Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Delphine: “What do I do now that Social Security is so insecure?”
The economy scares me and I’m not sure Social Security will be around by the time I retire. How should I prepare for retirement? – Anne, Sacremento
Considering the tremors – in fact, seismic booms – that have taken place in our economy recently, many of my clients are asking, “now what?”
I’m 32 and while I’ve been in the financial services industry for over 8 years, many of my clients are younger. We’re all wondering: with Social Security being the ultimate Ponzi Scheme, what now? If you thought Bernie Madoff was horrible, have you taken a look at what our government does with our money? And that’s the biggest problem. We as a nation honestly feel that the government is going to take care of us, rather than just waste our money. This, I believe, is why most of us don’t do a thing in preparation for our retirement (if we’ll even have something that resembles retirement). Talk about Earth shattering!
You should be saving at least 10 percent of your income in a Roth IRA, provided you qualify – some make too much to contribute. A Roth IRA will allow you to save money in an account, invest it how you choose and will provide you with tax-free growth for retirement. You won’t get a tax deduction for the contributions (some who make very little will actually receive a tax-credit for Roth IRA contributions), but the security is worth it.
At the very least, you should have two to three months of savings piled up for the possible layoff that might still come. If you own your business (which is a great idea) you will open yourself up to the ability to save much, much more. A business is so simple to open these days and the economic stimulus package has some perks just for you!
Let’s be practical. You must save and you must plan. Look at 10 percent of your income as a bill you must pay for the rest of your life. One that you can never avoid, never pay off and always expect to pay on the same day of each month. Prepare yourself for the worst, and the best just might come.
The good times are not going to last, kids. Not with the same behaviors we have displayed. We overspend and under-save. We act like children and wonder why Big Brother continues to watch over us. We need to grow up before the next earthquake hits. In order to be personally free, we must be personally responsible.
Oh, so candid, great advise.
does anyone else remember when the idiot bush wanted to privatize social security? give everyone the choice in what to invest their SS money in? that surely woulda been lost by now had that happened.
least mebbe we can reach 2027 with SS still around.
but thanks to the shrubs policies that unemployed us all, there is nothing getting paid into SS.
Marc Delphine wrote: “…with Social Security being the ultimate Ponzi Scheme…”
WHAT BULLSHIT!!! It’s only a ponzi scheme if you let your government and dishonest financial advisors make it so. Social Security is a pay-as-you-go plan. Those currently in work pay for those who are retired right now. Yes, the eligible age for benefits might have to rise; yes, the contribution per $1000 of income might have to go up; but it will work IF YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE IT WORK. It was never designed to provide a lavish retirement, anyway, but was instead put in place to protect people against the catastrophe of a completely unfunded old age. 65 was chosen as the age at which benefits started because at the time the system was designed, 65 was the average age at which Americans died. In other words, you all paid into a system meant to take care of people who had lived an inconveniently long time. So save money for yourself, but please don’t blame Social Security for not being adequate to fund your 30 declining years in the sun: it was never meant to do so.
How is social security a ponzi scheme? That’s not a characterization that I would expect from a financial expert. Remarks like “have you taken a look at what our government does with our money?” sound more like uninformed complaining than sound financial advice.
While some of the advice was helpful, I’d prefer not to search through personal opinions and over-the-back-fence style grousing to find it.
The most recent evaluation of SS shows that in 2016 it will start paying out more in benefits than it recieves from our taxes. BY 2037 it is estimated the SS fund will be depleted. At some point, our government has to make some decisions about SS.
Marc is merely suggesting that you invest in your own future. Pacticularly now that our country is in debt 11 to 12 trillion dollars and we are burdened with an anemic economy.
Oh, I’m sorry. I thought he said, “We’re all wondering: with Social Security being the ultimate Ponzi Scheme, what now? If you thought Bernie Madoff was horrible, have you taken a look at what our government does with our money? And that’s the biggest problem. We as a nation honestly feel that the government is going to take care of us, rather than just waste our money.”
My bad.
When did 365gay just start transcribing Rush Limbaugh screeds? This is some serious far-right nuttery.
Obviously the writer has some terrible issues with personal responsibility if he assumes that the reason people don’t save enough money is because they expect to live on Social Security. People don’t generally expect for it to be 100% of their retirement income, and the reason a lot of people don’t save for their retirement is because they can’t.
Second, his characterization of social security is coming right out of Bush’s playbook. If you listen to conservatives, they’ve been saying that social security would go bankrupt in a generation since the 1960’s. And it still hasn’t. I’m not saying that it won’t ever, but just sayin’ that the last people we should be listening to on the topic are conservatives.
Finally, the best advice he can put together is 10% of your income into a Roth IRA? That’s not even creative, and it seems to completely forget the fact that lots and lots of people have just lost their IRA’s and 401(k)s in the recent financial crisis because people in the financial services industry blew it all away as if their mothers handed them big checks to go spend on cocaine….
Oh, oops. I just noticed the writer’s professional background. Kinda makes his advice seem self-serving, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I should respond to this:
“The good times are not going to last, kids.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What planet is Delphine living on? They’ve been over for over a year for most Americans.
Sheesh. I can understand why 365gay would like to give a platform to gay Republicans, but can we pick some moderate Republicans for this forum instead of batshit insane ones?
Read an interview with Marc Delphine here, he’s now the first openly gay candidate for US Senate from the State of Oregon.
http://www.diggintochina.com/2010/03/marc-delphine-for-senate-and-your-heart.html