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I believe they've already planned to reduce SS benefits by as much as 30% in 2033 or so. This Ponzi scheme will run out unless something is done. I feel sorry for the young's who will see very little of their SS and the Stock Market is going to be even more rigged than it is now
People will need to learn how to supply their own needs thru farming, ranching, hunting, growing food, solar, etc
The "they" you refer to above in bold are economists and statisticians who write the annual report signed by the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds regarding the current and projected financial status of the trust funds.
The "plan" you refer to above in bold is the result of arithmetic under the assumption that Congress doesn't do anything.
As surely as The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, we can predict that Congress will indeed "do something" as we approach the point in time that absent action, payouts will be reduced.
So for you to say "they've already planned to reduce SS benefits" is not really correct, as statisticians and economists do not get a policy vote. Congress has not planned to reduce SS benefits, and Congress is the only entity that counts. Congress will act - but only after they have kicked the can down the road as long as possible.
And social security is NOT a Ponzi scheme because it will NEVER run out of money because it isn't other peoples money it is money that is printed by the federal government and therefore will never run out.
Now that I started collecting SS (at 70yo) this year, my mortgage paid off, have no other debt and no big medical bills (yet) plus I take 5% income from my liquid assets and the bulk of those are from a Roth IRA (so I have a pretty small fed tax bill & no state taxes)...
I put a very decent percentage of my gross income into retirement accounts my last 20 years of working. So I find myself now in the unexpected position of having more money to spend than I ever had discretionary spending before.
It is a bit disorienting, old habits die hard. I have to remind myself that I can't take it with me so I should spend at least the 5% + SS while I am healthy, willing and able. Go out to dinner, get that subscription, take a long vacation abroad (3 months in Europe this year).
I had expected to join the "...on a fixed income & have to be careful" crowd but quite the opposite has happened. Unexpected and I'm very grateful.
Now that I started collecting SS (at 70yo) this year, my mortgage paid off, have no other debt and no big medical bills (yet) plus I take 5% income from my liquid assets and the bulk of those are from a Roth IRA (so I have a pretty small fed tax bill & no state taxes)...
I put a very decent percentage of my gross income into retirement accounts my last 20 years of working. So I find myself now in the unexpected position of having more money to spend than I ever had discretionary spending before.
It is a bit disorienting, old habits die hard. I have to remind myself that I can't take it with me so I should spend at least the 5% + SS while I am healthy, willing and able. Go out to dinner, get that subscription, take a long vacation abroad (3 months in Europe this year).
I had expected to join the "...on a fixed income & have to be careful" crowd but quite the opposite has happened. Unexpected and I'm very grateful.
We do not have a mortgage on our home.
Our combined pensions are not high enough to pay income taxes on, so we don't pay income taxes.
The "they" you refer to above in bold are economists and statisticians who write the annual report signed by the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds regarding the current and projected financial status of the trust funds.
The "plan" you refer to above in bold is the result of arithmetic under the assumption that Congress doesn't do anything.
As surely as The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, we can predict that Congress will indeed "do something" as we approach the point in time that absent action, payouts will be reduced.
So for you to say "they've already planned to reduce SS benefits" is not really correct, as statisticians and economists do not get a policy vote. Congress has not planned to reduce SS benefits, and Congress is the only entity that counts. Congress will act - but only after they have kicked the can down the road as long as possible.
Are cuts likely to happen? Probably not but I am going to plan for the cut anyhow.
My monthly social security is $3,226 before the Plan B deduction so my employer and I paid in enough for 76 1/2 months or just over 6 years and 4 months.
I have been collecting social security for 4 years and 9 months now so my "break even" point is 17 months down the road when I am 75 1/2 years old. But even that is a little off because of COLA's I didn't collect that much for the previous 4 years.
The math is not nearly so favorable for those that started working after the tax increases of the 1983 Social Security law were fully implemented.
The way it is working out I think we will end up spending a lot less than we practiced for.
I keep a spreadsheet of our monthly spending and we've had a budget monthly of $2,000 for food, entertainment, gasoline, haircuts, dining out, clothes, gifts, pharmacy and the general garbage people spend money on.
To keep track we put everything on a bank credit card that we pay off every month. The card runs from the 16th of every months so this month we tracked spending from September 16 t October 16. The spreadsheet is on my phone so I always have it with me.
It is October 2nd so we have 14 days left having used up 53.33% of our month. So far we have spent $641.47 for the month which leaves $1,358.53 for the 14 days left. Right now we are $425.20 under where we should be and if we keep on our current track we should end up spending $1,574.80 leaving a surplus of $425.20 for the month.
As long as we have been "practicing" our budget, two years now, we very seldom run over and while we are not stupid with the money we get what we want.
Last month we were under budget by $471.64 and that's buried.
So what do we do with the "surplus"? We bury the cash in the backyard. Ok, not bury but we take the extra money from the bank placing into our fire proof envelope hiding it in a very safe place inside the house. Two other people know about this and it is my wife and daughter.
Right now we have $6,420.00 in hidden cash, mostly $100 bills, that we are free do spend it on whatever she/we wants to spend it on. This is our "fun money" to do with whatever we want. I am seriously thinking of two weeks at a Florida Keys resort come January or February. If we can save enough we just might say the heck with it and go for three weeks.
We love Hawk's Cay and two to three weeks there in January/February sounds like the perfect getaway from an Ohio winter. I hate cold weather.
What surprises me most is we are spending less than I calculated and we are doing/getting everything we want.
There are so many incorrect statements presented as facts here.
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Thank you for pointing out my errors. Your presentation was less than mature, but I still appreciate your corrections. I answered the question according to my perspective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by moguldreamer
Not really. By law, SSA trust funds can only invested in US Treasuries. Critics correctly observe this is actually one pocket of the federal government loaning money to another pocket of the federal government.
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Let's look at what actually happened....
There is a special place in Hell reserved for Roberta Achtenberg.
Thank you for taking a more mature opportunity to correct my erroneous perceptions. I appreciate your clarifications; they gave me an opportunity to learn.
I hope you are wrong about your last comment. From what you've written, her heart was in the right place.
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