Well, I finally done it - Social Security, it ain't social, and it ain't security.

[1shott]

Due to COVID and my back and my heart and, and, I retired. I was always figuring on getting something to tide us over but that damn Obiden et al. has really screwed up my plans. Last time I saw $4 gas was when I gave up my dream of easy city living to my wife who wanted to go back to my farm house and still commute 75 miles to OKC. Dumbest thing we ever did but it taught her a lesson. As a kid, I was farming 800 acres under tillage and another 1,000 in pasture. My grandma owned all of it except for the 160 we lived on. When my grandmother died she divided all of it to the three daughters my mother being one of them and the only one living on the land and the only farmer in the group. Ten years later, dad retires from farming and leases our ground to my cousin to farm. I tried to tell wifey the logistic would not work but she hated the city and I being a dutiful hubby decided to stay married.

Gasa hit $4 gallon and we are going broke. Especially with my job. I was managing the security department and was verbally promised assistance and bonuses that never materialized even though I fulfilled my part. We moved back to town and had to file for bankruptcy. In going back to OKC we did much better financially and paid off our debts 5 years sooner than the court provided for us.

Now, after another 12 years of technician service and installation work and several almost life threatening injuries and a heart attack, and COVID, I'm soooooo done.

Today, I finally applied for yech, government assistance. I figured it up, after medicare and others take their share, I get to keep a few bucks per month for a soda and maybe a pack of gum.

Congrats I truly hope you get many years left to get the most of it back. Enjoy your time off, you have earned.

 

[Seadog]

Congrats!!

I just hope SS is still around if I ever get to retire.

It will be here more than likely if the country is. Inflation will just make it absolutely useless. Democrats love inflation. It devalues their debt and impoverishes the little man

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Not sure why anyone worries about the social security fund being insolvent. Not having money never stopped politicians from spending it before and it won't stop them from writing the checks in the future. They'll just raise the credit limit on the government Master Card.

 

[Timmy59]

You guys that have retired, did you do so online by yourself or did you elicit some help for maximum benefits ? I'm teetering on early filing but haven't yet taken the plunge.

 

[Timmy59]

5.4 % cost of living raise recently added to it I heard tell, lol, Inflation is no less than double that.

 

[scott024]

If it truly is "our money that we paid into" then why not offer a cash out of the amount plus interest or even better yet you get a statement of account balance and you get to decide how much you want to withdraw each month when you reach 65. As well as when you pass away, the un used amount in the account gets passed onto your closest next of kin, IE wife, husband and children.

If it truly was our money.

They are hoping people die before collecting a dime. It's the biggest ponzi scheme ever.

 

[1shott]

They are hoping people die before collecting a dime. It's the biggest ponzi scheme ever.

Exactly, one we are forced into.

 

[KOPBET]

5.4 % cost of living raise recently added to it I heard tell, lol, Inflation is no less than double that.

Rise in Medicare premiums also. Wiped out the COL raise.

 

[geezer77]

You guys that have retired, did you do so online by yourself or did you elicit some help for maximum benefits ? I'm teetering on early filing but haven't yet taken the plunge.

You guys that have retired, did you do so online by yourself or did you elicit some help for maximum benefits ? I'm teetering on early filing but haven't yet taken the plunge.

I retired in 1980 from the military, and retired at 62 from my post-military job. SS benefit amounts are pretty cut and dried, based on years worked and $ earned over those years, vs age when you retire. If you choose to retire early as I did, do the math to be sure it's worth it, because it will cost you in reduced $ benefits for several years. Do your homework online so you understand the lingo, and gain a feel for how the system works, then schedule a face-to-face appointment with a counselor at a local SS office, who will walk you through it and will probably file everything on line for you while you're there, assuming you're ready to do it then. Might take a month or even more to get the initial appointment, but just walking into the waiting room and taking a number is a bad, bad idea, sort of like dealing with the DMV.

 

[Raido Free America]

Social Security, in my opinion, is not government assistance (well, they do 'manage' the program). It's a savings account that you & your employer paid into for many years. Use it with your head held high!!

Congrats!


.

If all the money we, and our employer, were forced to pay into SS, had been INVESTED very conservatively, we would ALL have a nice nest egg, several hundred thousand dollars, that would produce twice the income we get from our crooked politician money managers, under SS, and could pass that nest egg on to our kids, instead of our crooked politicians! Why wouldn't they take advantage of us, if we don't care enough to vote?