Talk About Robbery (Soc. Sec. Edition)

Lot's of talk about the Social Security increase for government workers (NPR article). Love how it focuses on pension recipients -- and completely ignores those of us who got tricked into signing up for the State's 401k option. I mean, once they got you to sign up for that, there was no possibility to ever go back to the state pension plan. I know -- I asked!

Even worse, not only would you be cut off from the state pension plan but there was no possibility to sign up for Social Security. I know because I asked if I could make voluntary payments to Social Security. They laughed.

What a double whammy :-(

Tough Times for Baby Boomers

I have a confession to make: I'm what you call a 'baby-boomer'. That's what you are if you were born between the end of WWII and 1964. Of course there are different categories -- I personally am what's called a 'late boomer' but apparently assumptions are made for all of us. That said, WP has an interesting (and I would say distressing) piece titled "Millions of Baby Boomers are Getting Caught in the Country’s Broken Retirement System" (link).

Basically it relates problems that -- what I would call 'early' -- boomers are having surviving financially. The 401k accounts haven't worked out. People are losing their jobs and are being forced to cash out on their savings, etc. They’re taking Social Security early resultIng in far lower monthly payments. The key take-away is that things are hardly sugar-coated and if anything, they don't look like they'll be getting any better.