The Daily Money: When is the best time to take Social Security? It depends.
Good morning! It's Medora Lee with your Daily Money.
When it's best to begin taking Social Security is always debatable, and this Monday morning is no different. Paste BN explores two different views.
One column debunks the idea promoted by Dave Ramsey, a radio show personality who offers financial advice, that taking Social Security early and investing it will net you a bigger return than you'll get from the government if you wait. Another says, hold on a minute. Maybe there are times claiming early can increase your lifetime benefit. Read more about that here, and you can decide.
Why is the rent so high?
We always hear inflation, sky-high home prices and lack of housing is pushing rents higher, but beneath the surface, something more sinister is also boosting rent prices: rampant fraud.
Scammers, who have no intention of paying for their apartment, have gotten more sophisticated, creating fake identities to get them in and then taking advantage of tenant-friendly laws to occupy units for long periods of time. The fraudsters often use the apartments to commit crimes, or illegally sublet them, pocketing the cash, property managers say. This costs landlords money and may lead them to raise rents to cover the losses. Worse, the scammers' crimes may out other residents in danger.
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📰 A great read 📰
Finally, here's a popular story from earlier this year that you may have missed. Feel free to share it.
The whirlwind of tax season is officially over, but it's important for you to know that you have until May 17 to file for a refund that you may be owed from tax year 2020!
The IRS estimates that 940,000 taxpayers are still owed money from 2020. The total amount of those tax refunds is more than $1 billion! So while we're all exhausted from filing 2023 taxes, it could be worth your while to check your prior year tax returns to see if you're missing out. If you don't have your W-2, 1099, 1098s and other documents for those years, you can order a free wage and income transcript from the IRS using its "Get Transcript Online" tool.
About The Daily Money
Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer news from Paste BN. We break down financial news and provide the TLDR version: how decisions by the Federal Reserve, government and companies impact you.