Aug 27 Ask Larry: How Do I Estimate Social Security Benefits If I Don’t Know My Ex’s Earnings? Retirement plan image by Kick Images via Getty Images. Retirement expert Laurence Kotlikoff advises Making Sen$e readers on various Social Security subjects, including how to determine what benefits one might receive even if they don't know their ex's entire… Continue reading
Aug 24 Days Before the Republican National Convention, ‘Hurricane’ Isaac Marks Tampa’s Excitement Paul Solman interviews Douglas Holtz-Eakin, left, former chief economic policy advisor to John McCain in 2008 in Tampa, Fla. before the Republican National Convention gets underway. Just leaving Tampa today as the bulk of the Republican Party arrives. The… Continue reading
Aug 24 How Safe are Government Bonds in Cyberspace? Photo by the PBS NewsHour. Paul Solman frequently answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Friday's query comes from a reader at Next Avenue. The NewsHour has partnered… Continue reading
Aug 23 Stash the ‘stache? And the Verdict Is… America has spoken. Or, to be more accurate, 80 percent of my grandchildren have (the fifth was born in March) and a slightly smaller portion of the population as a whole. The question my colleagues posted on Making Sen$e:… Continue reading
Aug 23 Is a Progressive Flat Tax an Oxymoron? A protestor wears stickers on his face during a tax day demonstration April 17, 2012 in New York City. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Paul Solman frequently answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here… Continue reading
Aug 22 On the QT: A Few More Social Security Secrets Why this picture? Because our Social Security expert, Laurence Kotlikoff, sometimes advises older couples to get married only after age 60 in order to collect maximum benefits. Photo by Annie Griffiths Belt, National Geographic collection via Getty Images. Continue reading
Aug 21 Revisiting Bernini, Master of Marble The trigger for this post is the publication of a new book on Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, "Bernini's Beloved: A Portrait of Costanza Piccolomini." The author, Emory University art historian Sarah McPhee, is the daughter of New… Continue reading
Aug 21 Can Families with Small Kids Cut the Boarding Line? United Airlines planes parked at the terminal at San Francisco International Airport. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Paul Solman frequently answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Here… Continue reading
Aug 20 Your Social Security Questions, Answered Retirement expert Laurence Kotlikoff answers more of your Social Security questions, including what to do before reaching 70, the full retirement age. Photo by Purestock via Getty Images. Editor's Note | This post was updated after publishing. Larry Kotlikoff's… Continue reading
Aug 20 What Student Loan “Crisis”? We reported on student loan debt in a pair of stories earlier this year: "The State Of Student Loans: More Debt, More Defaults, More Problems" and "Student Loan Debt: To Pay or Not to Pay?" Paul Solman… Continue reading