My SS is about the same as I earned in 1992.

C50

C50

Senior Member
Location
Ohio, USA
I got my new SS benefit letter so for the heck of it went to the SS site and looked up my earnings history. My 2024 benefit will be more than I earned in 1992. It's a silly little fun fact of no meaning but interesting.

Anyone else ever check?
 

C50 said:
I got my new SS benefit letter so for the heck of it went to the SS site and looked up my earnings history. My 2024 benefit will be more than I earned in 1992. It's a silly little fun fact of no meaning but interesting.

Anyone else ever check?
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That is interesting!
 

I suggest thinking in terms of bread loaves. Back in 1992 how many loaves of bread could you earnings buy at the store? In 2023 how many loaves of bread would your SS check buy at the store?
 
Keep in mind that normally those benefit estimates run low if you haven't started taking SS yet. That's because there are factors that it doesn't take into account that go into the final calculation.
 
Naturally said:
With military pension and SS combined, I get within a stone throw of what I did in ~2005 as an active duty Navy Chief Petty Officer
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Yeah, I figure that when I start taking SS in addition to my pension I'll be doing better in raw numbers (ignoring inflation and other cost of living rises) than I ever did while working.

There will be a bigger tax bite then because I'll cross to a higher bracket, and the tax cuts under the previous administration will be expiring taking another big bite - unless they get extended by some miracle.
 
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I've looked at it a lot. For a while I followed a YouTuber who goes into detail. There are some nasty "notches" and "cliffs" to be aware of, and some can tip your Medicare premiums way up.

It isn't as simple as what the statement says at all.
 
dilettante said:
I've looked at it a lot. For a while I followed a YouTuber who goes into detail. There are some nasty "notches" and "cliffs" to be aware of, and some can tip your Medicare premiums way up.

It isn't as simple as what the statement says at all.
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You are correct. There are lots of ways that SS adjust payments made to retired people. And, though Medicare is not a part of the SS system, SS does collect the payments for the govermnent. And they are also tilted.

Basically, SS has two bend points where higher income earners who cross a bend point get less of a payback than lower income earners. The idea is to beef up payments to low-income people and tamp down payments to higher income people. Same for Medicare charges. Aunt IRMAA can show up and demand that higher income people pay more for Medicare coverage than lower income people. A lot more in many cases. Itā€™s all part of the ā€˜socialā€™ aspect of Social Security.

Itā€™s a complicated system. Check out the the blog Your Social Security by Tom Margenau. He explains things a lot better than most.
 
SS has finally caught up to 1992. That's progress.

I wonder where SS benefits would be a whole lot better if the able-bodied among the over 65.7 million Americans who are dependent on welfare would just get a job. Or better yet, free skills training and then a well-paying job.

I'll bet at least half of the over 65.7 million are able to work but choose not to....mainly because of drug addiction, and secondly because they'd just rather not do menial work.
 
Colleen said:
That's an understatement! HA! I'm finding that out now since hubby died in October. I received my normal SS amount this month, which would have been for November, but I haven't gotten anything from my husband's SS yet.
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This site might help. From what I have heard getting anything from your late husbandā€™s benefit may take a good 3 to 4 months. By the way Margenauā€™s site is a great source of information on how SS actually works.

Social Security Benefits for Widows, by Tom Margenau
A: The law says when you are due two Social Security benefits, you don't get them both. You only get the one that pays the higher rate. Or to be more precise, you are generally always paid your own benefit first. And then that is supplemented with an amount to take your total benefits up to whatever you might be due on your husband's record.
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By the way the above also applies to men who lose their wives. There is no gender discrimination.
 
Murrmurr said:
SS has finally caught up to 1992. That's progress.

I wonder where SS benefits would be a whole lot better if the able-bodied among the over 65.7 million Americans who are dependent on welfare would just get a job. Or better yet, free skills training and then a well-paying job.

I'll bet at least half of the over 65.7 million are able to work but choose not to....mainly because of drug addiction, and secondly because they'd just rather not do menial work.
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Maybe the choice to be idle is part of freedom? Who can say?
My son lived in mainland China during his graduate school years. He was in Beijing and the rural countryside. He said there are homeless and panhandlers (called beggars), but they are very wary of police and stayed well hidden. Under Xi, they have pretty much disappeared. If one is caught by police in a city, they may find themselves shipped out to a farm and laboring to earn their keep.
 
EmptyCup said:
Maybe the choice to be idle is part of freedom? Who can say?
My son lived in mainland China during his graduate school years. He was in Beijing and the rural countryside. He said there are homeless and panhandlers (called beggars), but they are very wary of police and stayed well hidden. Under Xi, they have pretty much disappeared. If one is caught by police in a city, they may find themselves shipped out to a farm and laboring to earn their keep.
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Two things required to maintain ones freedom: responsibility and self-reliance.
 
Mine is just a few dollars shy of what I earned in 1985. But I doubt I'll ever catch up with the 1989 earnings which jumped by $10,000 due to a change from municipal to state government, same office. By the time I retired 9 years after that, my salary was almost 2-1/2 times what I made in 1985 and more than 3 times what I made in 1984. I had switched to state payroll during the last quarter of that year.
 

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