New books: Social Security, Medicare, and Retirement

SOCIAL SECURITY 101 by Michele Cagan and Alfred Mill is the second edition of this self-proclaimed “Essential Primer on Government Retirement Aid.” Cagan is a CPA who writes often about finance investing and accounting and Mill has crafted several texts on finance and economics in this 101 series. They begin with some historical background and basics (e.g., getting a social security card; defining full retirement age). The next section looks at benefits – for individuals, children with disabilities, spouses and so forth. Later, timing of benefits is discussed as well as related issues about Medicare and retirement planning. Cagan and Mill offer numerous examples with specific amounts to help illustrate their points. This relatively short (240 pages) text provides an accessible overview and may serve as helpful prep before heading off to the Social Security office to review your own circumstances, an action highly recommended by the accountants, lawyers, and other advisors with whom I have consulted on this subject. Good luck getting an appointment, though; at latest check the wait was over 6 weeks.

GET WHAT'S YOURS FOR MEDICARE by Philip Moeller is subtitled “Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs.” And although this is a revised and updated edition, it would still be difficult to cover this complex topic adequately in an up-to-date manner in a book. Better to consider this text as a very useful guide and to then turn to advisors who work regularly in this area. Granted, those individuals will tend to push people towards Advantage plans, but they can more thoroughly investigate individual situations and changing offerings. Also, get an idea yourself by using some of the online tools (e.g., comparing plans) available through Medicare.gov. Still, “boots on the ground” are quite helpful, be it friends and peers conducting their own investigations or nursing homes helping to publicize innovative, helpful plans for their residents. Moeller is a recognized authority in this area and has collaborated in the past with PBS NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman. 

Moeller recently was interviewed on Morningstar's Long View, a podcast co-hosed by Christine Benz who in turn has written a recent book titled How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement. She has a companion How to Retire podcast on morningstar.

The Heartbeat Library by Laura Imai Messina

THE HEARTBEAT LIBRARY by Laura Imai Messina (The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World) is a quiet, reflective novel set in Japan. Much of the story centers around the title library “where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected” on the Teshima island.  Key characters include Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, and a young elementary school student named Kenta, both of whom are mourning Shuichi’s mother. They gradually build a trust and affection for each other and widen their circle to include Sayaka, a love interest for Shuichi. In its starred review Booklist describes THE HEARTBEAT LIBRARY as “a beautiful meditation on grief and healing.”  The story moves slowly, but there is much to contemplate:

“Life is a succession of shipwrecks. … Because upon arrival on the beach, whatever the existence that preceded it was like, it is now memory. No matter how much pain we have accumulated, life begins again.”

“He smiled. He realized this was how you know you care about someone: when you see them where they aren't.”

“…love is never alone fear is always right beside it.”

As an aside, this book called to mind another favorite book with heartbeat in the title: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats; look for it and others by Jan-Philipp Sendker.

The Fabled Earth by Kimberly Brock

THE FABLED EARTH by Kimberly Brock is a work of historical fiction set on Cumberland Island off the coast of Southern Georgia. Events in the story take place in two time periods: 1932 when a young debutante (Joanna Burton), an aspiring artist (wonderfully named Cleo Woodbine), and wealthy young men are staying at a Carnegie family retreat named Plum Orchard. One evening, too much alcohol and scary storytelling results in death and transformed lives. The other time period is 1959 amidst the struggle for civil rights and integration. Cleo, now older and reclusive, still lives near the island and is visited by Joanna’s daughter, Frances Flood, a folklorist, who forms a friendship with young Audrey Howell, newly widowed and running the local inn. History still resonates, and tensions exist between local families, including questions of class and race. Attraction and romance simmers, too, for all three women, as Brock includes a former railroad man (Tate Walker), a ghost tour guide (Rosey Devane) and an activist with native American roots (Will Tremmons). The publisher describes the book by saying, “Southern mythology and personal reckoning collide in this sweeping story…” – for me, the start was almost too slow (languid, like our stereotypes of the rural South), but I came to appreciate the haunting atmosphere and to care for the varied characters; plus, the audio book is fantastic.

The AUDIO BOOK is narrated by Cassandra Campbell who is a personal favorite and she did another excellent job with this story; evoking Southern drawls and a sense of place, time, and even social class. I highly recommend the audio book version.

Erasing History by Jason Stanley

ERASING HISTORY by Jason Stanley is subtitled “How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future” and we have certainly heard the term fascist quite frequently in this election cycle. According to the publisher, Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, “exposes the true danger of the authoritarian right’s attacks on education, identifies their key tactics and funders, and traces their intellectual roots.” Stanley points to the importance of multiple perspectives and says that “erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to represent it as a single story, a single perspective.” He is apparently not the only one to feel this way; one of the most chilling quotes is from Vladimir Putin: “Wars are won by teachers.” Stanley writes movingly and convincingly:

“Today we are unquestionably returning to something like the era of the Red Scare. Right-wing activists and politicians are targeting educators at all levels for their supposedly leftist ideologies, with the goal of suppressing any teaching that challenges racial hierarchy or patriarchy.”  And

“By removing the history of uprisings against the current status quo from the curriculum (or never allowing that history to be taught in the first place), authoritarians leave students with the impression that the status quo has never been -- and cannot be -- challenged.”

Student researchers will find much to ponder here, particularly about how education, knowledge, and critical thinking skills provide the foundation for democracy, agency, and self-rule. Unlike those who blame the “enemy within,” Stanley stresses the importance of educators and investigative journalists. Those concerned with the future of democracy will find this text to be very informative. Approximately fifteen percent of ERASING HISTORY is devoted to notes and an index.