{"id":89208,"date":"2025-09-27T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=89208"},"modified":"2025-09-30T14:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:16:49","slug":"black-coffee-27-sep-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id89208-black-coffee-27-sep-2025.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Out on a Limb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

There are no risk free paths now.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 Fed Chairman Jay Powell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? First it was France \u2013 now it’s the US. The White House released a trial balloon last week, stating that they are “thinking about” raising the retirement age<\/a> for Social Security (SS) from 67 to something higher in order to prolong its solvency. Something tells us it’s going to take something far more substantial than that to kick the SS can down the road this time around.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, the last SS retirement age increase occurred in 1983<\/a> and it affected everyone under the age of 45 \u2013 including yours truly \u2013 based on a graduated age increase. We suspect any future age bump would follow a similar strategy. Then again, even if Congress does<\/strong><\/em> raise the retirement age, it would probably be prudent to exclude Social Security from your retirement planning – just in case. Well\u2026 unless you\u2019re the gambling type…<\/p>\n