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I believe society has a responsibility to provide every senior with the basics of life. A safety net.
Society does not have the responsibility to ensure every senior citizen ( whether rich or poor) gets to experience the same lifestyle in their senior years.
Well the current seniors shouldn't have anything to complain about. Their generation raided the ss fund and spent all of their money and the current generations money.
Far as im concerned if you never paid into it you shouldn't get anything out of it.
... Up until now, the more you paid into SS the higher your benefits.
Is it honestly that simple?
I used to think it was. But now I am not sure.
There is a formula, where they look at a 35-year span of your income.
If 'A' pays 7.5% [times 2] of his $30k income into SS, and if 'B' pays 7.5% [times 2] of his $60k income into SS. Will 'B' truly get twice as much in his pension as 'A' gets?
Lately from the discussion it does not sound like the math is that simple.
I have a friend who has made several million in her work life. She can't save a dime and spends everything on the high life. She has come close to bankruptcy in her mid 50's. She plans to work forever to keep her lifestyle (Only a Mercedes is good enough, she complains incessantly about her Lincolncompany car, even though it's free!)
Do I feel anyone in the US should help her in her retirement? NO. She made choices to be fiscally irresponsible. She actually told me herself more than once that she doesn't listen to her financial adviser.
I have worked in the pharma industry which pays above-average salaries. I have watched many of my colleagues live the "high" life without any financial planning for the future, even though the employer matches 401ks, and offers financial planning advice for free. I don't think anyone else or the government owes them anything beyond social security.
I know several people like that. They make very good incomes, they spend every penny, they are in high debt, and they trust that SS will carry them.
I worked in a career field that offers a 20-year pension. I saved and invested as much as I could. Today my pension and assets allow us to live comfortably. However among the dozens of former co-workers that I know, who have also retired on the same pension, I am not aware of any of them who have any form of portfolio. None of them. Everyone of them, had to start a second career.
Paying more taxes will not "solve" the INCOME inequality.
I agree.
I keep hearing a lot about raising the Minimum-Wage. The current Minimum-Wage is around $15k/year, and Poverty-level kicks-in at around $11k/year. A lot of people want to bump the Minimum-Wage up to $28k/year.
What is that going to do to seniors on their pensions? I would suspect that if burger-flippers are all making $28k/year, suddenly the poverty-level will shoot up and many of us on pensions will be below poverty.
I keep hearing a lot about raising the Minimum-Wage. The current Minimum-Wage is around $15k/year, and Poverty-level kicks-in at around $11k/year. A lot of people want to bump the Minimum-Wage up to $28k/year.
What is that going to do to seniors on their pensions? I would suspect that if burger-flippers are all making $28k/year, suddenly the poverty-level will shoot up and many of us on pensions will be below poverty.
The official poverty level has stayed static but most government programs now use a percentage over as qualifying..anywhere from 130% to 400%.
Okay....I'll wade in here and be prepared for my head to be bitten off. There is income inequality in all age groups from children to old age. It is not society's job to make everyone's income equal. For the helpless (children, disabled, very aged) there are already programs in place (AFDC, Disability, SS and SSI, Medicare) to assist. I realize that they provide a pretty meager living, but they will keep you dry and fed with the help of some local charities, albeit not a life of luxury or anything one would ASPIRE to. For the able-bodied in the middle between childhood and old age, there is what most people do...work.
As far as change, I believe that the upper limit for SS withholding should be removed. I think we all, including the super rich, should pay the same percentage of our income into the pool during our working years. This alone would probably save SS for many years. I believe that minimum wage should be raised to at least $10 initially, and then adjusted every year or two in accordance with the COL index. I would also like to see the federal income tax converted to a simple flat tax for everyone, except those who are already living on government funds (it seems counterproductive to tax SS or welfare, right?). I think an approximate 10% flat tax with personal exemptions as the only deductions might do the trick. It seems that the richer folks with more financial savvy and ability to make their money work for them, are the ones who get the most tax relief and advice in sheltering their assets. Doesn't really seem fair. Lastly, I also believe that financial basics such as banking, budgeting, the power of compounding interest, and the dangers of debt should be mandatory in high school. In our school district no one got out of high school until they passed a swimming survival course in PE, no one should get out without passing a money survival course in my world.
I was with you until you started to advocate a flat tax. Our current income tax system is much criticized, but it is generally progressive. Further, we could not afford a government that pays for all the things we get without a graduated income tax that requires upper income groups to pay higher percentages.
A flat tax is probably the fastest way there is to further increase income inequality in this country. For that reason and others, its a nonstarter as an idea.
1. Live Below Your Means (most important rule in life)
2. NEVER finance a depreciating asset (cars etc.....but but but I HAVE to have that Lexus!!) Houses usually do NOT depreciate (unless you are stupid in your purchase decision).
3. Save 10% of your income every year, no matter what.
Seems to be pretty simple so why do most folks have a problem even trying to obey even one of the the three "rules"??
I don't believe in income equality as some of us simply become better educated, more experienced and work harder than others. Those should b e "rewarded" by higher wages and better benefits.
That being said and in brief, I do believe that there should be safety nets for those who either by making bad choices/decisions or through no fault of their own are destitute and endangered. The feds already provide some of that through Welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, subsidized housing, etc. At the same time I also believe that communities should share, beyond tax dollars, the burden as many do through food lockers, backpack programs, emergency shelters, free counseling, free clinics and the like. These could stand to be expanded and made more universally available. Incentives and better tax breaks would help.
NIMBYism shouldn't stand in the way of helping others. By the same token, I am not a believer in forcing housing developers to build low income and subsidized housing in the midst of more affluent communities. We should be able to choose whom and next to whom we live.
1. Live Below Your Means (most important rule in life)
2. NEVER finance a depreciating asset (cars etc.....but but but I HAVE to have that Lexus!!) Houses usually do NOT depreciate (unless you are stupid in your purchase decision).
3. Save 10% of your income every year, no matter what.
Seems to be pretty simple so why do most folks have a problem even trying to obey even one of the the three "rules"??
Government makes it extremely difficult for people at poverty level to live below their means.
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