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8 Key Retirement Questions

Last update on: Feb 02 2017
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Economist James Poterba of MIT, whom I’ve quoted in the past, recently made a presentation at a conference on the key questions everyone should ask before retirement. This post from Forbes reviews the questions and some information you should have before answering the questions.

As for Social Security, it remains (at least this election year) a political sacred cow. In their Fiscal 2015 budget proposals, both Ryan and President Barack Obama backed away from earlier “chained CPI” proposals that would have reduced yearly inflation increases for beneficiaries. I consider big changes to Social Security for those already over 55 unlikely. Still, without tax increases or benefit trims, Social Security (under its current budgetary treatment) will be able to pay just 77% of promised benefits when its “trust funds” are exhausted in 2033, Chief Actuary Steve Goss noted. So the better-off could well see some cuts. To put that in perspective, in 2013 the highest-income quartile of seniors got just 18% of  total income from Social Security, Poterba calculates. By contrast, he noted, the poorest fourth of seniors relied on Social Security for 85% of their income.

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