Warning! Do not drive or operate machinery while reading this.
I see that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is warning Congress again that the time to fix the Social Security and Medicare funding problems is now, not later. On behalf of the entire baby-boomer generation, I would like to add my support to this effort and encourage all of you youngsters out there to take second jobs, if necessary, to make my golden years as comfortable as possible. It is the least you can do.
I was thinking about Social Security because I got my earnings statement and estimate of benefits yesterday. According to the statement I stand to get $1545 per month, if I start collecting at age 62 or $2053, should I wait until my full retirement age, which is 66. According to the statement, I have payed in $85,000 for Social Security in my lifetime, with my employers kicking in an additional $85,000.
This means that if I choose to start collecting at 62, I will recoup the entire $170,000 that was paid in by me or for me, two months before I turn 71. Deferring until I am 66 results in full payback at 72. After 71 or 72, someone else is paying for my life of leisure. This what strikes me as a big flaw in the system.
Since I have reached 56 without any major health problems, my life expectancy is something like 82. That means that if I reach my normal life expectancy (and I intend to exceed it), I will take about $200,000 more from the system than I put in. The lovely Mrs. Sneed will do even better since her family lives to be ancient. Heck, her mom died at 89 in a snowboarding accident.
I won't bore you with the actual math, but after I reach the point at which I have collected all of the contributions I paid in, as well as those of my employer, it will take the Social Security taxes of four average workers, including employer matches, to support my sorry butt. And don''t for get the lovely Mrs. Sneed, she will need an addional four. Since the government estimates that there will only be 2.5 workers per retiree by then, trouble looms.
My dad waited until he was 70 to start collecting, but he was a much better person than I am, so no one should wait around for a noble gesture like that from me.
Social Security has become a Ponzi scheme and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Mr. Bernanke will wait a long time for the irresponsible goofs in Congress to fix it.
Merle
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgemental and cranky
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
I see that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is warning Congress again that the time to fix the Social Security and Medicare funding problems is now, not later. On behalf of the entire baby-boomer generation, I would like to add my support to this effort and encourage all of you youngsters out there to take second jobs, if necessary, to make my golden years as comfortable as possible. It is the least you can do.
I was thinking about Social Security because I got my earnings statement and estimate of benefits yesterday. According to the statement I stand to get $1545 per month, if I start collecting at age 62 or $2053, should I wait until my full retirement age, which is 66. According to the statement, I have payed in $85,000 for Social Security in my lifetime, with my employers kicking in an additional $85,000.
This means that if I choose to start collecting at 62, I will recoup the entire $170,000 that was paid in by me or for me, two months before I turn 71. Deferring until I am 66 results in full payback at 72. After 71 or 72, someone else is paying for my life of leisure. This what strikes me as a big flaw in the system.
Since I have reached 56 without any major health problems, my life expectancy is something like 82. That means that if I reach my normal life expectancy (and I intend to exceed it), I will take about $200,000 more from the system than I put in. The lovely Mrs. Sneed will do even better since her family lives to be ancient. Heck, her mom died at 89 in a snowboarding accident.
I won't bore you with the actual math, but after I reach the point at which I have collected all of the contributions I paid in, as well as those of my employer, it will take the Social Security taxes of four average workers, including employer matches, to support my sorry butt. And don''t for get the lovely Mrs. Sneed, she will need an addional four. Since the government estimates that there will only be 2.5 workers per retiree by then, trouble looms.
My dad waited until he was 70 to start collecting, but he was a much better person than I am, so no one should wait around for a noble gesture like that from me.
Social Security has become a Ponzi scheme and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Mr. Bernanke will wait a long time for the irresponsible goofs in Congress to fix it.
Merle
Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgemental and cranky
Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor
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