RetirementRevised

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

In the world of funhouse mirrors that is the Trump administration, it’s difficult to keep straight what exactly we should be worried about when it comes to Social Security and dead people. First, it was millions of 150-year-olds receiving benefits despite (presumably) having died (false). Now, the administration has taken the unprecedented step of adding the names of living persons to what’s known as the SSA Death Master File.

2 weeks ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

These days, you really need to stay on top of developments at the Social Security Administration. The news has been breaking . . . fast and furious, let’s say. Today’s newsletter on how to navigate SSA chaos - which I sent less than an hour ago - included discussion of the agency’s plans to sharply curtail transactions available through its toll-free line. But it turns out the agency this week decided to back off that plan.

2 weeks ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

Customer service at the Social Security Administration has been bad for years - and now it’s getting worse. Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative is leading a Trump administration plan to reduce the SSA workforce by 7,000 people - roughly 12% of the workforce - through voluntary separation or firings, and limiting the scope of services available through the toll-free phone line in a way that is expected to force a much larger number of people to visit overworked field offices to transact business.

2 weeks ago | retirementrevised.substack.com | Mark Miller

When the stock market goes through a stomach-churning drop, retirement investors are naturally inclined to want to do something about it. We certainly are at such a point now. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished on Friday down 14.9% from its recent high. The Nasdaq Composite is down 22.7% from its recent high. (When markets drop more than 20%, that’s consider a bear market.). But doing “something” just might be your worst move. The time to act is before the market gets rough.

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

The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE crew are continuing their shakeup of the Social Security Administration (SSA) as they continue to hunt for massive fraud that doesn’t exist at the agency. This week, the DOGE hunt shifted into a new gear that will hurt millions of people applying for benefits. The SSA announced that it no longer will process benefit claims through its toll free phone line unless applicants provide separate proof of identity.