Are you happy with Social Security ?

I bought a sign from Tennessee and it goes "Retired person on the premises, knows all about Social Security and has all the time to tell it." That is me!

One thing that is always emphasized by investment houses is that there is no sure thing - "Past performance is not a predictor of future performance". Only thing you can do is take a balanced approach to money growth and risk. Set a goal in a way that you will not become comatose or lose your ability to become stiff when your investments suffer setbacks.

1. I am happy with SS, imagine I am getting back 10 times what I put in. Medicare initial deductible and co-pays are low. My wife's health care cost is high because she is till using my former employer's plan, with premiums going up every year ($50 when I retired, now $275), and coverages being pared (she cannot get hearing aids anymore and that was a big expense recently).

One good thing to get is long-term care coverage (which I regret did not get before when it was being offered after I retired). You will get benefits if you become comatose (I think it will supply a monthly visit from starlet grade nurses).

2. Even if SS stops when you die, your wife who survives you can resume collecting at age 62 or 65. If she can prove herself disabled (not menopause) she can collect at 50 (this according to my wife).

3. When Social Security is still there, it is hands down better than annuity (think about what you paid in, not what your employer paid in). Although it cannot be inherited by dependents, that is ok. What is the use of spending all that money to put them through college if they can't earn their keep after graduating? Only problem is if you have a child with special needs, but there are state assistance for them, only problem is the governments are cutting down on these assistance,





4. The government spending money wisely is an oxymoron. Your power to vote comes into play. Vote for leaders who will spend money on the people even if not wisely. Don't vote for leaders who want to prove their knowledge of foreign policy by waging war on weaker countries like Iraq.

5. The government employees get better benefits for what they pay for compared to privately employees citizens. But that changed when the economic debacle started. (From LA Times-maybe in 2010) CalPERS' portfolio value dropped from a historic high of $260.4 billion in October 2007 to $160 billion in March 2009. It has since risen to a high of $237.5 billion on June 30 before dropping to $220 billion on Monday. You can invest on your 401K with matching funds from the company and reap the same benefits. It is better to map your own strategy than wishing you have benefits like the government employees.

So the questions we should answer are :

Are you happy with SSS ? Did you know that if you died today your SSS pension stops? If your family is relying on that pension, better stay alive even if you are comatose.

If you kept that 15% of Gross Income and invested it in an insurance Annuity with Disability coverage, would you have been better off? The unused portion of a private pension plan is inherited by your heirs.

Do you trust the Government to tax you more and spend your money wisely?

One thing I do not understand is why Government employees have their own pension plans outside the SSS (They can also enroll in SSS by paying in the 15% so they can double dip when they retire). Why are they not mandated to "donate" to SSS?

Is Social Security an Entitlement?

For those who believe, their SSS Pensions are entitlements, read below. That is your money and you earned it already. Too bad you have to pay taxes on it too! Al Gore was the swing vote that passed the law taxing SSS pensions. You are not getting SSS Pensions because of some Party in Power. You are not even going to get all of it back because they are paying you less than what you should be getting!

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over
your working life, that's close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would
last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff
ever had. Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits ---- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid
holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?

We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless. In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile and Turkey . And now Pakistan ......home of bin Laden.

Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries.