I’m getting to be of A Certain Age where I have to start thinking about the rest of my life and what I want to do with it.
A few friends of mine and I were discussing all of us being in an age bracket old enough to start collecting Social Security. I’ve always believed that I would never collect anything from Social Security. Not that I thought I wouldn’t live long enough to do so. It’s more that I don’t trust the Government to not do something to mess things up.
Back when I was a teenager, when I turned eighteen (18) I was finally considered an Adult and was legally allowed to drink alcohol. Huzzah! Then in the middle of the year, the State Legislature raised the legal drinking age in the state to nineteen (19). Annoying, but I only had to wait a few months. When I turned nineteen, I could legally drink again! Huzzah! At least I could drink alcohol up until the time they changed the legal drinking age to twenty-one (21). Then I had to wait a few more years. Then when I finally hit twenty-one, I could finally legally drink not only in my own state but in all fifty United States. Huzzah!
Ultimately, it was all wasted on me. I don’t drink alcohol. Can’t stand the taste of the shtuff.
But my point is, the Government kept pushing back the goal line. They kept making it harder to get to the reward.
Now, it looks like they are doing that with Social Security. It used to be that when you turned sixty-five (65) you were allowed to start collecting Social Security at the full payout. The payout is based on how many years you worked when part of each paychek was automatically taken out and put into the Soial Seurity system and other factors. You could start taking it out earlier than sixy-five but you didn’t get as much as if you waited until sixty-five.
Now they are going to raise the age limit to sixty-seven to get the full payout. That means instead of three years I have to wait five years to get the full payout. Or I could wait until I hit seventy (70) (another eight years) and get a bigger payout. Once again, they are pushing back the goal line, mainly because the Baby Boomer generation (which I’m at the tail end of it) is getting older, getting ready to retire, and start collecting Social Security. This will put a strain on the monetary system involved so they are making it later for the Baby Boomers to get into the system.
I feel like when I get close to the correct age they are just going to raise it again and I won’t get anything out of it.
I suppose I could investigate and find out how much I’d get if I started now versus waiting until I get to the ‘right’ age or older. I won’t get as much if I start now, but if I wait I may not get anything at all because they’ll just keep raising the age to retire.
Decisions, decisions.
If you have any insight into the problem, leave a comment and let me know, my Hordeling.
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