The morning after his 67th birthday, Marty McGowan filed for Social Security. That wasn’t his original plan. He had intended to wait until he was 70 to claim benefits, in exchange for a heftier payment that would have yielded an extra $800 a month. But like other retirees in recent months, he was watching the…
As Elon Musk sought to reassure Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that he would soon scale back his work with the federal government, the strain of his situation was audible in his voice. The world’s richest man said that he would continue arguing that the Trump administration should lower tariffs it has imposed on countries…
When Eleanor H., 66, called the Social Security Administration last month seeking details about her retirement benefits, she didn’t expect to comfort the representative who answered. The woman started sobbing. “I asked her what was wrong, and she said she and her co-workers were informed by email to accept a taxable $20,000 payout or risk…
Last week, Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, sought to reassure Democrats on Capitol Hill about the presence of two of Elon Musk’s allies at her agency. The Social Security Administration keeps medical information, bank account numbers and other sensitive personal data about the roughly 70 million Americans it provides with…
Amid the global turmoil of this young new year comes a flurry of welcome developments that will help many people — especially retirees and those close to retirement — supercharge their savings, cut prescription drug costs, keep more of the money they earn and, possibly, raise their credit scores. Fair warning, though: It’s complicated. The…
The Social Security Administration receives billions in free money each year from an unexpected source: undocumented immigrants. This group paid an estimated $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022, according to a recent analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning tax research group. Since unauthorized workers cannot collect retirement and…