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View Poll Results: Is social security a critical part of your retirement plan?
I can live comfortably without social security 109 40.22%
My plan is dependent on receiving my full SS amount - no haircuts 37 13.65%
My plan is dependent on SS but would be okay with a 25% haircut 112 41.33%
What is social security? 13 4.80%
Voters: 271. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 06-08-2017, 07:16 PM   #41
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When I was planning for retirement, I assumed I would not get SS because of all the intense scare stories that were going around about SS running out of money.

Now that I am retired, and have been amazingly fortunate in sequence of returns, FIRECalc gives me 100% if I spend what I have been spending for the next 30 years, but without SS.

I have no LTC insurance so some of it may need to go for that.
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:20 PM   #42
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If ER.org represents possibly the top 10% of savers in the USA and half of ER.org needs SS, then probably 95% of the USA needs SS.

Conclusion: SS ain't going away
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:41 PM   #43
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Some earlier comments about social security prompt me to write. Those comments say things like "I paid in to SS so I have a right to my benefits." We have that moral right, if you say so and more to the point, if Congress says so. We have NO legal right to any social security pension benefits however strong our moral claim might be and however much or little Congress may chose to stiff us. My references are Supreme Court decisions: 1937, Helvering v. Davis (301 US 619) and 1960, in Flemming v. Nestor (363 US 603), q.v.

SS is about 10% of my allocation to spending currently. Losing that would count as a nuisance, not a catastrophe for me personally. YMMV. Since I'm taking only minimal required distributions from my IRA, I could instead give myself a larger current income (for a long while) to make up for possible and legal SS cuts. I choose instead to leave the money in the IRA for the benefit of my much younger spouse.
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:46 PM   #44
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Some earlier comments about social security prompt me to write. Those comments say things like "I paid in to SS so I have a right to my benefits." We have that moral right, if you say so and more to the point, if Congress says so. We have NO legal right to any social security pension benefits however strong our moral claim might be and however much or little Congress may chose to stiff us. My references are Supreme Court decisions: 1937, Helvering v. Davis (301 US 619) and 1960, in Flemming v. Nestor (363 US 603), q.v.

SS is about 10% of my allocation to spending currently. Losing that would count as a nuisance, not a catastrophe for me personally. YMMV. Since I'm taking only minimal required distributions from my IRA, I could instead give myself a larger current income (for a long while) to make up for possible and legal SS cuts. I choose instead to leave the money in the IRA for the benefit of my much younger spouse.
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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:55 PM   #45
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Good luck on that wic, BCG. Lol.
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:55 PM   #46
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Good luck on that wic, BCG. Lol.
hahah, i was free thinking of programs hahah
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:09 PM   #47
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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.
And you would vote for Corbyn, who's smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Sorry a bit of British Election humor.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:11 PM   #48
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And you would vote for Corbin, Cheshire Cat. Sorry a bit of British Election humor.
i dont know what that means exactly, but if it gets me my promised social security ill vote for them twice.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:13 PM   #49
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i dont know what that means exactly, but if it gets me my promised social security ill vote for them twice.
He is the Bernie Sanders of U.K. I'm watching U.K. Election on the TV now.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:13 PM   #50
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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.
I think you missed free state park fees and free midnight basketball court time in Harlem.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:17 PM   #51
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hahah, i was free thinking of programs hahah
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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:28 PM   #52
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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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 08:45 PM   #53
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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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 09:18 PM   #54
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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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 09:30 PM   #55
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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.
And cheap Amazon Prime with your SNAP card.
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Old 06-08-2017, 09:39 PM   #56
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I think you missed free state park fees and free midnight basketball court time in Harlem.
i used to be a cop at the 155 street park where they played. i will definatley get the state park fee free too, ty
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Old 06-08-2017, 09:40 PM   #57
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And cheap Amazon Prime with your SNAP card.
add that to my list
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Withdrawal Rate currently zero, Pension 137 % of our spending, Wasted 5 years of my prime working extra for a safe withdrawal rate. I can live like a King for a year, or a Prince for the rest of my life. I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic
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Old 06-08-2017, 10:24 PM   #58
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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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 10:38 PM   #59
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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.
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Old 06-08-2017, 11:23 PM   #60
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Absolutely it is for us.
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