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CAUTION: Read the following with the understanding there are exceptions. There are people who through no fault of their own reach old age in poor financial shape, who were overwhelmed with misfortune and simply had little chance of success in their later years.
THIS IS ABOUT THE MAJORITY of the complaining over 65 population who are in the place they are, not from misfortune, but from inaction, poor decisions and a tendency to live in the moment and ignore the future.
Except for defense, the largest chunks of federal spending are on senior citizens and yet I often read something like this from a recent Time article, “Someone who has worked for 55 years like me should be able to retire.”
The same Time article says this. “The growing class of people who want to stop working, but can’t, represents a crack in a social compact that assured citizens who worked hard that they could take it easy when they hit 65, if not before.”
Assured they could take it easy? Not even the original intent of Social Security did that. Where did guarantees come from?
How did age 65 become synonymous with entitled?
“IRMAA premiums are unfair, Social Security should not be subject to taxation – I paid for my benefits working forty years.” Well, no you didn’t.
“I think Social Security benefits should be tax-free” – how do we make up the billions in lost revenue to both the Social Security and Medicare trusts?
I read about seniors who don’t think they should pay property taxes once they are 65, because they paid their working life and do not have children in school. In New Jersey you can have your property taxes frozen if you are over 65 and have income under $168,268 – about twice the national household income – are you kidding me?
But it gets better. A new program will cut property taxes in half up to $6,500 if you are 65 and have income up to $500,000. To me that is ludicrous.
Reaching age 65 and retiring may be an accomplishment, but it should not be a free pass. Most people have 40-45 years to plan and prepare for retirement and they get tax breaks to help them do so.
My biggest gripe in all this is that giving more to seniors creates a greater burden on young families, transfers more of a tax burden to them, makes their journey to age 65 harder.
There are no guarantees in life and there should not be just because you were fortunate to reach retirement age- even if you screwed up the journey. It’s not like getting older is a surprise.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Big difference between failure to prepare for retirement and complaining about the sad state of Social Security funding.
There are a lot of “social compacts” where Congress and our Presidents have lied to Americans by suggesting that there is a “social compact”. I’ve been working for wages for 55+ years myself, and I guarantee you I’ve heard many lies incorporating “social compacts” suggesting some should receive more funded with taxes on others, specifically those too young to vote and generations yet unborn – all as a means to buy votes.
65 became synonymous with “entitled” following 8+ decades of Congressional and Presidential lies about Social Security and Medicare.
Yes, anyone who paid into Social Security and Medicare Part A (FICA and FICA-Med), as well as federal income taxes (to fund Medicare Part B and Part D, and Medicaid) for 40+ years certainly caused to be contributed significant revenues – and if they were higher income, say in the top quartile or top third of earners, their contributions will have generated assets paid into the system having a value far in excess of the benefits they will ultimately receive.
“My biggest gripe in all this is that giving more to seniors creates a greater burden on young families, transfers more of a tax burden to them, makes their journey to age 65 harder.” Oh crap, the politicians want to give people more stuff to buy their votes? That’s a surprise? Did you vote for Trump or Harris/Biden? Both made such promises during the 2024 campaign. They buy votes of Americans already age 65, and promise Americans younger than 65 more, and more and more at some future date.
Yet Americans vote for people who claim someone else should pay more …
But please stop criticizing everyday Americans for the stuff they write that accurately reflects the crap they were fed.
Instead, place the blame where it belongs, on Beltway liars – past, present AND FUTURE!
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The ‘exceptions’ may be a lot more common than you think.My Dad wasn’t overwhelmed with misfortune. He was, first, a farm hand, then a factory worker. ‘Retired’ at 62 due to heart condition. He survived on Social Security* alone, with no savings, and in constant consumer debt. Thing is, he was ‘normal’, in the same proverbial boat as many of his co-workers and friends. (And family) His biggest saving grace was that family, who helped him physically and financially, just like he helped his family when he was younger. I still have sisters living on SS only. One just retired at 72, another previously retired at over 80.
Normal.
‘They’ say the difference between a liberal and conservative is, the conservative says “I worked hard for what I have.”The liberal, “I worked hard for what I have. And I was lucky.”
I worked hard for what I have. Retired at 62, due to cancer, but I was much luckier than Dad. A pension, for one thing, but I was still in consumer debt when I retired. But then I had the Boomer’s luck. Home equity. We downsized (to get closer to family due to my health). Enough to make a down payment on a smaller home, pay off debts, and set up a moderate investment fund. Without debt, we are able to add to the fund instead of drawing on it. I still have sisters pretty much in the same boat Dad was. I know a couple of them relied on social services when younger, and maybe still do.
Normal.
If they can get any tax breaks or benefits from being older, more power to them. I may even be paying some of that, indirectly. I’m not asking for or expecting any breaks for being older, but if offered, I would accept it and add it to the inheritance ‘for the kids’.
*Step mom found out about the widow’s dilemma. One SS check is not enough to live on.
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As you know, SS was never designed to live on. What caused consumer debt at retirement age? I credit being prudent with money, always saving, never paying a penny in credit card debt AND a lack of misfortune.
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Actually, I did not know that…
“First and foremost, Social Security was created to provide a financial foundation for lower-income workers who’d worked hard throughout their lives but would otherwise not be able to take care of themselves financially during retirement, when they no longer had the means to generate wage income.”
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/01/20/social-securitys-3-purposes-and-the-1-thing-it-was.aspx#:~:text=First%20and%20foremost,%20Social%20Security%20%EE%80%80was
Consumer debt was mainly a used car loan, to replace the last used car. I don’t think Dad ever had a credit card. He passed away in the early eighties, when cards weren’t so ubiquitous. I was visiting Dad when I was younger. He still had three daughters at home. I was nosing (sorry) through his loose mail and noticed a ‘Christmas loan’, bank special for two hundred dollars.
It was a two year loan. He was still paying on last year’s Christmas.
Like most of most of the people I grew up with, and most of my family, he was…
Normal.
Yes, I’ve heard of the three legged stool. Our SS checks go into the bank, ‘for the children’, if one of us doesn’t end up in assisted living. I think we are less normal than Dad.
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