Severance pay can't be tied to silence

Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:

The high cost of early Social Security

It's "no secret" most retirees are better off waiting to start collecting Social Security, said Lisa Ward in The Wall Street Journal. A recent study funded by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta showed just how costly taking benefits early can be. Monthly checks can be 76 percent bigger, adjusted for inflation, for those who start collecting at age 70, rather than at 62. That "would boost the typical worker's median discretionary spending over a lifetime by $182,370, or around 10 percent," and for the wealthiest 20 percent, the difference rises to $290,000. The math isn't the same for everyone, but the researchers found holding off would be better for nearly 90 percent of people who are now 45 to 62. Still, "less than 10 percent are likely to wait that long," because it means postponing getting checks to help fund retirement. Some people bet they'll die before the delay pays off.

Men drop out of the jobs market

One reason employers are still struggling to find qualified job applicants is that millions of young men have left the workforce, said Paul Davidson in USA Today. Overall, workforce participation is "62.4 percent, well below its pre-pandemic level of 63.4 percent." Most of the shortfall stems from a wave of workers 55 and up who retired early after COVID hit. "But a less publicized factor is that men ages 25 to 54 have been dropping out." Their participation rate "slid during the health crisis and has yet to fully recover despite record job growth over the past two years." If prime-age men were back to their 1990 level, the U.S. would have 2.7 million more workers — "a big shot in the arm for the economy."

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Severance pay can't be tied to silence

Employers can no longer offer severance agreements barring laid-off employees from badmouthing the company, said Herb Scribner in Axios. The National Labor Relations Board ruled last week such requirements violate the National Labor Relations Act, reversing two decisions the agency made during the Trump administration. The new ruling came in a case involving a Michigan hospital that laid off 11 workers at the height of the pandemic and demanded they say nothing to tarnish the hospital's image. The board also said companies can't stop outgoing employees from revealing their exit package terms. The ruling, along with a federal push to ban noncompete agreements, shows how workers have "clawed back more power in the post-pandemic era."

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