Exactly while which was suppose to be a safeguard for having enough money; instead the government steals the rest.
Also, military spouses are cut in half.
“military spouses are cut in half.”
Seems a bit Sharia-law.
Seriously - SS benefits shuold be a small part of retirement planning, but let’s be honest, SS withholdings are a small part of the paycheck. You only get 6.2% withheld, you still get 93.8% of your wages to live on and invest. We have the option of 401ks, so we all can have our private retirement savings accounts. If you are smart, you live on 78.8% of your income, put 6.2% into SS, and 15% into IRAs. Then when you retire, you live off a combination of the two. If you invest well, the SS check is an after thought.
Those hypercritical of SS say, “let me put my 6.2% plus the 15% into an IRA, and I’ll be better off.” That was certainly true in the 1980s and 1990s, but it hasn’t been true in 12 years, and may not be true again for another dozen years, no one knows. In the meantime, we ought to view SS as a modest part of our future. It’s only a small part of our income, and its future demise is highly exaggerated. (At worse, benefits will be cut from what was promised to 75% of what was promised — painful, but not fatal.)
“Also, military spouses are cut in half.”
Oh, but don’t forget, we have to PAY for that. It’s called the Survivor’s Benefit Plan. it costs hundreds of dollars a month.
My husband and i did the math and it would be cheaper for us to buy him a $1,000,000 life insurance policy at age 41 than to buy the SBP.
The best part? Once my husband dies (IF he goes first) and his military retirement check is cut in half, I STILL HAVE TO KEEP PAYING hundreds of dollars a month to keep that little bit coming in. (I believe that it’ll work out to about 30% of what I would be getting. So I have to pay 30% of my benefits in order to keep my benefits. That’s what I get for giving up college and a career to follow him around the planet during my prime earning years.)
There are no free rides in the military any more. We pay for our benefits, and we pay a LOT.
My bad. I just checked and they changed the rules since I last looked into it. i won’t have to keep paying if hubby dies.