2010 Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment

[Varmit]

Just seems like one of those things whose time has come and gone, just sort of "outlived" its usefulness

[Wilma]

Do you really think that by the time you retire in some 30 years or so, that you will have saved enough to keep you the rest of your life?  Or do you have another income that you haven't worked for?  What about huge medical expenses?  How do you plan to take care of them and believe me, you will have them?

[Varmit]

well, thanks to the mismanagement of SSI, the astronomical growth of our national debt, the huge spike in taxes thats coming, I don't plan on retiring in 30 years if ever.  and as far as medical bills, well I'll take quality of life over quanity anyday.

afterall, death is just Gods way of telling you that you need a vacation

[Wilma]

Should I say my goodbyes now just in case you drop dead in a few minutes.  Not that I want that to happen.  Hope I haven't put a curse on you.  Oh, gee, I didn't mean to jinx you.

[Varmit]

Wilma, God has already fixed a time and place for my death, so don't worry about it, I don't.  After all, I can't change it and neither can anyone else.

[redcliffsw]

Our dependence ought to be on God, not society or the government.

[srkruzich]

Do you really think that by the time you retire in some 30 years or so, that you will have saved enough to keep you the rest of your life?  Or do you have another income that you haven't worked for?  What about huge medical expenses?  How do you plan to take care of them and believe me, you will have them?

I know that if i had of been allowed to invest the 180k i paid into social security, i would have enough right now to live the rest of my life comfortably and have what i wanted.   

[Diane Amberg]

Back in the 60's the word was out that we, ME, wouldn't have SS either, it would be gone, used up by the previous generation, mishandled, misappropriated, you name it. It may be anemic and pock marked but it's still here. Be smart, assume it won't be available and then when it is, you'll have a little extra. That is what we did, and I'm sure glad.

[larryJ]

One of the things I like about this forum is, as Tobina has stated elsewhere, you learn a lot.  When I was lurking around this subject I decided to look up the history of Social Security. 

One of the fun facts was that a man who retired the day after his company began collecting taxes had paid in five cents for the day he worked and received a lump sum payment of seventeen cents.  For the first few years all benefits were paid in lump sums. 

There is no record of who received the first Social Security card. 

A woman from Vermont contributed $24.57 total (I hope I remembered the numbers right} and began collecting $24.72 a month for life.  After ten years, the Social Security Act was changed allowing for yearly increases and hers went to $41 a month.  She lived to be 100 years old and collected thousands of dollars in benefits.

A true fact.  My father died when I was three years old.  My mother began collecting benefits from his Social Security and I also collected one-half of that amount as a surviving dependent.  My mother was a substitue teacher so work was on-again, off-again and there were many months that the Social Security was the only thing that kept food on the table.  And we are talking about $90 a month if I remember correctly.   When I turned 18, my share stopped and when my mother began a full time teaching position paying into social security, hers stopped. 

When I retired I began collecting my benefits because I could even though I had a retirement and a 401k.  These amounts put food on my table and pay the bills.  Without the social security things would be a little tougher and I probably would have had to sell the house and move into a cheap apartment somewhere. 

AND, when it comes to your turn to leave the work force, you had better have saved a lot more that you think you need.  Not only does the cost of living go up, but there are many other factors.  As mentioned, the older you get the more medicines you might have to take.  Without a Part D plan or private retirement insurance. legal drugs can be more expensive than the illegal ones.  Ten years ago, I took no medicines for anything other than an occasional aspirin.  Today I am on eight different prescription medicines.  Another factor-----and this is true more often than not--------there is the problem of those nitpicking aging parents, both yours and your significant others, who decide they can no longer care for themselves and can ill afford a nursing home on their meager income so they are going to come live with you increasing your monthly food bills and utliltiy costs (my father-in-law was with us for ten years resulting in increased heating and air conditioning that would not normally be on during the day when nobody was home) or you might have to cover the cost of in-home nursing care (we had that) and actually have to pay the cost of the nursing home.  We were fortunate in that he paid us some money for "room and board" as he called it-------------from his Social Security check.  In his last year, he was in a nursing home, the costs were covered by a savings plan he had put into over the years.  When he passed, there was about enough left to pay for the funeral. 

So, hope and pray that social security will be there when you retire, but putting aside something each payday can add up in a hurry and it is all yours to use.  One of my cousins told me, "you should pay yourself %10 first and then give the rest to whoever you owe it to, and if you have some left over, pay yourself again".   

AND, srkruzich, if you live to be one hundred years old putting 35 years into your investment plan and need say $40000 a year (don't forget prices go up) that is $1,400,000 you will need. That would be some investment plan!!! 

Don't read into the parents thing anymore than what I said.  I sincerely liked my father-in-law and had no problems with my wife when she announced he was moving in.  I took him to his Doctors appointments and went to see him almost on a daily basis when he was in the nursing home.  If you are a parent and living with a child of yours, lucky you that child is taking care of you, and if you are the one who is taking care of a parent, lucky you, because you can give back what that parent gave to you.

Larryj

[W. Gray]

There is now something called "substantial quarters."

New retirees have to have forty substantial quarters.

That is still rather lenient.