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Eliminating the tax cap is just one of the proposals that could help shore up Social Security's finances.
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 Prices of school supplies increased a shocking 23.7% in the past two years, according to the latest Deloitte Back-to-School survey.
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Are you thinking of retiring soon? Perhaps earlier than you had planned years ago? A potential hurdle could be the incentives set up by the Social Security Administration - they calculate your benefits to reward you for staying in the workforce.
But if you are looking to take an early retirement, you're not alone.
SEE MORE What If I Retired Today?
In the first 15 months of the COVID pandemic (March 2020-May 2021), about 2.5 million Americans retired. That was about twice the number of people who retired in 2019. This means there were essentially 1.2 million fewer people in the workforce over the age of 55 than would otherwise be expected.
First, find out what Social Security benefits you can expect
For anyone born in 1943 or later, your full retirement age, as defined by the Social Security Administration, is between age 66 and 67, based on your birth year. If you're contemplating retiring before that, it's important to know that the Social Security program has been orchestrated to incentivize beneficiaries to delay claiming benefits. Specifically:
If you start taking benefits at age 62, your Retirement Benefit will shrink by 25% to 30%, depending on your birth year. That's because your lifetime annual benefits are decreased by approximately 8% for each year prior to your full retirement age you start to claim them.Conversely, your lifetime annual benefits increase by 8% for each year past your full retirement year if
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Editor's note: This is the final part of a seven-part series. It dives more deeply into the third strategy for defusing a retirement tax bomb, which is Roth conversions. If you missed the introductory article, you may find it helpful to start here.
Because they offer tax-free qualified withdrawals, Roth IRAs and Roth conversions can be a critical strategy for defusing the retirement tax bomb that traditional IRAs, 401(k)s and other pre-tax savings accounts can set you up for in retirement.
A Roth conversion is when you transfer money out of a pre-tax retirement account into an after-tax Roth. Typically, every dollar you convert is taxed as ordinary income, unless the pre-tax account was also funded with after-tax dollars.
SEE MORE Don't Move to Another State Just to Reduce Your Taxes
Here's the problem though: Most people who are facing a retirement tax bomb and are still working probably have high incomes and are in a high marginal tax bracket. The last thing they want is a Roth conversion, which adds to their income and would be taxed at high tax rates.
Instead, this is a good strategy to consider in low-income years, especially for people who retire early in their 50s and early 60s who may have several years to do conversions before Medicare means testing surcharges, Social Security income and RMDs kick in. Many of my clients do several years of annual Roth conversions starting early in retirement.
Three Windows for Roth Conversions
The first window for Roth conversions is the years before enrolling in Medicare, but recal
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Cryptocurrencies, or digital assets, have gone through a lot of turmoil so far in 2022. Since their high-water mark in late 2021, major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum have seen dramatic pullbacks in prices. These pullbacks created a chain reaction in other areas of the digital asset market, which ultimately led to the bankruptcy of several crypto platforms - and a crash that wiped out the value of a few large cryptocurrencies.
Many coins have seen massive price drops since their all-time highs and have not recovered. As an investor, how should you approach crypto now?
Crypto basics & recent tumbles
First, a brief synopsis of crypto and recent major events:
The blockchain technology used to trade cryptocurrencies has been hailed as a game-changer for the future of currency. Users can "confirm transactions without a need for a central clearing authority," which democratizes access to the economy, especially for those who have historically not had access to financial institutions. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and other coins or tokens are simply an alternative form of payment known as digital currencies. While potential drives crypto's allure, so does speculation. And even though crypto has been lauded as "inflation-proof," its recent tumbles affect their market value rapidly.
SEE MORE Crypto in My 401(k)? In One Way It Makes Sense, But on the Other Hand …
One of the major events that occurred recently was the dramatic collapse in value of
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