Why do so many people seem to think the only way to contribute to society is to give more and more money to the government? Don’t we have, I don’t know, a long, impressive history of American philanthropy?

If you live to an average life expectancy, someday the major decisions are going to be made by people a generation or more behind you. At that point maybe you’ll realize how glad you are they’re educated.

Just because you don’t have or want kids doesn’t mean you can ignore the generation coming up behind you. Who’s going to take care of you when you’re old? I mean, handle your finances, your public policy, your health, your medications, clean your house, mow your lawn? Your peers? Trust me, no. It’s that sort of myopic view that led to the crisis in Social Security.

Citizenship is not optional. Part of being a good citizen is not pushing everyone else out of the group lifeboat, even if you do have the money to say “Go to h3ll, plebes!”

Also… Social Security is nothing compared to Medicare.

http://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/a-much-requested-picture-about-the-future-of-the-economy/

But – my grandparents are dead and they also saved, had pensions, etc.

My parents are saving and expecting pensions (educators).

So that leaves me to save, with no pension and little to no SS AND THE SAME ISSUES with medical care, high bills at the end, etc.

So sure, I do feel for them, but I also expect a good rate of return for my “investment” – if I don’t get it from one place (SS), I feel I should have the right to move it to another place.

And yes, medical bills usually do become the worst part of being old, but you know they are coming so save up special for them! We’ll all die – and now days, dying isn’t cheap.

Retirement is also a long way off for me, I’m only 21. That’s why I worry about it so much. My dad got offered early retirement a few years ago and now really regrets not taking it. He’s grow to hate his job and resent the mortgage on the family home. My parents have always worked and it makes me sad to see him in his mid 50s wanting to retire and having to wait another decade. He has a good company pension from his time at British Airways though, and if he waits he won’t be penalised.

My grandmother is nearing 80 and still works part time to cover part of her living expenses and to pay for medical debt accrued during the remaining years of my grandfather’s life. They scrimped and saved and then were walloped with major medical in the end.

Are there flaws in the system? Yes. Too often I think people focus on SS and on what it will mean for them in the future. There’s another side of the equation here. It’s the people around us that benefit from SS, not some nameless faceless horde of money-grubbing elders.

Don’t get me started on Medicare and Medicaid though. My head might just explode (which would be bad for the fetus).

And fyi, the reason you’re able to earn a good income and, for sure, retire at a young age, is because you live in a society with other people. You depend on other people (vis a vis the government) to get you through every day of your life. Is your life goal really to contribute as little as possible in return?

Based on the numbers I’ve been told I really have to agree that medicare is the thing that looks ready to consume the entire US budget all by itself.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, this article was really helpful – I’ve often wondered how best to include SS in my calculations; generally I just don’t, which makes my calculations really depressing. Now I have concrete numbers I can play with.

Notice the error message whenever you try and estimate benefits? I take it as a warning sign…