I tried explaining that to my boomer parents years ago and they lost their shit “because they already paid their ss taxes for decades”. These are people well to do enough that they retired comfortably with multiple vacations a year, from families where the poorest siblings are middle class. Boomers simply refuse to be less greedy, they will squeeze every drop of blood from this country because greed and hubris was the defining traits of their generation.
The other half of them are like my parents who had us grow up poor, then the second the kids are out the door are taking early withdrawals from what little retirement they had to blow on fancy house remodels and all sorts of things totally unnecessary, then getting divorced, getting to retirement and having zero left and leaning their kids to come save them with stories of how you're supposed to do that for family. That part would sting a lot less without all the continued ignorance of any personal responsibility. Instead, the literal free house one of mine lives in that I own and I bought, and instead of gratitude I'm often made to feel like I need to be squeezed for some comfort item that free house needs. It's bonkers.
This screams Asian parents. I know multiple guys (mostly military) including a family member who married Asian and wound up being the wageslave of the entire family in the US and overseas.
My parents were always saving wisely and investing and I didn’t listen to their advice til I was almost 30. They assumed SSN wouldn’t be around so they always planned for retirement without counting it and they told me to do the same.
Honestly not sure why at least people above a certain income can’t opt out of social security. Probably because social security pays for all sorts of things it wasn’t intended to
Even if social security wasn't a complete slush fund, they still couldn't let high earning people opt out and remain solvent. It's a welfare program in drag. All the high earners would bail and then what, a bunch of broke people are supposed to pay for each other's retirement?
I'm not sure, it's a mess. All roads seem to lead to insolvency so perhaps just let it go broke and get it over with? There's no chance our political system will let that happen though, at least not quickly. They'll simply punish the financially responsible with means testing and/or higher taxes.
I'd argue the broke people would be the first to bail. "Umm hmm I need mo in my paycheck n sheet nowat um sayin I gots ta get paid" then they'd bitch they were starving even more when they claim fatigue as a permanent disability and don't even get that.
Of course the higher ones would too. The only ones you'd get staying in social security are the people right in the middle who are trying to be financially smart but not advanced enough to see the higher order of the financial system.
It’s because most middle class and above don’t handle their wealth personally over indirectly. All wealth management companies write SS planning into the portfolios they provide to maximize out their profit and their clients profit. It’s “leaving money on the table” for a business to deny themselves that share simply because their clients can afford to not have it.
I tried explaining that to my boomer parents years ago and they lost their shit “because they already paid their ss taxes for decades”. These are people well to do enough that they retired comfortably with multiple vacations a year, from families where the poorest siblings are middle class. Boomers simply refuse to be less greedy, they will squeeze every drop of blood from this country because greed and hubris was the defining traits of their generation.
The other half of them are like my parents who had us grow up poor, then the second the kids are out the door are taking early withdrawals from what little retirement they had to blow on fancy house remodels and all sorts of things totally unnecessary, then getting divorced, getting to retirement and having zero left and leaning their kids to come save them with stories of how you're supposed to do that for family. That part would sting a lot less without all the continued ignorance of any personal responsibility. Instead, the literal free house one of mine lives in that I own and I bought, and instead of gratitude I'm often made to feel like I need to be squeezed for some comfort item that free house needs. It's bonkers.
This screams Asian parents. I know multiple guys (mostly military) including a family member who married Asian and wound up being the wageslave of the entire family in the US and overseas.
My parents were always saving wisely and investing and I didn’t listen to their advice til I was almost 30. They assumed SSN wouldn’t be around so they always planned for retirement without counting it and they told me to do the same.
Honestly not sure why at least people above a certain income can’t opt out of social security. Probably because social security pays for all sorts of things it wasn’t intended to
Even if social security wasn't a complete slush fund, they still couldn't let high earning people opt out and remain solvent. It's a welfare program in drag. All the high earners would bail and then what, a bunch of broke people are supposed to pay for each other's retirement?
Good point. How would you fix it?
I'm not sure, it's a mess. All roads seem to lead to insolvency so perhaps just let it go broke and get it over with? There's no chance our political system will let that happen though, at least not quickly. They'll simply punish the financially responsible with means testing and/or higher taxes.
I'd argue the broke people would be the first to bail. "Umm hmm I need mo in my paycheck n sheet nowat um sayin I gots ta get paid" then they'd bitch they were starving even more when they claim fatigue as a permanent disability and don't even get that.
Of course the higher ones would too. The only ones you'd get staying in social security are the people right in the middle who are trying to be financially smart but not advanced enough to see the higher order of the financial system.
It’s because most middle class and above don’t handle their wealth personally over indirectly. All wealth management companies write SS planning into the portfolios they provide to maximize out their profit and their clients profit. It’s “leaving money on the table” for a business to deny themselves that share simply because their clients can afford to not have it.