Poll:Is SS a critical part of your retirement plan?

Is social security a critical part of your retirement plan?

  • I can live comfortably without social security

    Votes: 109 40.2%

  • My plan is dependent on receiving my full SS amount - no haircuts

    Votes: 37 13.7%

  • My plan is dependent on SS but would be okay with a 25% haircut

    Votes: 112 41.3%

  • What is social security?

    Votes: 13 4.8%
  • Total voters
    271
San Francisco's homeless problem is drug addicts, alcoholics, and the mentally ill. Can't fix that until you stop subsidizing them and force them off the streets, which will never happen.

My guess is BCG is in possession of his wits and sober, based on his posts here. He may be angry enough to figure out how to collect that WIC.
 
WE are not drawing on SS just yet and not drawing on IRA/401K's just yet. We could adjust our ways slightly and live on SS alone, or probably live our life as we did with only the investments. We don't have a pension to draw on. So I don't know how to answer. SS will certainly help us out, or is it the investments will help us out? I guess we have a 2-legged stool that together will suit us just fine.
 
I'm one of those who never planned on SS. I'm now 56 and it's looking sort-of... "possible." Assuming we do get full SS, at 95% success rate in FIRECalc, we should be spending 35% more than we do right now. Yet, because our plan never assumed it would be there, we really don't have any wants or needs beyond our current spending. I suppose we could gift it to our kids and grand-kids and increase our charitable giving. Or maybe I'll defy decades of LBYM conditioning and book a business class seat. Now I'm talking crazy talk.
 
Blue Collar Guy said:
If i get stiffed out of my promised social security , im going to ask my wife to divorce me, take everything, make me pay her 100 % of my pension. then ill be broke and i will get my promised amount. Then on spite i will file for food stamps, medicaid, wic, heap, welfare, reduced bus fare card, free phone, job training, disability, ssi, housing assistance, section 8, welfare,farmers market food, and im going to go back to school and get free college, im sure i missed a few things but im all steamed up now.
Click to expand...

And cheap Amazon Prime with your SNAP card.
 
I tried to help a very low income young adult who wasn't getting consistent family financial support and didn't find too many support programs she could qualify for to help keep her out of homelessness. No drug addictions, no mental illness just no high paying job skills in a high cost of housing area. Twenty percent of foster kids who turn 18 end up homeless in California.
 
Somehow I've managed to scrape enough together over the years that it looks like I won't have to depend on it fully, but it's still nice knowing that safety net's there. If not for me, then those that need it most.
 
No SS for me, nor pension. Too far away and a paltry sum when it arrives. Probably less than 500 a month, and only after I hit 70.

I do have some SS in my scenarios, every bit helps of course, especially on the tail end of longevity risks. I am counting on the healthcare system (EU citizen) to remain as-is though.
 
No haircuts, or much in the way discretionary funds for me. So I would be getting pushed towards, but not totally into, extreme retirement.
 
daylatedollarshort said:
I don't think it is that easy to qualify for all those programs since there is a huge homeless problem in our area. One non-profit just pledged $100M to help homelessness in San Francisco and that is only supposed to cut the homeless population in half over the next 5 years.
Click to expand...

The problem with that, like a lot of those types of programs, is how they are managed. If not managed by "incentive to improve oneself", then the population will find out about the $100MM, and grow, and your cut in half projection will go away. Sad, unfortunate truth.
 
I am surprised by the growth of the poll in the "plan SS...25% haircut" category, but glad I am not alone. :blush:
 
I plan to get it at a 75% of current calculations rate. If I didn't get it at all it would likely* cause a significant decrease in lifestyle due to eliminating a decent amount of my planned discretionary spending money.

*likely as in "for the bad case sequence of returns from FIRE until SS age, growth would be small enough to need SS to cover my current plans" - but for "average" sequence of returns portfolio growth would likely result in having more than I need to maintain or improve my current lifestyle without any SS at all.
 
pb4uski said:
I think we could live without it. If I go into our retirement plan in QLP and change SS to zero, we run out of money at age 94 leaving all other assumptions the same. However, I would reasonably expect spending to decline in our late 70s and 80s and there is plenty of leeway in our annual expenses to belt tighten if needed. Also, my plan does not reflect any inheritance and realistically it will be low six-figures or more
Click to expand...

I did likewise and the portfolio went from increasing throughout retirement to shrinking, but still should be able to live comfortably. I may have to cut back on the charitable giving. This was a good exercise in seeing how lack of SS could impact my financial future. It gets complicated when you are using QCDs to minimize taxes. I would have to do a lot of work in my detailed spreadsheet to really understand this and that is more work than I want to do at this point for a highly unlikely "what-if".
 
I could live without SS, but would have a tighter budget. Plan to get SS in 2 1/2 years.
 
If I take SS at 63, it would be around 23% of our income. Reducing it by 25% would still have our income covering our expenses. So we could live with a cut. Without it would require our SWR to be just above 3% to match our planned expenditures, so we could probably manage but would definitely have to revisit our expenses.
 
CPP ( Canadian equivalent to SS) is well funded and certain to remain viable for the rest of my life. It isn't as generous as SS, maybe only half as much. I have deferred it to age 70 but it will not be material to my other income or spending levels.
 
Last edited:
As someone who spends a lot of time here, I was somewhat concerned that I considered SS an important part of my overall retirement plan as it seems everyone has a multi-million dollar nest egg. Seeing the voting results helps me to feel more comfortable with whatever risk might exist around the availability of SS whether it be the full or a reduced amount. I appreciate everyone's participation and honest comments. Very helpful.
 
While our pension/ss mix will eventually be something like 66%/33% our initial plan involves saving back and investing part of the pension and all of the SS. Only when we have built a decent separate nest egg will we spend more. So SS is key to our future investments, but not budget. Without the investing part I would be concerned about inflation and ending up strapped for cash in our later years.
 
daylatedollarshort said:
I tried to help a very low income young adult who wasn't getting consistent family financial support and didn't find too many support programs she could qualify for to help keep her out of homelessness. No drug addictions, no mental illness just no high paying job skills in a high cost of housing area. Twenty percent of foster kids who turn 18 end up homeless in California.
Click to expand...

If she had a baby while unmarried, that would open a lot of doors for her.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
How to factor future SS into pre-SS spending
Replies
16
Views
778
Koolau
Koolau
F
Reviewing Plan on a Lazy Sunday
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
BlueberryPie
BlueberryPie
GravitySucks
Retire and Retire Again
Replies
5
Views
1K
USGrant1962
USGrant1962
L
How do you plan for possibility of early death of a spouse in FIRE
2 3 4
Replies
87
Views
9K
1242Vintage
1
R
What Are Tax Form Groups At Fidelity?
Replies
5
Views
721
audreyh1
audreyh1

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom