Latest news with #SocialSec
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Social Security Advice: One Key Takeaway for All Retirees
Social Security is a lifeline for many retirees, but it's on shaky ground right now. With benefit cuts potentially coming, now is the time to start preparing. A few simple steps can help protect your retirement no matter what Social Security's future looks like. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Millions of older adults rely heavily on Social Security in retirement. Around 60% of current retirees say their benefits are a major source of income, according to a 2024 Gallup poll, while an additional 28% say it's a minor income source. While there's no harm in relying on Social Security to some extent, if I could give all Americans one piece of advice about Social Security, it's this: Have a backup plan. First, it's essential to note that Social Security is unlikely to disappear entirely. Many people are concerned about the program going bankrupt. However, while benefit cuts could be on the horizon, the program itself should still be a reliable source of income to some degree. Social Security is funded primarily through payroll taxes. Today's workers pay into the program through taxes, and that money is funneled to current retirees and other beneficiaries. But in recent years, that income hasn't been enough to cover all the benefits that need to be paid out. As a result, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has tapped its two trust funds to continue paying benefits in full. According to the latest projections from the SSA Board of Trustees, which were released in May 2024, those trust funds will likely run out by 2035. Now, this doesn't mean that Social Security itself is running out of money. Again, as long as workers keep paying payroll taxes, retirees will always receive some form of benefits. But unless lawmakers find some sort of solution in the next decade, benefit cuts could be a possibility. The SSA's latest trust fund projections date back over a year. A lot has changed since then, and there could be more potential changes coming that could impact Social Security. For example, President Trump has previously proposed eliminating income tax on Social Security benefits. While that could increase retirees' income in the short term, it would also mean there's less cash for the SSA to fund benefits. Tax cuts, in general, could also hurt Social Security. If the SSA has to take more than it had planned from the trust funds, those reserves could run out even sooner than 2035. Also, with less money coming in from taxes, the subsequent benefit cuts could be even more severe than expected. To be clear, benefit cuts are not a guarantee at this point. Lawmakers still have a few more years before the trust funds run out, and they could come up with a solution to protect the program. But when your retirement is on the line, it may be wise to avoid putting your financial future in the hands of Congress. If you still have some time before retirement, it could be smart to find ways to reduce your dependence on Social Security. That could mean simply saving more in your 401(k) or IRA, or perhaps picking up a side hustle or a source of passive income. Investing in dividend stocks or ETFs can also be a smart strategy to build your investment portfolio while also generating a source of passive retirement income. Investing even $200 per month can add up to more than $137,000 after 20 years, assuming you're earning a 10% average annual return on your investment. No matter your approach, diversifying your income so that you're not completely dependent on Social Security is a wise move right now. While the program isn't going away entirely, it doesn't hurt to be prepared just in case benefit cuts are on the horizon. If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Security Advice: One Key Takeaway for All Retirees was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk Taps Private Equity Veterans to Aid DOGE at Social Security
(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has sent three individuals with experience in private equity and finance to the Social Security Administration, highlighting the focus that President Donald Trump is putting on rooting out waste and fraud in the nation's social insurance programs. NJ College to Merge With State School After Financial Stress Trump Administration Plans to Eliminate Dozens of Housing Offices NYC Congestion Pricing Toll Gains Support Among City Residents Where New York City's Zoning Reform Will Add Housing Buffalo's Billion-Dollar Freeway Fix Is on Ice, But Not Because of Trump Among those tapped for the task are Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners, who also served on the board of Tesla Inc. and was an early investor in SpaceX — two of Musk's companies — as well as Scott Coulter, formerly of Lone Pine Capital, and Michael Russo, formerly of Shift4, according to people familiar with the moves who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss them. Those names, confirmed in agency and court documents, underscore the importance that the Social Security agency has taken as a beachhead for Musk's government cost-cutting effort. Trump elevated a mid-level anti-fraud specialist, Leland Dudek, to be Social Security's acting commissioner last month — skipping over more than 150 higher-ranking supervisors at the agency. Dudek had cooperated with DOGE, helping to bring Russo and Coulter into the agency, according to a sworn statement filed Friday by Tiffany Flick, the former agency chief of staff who retired when Dudek was promoted. Russo arrived Feb. 3, and 'introduced himself as a DOGE representative to multiple employees on multiple occasions,' Flick said. He now serves as the agency's chief information officer. Russo also brought on Akash Bobba, a former intern for Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies Inc., to analyze Social Security data. Bobba's onboarding was unusual, according to Flick, who said his background check was held up for a few days. She said she received pressure from Russo and Steve Davis, who runs Musk's Boring Co. and is also working for DOGE, to get Bobba credentials by midnight on Feb. 10. Bobba was sworn in over the phone, 'contrary to standard practice,' she said. Flick said she didn't know what DOGE was working on, but that it seemed to have something to do with allegations of widespread fraud that she considered to be 'invalid.' A spokesman for the Social Security Administration did not respond to questions about DOGE's work at the agency. Russo, Gracias, Coulter, Bobba and Davis also did not respond to messages seeking comment. Earlier: Social Security Revamp Sees at Least Two Dozen Leaders Exit Trump has used Social Security as a primary example of what he casts as a government rampant with fraud, waste and abuse, claiming there are millions of people at advanced ages — including some purportedly over 100 years of age — still collecting agency checks. 'I'm not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Now, we're going to get fraud out of there,' Trump told Fox Business in an interviewed aired on Sunday. 'You see where I talk about it all the time? We have people 250 years old and all, tremendous fraud.' Dudek has repeatedly rebutted that claim. While a database of people who have had Social Security numbers is missing dates of death for millions of records, that doesn't mean those people appear in a separate database of beneficiaries, he said. Under Trump, the agency is already undergoing a reorganization, with senior staffers exiting, and job cuts and office reductions in the works — moves which have alarmed Democrats who see them as a threat to a benefits program popular with the American public. --With assistance from Katherine Burton. How Natural Gas Became America's Most Important Export The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes Germany Is Suffering an Identity Crisis 80 Years in the Making Greenland Voters Weigh Their Election's Most Important Issue: Trump An All-American Finance Empire Drew Billions—and a Regulator's Attention ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Debunking Trump's claim that millions of people over age 100 are collecting Social Security checks
U.S. President Donald Trump, in a March 4, 2025, address to Congress, claimed millions of people purportedly over 100 years old were collecting Social Security checks, accusing the federal monthly income program for retirees and other eligible participants of "shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud." His information appeared to come from his adviser, tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has made several claims about improbably old people collecting Social Security payments. While an audit published in 2023 found that the central Social Security database, known as the Numident, does include 18.9 million people born before 1920 who do not have death information on record — making them more than 100 years old if alive — only 44,000 of them were receiving Social Security Administration (SSA) payments. The auditors wrote that the Numident has spotty death records because these individuals died before the use of electronic death reporting. While the agency's missing death records may make it more vulnerable to fraud, the small number of people aged 100 or older actually collecting payments suggests it is not a widespread issue. An earlier audit, published in 2015, determined that while 6.5 million people in the Numident database were found to be above the age of 112, payments were only sent to 266 beneficiaries, most of whom records showed were likely actually under the age of 112. However, that audit also found thousands of potentially fraudulent uses of Social Security numbers connected to improbably old people. The SSA has undergone some efforts to update its records. However, officials decided not to implement recommendations from the auditors because so few people above the age of 112 receive payments and the cost of fixing the Numident's records was not worth the benefits. In a March 4, 2025, speech to Congress, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Social Security government databases list millions of people over 100 years old, many of whom are collecting payments from the monthly federal income program for retirees, people with disabilities and those with a deceased spouse or parent. "We're also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors," Trump said, adding: "Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109." He then continued to list improbably old-age ranges and figures, in the millions, that purportedly represent the number of people in the system labeled as that age, and then ended with a claim that "one person is listed at 360 years of age." A video of his full comments on Social Security during this speech is available on PBS' YouTube page. The numbers Trump cited appeared to match a screenshot Elon Musk, tech billionaire and public face of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), posted on X (archived), the social media platform he owns, allegedly showing people marked as alive in the Social Security database at impossibly high ages. Musk has made claims like these before: In February, he said during a news conference at the White House that a "cursory examination of Social Security" showed "people in there that are about 150 years old." Other X users spread Musk's claims, including one of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr., while a related rumor also circulated online suggesting Musk discovered millions of improbably old people collecting Social Security benefits. The oldest living person in recorded history was reportedly a French woman named Jeanne Calment, who is believed to have lived to 122 (archived). Therefore, if these claims were true, they would likely point to some kind of fraud. However, these claims need context. The Social Security Administration (SSA) does more than just send out payments — it is also in charge of registering unique Social Security numbers and their related information for nearly every legal resident in the U.S. The government and businesses then use these numbers to identify individuals and to track their financial records. A government audit published in July 2023 showed that as of 2020, there were 18.9 million registrants in the central SSA database born in or before 1920 whose death record information was not properly recorded, suggesting they would be more than 100 years old if still alive. However, just because some people were improperly recorded as "alive" did not mean they were receiving payments from the SSA. While the missing death records could make the agency vulnerable to fraud, the same audit found that "almost none" of the registrants born in or before 1920 were receiving benefits at the time of the report. These records were likely spotty because the individuals died before the use of electronic death reporting, the auditors wrote. DOGE and the SSA did not return answers to our inquiries as of this writing. However, we will update this article if they reply. The SSA's central database is called the Numident, or "Numerical Identification System." The Numident is the "numerically-ordered master file" of all assigned Social Security numbers. It is also used to create the SSA's "full file of death information," referred to as the Death Master File (DMF). The DMF is then shared with federal agencies that pay people's benefits. The 2023 audit by the SSA's Office of the Inspector General investigated Social Security number holders older than 100 who did not have death information recorded but were in the Numident. This audit, which used data updated as of December 2020, determined that 18.9 million number holders were born in or before 1920 and did not have death information in the Numident, meaning they were technically recorded as alive in the administration's system. But the same audit found that approximately 98% of these number holders were not receiving SSA payments and had not reported earnings to the SSA in the past 50 years. In other words, only 44,000 were receiving payments. In 2020, at the time of this audit's research, about 80,000 Americans were centenarians, according to the Pew Research Center, a self-described nonpartisan fact tank "that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world." The center said it reached the estimate by analyzing Census Bureau data; however, it was not immediately clear which Census Bureau data the center was referring to. Musk's X post (and Trump's speech) suggest that roughly 20.8 million people aged 100 or older were registered in the SSA database. Given that he posted this several years after auditors collected data for the 2023 report, it is possible that his post correctly shows how many people aged 100 or older do not have death information recorded in the Numident, rather than the number of improbably old people collecting Social Security benefits. However, it was not possible to confirm this without comment from the SSA. It is possible that some of the 44,000 number holders — who were born in or before 1920 at the time of the audit and were receiving SSA benefits — are cases of fraud and listed as "about 150 years old" or even above 200, as Musk claimed. The auditors wrote that the SSA's failure to keep updated death records leaves the agency and other federal agencies that use the Numident open to fraud. However, there were no specific examples presented in the audit of "150-year-old" fraudsters, nor was there any mention of systematic fraudulent activity uncovered by the auditors. SSA also acknowledged on its website that its death records were not comprehensive (emphasis theirs): We collect death information to administer our programs. We receive death reports from many sources, including family members, funeral homes, financial institutions, postal authorities, States and other Federal agencies. It is important to note our records are not a comprehensive record of all deaths in the country. Most of the number holders — about 10.9 million — older than 100 were born in 1899 or earlier and the auditors wrote that it is "likely SSA did not receive or record most of the 18.9 million individuals' death information primarily because the individuals died decades ago—before the use of electronic death reporting." Furthermore, the audit noted that the Numident is not the only way the SSA keeps death records used to terminate payments to deceased Social Security recipients. Per the audit: SSA terminated payments to approximately 623,000 beneficiaries and input death information in its payment records but did not input the death information on the Numident. For example, a retirement beneficiary born in 1917 died in April 2005. SSA terminated her payments and input her date of death in her payment record; however, SSA did not input the death information on the Numident. An earlier Office of the Inspector General audit by the SSA, published in March 2015, looked into individuals above the age of 112 with no death information recorded in the Numident and found 6.5 million people matching this description. It is likely that the claim that Musk discovered 6.5 million people above the age of 112 collecting Social Security payments misrepresents the findings of this audit. While the report did find 6.5 million people with no death information above the age of 112 in the Numident, payments were only sent to 266 beneficiaries recorded as 112 or older. In 253 of these cases, "discrepancies in SSA records indicated the beneficiary receiving payments was not actually born before June 16, 1901," thus making them younger than 112 as of June 15, 2013 (while published in 2015, the audit was conducted between November 2013 and September 2014). Only 13 people who "were likely" above the age of 112 were still collecting payments, according to the audit, which also noted that as of 2015, only 35 known living individuals worldwide were aged 112 or older. The audit did, however, find some potential fraud: We identified thousands of instances of potential identity theft or other fraud involving these SSNs. Specifically, we identified approximately $3.1 billion in earnings reported by employers and self-employed individuals using 66,920 SSNs although they were not the actual numberholder. After the 2015 audit revealed the scope of the SSA's missing death records, SSA officials improved its systems and used historical death information already in its records to "post dates of death to over 10.7 million Numident records, including over 6 million records for individuals over age 112." However, the auditors wrote that SSA officials "disagreed" with the auditors' recommendations to fix the Numident death information records, which included updating its records using death data already held by federal and state governments and developing a way to add death information to the millions of number holders not receiving payments and identified by the audit. They added that "correcting records for non-beneficiaries would divert resources from work necessary to administer and manage its programs." The officials said that the 18.9 million number holders above the age of 100 without recorded death information represent a small fraction of the 531 million unique Social Security numbers issued by the administration and that "almost none" of the 18.9 million currently receive SSA payments. SSA also determined that the "options would be costly to implement, would be of little benefit for the agency, would largely duplicate information already available to data exchange consumers and would create cost for the states and other data exchange partners." However, the auditors said that SSA's decision not to establish "controls to annotate death information" for the records of Social Security number holders who "exceeded maximum reasonable life expectancies" means identity thieves could use these SSNs to create fake identities, open bank accounts or obtain employment, credit, government benefits or private insurance. "We acknowledge that almost none of the number holders discussed in the report currently receive SSA payments," the auditors wrote. "However, SSA issued each of these individuals a valid SSN and these SSNs could allow for a wide range of potential abuse." Improving the records system, the auditors said, could help alert federal agencies to the "suspect nature of activities occurring under these SSNs." Collins, Lauren. "Was Jeanne Calment the Oldest Person Who Ever Lived—or a Fraud?" The New Yorker, 6 Feb. 2020, Accessed 14 Feb. 2025. "Data Exchange – Requesting SSA's Death Information." Accessed 17 Feb. 2025. Ennis, Gail. "Numberholders Age 100 or Older Who Did Not Have Death Information on the Numident." Office of the Inspector General | Social Security Administration, July 2023, Accessed 14 Feb. 2025. O'Carroll Jr., Patrick. "Numberholders Age 112 or Older Who Did Not Have a Death Entry on the Numident." Office of the Inspector General | Social Security Administration, 4 Mar. 2015, Accessed 14 Feb. 2025. Puckett, Carolyn. "The Story of the Social Security Number." Social Security | Office of Retirement and Disability Policy , July 2009, Accessed 17 Feb. 2025. Revell, Eric. "Musk Claims There Are 150-Year-Olds Receiving Social Security Benefits." Fox Business, 12 Feb. 2025, Accessed 14 Feb. 2025. Schaeffer, Katherine. "U.S. Centenarian Population Is Projected to Quadruple over the next 30 Years." Pew Research Center, 9 Jan. 2024, Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk said Social Security is a 'Ponzi scheme.' It's the opposite.
Mega-billionaire and DOGE chief Elon Musk told Joe Rogan last week that he believes Social Security is 'the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time' and suggested the program is wracked by fraud. That's ironic coming from a plutocrat who is peddling false 'savings' to provide cover for his project to hobble the federal government. It was also ironic because Social Security is a highly functioning, universal and exceptionally efficient part of the American social safety net. It's the opposite of a Ponzi scheme. Which is why the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose cutting it. In a Ponzi scheme a scam artist lures investors into a fake investment project, pockets a lot of the cash and uses new 'investors' to funnel cash to the older ones — until new recruits slow down and the whole thing collapses. Everyone is being lied to, and nobody is really getting returns on their investment. Social Security, which has been around since the 1930s, is politically toxic to touch precisely because it does pay everybody out. It is not some kind of black box in which money sloshes around mysteriously but a simple 'pay as you go' program, wherein current workers, via the payroll tax, fund payouts for retirees and disabled people. In 2024, about 1 in 5 U.S. residents received Social Security. As the Social Security Administration explains, 'In 2025, when you work, about 85 cents of every Social Security tax dollar you pay goes to a trust fund. This fund pays monthly benefits to current retirees and their families and to surviving spouses and children of workers who have died. About 15 cents goes to a trust fund that pays benefits to people with disabilities and their families.' And as the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities notes, in part because Social Security is universal and isn't means-tested, it's extremely cost-effective: Managing the program costs less than 1% of the revenue that funds the program. Social Security isn't unreliable — almost all retired Americans pay into it and draw from it. And, as the CBPP explains, Social Security is 'most workers' only source of guaranteed retirement income that is not subject to investment risk or financial market fluctuations.' Musk's argument that Social Security is some kind of scheme to defraud the public rests in part on misinformation about dead people getting payouts. In the interview, Musk repeated a claim about tens of millions of people incorrectly being marked as 'alive' in the Social Security database. But experts have debunked this claim by explaining that Musk has conflated Social Security number figures with actual beneficiaries and said there's no evidence of widespread fraud. The SSA's inspector general found in 2024 that only 0.84% of the trillions of dollars disbursed from 2015 to 2022 were improperly allocated. Most of those improper payments were overpayments, and some of them were recovered. The other thing Musk cites as evidence that Social Security is a scheme are the numbers that show Social Security obligations exceed projected tax revenue. That's true and universally acknowledged — and not remotely scandalous. With people living longer lives and the birth rate decreasing, there will need to be a change to Social Security funding in order to keep the program working at the level it currently works at. There are a number of strategies for dealing with this that have to do with changing the way taxes fund Social Security. The only people in American politics who are likely to pull the rug out from under retirees is today's Republican Party. Musk's misinformation about Social Security, his and President Donald Trump's constant claims that it needs to be probed for a nonexistent mass waste and fraud problems and massive cuts to the Social Security Administration's workforce are themselves the red flags that should have American taxpayers who've paid into the system worried about being taken for a ride. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democrats needle GOP budget plan in hours-long hearing
House Democrats sought to dial up the heat on Republicans on Thursday, as lawmakers considered a budget blueprint that could be key to enacting President Trump's agenda, despite internal GOP rifts over spending and taxes that threaten to impede those efforts. Democrats raised the alarm throughout the hearing over potential cuts to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) while criticizing Republicans on tax proposals they argued would disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans and needling the party on the estimated economic impact of the plan. While the 45-page resolution leaves out key specifics on Republicans' cost-cutting plans, it includes broad instructions that call on committees to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. But Democrats used much of their time seizing on some Republican proposals that have been floated in recent weeks. Among the amendments sought by Democrats was one proposed by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) aiming to strike instructions to the Committee on Agriculture, which the resolution called to find upward of $200 billion in spending reductions. 'Let me be clear about what these cuts mean. We're talking about slashing food assistance for 40 million vulnerable Americans,' Omar argued, accusing Republicans of putting programs like SNAP and the federal supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, commonly known as WIC, 'on the chopping block.' 'Will we take food from working families, from children, from seniors, to give more money to billionaires and millionaires who never worry about grocery prices at the bare minimum? We must not let vital food [assistance] be on the chopping block.' Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) pushed back on Omar's comments shortly after, pointing to increases in federal spending and high inflation in recent years. He also noted Biden-era changes to the Thrifty Food Plan, which is used to determine benefit amounts for the SNAP program. 'We got here a unilateral action by the former president, which literally just dumped $250 billion into the SNAP program, just by executive action,' he said. 'Maybe we should take a look at SNAP.' 'Maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't have a unilateral expansion by the president to expand a poor subsidy of our most vulnerable people,' he also said before adding that average families are spending 'close to an average of $25,000 annually on health insurance between their employers and themselves, all with this false promise of ObamaCare premiums magically giving them health care.' Other amendments offered by Democrats were measures aimed at protecting Medicare, raising the corporate tax rate and closing the carried interest tax break. Republicans pushed back on Democratic criticisms, making the case for curbing spending to tackle the nation's $36 trillion debt while defending tax cuts the party hopes to protect. At one point, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) offered an amendment to affirm that Social Security is 'safeguarded' in the resolution, though she acknowledged the special process by which Republicans are trying to continue Trump's expiring tax cuts does not allow for changes to the entitlement program. 'Instead of a bill that entirely sells out the working-class families for the sake of making billionaires into trillionaires, we would have one [bright] spot, a commitment to ensuring that Social Security program is available for generations of Americans to come,' she said. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) said in response that he thinks the amendment 'should be nongermane' and that his 'Democrat colleagues are then going to use this as a way to write ads' to attack vulnerable GOP members. 'I hate to speak truth in Congress. I know it's not that common, but that's what's going on here, unfortunately,' Moore said. 'So, with all that said, I want to take an opportunity to invite my Democrat colleagues to dig in on the concept of a fiscal commission.' Republican leaders have also drawn red lines around Medicare cuts to help foot the bill for Trump's priorities and have downplayed the chances of cuts to Medicaid benefits. However, Republicans have discussed potential changes to the latter by way of proposals like work requirements. None of the Democratic-backed changes are expected to be adopted, but they provide a glimpse into the opposition campaign Democrats could be waging in the coming months as Republicans try to move forward. The hours-long hearing comes a day after the Senate Budget Committee, also led by Republicans, advanced a narrower budget resolution aimed at boosting funding for border and defense, with sights set on moving a separate, larger tax package later this year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
