Now that McCain has come out on top, we'll be looking at his positions on retirement issues to see what if anything changes as the message is tuned to beat the Democratic nominee.

At the point where Mitt Romney withdrew his candidacy, he had no votes in our poll.  It was curious.  For as much visibility he had as a top contender and the money spent on his campaign, no votes at all indicated little interest in his message, from our point of view.

The basics are that you can file for partial benefits when you reach the age of 62.  Depending on when you were born, you can file for full benefits when you are 65, 66, or 67.

Many people wonder whether they should consider filing for partial benefits, or wait to file for full benefits.  You need to know which rules apply to you in order to know your options.

We've included links to a story in the Burlington Free Press, and here's a link to the official Social Security benefit calculator.

From the Burlington Free Press

A story in the NYT is the basis of a post that discusses President Bush's proposed cuts in payments to hospitals.  They are pretty serious cuts in future funding, and the logic of the proposal is suspect, because it appears that private insurance is expected to make up the shortfall.  We, and others, doubt that will happen.  

The writer goes on to use this as an example of how bad it would be if Hillary Clinton's, or what he refers to as "Beltway Idiots" plans for health care succeed.  We get the connection, but using a Bush plan as an example of how it's bad for the government to be responsible for anything would potentially have us take all responsibility for everything away from government.  When an administration has low approval ratings like Bush-Cheney, and a track record for being wrong on predicting the outcome of their actions, one can forget that it doesn't have to be that way.  In our history, we have had governments from both parties that, however briefly, had our best interests at heart, acted accordingly and gave us government that worked.   

We hope the candidates from both parties remember that, during the campaign, and after.

From healthcarebs.com

NASI has released a report that includes comparison of the value of Social Security to equivalent private insurance policies, focusing on groups that are at higher risk of having inadequate funds.  The report consolidates information from 12 organizations, funded by the Ford Foundation. 

The press release has the highlights. If you have ever wondered what it would cost to have your own Social Security insurance, here it is.

National Academy of Social Insurance - Publications
"WASHINGTON, DC - For most Americans, the value of their Social Security is the biggest accumulation of dollars they will take into retirement. In fact, for two-thirds of recipients over the age of 65, Social Security is more than half of their income during retirement, according to a new report released today by the non-partisan National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI)."

Entrepreneurs don't earn as much as they would if they worked for someone else. That's the message. 

Most of the comments that accompany the story (so far) argue against Shane's conclusions, for a variety of reasons. The interview does point out some things anyone considering starting their own business should know, and do. Nothing you won't find in many primers on startups, but it's good advice. It's the conclusion that seems to be causing a stir. 

We wish we could give you a hotlink to the story, but BusinessWeek.com forbids the use of "deep links" on their site. We aren't sure exactly why they don't want traffic from sites that find their content interesting, but whatever the reason, we don't want to violate their terms of use. Can't even link to their terms of use (we suppose) so if you are interested, you'll have to find your way there from their home page. (others have also mentioned this here and here) 

What do you think of Scott Shane's conclusion? Entepreneurship is a component of many "retirement" plans these days. (See Susan Reid's post of 1/23) Should we have second thoughts? Send us a comment, and go to BusinessWeek and leave one there.

FYI - You may "deep link" to any page on ThinkRetirement.  Be our guest!

Edwards, Giuliani, Kucinich and Hunter are gone.  We have a two person race to the finish on the Democratic side and what looks to be a battle between McCain and Romney, with Huckabee and Paul trying to be heard.  

Time to catch up.  We have fewer plans to evaluate for their positions on retirement issues, hopefully it will be easier to see the differences between their positions.

The Candidate Poll has been revised.  If you voted for any of the candidates that have withdrawn, please vote again.  

More later...

ThinkRetirement is but one stop on Susan's Virtual Book Tour.  Visit WME Books to see the tour itinerary and see where she's been and where she's going!

Susan's main site is Alkamae.com.  Check out her blog.

You can buy Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Journey to Business Success directly from WME Books. Or, through Amazon.com.

Two recent driving trips through Florida, from Jacksonville to Key West (and back) support the article's suggestion that there is plenty of real estate to be had.  Our own observations are that properties that have been on the market for over two years are often still listed at the same price as the initial listing, or only slightly less.  

The real opportunities may still be out there.  

(If you can sell the home you have, and move... another topic for another time)   

Is it spin, or just bad reporting on CNN's part?  It's one thing for a television "news" show with a particular point of view to spin a story the way they want, using unsubstantiated fears as a pivot to leverage opinion.  Hopefully,most of us can see those shows and "news reports" for what they really are, but what is this?

We seriously doubt whether "Everybody knows" and "Voter's know" would never qualify as substantiation for a story in any journalism course.

It doesn't help the dialogue and certainly doesn't serve the public interest for our news outlets to crank out stories that aren't supported by facts they can cite.  It's called "fact checking" and it used to be a requisite part of reporting.  

Take a look at the video linked on the mediamatters.org page.   

It's not like there aren't some real issues that need to be addressed in terms of the viability of Social Security and it's funding, but the scare tactic that it's going to run out of funds and that everyone knows that to be true is simply unprofessional for someone who thinks of themselves as a journalist.   

    

We are excited to have Dr. Reid as our guest and look forward to her insights into "retirement."

From a retirement perspective, health care costs can rapidly deplete retirement savings, and access to good health care coverage becomes more difficult as one ages.  Medicare is there, but many retired persons augment Medicare with additional coverage obtained from private insurers.

The next administration will face big challenges in the health care arena.  How effective they will be in changing the status-quo will depend on where they are coming from.
http://www.dmiblog.com/archives/2008/01/presidential_candidates_are_no.html

Note: The Fred Thompson votes in our informal poll on the candidates will be removed from the results.  If you voted for Fred Thompson, you may cast your vote for one of the remaining candidates.

Much is being made of the confrontation that took place between Clinton and Obama in the debate last night, and perhaps we saw something of the character and tenacity of all three of the participants.  Beyond that, the real education was in the subject of the discussions and the health care plans were part of it. 

Here's a brief article from Rolling Stone on the subject, as we find more detailed arcticles on the debate and the issues, they will be posted.

Here's an older article from the Washington Post Blog on the differences between the Clinton and Obama plans.

Should Government worker benefits be reduced because they worked additional jobs to augment their income?  

From - WKYT - WYMT News 57 Mountain News Homepage

"The National Education Association estimates that 300,000 individuals are losing an average of $3,600 a year due to the Government Pension