retirement

Raising the Social Security Retirement Age Would Be a Big Government Mistake

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Social Security was a bad, big-government mistake. As argued in The Deficit Delusion, a much worse, much bigger big-government mistake would be to lower its annual cost by pushing the retirement age up to 70, 75, or name the higher number. Skeptical? Please read on. The Social Security hysterics claim the federal retirement program faces […]

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In Retirement, Do You Prefer Exposure to Dollars or People?

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“Rather than investing in buildings, I want to invest in the people working in the buildings.” That’s a paraphrase of investor David Bahnsen. Bahnsen’s comment comes to mind when thinking about retirement, and particularly the Social Security portion of retirement. Would readers prefer that their at least legally mythical (see Flemming v. Nestor) Social Security

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Since the Rich Are Overtaxed, Americans Won’t Get to Escape Social Security

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It’s a wealth-losing shame of enormous proportions that Social Security will never go insolvent. It will cost the typical American millions in retirement wealth. Yes, the absurdity of the notion that Social Security faces insolvency in 2035 is incredibly harmful for all working Americans. That’s because the surest sign future Social Security payments are

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$100,000+ State Retirees In Illinois Speak to the Urgency of a SALT Credit

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The Illinois Policy Institute’s Brad Weisentein wrote at RealClearMarkets last week that there are at least 32,000 former government workers in the state of Illinois who can claim $100,000+ income from the state’s pension systems. Of the state’s 239,384 pensioners, Weisenstein reports that their average annual retirement income amounts to $93,558. It’s worth adding that according

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Soaring Wealth Inequality Is the Greatest Retirement Gift of All

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Nvidia’s valuation reached the $4 trillion mark recently, and co-founder Jensen Huang’s shares are now worth something like $143 billion. Present and future retirees should rejoice the rapidly increasing wealth inequality that Nvidia and Huang represent. That’s because inequality is the greatest gift to retirement of all. To see why, contemplate the “Magnificent Seven”

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There’s No ‘Retirement Crisis,’ LeBron James Shows Why

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There’s no retirement crisis. Those promoting the notion that Americans don’t have enough money to retire will eventually regret their expressed pessimism. Contemplate the happy fact that LeBron James recently announced a plan to return for his 23rd NBA season. James’s decision helps expose the flaw in a “retirement crisis” narrative that just won’t die. 

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Not Now, Not In 10 Years, Social Security Isn’t Going Insolvent

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Social Security is not going insolvent. Not now, and not in ten years. Write it down and do so confidently. The surest sign insolvency in no way looms in Social Security’s present or future can be found in the certainty that there’s no “lock box” and there never was one. The paradoxical truth is

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When Buy-and-Hold Results In Capital Gains Taxes on Retirement

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While there’s no evidence that Albert Einstein uttered the quip long associated with him about compound returns as the “8th Wonder of the World,” it’s not unreasonable to imagine the genius wit saying something just like that. When it comes to savings, compounding has wondrous qualities that become magical over time.  That’s why the patient investor can

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W-2 Earnings and Cash Are Far From the Path to Retirement Wealth

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It’s a popular lament on the right that Montgomery (Maryland) and Fairfax (Virginia) are the two richest U.S. counties in an income sense. Each abuts Washington, D.C. Get it? The above question isn’t meant to demean correct frustration with the size of government, but it is meant to show the limits of high, frequently

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An Easy Fix For Social Security Hides In Plain Sight

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It turns out back-scratching is a profession. And a well-paid one at that. So is sleeping, videogame playing, and college sorority consulting. As automation and globalization continue to lay waste to the backbreaking work of the past, jobs associated with the most specialized of skill sets are exploding. It’s a beautiful development on its

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