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Retirement blog
Social Security is not your property, and Flemming v. Nestor said so The Supreme Court held in 1960 that workers have no contractual right to Social Security benefits, so every promise about them is a political one. What the Social Security and Medicare trust funds hold, and depletion day The trust funds hold Treasury IOUs, and when they run out benefits fall automatically to what payroll taxes bring in. Here is the arithmetic. ESG investing with your pension money bends the fiduciary duty owed you A retirement manager owes you loyalty to your financial interest alone. Investing your savings to advance social goals breaks the duty ERISA set in 1974. Pay the Tax Now or Pay It Later? Traditional and Roth Accounts Side by Side Traditional or Roth is a bet on whether your tax rate will be higher now or later. A side-by-side table and a worked hypothetical under three rate scenarios. How a 401(k), a Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA Really Work, in Twelve Questions The common retirement accounts in twelve questions: who opens them, when tax is paid, matching, early withdrawals, rollovers and required distributions. From Savings Banks to Roth Accounts, a Timeline of How Americans Learned to Save Private thrift built American saving, and a few laws let ordinary workers own a nest egg. A dated timeline from the 1816 savings banks to the Roth IRA. Compound Interest Year by Year, the Arithmetic That Rewards the Patient Saver Compound interest is plain arithmetic. Worked year by year at a hypothetical rate, it shows why starting early wins and how fees and inflation bite.