What emotions did you have when your first Social Security check arrived?

[Poncho_NM]

Originally Posted by likable

How was it for you?

Non eventful... The money started going to the bank, my wife handles it. I elected to take it at 65 instead of 62 (I think) and I don't remember what we decided...

[petch751]

Originally Posted by katie45

Approximately five years before retiring I adjusted my budget as though I were already receiving s/s (was able to guesstimate the amount).

Not only did that prevent the "no paycheck" shock, it also provided a means to spend less and save more during the remaining years at work.

^^ I like this idea.

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by likable

I am one year from collecting Social Security. My husband will start collecting in 2 years.


I suspect it will be an emotional experience. An electronic payment will come into my bank account with a 99% chance of it coming every month until I die. Those are good odds.


With my investment income and Social Security there is a 99% chance I will never have to worry about my financial needs. Those are good odds.


And there is a 99% chance I will never have to work again. THOSE ARE GOOD ODDS!


(This from a person who has struggled with bad jobs, layoffs, terminations, bad bosses, unemployment and many a financial crisis. When that first Social Security Check comes in it will be an emotional experience.)


How was it for you?

I forgot how I felt....LOL

[MagnoliaThunder]

Originally Posted by ABQ2015

I think I will be elated but dumbfounded that someone is paying me not to work.

Actually YOU are paying yourself...that money was taken out of your earnings all those years and our GOVERNMENT got to keep the interest...so just remember when someone tells you that your monthly checks are entitlements -- NO, they are part of your hard earned money from years spent working.
Enjoy your retirement -- I've got about 18 months to go!

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by MagnoliaThunder

Actually YOU are paying yourself...that money was taken out of your earnings all those years and our GOVERNMENT got to keep the interest...so just remember when someone tells you that your monthly checks are entitlements -- NO, they are part of your hard earned money from years spent working.
Enjoy your retirement -- I've got about 18 months to go!

I understand and agree with your basic point, but you got one of the details wrong. The government didn't get to "keep" any interest. Our money deducted from our paychecks went to pay Social Security benefits for those who had retired, or for minor dependents of deceased workers. For many years there was a cash flow surplus, which was used to purchase special U.S. Treasury bonds redeemable only by the Social Security Trust Fund. The interest on those bonds went (and is still going) to Social Security, not to the general U.S. fund. In fact the interest on those bonds is now keeping the cash flow positive, being that collection of FICA payroll taxes now lags behind payment of benefits. (Some people may view the cash flow as already being negative, and I don't think they're "wrong" - it's kind of a semantic game).

The money I receive every month from Social Security comes from payroll taxes of people still working, supplemented by the interest on the bonds which I already described. SS has been a "pay-as-you-go" system since its inception and the ratio of people working to retirees has been changing as families have been having, on average, fewer children for some time now. My father was one of eight children, my mother one of five, but I (now 71) am one of two. (My personal case doesn't prove anything, but it happens to be in line with the general trend so it can be used as an example.)