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Does anyone else find this expression very tired and also annoying? Aren't most people on a "fixed income", if you think about it? Most people can't just ask for a raise from their employers based on their taxes or other expenses going up. But we always hear about retired people being on a "fixed income." It just seems very disingenuous to me.
Most people can't just ask for a raise from their employers based on their taxes or other expenses going up.
But we always hear about retired people being on a "fixed income." It just seems very disingenuous to me.
The term is not meant nor does it apply to people who have employers to ask for increases...
perhaps that is where the confusion lies?
It is a bit antiquated now but with rather few exceptions...
A "fixed income" is from a pension or investment that is set at a particular figure
and does not vary (as a dividend) or rise with the rate of inflation.
SS (even with periodic COLA's) still fits within this as the individual has no control over those changes.
hth
Last edited by MrRational; 10-17-2011 at 08:13 AM..
Does anyone else find this expression very tired and also annoying? Aren't most people on a "fixed income", if you think about it? Most people can't just ask for a raise from their employers based on their taxes or other expenses going up. But we always hear about retired people being on a "fixed income." It just seems very disingenuous to me.
Interested to hear thoughts from others on this.
I have to agree. I am on a fixed income and haven't had a COLA in years but the average Americans wages have been falling for a decade. Families that used to live on Dads income now need two or three jobs to afford Chinese Crap at SLAVEMART. Wall Street has killed the American Dream but I will get by
Does anyone else find this expression very tired and also annoying? Aren't most people on a "fixed income", if you think about it? Most people can't just ask for a raise from their employers based on their taxes or other expenses going up. But we always hear about retired people being on a "fixed income." It just seems very disingenuous to me.
Interested to hear thoughts from others on this.
lol - my spouse has said that for years and it's true / we are all on "fixed incomes". in fact, generally, the fixed income senior has a guaranteed income which is not true of the employed who can lose their job for any number of reasons. I found that interesting when once applying for a loan and the funds they wouldn't consider in my application while counting things that honestly could be "here today and gone tomorrow"
granted, the younger you are the odds likely exist that you are still able to work or work multiple jobs whereas many seniors may not be physically capable of finding a job or extra sources of income. However when someone says that a younger person can hold two three jobs whereas an older person can't, i do have to wonder how that younger person is going to work multiple jobs while juggling the needs of their children for parents.....tis a quandry
I think that the OP has a good point. I had never given any thought to the phrase "fixed income". In a practical sense, many working people are on a fixed income too (like the OP says) if their job does not have the possibility for overtime and if they are unable to find a second (part-time) job if they wish. However, they can keep looking for that other work, whereas an older senior may not have that option. So in that sense, the older senior may be truly and absolutely on a fixed income while the working person is only relatively so. I am 67 and just voluntarily gave up the part-time work I was doing because I had tired of it and didn't need the money. But I do not consider myself on a fixed income because my health is good enough to pick up some work if I want to and my situation is such that I can do so fairly easily. Somebody who is 75 or 80 is probably not in that same situation, either mentally or physically or practically (what employer would want them?).
I think of our state pensions and Social Security as "fixed" incomes as in their not being subject to the vagaries of the market and thus far are guaranteed, lifelong benefits. They're also "fixed" in the sense that they do not indemnify us against inflation and there is no way to "promote" to increase our incomes.
I think few are on fixed income if they have SS. Most also have savings and other things that are not fixed;in fact many have reduced since the crisis.i would agree with it being as secure a income as existi this world tho.
I agree, MaseMan! I don't think you are just bashing your elders----it is disingenuous how so many retired people will whine about being on fixed incomes---when they will be the last generation to enjoy a retirement of this caliber. I am 57 and retired early. Technically my income is fixed in that I live off investments with a fixed income, but when I get on SS (if it's still around), I will be getting COLAs and so therefore it won't be completely fixed. And as a humble working stiff, I felt that my income was just as fixed as any retired person---just got COLAs some times---not like my income was always going up.
You've simply misunderstood the term. This doesn't imply that anyone who uses the term is disingenuous or is whining about anything.
Consider a retiree who has a private-sector pension (virtually none of which have COLAs) and a portfolio of 30-year bonds. That person's income is fixed, meaning that it has no potential to ever change (in practice, this means that it loses value with respect to inflation). Because it doesn't change it's called a "fixed income." There are no raises, ever. That's all it means. It has nothing to do with whether the income is secure or not.
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