Millions of Americans get by on Social Security alone

[retire@40]

...today, 10.6 million people, or 22% of the 48 million who will receive Social Security benefits this year, live on that check alone.

The average Social Security payout is $955 a month, $11,460 annually.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050816/bs_usatoday/millionsofamericansgetbyonsocialsecurityalone

 

[SteveR]

That does not seem like much until you consider that amount of money based on incomes world-wide. That $11,460 per year makes that person in the top 12.94% richest people in the world. There are 5,223,182,406 people poorer than you. You are the 776,817,594 richest person in the world.

(ref: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ )

Kind of put it all in perspective sometimes.

Put in your income and see where you stand in world-wide incomes.

 

[retire@40]

That does not seem like much until you consider that amount of money based on incomes world-wide.  That $11,460 per year makes that person in the top 12.94% richest people in the world.  There are 5,223,182,406 people poorer than you.  You are the 776,817,594 richest person in the world. 

(ref: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ )

Kind of put it all in perspective sometimes. 

Put in your income and see where you stand in world-wide incomes. 

That website has a blatant agenda.  I don't put much trust in the results when those results are meant to convince you to donate to their cause.

 

[SteveR]

Maybe not, but sometimes you just have to look at things as fun instead of useful.

 

[justin]

That website has a blatant agenda. I don't put much trust in the results when those results are meant to convince you to donate to their cause.

It is probably accurate. Think about what makes you rich here in the USA (or developed world). $1 million? $2 million? $5 million?

In many parts of the world, having a car makes you rich. In some parts, having a cow makes you rich. In others, having a bike makes you rich. 22 countries in the world have a per capita GDP of under $1000. China and India have per capita GDP's of $5,600 and $3,100 respectively. That's over 1/3 of the world's population. CIA world factbook data.

The cost of living is lower in many of these poorer countries, but so is the standard of living!

 

[Mr._johngalt]

That does not seem like much until you consider that amount of money based on incomes world-wide.  That $11,460 per year makes that person in the top 12.94% richest people in the world.  There are 5,223,182,406 people poorer than you.  You are the 776,817,594 richest person in the world. 


Kind of put it all in perspective sometimes. 

Put in your income and see where you stand in world-wide incomes. 

Hey, with my SS I am in the top 10%. So, I'm good looking, smart,
and rich besides. Whoo hoo!

JG

 

[maddythebeagle]

I always wonder about this. Based on a equivalent salary of a wage slave, 12k for a senior with Medicare is over 20k (when you add taxes and health insurance). They can also get other stuff like heating assistance, etc. If it is a couple then you are talking about 40k equivalent.

Also, I wonder if the savers will get penalized (in a way) for having too much (the way they talk about means testing in the future for social security).

 

[bosco]

That does not seem like much until you consider that amount of money based on incomes world-wide. That $11,460 per year makes that person in the top 12.94% richest people in the world. There are 5,223,182,406 people poorer than you. You are the 776,817,594 richest person in the world.


Put in your income and see where you stand in world-wide incomes.

maybe in terms of raw income, but I doubt if it is true in terms of purchasing power. I have a hunch that my $11,460 would go a lot farther some places than it would others. Probably North America and Europe are two of the worst places to try to live on such an income.

 

[unclemick]

I know plenty of people who do in my neighborhood.

Just heard of a neighbor in intensive care - blood poisoning from a crab claw bite. 70 years old, $5000/yr SS - owns a 40 foot Gulf size shrimp/crab boat.

All SS only - off the top of my head - are women - widowed/divorced/old. Some get a little help from family and friends but it's a tough row to hoe.

 

[modhatter]

Many of these retired folks with only social security to live on are moving to Mexico. Furthermore, from what I read from their posts, they are doing quite well and loving it. I know others have moved to other countries as well, where the dollar will take them much further than here in the US.

I think it is a good alternative to folks who have some adventure in their blood and can adapt to cultural change. Medical is always an issue, but policies can be had in coutries like Mexico for $300 a year, and some people have said the care and treatment they receive is better than the US. (Only reporting what I read)

 

[haha]

Medical is always an issue, but policies can be had in coutries like Mexico for $300 a year, and some people have said the care and treatment they receive is better than the US. (Only reporting what I read)

Hard to informally compare quality, but the experience of going to a doctor is about as bad as it can get the USA, so it wouldn't take much to make a step up from that.

Haha

 

[maddythebeagle]

Hard to informally conpare quality, but the experience of going to a doctor is about as bad as it can get the USA, so it wouldn't take much to make a step up from that.

Haha

Agreed, You could always go to the vet. My dog appears to get a lot of the same medicines but cheaper...Vet's must be smarter too, since they can diagnose without even talking to the patient. Dogs dont have to sit through the millions of drug commercials on tv either.

 

[Nords]

Many of these retired folks with only social security to live on are moving to Mexico.

I think they're all farming naked at the commune, ecstatic over how much they're saving on their wardrobe...

There's a mental image with staying power!

 

[Dreamer]

Some might be moving to Mexico, but the vast majority are living in the USA.

Dreamer

 

[guitarplayer]

That website has a blatant agenda.  I don't put much trust in the results when those results are meant to convince you to donate to their cause.

fully agree with you on that one

 

[Caroline]

In many parts of the world, having a car makes you rich.  In some parts, having a cow makes you rich.  In others, having a bike makes you rich.  22 countries in the world have a per capita GDP of under $1000.  China and India have per capita GDP's of $5,600 and $3,100 respectively.  That's over 1/3 of the world's population.  CIA world factbook data. 

The cost of living is lower in many of these poorer countries, but so is the standard of living!

Based on my trip to Africa, this is only too true.  We met a farmer who had a cow, while his neighbor had 5 pigs.  The pigs put on weight more quickly, so I asked him why he had a cow instead.  The cow, he explained, provides only milk, and fewer total calories than do the pigs, but in case of a financial problem -- illness, crop failure, etc. -- he could get more money for the cow.  "so she's your bank account?"  I asked.  He nodded "yes."

As to someone's comment that money buys more in other nations --  not necessarily so.  African gasoline was expensive, which is why we saw 6-8 people in every car -- sticking out of the trunk, hanging off the roof, etc.  And there were many things that they just could not buy, for love or money - I saw a legless man scooting along the roadside, miles from any town, because he couldn't get a wheelchair.

Africans die by the thousands every year from malaria -- the shot I got for free before I went cannot be had by any but the richest Africans.

If you don't trust that organization's agenda, retire@40, then trust my firsthand account. We Americans are rich indeed, and in ways we can't even imagine or appreciate. 

Caroline

 

[TromboneAl]

Agreed, You could always go to the vet.

Good frugality idea! "Well, doc, Rover here is having some problems with the bitches down the street. If you'll just prescribe him some Viagra, we'll be on our way!"

 

[Nords]

Good frugality idea!  "Well, doc, Rover here is having some problems with the bitches down the street.  If you'll just prescribe him some Viagra, we'll be on our way!"

Geez, Al, I'd think that even your beaver (so to speak) wouldn't touch that one...

 

[WanderALot]

If you don't trust that organization's agenda, retire@40, then trust my firsthand account. We Americans are rich indeed, and in ways we can't even imagine or appreciate.

Excellent post Caroline. I can't agree enough with your above statement. Anyone who has traveled beyond North America/Western Europe/Australia/Japan would probably come to the same conclusion.

 

[uncledrz]

...Vet's must be smarter too, since they can diagnose without even talking to the patient.

Maddy
Thank you for my good laugh of the day!
Uncledrz

 

[Lazarus]

Caroline, Its as your said. I have been to Africa and most Americans would not beleve what I saw. We are rich beyond imaginaton to most people in the world. How many times in America have your seen people stepping over a dead body in the street? I have seen it in Africa. Crippled children begging, pressed up against my car window. Young girls holding a baby begging for food. You step over them on the way to the restrauant. They are waiting when you come out. Hand them some money? Just pissing in the Ocean. I still am shaken by it. Millions of people living like this. Much need to be done. It will not be easy. Where do you start. Lagos Nigeria is a city of aprox. 10 Million, no traffic lights, no reliable power. When you leave the Airport you see campfires all along the road, no electric lights, the copper has already been sold.

 

[retire@40]

If you don't trust that organization's agenda, retire@40, then trust my firsthand account.  We Americans are rich indeed, and in ways we can't even imagine or appreciate.

I believe you more because you didn't put a donation box next to your post.

 

[Michael]

Where do you start.

With decent government. The sensible people cannot build a decent country if the bad guys can take their property away from them any time they want to. A country either controls the bad guys, or it turns into a horrible mess. Same situation to a lesser degree in many of our urban neighborhoods. The bad guys are not under control, so the sensible people flee to the suburbs. The inner city turns into a crime infested slum.

Stop the bad guys from harming the sensible people, and the sensible people will build a decent place to live. That is the only way to fix a broken place.

 

[Eagle43]

For a perspective on Africa, suggest Paul Theroux: "Dark Star Safari"

http://www.paultheroux.com/nonfiction/dark.star.safari.htm

He found it worse than 40 years ago when he went as a young man.
quote:

This is travel as discovery and also, in part, a sentimental journey. Almost forty years ago, Theroux first went to Africa as a teacher in the Malawi bush. Now he stops at his old school, sees former students, revisits his African friends. He finds astonishing, devastating changes wherever he goes. "Africa is materially more decrepit than it was when I first knew it," he writes, "hungrier, poorer, less educated, more pessimistic, more corrupt, and you can"t tell the politicians from the witch doctors. Not that Africa is one place. It is an assortment of motley republics and seedy chiefdoms. I got sick, I got stranded, but I was never bored. In fact, my trip was a delight and a revelation." Unquote

 

[SteveR]

You don't have to go as far away as Africa to see people starving and living in squalor. Go to Hati, Dominical Republic ( you have to leave the resort areas first), and many many other places in South or Central America, and most of the Arab world. People live without any running water in "houses" made of whatever they can find for a roof. Where livestock (if they can "find" any,) live under the same roof. There is no hygiene and food is contaminated and infested. Jobs, if they can find them are menial and backbreaking. Families tend to be large because of religious beliefs and lack of money for birth control. Education is non-existant beyond what can be learned through other family members or other tribe members.

There are many people in America who do not have adequate resources to provide for their daily life but with a few exceptions (yes I have lived in the deep south and inner cities and I have seen shacks and shanty towns) most are living a lifestyle far above the rest of the world's poor. I have no solutions and I have no mission to save the world. The world is what it is, I can only change my very small part of it.

There are times when I believe that doing nothing would be the best solution as evolution would take care of the situation in a generation or two but my moral side has a hard time not wanting to assist them knowing full well that in most cases the help would only provide a means to create even more children who will continue to cycle.