So who will pay our SS?

[Martha]

http://tinyurl.com/83c4e

Interesting MSN article with seven proclaimed baby boomer retirement pitfalls. From the article:

The baby boomers are famous for proclaiming that they'll work past retirement age; an AARP study last year found 79% predicted they would continue working at least part of the time during their retirement years.

How they'll actually feel once they're in their 60s and 70s, though, is an open question. Right now, the typical retirement age is 62, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and 40% of retirees say they left the workplace earlier than they'd planned, often because of illness, disability or layoffs.

In fact, 42% of women over 65 and 38% of men in the same age group have disabilities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Only 12% of people over 65 are still in the work force (16.9% of men, 8.9% of women).

Many people find that even without chronic health problems, their energy begins declining in their late 60s and 70s, although a few are able to work into their 80s or even 90s.

So if you're counting on part-time work to supplement your retirement income, don't count on it for long. You may be the exception, but it's smart to plan as if your working years won't continue indefinitely.

A number of posters mention here from time to time that many baby boomers will have no choice but to continue to work past ordinary retirement age.

 

[Michael]

I think health will prevent many people from working as long as they want to. What ever their plans, by the time they actually reach 62, most people decide that the aches and pains are no longer worth it.

Social Security will probably be cut. Not in nominal terms, but in purchasing power. Taxes on SS will probably also increase for anyone with assets or a pension.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I think we'll get the money from the same place that we got the money for the war in Iraq and Military Pensions.

Right now Social Security is running a surplus and funding bogus expenditures, like the war in Iraq.

Like Warren Buffet says "Why would anyone worry about a program that is currently creating a surplus and  is not expected to start creating a deficeit until 2032." We are currently running a budget deficiet of 500-700 billion on other programs, that nobody seems to want to cut or discuss.

Folks listen up! - There is a 1,000 lb. Gorilla in the room and it is not Social Security!

 

[HFWR]

but it's smart to plan as if your working years won't continue indefinitely.

Got it!!

 

[Eagle43]

The 1000 lb gorillia is 77 million baby boomers, coming down the chute, hand extended, demanding pension and medicine.

But, C-T's point about government spending, including the war, seems valid. There seems to be no politician with the gonads to recommend cutting spending. GWB has no intention to do so in any meaningful way. He can call himself a conservative, but a conservative usually likes balanced budgets. Alas, there are many politicians who would raise taxes. Like cancer cells, taxes can grow indefinitely, until the host body is dead. So, that's what will happen, be it this administration or the next one.

 

[azanon]

"Why would anyone worry about a program that is currently creating a surplus and  is not expected to start creating a deficeit until 2032." "

If i was a boomer, i wouldnt be worried, unless one believed this estimation is wrong.   From what i understand, its presumed to be accurate and takes into account the millions of boomers retiring. Note, that isnt the point it runs out, that's the point where incoming moneys match outgoing monies. It'd be many years beyond that before the account was actually drained.

The first generation that has to worry about SS is the X-gens.

 

[moghopper]

If you believe the surplus is being saved, no big deal.
If you believe the surplus is being spent, then some other taxes will have to take their place as the gap in SS income and outgo narrows and disappears.

Boomers talk a good game, but they don't really care about anyone but themselves. Always have, always will.

 

[azanon]

I thought it is known that it is being saved.

That being the case, one is entitled to "believe" anything. Of course that wouldn't make it so. Some insist on living in a state of paranoia, and I realize that.

 

[Gone4Good]

I thought it is known that it is being saved.   

This is a joke, right?

 

[brewer12345]

This is a joke, right? 

No, its a known fact, just like:

- Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 and was just about to nuke us in early 2003
- Budget deficits don't matter. In fact they are good because it means the ecnomy is being stimulated.
- Magnets can cure arthritis
- Geirge Bush is a very smat man
- Freemasons run the country

Now where's my aluminum foil hat?...

 

[bongo2]

"Why would anyone worry about a program that is currently creating a surplus and is not expected to start creating a deficeit until 2032."

I think you are confusing the deficit -- OASDI will be in negative cash flow in 2017 -- with the exaustion of the trust fund -- in 2040.

The problem with SS is dwarfed by the problem with Medicare, and both are just the government side of the general problem of the aging population. This has been a long time coming, and we would have had a gradual transition to an aging population already if it wasn't for the boomers.

 

[Cut-Throat]

The problem with SS is dwarfed by the problem with Medicare, and both are just the government side of the general problem of the aging population.

Bingo! - This is the Gorilla! - The drive to eliminate Social Security by the Bush Admin, totally ignored this issue! -

 

[brewer12345]

Bingo!  - This is the Gorilla!  - The drive to eliminate Social Security by the Bush Admin, totally ignored this issue! -

Hey, if you don't have a solution to a really big problem, make sure people are distracted away from it.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I thought it is known that it is being saved.

My understanding--which is often wrong--is that is is "saved" into bonds taken by the government to spend on things like the war, disaster recovery and the usual annual budget deficit. So to realize the gains (or even the principal) the government has to pay it back which means less spending and/or more taxes.

 

[Gone4Good]

My understanding--which is often wrong--is that is is "saved" into bonds taken by the government to spend on things like the war, disaster recovery and the usual annual budget deficit. So to realize the gains (or even the principal) the government has to pay it back which means less spending and/or more taxes.

Writing IOU's to oneself is not exactly saving.

 

[SteveR]

Boomers talk a good game, but they don't really care about anyone but themselves.  Always have, always will.

Moghopper,

That is a pretty big brush you are painting us Boomers with. I would agree that SOME Boomers don't care about any one but themselves. But, that also can be said for any age group. I understand what you are trying to say but I feel a bit "pigeon-holed" by the expansive nature of your comment.

My wife and I are both Boomers and we care very deeply about many aspects of society including Social Security. We make regular contributions to many causes both in fianancial terms and in human labor. We enjoy giving and do so when we can. Some of us, Boomers included, don't fit your statement.

 

[Michael]

Writing IOU's to oneself is not exactly saving.

The SS trust fund consists of a few pounds of paper locked in a metal cabinet. When the time comes, you might be able to sell the paper to a Chinese recycling company for a few renminbi. Let's not go into what the Medicare trust fund is worth just now.

 

[Gone4Good]

The SS trust fund consists of a few pounds of paper locked in a metal cabinet. 

Would that be the infamous "lock box"?

 

[Michael]

Well, the filing cabinet is locked. 

 

[Sheryl]

Moghopper,

That is a pretty big brush you are painting us Boomers with.  I would agree that SOME Boomers don't care about any one but themselves.  But, that also can be said for any age group.  I understand what you are trying to say but I feel a bit "pigeon-holed" by the expansive nature of your comment.   

Yes, I take exception as well.  It is a little absurd to imply that everyone born between 1945 and 1960 is a self-centered pig.   And conversely, everyone born either before or after those dates is much more altruistic

 

[moghopper]

Yes, I take exception as well.

I'm sure that was in my list of things boomers have been taking.

 

[haha]

If you believe the surplus is being saved, no big deal. 
If you believe the surplus is being spent, then some other taxes will have to take their place as the gap in SS income and outgo narrows and disappears.

Boomers talk a good game, but they don't really care about anyone but themselves.  Always have, always will.

Up yours.

 

[Tadpole]

Up yours.

Couldn't have said it better.
Ditto

 

[azanon]

This is a joke, right?

I though, meaning, i'm not absolutely certain. Meaning, i'm opening myself up for clarificaition/correction.

Honestly, i'm not concerned about social security anyway. Anyone that would intentionally retire with a plan that required SS to support makes decisions far riskier than i do. Social security, for me, is just going to be a cherry on top. I can eat ice cream without the cherry if i have to.

 

[moghopper]

Couldn't have said it better.
Ditto

Inability to form reasonable and coherent thoughts is often a failure of the educational system.