Do you know anybody that only gets 400.00 a month on Social Security?

I had a former neighbor who got a little over $400. per month from SS, but he worked under the table most of his life. He was fortunate that his wife had a high SS benefit and a good pension. He used to think that working off the books and not paying taxes was great, but when he had to stop working, he realized it hadn't been so great after all.
 

My friend gets about $800 a month - she never paid much into the system and is on disability. She recently turned 80. That money doesn't go very far after rent, utilites, car insurance, etc. We often have to help her out.

She tried living in Florida and quickly found out that the wonderful services for Seniors there are great - IF you can pay for them! After several years of bouncing around, she finally got (crappy) housing in CT but at least it is a roof over her head. The appliances barely function and the manager controls the heat so its only on once in the morning and once at night! This is the one instance to be thankful for global warming! She has a cat - which can make things difficult BUT sometimes she feels so alone - she is grateful to have some company.
 
My sister claims to only gets around $700 a month, which is the lowest anyone has told me about. She's was upset about that because she felt she deserved more, even though she only worked ocassional part time jobs.
 
I started out at just over $300 a month, but when my husband retired, they added an extra $100 because he was also on SS retirement. Over the years, it has gone up bit by bit, and is now at right around $500. If my daughter didn’t help me out, there is no way that I could survive on this, and being able to get medical assistance has probably kept me alive for the last ten years or more.

I think that there are probably a lot of older women who have the same situation as me.
I married young, became a housewife and stayed home to take care of my family for most of my life. My first husband had a good job, and a retirement fund, so that and his SS pension should have been fine for both of us when he retired.
That didn’t happen.
He found someone else after the kids were grown, we got divorced, and I had to enter the workforce as an unskilled worker being paid minimum wages.
Selling vacuum cleaners and making Subway sandwiches does not go far towards saving up for retirement.

After my heart failure and a-fib started, I was too sick to even walk to the mailbox and back, let alone hold a job; so getting old enough for medicare and having a cardiologist was a life-saver for me.
The outcome of all this was that I simply hadn’t made enough money in my life to have much SS pension coming back , but the medical benefits helped me SO much.
 
Regrettably, there are many with very low Social Security (traditional) benefits and with Medicare deductions, can be extremely stressed. It was my understanding that the Social Security Administration recognized these situations and would suggest Supplemental Security Income as an alternate method of income, dependent on financial situation. Medicaid is also helpful in these situations, but also has some drawbacks, depending on financial situation.

This was a common practice of the SSA offices, back 20 years ago. I had some in-laws in those low income groups, that switched, when recommended by their SSA office.

As for divorced spouses, drawing on ex-spouse's benefits is a possibility ... https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v72n1/v72n1p11.html
 
I keep seeing threads of this sort over and over again. The answer is simple and uncomplicated.

If SS income doesn't meet federal poverty guidelines, SSI is available. So is Medicaid. It doesn't come looking for you; you have to ask. Guideline for 2022 poverty level for a single person is around $13,500.

For those retired from federal jobs, there's the federal pension, which was paid into while the person was employed by the feds.

SSDI and SSI are not the same thing. SSDI is Social Security Disability Income. It stops at full retirement age and goes to SS.

SSI is Supplemental Security Income. It's intended to close the gap between SS and the federal poverty guideline.
 
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In Canada we have 3 different pensions. CPP is the one we "pay into" at work. Because I was a housewife, lived out of the country for a few years, and worked at low-paying jobs, I only got about USD 120 per month from CPP at first. (I now receive a bit more with inflation.)

The govt messed up both my other pensions, so I was living on just a few hundred, for more than a year. I swear they wanted me to die of stress so they wouldn't have to pay me. Others have had the same problem, but can shrug it off if they have a spouse, or if their mortgage is already paid off, etc.
 
NorthernLight said:
I swear they wanted me to die of stress so they wouldn't have to pay me.
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My friend in CT was convinced they were doing that to her too! Common theme.

Is it her fault? Yeah, pretty much it is - she never planned ahead and the man (who actually had soc. sec.) she was to marry, died before they could tie the knot. It is a sad situation all around but planning ahead is key - even in your 20's!
 
My sister gets $400 from SS. I imagined it's increased some since when she first collected it at 65.
She also works as a massage therapist. Not sure how long she plans on doing that, she's 71 now.

As long as her looks hold up, and her hands don't become arthritic, I guess she'll be ok.
Her looks are a big draw for the type of massage she gives...... :)
 
jujube said:
Some people who retired from some federal jobs (or some state jobs) fall under the Windfall Elimination Provision. Their paychecks didn't have federal income tax deducted, thus they are not entitled to full Social Security benefits.
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Yes, that's my spouse. His employer was in SocSec but the agency later voted to withdraw and set up their own pension plan. So he has the 40 quarters, all from his early years (where for a couple of decades he was the lowest-paid employee they had, LOL).

So his SS will be reduced by 60% when he finally files at age 70. Plus.....85% of what he does get will be taxable due to his pension! We're currently in the 24% tax bracket.

We figure it will just barely cover his Medicare and Medigap premiums, and that's only because the agency pays for most of the Medigap policy.

It's a good thing we weren't counting on it for retirement :LOL:
 
I endlessly caution young people to not work under the table for exactly this reason.

Those who fall under the windfall elimination provision are also getting a public pension, correct?
 
I know of a person that never paid into Social Security and had bad medical problems at age of 35 like having a leg taken off and 3 heart surgerys. He did get like 700.00 dollars a month from SS before he died at 42.
 

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