The federal gov in the US has the capability to make changes to SS payouts, but there’s calculators. For example, if I continue working as I am and retire at 62 it’s $2.2k. Age 67 is $3.2k. Age 70 is $4.2k. These are monthly.
The calculator math I believe is the best 6 years taken as an average, and there is an exponential earning slider to increase it.
Most people reach their highest earning potential in their 50’s, or at least that’s what it was when I joined the workforce.
Keep improving your skills, keep an eye out for industry opportunities. I took a chance and completely remade myself at age 30, washing dishes for $10 and making it through a tradeschool starving. We live in a nation of opportunity if you are willing to chase work where it’s needed. Have courage to move, to look at future trends and hop into other professions.
And above all else, college wasted almost 8 years of my life and sunk me in $250k of debt by age 24. It was an Everest climb out of that misery, but I climbed out and have little memories other than working for multiple years doing incredibly dangerous tasks.
Don’t take more responsibilities for no reward, and a coworker taught me that in middle management and corporate environments- if you don’t leverage your job every 2-3 years you’ll be suffocated and held back by your current company. I’m out of management and back to working with tools again. I love my life now.
I worked in oil and gas during the big boom in 2007, and when that slumped I went into aviation. They’re yin-yang of each other and if one is struggling the other is doing great. Perfect combo where I live heh
It depends how much you paid into it over your top 30 earning years. But most Boomers will collect nearly 3 times more than they contributed over their lifetimes, by the time they die.
The government stops taking a Social Security payment out of your check once you hit $180k/year, though. So the top 10% of earners, who average around $250k/year, and own 2/3rds of America's wealth, get that last $70k SS tax-free.
And the top 1% of earners, who average about $800k/year and own 1/3rd of America's total wealth, don't have to contribute on that last $620k each year.
It depends on your contributions, but the short answer from running the numbers is it provides a pretty menial living in a medium or low cost of living area. You won't starve or be on the street if you don't spend like an idiot or try to nurse an addiction, but you won't be taking any trips out of the country and dining out will be a true luxury. Relying solely on social security is not a good idea.
It depends. Up to 5k ish. I became disabled at 55 and I get less because of that, but it should still decent. That means if I get 3k, my husband should get more because he will be working longer. It’s dependent on how much you paid into the system.
It depends on you/your spouse's lifetime earnings. Some folk make pretty decent money on Social Security. Not insane, but the assumption is that you probably have equity in a home or are capable of living with other family so Social Security doesn't have to pay out an entire months worth of rent every month.
Additionally, Medicare and Medicaid actually pay out pretty well, but you have to be old as dirt for Medicare and poor as hell for Medicaid.
It depends largely on how much you’ve paid in. If you’ve squandered your decades not paying much in, you don’t get a cash windfall just because you’re old.
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u/ciswhitedadbod 5d ago
How much does social security in the US pay? How far would that go for the average is town or city?