There are several members here who seem to always "pooh pooh" posts about investing and the stock market as a complete waste of time. For those of us who have taken the time to learn how to use the market to plan for our financial needs when we retire or can no longer work, we consider social security as just a portion of our entire plan. As I mentioned in another thread about annuities (which also received it's share of "pooh poohs,") one of the basics of retirement planning is having enough "secure lifetime income" to cover the bare necessities of life such as food, clothing, and shelter/utilities. Social Security is one source of secure lifetime income, that may or may not cover the bare necessities. Shortfalls need to be covered by other sources of secure lifetime income, such as annuities. Stock Market portfolios are not considered secure, hence one should not count on them for secure lifetime income necessities. For those of us who did not do an adequate job of financial planning, and we find ourselves with only Social Security in retirement, then we are going to be dependent on others (family, church, local charities, a job as a Wal-Mart greeter, or AMWAY, etc) to make up any shortfalls. We can't legitimately "blame" the feds for not providing all of our required "secure lifetime income" now, can we?
No i can't blame them for everything, but i can blame them for screwing me on a regular basis. when i did the numbers on social security my crossover date was around age 72, where delaying vs. early payment would cross over. I also continued to work and still do while getting the check. I was real happy when i turned 66 so they can't take back any of the social security regardless of what i make. I don't rely on social either, given i have been in the markets since the 70's. I just hope i live long enough to get back all that i paid in.
