According to the San Francisco Chronicle, if you can believe the federal government, Social Security needs an overhaul but it’s future is far from dire.

“The fact that the costs for the program will likely exceed tax revenue this year is not a cause for panic but it does send a strong message that it’s time for us to make the tough choices that we know we need to make,” Commissioner of Social Security Michael J. Astrue said in an August 2010 news release that accompanied the Social Security’s Board of Trustees annual report on the Social Security program’s outlook.

The Bottom Line

Social Security can be a politically charged discussion but the best way to protect yourself from these problems is to make sure you are adequately funded for retirement. Figure out how much money you need to live the way you would like and prepare for that now. Don’t rely on the government to provide it for you, because the jury’s still out on whether it will be able to do so. (For related information, also take a look at 10 Common Questions About Social Security.) See report here:

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There is a little-understood aspect of laws in 15 states that allows those states to offset retirment benefits they pay to employees Why? Because they can. Legislatures see a way to recoup funds for the state budget by offsetting a portion of the SOcail Security benefits earned agains the state benefit. Change is afoot.

The San Francisco Chonicle reports today that “in California and 14 other states where teachers do not participate in Social Security, second-career educators who previously held private-sector jobs where they paid into Social Security see some of that money evaporate in retirement because of a decades-old law. They can lose up to $381 a month of their own benefits – Social Security income that their payroll taxes should have guaranteed them.

“In Young’s case, her teacher’s pension will reduce the amount of Social Security she receives from her previous career. The pension also will cut what she can receive from her late husband’s Social Security benefits. Overall, she expects to lose several hundred dollars a month of retirement income – even though she and her husband both fully paid into the Social Security system.” Read more:

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