Early Retirees Face Shaky Financial Future

Payouts will exceed tax receipts for first time since 1980s

(AP) - Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next 2 years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s. The deficits—$10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011—won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit. More»

(NEWSER) - Low inflation could force the IRS to decrease the amount workers can contribute to their 401(k) plans to $16,000, USA Today reports. It would mark the first time the government has ever lowered contribution limits. Though a spokesperson says it’s too early for speculation, the IRS may not have any choice. "A strict interpretation of the code could lead them to believe that's their only option," a consultant says. More»

(NEWSER) - Social Security and Medicare are headed toward disaster, and that’s a good thing, Robert J. Samuelson writes in Newsweek. The programs are expected to run out of money by 2017 and 2037, respectively, and when they do, politicians will have to make painful, necessary reforms. “The counterintuitive lesson: a ‘crisis’ is just what we need,” writes Samuelson. More»

And why is retirement reform taboo?

(NEWSER) - Snow White’s dwarf pals are so happy to go to work that they sing about it, “and they’re 71 years old,” writes Irwin Stelzer of the Weekly Standard. “So why do so many of us less vertically disadvantaged worry about” extending the retirement age? Average life expectancy at 65 has jumped from 77 to 87 since Social Security was established, but the retirement age hasn’t budged. More»

Watershed moment as first Baby Boomer starts collecting Social Security

(NEWSER) - The first Baby Boomer will collect her—and her generation's—first Social Security check next month, and she can expect a lot of attention, reports AARP The Magazine. Kathleen Casey-Kirschling was born at 12:00:01 on January 1, 1946, and her big move spotlights the way her generation will both redefine retirement and squeeze Social Security to the limit. More»