was despite the previous AG havingfiled a motion supporting the effort by the legal team lead by Michelle Lerach, with her formidable and controversial husband, one-time top securities litigator Bill Lerach, and a cast of other able lawyers to obtain damages from some of the biggest names in finances, KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO (a one-time affiliate of bond giant Pimco), their top execs (!!!) and many co-conspirators and enablers. The basis for action was over fiduciary duty breaches and other bad conduct in the sale and management of custom hedge funds.

This is a very hard won and important victory for the plaintiffs. As you may recall well from the financial crisis, individual executives are virtually never successfully targeted for their misconduct, let alone figures as prominent as these. Here, they are subject to punitive damages and their personal finances are discoverable. So expect more pitched battles to try to continue to keep this case from advancing.

Forgive me for skipping over the extensive legal and factual arguments to focus on the high points of the progress of the case; Footnote 1 presents some of the major evidence and arguments.

Game Finally On! Judge Denies Key Motions to Dismiss in Kentucky Retirement Systems Litigation, Subjecting KKR, Blackstone, PAAMCO, and Top Financiers Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Steve Schwarzman, and Tomlinson Hill to Discovery | naked capitalism

The much-delayed Kentucky Retirement System cases are finally moving forward, causing heartburn to some top names on Wall Street.
www.nakedcapitalism.com www.nakedcapitalism.com
Click to expand...

More:

www.nakedcapitalism.com

Kentucky Retirement Systems Plaintiffs Battle With Yet More Efforts by KKR and Blackstone to Delay or Prevent Discovery | naked capitalism

An update on the long-running Kentucky Retirement Systems pension case, with KKR and Blackstone and their execs still fighting discovery
www.nakedcapitalism.com www.nakedcapitalism.com
 

Social Security Update: Lawmakers May Force Vote to Raise Benefits for Some​


Lawmakers now have enough signatures to force a vote on a bill that could raise Social Security benefits for some pensioners.

The Social Security Fairness Act was proposed to reverse the rules surrounding the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

These two Social Security rules can reduce monthly payments for some pensioners, often leading to more financial obstacles when these retirees reach their golden age.

More:

 
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