Baby Boomers: Social Security and Medicare Are Going to be Okay

The Sunday New York Times contains an interesting opinion piece by columnist, Paul Krugman, entitled, "The Geezers are All Right." http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/krugman-the-geezers-are-all-right.html?hp.  Mr. Krugman is a professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2008. I highly recommend that you read the article if you are concerned about the future of your Social Security and Medicare benefits (and, quite frankly, who isn't?)

The article points out that there is no real need to cut benefits now for anyone since for the time being there is no shortfall.  As Mr. Krugman argues quite persuasively, "[t]he risk is that we might, at some point in the future, have to cut benefits; to avoid this risk of future benefit cuts, we are supposed to act pre-emptively by...cutting future benefits. What problem, exactly, are we solving here?"

Mr. Krugman also points out that the cost of health care has actually appeared to flatten out recently and proposed cuts in Medicare may not be necessary if other measures already in place and soon to be in place, including Obamacare, are fully implemented.

It appears that a lot of the hand-wringing and doom and gloom about these vital social programs is just plain unwarranted. This is not to say that nothing should be done to improve these programs, but cutting benefits now for anyone is not the answer.

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Financial Freedom

The road to financial freedom can be a bumpy one. With children costing some $250,000 to raise according to some published reports (and that does not even include college, which can run another $250,000 at certain private schools) and the prospect of also having to take care of grandchildren (a not uncommon event these days), no wonder more and more people are choosing to defer retirement or even giving up the thought of retiring altogether.  We will try to give you some strategies which may help you through the thicket of information surrounding items such as mutual funds, Social Security, 401 (k)s, IRAs and other financial matters. Of course, you should always consult with a financial professional before manking any changes in your plans and there is no guarantee that you will make money.  We will try to be as factual as we can concerning these topics based upon our independent research, but keep in mind, no one strategy works for everyone.

In our next web we will discuss when you can receive Social Security and what other options you may have.  So, be on the lookout for it.