Social Security

I am not posting this to be political and if so please remove. I am semi retire, 65yo, 20 hour work week, not taking SS until 66+8 months. My Wife will retire mid November, 62yo, and work 2 days a week as a consultant at our Health Dept 2 days a week, where she currently works. We hope to fully retire in 2 years. If social security goes away we will have no new income. We have 401ks but no pensions. I know there are many on here that are probably on SS. This keeps me awake at night wondering what things will look like if SS goes away. Does anyone else worry about this? I think I dwell on it too much and really stresses me out at time. Thanks for listening. Jim

I don't feel it is political at all and it is a legit question.
The wife and I both are ten months apart we're the same age, once a year and we retired at 62.
I'm busy now but, not busier now than I was. We supplement our incomes with our own businesses.
Retirement doesn't necessarily mean you should sit and do nothing unless that's what you want your retirement to look like.
For example, I built a 30x40 two stall shop for my personal use and now it's grown to a 30x60 with three stalls and three lifts, CNC plasma table, 60 ton press break, slip roll and numerous other pieces of equipment.
It's amazing how many opportunities there are out there to do something like this.
Just keep your eyes open for an opportunity that fits you because, no one else is going to be as interested in you as you are.

redidbull said:

I am not posting this to be political and if so please remove. I am semi retire, 65yo, 20 hour work week, not taking SS until 66+8 months. My Wife will retire mid November, 62yo, and work 2 days a week as a consultant at our Health Dept 2 days a week, where she currently works. We hope to fully retire in 2 years. If social security goes away we will have no new income. We have 401ks but no pensions. I know there are many on here that are probably on SS. This keeps me awake at night wondering what things will look like if SS goes away. Does anyone else worry about this? I think I dwell on it too much and really stresses me out at time. Thanks for listening. Jim

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Where are you getting this information on SS going away reddbull? I've heard occasionally heard people mention it but have never seen anything about it in the news or in print. I don't see how could they do this after we've paid in for 45 years..... I'm depending on it as well.

Stress is bad....if this does happen we will have no control over it. I'm not always successful but I try hard not to lose sleep over things I do not have control of. That will make you sick for sure. We may all have to do something inline with what OI is doing. I hope you are wrong on this...

Jim, I don't think you have anything to worry about. SS will never go away no matter what the doomsayers may try to tell you. It's too big, too many people like like it, and it would be death to any political party that killed it. They may make changes here and there like raising the age you can start to draw but to kill it would destroy too many people. They won't let it go broke, either.

I retired last year at 62 and worked part time until last month. Since then I've been as busy as a cat trying to cover it's crap on a frozen pond. Don't know how I ever got anything done when I was working! I'm hoping to get into some tractor work in the spring, all cash of course.

I seldom watch the news anymore, I don't want the stress levels anymore. I'm going to try and enjoy the life I have let, be it a few days or several years. I do things at my own pace now.

Threatening the end of Social Security is a political tactic. One party accuses the other. Accountants claim SS will run out of money sometime in the future. Can't happen with the Government's fiscal irresponsibility of printing as much money as they want.

Don't worry, be happy.

Main thing to remember about the posts above...don't stress over it! Truer words have never been spoken. Stress will kill you. Keep yourself busy! Do those things you want to do in between the things you have to do.

Thanks for the responses. I do not want to do nothing in retirement. I love anything with a motor and want to continue doing that stuff. I love being outside too. My Dad retired at 62 and lived to a couple month shy of 95. He never worked after 62 but kept busy doing stuff at my house and he and my Mom watched the grand kids. They did travel alot too in the earlier years before Mom got Parkinson's. Jim

Hey Redibull

I am leaving my govt job the end of January 2023 after a 25 year career there...I am not looking forward to it at all...

As you guys know car parts are not cheap...I will continue to work my part time job to pay for the rusty junk I continue to buy...

Gonna try and get a second house closer to my son in Kansas but we will see how that works out too...

The cool thing is my wife does care what I do as long as I keep the taxes paid and heat bill up to date...

I am still not looking forward to this new life...my dad left us at 71 and my mother was 86...so I should have sometime left yet...

Thanks for sharing your journey...

MikeC

The end of old age support income from the government has been an ongoing worry for many here in Canada for decades. Simply put, it will never collapse and hasn't declined in the several decades that this has been warned by some. I really think it's just doomsday fears not rooted in reality.

Couper, I actually heard it, with my own ears, on the news yesterday morning that SS will be depleted by 2034.
https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/the-future-of-social-security

Things said that SCARE us are nearly always said to get a reaction that will somehow in one way or another benefit the person/entity that said it. Could be as simple as the local TV news is keeping us tuned in through the commercials.
To Bama's point;
The gov will always find ways to fund SS as well as keep increasing the amount of SS tax they collect from our payrolls. In 1994 an employee paid in the 6.2% SS tax on the first 60,600 of their wages. For 2022, an employee will pay in 6.2% SS tax on the first 147,000 of their wages. In 2023 Social Security Wage Base Increases to 160,200. In addition, the employer has to match the 6.2%. And it's that 12.4% of our wages that fund social security partially. On the surface Social Security looks to be the biggest ponzi scheme ever devised......paying old investors with new investors money. But it's not. It's operating budget is about 1 cent of every dollar it collects and all of the excess cash it collects is used to purchase special-issue government bonds. SS isn't going anywhere.......at least not in our lifetime.

Late to this as usual, but I retired at 63 1/2 years, but kept a part time job until I was 67.

When my wife passed away, I got her benefit, which is the better of the two. She made more, paid in more, as an RN. That put me where I would have been had I retired at 66.

So who is getting my benefit that I paid in? Probably you!

Last year, we got a 5.7 increase to keep up with the perceived coming inflation. This year its 8.7.
The highest increase in over 40 years. That sez a lot right?

Typical political scare tactic: "My opponent wants to 'cut' Social Security".

Translation: We thought we could pay out a 9% increase but we can only afford 8.7 You are still getting an increase, just not as much. They call that a "cut".

These politicians want a cut of what THEY paid in, so not going away.

Good luck, set up an account at mysocialsecurity.com there you can see your pay in history and whats coming.
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Old Iron said:

Couper, I actually heard it, with my own ears, on the news yesterday morning that SS will be depleted by 2034.
https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/the-future-of-social-security

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Hey OI.... I hope this is wrong. I'm going to continue working but am set to collect my SS starting next month. I like what I do, make good money and aren't killing myself. I feel like if I retire I'd just be ****ing that money away plus I like talking with people and helping to solve problems. I plan on using the SS loot to pay some things down to get ready for retirement when I finally decide to stop working. We'll see how this all goes.

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Glad to hear all this.

Social Security would be fine if the only ones drawing from it were the ones who paid into it.....moochers, politicians and welfare cheats benefit the most.

too bad we couldn't opt out like texans

https://www.forbes.com/sites/merril...urity-accounts-and-prospered/?sh=5f2999313283