Posted on 12/13/2023 11:27:33 PM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
While Social Security is set to increase by 3.2 percent in 2024, many seniors are worried about how the limited inflation adjustment will keep them afloat.
In a new report from Atticus, a majority of seniors voiced dissatisfaction with the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2024. In total, 62 percent of the 400 Americans over the age of 62 in the survey said they were unhappy with the payment bump.
"About that 3.2 percent COLA increase for 2024, well, it sounds good on paper, but, honestly, it's not quite cutting it for seniors," Christopher Hensley, financial adviser and the president of Houston First Financial Group, told Newsweek.
The concerns are growing, as nearly three in five seniors said they were struggling financially, and 70 percent of single seniors already struggle with their existing Social Security income.
The ramifications of the small COLA boost could be severe, with around two in five seniors saying they plan to seek employment due to the modest increase. For single seniors specifically, 47 percent said they would consider employment to supplement their incomes.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Unfortunately they bought in to the government will take care or me lie.
Maybe seniors should pretend to be Ukrainian or Mexicans fresh out of the river. 3.2 is an insult with this inflation.
An update, I have a lot of sympathy for those widows that believed their spouse that said they would be taken care of. I can name several cases where the husband promised the wife a good life if he passed and she got nothing.
At least 2 of these cases involve a military retiree that failed to sigh his wife for survivor benefits, what scumbags.
I just finished working with a lawyer showing my wife what she’ll be getting when I pass, she is very happy even though when I die there is a significant loss of income, but enough to keep her comfortable.
I just got notice my 2024 SS benefits will go up by $75/month. Wow! how am I going to spend that much extra cash??
I was not the best retirement saver, but at least I got out of debt before I retired, so our meager retirement income will go much further.
Our biggest expenses? Property taxes and medical. And those continue until we die.
I had things well planned for an easy retirement in Thailand, more than enough to live. But God gifted me a daughter. We moved to the USA to make her talk like an American. She is now 10 and a motormouth, making we think we did right.
But that involved getting a new residence in the US, putting her in a private school, and living with the current economy.
So far so good.
I’m one of them.
can I assume you have a fat govt pension to provide for you generously?....and if you didn’t need to take the “govt’s” money then why did you take it at age 62?
you can bet your property taxes will go up more than 3%.
S.S. was never designed or intended to be anyone’s sole source of income. Retiring and depending on it as such is just plain stupid. Unfortunately many do just that then complain that “S.S. should pay them enough to live on”
Illegal is getting more than people on Social Security. I don’t care what they saved or didn’t save. You had no idea what some of the situations of these people were. Not everybody has a good-paying job where they can set money aside.
The Act created a new federal agency (the Social Security Board) to ensure that American workers would continue to have income after retirement.
There was nothing about it being a supplement. I don’t know where this all started from, but that’s not what it was intended for.
I’ve heard 3 different people say the exact same words...
“I don’t know why the government can’t give us enough to live on”
All spent their entire lives working under-the-table
you can bet your property taxes will go up more than 3%.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mine are not yet up to where they were 34 years ago. They were lowered when I turned 65, 13 years ago. Property tax is assessed by county and I live in red county Illinois. My son owns his home and pays zero property tax (as a disabled war vet, same county)
I noticed on this board that a lot of people here had /have good-paying jobs. So it’s really easy for them to say, Well, they should have done this and done that. Most people don’t make what the people on FR make.
The purpose of Social Security wasn’t to supplement income. It. was to be the source of income for retired people. I don’t know who made that up; it was a supplement. But somebody did, and they went with it.
I left the US and retired in 2011 with ZERO pensions and $1000 in rental income. In the 8th month of 2015 my military reserve income kicked in.
So no, I had no “fat govt pension” providing for me. The fat govt pension was about 1/2 of what I would have received if active duty.
here is an issue some are not considering...not everyone is equal in the area of ability. there is a good 20 percent of the population that because of intellect and other disabilities will always have survival minimum wage jobs and at the end 40+ years working will not have savings. I don’t have an answer for this problem other then look for those who are elderly in your community that are struggling and might not have family who will step in be the good neighbor if possible.
The does not even cover the months gasoline bill, much less
the higher cost of food.
While I am not the OP, I can tell you why I took the govt's money at 62, even though I probably didn't "need" it.
The dirt simple answer is that the gov't taxed me to get the SS money for other people all of my life. The promise was that they would pay me when I got old. I had no choice, no opt-out -- they took the money under threat of criminal action against me if I didn't pay it.
I knew at the time it was a bad deal. If I could have invested that money on my own I would be much better off today. So, I did the next best thing. I took it at the earliest opportunity and used it for living expenses. I left my money invested and growing.
There is nothing wrong with this. The government made the rules. I put in the effort to understand them and made the choices I thought would be best for me.
P.S. The common advice to postpone taking SS in order to get a higher benefit is highly suspect. The boys and girls at the SS administration calculate all of their examples without taking the time value of money into account. But if I owe something to Uncle, the friendly folks over at the IRS know all about this time value thing and charge me interest.
“ you can bet your property taxes will go up more than 3%.”
******************************
As will medical costs. ;-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.