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Still Believe You Can Live Off Your Social Security? You Can't!

Lutherf said:
Taking Social Security early may not be your best option. If you take your SS at 62 you receive a 25% reduced benefit from what you would get at FRA.
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I'm glad you said "may". I applied for social security benefits at age 62 because I have a 13 year-old son. He can receive 1/2 of my age 66 benefit each month until he becomes 18. That makes my break even age 84. Plus it will put a major dent into his college expenses. If I wait until age 66 to receive my benefit, we would only receive 7 months of his benefit.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
And with a little bit of bad luck, you can STILL be living in a cardboard box eating dog food, no matter how responsible you've been.
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It would actually probably take catastrophically bad luck and if you really were responsible you'd be insuring yourself against the possibilities.

Then it would take incredibly, astronomically, catastrophically bad luck.

Could it still happen?

Sure.

Or you could be hit by a bus, or the federal government could collapse and the nation could plunge in to anarchy, or the planet could be obliterated by a ginormous asteroid, or...

On second thought, since the world could end tomorrow why should I bother taking responsibility for myself?

On the unlikely chance I actually do live in to retirement I'll just let the government take care of me and live out my days bitching that they just don't do enough!!!
 
rhinefire said:
I am single and I retired this past October 8th knowing my money would last and I will be comfortable. Out of curiosity I started logging all spending for each month and in November and December my spending nearly matched by SS check which is $1,981 after all medical insurance bills are taken out. That means if I lived on that check and had some home and or auto repairs I could not pay for them. Now home taxes are due next month to a total of about $2,000 and for this month my spending as of the 12th is $2,342 so that again is proof there is no such thing as "living" on social security. I was a contractor so I have no pension so I saved and invested but I know too many people rom 35 on up that had no concept of life 30 years from now and a few near my age 67, that have saved nothing. So if you are thinking you will get by I am saying you may be in for a big shock and at 60+ years of age you will not be able to find a good paying job or any job once you figure out you cannot make ends meet. After so many criticized me for working long hours and five years past age 62 when you can retire and I am very happy my plans have put me in a comfortable position so my advise is simply plan, plan and plan and you will be rewarded.
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Yeah, that's why I'm so glad that I have a union pension I;m drawing from. When I reach the age of SS, I'll be doing better; I'm fin now and not too far away, but having that extra will only make it better.

The trouble with 401Ks and dividends is the market crashes. People just get wiped out, and for those drawing as you are now, the market is not looking too good. In order to save the elderly in this country; a subject I care very deeply about, we need some good legislation concerning people in your predicament who can get a substantial break on taxes of all sorts and medical expenses.

The next generation is really going to be screwed I'm afraid. Because when the baby boomers die off, it's over.
 
PerfectStorm said:
I'm glad you said "may". I applied for social security benefits at age 62 because I have a 13 year-old son. He can receive 1/2 of my age 66 benefit each month until he becomes 18. That makes my break even age 84. Plus it will put a major dent into his college expenses. If I wait until age 66 to receive my benefit, we would only receive 7 months of his benefit.
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Everybody has their own set of circumstances and what works for one isn't necessarily going to work for another. The case of dependent benefits is a whole 'nuther kettle o' fish but it doesn't effect too many people.

As an aside, the "File and Suspend" plan a lot of folks used is gone as of March 1st and the "File and Restrict" plan ended 31 Dec. So those who were planning on milking the system a little bit either lost their chance or need to hurry up and git 'er done.
 
soot said:
It would actually probably take catastrophically bad luck and if you really were responsible you'd be insuring yourself against the possibilities.

Then it would take incredibly, astronomically, catastrophically bad luck.

Could it still happen?

Sure.

Or you could be hit by a bus, or the federal government could collapse and the nation could plunge in to anarchy, or the planet could be obliterated by a ginormous asteroid, or...

On second thought, since the world could end tomorrow why should I bother taking responsibility for myself?

On the unlikely chance I actually do live in to retirement I'll just let the government take care of me and live out my days bitching that they just don't do enough!!!
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The only point was that you can't assume that EVERYONE who lives in a cardboard box has been irresponsible. Sure, many of them have been. And others haven't.
 
In the modern era, is there anyone left who still believes one can live off SS in the first place?
 
Lutherf said:
I didn't say "hard work". I said "make yourself more valuable". If you are the hardest working burger flipper in the city you're still just producing burgers and will only be able to command a wage based on that. If, however, you can figure out a way to get more burgers to more paying customers you become more valuable and thus make more money.
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Ahhh, so our economy ISN'T based on hard work, only those who are valuable to capitalism. This is why people are turning to democratic socialism. No matter how hard one works, there will be no moving up. At least you were honest about it.
 
clownboy said:
In the modern era, is there anyone left who still believes one can live off SS in the first place?
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Nope, and it sucks that people are forced to give into the SS tax.

The SS...
 
Winchester said:
Okay... so because a politician said it will, makes it so?
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The data is real. The question i have for you: why are you so skeptical?
 
Lutherf said:
Everybody has their own set of circumstances and what works for one isn't necessarily going to work for another. The case of dependent benefits is a whole 'nuther kettle o' fish but it doesn't effect too many people.

As an aside, the "File and Suspend" plan a lot of folks used is gone as of March 1st and the "File and Restrict" plan ended 31 Dec. So those who were planning on milking the system a little bit either lost their chance or need to hurry up and git 'er done.
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Oh, and I'm having no luck convincing my wife that we should crank out another child in order to add to the dependent benefit.....yes I am aware of the maximum family benefit restriction.
 
Shadowless said:
Ahhh, so our economy ISN'T based on hard work, only those who are valuable to capitalism. This is why people are turning to democratic socialism. No matter how hard one works, there will be no moving up. At least you were honest about it.
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Well, the beautiful thing about Capitalism is that what is junk to one person may well be valuable to another so in a Capitalist system you could, possibly, make a ****load of money being a socialist democrat as long as someone finds that to be of value to them.
 
Lutherf said:
Well, the beautiful thing about Capitalism is that what is junk to one person may well be valuable to another so in a Capitalist system you could, possibly, make a ****load of money being a socialist democrat as long as someone finds that to be of value to them.
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That's ridiculous. Every human being has value, and we should structure an economy and a society to maximize the quality of life for as many people as we can.
 
Shadowless said:
That's ridiculous. Every human being has value, and we should structure an economy and a society to maximize the quality of life for as many people as we can.
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So you want a managed society rather than a free society. That's fine right up to the point that you decide to force everyone else into your preferred form of "management".
 
Shadowless said:
That's ridiculous. Every human being has value, and we should structure an economy and a society to maximize the quality of life for as many people as we can.
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Nope. Freedom outweighs your desire to manage and control people.
 
PoS said:
I think it depends on where you are. As an expat I know a lot of American retirees that live in the third world and live pretty well purely on their SS checks.
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any thoughts on the best places to look at
... and at least as important, the places to avoid
 
Shadowless said:
Believe me, if you can't earn a decent living, you have no freedom.
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Believe me, if my illegal immigrant dad can come out wealthy, that just means native born Americans that are poor are probably not working nearly as effectively as they could be. And when they were in school, they sacrificed their future to "look cool" or something.

NOT MA PROBLEM.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Believe me, if my illegal immigrant dad can come out wealthy, that just means native born Americans that are poor are probably not working nearly as effectively as they could be. And when they were in school, they sacrificed their future to "look cool" or something.

NOT MA PROBLEM.
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Stop that way of thinking. The VAST majority of people work hard. As another poster said, capitalism is NOT about how hard you work, it's about how "valueable" you are to the market. That is not a good system.
 
Shadowless said:
I'm well aware. Good wages are for the few, not the many. Look at the data.
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Which would be a good indication that it doesn't take a hell of a lot of effort to develop abilities which put you a notch above "the many".
 
Shadowless said:
Stop that way of thinking. The VAST majority of people work hard. As another poster said, capitalism is NOT about how hard you work, it's about how "valueable" you are to the market. That is not a good system.
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Working smart > working hard

No one ever said hard work was the key. That's only part of the key.

A teenager fools around in school and is stuck in minimum wage. He works hard in his minimum wage job. Who cares? He failed in the critical moments of his life and no matter how hard he works, he's working moronically. So he has to work three times as hard to try and get by. And that is no one else's fault but his.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Believe me, if my illegal immigrant dad can come out wealthy, that just means native born Americans that are poor are probably not working nearly as effectively as they could be. And when they were in school, they sacrificed their future to "look cool" or something.

NOT MA PROBLEM.
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Wrong, zoomie, it IS your problem as a taxpayer (along with every other taxpayer's problem).

Telling the dude in the cardboard box that he was irresponsible is NOT going to make him magically disappear. Whether he was or not, the problem's still there.
 
DifferentDrummr said:
Wrong, zoomie, it IS your problem as a taxpayer (along with every other taxpayer's problem).

Telling the dude in the cardboard box that he was irresponsible is NOT going to make him magically disappear. Whether he was or not, the problem's still there.
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Sure thing. But welfare is a penny or two of each tax dollar as it is right now.

They can feed off scraps for all I care. I'll continue to work hard in school and aim for the kingly life.

And if I ever get into any sort of influential position, you bet your ass I'll do anything and everything in my power to end this leech known as welfare that serves to hold people down and make them dependent.
 
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