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I just got a call from an old college buddy who is looking for someone new to mooch off of. He worked for a few years before he turned into a stumblebum drunk. After he sobered up he scammed people for a while until he found an older woman to mooch off of. Now she is moving to assisted living and the family is going to sell the house where he has been living. He has been on SSDI for years, and that is his only income. He inherited about $50k when his mother died, but he spent it all instead of investing it.
Some years ago I also met a 70 year old woman who was living on $500/month SS. She was taking in sewing to make ends meet. I told her to check with SS and senior services, since I thought she should get more than that as survivor benefits from her husband's SS.
My wifes 88 year old ex MIL, (step sons GM) lives on her SS & small pension total of about $1900/mo, IIRC. Her house is paid for, and we handle her bills for her. She gets every senior discount and advantage available in Miami, and now gets "at home" visiting nurses for 4 hours a day, 3 times a week. She was an adamant saver and was eternally frugal and stupid cheap, and had actually saved quite a lot for her income. I don't know the exact amount but in the $200k range. But she was totally blind when it came to her drug addict son, and he went though everything she had, and then some before he ODed. Luckily she never put him on the house deed so he could not borrow against it. If she ever requires full time LTC, though, her house will be her fund if needed.
I have a sister and a brother in low/mid 50s that have no savings left, and should of had way more than they did, as they made better than decent incomes for many years. Of course, assuming it would never end, they went on many vacations, bought stupid depreciating toys, and it sure looks like both are going to have to work till they drop, assuming they find jobs again. Cashed in their 401ks, paid the 10% penalty and extra taxes. But they should both have decent SSs, as they have been employed most of their lives until recently, and have working spouses, though not too much paid in to the system from the spouses, so the discounted half of spousal benefits will be more. They will have to collect at 62, unless they are still working. Not going to be pretty either way, though hopefully their houses will be paid off by the time they retire.
They are eternally optimistic in speech that everything will work out "because it has to". Physically, the toll is obvious, IMHO.
Last edited by Perryinva; 05-25-2016 at 03:08 PM..
SSI is only for disabled people (of any age). As a retiree, to get SSI you would still need to be qualified as disabled by a doctor and by the independent SSI testing.
Social Security is what people pay into during their working careers and then get payments on during retirement years.
These are 2 different programs.
I rarely get steamed up on the Internet but *please only post information that is accurate*.
From the Social Security Administration's web page: "SSI benefits also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities who meet the financial limits."
I don't care if you say the moon is made of green cheese but I do care if you discourage someone from applying for a government benefit that would enable them to survive.
I met a guy in his early 60's who has his own business that has not been profitable in recent years. Worse than that, his wife handled all of their finances, and led him to believe they were set for retirement. After she passed away last year, he discovered they actually had no savings and were in debt. He's been selling off assets including cherished vintage cars and motorcycles just to get out of debt, and is seriously thinking of moving to Puerto Rico for the lower cost of living.
Please list the things you allege that Medicare does not cover which can "bankrupt" people. I am aware that Medicare does not cover long-term nursing home care, and indeed that may be what you mean. But the average "serious illness or accident" does not involve long-term nursing home care. I have read my coverage and I know what is covered - care by doctors and nurses, diagnostic tests, hospitalizations, surgeries, drugs, etc.
Dental care, hearning aids, and glasses are not covered, and while those can be expensive, they are not in the bankruptcy-causing range.
Medicare is not 100%. The uncovered portions of long-term hospitalization can indeed bankrupt someone who has only Medicare , without any supplemental insurance. And yes, dental care can easily ruin someone financially, especially if it involves root canals and tooth replacement, even if the dentist offers payment plans, and even if the patient has dental insurance ( which often will not cover "equipment"--teeth, and will not entirely cover the man-hours of labor by the dentist)..
Whatever he earned by being "a musician his entire life" was self-employment income and by law he was required to file income tax returns in order to declare that income and pay Social Security taxes on that income. Unless I am missing something, he was greedy in addition to breaking the law and is now paying the price.
Indeed. People have no idea how valuable the SS benefit can be. Time passes all too quickly, people resent paying into SS and think they're smart by avoiding it by working for cash - until......
Quote:
Originally Posted by seasallyttle
SSI is only for disabled people (of any age). As a retiree, to get SSI you would still need to be qualified as disabled by a doctor and by the independent SSI testing.
Not if one is 65 and older, per this:
Quote:
SSI benefits also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities who meet the financial limits.
I doubt most secretaries even earn $3500 month while working.
Long-term in good companies and for the govt certainly can earn $80k/yr., or more. I knew many back in the day. Remember Linda Tripp in the DOD - she was a secy w/a salary of over $80k in the 90's. That said, 'most' secretaries would be lucky these days to see a salary of $3k/mo. Technology has done a real number on that line of work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichiganGreg
I thank the stars I have good health, and a good job. Unfortunately, my wife has never been able to work, so we have always been a one-income family, and have never had much to save with. Even as an electrical engineer, I have made OK money, but nobody (until my current employer) has ever offered a 401K or other savings plan. That plus a LOT of bad luck with the technology sector shifting, had made saving impossible.
Your SS benefit, however, should be fairly decent. Hopefully, between you and your wife's 50% of yours, SS alone should bring in over $40k/yr. Not fantastic for two people, but not quite poverty, either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat
Then there's my soon to be ex SIL. He is a real piece of work. He'll soon be 62 and will start collecting SS. My daughter says it'll be about $150 mo. because the guy has NEVER had a paying job in nearly 30 years.
I doubt he'll be collecting $150. If they've been married over ten years, he's not restricted to his SS benefit if 50% of your daughter's is higher.
You can do all the right things and still find a pension or 401k match elusive plus other vehicles like company stock options and profit sharing.
I took a pay cut from being self employed for all the big company benefits and can attest through mergers and acquisitions they no longer exist...
My employer temporarily suspended the 401 k match in 2006... it is 10 years later and still no match... each year at the annual meeting I ask and am told not this year.
A lot of my coworkers are looking at $1000 to $1500 social security plus any savings.... the reality is for many Americans is those that own homes often use the sale proceeds to fund retirement.
One of the guys I worked with was from Mexico... he has a modest Social Security but owned his own home... bought it when homes in that part of town were often abandoned... fast forward to 2007 and he sells it walking away with over 400k tax free with his wife who never worked... their retirement plan was to go back to Mexico... live on his $1200 Social Security and buy a place with a little land in the village where he was born and has family for 100k and have 300k in the bank... it's been 10 years and they are doing great... cost of living is very low.
Indeed. People have no idea how valuable the SS benefit can be. Time passes all too quickly, people resent paying into SS and think they're smart by avoiding it by working for cash - until......
Not if one is 65 and older, per this:
Long-term in good companies and for the govt certainly can earn $80k/yr., or more. I knew many back in the day. Remember Linda Tripp in the DOD - she was a secy w/a salary of over $80k in the 90's. That said, 'most' secretaries would be lucky these days to see a salary of $3k/mo. Technology has done a real number on that line of work.
Your SS benefit, however, should be fairly decent. Hopefully, between you and your wife's 50% of yours, SS alone should bring in over $40k/yr. Not fantastic for two people, but not quite poverty, either.
I doubt he'll be collecting $150. If they've been married over ten years, he's not restricted to his SS benefit if 50% of your daughter's is higher.
I had forgotten all about that. And I don't think my daughter knows that either. They've been married nearly thirty years. Hers isn't going to be very large either because she was a SAHM for a long time and worked low paying jobs after. She does okay now but it's taken her a few years.
From the Social Security Administration's web page: "SSI benefits also are payable to people 65 and older without disabilities who meet the financial limits."
I don't care if you say the moon is made of green cheese but I do care if you discourage someone from applying for a government benefit that would enable them to survive.
Yes, you are right. The mistake is mine. My only experience with this is helping people with disabilities get SSI so I apologize.
Social Security (which offers less to fewer than it did in the 1970s) is not government assistance, but a retirement pension system people and every working relative they've ever had paid in to their entire working lives no matter how poorly they were paid for their work. The people who need it most are those who never had much if any "disposable income" and they've paid a higher percentage of their incomes into social security than have the wealthy, including the likes of Bill Gates. The person making $10.00- an-hour, with no benefits, pays the same percentage up to the same cap as does the wealthiest person in the country. Not a single penny that a wealthy person earns above that cap is taxed for social security. That means $10.00-an-hour earners and families living on $35,000.00 or $50,000.00 a year pay social security tax on 100% of their incomes, but those rolling in dough don't and they draw the biggest social security checks despite not even needing them. Yet, gawd-forbid we should raise that cap a few percentage points or make the wealthy pay a slightly higher percentage so that the system will be flush for the foreseeable future!
Just have to jump in here before finishing reading the rest of the comments. The $10 an hour worker will get back a much higher return on his "investment" than will the higher earner. The system is set up that way.
"Lower-income workers come out ahead. Low-income workers enjoy higher rates of return by design, because Social Security's benefit formula is weighted toward lower-earning beneficiaries and their payroll tax contributions will be relatively lower. A very low-income couple born in 1943 will receive a 6.79 percent annual return, compared with 3.92 percent for their high-earning counterparts."
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