RetirementRevised

1 month ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

How to manage for the possibility that you’ll need expensive long-term care as you age? This has long been one of the toughest challenges in retirement planning and policy circles. Will you need care? Probably—but the intensity and duration of need are impossible to predict. Who will provide care - a family member or a paid professional? How will you pay for care? Insurance is one logical solution for an unknown, potentially expensive risk like this. But in this case, not so much.

1 month ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

The Republican party seems intent on slashing Medicaid funding to offset their proposed tax cuts, despite a clear lack of public support for the idea. Polling by KFF shows that fewer than one in five adults (17%) want to see Medicaid funding decreased, and most think funding should either increase (42%) or be kept about the same (40%). These Medicaid cuts would have a devastating effects on health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.

1 month ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

Whenever I write about the question of when to claim Social Security benefits, I underscore the idea that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But for most people, a delayed claim is compelling from a financial standpoint. You can file for a retirement benefit as early as age 62, but most people will be better off delaying their claim. For every month of delay, up to age 70, your monthly benefit increases to reflect the delay in claiming.

1 month ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

If you missed my webinar presentation yesterday on the current chaos at the Social Security Administration, the video replay is here. The free event was sponsored by LiveAgeWell in Edgewater on Chicago’s north side, and the Chicagoland Villages Collaborative. I framed the conversation with some discussion of Social Security’s critical importance as our only universal, guaranteed-income retirement program - and some history of ways the program has been attacked by the right over the years.

1 month ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

Here’s a quick reminder to newsletter subscribers to join me for a one-hour free webinar this afternoon on the current chaos at the Social Security Administration. The Trump/DOGE shakeup of the SSA has created a great deal of anxiety for retirees - and people getting close to retirement - about accessing benefits and transacting business with the agency.