Tax and Financial News July 2018

Social Security Ground Zero: 16 Years to Impact

Every year, the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds (OASDI) issues its annual report on the Social Security system. The report details the current financial status of both Social Security and Medicare as well future projections. The 2018 report has one key takeaway – both programs are facing long-term financial pressures and potential shortfalls.

How Social Security and Medicare are Funded

To better understand the report’s conclusion, you need to understand how the programs are currently funded. Both self-employment income and wages are subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, known together as FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes.

Employees pay a Social Security tax of 6.2 percent and the employer also pays the same 6.2 percent again for a total 12.4 percent of every employee’s wages (under the wage cap of $128,400 for 2018) funding the system. Self-employed persons pay both halves themselves (although the “employer” side is tax deductible against total self-employment income).

Unlike Social Security, all wages are subject to Medicare taxes at a rate of 1.45 percent, paid by both the employee and employer for a total of 2.9 percent contributed to the system. Again, the self-employed pay both sides of the Medicare tax, just like the Social Security tax. In addition, anyone who earns more than $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly) pays a Medicare surtax of 0.9 percent on all wages above those amounts.

Earning Your Benefits

Taxpayers need to earn a certain amount of credits in order to be eligible for Social Security benefits, with the amount depending on when they are born. Everyone born on or after 1929 must accrue 40 credits – which equals roughly 10 years of full-time work – to be eligible to collect retirement benefits.

How much you receive in benefits depends on how much you earned during your career. As of the April 2018 tables, individual retirees currently receive an average of $1,411 per month, or just under $17,000 per year.

Taxing Your Taxes

Taxes on Social Security benefits themselves also help fund the system. Depending on your filing status, age, how much you earn, etc., you might have to pay income tax on your Social Security benefits. These taxes are added back to fund the system for other taxpayers.

Historical Perspective

The Social Security and Medicare system are more than 83 years old. During this time, the programs have taken in approximately $20.9 trillion in revenue and paid out about $18 trillion; leaving $2.9 trillion in trust fund reserves at the close of 2017.

Source of the Problem

Here’s the issue: the initial recipients didn’t pay into the system themselves – their benefits were funded by those currently working. The problem is that those entering retirement today represent a large segment of the population, while the working population is increasingly smaller due to declining birth rates. Together, this means the system is paying out more than it’s taking in.

For the first time since 1982, Social Security’s total costs will exceed its total income, according to the trustees’ report. As of now, the trustees expect to continue funding Social Security and Medicare using non-interest income (aka taxes), interest income on reserves and trust fund asset reserves. This leaves the system solvent through 2034, when the trust fund reserves will run out.

How Bad Is It?

Without structural changes or increased taxes, Social Security will be able to pay only about 75 percent of scheduled benefits after 2034 through 2092. Medicare is facing a similar, if not worse scenario.

What’s Next?

The trustees suggest addressing the shortfalls as soon as possible. This is easier said than done, as any solution is going to be untenable to some group of constituents.

Potential solutions include reducing benefits now, raising the retirement age or increasing the wage cap for Social Security taxes. Even more draconian measures being considered include means testing to receive benefits or an outright increase in FICA tax rates.

The trustees’ report places a great emphasis on taking action now rather than later. The longer Congress waits, the worse the problem will become. But since all solutions are politically unpopular, they are unlikely to take any action now.

 

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General Business News July 2018

Key Performance Indicators and Your Business

Key Performance Indicators, also known as KPIs, are core measurements that businesses use to monitor progress toward achieving goals and targets. KPIs, which vary widely by industry and entity structure, can be used to monitor and track all aspects of your business,. Management teams pay close attention to KPIs, looking for anything out of line that indicates action needs to be taken. In this two-part series on KPIs, we’ll look at the difference between KPIs and metrics, methods for choosing KPIs, how to define KPIs and the best ways to track and communicate findings.

Metrics versus KPIs: What’s what?

KPIs and metrics are often conflated because all KPIs are metrics, but not all metrics can (or should) be considered KPIs.

Metrics are data driven, quantifiable measures that track performance. Created from data compiled periodically (such as accounting-based metrics) or continually from a live data source, metrics allow businesses to monitor progress toward achieving goals and objectives.

How to determine which metrics qualify as KPIs?

Peter Drucker, one of the most widely influential thinkers on the subject of management theory and practice, wrote “What gets measured gets managed.” As such, not every metric is truly “key” for your business. If you treat all metrics as equal and don’t differentiate between what really matters, then nothing will stand out and you’ll manage everything equally. This is why it is critical to select the metrics most important to you and your business and designate those as your KPIs.

Metrics Still Matter

Your KPIs might be your most important metrics, but this doesn’t mean the other metrics don’t matter. When something goes awry with one of your KPIs, you’ll need to dig into other metrics to understand the problem, identify the root cause and correct course.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Who’s Performing Best of All?

Not everything your business gauges will be an accurate measure of performance. Metrics that feel good to track but don’t have much impact on progress are often called “vanity metrics.” Vanity metrics are fun to get excited about, but they don’t actually provide much value or insight.

The entire point of carefully selecting KPIs is so that you focus on what really matters to your bottom line.

How to choose KPIs that matter

Delivering the right metrics to the right people at the right time allows you and your team to collaborate, make decisions and take actions based on data. KPIs can go beyond just providing focus to create a cohesive unity among your team in working toward a common objective, but only if they are well defined and easy to comprehend. Next month we’ll look at how to transform a bunch of numbers into something actionable and meaningful.

Before we get into the specifics, the simple way to drill down and select a handful of metrics is by asking two central questions. First, what are you trying to achieve and, second, how will you know if you’ve achieved it?

Stay tuned next month for a continuation of this discussion and more answers to your questions.

 

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What’s New in Technology July 2018

Old School and Hi-Tech Ways to Keep Track of Passwords

In 2017, nearly one-third of internet users reported being victim to online hacking or similar suspicious activity on their accounts. But as anyone who regularly uses a computer – especially for financial transactions – knows, keeping track of passwords can be a time-consuming task. Even so, it is necessary to ensure your personal and financial information is kept private and secure.

Unfortunately, one of the biggest inconveniences that has emerged is trying to keep track of different passwords for different websites. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that many websites require you to change your password every three to six months. Trying to keep up with which password is current at which website is mindboggling and aggravating.

Here’s one easy trick. If you ever want to find your passwords while online, look in the Settings for your browser. For example, with Chrome you log in, go to Settings, Advanced Settings, Passwords, Manage Passwords and click on the “eye” icon to see the username and password for each website. Similarly, with Safari you can log in and click on Preferences, Passwords, and the asteriks to the right of the username to show the password for each website. Most browsers have similar procedures.

However, what is convenient about the ease of finding your passwords is also reason for alarm. If you leave your computer unattended while logged into your browser, anyone can find them.

For this reason, it’s important to keep your computer password-protected and always within reach. Bear in mind, too, that there are other ways to keep track of passwords. For example, if you’re old school you might write them down in a notebook, crossing them out as you periodically update them. Some folks keep them updated in a spreadsheet software program. However, these tactics are susceptible to theft if, say, your home is burglarized and the thief takes both your computer and your password notebook. It can also be cumbersome if you are away from home and want to log in to websites from your smartphone.

Today’s smartphones typically provide a way to store password information in their settings or options menu. For example, on the iPhone go to Settings, Accounts & Passwords, App & Website Passwords, (input security protocol for access), then click on the individual websites and apps for each user name and password.

There also are apps designed to help you keep track of passwords. The following are highly recommended for their ease of use and security measures.

• LastPass – Import saved login credentials from Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. If you opt for the Premium suite for $2 a month, you also get the ability to sync information between your desktop and mobile devices, enhanced authentication options and tech support.
• Dashlane – This app is known for it simple, intuitive interface accessible with two-factor authentication. The app lets you change passwords across multiple sites with just a few clicks, and also keeps track of receipts of transactions so you can go back and review them.
• Roboform – This old-school password manager that can generate strong passwords, store and encrypt them, and sync them across multiple devices. It’s an older app that’s recently been updated with a more intuitive interface and features an autofill function.

There are scads of apps designed to track passwords, so you can search for reviews and rankings to see which one offers features best suited to your needs. One of the perks of apps is that many are free to download and try out. If you don’t like it, delete and install another. When you find one you like, you might want to check out any premium features that are available for a fee.