Social Security Q&A: Explaining How Retirement Benefits Are Calculated
Question: How are my retirement benefits calculated? Answer: Your Social Security benefits are based on earnings averaged over your lifetime. Your actual earnings are first adjusted or “indexed” to account for changes in average wages since the year the earnings were received. Then Social Security calculates your average monthly indexed earnings during the 35 years in which you earned the most. Social Security applies a formula to...
Economists Find Career Earnings of Low-Income Graduates Lag
College is supposed to be the great equalizer — the way to pull yourself out of a low-income background and position yourself for a better shot at the American Dream. But does it work? Yes, somewhat, but college is not as powerful as you might believe. Although low-income students do get an earnings boost by getting a bachelor’s degree, they don’t come close to students from middle- or high-income backgrounds with the same degrees,...
Twitter Shares Tumble
San Francisco — The recent negativity shown toward many Internet companies hit Twitter hard Monday, as the social-media leader’s stock price fell to its lowest level ever ahead of its upcoming quarterly earnings report. Shortly after trading began, Twitter shares fell more than 5 percent, to $14.87, hitting their lowest point since the company went public in November 2013. The losses added to Twitter’s stock-price downfall, which has...
Alphabet Tops Apple in Total Value
San Francisco — Alphabet, Google’s new parent company, topped Apple as the world’s most valuable business in after-hours trading Monday after reporting surging earnings. Alphabet Inc. earned $4.9 billion in net income on revenue of $21.3 billion in the fourth quarter. If not for employee stock expenses and certain other items, Google said it would have earned $8.67 per share. That figure easily topped the average estimate of $8.10 per...
2016 Investment Forecast: Expect Less, Buy Antacid
New York — Investing is becoming more of a grind. Expect it to stay that way. Analysts, mutual-fund managers and other forecasters are telling investors to expect lower returns from stocks and bonds in 2016 than in past years. They’re also predicting more severe swings in prices. Remember that 10 percent drop for stocks that freaked investors out in August? It likely won’t take another four years for the next one. The good news is...
