The Social Security Administration is a shameless government bureaucracy that refuses to take responsibility and make corrections for the bad advice it gives to retirees. They cheated my wife out of $5,000 a year in benefits, $30,000 lifetime so far, by giving her bad advice and then refusing to fix it. When my wife turned her full SS retirement age in 2007, her earned benefit (from her employment SS taxes) was $38 a month more than her spousal benefit (which is half of my SS benefit). She called SS and asked them which benefit she should take - Earned or Spousal. SS told her, of course, take the higher earned benefit, so she did. 16 months later, I read a financial article, that correctly stated that if she had taken her spousal benefit and waited 4 years until age 70, she could switch to her earned benefit then and receive 8% more for each of 4 years for a total increase of 32% to her original earned benefit. That would have been an increase of over $400 to her monthly SS check for an additional $5,000 a year for the rest of her life (note SS ended this "switch" program recently, but it was in effect back then, but you still get an additional 8% a year if you delay collecting any SS benefits until age 70).
So we immediately contacted SS and told them the facts and that we would like to return the extra $38 a month collected for 16 months, go to spousal benefits starting with the first year 2007, so that at age 70 my wife could switch to her 32% higher earned benefit. SS refused. They said that she could return the entire 16 months of SS collected (about $20,000) and then switch to earned benefit at age 70 for 16% more not 32% more because it would use year 2009, not 2007 to make the calculation. That deal made no economic sense for us so we did not do that. However, we both still very much resent the mindless bureaucrats at Social Security who make retirees pay for SS bureaucratic mistakes/bad advice given to us retirees. If SS had been a corporation instead of a government bureaucracy, no doubt that we would have won our case.Getting it Right - Welcome
The goal of this blog is to publish my thoughts on a variety of economic and political topics in the hopes that people who find them educational or beneficial will utilize them and/or forward to others who might find them interesting and/or worthwhile to promote to others, possibly including politicians who can push some of these ideas to fruition. The topics in my blog are meant to be of value on a long term basis, not a daily diary or political issue of the day log. If the information posted is useful to you, by all means utilize it and/or forward it as you see fit. If not useful, then merely ignore it. There are no universally agreed upon truisms and too little tolerance between some of those with opposing viewpoints to successfully convince the people with hardened opinions to move away from them. I am an analytical type person who will try to be as factual as I am able.
I disdain the current popularity of name calling and condemnation of viewpoints with no factual alternatives or logical solutions given that I see so often. If you don't have a solution based on fact and logic, then opt out of the discussion because you have nothing to contribute. My background is a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and 39 years working in middle management jobs for a major retailer. My opinions are forged on the personal experence of life, family, friends, and work as well as triumphs and mistakes that I have made and hopefully learned from. My hope is that this blog helps you.
My first topic will be about personal finance. I chose that one first because most of us work long and hard just to survive but not all of us realize our dreams of becoming financially independent from the labors of our work. Much of our political votes/thinking also focus on the economy and in particular how well we are personally doing financially.
It is relatively simple, without sacrificing the enjoyment of living for 'today' and even at moderate incomes, to retire as a millionaire or multi-millionaire, if you focus on that goal consistently from a young age. It is also simple to ensure that your child or grandchild retires rich. It merely requires a one time gift of just $2,000 invested wisely and the passage of time. Please read my first post on this blog to learn more.
An index/schedule of past and future posts and their dates will always be updated so that it becomes the first post that you see below. If the date of a post that you wish to read is preceded by the word "Posted", then find it below or click on the title in the Blog archive to review.
Blog Archive
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May
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- Social Security Is A Mindless, Shameless Governmen...
- Doctors - Here's Where to Research For A Tinnitus ...
- Retirement has been an Evolution
- The Debt Ceiling and How to Responsibly Eliminate It
- The Real Heroes of Our Quality of Life
- Watching TV Is No Fun Anymore.
- Black People Reparations Have Been Paid in Full
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