On Tuesday evening, President Obama gave his fifth State of the Union Address before both chambers of Congress. To The Senior Citizens League's (TSCL's) surprise, the sixty-five minute speech included no mention of Social Security or Medicare, but the President did speak briefly about immigration reform and a new retirement savings plan called "myRA." .Get unbiased counseling. NEVER, EVER drop your Medicare supplemental or switch Medicare Advantage plans based solely on the sales pitch of an insurance agent! This is especially true if the agent is trying to pitch you from a table set up in a discount store, or pharmacy window. DO NOT do business at all with anyone who calls on the phone or knocks on your door, regardless of who they say they are. There have been very widespread reports of con artists who tell seniors they are calling from Medicare or Social Security. You have no safe way of confirming who they are. Don't respond. Hang up and keep your doors locked! .While many seniors rely on Social Security for nearly all their retirement income, for others it is part but not all their retirement. Those seniors have investments they rely on to generate the income they need in their retirement years. .Third, the bipartisan CHANGE Act (H.R. 4957) gained one new cosponsor in Representative Ted Lieu (CA-33), bringing the total up to twenty-two. If adopted, the CHANGE Act would promote early identification of Alzheimer's disease, improve support for family caregivers, and provide continuous care for those battling many forms of dementia. .This week, The Senior Citizens League was pleased to see support grow for two key bills that would strengthen the Social Security program. .While you may hear a lot of shouting about the payroll tax cut over the next few months, don't let it distract you from the real threat to Social Security – namely, radical plans to convert Social Security from the current guaranteed retirement benefit for everyone to a risky gamble on Wall Street that would benefit only a select few at best. .Here are some examples of scams being tried. .This study looks at 39 expenditures that are typical for people age 65 and up, comparing the growth in the prices of these goods and services to the growth in the annual COLAs. Based on consumer price index data through April 2021, it appears that the next COLA will be considerably higher in 202The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) is forecasting that the 2022 COLA could be 4.7%, making it the highest since 200But with such a high level of inflation volatility, this estimate could change several times before the COLA is announced in October 2021. .For years, workers were told to rely on a combination of Social Security, workplace pensions and their personal retirement savings. However, over the past 30 years or so the landscape of retirement savings has dramatically shifted. Traditional workplace pensions have shifted to 401(k) plans while some have been eliminated altogether, and the recent financial and housing collapse left many households with dramatically less value in homes and retirement funds. Partly as a result of these changes, many baby boomers and other future retirees are facing greater "risks" of not having enough to live on in their retirements. According to the Center for Retirement Research, 51 percent of households are "at risk" of not being able to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living.