Can a retiree REALLY survive on just social security?
Answers
2222 points
readytoretire answered 10 months ago …
Yes, but with many qualifiers. For most people, the answer is no. It was never intended to be a total retirement plan. It was to ensure that retires weren't totally broke. But many people are acting more and more like it should be a retirement plan, and pay accordingly. It can't do that as the number paying in are too small to cover all the people who draw. So it will get back to what it was intended to be, just a little something to help you get by. Most of what you get by on needs to come from the most reliable source, ourselves.
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3963 points
MNSL answered 10 months ago …
Yes. If they can see low cost of living environment in the future. Otherwise it will be difficult to live retirees on just social security.
I think some retirees will get low cost of living environment and some will get high cost of living environment during this decade and next decade
678 points
BoxCar answered 10 months ago …
If you're willing to DownSize and live near a military base where local suppliers have
to compete with Commisary & PX, you can achieve a lower cost of living- Myself, we
retired from Indiana to southwest New Mexico and could live on our SS alone
(I get $2K, my wife $700) since our compact 3bdrm 2bath + utility & dining is paid off.
Disability for partial paralysis accounts for 10% of my SS. Property tax is only $500/yr
Farmers Ins of AZ is only $350 & medicare + Rx takes $100 & never buy new cars.
By converting our IRA mutual funds into a Jackson Life Annuity out of Colorado,
where its invested in a Mellon Energy Sector Fund pays us 5%/yr extra even tho
stk mkt tanked end of 2008. Why energy? Google Scientific American Mar 1998
to read "The End of Cheap Oil" to see why things are in an upheaval and where
its all headed. We're on the doorsteps of a 2nd Great Depression and only the
EFFICIENT will survive to carry on. Supply & Demand will rule prices, just like the
collapse of economy has lessened demand for OIL products & fuel for now, then
eventually OIL has to come back to bridge the gap to our next energy system.
Again, its not how much you make, its how much you keep if you're to survive.
356 points
Dusty answered 10 months ago …
Just to add to the answers already posted: If you are relatively old and intend to retire on Social Security then if at all possible do not retire until at least "full" retirement age. The penalties for retiring at any age earlier, 62 or in some cases even earlier, take a huge cut out of the entitlement. That reduction is Forever. If you are rather young, begin to develop other sources of money for retirement. Social Security will be a much smaller resource in the future. Diversification of retirement funds like Social Security plus personal investment funds (IRA and/or whatever) and maybe a small pension of some kind is a good thing.
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435 points
larryat36 answered 10 months ago …
Where I live it would be next to impossible.
Example: Lasr month it was unseasonably cold where I live, and with no Nat Gas available I must heat with Propane. With the extremely cold weather I needed two propane fills last month using 92% of Social Security, not much left to eat on there.
