A 67-year-old retiree picks up two consulting clients, works roughly 20 hours a week, and bills out at around $50 an hour. That is about $50,000 a year layered on top of Social Security…
A dog trainer from Alaska called into The Ramsey Show recently and almost broke down on air. She had been self-employed for seven years and finally sat down to build her first real budget.…
On a recent episode of How to Money, a listener named Suzanne asked whether she should track her credit card rewards as part of her monthly budget. The hosts pushed back hard. I’ve been…
Social Security is a complicated program because it allows retirees lots of choices as to when they can start their benefits for the first time. Unfortunately, it can become even more complex for married couples,…
The TIAA Institute’s 2025 P-Fin Index put a deceptively simple question to U.S. adults: how much of a typical retiree’s healthcare expenses does Medicare actually cover? The big takeaway is that only 26% of…
When most people think of Social Security benefits, they think of retirement benefits. But these are not the only kind of benefits that are available. There are multiple other sources of income from the Social…
Picture a retiree who has circled April on the calendar, the month she turns 67 and wants Social Security to start. She has run the numbers, weighed claiming earlier versus waiting until 70, and…
A 68-year-old retiree living alone collects $30,000 a year from Social Security and pulls another $35,000 from a traditional IRA to satisfy required minimum distributions (RMDs). On paper, $65,000 of gross income sounds like…
Social Security Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) are critical to seniors' financial security. Many retirees rely on their benefits to fund basic living expenses. If benefits didn't increase over time, their buying power would…
For decades, a particular kind of federal widow learned to live with a strange arithmetic: her late husband paid into Social Security through a side job, she qualified for a spousal or survivor benefit…
A retired couple, both 65, sits down with $5.8 million and two very different visions of retirement. One spouse imagines spending half the year in Belize, trading high U.S. costs for warm weather and…
The FAA does not negotiate with calendars. A captain who turns 65 stops flying revenue passengers under Part 121 the next morning, regardless of medical, simulator scores, or seniority. That hard stop is also…
The Social Security Administration provides important benefits to retirees and the disabled, many of whom depend on the income they receive. Unfortunately, sometimes the Administration overpays people who are receiving Social Security benefits or…
A 67-year-old retiree with $1.8 million appears, at first glance, to have retirement solved. Following the classic 4% rule, her portfolio generates $72,000 a year, and another $36,000 from Social Security pushes annual income…
On the May 4 episode of How to Money, co-host Joel Larsgaard described setting up a Roth IRA for his daughter at Fidelity. He received a call from the brokerage flagging that most of…
