I get so fed up about hearing of this supposed "Retirement Crisis" when I see the numbers with my own eyes telling me it's not so.
Am I crazy??? So, to prove my sanity, once and for all, I decided to take the numbers from the Census Bureau, yes even though there are some issue with those, and then run a scenario on the Social Security Admin calculator.
I wanted to see what the Social Security benefit would be for someone who's HOUSEHOLD made the median income going back many, many years.
I mean, think about it like this. If my household was able to get by on $5k a month while working should my household be able to get by on less than that in retirement?
Of course! No one would argue that.
Okay, so if we run the Social Security numbers we see that even with stopping work at 62, my spouse and I have a replacement ratio of well over 50% from SOCIAL SECURITY ALONE relative to the income our household brought home while working.
With just a couple tweaks we can get a replacement ratio of 80% JUST ON SOCIAL SECURITY. And again, this is leaving the work force and never earning another dollar at the age of 62.
So, next time someone tells you there is a "Retirement Crisis" just tell him, "run your own numbers and get back to me." For some reason, there is a need to p**s in everyone else's pool when it comes to this stuff and make people scared and sad. I don't get get it.
DON'T FALL FOR IT!
Does Social Security need to be fixed? yup. Was Social Security meant to be your primary source of income in retirement? Nope.
Want to talk to me about things that ARE so today but werent' supposed to be? Do you REALLY want to go down that road?
All I care about is the reality at hand. All other things are great for the academic debate. But for me, and my family, I prefer reality. And reality is, there is NO retirement crisis.
Thus, enjoy life!
https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/AnypiaApplet.html
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html
