Alison Furney’s Post

Social Security Wrestles With $63 Trillion in Unfunded Liabilities Findings complement other reports identifying the fiscal deterioration of Social Security. - Social Security is facing $63 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, according to the 2024 Old Age, Survivors, Disability Insurance (OASDI) trustees report. - The OASDI report assessed the infinite horizon unfunded obligation and a 75-year projection. The former highlighted a shortfall of $62.8 trillion, and the latter projected a deficit of nearly $23 trillion. - Officials say that the summarized deficits reflect annual cash-flow shortfalls in the years following the depletion of trust funds reserves. - OASDI trustees note that the shortfall could be eliminated if the combined payroll tax rate was raised to “about 17.0 percent” or if there were a “permanent reduction in benefits for all current and future beneficiaries by about 26.5 percent.” https://lnkd.in/gP-nPuri

👀 MUST READ POST - THEY'RE GUARANTEEING YOU'LL LOSE MONEY 👀 Did anyone see the Fauci and Garland testimonies on the Hill this week? While news headlines focused on Fauci and Garland, a critical Social Security testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee went unnoticed – and it’s something every American worker and retiree needs to hear. THIS MEANS YOU! Social Security is a critical program that directly impacts the lives of nearly all working Americans and retirees. The system is funded by contributions from workers (<insert your name here>), and those contributions are used to pay benefits to current retirees. However, during the committee meeting the Chief Actuary of Social Security plainly stated that Social Security's key trust fund will be fully depleted sometime between April and November of 2033, less than a decade from now. In nine years, when the trust fund is depleted, the Chief Actuary warned that retiree benefits will be cut by over 20%. This drastic reduction will be necessary because payroll tax revenue will be the sole remaining funding source for benefits at that time. We aren't statisticians at Ingram Capital, but when the head statistician of Social Security says that we're all guaranteed to lose money with lower benefits or higher taxes (probably both), we pay close attention. Ingram Capital exists to help you passively invest in real estate in order to create the life you dream about. We cannot fix Social Security, but we can help you enjoy more financial well-being in your life. Join our investor tribe today and we'll be happy to show you how! https://lnkd.in/gz7P9cHb Bryant Dawson Billy Helvey Morgan Ehrenzeller Read the SSA report: https://lnkd.in/gwSU_KwE

#CBUS has been in the political news lately relating to delays in payouts however readers might not realise that many of these matters are usually more complex that #ASIC or Senator Andrew Bragg are making it seem to be. The following links to an article by a journalist implies wrongdoing by the SuperFunds however I know of two current cases where there is potential for a level of fraud or misinformation may be involved and any claims officer dealing with claims need to be mindfull more about investigating obtaining full information than worried about the public outcry about the time it takes to process claims by Cbus Super Fund but how do other super funds such as Australian Retirement Trust Aware Super Hostplus Superhero Colonial First State UniSuper HESTA Catholic Super Vanguard Australia Super and numerous others process their claims for Death & Disability more efficiently? Read what the #ATO has to say about the topic on their website. Superannuation Death & Disability Claims A new battleground "As ASIC prepares to release a claims handling report covering death and disability claims into super early next year and is widely expected to bring a few more cases like Cbus to fruition, the new battleground will be trust, customer service, transparency, liquidity and accountability. Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who chairs the senate inquiry into super, says industry funds have an unsustainable governance model. He told the ABC the committee will release its report into super next February. He said it will look at capital requirements, governance and board relationships with sponsoring organisations as well as claims handling in light of ASIC's decision to Cbus alleging systemic claims-handling failures, after lengthy delays in death and disability claims." A new battleground is starting to open up over superannuation — and members will be paying attention - ABC News https://lnkd.in/g39wFVdc https://lnkd.in/gkiD2AZA I am currently offering a #Free Service for staff concerned about their employer not paying supernnation contributions to their super fund. For further information #MessageMeOnLinkedIn

"Increases to pay related social insurance (PRSI) proposed by the Government are broadly “progressive” in nature, with the burden of higher contributions falling mostly on higher income households, new research has found. Still, further increases will be required after 2028 to deal with projected deficits in the State pension. The findings are contained in two Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) reports published on Wednesday. Researchers examined the impact of the proposed increases to PRSI contributions, which are to be implemented each year from 2024 to 2028 under the roadmap set out by the Coalition last year to combat a widening shortfall in the Social Insurance Fund out of which the State pension is paid." 💡 Read the key findings from Budget Perpsectives 2025: https://lnkd.in/e_QU4TCW 📰 Read coverage in The Irish Times:

This week, Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual report on the financial health of the various Trust Funds under their purview. The modestly good news, if there is any, is that the projected depletion dates for the trust funds remained generally stable relative to last year’s forecasts. It was feared that the insolvency dates, particularly for Social Security’s old-age benefit program, could be pulled forward. Though not ‘new’ by any means, the very difficult long-term financial situation of these programs remains very clear and very consequential. Trust Fund administrators now forecast that payments out of Social Security’s Old-Age & Survivors Insurance (OASI) Fund will take a 21% haircut at some point in 2033 when the Trust Fund assets dedicated to the program are projected to become depleted. The “good news” is that in 2023, the public statement was that there would be a 24% cut in 2033. Now, there is a 21% cut. At that time, under current law, payments to all program recipients would be adjusted to match the dedicated payroll taxes coming into the fund. Trust fund administrators calculate that tax in-flows at that time would be equivalent to about 79% of benefit payments. As such, all OASI program payments (aka Social Security income checks) would see an immediate 21% haircut. In 2023, Social Security’s OASI program paid-out $1.23 trillion in payments to recipients while taking-in $1.05 trillion from the payroll taxes dedicated to the program. The Social Security “trust fund” is being depleted each year and this is projected to continue without Congressional fixes and solutions. How is your retirement plan looking with a possible future cut? I can help you look at how this might impact you. Give me a call at 513-346-1771 or message me and perhaps we can have a virtual meeting?

AFCA has released a consultation paper outlining its revised guidance for distributing superannuation death benefits. Submissions can be made until October 25. AFCA is sticking to its mantra that the purpose of a super death benefit is to provide for those who would have continued to rely on the member for financial support if the member was still alive. That isn’t new, but it is slightly more interesting when the government is legislating the purpose of super - and this isn’t it. That said, the government is focussed on the purpose of the super system at a macro level, rather than the purpose of discretionary trustee decisions. Most of the revised AFCA position will be familiar to practitioners. A few points are worth noting. ☠️ AFCA comments on domestic abuse. In cases where a potential beneficiary abused the deceased member, this “may” be relevant when allocating the death benefit. On the other hand, if the deceased member didn’t support their children when they were growing up, AFCA says this doesn’t impact the death benefit distribution, because (according to AFCA) it isn’t the purpose of super to right past wrongs. 💯 In the past, it often felt like AFCA’s view was that, if there is only one dependant, they should get the lot. That mindset has led to windfall scenarios where there is only one financial dependant who only just barely qualified as a financial dependant. AFCA’s new paper says there can be circumstances where the death benefit could be paid to a legal personal representative, even if there are dependants. 💯 If there are multiple dependants, their relative expectations of financial support should be taken into account, meaning some financial dependants can receive more or less than others. If there are minor children and adult children, the minor children generally have first dibs on the death benefit to claim the amount of financial support they would have received up to their 18th birthday. After that, if the death benefit is big enough, they are on equal footing with their adult siblings when splitting the rest. 👁️🗨️ It will be interesting to see whether, in future, this concept of proportionality is also deployed in cases where the potential beneficiaries are a dependant (with marginal financial dependence) and the member’s legal personal representative. 👌 To be a financial dependant (and therefore eligible to receive a death benefit), there needs to be more than occasional financial support. Generally, there needs to be regular financial contributions, even if they are small amounts. 🤔 Even if the member specifically dealt with their super death benefit in their Will, AFCA seems determined to pay death benefits to dependants in most cases, unless there was a valid, binding nomination in favour of the legal personal representative.

Tonight, from Canberra, where we will be sharing updates on the Federal Budget. From The Guardian: The Albanese government will claw back $27.9bn in savings as part of its “responsible economic management” over the next four years, with more than half of those savings dependent on plans to get the national disability insurance scheme “back on track”. Extra efforts to address tax compliance, the “shadow economy” and multinational tax avoidance will also contribute $3.1bn to the savings pool, the government’s measures forecast. NDIS costs have been projected to rise from $44.3bn in 2024 to more than $90bn by the decade’s end, prompting the government to consider ways it can put the scheme – that supports more than 600,000 Australians with disabilities – on a more financially sustainable footing. The savings will come from changes proposed in a bill introduced in March that will overhaul how funding plans for NDIS recipients are approved and what supports can be funded. According to the 2024-25 federal budget papers, the NDIS actuary in December 2023 estimated payments to the scheme would increase by $15.9bn from 2023-24 to 2027-28.

💰 💰 2 Pot questions received post implementation Todays question - Members of provident funds who were older than 55 on 1 March 2021 (T-day) are automatically excluded from the new two-pot system, unless they opt in within 12 months (before 1 September 2025). If a member does opt in, let's say on 1 November 2024, how will they be seeded? Answer: The answer is not quite as straightforward as my previous posts. I will have to "set the scene" so to speak by first setting out the position in the Revenue Laws Amendment Act, 2024 (RLAA) and then the two subsequent bills which aim (respectively) to amend the RLAA. First things first, let's recap. The idea behind seeding is to make provision for immediate access to the savings pot on the effective date of this new 2 pot system - hence why the legislation catered for a once off seeding event to take place calculated as at 31 August 2024. As you know 55+ (on T-day) provident fund and provident preservation fund members are automatically excluded from the new 2 pot system unless they opt IN. They have 12 months from 1 September 2024 to make this election. If they DO opt in, they will be seeded the same way everyone else was - 10% of the vested pot up to a maximum of R30 000. The DATE to use for this seeding calculation is where the uncertainty comes in. In terms of the RLAA the date to be used is 31 August 2024 (being the same date used for all other types of members). The Draft Revenue Laws Second Amendment Bill published in February 2024 proposed a different calculation date - in terms of this bill (which has since been replaced with the Draft Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, 2024) if a 55+ member opts in to two-pot, the fund must use the last day of the month within which the member opted in to calculate the seeding amount. So if the member opted in on 1 November 2024, the seeding would be calculated using the fund value in the vested pot at as 30 November 2024. The Draft Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, 2024 which was published subsequently in August 2024, however, removed this reference to the last day of the month within which the member opted in. Put differently: it leaves the seeding date as per the current RLAA, being 31 August 2024. It is unclear whether this change was intentional or not. The lateness of this change placed funds in a difficult position considering system changes that were well on their way at that point (and for some, built on the premise of the calculation method as set out in the Draft Revenue Laws Second Amendment Bill). The Draft Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, 2024 is still in draft form and the industry has had the opportunity to provide comment thereon. I will keep you updated of any developments in this regard. I will share more questions and answers throughout the next few weeks!⌛

What a wonderful day, it is time to learn how Global Wealth Management Group can help in English and Spanish with Estate Planning consisting of, Banking, Wills, Trust, Deeds, Medical Power of Attorneys, Financial Power of Attorneys, Long Term Care, Disability Insurance, Social Security questions, with a focus on money management to preserver wealth. " _ https://lnkd.in/eB-qNEXY?utm_source=linkedin _ “, “ John.Valencia@mygwm.com?utm_source=linkedin “, 813-260-3820, Sincerely John Valencia. Positive news for Social Security and Medicare recipients! 🎉 The latest report shows that the projected depletion dates for both programs have been pushed back, offering a welcome respite. This positive development is largely due to a stronger economy and higher payroll tax income. However, it's important to remember that this doesn't eliminate these essential programs' long-term financial challenges. 🧐 Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. #SocialSecurity #Medicare #RetirementPlanning Source: https://lnkd.in/e28Nsig4 TinyURL: https://lnkd.in/e3PJPubg