Pensions and Social Security: Anyone younger than 30 harbors little hope of relying on those two retirement vehicles alone to lead a comfortable life in retirement. And with the economy still in a slump and state and federal budget deficits rising, many current retirees may be questioning the sustainability of those benefits, as well. This week, we look at how seniors with defaulted loans may see their Social Security benefits garnished; why a proposal to send $250 checks to Social Security beneficiaries could be risky; and advice on how to make sure you ve saved enough to retire comfortably even in the absence of income guaranteed by the government or your former employer.

Adjusting to Reality
Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, and Andrew Biggs, a former deputy commissioner of Social Security, explain in The New York Times why they think that cutting each Social Security recipient a $250 check is a bad idea. The proposal for the one-time payment, meant to compensate the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment this year, was rejected by the Senate. However, an identical bill with President Obama s backing is gaining support in the House of Representatives. Even if we had a spare $14 billion, there s no case for giving it to Social Security recipients on either equity or stimulus grounds, write Munnell and Biggs.

Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors
If you owe the government money unpaid income taxes or defaulted student-, farm- or small-business loans or any other government debt and receive Social Security benefits, you may soon find as much as 15% of your benefits garnished to repay that debt. Blame a little-noticed provision in the 2008 Farm Bill, which lifted the ten-year statute of limitations on the government s ability to withhold Social Security benefits in collecting debts. For seniors living on a fixed income, often limited to Social Security payments, that means old debts they had long forgotten could come back to haunt them. The Wall Street Journal has the details.

How to Salvage Your Retirement
This week, the bad news comes from the Employee Benefits Research Institute s latest annual retirement survey. Just a third of American workers have saved more than $50,000 for retirement, nearly a third haven t saved a dime, and 40% aren t saving at the moment. The Wall Street Journal suggests four fixes for the problem, including working longer, postponing Social Security payments and converting the assets you have into lifetime income.

Does Working Longer Increase Your Lifespan?
Remaining in the workforce beyond retirement age will not only pad your coffers it may actually help you live longer. In fact, the death rates for men aged 50 to 70 who still work are twice lower than those for retired men of the same age. Are the two really related? CBS MoneyWatch blogger Steve Vernon looks at some possible explanations.

Public Pension Funds are Adding Risks to Raise Returns
The New York Times takes a deep look into the investment strategies of state and public pension funds. Unlike companies, which are gradually reducing their pension funds investment risk by moving out of stocks, public pension funds are going the opposite direction: favoring risky investments and strategies. In their lineup: commodity futures, junk bonds, foreign stocks, deeply discounted mortgage-backed securities and margin investing.