Note: I have not read the artcile, just a search result.
Kind of a moot point unless one had the ability to not pay SS...we supplemented ours with contributions to funds that our work matched some of..the problem with SS is they keep spending it instead of investing it and letting it accrue interest...it should be the cup that overfloweth....for now anyway.
This may interest you also.
How Three Texas Counties Created Personal Social Security Accounts and Prospered
Article from 2011
Do both, then do some more!
The cost of living, even in retirement, is far more than most people can imagine.
Then save some more!
Yes, do both
Work hard, live frugally, save a lot if possible
We invested in a few rentals plus SS. The rentals increase in value along with inflation
Social Security was meant to be a redistribution of income, not a retirement program.
The government takes money from the reserves. If the government were for the people, it would be investing the money in the stock market, but it isn’t.
No article, but Ronald Reagan points out that same fact in his “a time for choosing” speech.
We did both.
There is no way anyone can live comfortably on SS alone, unless scavenging garbage dumpsters with an occasional dog treat is considered good nourishment while living under a bridge somewhere. Or be at the mercy of the govt living on assistance.
Our IRA buys us toys, vacations, good food and medical supplement. The SS and pension pays basic living expenses. I do not regret putting away 15 - 20% of my paycheck for the 401K
We are almost 3 years post retirement, making it on SS and IRA’s. We converted our 401K’s as soon as we could into regular IRA’s. There are many more investment opportunities with an IRA. We watch our expenses and went down to one car. We have never relied on a financial planner and have just educated ourselves. There are plenty of free resources out there.
Social Security (at least in the 1935-1945 era) was supposed to be a ‘supplemental’ program, and not a pension program. Various efforts over the past fifty years have tried to flip it into a pension program. If you were pulling a salary for the last 25 years of your life of $50,000-plus, then your SS payment might be a pension-like situation. If you were marginally making $25,000 a year...the SS payment won’t cut it.
A good comparison here, a major crisis is brewing in Germany over the national pension program. You have around 15-percent of the population reaching retirement age, who worked less-than-meaningful jobs all their life, and their monthly pension might add up to $800. You go and figure up your rent, your heat, and the basic food situation, and you are at least $300 short. So you go down and beg off the welfare department and hope that they buy into your problem. The German government says this should be corrected, but the only way is to invite a pocket from the tax revenue pot, and give the guy a magic amount that will equal $1,400 of value roughly.
No, it’s a pointless exercise; Social Security taxes are not going to be rescinded. President GW Bush lost the argument to allow private accounts and asset allocation.