Social Security Changes

 In 2016, every American paid 12.4% of their income under $118,500 to Social Security.

Today, the age at which Americans can receive full benefits for Social Security is set to increase to 67 for anyone born after 1960

Your full retirement age Is 67

Remember, the earliest a person can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits will remain age 62.

If you start receiving retirement benefits at

·       age 62, you will get 70% of the monthly benefit because you will be getting benefits for an additional 60 months.

·       age 65, you will get 86.7% of the monthly benefit because you will be getting benefits for an additional 24 months.

If you start receiving benefits as a spouse at your full retirement age, you will get 50% of the monthly benefit your spouse would receive if their benefits started at full retirement age. If you start receiving benefits at

·       age 62, you will get 32.5% of the monthly benefit instead of 50% because you will be getting benefits for an additional 60 months.

·       age 65, you will get 41.7% of the monthly benefit instead of 50% because you will be getting benefits for an additional 24 months.

https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/1960.html

 

Comments

 

The original retirement age for Social Security eligibility was established at age 65 in 1935, because the average life expectancy in 1935 was age 65. Individual people had been living a lot longer for centuries, but this was the “average” life expectancy. Most jobs required physical exertion and took a cumulative toll on human bodies. Also, academics said that workers “slowed down” at age 65 and people who hated their jobs, but were locked into their pension plans were anxious to retire.

 

The availability of anti-biotics in 1945 changed all that. We no longer had large numbers of people dying from smallpox. But disabilities can occur at any age. Also, as labor-saving devices were developed and more sedentary jobs were created, the jobs requiring physical exertion diminished.

 

Government is like the man who drowned in a lake with a mean depth of 3 feet. They use statistics to determine probabilities and never consider obvious variables that are full of surprises.

 

The average life expectancy is now about age 80. We have people dying in their 60s from a variety of illnesses, but we also have people living well past age 80.  Clearly, today many people could work well into their 70s and many are doing this part-time. If more people worked at a job they loved, they would work longer. Fewer people today are stuck in jobs they hate and many retirees are involved in activities they enjoy. The investment rollercoaster we’ve had for the past 50 years needs to be more reliable and government incentives need to encourage saving. Our private sector free-market economy needs to be expanded to fund our future and debt needs to be reduced.

 

Social Security needs to be reformed so that our contributions go to our private accounts, so we can invest these dollars to grow our retirement funds.  The government will need to cut their spending substantially to finish paying out the victims of their original Ponzi scheme without the benefit of new dollars coming in.

 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader