PUTNEY-Did you know that the first person in the United States to receive recurring monthly Social Security retirement checks was a Vermonter? Ida May Fuller of Ludlow started receiving benefits in January 1940 when she was 65. She was a legal secretary and lived to be 100. Her first monthly check was $22.54.
Your first monthly check most probably was or will be much more than that. But are your Social Security benefits, for which you have paid FICA payroll withholdings, at risk? Could you make monthly rent or mortgage payments without this income? How would your lifestyle be affected?
There are significant projected cuts to the SSA workforce which should impact services, but cutting Social Security benefits across the board would be politically fraught and would have devastating consequences. So for the sake of argument let's assume it will not happen.
But there is another frightening risk which really concerns me: cybersecurity.
It's a nightmare for a small business owner: a major chain moves into town, undercutting a small business owner on price, and customers flee - with some just aiming to try the competition for a while. If the small business fails, it is not only a tragedy for its...