My only income is SS. Due to the way my retirement happened and the timing, my pension was eliminated in the crash of 2001-2002. I fired my financial manager before he managed to lose all of my savings. I live modestly. Do fun things with friends that don't cost much. Library has a lot of free programs and free videos, even online. Visit a lot. Shop at thrift stores and look for sales. Camp. Rarely stay in hotels. Never take expensive vacations. Buy the cheaper versions rather than the luxury versions. DIY when I can. Work on my projects (have enough of them to last the rest of my life!) I'm content and have all the necessities of life, plus some. And I NEVER EVER get bored.
My dad (gone now) raged for years about the government raiding the SS trust fund and moving large amounts of money to the "general fund". I never knew details, but it seemed they started bundling the SS funds into the general budget, so they could hide what was being done.
Kudos for you! The most irritating thing is hearing politicians talk about cutting SSI & Medicare. Why don't they ever talk about cutting welfare or their own incomes?
SSI would have been a fine Ponzi scheme if they would have kept their damned hands out of the cookie jar but I've never met a politician who didn't spend every dime they didn't have.
It used to be. It wasn't originally set up to be general retirement plans for everyone. It was to care for disabled who couldn't work, and back when most companies offered a pension. Now retirement plans are not even always offered, and good luck finding a pension outside of government jobs.
From my understanding, a pension plan is provided by the company and pays each employee who retires so much money for life. My grandpa retired from GM back in I think the 80s, and he's still getting money from his pension. A 401K is like an account that employees put their own money into and manage. Sometimes the company will contribute some as well. If not managed well, the money can run out during retirement and force people back to work. Also sometimes people live longer than they originally expected to.
We have a similar system in UK. When I was aged 21 I was not keen to lose money from my paycheck every month for it to go into "a pension." Smelled like a scam. However now I am aged 67 I am very pleased to have it. Everyone needs something to live on when they have had enough of working. Be careful though and look closely at how your pension is doing because our schemes usually have cheap low-talent people managing them and they don't invest very well.
SSI was a dirty plan from the beginning. When it was created, while everybody contributed, most didn't live long enough to see it because the original age when you could collect it was like 6 yrs longer than the average life expectancy.
My only income is SS. Due to the way my retirement happened and the timing, my pension was eliminated in the crash of 2001-2002. I fired my financial manager before he managed to lose all of my savings. I live modestly. Do fun things with friends that don't cost much. Library has a lot of free programs and free videos, even online. Visit a lot. Shop at thrift stores and look for sales. Camp. Rarely stay in hotels. Never take expensive vacations. Buy the cheaper versions rather than the luxury versions. DIY when I can. Work on my projects (have enough of them to last the rest of my life!) I'm content and have all the necessities of life, plus some. And I NEVER EVER get bored.
My dad (gone now) raged for years about the government raiding the SS trust fund and moving large amounts of money to the "general fund". I never knew details, but it seemed they started bundling the SS funds into the general budget, so they could hide what was being done.
Kudos for you! The most irritating thing is hearing politicians talk about cutting SSI & Medicare. Why don't they ever talk about cutting welfare or their own incomes?
SSI would have been a fine Ponzi scheme if they would have kept their damned hands out of the cookie jar but I've never met a politician who didn't spend every dime they didn't have.
Agree with that! What other working group of people gets to vote their own self the raise that they want? That needs stopped.
Everyone has a different definition of 'comfortably'.
I'm going full blown Grizzly Adams when I retire... and I recon I'll die out there, if they'll let me. Beats the hell out of dying in a nursing home.
It used to be. It wasn't originally set up to be general retirement plans for everyone. It was to care for disabled who couldn't work, and back when most companies offered a pension. Now retirement plans are not even always offered, and good luck finding a pension outside of government jobs.
From my understanding, a pension plan is provided by the company and pays each employee who retires so much money for life. My grandpa retired from GM back in I think the 80s, and he's still getting money from his pension. A 401K is like an account that employees put their own money into and manage. Sometimes the company will contribute some as well. If not managed well, the money can run out during retirement and force people back to work. Also sometimes people live longer than they originally expected to.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/whats-difference-between-401k-and-pension-plan.asp
We have a similar system in UK. When I was aged 21 I was not keen to lose money from my paycheck every month for it to go into "a pension." Smelled like a scam. However now I am aged 67 I am very pleased to have it. Everyone needs something to live on when they have had enough of working. Be careful though and look closely at how your pension is doing because our schemes usually have cheap low-talent people managing them and they don't invest very well.
i have no idea fren
SSI was a dirty plan from the beginning. When it was created, while everybody contributed, most didn't live long enough to see it because the original age when you could collect it was like 6 yrs longer than the average life expectancy.
Yep. It still would be viable if the politicians would keep their filthy hands off of it.
I would like to see the ss minimum be at least the amt equal to what we give illegal immigrants.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109973057697185323