[MandoMan]

Originally Posted by LoisR

Since this topic is current, my oldest son asked if Social Security and Medicare are important to us.
We responded YES in they both provide financial security. We explained the obvious and also said without Soc. Security we could not have purchased the house we did in TV.
But that's us. Have others used Soc. Sec. for other needs or wants?
How about Medicare? Did it have a big impact on you when you joined?

My entire Social Security check goes to pay for my mortgage on my home in The Villages, the amenities fee, electricity, gardening, mowing, spraying, pool cleaning. If it ended, I could sell it all and move back to my modest paid-for house in Pennsylvania and get by on the growth of my investments, but things would be tight. Most people aren’t so fortunate.

As for the person who says some of us are paying four times as much for Medicare Part B as others, you must be bringing in at least half a million per year, and I assume you can afford it. Maintaining an income level similar to what I earned before retirement (with Social Security now making up about 40% of my total income), my Part B went up from the $144 a month everyone who is single pays to $204 a month. I can afford that. I know a lot of people can’t manage $144. I feel blessed to live in America.

I do think that those paying the most in Social Security (several times more than I ever paid) should receive much larger payments. Isn’t the maximum now around $3,070 a month? That’s about twice the average, yes, but people pay Social Security taxes while working on up to $137,500. (If you were earning, say, $75,000 a year before retirement, your Social Security check would be about 80% that high.) When they retire, they will end up paying taxes on much or most of their income. People who paid at the top level get a monthly Social Security payment equal to about 25% of their previous income. Those at the bottom, about 60%. I don’t think those at the bottom should receive less, and I’m willing to have those with larger incomes pay on more than $137,500, but they should also get larger benefits when they retire. So if they pay the tax on their half a million a year instead of on $137,500, at least double their monthly check. It’s only fair.

The Social Security Administration says that without Social Security checks, 38% of retired people would be living under the poverty line. With it as it is, only 10% of retirees are under the poverty line, and most of those were In poverty before they retired, too.

Policy Basics: Top Ten Facts about Social Security | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

[Girlcopper]

Originally Posted by JGVillages

Here is what happens when we put people who really are not disciplined in charge of SS.

Abuse of the Social Security Trust Fund Began in the 1980s
by Allen W. Smith / November 28th, 2009

The mishandling of Social Security funds has been going on since the mid-1980s. As soon as the surpluses, resulting from the 1983 payroll tax hike, first began to flow into the Treasury, politicians from both political parties began using the money like a giant slush fund. At that time, it would be at least 30 years before the funds would actually be needed for Social Security, so politicians developed the bad habit of “temporarily borrowing” the money and using it for non-Social Security purposes. That bad habit never was broken, and every dollar of the $2.5 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue, generated by the tax hike, has been spent, leaving no real assets in the trust fund.

This is where the continuing problem started.

Way off the topic here. The question was do you rely on it. No one is debating if there is a problem with it. As usual, looking at the glass half empty

[GaryKoca]

Social Security is somewhat important, but medicare is really important. Medicare plus my Federal employee Blue Cross means I won't get wiped out with really high medical bills.

[rlcooper70]

Social Security and Medicare .... both need more funding .... both should have been addressed decades ago but politicians have been unwilling to fix either of them.

If the kindergarten class is 30 instead of the normal 20 ... the school can figure out that the first grade will be larger "next year" ... so "get ready people" should be the model. Ignoring the problems that we can see clearly ... how does that make any sense?

[stadry]

Originally Posted by LoisR

Since this topic is current, my oldest son asked if Social Security and Medicare are important to us. We responded YES in they both provide financial security. We explained the obvious and also said without Soc. Security we could not have purchased the house we did in TV.
But that's us. Have others used Soc. Sec. for other needs or wants? How about Medicare? Did it have a big impact on you when you joined?

is your son a self-supporting adult ? i can't imagine our daughters asking such. does he not realize by now no one worries about YOUR $ other than YOU ? am mystified of course,,, its so basic 1 might as well ask 'are your lungs important to your daily life ?'

[FromNY]

For many, this may come as a shock..For many it is their main income. Have seen situations when a spouse dies and pension or SS dies with that person the survivor cannot continue to keep their homes. Those " hated" apartments may become more affordable to a person whose income is cut. Maybe here in The Villages most use SS as play money buy I would bet without it many would be very concerned. How many use SS to support their adult offspring? Supplement for Healthcare that high debatable chip away at savings? Maybe the son who asked if these are important would benefit from some financial lessons? SS and Medicare are not perfect but think how currently your financial health would be without them. Ever notice some of your neighbors work? Maybe because even with SS things are tight. Not everyone was blessed with government pensions or big corp packages upon retirement. Yet they were blessed with the ability to manage to live here in a comfortable way. Yes some of you are financial wizards and mega solvent. You are often unaware not everyone is like you. Be grateful and kind to others.

[Kgcetm]

Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements. If anything they are lifetime taxes that generally fail to reach the payout of a lifetime of conservative investments. I resent the implication advanced by an effete ruling elite that after 55 years of contribution to the programs i have become a burden on the system.

[coconutmama]

Originally Posted by LoisR

Since this topic is current, my oldest son asked if Social Security and Medicare are important to us.
We responded YES in they both provide financial security. We explained the obvious and also said without Soc. Security we could not have purchased the house we did in TV.
But that's us. Have others used Soc. Sec. for other needs or wants?
How about Medicare? Did it have a big impact on you when you joined?

Social Security is extremely important to us, about 1/2 our monthly income. So, yes, Medicare is important too. The property values around here would plummet if these programs were diminished. Indeed, for all of Florida.

[lindaelane]

They are very important. "Public service messages" saying they are about to be gutted are lies, proven lies, funded by partisans. Do your own research of sources, looking at more than one "side" and you can confirm they are lying.

[Marykschulz]

Good luck to all of us in keeping our social security. A promise has already been made to abolish the payroll tax which funds it in the new year. Hopefully new leadership will avert this catastrophe.

[mrf6969]

I am not so sure that Social Security has been the best option for saving money for retirement. I earned almost twice what my wife did over the years before retirement.
My social security pays me $2500.00 a month before taxes. Her well managed pension pays her $3500.00.
I guess you could say this is just another example of how government manages verses how much better private enterprise does.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by Dana1963

Yes it’s a supplement to my pensions and investments.

I wish I was in that position. My pension and investments supplement my Social Security. Without Medicare, I'd be dead.

[Marine1974]

I think , since people pay up to a a maximum , currently around $130,000 of income at about 6% , no it’s not correct in saying people with higher incomes pay more . Also the people who had lower incomes paid less and get a much smaller social security benefit.

[LoisR]

Originally Posted by rustyp

What is the real motive of this thread ? Political ? Ask your question a different way - If you are wealthy enough are you willing to give up your earned benefits for the greater good or no I sacrificed and paid into the system and now it's time to withdraw from my savings account. Almost a Catch 22.

The real motive of this thread, and every other thread, is for people to think. Something we haven't seen in politics for some time.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by mrf6969

I am not so sure that Social Security has been the best option for saving money for retirement. I earned almost twice what my wife did over the years before retirement.
My social security pays me $2500.00 a month before taxes. Her well managed pension pays her $3500.00.
I guess you could say this is just another example of how government manages verses how much better private enterprise does.

Apples and oranges.

Most private pension benefits are paid as a direct proportion to how much the employee earned and contributed to the pension plan.

Social Security benefits are paid on a scale that pays a higher proportional benefit to lower income workers who paid less into the plan.