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OK - time for me to opine… ;-)

It does little good to just have comments and posts moaning and groaning about what ‘they’ should do. ‘They’ won’t respond to those posts/comments. It’s much more productive to have comments and post about what “we/I” could do because you have total control about that.

It’s too late for folks in their 60’s to take significant advantage of compounding from their working salary. If you create a spreadsheet showing the growth of an index fund over 40 years, you’ll quickly notice that the biggest growth is in the last quarter. That means significant growth comes from letting time work its magic.

But starting late doesn’t mean that you can’t see benefits. I didn’t even have a 401K until the last 15 years of my working years. I had to go into major overdrive to reach my goal. Already we’ve seen some other posts about how to save money so that it gets some growth. That’s a good thing. But it really comes down to the same fundamental rules:

Avoid Debt at all costs: That means if you use a credit card, you need to monitor what you pout on the card and be sure that you pay it 100% off at the end of the month.

Be prepared for ‘Rainy Days because it’s gonna Rain’: Be sure that you have an emergency fund so that you can cover the cost of the emergency without getting into debt.

Wait for at least a week before making a ‘want’ purchase: If after a week of thinking about it, you might finally decide that it is a want, not a need.

When you make a ‘want’ purchase, be sure that it meets your requirements: I’ve seen way too many people that bought stuff, myself included, that didn’t really meet their requirements. Generally that will mean that they buy again to get somthing that does meet their requirements. That wasting resources.

When you do buy somthing that is a want, focus on quality rather than cost. Things having quality tend to last a really long time.

Things like these are totally under your own control, and can lead you to stretch what income you have significantly, including SS income.
 
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Because this forum was created as Cheap RV Living AND many here are retired. They are concerned about what is happening with Social Security. Not what a few guys think they should have been doing with their money decades ago... So they don't end up using a cheap RV Living forum .
I'm with Carla on this one. What matters more is not whatever some people think SS was or what our investments should have been years ago, but how any proposed changes now would affect us personally. And maybe a bit of concern for the country's economic system in the future. In I wanted investment advice there are many other sites and forums I could and would go to. And to a lesser degree any historical data that might have gotten us here.

As far as changing subject matter on any given thread, I've wondered about this from time to time. I think it is more in the Forum's interest to allow sufficient latitude for the members or contributors of a forum to speak to whatever is important to the majority of them, regardless of what the OP started. Besides, having done this myself a time or two, I know it's impossible for a relatively small number of monitors to always keep this under control. I have wondered if AI might be employed to automatically move nonconforming subject matter to new threads.
 
Carla, Sorry I thought this is Van Living Forum not Cheap RV Living. RVs & Vans can be 2 different things just as SS is different than pensions but like Vans & RVs they can do the same thing. Why didn't you complain on page 2, 4 years ago? BTW you don't live in a van but you do have a right to post here, right?
Sorry mpruet as I agree but you can't discuss 401Ks here as that's not SS.
 
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Carla, Sorry I thought this is Van Living Forum not Cheap RV Living. RVs & Vans can be 2 different things just as SS is different than pensions but like Vans & RVs they can do the same thing. Why didn't you complain on page 2, 4 years ago? Sorry mpruet as I agree but you can't discuss 401Ks here as that's not SS.
Maybe I am wrong but it seems the thread has mostly been focused on investments lately. To the point that people interested in investing might find a thread about them useful. Easier to find, too.

And people only wanting to know what is happening with SS won't have to wade through multiple pages about investing .

Not my call. Just my 2 cents .
 
Below are 2 good you tubes
Living on Social Security Alone
Do You Know The 11 Types of Income the IRS Doesn't Tax?
 
And what was corporate pay raises during this time?
.
a)
We had a corporation during that time.
We rarely achieved minimum wage.
We often worked for nothing... and worse, we often worked for less than nothing, owing taxes for the privilege.
.
Just part of the perks of corporate living.
.
b)
What was your point?
 
This is a dynamic thread that is all over the map right now.

Yes, the mods (including myself) are discussing this situation and how to address this.

Generally speaking we are taking an 'arms length' approach. Meaning, let the members steer this ship...for now anyway.

Anyone participating in, or simply reading, this thread, should understand that occasional toes might get stepped on. But the basic, standard rules of respectful behavior still apply.

It's a lot of effort to sort thru over 500 posts and surgically remove posts, dumping them in other newly created threads, when this one is a kind of generic, 'retirement finances' type of thread that encompasses a lot of useful information.

All I'm really saying is, yes we are paying attention, but we're all adults here.

Carry on!
 
.
a)
We had a corporation during that time.
We rarely achieved minimum wage.
We often worked for nothing... and worse, we often worked for less than nothing, owing taxes for the privilege.
.
Just part of the perks of corporate living.
.
b)
What was your point?
My point is although everyone has gotten a 'raise' since 1970 it has been highly disproportionate among the income classes. If regular wages kept up with CEO salaries, minimum wage would be close to $25/hour. I'll try CEO phraseology this time instead of corporate because obviously your corporation didn't meet the standards of which I refer to. Anybody can form a corporation and the one you describe is not the type I referred to in my post. If you don't get my point after this, you're not trying.
 
Carla, Sorry I thought this is Van Living Forum not Cheap RV Living. RVs & Vans can be 2 different things just as SS is different than pensions but like Vans & RVs they can do the same thing. Why didn't you complain on page 2, 4 years ago? BTW you don't live in a van but you do have a right to post here, right?
Sorry mpruet as I agree but you can't discuss 401Ks here as that's not SS.
This was the "Cheap RV Living Forum" for quite awhile. Bob Wells founded this and only turned it over to the new proprietors a few years ago (some forum moderators can probably point to a post explaining the details).
 
This was the "Cheap RV Living Forum" for quite awhile. Bob Wells founded this and only turned it over to the new proprietors a few years ago (some forum moderators can probably point to a post explaining the details).
I know that & there's a link to "Cheap RV Living Forum" on top of the page but thanks for the help.
 
I know that & there's a link to "Cheap RV Living Forum" on top of the page but thanks for the help.
FYI... When I click https://www.cheaprvliving.com/ (multiple times now) I have always gotten:

Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.​

We can’t connect to the server at www.cheaprvliving.com.

The one linking to Bob's YouTube site works fine though. Just saying...
 
Then why is it listed on the top of the page? I just clicked on it & it's NOT a SECURE SITE. Who didn't check & remove it?
 
...NPR[/]NY Times... utterly unhinged...
.
The propaganda branch of the government agents?
Well, those people need to justify their existence, irregardless of their lack of any viable basis in recognizable reality.
.
.
An aside:
A couple-three weeks ago, I asked our beloved moderators [stands!, salutes!] to remove my prior contributions to this thread.
In retrospect, I was argumentative, divisive, and stuck in my rightness, pretty much the opposite of the intent of the founders of this forum.
.
I may ask them to remove this post, too.
But, in my defense, something about 'unhinged' just borders on the irresistible...
 
.
The propaganda branch of the government agents?
Well, those people need to justify their existence, irregardless of their lack of any viable basis in recognizable reality.
.
.
An aside:
A couple-three weeks ago, I asked our beloved moderators [stands!, salutes!] to remove my prior contributions to this thread.
In retrospect, I was argumentative, divisive, and stuck in my rightness, pretty much the opposite of the intent of the founders of this forum.
.
I may ask them to remove this post, too.
But, in my defense, something about 'unhinged' just borders on the irresistible...
I hear ya, I get the same way. Sorry if some of my posts seemed argumentative.
 
Just some numbers..

Between my employers and I, $50,000 was put into my SSI over my 50 of working. ( I started at 12)

Using a compound interest calculator that works out to about $83 a month and applying 3% compounding interest my fund should gain $83 a month (avg) from my pay and contibutions, and over 50 years that works out to $152k. The $1,382 I get each monthy will take over 100 years to deplete. Even if you drop compounding interest to 2% it still pays me forever.....
 

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