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Personal Finance

This guide gathers together useful resources relating to money management.

Social Security

There is a tremendous amount of disinformation about Social Security on the web in general and social media in particular.  Certain segments of society have been trying to dismantle it since it was launched.  But the truth is that Social Security grew out of the Great Depression when the unemployment rate peaked (in 1933) at just shy of 25%.  Since then it has stabilized society by insuring that large numbers of people have a mimimal level of economic security after they can no longer work.

When somebody denies the collective benefit of providing a minimal level of protection for everyone and characterizes Social Security as merely a retirement plan to be compared to any other, they are doing so for either selfish or ideological reasons.  Social Security provides survivor and disability benefits in addition to a retirement annuity that is supplemented by cost of living adjustments (COLAs).  Comparisons usually only mention dollar amounts and ignore these significant benefits.  And, what they are really saying is that 100% of your retirement assets should be exposed to market risk.  This flies in the face of the principle of diversification.  

OASDI

OASDI is an abbreviation for Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. On a paycheck, OASDI refers to the tax levied on earning that funds Social Security programs.

This is how you figure out how much you are putting into SS each paycheck.  Simply look for the amount, on your pay stub, that is labeled OASDI.