Social Security, Retirement and You

Today's common ideology surrounding retirement and social security is a bit different from that of the past and we need to think about what income will be available when we are ready to stop working full-time.

What have you put in place to make sure you can at least live on what you make now? This system of welfare may not work for many of today's workers as it has for beneficiaries of social security in the last couple of generations.  The way benefits are calculated depends heavily upon workers who are in the system–the lower the amount of wages and less workers triggers more adjustments.  We've paid into a system that may not work as well as it has for our parents and we need to make an adjustment no matter whether we like it or not.

Due to the change in the economy in the last two years, there have been record numbers of applications flowing through social security of people seeking disability payments. A large majority of these are former workers who gave up on trying to get jobs who had worked in spite of their disabilities. This is a drain on the system due to loss of input of taxes to Social Security Administration as well as the loss of jobs and increased strain on the money already paid in.

According to Social Security, for a worker retiring at age 66 in 2010, the maximum amount is $2,346.  This figure is based on earnings at the maximum taxable amount for every year after age 21.[1] If your income is higher than your maximum retirement benefit, you'll need to assess your needs for the future.

It is to your benefit to schedule time to meet with your financial coach or tax advisor to be sure you are on track with your needs for retirement as soon as possible.

[1] http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/5/~/the-maximum-soci....