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They can put one less lunar craft on mars and pay us all the dough we are entitled to. I paid into the system for a lifetime and regardless of anything else i have done or put in place on my own for retirement im entitled to the payment they agreed to.
as the commercial goes" ITS MY MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW"
But the reality is they may say"but you can't have it".I'd like that moneuy I losss when a company went bankrupt to but "I can't get it"under law even SS can be reduced under the law as wrtitten..
As long as whatever is done is done equally to all who contributed i may not like it but it is what it is.
Its when folks who contributed and were successful financially that they single them out to be penalized that i have a gripe with.
That's what my heart says and in theory I agree with you. Pragmatically I'm not sure we can avoid some sort of means test in the future, but I sure hope I'm wrong.
Yeah we get it. You've been very successful. Maybe you can mentor some 70 year old's into turning their lives around, so they don't have to depend on that welfare check from the SSA every month.
your snide remarks are not really adding to the thread
I live on Social Security but I really do not concern myself with the COLA. I do make more than most on Social Security but the COLA increases, a percentage more or a percentage less or nothing, does not mean much; it changes nothing in my situation as I do not live from one month to another. Sometimes in get sucked up by Part B medicare but I do not care.
I have been on Social Security for 17 years and it comes to me electronically, so I really do not pay much attention, other than if it was received, when I get around to checking.
I will never starve; I have a house; I have not debt; I have health care insurance. I can buy anything I want and desire because I want and desire less and less everyday--that make me a wealthy man.
At my stage in life and with my physical problems, I really get very tired with dealing with money. Some people like to check all their accounts and investments on a daily basis because now we have the internet. Sometimes I relish the days of the past when all was not so readily available. I need not know, everyday, what I have or what I will get. I care only to live without pain and a simple life.
COLA QUESTION..for those of you that are really into this COLA thing. "If a person started at $1000 per month payment, what do you think that payment might be after ten years of COLA's? I realize it depends upon which ten year time block, but the answer might be helpful to understand the implications of COLA's. It seems to me whatever the answer happens to be, that the buying power of the new amount most likely is less than the monthly distribution ten years later, even though the intent is to be equal.
COLA QUESTION..for those of you that are really into this COLA thing. "If a person started at $1000 per month payment, what do you think that payment might be after ten years of COLA's? I realize it depends upon which ten year time block, but the answer might be helpful to understand the implications of COLA's. It seems to me whatever the answer happens to be, that the buying power of the new amount most likely is less than the monthly distribution ten years later, even though the intent is to be equal.
In real spending power probably less. The intent is not to make your buying power the same from year to year but to provide a hedge against inflation. The basket used to measure the cost of living is
The Social Security Act specifies a formula for determining each COLA. According to the formula, COLAs are based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). CPI-Ws are calculated on a monthly basis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A COLA effective for December of the current year is equal to the percentage increase (if any) in the average CPI-W for the third quarter of the current year over the average for the third quarter of the last year in which a COLA became effective. If there is an increase, it must be rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent. If there is no increase, or if the rounded increase is zero, there is no COLA.
Your basket of good and the basket of goods in the formula may be different and your region may be lower or higher than the national average. The goal is to be able to grow your own cost of living independent of SS. It may be a challenge but it is necessary especially when inflation returns.
COLA QUESTION..for those of you that are really into this COLA thing. "If a person started at $1000 per month payment, what do you think that payment might be after ten years of COLA's? I realize it depends upon which ten year time block, but the answer might be helpful to understand the implications of COLA's. It seems to me whatever the answer happens to be, that the buying power of the new amount most likely is less than the monthly distribution ten years later, even though the intent is to be equal.
If the COLA was a stable 2%, which it isn't, at the end of 10 years the "award" would be $1,219 per month. That should give a general idea.
COLA QUESTION..for those of you that are really into this COLA thing. "If a person started at $1000 per month payment, what do you think that payment might be after ten years of COLA's? I realize it depends upon which ten year time block, but the answer might be helpful to understand the implications of COLA's. It seems to me whatever the answer happens to be, that the buying power of the new amount most likely is less than the monthly distribution ten years later, even though the intent is to be equal.
I can tell you over a 15 year period, my military pension, which uses the same COLA as SS, has increased 50%.
As for the benefit of COLA's. It depends on your personal lifestyle and where you live.
One trick is to live where the regional CPI is considerably less than the national CPI, upon which COLA's are based.
If you live where the CPI exceeds the national average by a sizable percentage, then living on a COLA based benefit, is going to be more difficult. Hence, the various news articles generated by NYC and DC based journalists stating you can't live on SS alone.
I can tell you over a 15 year period, my military pension, which uses the same COLA as SS, has increased 50%.
As for the benefit of COLA's. It depends on your personal lifestyle and where you live.
One trick is to live where the regional CPI is considerably less than the national CPI, upon which COLA's are based.
If you live where the CPI exceeds the national average by a sizable percentage, then living on a COLA based benefit, is going to be more difficult. Hence, the various news articles generated by NYC and DC based journalists stating you can't live on SS alone.
Gotta laugh and duck at the same time. State pensions are based on as you say a regional or state computed COLA. If you retire and transplant to the right area you can buy more annual buying power. Folks get tired about hearing transplant for financial reasons but it adds up in multiple ways.
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