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social security

19 years ago

There is a thread on the Household finances board that should interest anyone who is at, near, or even far from retirement. My take on it is that there is a great deal of misunderstanding concerning the President's proposal. My understanding is that we won't "take charge" of our future, we are just giving up a defined benefit. We won't decide for ourselves how much and where to invest. That will still be decided for us. We will just be given a choice of 3 or 4 funds to put our money in. Ask yourself who will be in charge of those funds and if any accounting "mistakes" are likely to crop up. We will be shouldering all the risk without getting much to say about it. I would love to hear from someone who has a different understanding of the matter.

Comment (1)

Jonesy
19 years ago
I will admit first that I don't understand it at all, but in my opinion it is the start of phasing out soc sec. I hear a lot about preparing for your own retirement and many are confident they can do it. BUT they can't count on even it being there. The good thing about Soc Sec is that it can't be taken away from you if a tragedy strikes you or your family. If you or a family member needs a heart or kidney transplant you will of course dip into the retirement fund to save your loved one's life. Or if you or your wife runs a red light and cripples someone you will take a huge loss and may pay the rest of your life. That is just two examples of how you can lose your retirement. We all need to write our representatives and ask them to fight any changes in soc sec. If they run low on soc sec funds they should stop sending money out of this country until their responsibility to the citizens are taken care of.

We are very comfortable, I have prepared for this time in our lives....BUT there is one unexpected problem. Alzheimer's. If my husbands has to be placed in a care home, I will be ok, but only because we have a lot of assets. Anyone with less will lose most of their savings and their income. The saving thing for us is our soc sec and my husband's pension.
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Good resource to learn about Social Security and Medicare.
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Comments (6)
cooper and sushipup, Thank you so much for the quick response. Yes, suhipup, I read your posting and others you posted in the past. They are very informative. I also read postings from other folks on this forum regarding the subjects. It made me realize that it would be better for me to find a comprehensive, updated source of information in one place instead of reading piecemeal. I will be back later to ask for inputs after checking out the sources you provided. Cannot focus on this subject since I have to shop for a new car now after the current one just got totalled. Life surely has its twist.
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Quick social security questions
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Comments (1)
It is prorated.
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Social Security Card
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Comments (28)
I signed up for Social Security at age 62. I applied online. A day later a Social Security worker phoned me to ask one question and told me the amount I would receive and the date SS would start. Painless. Then about three months before I turned 65 I received my Medicare card through the mail. Because I was already getting SS I was automatically sent a Medicare card. Both Part A and Part B are shown on the card. If I chose not to pay for Part B the instructions said to mail back the card and they would send me a card for Part A only. If I chose to keep Part B with premiums deducted from my SS checks I was to separate the Medicare card from the rest of the paperwork they sent and put it in my wallet. Nothing more needed to be done. Easy peasy. I never drove anywhere to stand in any line to sign up for either Social Security or Medicare. Kessala
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About Social Security numbers...
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Comments (20)
I also have a (slightly irrational) fear of identity theft. I do as Elizabeth does, I remove anything with name/address from junk mail, and that goes into the shredder. The shredded paper is used to start our wood stove. When we leave town, I collect up sensitive documents (bank statements, CC bills, etc) and put them in an unlikely spot. Our house is fairly secluded, and if anyone was bent on stealing data, they could spend hours in our house and nobody would know. I have info on tenants, which include applications with every piece of ID-theft data in one spot. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't protect that and someone got it. My document collection process takes me about 5 minutes, and I sleep better at night. With all of that, I don't take extra effort to protect tax records. They're in filing cabinets in an out-of-the-way closet, but they're there. They take up a lot of space, with two businesses, so I'm not sure what else I could do with them.
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