Are You Expecting Social Security?

Every day I get emails from subscribers asking about retirement planning.  A lot of people are counting on, and expecting Social Security.  They expect Social Security to replace a big portion of their income when they sail off into their golden years.

It’s a nice dream… but it’s only a dream.

For many of us, what we get from Social Security will be cut… and I even see a future where some people don’t get anything.

Stop Expecting Social Security

This isn’t a problem for future generations, these problems are going to hit in a big way in the next 10 years.  The problem is Social Security is running out of money.  Yes, it’s bad.

In a second I’m going to share with you what to do to make sure you get the retirement you deserve.  But first, did you know the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) was established in 1935.  It was set up to be a social insurance program providing retirement, disability, and survivor benefits.

All great and noble things…

The process is simple.  The US government takes a little bit of money from everyone’s paycheck and holds on to it.  Then when you retire or become disabled, they can give you that money back.

Simple enough right!?!

Just to put this in perspective, the SSA is going to distribute $1.2 Trillion dollars in 2022.

The size of this organization is staggering.

Consider this… the US has 330 million people… of that, 66 million get money from the SSA!  That’s 20% of the population.

Would you expect anything less?

More than 94% of all workers are paying into Social Security… so there are lots of people expecting to get their money back.

This is where the problems start.

Warning – 2034

Look, I could write for another 8 pages on why the SSA is screwed.  I could tell you about inflation, COLAs, rising payouts, falling worker participation rates, and increased lifespans.  I could highlight the dozens of different things that have crushed the budgets of the SSA.

Social SecurityLet me just cut to the chase.

The SSA is running out of money – it’s a fact.

According to the SSA, YES according to the very people that run the SSA, the Social Security trust fund is going to run dry in 2034.

By their estimates, they will only have enough money to cover 77% of promised benefits.

I’m telling you, don’t expect Social Security.

So, if you’re 55 years old, and you plan on retiring at age 67 – in 2034 – I’m sorry but you’ll get less money.

Scary, right?

It gets worse… If you’re 50, or 45, or 40… your benefits are likely to get cut even more.

I don’t know about you… but suddenly having almost 25% of my income in retirement disappear is going to be a shock.  Anyone who’s collecting Social Security payouts is going to have to make some serious financial decisions.

Ready for more gloom and doom?

Medicare On Fire

Medicare is suffering from similar problems…. And that fund is going to see a shortfall in 2028.  Yea, that’s 6 years from now.

MEDICARE BROKEHow does this get fixed? Well, Congress needs to…

Screw it. Let’s be serious…..

When has Congress ever done anything helpful or proactive? They’re not going to fix this dumpster fire until the whole damn city is burning.

The truth is, if you want to secure your retirement future, you can’t rely on anyone else… Especially not congress.

I’m Expecting Nothing

I’m 50 years old and right now, I’m not expecting anything from Social Security.  Seriously.

Might I get something?  Sure.  I have fed the Social Security beast a ton of money over the years… and I do think I’ll get something.  But to be honest… I’m treating it like found money.

I’m not going to count on the government, or anyone else to make sure my family and I are safe and secure in my retirement years.

So what am I doing?

I’m saving every penny I can.

Big Companies Pay Me

I’m investing each and every dollar I have and making sure it’s working hard for me.  My Investment of choice is dividend stocks.

Think about it… when you retire, you still need a regular cash flow to pay all your bills.  The cell phone bill, cable, water, electricity, Doctors’ bills, vacations… These costs don’t suddenly disappear when you retire.

We all need a regular cash flow.  That’s why I love dividend stocks.  My goal is to cover all of my retirement expenses with dividends from stocks I own.

I’ll be writing more about income from dividends in the future and it is something you are going to need to read.

Stop Worrying About Retirement

If you want to know how I’m investing in dividends, check out my newsletter The Dividend Tree here…

In it I share several different stocks I like, ALL paying fat dividends to help cover your bills in retirement.   Nothing like investing for cash flow for your retirement, right?

Click here if you want to create your own steady stream of income.



2 Comments

  • Toby Bloom

    I agree partly with you. I will be retiring in 3 years. I do have one question. I see all of the email about making money on dividends but thats great if you have $500,000. What about if your account is small like mine?

    • Hi there,
      Without knowing your specific details, it’s hard to say if you need $500k to retire. You need to consider all sides of your income and expense equation. Will you have social security income? How about a pension? Do you anticipate other inheritance? How much you need to spend monthly varies and setting up a budget helps you figure that out. Most people have no idea as they don’t have a budget (or retirement budget) to work from! If you’d like, we have a 40-page guide available to subscribers of our Dividend Tree newsletter. It took us months to create, and you can use it to calculate your expenses and income to figure out where you are. In the end, you may not be ready to retire, or maybe you need to work part-time. But knowing will help you determine if indeed you need $500k in a nest egg to make your retirement happen!

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