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interesting #'s:

Social Security By the Numbers

January 25, 2005

Beneficiaries:
- Number of Social Security beneficiaries (in 2003): 47 million
- Number of early retirees receiving Social Security (in 2002): 21 million
- Number of disability benefit recipients (in 2003): 8 million
- Number of survivorship benefit recipients (in 2003): 7 million
- Number of children receiving Social Security benefits (in 2002): 3.9 million
- Number of college students receiving Social Security benefits (in 2002): 123,000
Benefits:
- Average monthly retirement benefit (in 2002): $914.30
- Average monthly disability benefit (in 2002): $898.10
- Share of income of 65 year olds coming from Social Security (in 2000): 58%
- Additional share of those over 65 in poverty without Social Security (in 2000): 40%
Trust funds:
- Social Security tax rate: 6.2 % for employer and employee each
- Income cap above which income is not subject to Social Security tax: $90,000
- Total Social Security income in 2003: $632 billion
- Total Social Security benefit payments in 2003: $471 billion
- Social Security surplus in 2003: $153 billion
- Social Security trust funds balance in 2003: $1.5 trillion
- Interest rate earned on trust fund assets in 2003: 5.9%
- Administrative costs as share of benefit payments in 2003: 1.0%
Social Security's future:
- Date at which Social Security uses interest earned on trust funds to pay benefits: 2018
- Date at which Social Security uses trust funds assets to pay benefits: 2028
- Date at which Social Security requires general funds (Soc.Sec. trustees): 2043
- Date at which Social Security requires general funds (CBO): 2053
- Share of benefits payable in 2043 without general revenue (Soc.Sec. trustees): 72%
- Share of benefits payable in 2053 without general revenue (CBO): 81%
- Social Security shortfall over next 75 years as share of GDP (Soc.Sec. trustees): 0.7%
- Social Security shortfall over next 75 years as share of GDP (CBO): 0.4%
- Size of President's tax cuts vs. Social Security 75-yr. shortfall (Soc.Sec. trustees): 3-to-1
- Size of President's tax cuts relative to Social Security 75-yr. shortfall (CBO): 5-to-1
 
imported post

Tekno,

Great numbers.

I am extremely happy with a 5.9% return that has a COLA index. COLA is 2.1% so that would mean an average return to 2.1 + 5.9 = 8% solid return.

Not to sure who started throwing around the 1.9% figure. But it is wrong and keeps getting repeated over and over....

The problem with the private accounts is...you do not know how long you are going to live...when would you know when to retire??? Since your private account does not have an index feature you will have NO idea how to budget when it is exit point from working. I do not want to see 90 year old people having to enter the work force because they figured they were going to punch out at 89. If you have every worked with older folks once they get low on funds they start to worry...then they get stressed and then they get ill. What if you retire at age 70 and 10% inflation comes back...your private account will quickly dwindle away.

Private accounts ARE not the way to go....this will be the biggest financial disaster in our history.



 
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Our budget debt is 6.3% of our GDP, trade balance is 4% of GDP...social securitydoes not seem like a problem to me...it seems like small potatoes to divert attention from the real problems we face...like medicare (WOW!), Iraq, and our big and raising twin debts, etc, etc, etc.

They we will take medicare once the private accounts are established seems a little fishy to me...anyone else???
 
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I agree...hells bells we are all (the entire federal govt.) going private.The influx of funds into the market from SS will help the tsp funds party like it's 1999!;)jmho

tekno

***air traffic controlis on the chopping block as i type this. our hope:2 be rehired by the CONtractor for 25 bucks/hour to supplement our failing anuity!!:X
 
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Pat_1111 wrote:
If you have every worked with older folks once they get low on funds they start to worry...then they get stressed and then they get ill.
Click to expand...
Sounds like that solves the lack of funds problem! bwaha

Just think, if you were 89 and your funds only had a year left, you can pick up aaaAAAAall those vices and live fast, die....well, not really young and so much for a beautiful corpse, but you get the point. You could have the best of both worlds!
 
imported post

Pat_1111 wrote:
Tekno,

Great numbers.

I am extremely happy with a 5.9% return that has a COLA index. COLA is 2.1% so that would mean an average return to 2.1 + 5.9 = 8% solid return.

Not to sure who started throwing around the 1.9% figure. But it is wrong and keeps getting repeated over and over....

The problem with the private accounts is...you do not know how long you are going to live...when would you know when to retire??? Since your private account does not have an index feature you will have NO idea how to budget when it is exit point from working. I do not want to see 90 year old people having to enter the work force because they figured they were going to punch out at 89. If you have every worked with older folks once they get low on funds they start to worry...then they get stressed and then they get ill. What if you retire at age 70 and 10% inflation comes back...your private account will quickly dwindle away.

Private accounts ARE not the way to go....this will be the biggest financial disaster in our history.
Click to expand...

Again, for the ignorant: http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/wklyltr99/el99-34.html

An average worker gets a real rate of return of less than 2% from social security - this is accounting for what is "contributed" over one's lifetime vs. what one gets out vs. the various tweaks that the politicians do in order to lengthen the survival of the system (raising payroll taxes, cutting benefits, raising the retirement age).

Note that the bottom 20% of wage earners get real returns between 4 and 5%, so obviously, they wouldn't want to exit the system with such a sweet deal. The rest of us just might want to do better than 1-2%more than inflation, though.

Biggest financial disaster in our history? Ha! The creation of the Great Society programs in the '60s was the biggest financial disaster in our history. The War on Poverty has cost trillions of dollars since its inception under LBJ - and yet an ample amount of poverty remains. Imagine that. :shock:
 
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Rolo wrote:
Pat_1111 wrote:
If you have every worked with older folks once they get low on funds they start to worry...then they get stressed and then they get ill.
Click to expand...
Sounds like that solves the lack of funds problem! bwaha
Click to expand...
Hey, how many years of solvency would Dr. Kevorkian add?
 
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Rolo, Thanks for changing your Avatar to something other than that satanic clown. It gave me the creeps.
 
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It was one of the members of the Insane Clown Posse.

If you think the picture is disturbing, you should hear some of their music. :l
 
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Spaf wrote:
Market talk, aside from TSP, but could be helpful!

This might save u some time in sellecting a discount broker for some of your other funds. A starting point otherwise, in research only.

http://www.smartmoney.com/brokers/index.cfm?story=2004-discount-table

Rgds :) Spaf
Click to expand...
Scottrade ispretty good and cheap.......and they have a physical office in most cities.;)

had a datek acct. which turned into ameritrade.....two thumbs down!!!

tekno

ps: FWIW...seats on the big board (NYSE)were around 75k just 15 years ago...we could of all chipped in and had one....LOL
 
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sure looks like we have a rally here folks....:D

tekno

may want to consider buying any pullback early next week...jmho
 
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teknobucks wrote:
SMH traded it's highest one day volume ever recorded.

Ever!!!!

It just happened to come on the same day that the downtrend off the March 2000 was broken to the upside:

http://www.ttrader.com/mycharts/display.php?p=31080&u=denmo83&a=denmo%5C%27s%20charts&id...



Melting UP 4 what reason??? does anyone have a clue???


MT u out there??
Click to expand...
Tekno,

There were upgrades today by the brokerage houses today on the semi conductor stocks...some have dropped 40% in the last 14 months...they are also the guys that upgraded the drug stocks they popped and then fell 12% in a week...I normally short upgrades a day after they upgrade has been announced...I am more concerned about this chart - and yes I am shorting the hell out of the semi conductors - HEY ANONE BUY CURRENCY - CHA CHING - what about silver!!!!!!! Cha chinger:

MT ahh Pat :P

2581.gif
 
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Technobucks.....Pat_1111

You folks have a great week-end!

Rgds, and be careful! :) Spaf
 
imported post

teknobucks wrote:
http://money.cnn.com/markets/afterhours
Click to expand...
Tekno,

I have a trading platform the futures are as follows:

Dow - +3

s&p - O

nas - +1.5

The futures from that link are from 13:19...not sure why they call it after hours...

But hold on a TICK - silver is up 22.9% in after hours!!!!!!!!!!! Guess who has 10 tons???

Did anyone buy silver - like that MT guy told you :cool:.

[align=left]Silver(CBOT)
Mar
699.9
724.7
692.8
719.6s
+22.9
up.gif

2/12/2005
01:34[/align]
 
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