Who is able and going to put the SS increase into savings

The best financial advice (from a "joke sight") is to make sure your last cheque (check for Americans) bounces!!









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Men were also trapped in their traditional roles - and probably didn't think of it as privilege. My father had to work two jobs to pay the bills - not because he was privileged but because that is what society expected.

How were men privileged? Are men still privileged? I don't want this to go to wage disparity just want to understand your thought that men were privileged.

Certainly can't compare the 50's to decades later when so many changes took place in the economy.

As for the ongoing discussion about women working at home for no wage that has nothing to do with earning a wage & paying into the Soc. Sec. system. My example of that is by choice my wife worked at home doing all the work & it was a lot of work until our sons were old enough to be left at home for a short period of time after school. She applied for & got a full time job in production. Wage & benefits were good. Both men & women earned the same pay for the job.

Both choices were just that choices. We have a common pot where our money is deposited. My wife has credit cards in her name with a score of 810. Rather than wonder about financial needs in retirement & senior years we took an active role in our future.
The women's movement freed women AND men from the burdens of sole responsibility for various chores and roles. Before the 1970s, rare indeed was the man who changed a baby's diaper. 50 years later, every young father I know takes a very active part in child raising, diaper changing, baby bathing and general childcare included. They don't think twice about it.

I know several couples where the wives have salaries twice or higher than their husbands', and have far more demanding careers. All parties are cool with that.

It's a different world out there - a better one on this front, at least.
 
The women's movement freed women AND men from the burdens of sole responsibility for various chores and roles. Before the 1970s, rare indeed was the man who changed a baby's diaper. 50 years later, every young father I know takes a very active part in child raising, diaper changing, baby bathing and general childcare included. They don't think twice about it.

I know several couples where the wives have salaries twice or higher than their husbands', and have far more demanding careers. All parties are cool with that.

It's a different world out there - a better one on this front, at least.
In honesty, I don't know why we're comparing and apparently scoring each separate partner in a marriage. It is a collective pot for all in the family.

Maybe the only true voluntary socialism.
 

The women's movement freed women AND men from the burdens of sole responsibility for various chores and roles. Before the 1970s, rare indeed was the man who changed a baby's diaper.
I digress from the original to pat myself on the back.

Must have been ahead of my time. 1st. born son was 1965. I got pretty good at not sticking my fingers with those oversized diaper pins use for cloth diapers. AND guess who emptied the diaper pail & washed those diapers.
 
I digress from the original to pat myself on the back.

Must have been ahead of my time. 1st. born son was 1965. I got pretty good at not sticking my fingers with those oversized diaper pins use for cloth diapers. AND guess who emptied the diaper pail & washed those diapers.
Way, way later I changed my daughter's diapers. Late 90s.

A messy job, but she seemed to like getting cleaned up and having baby powder put on, and that was sufficient reward.
 
I have been going back and reviewing my costs to see if I can put this increase into savings. I know we have all seen increases in gas, electricity, housing and food, just the basics. I have found I can roll the increase into savings by keeping things tight. Is that a possibility for you and your budget?
Good for you.
Your achievement is commendable.

Unfortunately-fortunately, 2023, we will have a temporary IRMAA increase.
We also have a very significant increase in LTCi insurance premium of 85% beginning in March.
These were expected and we have done forward planning and budgeting.
 
In honesty, I don't know why we're comparing and apparently scoring each separate partner in a marriage. It is a collective pot for all in the family.

Maybe the only true voluntary socialism.
I'm not scoring anyone. I'm replying to a couple of other posters' questions/remarks about male privilege in a marriage. I personally think men and women were equally constrained by traditional gender roles.

Not all on SF are married. Many are divorced, widowed or never married.
 
Way, way later I changed my daughter's diapers. Late 90s.

A messy job, but she seemed to like getting cleaned up and having baby powder put on, and that was sufficient reward.
The women in the household, wife and grandmothers, enjoyed the job too much for me to get involved.
We use cloth diapers, and soon learned how son relieved himself, what foods had worked best for him, learned about TP as a diaper liner, and a pull up pants to hold the diaper in place instead of pins. Prior or after the pants, we used masking tape. It was a long time ago, IIRC.
 
As a former social worker I find it ridiculous that people are penalized if they manage to save some of their small income. It’s always been this way. Actually buying gift cards to shield some of the money is smart and unfortunately ethical and legal aren’t always the same.

Wealthy people shield their money all the time legally. I remember when Warren Buffets secretary paid more in taxes than he did. I know someone that was able to shield his money legally when his wife got dementia and he had Medicaid pay for it. He hired a lawyer and was able to leave a substantial inheritance behind for his kids. It was legal but definitely unethical.

Some women stay home until the kids enter school because they don’t earn enough to pay for daycare. Once my kids went to school I started college which we paid for by being frugal and college was much cheaper in the 80’s.

I wanted a career and also knew it wasn’t smart to not join the workforce. Marriages end by either death or divorce and you certainly don’t want to be trapped in a marriage because of finances.
 
As a former social worker I find it ridiculous that people are penalized if they manage to save some of their small income. It’s always been this way. Actually buying gift cards to shield some of the money is smart and unfortunately ethical and legal aren’t always the same.

Wealthy people shield their money all the time legally. I remember when Warren Buffets secretary paid more in taxes than he did. I know someone that was able to shield his money legally when his wife got dementia and he had Medicaid pay for it. He hired a lawyer and was able to leave a substantial inheritance behind for his kids. It was legal but definitely unethical.

Some women stay home until the kids enter school because they don’t earn enough to pay for daycare. Once my kids went to school I started college which we paid for by being frugal and college was much cheaper in the 80’s.

I wanted a career and also knew it wasn’t smart to not join the workforce. Marriages end by either death or divorce and you certainly don’t want to be trapped in a marriage because of finances.
My ex wife was home with the kids until they were in school and went enough hours to let her work .

then she resumed her own working career …

she will be getting a decent ss check when she files for her own benefit at 70 in a few months and retires
 
How were men privileged? Are men still privileged? I don't want this to go to wage disparity just want to understand your thought that men were privileged.

Certainly can't compare the 50's to decades later when so many changes took place in the economy.

As for the ongoing discussion about women working at home for no wage that has nothing to do with earning a wage & paying into the Soc. Sec. system. My example of that is by choice my wife worked at home doing all the work & it was a lot of work until our sons were old enough to be left at home for a short period of time after school. She applied for & got a full time job in production. Wage & benefits were good. Both men & women earned the same pay for the job.

Both choices were just that choices. We have a common pot where our money is deposited. My wife has credit cards in her name with a score of 810. Rather than wonder about financial needs in retirement & senior years we took an active role in our future.
I don't think men were/are privileged. An earlier poster mentioned that and I disagreed with her.
 
As a former social worker I find it ridiculous that people are penalized if they manage to save some of their small income. It’s always been this way. Actually buying gift cards to shield some of the money is smart and unfortunately ethical and legal aren’t always the same.

Wealthy people shield their money all the time legally. I remember when Warren Buffets secretary paid more in taxes than he did. I know someone that was able to shield his money legally when his wife got dementia and he had Medicaid pay for it. He hired a lawyer and was able to leave a substantial inheritance behind for his kids. It was legal but definitely unethical.

Some women stay home until the kids enter school because they don’t earn enough to pay for daycare. Once my kids went to school I started college which we paid for by being frugal and college was much cheaper in the 80’s.

I wanted a career and also knew it wasn’t smart to not join the workforce. Marriages end by either death or divorce and you certainly don’t want to be trapped in a marriage because of finances.
In my opinion committing welfare fraud is never okay ….

because someone is low income does not give them the right to steal..

one of the reasons our social security system is in such bad shape. Is the ten fold increase in Ssdi since the 1970s despite boomers coming off Ssdi and going on ss retirement.

the 2015 bipartisan act had to take money out of ss retirement and put it in Ssdi or after 2018 Ssdi was bust .

it is plagued with fraud and we have workers , doctors and lawyers charged regularly with running fraud schemes on it .

Just one man and a corrupt doctor and judge put through a half billion dollars in Ssdi claims that were put through fraudulently …

so fraud is costing us all …ssi is welfare and consumes our money we pay in taxes .

Ssdi is for those who have enough social security credits , if you dont then you get welfare which is ssi and comes out of our taxes .

my son was a welfare investigator in nyc …the fraud is insane that goes on so I would never advocate someone commits fraud to get a bigger share then they are entitled to
 
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I remember when Warren Buffets secretary paid more in taxes than he did.
This is a common mischaracterization of what Buffett said. His remarks were that he paid a lower tax RATE than his secretary. He paid far more in actual taxes because his income largely came from investments.

Tax rates are set by the wealthy folks who run this country, i.e. the folks in Washington, and they see fit to tax capital gains at a lower rate than ordinary income AKA sweat-of-the-brow earnings.
 
This is a common mischaracterization of what Buffett said. His remarks were that he paid a lower tax RATE than his secretary. He paid far more in actual taxes because his income largely came from investments.

Tax rates are set by the wealthy folks who run this country, i.e. the folks in Washington, and they see fit to tax capital gains at a lower rate than ordinary income AKA sweat-of-the-brow earnings.
Keep in mind though at the higher incomes the capital gain rates end up being higher then most think ..

a few years ago I sold an asset and had a large capital gain .

the gain was taxed at long term rates which were raised to 20% for that level , plus at that level there is a 3.80% investment tax so it was 23.80% , plus the higher income from that sale tripped the amt tax penalty on all other income .

it actually worked out to 30% tax FROM DOLLAR ONE , including ny state and nyc taxes .

a flat 30% with no farther exemptions or deductions is quite a bit. that isn’t the same as a 30% marginal rate , that is a 30% flat rate with no laddering of taxes like a marginal rate.

marginal rate is how we normally get taxed ..up to x amount it is one tax rate then from x to y another and from y to z another …so it is much less normally then the marginal rate .

but not in this case once you hit amt level
 
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My ex wife was home with the kids until they were in school and went enough hours to let her work .

then she resumed her own working career …

she will be getting a decent ss check when she files for her own benefit at 70 in a few months and retires
I stayed at home with the kids for 11 years then resumed working part-time (some for our own business, some for an employer), and transitioned to full-time after a couple of years.

Excepting one who was born into great wealth, all of my age-group women friends and relatives followed pretty much the same pattern, though some went back to work earlier in the game. TBH, I would have also gone back sooner, but with three children in two years (a planned single plus a surprise pregnancy that produced a set of twins), the daycare costs would have been crippling.

Would I have like to continue staying home? Maybe. (Probably not.) But it was time to help shoulder family's financial burden that my husband had been solely carrying for over a decade. Mind you, he was a good sport about it and never complained, but knowing he was the only one keeping the wolf from the door was plenty stressful for him.
 
Over 63% of households have both parents working.
that number has been rising as more and more companies allow working from home .

which is one of the things Ssdi needs to look at as many on Ssdi can find at least some work from home easier today …
 
Tax rates are set by the wealthy folks who run this country, i.e. the folks in Washington, andsweat-of-the-brow earnings.
There has to be an incentive to buy into companies/corporations/businesses in order to keep the machine running, and for the investor, doing so is not without risk. If fixed income investments were taxed at the same rate, then why take a chance?
 
Just a by product of how a safe withdrawal rate works you can end up with more then you started more often then not using 40/60 to 60/40 with a 4% inflation adjusted draw .

that ended 90% of the time with more then you started

67% of the time with 2x what you started

50% of the time with 3x what you started

5% of the time you ended broke and 5% of the time ended with 6x what you started with .

so taking raises can be important or you risk leaving to much left over and not enjoyed
 
There has to be an incentive to buy into companies/corporations/businesses in order to keep the machine running, and for the investor, doing so is not without risk. If fixed income investments were taxed at the same rate, then why take a chance?
Because fixed income can never produce the gains other assets can

you would have to really cherry pick to find longer periods of time Equities didn’t blow fixed income away
 
Or, in some instances, the losses.
a 50/50 portfolio has never lost money in any 10 or 20 year period , ever.

even at 65 we have long term money which we will need to eat with in another 2 to 3 decades ..that is still long term money.

equities are long term assets and need to be treated as such.

even those who retired in 2000 or 2008 are still ahead of the game
 

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