The financial news that actually matters
Covers Social Security benefits, eligibility rules, payment calculations, and policy changes. It explains how benefits are determined and how they impact retirement income.
Workers’ compensation can reduce Social Security Disability Insurance when the combined public payments exceed 80% of a worker’s average earnings before disability. The reduction is an offset rather than a finding that the worker is no longer disabled; the calculation can include periodic payments, lump-sum settlements and certain public disability benefits, while private disability insurance…
An adult whose disability began before age 22 may qualify for Social Security benefits based on a parent’s earnings record. The parent must generally be receiving retirement or disability benefits, or have died after earning enough Social Security coverage. The program is commonly called Disabled Adult Child benefits, but the claimant must satisfy Social Security’s…
A parent who loses an adult child may be eligible for Social Security survivor benefits if the parent is at least 62 and depended on that child for at least half of financial support. The benefit is not automatic, and proof of support generally must be filed within a limited period. Other conditions can prevent…
A worker who retires in the middle of 2026 can sometimes receive full Social Security checks for the remaining months even after earning more than the annual limit earlier in the year. The special first-year rule looks at wages and self-employment month by month; for someone under full retirement age throughout 2026, a month can…
Social Security is expanding an electronic bank-account verification tool used in the Supplemental Security Income program. The stated purpose is to detect accounts and improper payments earlier, reducing the chance that an eligibility problem grows into a large debt owed back to the agency. The initiative applies to SSI, a needs-based program with strict resource…
A paper benefit check sitting in a mailbox is an easy target, and mail theft has surged in recent years. Moving Social Security payments to electronic delivery removes the physical check from the equation entirely, which closes off one of the simplest ways a thief can intercept a retiree’s income. For most beneficiaries, electronic payment…
Retirement abroad appeals to a growing number of Americans, drawn by lower costs or family ties overseas. A common worry is whether leaving the country means giving up Social Security. For most retirees, it does not. Benefits generally continue in most of the world, with a short list of exceptions and a few reporting rules…
Retirees who claim Social Security early and keep working often worry that every dollar they earn or receive will chip away at their benefit. The rules are narrower than that fear suggests. Only certain kinds of income count against the limit that can temporarily reduce a benefit, and a great deal of a retiree’s money…
One of the simplest and most overlooked defenses against benefit theft is a free step most retirees have not taken. Claiming a personal online account with the Social Security Administration, before anyone else can, closes off a common avenue that identity thieves use to intercept payments. The protection comes not from anything the account does…
Social Security is usually pictured as income for the worker who earned it, and perhaps for a spouse. But a retiree who still has young or dependent children can trigger a second set of monthly checks, payments made to the children themselves and drawn on the same earnings record. It is an easily overlooked benefit…