Share your concerns about Social Security

[AARPMiller]

1)     In the article,  Social Security Fears, many Social Security myths are addressed. What concerns you the most about Social Security? 

[mg6845]

my children have been on ssi for awhile. i get the judge court order childsupport taken from my children. i have done my research on the ssi online page od children on ssi and it is not to be deemed. only people on tanf are to be deemed by ssi. i have never been on tanf at all. i have brought it to the attention of a supervisor at tge local ssi. still nothing and i have called and looked for a person to represent me or help me but i have hit a brick wall. here in texas its hard to find someone with intelligence. i struggle every month my income fluctuates to the point i cant even atend college at all. due tolack of funds.

[JBROVE]

i'm worried about congress dipping into social security to fund their wasteful spending

[pp8717]

My fear is that Social Security, after I've paid into it all my life, will not exist or will be next to nothing by the time I retire.  I'm 45.

[jpeter1]

I started receiving SSA retirement pension when I turned 62. I went back to work afterward and I have been contributing FICA eversince. Somehow will my retirement pension increase ... if so how often.

[judyz82]

It will only increase if your annual pay increases above the highest income year that your current benefit is now based on. So, if your highest wage was $50K per year and you're now earning more then that, you should get a benefit adjustment, not to be confused with the annual cost of living increases. Otherwise, you are set for life, which is why I did not start drawing at 62 but waited.

[RunningWithScissors9]

---

@judyz82 wrote:
It will only increase if your annual pay increases above the highest income year that your current benefit is now based on. So, if your highest wage was $50K per year and you're now earning more then that, you should get a benefit adjustment, not to be confused with the annual cost of living increases. Otherwise, you are set for life, which is why I did not start drawing at 62 but waited.

---

When SS evaluates your annual incomes for the years that you worked, they adjust for inflation.  In my case, my highest income year was 1968!

[AARPBill]

Social Security benefits are based on your top 35 years of inflation adjusted income. If you work in retirement replaces a lower earning year, your benefits will be adjusted to reflect your higher earnings record. However, it can take up to two years for the SSA to receive and process your tax returns, so the process can take awhile. Visit http://www.aarp.org/work/social-security/question-and-answer/?ssfaq=work for more information.

[CrockettMC]

I retired at the end of January 2013 after turning 68.  I worked the entire month and had, in addition, accumulated 3 years worth of banked vacation plus most of the 2012 holidays that I was unable to take due to project requirements.

The income received in 2013 resulted in my 1978 income being dropped from the PIA and replaced by my 2013 income.  The amount of my Social Security retirement benefit was adjusted and I began receiving it in February 2014.

It appears that the re-calculation of your retirement benefit occurs once a year after your previous year's earnings are reported to the IRS by your employer.

My wife's spousal benefit didn't change but her benefit is based on a different set of years that would have been used to calculate my PIA at age 66.

[jb65548036]

As soon as president Obama was elected to a second term, he turned against the very people who got him a second term. The older voters feel cheated from this shyster president because of his attempts to change the cost of living for Social Security and agreed with the Republicans on cutting all benefits!  Thanks for nothing Obama! I voted for him both times ONLY because I disliked Romney so much.  The elderly cannot win when they are dealing with such dishonest crooks.

[bernbang]

I have conflicting answers for this so looking for someone that may have done this.

I am 63 and not planning to retire until 65.  My wife is soon to be 62 and we planned to have the spousal benefit when I filed of about 1/2 of mine.  Can she collect her own now until I file and still get the same amount of about 1/2 of mine?  Advisor says go for it even though I will pay tax because it doesn't affect her later.  True or false.

[CrockettMC]

@bernbang 

I'm not certain that I've understood your question correctly.

Based on my personal experience and knowledge, you have to apply for Social Security retirement benefits before before your spouse can claim a Social Security spousal benefit.

The age at which you claim your retirement benefit determines the benefit amount that your spouse is entitled to receive.  If you retire before full retirement age, the maximum spousal benefit will be decreased by 8% for each year earlier that you retire.  In addition, your spouse's spousal benefit will be reduced by 4% for each year before your spouse reaches full retirement age.

To maximize the Social Security spousal benefit, you would want to defer claiming your retirement benefit until your full retirement age and defering claiming the spousal benefit until the spouse reaches full retirement age at which your spouse can receive 1/2 your benefit.

[jimsims0417]

My fear is that I will not be able to afford to live here in a manner that I can eat and take all the medications I need to live. I am making chooses now that are not heaklthy for me like eating hambuger instaed of lamb or fish, Chicken I am so tierd of chicken and I can not remember when I had steat last. My wife and I live on a very thin budget and I have so much fear over what will happen to her when I am gone. I do not understand why we are being put in thisd terrible postion. I worked hard for thirty years and have very little to show for it, I lost my home to a short sale because we were under water and I cauld not afford to live in the house any longer. I am sick and tired of living in constant fear over wether I can afford to feed my wife and I pay rent and all the buills we ned to be somewhat comfortable. Last month I had to cut cable we ahve basic channel but I can not afford that now. There are some very simple things that could be donme to correct this problem,

1) increase the age to collect SS starting with the people that ware in their late 40's

2) increase the limit on paying SS tax to $350,000.

3) investigate Medicare claims before you pay thenm to a new company.

4) Pay back all IOUs from Congress immediately

5) Pass a bill in Congress that hands off all SS funds from this time foward.

6) Increae cola for the elderly now on SS

7)  Build more elderly housing oin this country starting in the, starting in the northeast, Maine, Mass, New Hampshire, Conn* & Rhode Island.

😎 Elimate sales tax on all elderly people over the age of 66. stae & Federal

9) make a one time increase to SS so as to make the income livable and relieve fear.

10) hands off of the SS funds no congressional body nor anybody else touchs our money

[HenryClay]

In Response to Share your fears about Social Security:

1)       In the article,    Social Security Fears , many  Social Security myths  are addressed.  What concerns you the most about Social Security? 
Posted by AARPMiller

You can calculate your Social Security Payments !
You can find out how much you will receive, at different ages, and make an informed decisions on when  , exactly, to retire.

Try it!

[AARPBetty]

In Response to Share your fears about Social Security:

1)       In the article,    Social Security Fears , many  Social Security myths  are addressed.  What concerns you the most about Social Security? 
Posted by AARPMiller

You can get your benefits letter , telling you how much you will receive in social security, by signing up here:
                              
                                                   My Social Security

[Patkus]

Chained CPI: who is responsible for this idea, promoting it, and introducing it into the budget process?  WY newsletter says "President and Congress" are discussing this, well what's the whole story?

[AARPBetty]

In Response to Share your fears about Social Security:

1)       In the article,    Social Security Fears , many  Social Security myths  are addressed.  What concerns you the most about Social Security? 
Posted by AARPMiller

And, there is some more information here! Social Security When To Apply?

Do you know when it is best to take social security? There are a lot of factors to consider.

[Tom5678]

That it will be brought up  ( chained cpi) to make a long term budget "deal". SS and Medicare should be made stronger not cut!

[JANMB]

In Response to Re: Share your fears about Social Security:

The act has expanded over the years,  also gives money to states to provide assistance to Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Maternal and Child Welfare, public health services, and the blind. And now they want to add millions more non elderly to SS. We owe the older generation for everything they did. Look at the Hoover Dam. community's benefits from this creation, and it has been said it could not be done in this day and age. Why, because of a government drain on societies and labor. We need to cut Congressional pay, pork spending, everything until we pay back the last generation the benefits they deserve. They were promised 55 and not an escalated age. Where does it stop, 100 years old. There is no point to benefits if you increase the age.
Posted by judygram

To suggest going back to the days of slave-labor that the older generation  endured somewhat due to the great depression of the 1929...is ridiculous.       That's why  unions evolved  so the working people could get a decent cut of the profits they helped to make.   

Still we have an great inequality of income and it is partially the GOv't fault cause republicans won't raise the minimum wages to a standard of living.   

P S  -- We need bigger Gov't cause we had to bail out Wall Street not long ago or we would have seen a worse depression since 1929. 

It is well known that the level of income inequality stretches much higher in the United States than in the other developed countries of Europe and North America. Now a report from the International Labour Organization shows that U.S. inequality has literally gone off the chart.

Income inequality in the United States is soaring so high, in fact, that the authors of the ILO’s new 2013 World of Work report couldn’t even place the United States on the same graph with the other 25 developed countries their new study examines

http://truth-out.org/news/item/16849-us-inequality-now-literally-off-the-chart

    

[JANMB]

In Response to Re: Share your fears about Social Security:

Ronald Reagan added a payroll tax to be sure SS was secure for the baby boomers and Politicians spent that as well. We must vote out most of the democrats and any republican who voted for obamacare . Oh yes lets include the gang of eight in that as well. "Gang of Eight"--Lie that will end up being a multi-trillion dollar entitlement spending increase, with the burden falling on American taxpayers. How can 16 million low wage workers help Americans and out Social Security.
Posted by judygram

Ronnie Reagan was the first president to raid the S S fund.    (FACT)

Some of the ACA  is already in effect--

People are not excluded from insurance if they have  pre-existing conditions.   That means a lot to folks with heart conditions --cancer etc...

 Anyone under 26 years old can now be insured under their parents policies.     (great for college students)

Instead of only using 65% of your premiums on healthcare.....the insurance companies must use 80%.


Suggestion ....if you don't want to use the free preventive programs under Obamacare.....the insurers won't care....they never did care if you lived or died....they are only in business to make money and they make money when they don't pay claims.     I don't like the fact that people who are poor don't see a doctor in the USA who may have TB or parasites and are handling your food and living amongst us.....that is besides I personally don't like people to suffer cause of poor healthcare.

[JANMB]

In Response to Re: Share your fears about Social Security:

In Response to Share your fears about Social Security : What concerns me the most is the new terminology, "Entitlement" . it is not an entitlement in the sense of welfare, or free cell phones , or section 8, but, instead it is worked for, from your money, and your employer's money. There is no government money at all!! So , the only entitlement involved, is perhaps, after you have earned it, your employer spent it, and you gave it to the government to hold for you, you should be entitled to get it back, with interest!!!! KEEP PASSING THIS AROUND UNTIL EVERY ONE HAS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT... THIS IS SURE SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!!!!   THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE SOCIAL SECURITY IS THEY FORGOT TO FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY EVER COLLECTED A SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK!!! WHERE DID THAT MONEY GO?   Remember, not only did you and I contribute to Social Security but your employer did, too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that 's close to $220,500. Read that again. Did you see where the Government paid in one single penny? We are talking about the money you and your employer put in a Government bank to insure you and I that we would have a retirement check from the money we put in, not the Government. Now they are calling the money we put in an entitlement when we reach the age to take it back. If you calculate the future invested value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer 's contribution) at a simple 5% interest (less than what the govt . pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.   If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that 's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.   Another thing with me.... I have two deceased husbands who died in their 50 's , (one was 51 and the other one was 59 before one percent of their social security could be drawn. I worked all my life and am drawing 100% on my own social security). Their S.S. money will never have one cent drawn from what they paid into S.S. all their lives.   THE FOLKS IN WASHINGTON HAVE PULLED OFF A BIGGER PONZI SCHEME THAN BERNIE MADOFF EVER DID.   Entitlement my foot, I paid cash for my social security insurance! Just because they borrowed the money for other government spending, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout !!   Remember Congressional benefits? --- free healthcare , outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days. Now that 's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement payments entitlements ?   We're "broke" and we can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, or Homeless. Yet in the last few months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile and Turkey . And now Pakistan ......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!  And they can't help our own citizens in New York and New Jersey !  They sure rushed to help Katrina victims in 10 days!!!!!  I guess minorities have more clout!   Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed S.S. income' receive no additional federal aid nor do they get any financial breaks, while our government and religious organizations pour hundreds of billions of $$$ and tons of food to foreign countries!   They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives, and now, when it 's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? It was supposed to be in a locked box, not part of the general fund.   Sad isn't it?  
Posted by louisie

To attack a benefit that people rely on so heavily is just evil. 

Remember GW Bush went around the country selling privatizing social security?   He quit his promotion  when the stock market took a nosedive.   Millions of Americans who had worked hard, straining to sock away a portion of their salary for 401(k)s, watched helplessly as a black cloud formed over their golden years.     In October 2008, the Congressional Budget Office revealed that Americans had lost $2 trillion in just 15 months — money that will likely never be recovered. 

When Social Security takes in more in taxes than it has out in benefits – as it has done over the last few decades -- it doesn’t hold onto the money or put it in a lockbox      . Rather, it uses the funds to purchase special Treasury securities, thus incurring an I.O.U. from the whole of government revenue in order to finance the program down the road, in years when benefits fall below tax receipts.

Soc Security isn't BROKE.   President Obama created the Deficit Committee who took this as an  opportunity to include S S as if it was part of the deficit.            

[AARPBetty]

In Response to Re: Share your fears about Social Security:

How can I find out what I am to receive from social security. I am 60 yrs old and will apply for social security benefits when I am 61 1/2. Will social security send me a notice as to when to apply and what I will receive?
Posted by ValD52

You can find lots of answers here, and a Social Security Calculator tool to help you, too:
Why 61 and a half?

[ValD52]

How can I find out what I am to receive from social security. I am 60 yrs old and will apply for social security benefits when I am 61 1/2. Will social security send me a notice as to when to apply and what I will receive?

[judygram]

Ronald Reagan added a payroll tax to be sure SS was secure for the baby boomers and Politicians spent that as well. We must vote out most of the democrats and any republican who voted for obamacare . Oh yes lets include the gang of eight in that as well.

"Gang of Eight"--Lie that will end up being a multi-trillion dollar entitlement spending increase, with the burden falling on American taxpayers. How can 16 million low wage workers help Americans and out Social Security.

[judygram]

The act has expanded over the years,  also gives money to states to provide assistance to Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Maternal and Child Welfare, public health services, and the blind. And now they want to add
millions more non elderly to SS.

We owe the older generation for everything they did. Look at the Hoover Dam. community's benefits from this creation, and it has been said it could not be done in this day and age. Why, because of a government drain on societies and labor. We need to cut Congressional pay, pork spending, everything until we pay back the last generation the benefits they deserve. They were promised 55 and not an escalated age. Where does it stop, 100 years old. There is no point to benefits if you increase the age.

[AARPBetty]

In Response to Re: Share your fears about Social Security:

I joined AARP to have a strong lobby for us elderly.  This is our voice and I am hoping we continue to be strong.  We need all the help in the future years for our health care needs and more.   Right now as I see it, the biggest need for elderly is assisted living, not necessarily the full nursing home needs.  People in 80's need help to have a quality of life - safe environment with meals made, etc.  This has to be on the radar screen for financial assistance - make it more affordable.  Only the people with money can afford this environment.  They talk about people staying in their homes - really!   People need interaction with other old people - that's the way it is.  They need help with daily things such as cleaning their apartment, meals, etc.   Assisted living - model apartment living with elderly interaction is what is badly needed for all.
Posted by ppllpp

Thanks , ppllpp, You said that very well,and , yes, they do need help with daily living , and connections to other seniors.

For social security , they need to know how much they have to live on , before they retire, too.

   Social Security Tool

[ppllpp]

I joined AARP to have a strong lobby for us elderly.  This is our voice and I am hoping we continue to be strong.  We need all the help in the future years for our health care needs and more.   Right now as I see it, the biggest need for elderly is assisted living, not necessarily the full nursing home needs.  People in 80's need help to have a quality of life - safe environment with meals made, etc.  This has to be on the radar screen for financial assistance - make it more affordable.  Only the people with money can afford this environment.  They talk about people staying in their homes - really!   People need interaction with other old people - that's the way it is.  They need help with daily things such as cleaning their apartment, meals, etc.   Assisted living - model apartment living with elderly interaction is what is badly needed for all.

[mandm84]

 Well said Jan. How in the world can a worker making minimum wage build a 401k or take advantage of a company match contribution ? The workers stuck at the low level work just as hard, if not harder than those above them, but are not always rewarded enough to get ahead and build a secure financial future without Social Security. You are so right Jan and  let's not all lose sight of what F.D.R wanted Social Security to provide, " A chance to survive with dignity ". Response to Re: The Social Security Propaganda from AARP:

In Response to The Social Security Propaganda from AARP : unhuh />   DID YOU EAT TODAY ?   The food workers are the most underpaid of all categories.... You have more money in YOUR pocket and everyone else complaining like yourself about "poor people"     because some people were not paid enough for the work they did for decades ....and couldn't save money for retirement....they may have had a catastrophic event in their lives  or a layoff  or just did the dirty work hardly anyone wants to do that is necessary to keep this country going as cheap labor.       So it's so easy to stick your nose up in the air and be arrogant when you have had good fortune that other's didn't have and still be provided with all those good services you and other's enjoy. at the expense of the " poor people." you have such distain for.     QUOTE :    " To reform entitlements, we should assess what these programs were meant to do in the first place. “Entitlement” sounds selfish and at odds with the dignity and peace of mind that Social Security and Medicare are meant to provide. It distorts the animating idea behind these programs, which is social insurance. FDR didn’t have strong feelings about benefit levels, retirement ages or eligibility standards. He focused on what he called guaranteed return. By that he meant that having paid into the system through a kind of insurance premium (though in fact it was merely a payroll tax), Americans should rest easy that some money would be there for them if they lived long enough to need it. The whole point was “insurance against need.” “Guaranteed return” and “insurance against need” should continue to be the two guiding principles of social-insurance reform. “Guaranteed return” means no privatization or voucher system for these programs. FDR would have strongly opposed President George W. Bush’s plan to allow Social Security contributions to be invested in the stock market. He thought subjecting retirement income to what he called “the winds of fortune” was a breach of the social contract . Imagine what would happen to someone who retired in 1929 or 2008? No guaranteed return. " (END OF QUOTE (Entire article is a good read---refer to --) http://www.nationalmemo.com/why-democrats-must-get-smart-on-entitlements/
Posted by JANMB

[JANMB]

In Response to The Social Security Propaganda from AARP:

I am not on Social Security yet, (I am 57) but I am getting more more upset by the propaganda being shoveled out by AARP.  Another advertisement in the Chicago Tribune two days ago with half truths and misleading messages used to scare people, divide the generations, and show the elderly as selfish people that only care about themselves.  People need to understand how Social Security was created,  how is is funded, and what is was intended for.  You will never see AARP do that.   They try to give the impression that the discussion is open, but the organization has only one agenda and you can see it in the way they advertise and the letters they send out to the members.  The bottom line is that Social Security was never iintended to be ones sole source of retirement.  What you put into it does not mean you are going to get a certain amount out of it as it was not set up as a self retirement plan.  It was intended to be a source for those that really need it due to a life situation, not to be one's only source of retirement funds.  I am more than happy to see need testing and phased out benefits for those that should not get it.  By the way, most wealth in this country is held by those who are retired.  They AARP will not tell you that either.  But, a large number of them (including my father) cry about that also being selfish.  What has happened to sacrafice and responsibility?  I compare my gradparents to the current retirees my parents age and as a whole they are a selfish generation.   Today that pattern continues.  For example, only 30% of people today with company saving plans take advantage of the free money offered by employers matching 401K contributions.  Only 30%!, so let's reward the 70%?  Those are the same 70% who are going to cry about the increase when they go on Social Security in the future and expect the government to come to the rescue.  Showing an old lady in an AARP advertisement crying that she paid full into it (she had no choice) but is blaming the lack of increases is insuting to those who scrafice and are responsible. If she had a life situation where she has no retirement money available then she should get full social security, if she did not, she has no one to blame but herself. 
Posted by pkyoungs

unhuh >   DID YOU EAT TODAY ?   The food workers are the most underpaid of all categories.... You have more money in YOUR pocket and everyone else complaining like yourself about "poor people"     because some people were not paid enough for the work they did for decades ....and couldn't save money for retirement....they may have had a catastrophic event in their lives  or a layoff  or just did the dirty work hardly anyone wants to do that is necessary to keep this country going as cheap labor.       So it's so easy to stick your nose up in the air and be arrogant when you have had good fortune that other's didn't have and still be provided with all those good services you and other's enjoy. at the expense of the " poor people." you have such distain for.    

QUOTE :    " To reform entitlements, we should assess what these programs were meant to do in the first place. “Entitlement” sounds selfish and at odds with the dignity and peace of mind that Social Security and Medicare are meant to provide. It distorts the animating idea behind these programs, which is social insurance.

FDR didn’t have strong feelings about benefit levels, retirement ages or eligibility standards. He focused on what he called guaranteed return. By that he meant that having paid into the system through a kind of insurance premium (though in fact it was merely a payroll tax), Americans should rest easy that some money would be there for them if they lived long enough to need it. The whole point was “insurance against need.”

“Guaranteed return” and “insurance against need” should continue to be the two guiding principles of social-insurance reform.

“Guaranteed return” means no privatization or voucher system for these programs. FDR would have strongly opposed President George W. Bush’s plan to allow Social Security contributions to be invested in the stock market. He thought subjecting retirement income to what he called “the winds of fortune” was a breach of the social contract . Imagine what would happen to someone who retired in 1929 or 2008? No guaranteed return. " (END OF QUOTE

(Entire article is a good read---refer to --)

http://www.nationalmemo.com/why-democrats-must-get-smart-on-entitlements/

[mandm84]

It just aint fair. If the far right wing Republicans in Congress get their way, big corporations and the wealthiest will continue to coast with tax loopholes. While those same Republicans will cut our earned Social Security and Medicare benefits instead, claiming our Seniors and Disabled are just too costly to maintain.  It just aint fair !!!

[pkyoungs]

I am not on Social Security yet, (I am 57) but I am getting more more upset by the propaganda being shoveled out by AARP.  Another advertisement in the Chicago Tribune two days ago with half truths and misleading messages used to scare people, divide the generations, and show the elderly as selfish people that only care about themselves. 

People need to understand how Social Security was created,  how is is funded, and what is was intended for.  You will never see AARP do that.   They try to give the impression that the discussion is open, but the organization has only one agenda and you can see it in the way they advertise and the letters they send out to the members. 

The bottom line is that Social Security was never iintended to be ones sole source of retirement.  What you put into it does not mean you are going to get a certain amount out of it as it was not set up as a self retirement plan.  It was intended to be a source for those that really need it due to a life situation, not to be one's only source of retirement funds.  I am more than happy to see need testing and phased out benefits for those that should not get it.  By the way, most wealth in this country is held by those who are retired.  They AARP will not tell you that either.  But, a large number of them (including my father) cry about that also being selfish.  What has happened to sacrafice and responsibility?  I compare my gradparents to the current retirees my parents age and as a whole they are a selfish generation.   Today that pattern continues.  For example, only 30% of people today with company saving plans take advantage of the free money offered by employers matching 401K contributions.  Only 30%!, so let's reward the 70%?  Those are the same 70% who are going to cry about the increase when they go on Social Security in the future and expect the government to come to the rescue.  Showing an old lady in an AARP advertisement crying that she paid full into it (she had no choice) but is blaming the lack of increases is insuting to those who scrafice and are responsible. If she had a life situation where she has no retirement money available then she should get full social security, if she did not, she has no one to blame but herself.