👴👵 What Are YOUR RETIREMENT CONCERNS today?

[Anonymous]

▶️To reply, click on reply button at bottom of this post. Enter your text. Click reply button again.◀️

***READ comments and/or ADD a comment***

(1) Still WORKING - what are YOUR concerns while planning? 🤔

(2) RETIRED - YOUR concerns? 🤔

Thanks, Nicole 👴👵 (Retirement Forum)

[AZBlueSkies]

  I’m afraid of the upcoming election.  The Republican party seems determined to destroy Social Security and Medicare.  I have other sources of income, but without Social Security and health care, life would be bleak and probably short.  

[SpringIsHereSoHappy]

(4/14/24) @AZBlueSkies , they said Social Security will NOT be around and ALOT of Medical People are REFUSING to deal with Medicare.  👵

---

[*** @AZBlueSkies wrote:

  I’m afraid of the upcoming election.  The Republican party seems determined to destroy Social Security and Medicare.  I have other sources of income, but without Social Security and health care, life would be bleak and probably short.  ***

---

[AZBlueSkies]

  Exactly, that’s why I’m afraid.  It’s just crazy that Congress did nothing all those decades, when they knew this day would come.

[SpringIsHereSoHappy]

(4/14/24) @AZBlueSkies , personally I am taking care of myself at age 66 this year. Sometimes we DO NOT and CREATE "issues" that could have been AVOIDED. As far as Retirement Social Security - I am living like I am NOT getting it!!! This way I am NOT "stressing or homeless" IF it goes AWAY BEFORE I die.  👵

---

[*** @AZBlueSkies wrote:

  Exactly, that’s why I’m afraid.  It’s just crazy that Congress did nothing all those decades, when they knew this day would come. ***]

---

[SpringIsHereSoHappy]

 (Saturday 8/12/23)

So GRATEFUL to my NEW Allstate Agent who EDITED my policy so I got a DISCOUNT.

My PREVIOUS agent from 2018 did a runner/lol 🤣😂

I RETIRED 2020 and should have gotten this DISCOUNT.

Glad I decided to stop by their office.

The premium keeps going UP. Use to go DOWN as my car aged. A 2006 Hyundai Elantra. 😥

[nctarheel]

---

@SpringIsHereSoHappy wrote:

(8/10/23) Stop by to read our comments when you can.

And leave a comment..... 😏

Anyone age 50+ welcome!

Nicole 🙃

---

Hey Nicole,

Good to hear from you again.

Having been retired for over a decade, I have no pressing concerns.

I planned for retirement from early in life.

I didn't foolishly spend my retirement funds on other things.

The earlier one plans for retirement, the more comfortable their retired life will be.

Comfortable doesn't mean rich; it just means less worrisome.

There is enough to worry about as one ages.

[SpringIsHereSoHappy]

1 comment (8/4/23) I HOPE our Retirement Social Security will INCREASE for 2024. 🙏

I guess we fill find out THIS October 2023! 🙄

Nicole 🙃

[GailL1]

Two more months of financial data before we know what the COLA will be for 2024 - currently it looks like we will get one but for around 3% or so.  

The other shoe on the table is how much Medicare Part B premiums for 2024 will slurp this increase up.

KFF.org 07/06/2023 - New Alzheimer’s Drugs Spark Hope for Patients and Cost Concerns for Medicare

Want cures and treatments - somebody has to pay and many pay nothing.

[AZBlueSkies]

Part B went up a little but all other insurances skyrocketed!

[SpringIsHereSoHappy]

(4/14/24) Lol @AZBlueSkies , that is WHY when they INCREASE our Retirement Social Security it means ZERO to me. By the time we receive the INCREASE = Part B and OTHER bills [also go up] takes it and MORE. It is like does America CARE that us Old Folks NEED stuff??? And I am NOT talking about cruises, golf and so on. No, NECESSARY things.  👵

---

[*** @AZBlueSkies wrote:

Part B went up a little but all other insurances skyrocketed! ***]

---

[Anonymous]

***READ comments and/or ADD a comment***

(1) Still WORKING - what are YOUR concerns while planning? 🤔

(2) RETIRED - YOUR concerns? 🤔

Thanks, Nicole 👴👵 (Retirement Forum)

---

[PhyllisD295263]

I was forced to retire concerned about income. How can i earn from baking homemade desserts? 

[Anonymous]

(Tuesday 6/13/23)

Signed up for MEDICARE this morning! 

Now to FIND new primary doctor and dentist as my OLD ones do not "accept" Medicare. 😭😭

Nicole 🙃

[Anonymous]

(Sunday 6/11/23)

The price of food, housing and medical care!

Nicole 🙃

[Anonymous]

(Wednesday 5/31/23)

As I AGE, I am "concerned" about dementia.

Nicole 🙃

[Anonymous]

(Monday 5/22/23)

SO GRATEFUL I made it to 2023 WITHOUT getting COVID 💃🥳 and planning on "returning" to Consulting.

My concern TODAY is the news the media has been printing.

Lol, some say workers are needed - economy is "booming".

While others are predicting "doom and gloom" with more to arrive soon!

So, I am taking my TIME to figure out IF it is worth it TRYING to get back out there.

Turning 65 this September and MEDICARE "decisions" will come before a job. 😉

Nicole 🙃

[fffred]

My concern is that the front line representatives at the Social Security Administration are nowadays generally rude, disinterested, and uninformed. This is a change from 5 years ago when the reverse was true. 

When I signed up for Medicare at age 65 I had to work with an SSA representative...I don't recall exactly why, but this was after I had worked with some Medicare representatives who impressed me as being not too swift. The SSA representative at that time wholly impressed me! very capable, knowledgeable, and friendly. 

Over the past 2 years I've dealt a lot with the SSA when applying for my own retirement benefit and also on an issue that had come up with my wife's SS account. That latter required, well, it induced a lot of heartburn, as we had to send her passport to the SSA office, from Canada to the SSA office in the US. In this latter case one smug SSA representative claimed that other original, irreplaceable, documentation was required as well as the passport. But this wasn't my view from the SSA documents. I later spoke with another representative who had been very helpful for me and she confirmed that only the passport was required.

(In fact, in that particular passport incident the SSA actually highly impressed me! I sent the passport by Federal Express 2-Day business from Canada to the SSA US office on a Monday. We received the passport back from the SSA on Friday that week. Amazing!)

But I digress. In the months waiting for my retirement benefit I spoke numerous times with a number of representatives who were rude, slow, uninformed, unhelpful, uncaring, disinterested, well, you get the idea. Further, what's more maddening is their distributing false and incorrect information! That is the killer.

I also had another issue that I wanted information on. I had searched all through the SSA's documentation on-line and not found my needed information...and they really do a great job with their online documentation, in my opinion. Those interested can really dig into the POMS, the directions by which SSA operates, and even the "CFRs", the Code of Federal Regulations, which are the laws established by Congress addressing Social Security. This information is golden. I digressed again. 

So the SSA indicates to call their friendly helpful representatives when our questions aren't answered by the online references. So I called about my question. A high-energy lady answered, full of enthusiasm. I thought this was great! I start asking my question, she interrupts to give me an answer...to an entirely different question! Granted, her answer was correct. But unhelpful. I finished my question and she paused and said "That's a good question. I really don't know". She then put me on hold for a moment, then came back and authoritatively gave me an answer that was obviously and patently incorrect; maybe in her mind she had further information that may have justified her spoken reply. In any case, her reply along with some further babble once I questioned her answer, was obviously wrong and she obviously had no clue. I thanked her and "have a great day!" and hung up.

I would say that I've spoken with 12-15 representatives over the past 2 years. Most were lazy and uninterested. Some had energy but ended up being rude and their information incorrect. I can recall 2 who were actually friendly and helpful with accurate information. So 2 out of 12? that's not a good ratio.

So that is my retirement concern today:   The exceptionally poor customer service provided by the SSA by their front line staff. But again, I view their website as being very helpful, bearing in mind that it's a continuing work in progress.

[AZBlueSkies]

  I never worked at Social Security but I did work at the Federal Gov’t for over 40 years.  Since about 2017 and until I retired in 2021, our organization was always lacking funding and was always shorthanded.  They weren’t replacing people who left and those who remained had more and more work with shorter and shorter deadlines.  We did our very best under the circumstances.  I suspect Social Security is facing similar challenges.

[GailL1]

@AZBlueSkies 

Never worked for government but lots of dealings with government.

Worked for national companies for 15 years - finance and nursing - yea, I know real different and then for over 30 years my husband and I had our own business - and did really well in it.

The government ( any level ) does not put the same emphasis on keeping the technology up to date - which of course, could help people do their jobs - better and perhaps faster and maybe with a fewer ratio of workers.

They also don’t beta check things out before launch very well - thus they spend a lot of time back tracking and fixing things that were launched incorrectly and fixing the mess ups.

They also do a poor job in giving and getting out important info to the public - which the public needs for efficiency in understanding the [whatever] benefit or government program.  Yes, plenty of us want to know this because only then can one see the logic - or ill-logic which might also be the case in government.  Sometimes I wonder if they can even add and subtract.  

[AZBlueSkies]

   Your assumptions are mostly right, but for the wrong reasons.  If Congress fails to fund Government departments adequately, then they won’t be able to buy the latest technology or hire enough people to provide excellent customer service.  The Trump administration made it clear that they hated the Government, were determined to destroy it, and they did a pretty good job of meeting their goals.  You, as a customer of a Government organization, are left with horrible customer service.  I suspect the Biden admin has been trying to fix the damage that was done, but it takes longer to fix things than to break them.

[k40013h]

I agree totally.  I am about to retire and found out I have to give Medicare 2 months to process my paper work and heard from others if you don't walk your paper work in to your Social Security office they tell you they lost your fax.  I thought I would be glad to reach an age when I could retire and now I am just finding a mountain of frustration.  

[GailL1]

@fffred 

Add the IRS into that same category of DUH!!

One of those SSA reps who posts on Reddit said that SSA has lost many seasoned employees - some retired, others just left the position when they were asked to comeback into the office to work.

Others have left for more money at a private co.  

Do you think that more funding will help cause more is coming their way but I just don’t know - I will agree that it is a mess right now but not just at SSA.

Kind of scary - when you think about it - what if this goes further into other depts. - ??????

[fffred]

@GailL1 I'll have to comment later. but this customer service plummet is not just the SSA (though that one is especially scary because it's our financial future). I had to make some changes with my Vanguard mutual fund account this week and while on the phone I was thinking "hmmm, I don't know which one is worse, Vanguard or the SSA?!"

It is like virtually every place I call these days has a telephone announcement about "high call volumes" etc etc, oftentimes the agency or company blames things on "the pandemic". Yes, pandemic threw a huge wrench into things. But customer care was going down well before 2020 and the pandemic; plz don't make excuses.

er, so yes, Gail. Money (pay) is part of the issue but likely is not the whole issue. For example, I deal with both Vanguard and Fidelity. Vanguard is, call it, "the low cost champ". Fidelity is more profit-driven but consequently may invest more in customer service. People complain about Vanguard all the time. And their service is variable, long wait times, etc. OTOH, I'm not sure that I am better served by Fidelity. Their website is a confusing mess to me (maybe 'cause I'm an old geezer?) and their phone reps... well, seemingly they are driven by a corporate profit mode (though there have been some notable exceptions some people were really very helpful to me).

It seems that Management, of whatever agency/company, needs to have a clear plan for handling service over the phone. I think some few companies handle this well but most view "support" as something that is just a cost sink and no one really takes much interest (or excitement) in developing quality systems for their high volume support centers.

Yeah, more pay will certainly help attract better staff, but the staff (new and existing) need to be supported with systems where they can provide correct help and assistance to the caller and on a timely basis. I suspect that such systems are rare.

I actually worked phone support for some years, supporting our engineering software. Some of our clients calling in where real jerks but most were quite polite, etc. But the experience did make me decide to treat people on the other end (when I was the one calling in) much more considerately than before.

[k40013h]

Yes, corporate america wants to replace all support people with robots who report to layers of management.  I am glad I will retiring soon who wants to report to a robot.  Especially in the financial area, it seems the more complicated companies can make it the longer hold on to baby boomers money.   It certainly a do it yourself world 

[JJC1957]

My main concern is the continued republican attack on Social Security and Medicare.

The latest is a plan to move full retirement age to 70 and 75 for the max benefit. 

They'll keep us working till we hit our graves.  

[GailL1]

@JJC1957 

so if the workers are replaced by robots or AI, who is paying the contributions into Social Security and Medicare?  Both of these programs are pay as we go - meaning those working today are paying the benefits for those who are already on one of the SS programs.

We use to have like 50 workers working for every beneficiary - now it is down to 2.  We also are paying more people a benefit - the Baby Boomers - 10,000 0f them retiring everyday thru about 2030 and this has been going on since about 2010.  

“Raise the cap” isn’t gonna help with jobs that are being replaced with bots or AI.

[GeorgeM80439]

Show me where this republican plan is, I would like to read it. The real threat to SS and Medicare is the out of control government spending.  

[JJC1957]

I assume you saw the bill the republican congress just created last week as their compromise to approve the debt ceiling increase?   They gut social security, medicare and veterans benefits.

[GailL1]

I think you might need to do a bit more research to understand how all this works.  There is nothing in the legislation that refers to SS, Medicare or VA benefits, at all.

FACT CHECK.ORG - 05/05/2023 - Republicans Push Back on Democratic Claims of Veterans’ Health Care Cu...

To change discretionary spending (like VA benefits) it would have to go through a new appropriations after the “ Limit, Save, and Grow Act.” Is passed which is highly unlikely.

We all have a choice to get the TRUTH or get the slanted Truth and the slant can go both ways -