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Why My Retirement Social Media Status-Is Complicated


Why My Retirement Social Media Status-Is Complicated

I remember when someone told me I should start a blog; my answer was I really do not have time.  I told them that there were enough bloggers out there, and I think most of them do a good job.  Their response to me was you are different.  When it comes to explaining stuff, you precisely say definitely what the problem is, and everyone exactly gets it.  I said thank you, and still never gave starting a blog another thought.  As I sat down with more clients, I started to realize that there is too much information available.  Nevertheless, the more information available the more overwhelming for the average retiree becomes.  

I think retirement and retirement planning can be very tough to understand as it is, but add something like the open letter that was written to our current Vice President, Mr. Mike Pence, from the board of trustees of the social security administration and now you are at another level of complexity.  The letter from the Trustees can be found here: (https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2018/709letter_DI_Senate_2018.pdf)

Just in case you are reading this blog post on the go, or you are short on time, let me just summarize the first paragraph for you.  It states the following “In accordance with section 709 of the Social Security Act, which outlines when recommendations by the board of Trustees should be made to Remedy Inadequate balances in the Social Security trust funds.”  The letter goes on to say that, the Disability Insurance Fund will drop below the 20% reserve threshold within the next 10 years.  Well for the regular person reading that, you may say that is for disability, why should I be concerned?  Reading closer, the trustees make a declaration, which suggest that the disability insurance creates a strain on the combined social security system as a whole.  Two things are for certain after reading this letter.  Payroll taxes would need to be increased significantly based on the report.  The second thing that you learn by viewing the report is the strain on the entire social security system since the report in 2010 has already started to show up.  Look at the yellow arrows I have placed in the two charts below.  One is from the recommendation made from the trustees back in 2010 and then look at the current report from 2018.


Source www.ssa.gov


Source www.ssa.gov

Let me just cut to the chase on what this means to you, the current worker paying into a system that is already broken.  No one should depend on a system that has not been updated or completely overhauled since its inception.  In Episode 6 “The Pension Sweet tooth and what I learned about Social Security,” I shared the underlying fundamentals of why the current system is unsustainable.  Even if the system is somewhat overhauled or altered the payout will be sustainably less than what it is today.  You think Medicare has problems of repeals and pre-existing or existing conditions; the social security system is much more complicated.  Unlike medical, everyone feels they deserve to get back something from a system they paid into.  That is just human nature.  In our My Retirement Podcast Episode 4 “The Great Surprise at 70 1/2 that most people don’t know about” I talk about the taxes associated with even getting your money out of the social security system.  As I close, I want to be very clear on something.  Start working on an alternative game plan to social security, as taxes will create so many obstacles to extracting your own money out for anything that concerns retirement.  Your current 401k and your social security will both be tied to taxes.  Look for our next Podcast Episode 12 entitled “The Number-One Rule of Retirement” this podcast is one of the most anticipated podcast of 2018.  If you do not want to miss, a blog or podcast subscribe to our newsletter. 


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