Extra Money

Keith Molden

Well-known Member
WOW- I just today got a letter from the Social Security that I'm getting a big raise in January. It'll be a whopping 1.7%. Just don't know what I'll buy first, a loaf of bread or a 1/2 gal. of milk LOL. I know it will actually be 1.70 per hundred, but it sure doesn't come anywhere close to the rising cost of things at the store. I have read in the past about old people living off of dog or cat food, but as I get older, I can see why they did it. Now don't get me wrong, we're by no means starving, but I just can't see how folks with low SS income can afford to pay bills, buy medicine, and buy food anymore. At this time of year especially, and I see a lot of posts about taking care of the young ones at Christmas, If you folks think about it, check on your elderly neighbors or maybe go visit and kinda slip some money on the table that they don't know about cause most of them are too proud to accept it as a gift. Just my thoughts, Keith
 

I got call yesterday to thank me for a gift that I sent to a lady that I knew has a pretty tough time making ends meet. The way she expressed it surprised me. She said she nearly started to cry when she looked at the check. So I know that it is a very big help to her. My wife and I belong to an independent non-denominational church so we have to pay all of our expenses within the church in addition to helping support some missionaries. We have confidence that the money is being well spent.
 
Have you priced dog and cat food lately? Groceries only go up 10 to 20% per year. Various insurances and property taxes about the same. That 1.7% is really going to help keep us even with the world. TDF
 

I know a lot of older folks who bought into the idea that they were going to retire on SS. That's the way it was sold to the public for a long time. So those folks that bought into the myth did nothing else to prepare for retirement. That describe quite a few of my relatives. Sad.
 
I'd love to get a RAISE at all! Now they will have to take more from me to cover that SS raise !
 
I don't begrudge SS raises. I just wish my income was fixed. The assumption seems to be mine just goes up whenever I want. Truth is it can stop or be cut in half out of the blue. Even if the work is steady, since 2008 raises are rare and 1% is good. Hearing people say "I live on a fixed income" like I should feel sorry for them makes me mad. I think most people would actually like to be ensured a fixed income.
 
I believe that we all live the life we have chosen for ourselves.
As they have said before,"People do not plan to fail, They fail to plan."
Young people may want it all now, but they cripple themselves with debt. That is their choice. Kids drop out of school and handicap their future doing that. Again that is their choice.
If you really wanted to be rich, you have to be very lucky or have a plan. Too many people do not plan where they want to go in life, they just let it happen and hope it works out.
WE were told that we could get a million dollars in our 401k if we saved the right amount, early enough in our lifes. Divorce has put an end to that plan. That was my choice, and it was the right one also.
Being poor or rich is a mind set. People who grow up believing they are poor, will be pinching pennies until the day they die. Even if they have to pay their taxes quarterly.
Mary Hunt writes a newspaper/on-line column and advocates living below your income level. When the income drops (retirement)then the spending needs to be dialed back as well. During our working years, we should be putting some money away on a regular basis. If you don't, that is your choice. If you are running out of money you spent to much, your choice, or you retired to early, your choice. YES, I know that many essentials are beyond our control.
SDE
 
I live in a very poor, rural area with a low cost of living, many, if not most of the elderly in my area live off of SS alone, most of them make it just fine and some even save money such as my Wifes Grandmother. Some people never learned to live on what they made their entire lives and others still have mooching kids and other relatives bleeding them dry or outright stealing from them. There is little lasting or constructive that can be done for people too weak willed to take care of themselves and the real truth is that the truly needy are a lot less numerous than the government would want everyone to believe.
 
(quoted from post at 08:18:53 12/21/14) I believe that we all live the life we have chosen for ourselves.
As they have said before,"People do not plan to fail, They fail to plan."
Young people may want it all now, but they cripple themselves with debt. That is their choice. Kids drop out of school and handicap their future doing that. Again that is their choice.
If you really wanted to be rich, you have to be very lucky or have a plan. Too many people do not plan where they want to go in life, they just let it happen and hope it works out.
WE were told that we could get a million dollars in our 401k if we saved the right amount, early enough in our lifes. Divorce has put an end to that plan. That was my choice, and it was the right one also.
Being poor or rich is a mind set. People who grow up believing they are poor, will be pinching pennies until the day they die. Even if they have to pay their taxes quarterly.
Mary Hunt writes a newspaper/on-line column and advocates living below your income level. When the income drops (retirement)then the spending needs to be dialed back as well. During our working years, we should be putting some money away on a regular basis. If you don't, that is your choice. If you are running out of money you spent to much, your choice, or you retired to early, your choice. YES, I know that many essentials are beyond our control.
SDE

WOW! Well said! I've been trying to tell people that a lot of folks put themselves where they are because they made poor life choices. That can be in the ghetto when a kid decides to join a gang or start using drugs. Of failing to take school seriously and dropping out. Or going to post secondary school for a dream career without regard to employment opportunities. Like say majoring in art. Far too many starving artist as it is and you want to be one more. And of course bad financial planning.

I have a friend who thought it was cool to be off the grid and to work under the table. A few years back he was injured doing an under the table roofing job and is no longer able to work. He's on SSDI and making less than 900 a month. I told him don't expect sympathy from me. SSDI is based on REPORTED earnings. He did it to himself. Sure I help him out some. But I don't listen to him whine about it. Now the wife's grand mother was a different story. She died about 5 years ago a week before she would have been 102 years old. As a typical mid west woman of her day she was a stay at home mother and house wife. She worked very few years where she paid into SS. She was getting 600 a month. The family stepped into help making sure her propane tank was full and that the property taxes were paid. She got put into a situation because of the timing of things. She loved canning so we planted extra in out garden and the MIL and wife would take stuff to her house and "help" her can when she was in her late 90's and blind. But todays person retiring at 65 who is counting on SS has not been paying any attention to the news.

Rick
 
Wow a raise, I have not had one in 10 years. My I also mention that company health insurance is also a thing of the past.
 
Mom, who's 82, is living on SS of just over $500 a month after Medicare, plus Dad's pension as a part-time postal worker for 25 years. After health insurance, that's just over $300 a month.

Mom's memory isn't so good these days, so I have to write the checks to pay her bills. She lives in the old farmhouse her family bought in 1943, where she moved when they tore down Dad's old house in 2005 because it wasn't fit to live in. HER mom was still living downstairs, so my sister and her husband did the remodeling of the attic to allow Mom to live in the bedroom she occupied as a teenager some 60 years previous.

Mom's mom passed away 3 years ago, and Mom inherited the house. Since then, my sister and I have been begging and pleading with her to move her sleeping quarters downstairs...to no avail. So there's a perfectly good but unused bedroom downstairs, plus the guest bedroom where my uncle stays when he comes to visit, but Mom won't budge. So instead, she's heating both the upstairs and the downstairs, and spending more money that she should on utilities alone...which leaves little left for other stuff. And if she has to do any house repairs, as things wear out and weather, I have no idea how that's going to happen.

Mom quit working at the local senior center serving meals when 23-year-old car fell apart [I found she had a CD that was maturing, so we talked her into replacing the car with one that's "only" 6 years old], so she has no social life. She quit going to church when her mom passed, and she's basically turning into a hermit.

But at least her bills are paid, even if there's not much left afterwards.
 
We hear stories of elderly eating cat food to save money. Tuna is cheaper than cat food, if you know of someone eating cat food you need to talk to their doctor. They may be suffering from dementia.

This isn't aimed at the OP, if anybody knows of elderly doing things like eating cat food their doctor needs to be informed. It can be a sign of dementia, or the medicines could be causing problems and need adjusted. A person who's medicine is causing problems frequently can't see the problem themselves.

My own SS disability is going up $20 a month. If a scheduled biopsy in 14 days comes up clean I'll be looking for work again, because it really is hard trying to live on SSDI.
 
It amazes me when I hear things like "shoulda put more in 401K and pension plans etc. Most (a good 75%) of people now on SS never had a 401 , to a lot it wasn't even heard of yet , never worked for "union" , never heard of a "pension" , paid out anything they might have saved for medical care because their employer didn't have med. ins. available. Our whole economic pricing structure is based on union/ govt. wages and yet probably less than 25% actually get it. Do the math....ain't pretty and getting uglier each year.
 
Thanks Showcrop, at least you understand what I was talking about. After someone retires it becomes a moot point if they saved or not. Unless you know that person really well, you won't have a clue as to their situation before. Just wondering how many of you that have had 1 or 2 employees there on the farm paid into a retirement for them OR paid them enough that they could afford a retirement 401. If you're like most in this area, you just can't afford to do that. Now, I'm not knocking anybody or anything that has been said, but I do think some have gotten off on the wrong track. Have a Merry Christmas and Love one another. Keith
 

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