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PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — This retirement oasis in the desert has long beckoned those who want to spin out their golden years playing golf and sitting by the pool in the arid sunshine.
But for Clare Keany, who turned 62 last fall and cannot find work, it feels more like a prison. Just a few miles from the gated estates of corporate chieftains and Hollywood stars, Ms. Keany lives in a tiny mobile home, barely getting by on little more than $1,082 a month from Social Security.
For those unfortunates, this is a rare case with a live person bearing a real name. Otherwise they are all dissipated in cold water as nobody, just some abstract member inside denominator.
Both parties, more so for GOP, spent countless hours to debate all of those trivial issues, foreign issues, etc, but just don't touch real issues like those unfortunates face.
Well, I recall a famous quote : Money talks. Too bad those unfortunates just don't have money, so no party wants to talk about them.
“The most potent lever that individuals can pull in trying to get themselves a secure retirement income is to postpone claiming” Social Security, said Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
$1,082 at age 62 means he would have received $1,443 if only she could have waited four more years to age 66.
$361/month is not a trivial amount of money. In some areas of the country it means rent or perhaps all utilities which include electric, gas, cable television, internet and even cell phone. Then there is if she had been able to wait until age 70 her benefit would have been $1,904 or an $832 increase over what she received at age 62.
She can still continue to look for work. If she finds even something part time a few days a week, she'd likely be OK. EG: 8hrs. of work at $7.50 an hour. That's $60 a week or 240 a month. She could maybe work at a hotel as a server for banquets, weddings, parties. Social security can be a big benefit if working full time past 62 becomes just something you can't manage. It can mean you get off the 40 hr. a week grind and instead get something with less stress. If her health is totally shot, she could instead apply for disability. I can't figure how some people see our govt. system as stingy. If money is tight, she could also take in a renter, or become a renter herself and move in with someone else.
During the great depression the elderly and the young starved, During this depression Social Security and Food Stamps are all that is keeping the same from happening
This sounds like an unemployment problem and let's face it age related employment issues. And it sounds like she has a solution, go to her friend's house and work during the tourist season collecting up to 14K, then return to her home in the winter time.
this lady sounds lucky in two ways: she is eligible for SS and she has friends who let her bunk in to earn extra dollars on occasion.
I read the article and couldn't help thinking that 4 more years wouldn't have put her in much better of a spot. I'm assuming she has no wealth, no savings, and maybe didn't have any retirement plan.
How many other Americans are in that same spot ..dependent on SS and nothing else except whatever job they can find ?
It's just very hard for me to get my mind around the thought of working for 40+ years and not have retirement money stashed away.
News story said she used up her 401K $ when she was unemployed, She also lives in a high cost area. But alot of what in the shory does not totaly add up. So there is something Not being reported here...
News story said she used up her 401K $ when she was unemployed, She also lives in a high cost area. But alot of what in the shory does not totaly add up. So there is something Not being reported here...
There's a longer story in the NYTimes. She did do a lot of flying across the US to friends where she hoped to work. Depleting your 401K in 4 years though seems to indicate there wasn't that much in there to begin with.
There are other ways to feel/be "forced" to take Social Security early. Another one is preservation of your peace-of-mind/sanity. If I'd waited any more years to retire than I did I would have been very difficult to get along/live with. That's how much I'd come to dislike my job. For me, taking a double hit on retirement funding - pension and Social Security - was the right decision at the time and remains the right decision now. Quality of life took precedence.
As for the woman in the article, while her current situation is certainly not optimal, I, too, feel there is something missing given her previous levels of employment, contacts, and likely pay levels over the years. As a side note, desperation notwithstanding, retiring in a high COL state on little is not likely the best of ideas.
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