So I'm forced to pay into a system my entire life on the penalty of going to jail if I try to avoid it. My reward for working hard, carefully saving my money, investing it for a better life, is then to have that money I was forced to contribute to SS be taken away because someone determines I'm too well off?
Good luck selling that plan.
Now if you want to make social security optional then we are talking about a plan I could endorse. I could then choose to invest in social security as a back-up plan in case all my investments go south. Or I could choose to roll the dice and make my own investment decisions and get nothing from SS if I fail. The key word is choice. Right now I have no choice but to contribute to SS and neither do most people.
PeakOil is You
When to draw your social security?
Re: When to draw your social security?
by Cog » Sat 04 Feb 2017, 22:35:49
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Cog - Fusion
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Re: When to draw your social security?
by Plantagenet » Sun 05 Feb 2017, 00:44:44
When Alaska became a state in 1959 it opted out of the SS system. Private employers are still in SS, but Alaskan state employees and university employees don't pay SS tax. Thats right---I don't pay a penny of SS tax. I pay Zero SS tax. Nada. Zilcho. Null.
Instead the money that would've gone into SS tax goes instead into a state retirement system that will pay far far more SS would pay. SS was a great deal for most people when it started, but the tax rates have now gotten so high that the ROI for most people isn't that great. They could do better.
Trust me----Life is fine outside the SS system. Getting more money during retirement is better. If there is ever a chance to reform the SS system and privatize part or all of it, don't automatically panic and assume evil wall street brokers are out to steal the money in your lockbox. You just may be better off OUTSIDE the SS system.
Cheers!
Another thing Obama didn't fix
Instead the money that would've gone into SS tax goes instead into a state retirement system that will pay far far more SS would pay. SS was a great deal for most people when it started, but the tax rates have now gotten so high that the ROI for most people isn't that great. They could do better.
Trust me----Life is fine outside the SS system. Getting more money during retirement is better. If there is ever a chance to reform the SS system and privatize part or all of it, don't automatically panic and assume evil wall street brokers are out to steal the money in your lockbox. You just may be better off OUTSIDE the SS system.
Cheers!
Another thing Obama didn't fix
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Re: When to draw your social security?
by vtsnowedin » Sun 05 Feb 2017, 05:30:54
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '
')What are you talking about? If you have two married workers and they both work the required 10 years or more, then they can both draw social security. Even if one of them made MUCH more than the other, or both are "poor". My parents did, my girlfriends' parents did, etc.
Why make such stuff up?
')What are you talking about? If you have two married workers and they both work the required 10 years or more, then they can both draw social security. Even if one of them made MUCH more than the other, or both are "poor". My parents did, my girlfriends' parents did, etc.
Why make such stuff up?
I'm not making anything up. It is not about do they draw SS, of course they do. It is about how MUCH they draw compared to the taxes they paid in as a couple. The fact is that a married woman in America has been most likely to make about half of her husbands earnings over her lifetime due to the pay differential that persists in spite of current law and the fact that over a career they tend to have gaps and restarts centered around child bearing and rearing.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')I did a search on the poor not getting SS, and found this good, relevant link from SS:
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v71n2/v71n2p17.html
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Almost 95 percent of never-beneficiaries have insufficient work histories to gain Social Security coverage. Within this group we identify three mutually exclusive categories: late-arriving immigrants (55.1 percent), infrequent workers (34.7 percent), and noncovered workers, of whom most are state and local government employees (4.7 percent).
So the people not getting it sound like they aren't SUPPOSED to get it, due to the rules. That isn't a problem, IMO.
You're in the strong majority that everyone should get paid. Which is why people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett will get SS, but it's running out of money over time. To me, that makes zero sense.
I have no problem with an immigrant legal or not that worked and paid in for the required ten years getting back the amount earned through the same formulas mine is calculated at. Of course if he only worked here ten years instead of thirty five or more which is the basis of the calculation he or she is going to get a much smaller check. And it would be silly to send Bill and Melinda Gates checks foe $3538 a month each based on their individual maximum taxes paid when they are sending the IRS literally millions of dollars in income tax every month but they should at least get that much deducted from their tax bill. It's the principle of the thing and fair is fair.
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Re: When to draw your social security?
by vtsnowedin » Sun 05 Feb 2017, 05:54:04
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'W')hen Alaska became a state in 1959 it opted out of the SS system. Private employers are still in SS, but Alaskan state employees and university employees don't pay SS tax. Thats right---I don't pay a penny of SS tax. I pay Zero SS tax. Nada. Zilcho. Null.
Instead the money that would've gone into SS tax goes instead into a state retirement system that will pay far far more SS would pay. SS was a great deal for most people when it started, but the tax rates have now gotten so high that the ROI for most people isn't that great. They could do better.
Trust me----Life is fine outside the SS system. Getting more money during retirement is better. If there is ever a chance to reform the SS system and privatize part or all of it, don't automatically panic and assume evil wall street brokers are out to steal the money in your lockbox. You just may be better off OUTSIDE the SS system.
Cheers!
Another thing Obama didn't fix
Instead the money that would've gone into SS tax goes instead into a state retirement system that will pay far far more SS would pay. SS was a great deal for most people when it started, but the tax rates have now gotten so high that the ROI for most people isn't that great. They could do better.
Trust me----Life is fine outside the SS system. Getting more money during retirement is better. If there is ever a chance to reform the SS system and privatize part or all of it, don't automatically panic and assume evil wall street brokers are out to steal the money in your lockbox. You just may be better off OUTSIDE the SS system.
Cheers!
Another thing Obama didn't fix
Well that is fine as long as someone has the discipline to actually put the money away in good investments and nobody steals it.
The State of New Hampshire (which I used to work for) Has it's own retirement fund which was originally set up to provide half pay after thirty years service including social security payments. Then in 1970 COLA payments came in and it soon became apparent that Social security by itself would pay half pay for most NH retirees. So the system was changed to half pay at age sixty with thirty years service and then 40 percent (roughly) Plus Social security at age 65 plus full health care for retiree and spouse.
They now are ripping me off several hundred a month for health care and the deductibles are heading right up there but compared to most I'm doing OK and now my 62' Social Security checks will be $250 a month more then the State checks for now and $500 more when the state retirement reduces when I turn 65.
I paid in six percent of gross to the state system on top of the SS taxes so I paid double to get double back. It is good to not have all your eggs in one basket.
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