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Can you afford to retire without Social Security?

Can you afford to retire without Social Security?

  • Yes, it would be no problem at all

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • I/we could, but it would require living on a lot less

    Votes: 10 43.5%
  • Only if I/we don't mind eating dog food

    Votes: 1 4.3%
  • No way in hell

    Votes: 5 21.7%

  • Total voters
    23

Ironman

Well-known member
WSJ reports how much it would cost to purchase lifetime annuities that would pay as much as Social Security:

According to ImmediateAnnuities.com, a 66-year-old man would have to pay $128,000 for an annuity providing him with income of $10,000 for life. A 66-year-old woman would have to pay even more, about $138,000.
That's for an income of $10,000 a year. If you think you'll need $40,000 a year to live on, naturally you'd need to set aside four times as much, or about $550,000.
And this would only be for a straight annuity, with absolutely no inflation protection at all.
Few life insurers provide inflation-protected annuities. New York Life offers something close: an annuity that increases payments by a certain percentage each year. This won't protect you from runaway inflation. But at least an annual increase of, say, 3% will give you some cushion.
I asked the company how much a 66-year-old would have to pay for an annuity paying $10,000 a year, with a 3% annual increase.
The answer? About $180,000. It's about the same for men and women.
Right now, the average retiree is getting about $14,000 a year from Social Security. To buy a similar income stream on the open market, a 66-year-old would have to pay about $250,000. Someone getting the maximum benefit, $28,000 a year, would need to pay about $500,000.


According to the most recent survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, a think tank specializing in the topic, fewer than half of workers have even saved $25,000, and only a third have saved as much as $50,000. Forty-four percent have saved less than $10,000, and a quarter have basically saved nothing at all.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...890972991846.html?mod=WSJ_PersonalFinance_PF5
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
If your depending on SSI to retire on , your in deep shit !!!SSI was never intended to be a retirement plan .
 

loboloco

Well-known member
I have never counted on social security as I figured out abt 1985 that the whole system was headed for the crapper.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Lobo, The SSi system was never intended to be a retirement system .
 

pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
I intend to be a nurse until I drop.
I'll have social security and the widows pension still coming in when I do retire.
Possibly, then will be the best time of my life.
I'll build a cabin in the woods, eat soup and bread, and remember the good old days.
No investments here, and sure as hell no savings.. unless you consider the $89+ in my account until payday.
God Bless America.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
I know that, you know that, but many millions of Americans don't know that.

And that is where the problem lies . The goverment never took us on to raise , But unfortunately many U.S. citizens think they should .Whats the average SSI benefit ? A $1000 a month ? Tell me how a family can live on that in todays crazy enconomy ????
 

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
I don't plan on ever seeing any of the many thousands of dollars the government stole from me to prop up the unprepared, baby-boomer, aging hippy, professional victim class that is now retiring.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
But it seems, everybody takes what they can get from ssi

Yup. The government didn't ask me if I wanted to contribute to it so you bet I'll take all they are giving me back out of it.

Social Security was never factored in to our retirement plans and now that my wife and I both receive it (we took it early) it's like getting a monthly allowance from the government. Could we live on it? .... hell no!!!! Not even close. I (we) didn't work our asses off our whole lives in order to retire and live a life of clipping coupons and waiting for stuff to go on super special roll back before we buy it. I've been there and didn't like it one bit.

These people with no savings to supplement the Soc Sec better get used to the taste of Alpo because they are going to find it tough.
 

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
SUPER Site Supporter
Yup. The government didn't ask me if I wanted to contribute to it so you bet I'll take all they are giving me back out of it.

Social Security was never factored in to our retirement plans and now that my wife and I both receive it (we took it early) it's like getting a monthly allowance from the government. Could we live on it? .... hell no!!!! Not even close. I (we) didn't work our asses off our whole lives in order to retire and live a life of clipping coupons and waiting for stuff to go on super special roll back before we buy it. I've been there and didn't like it one bit.

These people with no savings to supplement the Soc Sec better get used to the taste of Alpo because they are going to find it tough.
i really wish I could add to your comments but you just said it all !!!:clap:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
But it seems, everybody takes what they can get from ssi
I'd like to take back what they took from me. I see no moral reason to refuse to take back what was taken from me by force. While I never counted on SS as anything I could count on, and while I still feel it is nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme, I will accept my benefits because they are due to me. The US gubmint took that money from me and said they would pay me back. Why should I expect anything less?

That said, I think the system is doomed to fail. It doesn't seem like there is any mathematical way that the government can pay me back what it pried from my paycheck by force given the number of people in the workforce today and the number of people my age (50). Their system simply cannot work. But that was the system they required me to join, so since I had no choice, then it is only fair for me to expect them to pay me back.

Simply put: Hell yes I want my money back :hammer:
 

rugerman

New member
Don't matter, wife said that I could retire 1 day after I die and not a day sooner. You guys worry too much, do you really think that the goverment is going to let you keep any of the money that you worked so hard for, hell no they want it all to keep up all the welfare programs.
 

JEV

Mr. Congeniality
GOLD Site Supporter
Don't matter, wife said that I could retire 1 day after I die and not a day sooner. You guys worry too much, do you really think that the goverment is going to let you keep any of the money that you worked so hard for, hell no they want it all to keep up all the welfare programs.
That's right. If it were not for the welfare programs from the demonrats, their lazy, shiftless constituency would never get off their lazy asses and vote. They vote to keep the meal ticket alive, and the dems know this and pander to it.
 
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