Raising the retirement age is one Social Security reform measure that continually gets proposed. But according to Richard W. Johnson, an economist at the Urban Institute who specializes in employment and retirement decisions made by older Americans, raising the retirement age would inflict serious harm on roughly one-quarter of Social Security beneficiaries.

Even when their wealth would allow them to retire comfortably, many clients postpone leaving the working world. Recent academic studies observed the increased workforce participation of the retirement-aged population in the United States over the past three decades, trying to figure out why so many people want to keep working beyond the age of 65.

Social Security might have a shot at surviving for another generation, and that’s thanks to 78.1 million individuals who will be contributing to it—the generation after millennials, those who were born after 1997 and make up what is known as Generation Z.

Social Security has closed 67 field offices since fiscal 2010 in rural and urban areas alike. For the public, the cuts have meant less access to field offices, and ballooning wait times in the remaining 1,229 offices and on the agency’s toll-free line. It also has meant long delays in hearings on disability insurance appeals and in resolving benefit errors.

According to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, no social program does more for the American public than Social Security. Yet, there’s always debate over just how much Social Security actually does for the average retired worker. After all, in September 2018, the average retired worker was bringing home just $1,417.22 a month, or a little over $17,000 a year, based on data from the Social Security Administration. That doesn’t seem like a lot of money considering that many of these workers potentially paid into the system for three, four, or even five decades. Read on to find out why you're probably getting your money’s worth from Social Security.

Survey after survey reveals that millennials are resigned to the idea that Social Security, as we know it, might not be there by the time they reach retirement age. However, Social Security is not a hot-button issue for them. Benefits seem foreign and too distant to young workers. Yet the future of Social Security hinges on energizing those millennials to be concerned about this dilemma. And the way to do this is by making the issues around fixing Social Security relatable to them.

As part of ongoing research into public attitudes about long-term health care in the U.S., AP-NORC conducted the poll to learn more about the stresses and burdens caregivers experience as they help their disabled loved ones remain living in their homes and communities. In earlier research, AP-NORC learned that about 40 percent of Americans have experience providing long-term care to an older family member or friend.

Happy Thanksgiving from all the staff here at Horsesmouth. We hope that you, your families, and your clients have a wonderful holiday season. In honor of the holiday we are stepping away from retirement news to bring you former Senior Editor Nicole Coulter’s 10 tips for feeling more gratitude this holiday season:

74% of parents in a recent T. Rowe Price survey said that saving for college was a higher priority for them than saving for retirement. It’s an understandable mistake: college is more immediate and top of mind. But many financial advisors are trying to remind parents that retirement is more important.

Married couples don’t necessarily know what the other spouse is thinking about retirement. This insight came out of a new Fidelity Investments survey that asked some 1,600 people if they knew when their significant other planned to retire. Only 43 percent answered the question correctly. This disconnect reveals just how few couples are talking about retirement, said Fidelity spokesman Ted Mitchell, who worked on the survey.

Many advisors hear high earning clients and prospects tell them, “Social Security isn’t for me. I can’t count on it.” Okay, says this well-paid doctor, but you’ll be missing out. Here’s his argument for why even those who make a lot of money—and theoretically have a lot of savings—should consider Social Security as part of their retirement plan.

This week saw one of the most significant midterm elections in recent history, with significant implications for the outlook on public policies and legislation affecting aging and older Americans. Health and aging issues drove the midterms more than other issues, including preserving the Affordable Care Act (with special emphasis on threats to pre-existing condition protections), considering Medicare for All proposals, and lowering prescription drug costs. Here’s an analysis by Bob Blancato, executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, courtesy of nextavenue.org. Find the full article here.

In a 2018 trend report, researchers at Deloitte estimate 77 million people within Europe, India, and the United States formally identify themselves as freelancers. In the US alone, 3.7 million Americans were working on-demand in 2016; an updated forecast from Intuit and Emergent Research suggests that this number will surge to 9.2 million in 2021. Gig work is often portrayed as a young person’s game—the purview of indecisive millennials who can’t commit to a “real” career path or who graduated into the recession and never landed a full-time job. At the least, on-demand work seems to require a degree of energy and technological savvy typically associated with youth. But almost one-third (31%) of Americans who work exclusively in the gig economy are baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1965.

Uncle Sam has a birthday gift for certain people who make it to 100: A tax bill. This applies to those who purchased so-called permanent life insurance to address complex financial planning needs, including estate planning. These contracts come with a savings component, known as cash value, which accumulates free of taxes.

President Trump proposed last week that Medicare pay for certain prescription drugs based on the prices paid in other advanced industrial countries—a huge change that could save money for the government and for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.

The idyllic retirement: free time to enjoy doing things you like and spending time with friends and family. The reality of retirement for some people, according to Michelle Pannor Silver, author of the new book, Retirement and Its Discontents: unfulfilling, rudderless and filled with a loss of identity.

Roughly 10,000 to 15,000 people become eligible each day to file for Social Security benefits, and more and more of them are applying online. As straightforward as the process may seem, sometimes it helps to have written instructions. Here they are, with additional notes for filing a restricted application (available to those born before 1954).

The Social Security Administration issued a warning October 10 about an ongoing Office of the Inspector General (OIG) impersonation scheme. The scheme echoes a pattern where thieves pretend to be from government agencies, like those involving scammers posing as callers from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The big announcements are here! The Social Security Administration recently released the official cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2019, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced 2019 premiums.

Americans planning for retirement will find both positive and negative news in HealthView Services’ 2018 Retirement HealthCare Costs Data Report. The projections for health care costs in retirement are a little lower than last year’s report, but legislative changes to Social Security and Medicare have eliminated strategies that increased lifetime benefits and elevated the number of retirees who face Medicare surcharges. The long-term trend of cost-shifting health-related expenses to retirees continues.