[volare737]

I don’t want anything from the government, other than part of what they confiscated from me. That’s my definition of conservative.

[volare737]

….or minimizing what they confiscate.

[Tell It Right]

I don’t want anything from the government, other than part of what they confiscated from me. That’s my definition of conservative.

Almost, but not quite for me. I wish Medicare didn't exist and distort both the finances and availability of health care. That's my definition of conservative.

And yes, I'm not old enough yet to collect SS but I want back at least what I and my employers put into it. IMHO a reasonable solution is to give people the option to opt out of it. (i.e. If you want you can receive a lump sum on the agreement you don't get future payments. And if you're working you can choose to not contribute to SS but on the agreement that you won't later get SS payments.) That would be a yuge up front govt expense with most people probably opting to keep money in their pockets now, not later. (Perhaps not as much as other yuge spending sprees by govt like the Inflation Raising Act.) But it's a temporary cost to yield a long term solution of not having the ginormous Ponzi scheme getting ever larger and larger. (Except of course for the people who choose to keep SS going for them as is.)

And the people who care enough about their finances to do a little research can invest that amount of money into simple investments like mutual funds (even if it's as simple as a S&P 500 index fund) and have better retirement money anyway. (The SS fund on average gives more to each person in SS checks than it took in from them while working, which is why it's going broke. Yet, the SS fund managers by law can invest the fund money into only one asset class: U.S. treasuries. So it doesn't grow well.)

[Vermont Lt]

I don’t disagree.

My frustration comes when I see people my age (65) who were dealing with a parent in long term skilled nursing. They would complain that Medicaid was going to take their parent’s homes. Well, their parent used a couple hundred thousand dollars in long term care…why shouldn’t their estate be tagged with recouping some of that?

And there are ways to avoid that type of expense if you plan early.

I am all for getting back every penny I paid into SS and Medicare. But if I use more than I have coming…I have no problem giving them some of my estate’s assets. (I’ve already told my kids that there won’t be much left for them. LOL)