It's Time For Medicare (whether I want it or not)

[KennyG]

An immigrant who never worked can get SS if they are a qualified dependent of someone who paid into the SS system. It happens but it's not a common situation. Just another example of why SS is an insurance program, not a savings/investment program.

 

[ultrarunner]

That's the part I'm not understanding.
As a child I read Aesop's Fables and remember "The Ant and the Grasshopper".
Here's the synopsis for those who haven't read or forgot it:

The Ant and the Grasshopper, alternatively titled The Grasshopper and the Ant (or Ants), is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 373 in the Perry Index.The fable describes how a hungry grasshopper begs for food from an ant when winter comes and is refused. The situation sums up moral lessons about the virtues of hard work and planning for the future.

I took that to heart, working as a young child knowing if I wanted something I had to work for it. Before my father passed years ago at 88 I thanked him for not giving me things.
I wanted a bicycle which having a paper route provided. Even as a child I was paying into social security.
I retired at 61, drawing S.S. a year later. Unfortunately being the ant that I was has consequences since my social security was and has since been taxed.
My 95 year old Mother pays a fortune (to most) caregivers 24/7, exorbitant taxes, even her social security is taxed, factored in as earned income (?).
At the time Aesop was correct, the ant reaping rewards of hard work pays off in the future.
The reverse is true today. Many have never paid a dime into social security yet reap the rewards. The ants who planned, invested and saved for many years are now punished
receiving not only no benefits but having to pay exorbitant taxes.
If Aesop were alive today he would say it's foolish being an ant, be the grasshopper.

Live for today for tomorrow may never come or as one RAP artist I know said he never thought he would see thirty because had he known he would not have been so reckless

I was in the first high school class taught by a new biology teacher who continued teaching another 32 years to retirement... active, excellent health and truly beloved...

His last class gave him Hamilton tickets for the same week he retired and was so enthusiastic about it... other teachers were also going... he was a no show... officially retired 3 days at full retirement age and died in sleep from brain aneurysm.

I bet a lot of people never give much thought about senior life in their younger years...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I gather some children were not taught by their parents or the person of influence in our life that is better to focus on yourself and work on that instead of focused on what is wrong with others and bitching about that.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Live for today for tomorrow may never come or as one RAP artist I know said he never thought he would see thirty because had he known he would not have been so reckless

I was in the first high school class taught by a new biology teacher who continued teaching another 32 years to retirement... active, excellent health and truly beloved...

His last class gave him Hamilton tickets for the same week he retired and was so enthusiastic about it... other teachers were also going... he was a no show... officially retired 3 days at full retirement age and died in sleep from brain aneurysm.

I bet a lot of people never give much thought about senior life in their younger years...

I certainly understand that, we've known people retiring, receiving one SS check then dying. What I learned early in life as a child is I can save $××, buy candy and it's gone. Invest that $×× and one day I can buy candy with the dividends I receive for years.
I never felt neglected or missed out on things I could have blown money on.
If I chose to smoke should I have sympathy for later having copd or lung cancer?
Drinking liver disease?
Not saving for the future living in poverty?
We make choices. Life is tough.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have been called an old soul...

Probably because even as a teen most of my friends were 30 to 60 years older mostly from the old car hobby...

The collective advice to me was save and buy property...

So doing the math buying at 20 with a 30 year mortgage meant paid by 50...

Too long so paid extra to pay in 15...

Just fortunate to have the advice of much older seasoned citizens willing to share...

 

[KennyG]

If Mexican citizens get SS they must have had legal status (green cards) and paid into the system for 40 quarters. Then they qualify just like US citizens. It doesn't matter where they live (or where US citizens live), as long as it isn't a banned country like Cuba or North Korea.

I'm sure there are a huge number of Mexican citizens that qualify, especially if they live in a border town.

As far as I know, nothing changed under Carter except the physical design of the "green card". If anyone has better information, I'd be interested in seeing it.

 

[Williy]

Back in the late 70's a mother with her daughter
came to me at a cars sales shop and held her
daughters are and pulled her in front of me and
said would you please get my daughter pragnant?
She wanted more free bee's she was on welfare.
I have seen people with; food stamps get a full
check out counter full of lobsters. Nothing but
the lobsters no other food.

willy

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Plan to fix Postal Service shifts retirees to Medicare, along with billions in costs

I did not know about this new liability coming to Medicare.

 

[Jstpssng]

Dad (rip) made $200/month...later more... yet retired at 56 very well off from planning.

What year? A couple of years ago I found a check stub from my first job out of college, after I'd been there for 2 years. (1982)
I pay more in taxes now than I brought home back then.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

3 Reasons You're Better Off Claiming Social Security at 70 | The Motley Fool

Reason #3 was new to me SS info.