If the Social Security fund is running out, what are your plans for retirement ?

1. 65

   LAURENS WRIGHTposted 9 years ago

   If the Social Security fund is running out, what are your plans for retirement ?
   
   The Social Security Fund is suppose to run out in 2030 and a reduction of 20 % in 2016.

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2. 67

   lisavanvorstposted 9 years ago

   I am already aware of this. I researched and I would have to work till 70 years old to get Social Security and yet there probably will be none. I have been working since I was 17 and am now 49. How fair is that when I pay all that money into it and will have nothing left. Also no one can just stop working and live on SS now. It is impossible; this is why you see so many people over the age of 65 still working at least part-time jobs.
   Now as answer to your question I will still be working till the day I die. Which is terrible as I have medical issues now. Hopefully I will at least find a senior housing to live in. No not a nursing home that takes all your money, but a senior housing development. Hey those houses are nice and cozy. Two bedrooms too if you have company. I do not want my children taking care of me, they have families of their own. I am 49 and working full-time. If I am putting money into to SS there better be money when I want to go at least part-time. Let the government supplement Social Security. Sure more debt four our country, but so what. We are already knee high in debt, what's the difference at this point.

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   1. 84

      DWDavisRSLposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      In saying we are knee high in debt as a nation you are being too kind. It might be more accurate to say we are in up to our chin and the level keep rising with every deficit year.

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3. 84

   DWDavisRSLposted 9 years ago

   Since the Social Security fund is paid for by taxation and Congress can vote to increase the level of tax collected, both the percentage collected on income and the level at which collection stops, it is unlikely the fund will actually run out. In recent times, Congress has voted to increase the age at which workers can retire with full benefits, and raised the amount of earned income which is subject to the tax. There is no reason to believe that when push comes to shove they won't do it again.
   
   That being said, my missus and I have been planning our retirement based on the assumption that Social Security will be either gone or so small as to amount to no real supplement at all.
   
   What most people fail to realize is that Social Security was sold to the public as a supplement to their own retirement savings, not as a retirement plan in itself. It was also instituted at a time when workers rarely lived to be 65 or older so few ever drew much out of what they'd paid in. This was done purposefully as the money collected for Social Security, by and large, was meant to be "borrowed" by the general fund for government spending on works projects. The people who designed Social Security never expected it would ever have to pay out to someone more than they'd paid in over their lifetime. It was also never meant to pay out disability payments and no appropriate source of revenue was ever put in place to counter those expenditures.
   
   The real question becomes, will an agency like the Federal government, which can extort money from the populace at the point of a gun (all taxation is achieved by violence or the threat of violence) allow a program as broad and far reaching as Social Security to go bankrupt, or will it do what it must to sustain it?

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   1. 79

      cathylynn99posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      the money was never meant to be borrowed, reagan started that.

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   2. 84

      DWDavisRSLposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Raiding the trust fund was first done by LBJ to pay for the Vietnam War and has continued ever since. There is no money in the Trust Fund, just IOUs from the Federal Government.

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4. 79

   cathylynn99posted 9 years ago

   in 2016, if nothing is done, only those on social security disability will see a 20% cut to payments. social security for retirement has enough money to fund benefits in full through 2035. in 2035, social security will only have enough money to fund 75% of its obligations if nothing is done. it will be able to continue the benefits at 75% indefinitely. the reason for the decrease is a lower birth rate, so fewer workers funding retirees.

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5. 82

   tamarawilhiteposted 9 years ago

   I am saving for retirement on the assumption Social Security will either not exist or be means tested to the point that I don't want to qualify for it.

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