Social Security, are you making ends meet living off of it

My parents are currently trying to live off their SS alone. I help them out with food and pay some of their utilities. My mom has to try to supplement that income by working. She gets a whopping 15 hours a week at her job. She' also has a couple of associate degrees that she just finished, and cannot find anyone who will hire her, most likely because of her age. My dad has been looking for work for years, and no dice. It ridiculous that people that are almost 70 frigging years old still have to work. And after we all pay so damn much into SS, we got almost nothing in return.

originally posted by: marsend
a reply to: ANNED

So what you are saying is that some slippery greedy scum stole your money in one way or another, while some other slippery official legislated to protect the thieves and profit in some fashion from the theft of your money. And now after all you have done in this life you get SFA, and nothing but stress and hardship, but hey that's ok. Is it!

Yes they were slippery greedy scum. but they were well known if you have heard of Karen Silkwood.
www.environmental-law.net...
www.bloomberg.com...

a reply to: ANNED

So after serving your country and making someone a bootfull of cash you end up in a 34ft trailer and struggle to survive...seems fair...not....

I guess then through certain peoples eyes you should have chosen a more profitable career,its funny how people justify these things.....not

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: marsend

I know I'm going to be hitting a hornets nest;

Since when was it the role and responsibility for government to secure retirement?

Retirement should be up to the individual.

This is social security not welfare.......You pay into it with a tax every single week. The amount of money I will pay in will not even come close to the amount I will receive later on. Unemployment is another none welfare benefit you pay into.


So to answer your question......Ya people deserve this money because they paid into it. It is basically a government run pension. And the size of the benefit reflects how much you paid in.

The whole system is a mess. Companies are chasing the profits, and forgetting that without the people, they have no company.

Government(s) have forgotten, that without the people, they have no purpose and will cease to exist.

Being on disability, the pay increase each year is laughable. There was a couple years (maybe only 1, I forget) where we didn't even get an increase.

What bakes my noodle is this:

Since 1975, Social Security's general benefit increases have been based on increases in the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. We call such increases Cost-Of-Living Adjustments, or COLAs. We determined a 1.7-percent COLA on October 22, 2014. We will announce the next COLA in October 2015.

Social Security page

So cost of living for those on Disability is only increased BY 1.7 PERCENT of the total cost of living. It's disgusting.

Than again, no corporation, or such ever truly adjusts for Cost of living.

Cost of living explained

They get you coming, and going, and everywhere in between.

originally posted by: ANNED
I have been on a disablity pension for 10 years and will start on SS the first of next year.

I bought a 34 foot RV a few years ago to live in because apartments were so expensive where i live.
I pay only $300 a month for space rent at the RV park.

I am a service connected veteran and get all my medical done at the VA.

I also MAY have a company retirement bu do not know how much as the original company split into two companies and they dumped all the retirement liabilities on one company that then went bankrupt.
The other half of the company was a major oil company that merged with another company after dumping all there liabilities.

Can one collect SS and disability at the same time? I heard through the embassy here in Japan that it is possible to get 100% SS if you qualify for disability at the time of 62 age.

originally posted by: neo96
Social Security is a joke.

The average monthly stipend is around $1200 month.

That is below the national poverty line.

If people think once they get to 'retire' think again.

Your still going to have to work.

I think it is very safe to say that a lot of us, (myself included at age 42), will be working right up until the day we die or are forced out of the workforce.

Social Security is a joke. 25 years ago I watched my Grandmother try to make it. All she had was her Social Security, to make extra money she would babysit during the day for a lady who lived across the street. She didnt eat well, she tried to make every penny count and refused help from anyone. It was not a good time..... and back then gasoline was just 89 cents a gallon. I can not even imagine it being possible with prices on everything being so much more today.

Here it is...December 7th (2016) ... got the COLA announcement today (Pearl Harbor day)

my monthly increase @ .03 % (for the 3rd quarter calculation) will yield a total of $36.00 per Year

the govt has the factors and time frame precision calculated to obtain the Least Amount of a COLA increase
they whittled the full year of inflation to just the 3rd Quarter of the Year so the 'PPT' plunge-protection-team
need only concentrate on market prices/inflation/other factors for that 90 day period or 13 weeks to determine the fates for the 60+ million retirees & others getting Social Security as the primary resource for daily living incomes


Trump absolutely will not cause even a minor dent in this payment calculation formula that has all the cards stacked in the governments favor ($tingy capital outgo, except for the chosen One'$)


let me show you the ~closer to reality~ inflation/COLA due, excerpt fro a reliable, established source, other than the BLS..

...For example, the September 2016 inflation level of 1.46% was calculated by comparing CPI of the preceding September (2015) to the September 2016 figure.

source: okcommerce.gov...



so a 1.46% COLA was due.............. but the actual increase was a mere 0.03%.... I am certain the Muslim Refugees were treated better than the Senior &/or Disabled population of American Citizens....

a $14.60 per month increase would be a realistic increase that reflects the economy we are immersed in...
I won't refuse the $3 per month already approved... but the FAKE NEWS meme should be enlarged to include the COLA farce from a tiny group of manipulators in high-places

I'm nowhere near retirement age, but the following is just common sense even at my age.
Quick edit to clarify: This all is under the assumption that a person never had/has enough leftover to save. Otherwise, if you do, squirrel it away!

If you think of Social Security as money to retire on full stop, you're an utter idiot. NEVER look at it as the only retirement funds you'll have. Keep working at least PT and treat it as supplemental income (not SSI but think of it as such) Especially if you haven't worked enough in your lifetime to get a higher payout.
As a personal example, this is something my mother won't do, having retired at the earliest possible age and now constantly bitching about the $500 bucks she gets while having literally sunk into poverty income level instead of continuing to work. She'd have triple the money coming in if she'd go back to work and suck it up, she simply didn't work enough in her entire life to GET more than that pittance. This is not an amount one can retire on, and family to fall back on is not an excuse.

Second edit: dammit, bungled that & hit delete somehow. Rewriting.

Common sense says that if you lack savings and your SS will be minimal, and if you don't want to be destitute, you'll remain in the workforce/return to it if you're ambulatory. Which my mother is, she can work no problem. It's not anyone's job but yours to make sure your retirement is sufficient. Despite what she believes, we are not her personal retirement piggy bank, and it will cease at some point next year -- we're planning to have her removed from the lease. She will have to figure out how to bridge that massive gap in income to swing a modest, cheap apartment, which even with all the government assistance programs available for seniors' bills, isn't ever going to happen on $500. She will still fall very short on making ends meet and will HAVE to have additional income.
Giving her the boot may sound callous to some, but it's not. She's lived in pseudo-early retirement for years, mooching her way through it off family. Now that she's drawing and it's still not enough for her, 2 out of 3 kids learned our lesson and have had enough, while the third will NOT fall into that trap.

For my husband and myself, thinking of SS and SSI as the same (as in, deeming both supplemental incomes only) will save us a lot of frustration and disappointment years down the road. We're planning and saving, every penny adds up. We've been broke down to the last few cents in the bank, but it still got saved and set aside. It's not, nor will it ever be, our kids' job to make sure we have a cushy retirement. That's OUR job, with a little extra cash tossed our way from SS or SSI.

Just been diagnosed with MS a couple months ago and have been mulling over what to do now. I have effectively lost my trade to transverse myelitis since I can't even feel a hammer in my hand after about 15 minutes of using it. Chisels and planers? Out of the question.

I thank the maker every day to have married a wonderful wife who has always had the philosophy that if she can't get a job she will create one. She currently owns a deli. I also thank the maker every day for joining the Army in my youth which allowed me to have reasonable health care at reasonable pricing as well as being immune to Obamacare penalties.

I am over 50 and I wonder what I should do. I find myself in a position where I may have to file for assistance. Something that I have never done before. Pride can be difficult to overcome but watching my wife do 12 hour days 6 days a week makes it easier to overcome. We have been doing it together for years and she knows I'd do the same for her and she sees me doing what I can.

I know this thread is about making it on SS. I guess I just see it coming over the horizon and just felt the need to get this out of me.

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: marsend

I know I'm going to be hitting a hornets nest;

Since when was it the role and responsibility for government to secure retirement?

Retirement should be up to the individual.

Since they started taking our hard earned money to fund it.

The Social Security Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt on August 14, 1935. In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement.

Those of us not on SSI yet know it will be slim pickings by the time our turn rolls around. Still trying to work that one out.

my SS benefit is dead-on the national average....

I find I can be without SNAP foods or other welfare, I had to reshuffle things to discard Medicare (& the $104 per mo. cost) and to rely only with VA healthcare instead--- which made me then needing to pay $300 year in income taxes

my present rents are within the 25% of income range, although this present situation is bound to change for the worse as time goes on.

my big problem is finding the $200-500 per month I used to have to put into future things like either stocks/mutual funds/food prepping/ or for saving up to get reliable transportation... that type of disposable income is non-existent living off SS benefits exclusively....
I am waiting until 70 1/2 to free up some of the locked-up assets I had accumulated before becoming disabled at 49 years, I might be able to buy new batteries for my electric vehicle at that time when the ROTH account is open to pay-outs



a reply to: Terminal1

occupational therapy is available through the VA too,
other retraining is available from state agencies, becoming a proof-reader might be a talent you can do....
at home with a CC TV or internet connection to a print-shop or other facility in need of such talent

reducing costs is as good as earning $ ... I get 'Starter TV from my provider
(includes 99% of all basic cable offerings) Sans a remote top box
my internet is up to 20mps on secondary servers, so 'gaming' is out of the question... monthly price for the communications $35.36 on what used to cost me $94.00 before I downsized...
my Consumer Cellular is $21.32 for flip phone, 250 minutes, 250 texts but the spouse has the I-Phone with unlimited plan for the calls that are expected to be involved.

keep swinging while at the plate