The Fixed Income Myth

[Seeker]

If SS pays 90% of your working salary (when you were working), then kudos to you.

I think, but have no way of verifying, that most people cannot say that they get 90% of they had earned when just beginning SS. I think the 90% ratio is high.

I also suspect that as time goes on, that with the rises in prices of food, health (medical, dental, vision, etc), that budgets need to adjust... and while dollars are good now, the future may not be as well.

SS has COLA, but 90% ???

[maat55]

If SS pays 90% of your working salary (when you were working), then kudos to you.

I think, but have no way of verifying, that most people cannot say that they get 90% of they had earned when just beginning SS. I think the 90% ratio is high.

I also suspect that as time goes on, that with the rises in prices of food, health (medical, dental, vision, etc), that budgets need to adjust... and while dollars are good now, the future may not be as well.

SS has COLA, but 90% ???

I think including the COLA more around 50% and less.

[Like2Plan]

If SS pays 90% of your working salary (when you were working), then kudos to you.

I think, but have no way of verifying, that most people cannot say that they get 90% of they had earned when just beginning SS. I think the 90% ratio is high.

I also suspect that as time goes on, that with the rises in prices of food, health (medical, dental, vision, etc), that budgets need to adjust... and while dollars are good now, the future may not be as well.

SS has COLA, but 90% ???

Seeker,
I wondered about that, too. But then I thought maybe the OP means that what they get covers 90% of their expenses where they live?

[Seeker]

Okay,

First apologies to Exile.... I read the original post as 90% of what they had earned... not as 90% of thier income now retired (so they are spending 10% of thier savings for retirement or cutting in other ways).

But I do submit that different areas make it more or less difficult to live on SSI alone. As do different people with different health-care needs. It's awfully harsh to judge others' statements about "fixed income" in this manner:

In short, the only thing that's "fixed" in receivng this type of income is the rigid outlook and entitlement attitude of some of its recipients.

Dug up this:
Latest SSI Payment Amounts

Essentially, with SS alone and in this state of California and assuming a couple owns the home in which they live, based on SS alone... they will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible to live on that SSI alone (renting is not possible under SS income alone -- rents are higher than mortgages were amd in retired folks situation most live in the home they have paid for). Property taxes are too high, and coupled with the bare necessities of food, utilities, health care needs (drugs), and public transportation costs (bus passes) SSI alone is not nearly enough.

It's also true that California "supplements" SS with an additional amount monthly. But it's not a huge amount; and still older folks are having to dig into retirement (which may also be declining depending on the investment venue) to support themselves.

Exile, 30 years from now, will you be saying the same thing?

My Dad retired 31 years ago, SSI pays for the health care worker that comes to their house five days a week for a few hours each day. And SSI may buy them some dollars toward utilities; but for food and other necessities, savings and our help will be all that gets them through.

Not my folks nor any other older retired people I know, have this "entitlement attitude" ; in fact most of the retired I know, absolutely hate to accept help from any others, even family.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Snafu I know my in-laws are cheap bastards. Always have been and always will be. They have done things like this to my DH his whole life. He's way too nice to them. He's worked since very young for his dad at the family "business' without being paid.

In life it's never fair. Nevermind what you "discuss"with your spouse when a check comes if no one pays and just sits it's very weird. Trust me sitting there without paying for 15 minutes is quite long.

Most retirees had no idea it would be so hard. I think healthcare in today's society has forced many unpredicted hardships. Before no one had to worry about medical insurance in retirement. Now we do. Before people didn't have to worry about living so long etc

[Exile]

Here's an example of what I mean by "misplaced entitlement attitude" Perhaps I should have included it in my OP. I recall once reading a complaint in a newspaper from an elderly woman on social security who said that she was hard up and that her favorite restaurant—where she goes for breakfast every morning—didn't offer senior citizen discounts.

Goes for breakfast every morning? If she's so damn poor, why is she spending money on dining out daily? And where is it written that senior disocunts are a right?

When I was working, DW and I were lucky if we went out to a restaurant once a week. Now that we're no longer employed, and our income has been reduced accordingly, we have to be even more careful than before with our expenses. Just because we're older doesn't give us license to behave irrresponsibly or demand special treatment.

Now, about the social security being 90% being part of our total income, the 10% difference is from other sources that are irrelevent to the topic , but we are able to live on social security (NOT SSI, which we do not collect), because, as I have mentioned in previous posts (which I neglected to do in my OP for this thread) is that when I retired, we relocated to the Philippines. Here many living expenses are considerably cheaper. Of course there is no way that we could survive on social security alone in the States.

[SacredFaerie]

So you expect every retired person to move to the Philippines?

Also you're sure that this lady can cook for herself.....how? She could very well take some form of senior friendly transportation to get breakfast and then have an aide come and prepare lunch and dinner.

This whole thread is irrelevant and you're just judgmental.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

No but I gotta say I don't eat out breakfast every meal and that is a good point about "Affording" things on a fixed income. My grandmother makes very little and doesn't eat out unless treated. So i'm not exactly sure how some seniors complain (she doesn't), about their incomes but want to eat out all the time?

Eating out is a luxury, not a right or a need.

On this site we tell people no starbucks everyday. So why can't you tell the old person no breakfast out everyday. Isn't it just another "latte" factor?

[Goldy1]

Soemone in an earlier post said this:
"Difference we younguns can get a better job."
Yes, and no. Tell that to the people laid off with no real prospects of any employment due to economy, or in my case no jobs in my field. I have had so many employers who take advantage of the labor market in thier favor by not paying market value also. The folks on ss already can keep that and it own't run out like unemployment so in my opionion, a "fixed" income has many positive aspects even if it is not high.

[loulou]

What I have in savings isn't relevant to my point here. I wasn't trying to judge anyone or say my situation is similar. I just feel that the term "fixed income" really is meaningless in the way it is commonly used. People consider retirees to be on a fixed income and working people not to be. I'm just saying that lots of working people, myself inlcuded, also have fixed incomes. When gas prices shot up, we had to cut back. When food prices climb, we cut back. When utilities go up, the money has to come from somewhere. I can't just print more if it. Saying seniors are on a fixed income and the rest of us aren't makes it sound like we all have some simple way to get more money when we need it.

You can't print more of it, but you could probably get a part time job doing soemthing, couldn't you? How many 75 or 80-year-olds could do that? Of course there are some that age that have jobs, but they are the lucky ones. "Fixed income" to me means they literally can't make any more money. Which in reality is true.

[bjl584]

You can't print more of it, but you could probably get a part time job doing soemthing, couldn't you? How many 75 or 80-year-olds could do that? Of course there are some that age that have jobs, but they are the lucky ones. "Fixed income" to me means they literally can't make any more money. Which in reality is true.

A part time job is not the only way to make money. There's no reason that someone couldn't think outside the box a little and maybe sell a few items laying around the house to turn a quick profit. Maybe they could even expand on that idea and buy and sell items on a site such as Ebay. All this could be done from the comfort of one's home. That is much easier for a 75 year old to handle than say, standing at the drivethrough window at McDonalds all day. There's always a way to make money. You just need to be creative.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I get that older people can't work, but i don't get why they need to eat out everyday? How is it justifiable just because you are 80 but not 25?

Why is there a line it's "okay" to have a "latte" tax and pay stupid tax daily on eating out but then complain about affording things?

I understand that fixed incomes are hard, but aren't we ALWAYS preaching to live to your income? Well then it might meaning not eating out breakfast everyday for the old person if they "live" to their income.

[tripods68]

When I worked as a bill collector, a common excuse among senior citizens for their inability to make their payments is that they were having a hard time due to being on a "fixed income", usually social security. At the time I didn't understand the significance of that phrase, but I suspected it was a bogus alibi.

Now that DW and I are retired and are the ones collecting social security (which is about 90% of our total income) it turns out that I was right. First of all, we both just received an annual 5.8% COLA increase to our benefits effective this month. Secondly, as a percentage that number is greater than what I sometimes received when I was employed. Finally, social security is a guaranteed income, unlike wages which of course terminate when your job ends.

In short, the only thing that's "fixed" in receivng this type of income is the rigid outlook and entitlement attitude of some of its recipients.

Curious if you are really living/retired in the Philippines? If so, your checks must treat you like a king there.

[Aleta]

Talking about eating out everyday; I have another scenario. Everytime my husband visits his parents, they expect for him to bring in food from the restaurant. I don't mind telling you that that gets expensive. It seems to be a thing now that everytime you go to somene's house that it becomes a restaurant deal. That wouldn't be bad if it was once in a while but it seems to happen to us too many times. We rarely go out to eat. Anyone have this problem with retirees?

[Goldy1]

Well I don't think a retiree frequenting a diner is excessive, but it is the latte factor indeed. I think it is healthy to get out of the house too if they are not working. I guess it's easy to judge. If you want excessive, try retirees I have known who spend the last drop of thier pension early to hit the slot machines. No worries, that next check will be there to keep you off the street. As a woman in my 30's it is a different world. Oh speaking of that, I need to get back to researching where I want to get my second degree from a grant I just got so I can try to make some more money..lol