Can We Count on Social Security or is it Busted? #413

my Social Security benefits? Maybe we answer something like that a year ago, that kind of thing, but we've never dedicated an entire episode to social security, and so I'm stoked that we really are going to do a deep dive into this thing that so many of us are aware of, but we're not totally sure what to do about it and truly how it's going to affect our lives on the road, especially with some of the recent headlines about the projected shortfalls of social security, like, oh,

you're getting ahead of yourself now. I'm just saying people are probably like, what's going on and how does this affect me? We're going to cover that today before we get to that. Man, I wanted to ask you a question, is it frugal or cheap for me to buy used presence for people for Christmas? And I'll give you the specifics, but by kind of what your first? So my overall

general philosophy is it completely depends on the type of gift. Right, Like you get a used car for a kid, that's a that's a pretty awesome gift, right Like used cars are that's a normal thing. But if you've got like some secondhand shoes from like a thrift store that is not gonna fly. Secondhand shoes or socks for that matter, probably not the best gift. I think that would probably be considered cheap. But what did you have specifically? Kind?

So here's here's what I've done. I someone on Facebook yard sale recently posted a bunch of like the really nice kids trucks, the hest trucks, remember the other yeah, those like they're really good, and the Hess racing team back in the day. I remember the green they had the race cars exactly. Uh oh yeah. So my little two year old every time he goes over to one of our friend's house houses, they have a stash of these trucks and he instantly like runs for that cupboard exactly,

and he will sit there and play for hours. And so someone posted a bunch of these trucks for sale and it wasn't cheap, but they're really really nice trucks and they last a really long time. Um, but it was way way, way, way less expensive. Like I'm getting basically like twenty of these trucks for the like three

so um. Yeah, so I am buying him used cars and these are going to then, uh, some of these are going to be safe for Christmas, some for next year's birthday, like just kind of keep keep adding to the collection exactly. Over genius, Okay, alright, so yeah, in this case, they're used. Totally cool, but the value proposition is just way better than trying to buy new ones or buy cheaper versions of those trucks that aren't nearly school.

Especially to uh kind of pinching off the truck hose and only letting a few of them out maybe this Christmas and then letting some of the other trucks come out next year. I think that's genius because otherwise, if you're going to give them to them all at once, I'm like, dude, is that what you want to introduce into your life different has trucks. In that case, I'd be like, we'll spend the same amount of money and

just have less clutter in your life. But the ability for him to kind of grow up with these and for him to maybe take care of him put them away where they're supposed to go as he gets older.

I think that's a super frugal move, dude. And when I said buying a kids used car, I meant like an actual Automa, Like I know you're going to talk about actual trucks, but I mean it also depends on your financial situation, right, because there's some individuals where it's like, hey, that's what Christmas looks like for a lot of folks. And so obviously you have to be aware of the kind of financial situation that you're in, um and and you never want to go into debt to buy new

stuff for gifts if you can't afford it. And if that's the case, you know, giving experiences or homemade gifts. There's so many other ways you can go use gifts. I think is one of those things. Just be thoughtful

about the way that you're doing it. Absolutely. I mean, I think even Kate would be down with something if I even if I got it at a thrift store, if it was something that she was looking for, or if it was a vintage item or like a very high quality item that I would never spend hundreds of dollars on just for this shirt or you know, like a nice jacket, that kind of thing. To people around here, they donate all sorts of stuff to the thrift store, like really nice stuff, and I think some of those

nicer items would definitely be received well for sure. Al Right, well, let's keep moving on, Matt. We're drinking a beer on today's episode, like we do pretty much every episode. This one is called Roosevelt Coffee Stout. It's by Old and Tangy River Brewing, and listener Scott sent this one our way. We'll give our thoughts on this beer at the end of the episode. But Matt, let's get on to the

subject in hand. We are talking about social security and we're asking, like, can any of us count on this money being there when we hit retirement age, especially, and we have a lot of listeners in their twenties and thirties. Is the system busted or is there going to be something there for me? And we just kind of want

to give people an overall picture of what's happening right now. Um, and then kind of how you can think about the role that social security should play in your retirement and mat It makes me think, like climate change, it feels like one of those things that we as individuals can have very little impact on. We hear the stories about it, we hear new studies come out, and it's hard not to get just kind of like depressed or or or

just assume that there's nothing new. Isn't an individual can do on that level to make a difference, Right, Well, I mean I think a lot of times too, maybe up until recently, it's always seemed like this thing that's just really way off in the distance, right, Like guess basically not something that we're ever truly going to get to. Uh, definitely not something we should worry about in our younger years.

But in this case, we have seen some of the impacts of climate change in our lives, yeah, for sure. And so then we begin to ask ourselves questions about how we can respond. Can writing bikes more or eating less meat? Like those are two things that people quickly point to as ways that's you as an individual can combat climate change, but how is that really affecting things on a global level? Is that going to prevent the

next disastrous hurricane? Right? Um? You know that one act alone, it can seem doesn't really do all that much, and that is true. But the aggregation of a lot of folks, of all of us taking small actions, um, and taking consistent action, it does go a long way. It makes a real difference. And I think the social security system can feel a lot like that, right. It feels like

something that we have no control over. We see the headlines and we're like, wait, is there actually gonna be any money left for me once I reach retirement age? Or is this system going to be exhausted? And and I will have paid into this thing and you've gotten nothing in return. I think with that recent news about the Social Security Trust Fund shortfalls happening even sooner than expected, um, it can feel like younger folks are unlikely to see much,

if anything, um. And some people have like written it off all together. But yeah, you know, you and I, Matt, we don't think that's the case. And we will try to give an accurate picture of what's happening with scal security and how much stock you should put in it for your future in this episode. That's right. Yeah, So let's talk first about why that shortfall is happening. You mentioned that there have been a lot of stories on social security recently, and so as you know, our listeners

likely know social Security tax. It's withheld from every paycheck that you receive. Uh. And when millions of folks lost their jobs early in the pandemic last year, far fewer folks they were paying into the Social Security system. And so when there's fewer workers paying in the than previously assumed, and that money was still being paid out to the

current retirees, that's what leads to a shortfall. And so the Social Security Trustees released their annual report at the end of last month, and they warned that social security reserves we're going to run out of money one year earlier than expected. So that's going to happen now in three is the forecast. We'll dive more into the details later on, but generally speaking, that's what's going on here, uh.

And that's a part of why we wanted to tackle this topic of social security, especially since it's not one that we've covered yet here on the show. In depth. Uh, And so for our listeners, like, the question we want to answer is, you know, is this something that we should be worried about? You know, given that new report, can we count all social Security still being there by the time we are looking to retire. That's what we're

gonna talk about today. So let's go ahead and dive in. Yeah. Well, first man, I think we do need to get to the history of social Security, why it was created, when it was created, and kind of the purpose behind it, because I think sometimes even just kind of the perception about what social security should be for individuals has morphed over time, and we kind of expect it to be this and I'll be all retirement account for everyone that provides for most of their needs. But that wasn't the

goal early on when social Security was created. It wasn't intended to fund a person's retirement completely. And in fact, the average American didn't live long enough to reach retirement age. Lifespans have dramatically lengthened over the past hundred years. We went from an average lifespan of fifty three to an average of seventy eight years old over one hundred years. Yeah, that's it's I mean, it's hard to have them significant, right. It really is the the original intent of the program.

It wasn't to make sure that you were able to continue to live life like you had when you were working. It was more akin to an insurance policy, making sure that you weren't destitute if you did end up living an abnormally long life. And I think this context is important so we can have a proper view of what the social security system is meant to do. It was never meant to allow us to retire in style for we like thirty years at the beach, uh in order to you know, live a swell life for decades on

end um. It really really was meant to provide for you for a few years if you did outlive the median age. And I just think that's helpful contexts, you know, as we get into talking about social security in this episode, Yeah, if they you mentioned if you were to ever have lived in the normally long life, and so when the life expectancy is fifty three, I guess if you live to be like fifty eight, Like it's like, well I've

got an old time where over here. But let's keep talking about the history, you know, Like they're there truly were a lot of changes happening rapidly in the early nineteen hundreds that were impacting the way that we viewed retirements, employments, and government involvement in both of those as well, and so like. At that time, the prevailing thought was that retirement was similar to kind of like a three legged stool.

Pensions they were at the heart of this. Basically, employees were guaranteed a percentage of their paycheck if they stayed with the company for you know, a number of years, for decades, even personal savings that was another leg of that retirement stool, and then social security that was that

third leg. Uh, and it has been an important leg, you know, to to ensure that retirees, especially once who were able to save very little, or who who didn't work for employers that offered pensions and made sure that they had at least something to live on once they finished working. Yeah, so social security has been just this

really important part of our country social safety now. But the traditional approach to retirement, Matt, that you just mentioned, that three legged stool approach, it's just not really relevant for most people today. We don't live in under system in which people can expect you know, forms of income

from all three of those sources. Pensions obviously, especially pensions becoming more rare, right, um, it's maybe as rare as like um, like a toilet paper sighting last March or something like that, as rare as a an affordable to one starter home today's housing marketing, exactly exactly. You know, we might have a few listeners who work in the government, who work as teachers, and they still have access to

a pension. More power to you, right, Pensions are really really helpful when it comes to planning for your own retirement. It provides a whole lot more certainty. But of course that's becoming rarer. That that makes that social security money even more important for a whole lot of workers today.

And we would say at the same time, it heightens the need for you to say for your own retirement more effectively, to begin sooner, and to say more maybe than you previously thought, because the dynamics have shift quite a bit, and you just can't expect that anybody else is really going to take care of you in retirement, even though we do believe social security will stick around in some form or fashion. That's right, Maybe there's a fourth leg to that stool as well. We we talked

about savings, pensions, social security, but family. I mean, think about the number of multigenerational households that that used to exist, as as older parents went in to live with their kids who were grown up. And that's definitely true, right, But it's also not something you want to play on and just assume that your kids are gonna house you. Expectations have changed, right, And so when the expectations are there, or when that's something that has at least been talked

about them, that's totally fine. But I would say that that's not typical today. It's probably as typical as pensions are, to be honest, it often does come down more to the individual. But before we kind of keep talking about, uh, social security, let's kind of ask the question, is retirement even a good goal for us to have? You know, I just mentioned how the perception started to shift in

the early nineteen hundreds. Before then, like almost everyone worked until they died, right the the idea that you could have years or even decades of leisure in your old age was kind of reserved only for just a handful of rich folks, the landed gentry, or something like that right was reserved for like the biltmore or the people in what was that what's that show that you used

to watch that? Oh downtown to Nabby Right, yeah, those people you have to Yeah, the aristocracy that he's living off the land exactly, and forget about fire right, Like retiring in your thirties, Like, I mean, that would have been considered a joke a hundred years ago. And so like, we're big fans of working towards the goal of financial independence. Um. And even though we talk about it much less frequently, saving and investing for retirement is certainly worthwhile goal, even

though it's a it's kind of a newish concept. With the likelihood that you will be living into your eighties or even your nineties, there's no other option. You've got to save for your retirement. Uh. And so that's why we're talking about this today. It's also good point out too that like making sure that you have enough money saved for retirement, that shouldn't be your soul folk gus of of what you think is going to lead to uh,

happier overall life. There are obviously lots of other factors that you want to keep in mind as you're trying to live a happy life. Foremost among those fulfilling social relationships having Oh I thought you were gonna say good beer, good beer. Is it's probably like second, it's like relationships, beer, family, and beer. And then money. Actually, shoot, you gotta have money in order to have decent beer. So but I'm

just pointing that out. This is how the money. So we're we're specifically talking about how your finances can lead to you living a happy life. But don't forget that there are lots of other things that you need to keep in mind as well. And we're focusing mostly on social security today. I think you're right, Matt, to just bring up that topic of retirement in general. It's still a relatively new concept. Um. It wasn't something that people

in the seventeen hundreds or eighteen hundreds aspired to. It is something that is only a few generations old, and so um. Yeah. But but let's keep talking about social security. Is it something you can count on or is it, as some have called a pyramid scheme that you've been paying into that's going to crumble potentially even in the near future. We'll get two more on that right after this. Alright, we're back until you know you referred to like the

pyramid scheme. I'm pretty sure I've referred to it as a pyramid scheme before. How social Security? Oh, it's like this mandatory pyramid scheme that we all have to pay into. We're required to otherwise we get in trouble, you know, with the Canada or something. I think, Yeah, what happens if you don't? I guess that's evading taxes. But so let's go ahead, get to the question, can you count on Social Security being there at least in some capacity

when you reach retirement age? And we think that the answer to that is a definitive yes. We're not worried that three will come along and that the benefits will be dramatically cut or that money won't be there to pay the older Americans who have been paying into this system for decades. But that being said, that doesn't mean that Social Security will exist uh in its current form,

or that some hard choices aren't inevitable. We do think that they're probably going to be some changes on the horizon, and we'll get to those here in a second. Yeah, And it's our assessment is not just because we're natural optimists. Matt I don't even know. Are you naturally optimistic? I would say you are. I would say that you are

more of an optimist. I'm definitely more of like the realists for anyone to be more of an optimist than I am, but I feel like, I mean, long term, I'm like, everything will be fine, But that doesn't necessarily mean that everything is going to on the service look good. Like my mindset is that everything's gonna be fine because we will adjust regardless of what comes down the pike. You know what I'm saying, Uh, not that like, oh, everything is gonna be you know, rainbows and butterfly do well.

And that's the thing. It's not. You know, when we're saying that social security will exist and that will be beneficial for you in retirement. This isn't just some wide eyed optimism, but there are a lot of facts on the ground to support, uh, the reality that social security will continue to exist and what you're paying into it you will get back at some future date. And let's

talk about politics for just a second. Usually we avoid the subject, but when you're talking about social security, it's a necessary part of the discussion, and before you even start, it's worth mentioning we're not gonna like take a sigh like say the other Like we can talk about it from a political standpoint, but we can talk about it

a political exactly a little bit exactly. We we really believe though, that at some point there is going to be there must be enough political will and desire to fix this, you know, at some point someday, like we don't even we don't know when that's gonna be. Uh. And you know, in politics, it turns out that politicians like to kick the can down the road and they like to let someone else tackle the bigger, most unpopular problems that cost money. Uh. The question, though, I don't

think is if it's gonna happen, but when? And Yeah, we talked to a front of the show Matt and Top Tier money writer Ben Carlson about this a while back on the show. They're just almost no politicians who want to be responsible for ending a program as popular

as Social Security has been. Like, think about the grief and the lack of votes that politician is going to receive when they start to condemn Social Security or talk about eliminating it or watching it phase out slowly, Right, And it's a program that has become necessary for so

many people. So I think when you look at it from that angle, there's basically next to no chance that Social Security doesn't continue to remain around and that an eventual fix for the shortfalls that we're seeing doesn't come

to fruition at some point exactly. Yeah, regardless of what side of the aisle that you're on, very few folks are going to just let it implode upon itself without having making without having made some sort of change, if they're being forced to, right and right now, we're not really being forced to. And that's I think that's a big reason why we're not necessarily going to see uh see it addressed in the coming years. But I don't know.

I bet it will be addressed by and you know, part of the reason too that we believe that Social Security is going to be around is it comes down to the fact that this isn't a government giveaway, right we all pay into the system. I'm sure there's probably a lot of how the money listeners who wish that they could opt out of Social Security and you know, instead fund their own retirement more heavily with that additional chunk that you get in your paycheck. I get it.

I would probably sign up for that if I could as well. Actually, in ministers, like if if you're in a certain religion, you can like fill out this form, you can be like a conscientious social security objective exactly. Yeah. But if you were to do that, and if you are some type of minister, make sure that you truly are saving for retirement because there is no social Security for you. Yeah, you better be extra money away if

you're fall into that camp. But the fact is, this is the system that we currently have in place, and it has worked remarkably well for a lot of years. Uh, And so because that it's highly unlikely that it's going to change anytime soon. But the fact that every working American is currently funding Social Security on the rag with every single paycheck, that means that Social Security uh isn't about to go bankrupt quote unquote bankrupt, as you might

have heard in the headlines. Yeah, that's a term that is thrown around, especially, has been thrown around in recent days, and it's misleading because it's just not true in the way most people think about the term bankrupt. They just assume like the dis of the entire system. Yeah, well that's the end of that, like you're a goner. But that's not the way it is with Social Security. That

trust fund is on the ropes. Maybe to use like a fighting analogy, and we might need like a little break between rounds to get that pep talk and that little water squirt or something like that. But does this work. Does work as an analogy, I don't know. Given it a shot, but it doesn't mean that it's like you know, been kote and it's it's out for the count. Yeah. Yeah,

we're slowly seeing I mean the funds getting depleted. Honestly, all I can picture now is like a boxer's trainer, like over on the side, just with like a water gun, just like squirting him like like you're you're talking about like a sports bottle. I'm taking of the movie Rocky and you know you wentn't squirting them with anything, but you get a little skirt bottle and you get some you get some steps. It would be like a sponge

or a rag. That's all I can think of right now is Mike Tyson's Knockout, which was one of the greatest video games all the time. It was pretty close. But let's talk about some of the changes, Matt, and like, you know, since almost six inten retirees actually find that their main source of income in retirement is Social Security,

something is going to have to give. Like we said at the beginning, this wasn't the intent of Social Security, but that is where we have found ourselves as this becoming essentially the main retirement program, the main source of income for so many Americans. There was a bill that gradually changed the retirement age from sixty five to sixty seven.

You know, we we could see something else similar happen in the future, changing the date at which you're able to receive your full Social Security benefit, pushing it back just a little bit to increase the solvency. But but we're more likely to see something I would say, like uh fke attacks increase that slowly goes up over the decades, something like a point one percent increase each year, so that we basically barely feel it in any meaningful way, but it does slowly start to make up for some

of the shortfalls that we're seeing. Um. There's also been talking about, you know, raising the income cap for paying payroll taxes. So right now, if you're a high income earner, you stop paying fight attacks on any dollar that you earn above eight dred and if they were to raise that cap, that would be another possible tweak to provide you know, more funds for the Social Security Trust Fund so that you know, we don't run out of money

quite so quickly. That's right. Personally, I'm a fan of increasing that age because we talked about earlier how life expectancies have increased dramatically even over the past, you know, even since like n three, we've seen the life expectancy increase. And so I think if I were picking the solution, that's the one I would pick as well. But it's also a few taxes, the most unlikely one because people don't want to be like, dang it, I've been paying into this and now you're telling me I gonna wait

two more years, Like most people don't want to hear that. Well, I think that it is probably the best. Yeah, well, we see it happened gradually as well, and so that's why I mean, most of our listeners probably aren't looking at the charts. But it's like, okay, you have to work until you're sixty six years old plus two months, you know, like like it's it's this gradual thing. And so instead of saying, oh, we have to delay retirement by two years, it's like, well I can, I can

go for another two months. Makes it a lot more palatable where that to be the case. And so, like you're saying, Angel, whether it's revenue increases or benefit cuts were actually just a bit of both. That's probably what we're likely to see in the coming years. Who knows what will actually happen, but we know that no solution is ideal. Very few folks want to see benefits reduced. Nobody wants to be forced to pay more into the

system either. But when you look at the context of social security, you realize that it wasn't built to be the soul safety net for multiple non working not just years, but decades. Uh. And that's what it's become. That's what it's evolved into. And it's just not sustainable for us to continue to to lean onto social security this way. That's right, Yeah, And so we believe that social Security

it's not going anywhere. We talked about the news that's come out of the trust Fund running out of money in just twelve years, and it's true, right the that trust Fund is going to run dry twelve years from now if nothing is done. But there's just so much more to it than that. Like, current projections show that there will be enough money to cover three quarters of retiree benefits through the year even if nothing was done.

That's because, like Matt said earlier on every page check, tens of millions of Americans are actively funding the system. You're continuing to pay into it every two weeks. So even if nothing was done, that benefit cut would mean less money per person, But that's a really, really long time frame. At the fact that through like it's still

sustainable just at lower levels. Um it just that'll cover us. Yeah, find reading that and knowing that it just made me realize that Social Security is definitely gonna be around for the long haul. Something is going to get done to resolve the shortfalls that we're currently seeing. But even if we do nothing, it's not as dire as so many of those headlines and warnings make it sound. Exactly Basically, only if somebody comes in and makes it worse will we not be able to see our Social Security pay

it out before we die. And so Okay, you're probably listening to this and you're wondering, Okay, well, how do I know where I stand when it comes to like

my own social security. Here's what we would recommend for you to do, especially if you're a younger listener, log into my Social Security at s s A Gov and you can get a really good idea of what your current likely social Security benefits are going to be based on your work history, based based on your taxable wages, and you can factor in what you're likely income is going to be as well, and you can see the difference in what you're likely to get based on when

you opt to take those benefits. So, for instance, sixty two versus full retirement age versus you know, pushing that back even further to to the age of seventy. And so as you look at those numbers, know that there's this you know, there's still a chance that those projections will actually be accurate for you, depending on how close

you are to retirement. But we do suggest planning on having you know, only seventy five per cent of that projection as retirement income instead of counting on that entire amount. You know, if you're listening to this, the chances of you getting seventy of the forecasted social Security I mean there's a very very high chance of you at least getting seventy percent of it. Beyond that, I don't know. I would just consider depend gravy essentially if you get

beyond that. But exactly factoring in four retirement spending needs how many five percent of what is projected when you log in, it's probably the best rule of thumb for everyone to consider. It's a safe bet, especially younger listeners. Yeah, because you don't want to you know, these are these are eggs that you don't want to necessarily count before they hatch. And so that's one thing that you can

do now. And we'll actually talk more about what to do and how to think about the role of social security when it comes to your retirement, and we'll get to that right after this Alart, we're back. We're talking about the most stimulating topic in the world today on how money social security, and most folks would probably say, like, I hope there are folks who did not skip this episode because they're like, oh my gosh, they're talking about

social security. But social security it's exciting, Like I'm seriously super stoke that we're talking about social security and we you know, try to make all these money topics sound as sexy as we possibly can because we find them interesting. And I think you know, there is there's just a general curiosity that you and I have about all things money, and so hopefully that comes across to when we're sharing

about these topics. It's like something that we have, uh found compelling enough to wrap up into podcast form to bring to you, even if it seems on its surface like it's a wonky, nerdy conversation right well, and and and especially to when it seems so far off. I mean, you're kind of talking about climate change at the beginning of the episode, like it almost makes me think of like losing your hair, like going bald. Like when you're younger,

you think that's that's for tomorrow. Me you think about, like I'm not worried about losing my hair right now, but the older you get, you're kind of like, all right, maybe it's start, you know, it's tarting to start thinking about like if I'm losing my hair or wearing the ball cap more, or maybe like there's like gels or creams that you can buy, or maybe you can like go the all natural routes and maybe like alter your

diet or like shave it off. But so much of it comes down to genetics, and so because of that, there's there's so little of it that we can directly control. But there are other things that we can do. Like you said, you like either shave it or wear a ball cap. But even if this isn't something that you're directly dealing with now, I think a lot of our listeners are probably nowhere near retirement age, we still think that it's something good to be thinking about, to be

proactively planning towards. And that's actually what we're gonna talk about next, no doubt. So let's talk about practical steps here. You know, we have been talking about what's happening with social security in general, and you know, we believe there's no way that you're not going to see at least a good portion of what you've been promised in the future. But what should you do and how should you think

about social security? Because we don't want you thinking about it a whole lot because it's mostly out of your control. But there are still a few things you should consider and a few things you should do. One of the best ways, Matt, for our listeners to ensure that they're getting more money when it comes to their monthly check from Social Security someday in the future, is to delay

the time in which they take Social Security. You mentioned the different amounts that you're going to see on my Social Security on that website, and it's crazy how much different the amount of that monthly check is if you take it at sixty two versus if you wait to take it at age seventy. UM. As you reach for roman age. The longer that you wait, the more you're gonna the fat of the check is going to be.

And so taking Social Security at a later date. It's not best for every single person, but it is good advice for most people. Right. There are important factors to consider, including how healthy you are, um, but for most folks, it's best to wait longer in order to maximize that check. That's one thing that everybody can do that the power is in your hands to wait and take Social Security until a later date. That just means a bigger paycheck

every single month for decades to come, hopefully, that's right. Yeah, And that often means working longer, working into your later years as well. Uh. And the great thing is that many jobs actually can be done into your later years. That wasn't nearly as much the case a hundred years ago, and hopefully you can even kind of phase out of the workforce over time. Like it doesn't have to be

all or nothing. You know, you don't have to go from working fifty five hours a week to just kicking back and sitting on your rocker at home, or or being at the beach full time, or your rocker at the local cracker barrel playing checkers, which is, you know, another fine choice in retirement. Uh So, I mean I wanted to mention that because plenty to work, you know, at least some as you get closer to retirement, age is going to help your finances, and it provides a

lot of other intangible benefits as well. Oftentimes it gives you some of that additional purpose in your life exactly. And I think you're right, Matt. It's so much easier to work longer than it ever was before because we are staying healthier into our later years too, and work has gotten for many people less labor intensive. It's also helpful to get creative when it comes to what work looks like for you as you age. There was just a story mat in the l A Times actually recently

about grand fluencers. Have you heard about this trend? I have not, Okay, so it's fascinating. Becoming a social media influencer apparently isn't just for the incredibly young anymore, but it's also for folks who are in their seventies and eighties and they're starting to make some side hustle income

by being on TikTok and Instagram. They're giving maybe like beauty tips or doing gardening videos, and yeah, they're making real money on the side by taking these videos on their iPhone or whatever and uploading them and developing the following. So I think there's just nothing that says that you have to work for the same employer or even in the same industry. So yeah, when people are thinking, okay, you know, working longer, that's not necessarily what I wanted

to hear. What doesn't mean doing the same work that you've been doing. There's so many options for you to slide over into doing something else, and it might not pay as much as the job that you were doing was, but it will maybe be less hours and more fulfilling provide some of that side income that's necessary to help you delay taking Social Security, which obviously provides just major

financial returns that the longer you wait, that's right. And of course, another way to make sure that you have enough money set aside for retirement in addition to any social security funds that you might receive, is to make sure that you are investing independently, you know, on your own UH. And also to consider increasing how much money that you're sacking away because increasing but you put into your pH owne K by a minimum, let's just say, of like one percent every year. That's just a good

goal to have. As you are able to ramp up your savings, just put it on autopilot so you don't even have to think about it. You can also automate your contributions to a roth IRA. That's another way to to d I Y it and to build up a substantial nest egg. Personal savings have always been a part of the UH, you know, the multi legged retirement income stool.

But the actions that you take now, they're going to have an enormous impact on how comfortable that you'll be when you do get to that point that you no longer want to work, or when you're at the point to where you're no longer able to work. Anymore. I think that's a really important point to Matt in this discussion is sometimes we're planning for the future that we're hoping for and not uh for some of the potential downsides.

You might actually have the desire to work until you're eighty, but economic or health circumstances could actually prevent that could prevent you doing so. So we would say just another important caveat to that is to not plan for your retirement under just best case scenarios. You realize that you might not be able to work as long as you hoped as long as you hoped to. It's it's possible to save and invest too much and not enjoy some

of the fruits of your labor. Now we try to talk about that on the show, you know, enjoying your money while you still can while you're young, and not stocking everything away for the future. But there aren't, Matt, really that many folks that fall into that camp. We certainly do want to prevent over saving, over investing, just thinking about the future and only the future, not living

in the presence. But yeah, putting more money in those tax advantage retirement accounts is the real answer to planning for a future that will likely include smaller social Security benefits or maybe even that inability to work even if you want to. That's right, and as we look ahead, it's important to remember that the specifics regarding social security

are completely subject to change. Right as we mentioned earlier, Uh, there will have to be some concessions to keep social security afloat for the next generation, but no one can be sure what those adjustments will actually look like and how they will affect the benefits that you are likely to receive in the future. We've basically kind of got

to do our best while flying somewhat blind here. We're kind of in the fog, and so plan on social Security being there for you, but don't just blindly plan on receiving the full amount uh that it says when you log into my social Security. If it tells you, hey, you're gonna be receiving you know, three grand a month, it's like, well, maybe you should only count on yeah, yeah, And I think this is just another reason that you know, what you said, Matt about investing independently is so important.

Of course, you want to make sure that you have enough stocked a way to pay the bills that you're gonna have in retirement. Right. That's the practical numbers and accounting side of the equation. But don't forget about the emotional security that comes with knowing that you're going to have more than enough set aside for yourself. You know. Unfortunately, those who are more dependent on Social Security for their retirement are likely going to be experiencing more of an

emotional roller coaster in the coming years. As you know, changes to benefits are made. If you're waiting to see what the cost of adjustment is going to be and whether it's going to be enough to counteract the inflation that you're seeing in your life, that's a tough situation to be in, UH, to have that as your primary main source of retirement income. So it's important to develop that your own three legged stool. You are more in charge of that than ever before. UH, and social Security

can be an important part of that. But if that is the main part of that, that's what we would say, you've got to take some more action and make sure that you're doing even more right now to prepare for that eventual retirement date. Yeah, that's right. We don't want our listeners, especially to to be jerked around by the changing laws. We want you to have as much agency when it comes to your retirement as possible. And so yeah,

so this is why we're again we're huge fans. Have you taken the reins of your own financial future, because social Security it's going to be there in some form and it'll be a helpful benefits in retirement. But social Security should be a supplement to your retirement spending. Don't paint on it being your your main source of income. Uh, And would be particularly excellent if you're able to save and invest in such a way that the Social Security money that you receive some day truly is it's just

like the cherry on top. It's just like you said Joel earlier, it's just the gravy. It's extra because something will need to be done at some point to address the issues with social security, and it'll be truly interesting to see when the political will to make these adjustments will actually come along. But we just want our listeners to know that likely you are going to be okay, You're likely going to receive a very large chunk of what it's forecasting, especially if you are an older listener.

The closer you are to retirement, the less likely it is that you're going to be affected by any of these changes that might be coming down the pike. All right, Matt, do we do it? Do we make Social Security not boring? Do we? Uh? Okay, hopefully we've provided some good information there and hopefully more than anything, it was just a little bit reassuring and sometimes having that information on hand,

I know it made me feel better. Like when I read that stat about twenty nine being the date that would say at a reduced benefit level, I was like, oh my gosh, that's a really really long time. Anybody who's listening right now is going to be fine. You're at least, like, yeah, like you said, you're at least going to receive semi five percent of your benefit. And that's assuming that no changes are made. And I think there's a good chance that changes are going to be made.

And if you're in your twenties and you're really really concerned about your great grandkids, well then I don't I can't offer anything super helpful for that worry. But yeah, for for most of us who are alive right now, there there is a lot of hope. I think given some of these numbers. Plus right, let's get back to the beer that we had on today's show, Matt. This one's called Roosevelt Coffee Stout. It's by Old Tangy River Brewing. Listener Scott sent this one our way. Yeah, what were

your thoughts on this beer? That's right? Yeah, this is the second Old Entangy beer that we've had. Uh, And I think the one word that I'll use to describe this beer is super smooth. I guess that's two words smooth. I was like, was that hyphens It's like milk chocolate almost, you know, like there are some coffee stouts that we get or just bigger Russian Imperial stops where it's just like me and they're like, there are tons of roasted cocoa nibs. There are a lot of some of those

bigger smokier flavors. Not this one. Man. This was just really smooth, really easy to drink. It had those nice subtle coffee notes. Uh, definitely kind of like a light to medium roast, uh, not a medium to dark roast where you would pick up those super roasty notes. I don't feel that they had that going on, and it

made this a really drinkable beer. What are your thoughts? Yeah? Man, it takes it like a milk chocolate Hershey's bar with okay, just a little bit of coffee thrown in there, So I think we're picking up the same vibe it was.

It was smooth, it was a little bit sweet, not overly sweet, and it as you know, we're in the fall now fall time, it's kind of nice to have a nice stout again because I feel like summer no stouts for me, but yeah, drinking occasionally, but when the fall rolls around, when it starts to get cool at night, I'm like, okay, it's stout weather. So it's nice to

have some of those perfect time of beers. And that being said, this isn't like one of those massive stouts either, like just truly is just like a nice, easy drinking coffee stout. And earlier on to you said, is there lactose in this? Because it it does almost have like this kind of lactose milk stout quality to it. If you happen to be near this brewery, maybe you've not branched out and tried some of these different beers before.

I would highly recommend this one. This is an easy way to try a new style without overly assaulting the senses, no doubt. All right, that's gonna do it for this episode. For show notes for this episode, and links to any of the resources that we mentioned, including where to go get your personalized Social Security statement from the federal government. Will have that link and more up on our website

at how to money dot com. That's right, and up there will also post jols social Security number, which is two seven six five. I'll stop there. I just made those numbers out by the way. Um, now, if you are listening to this show and you have not subscribed, make sure you subscribe. That way you don't miss any future episodes. And if you are subscribed and you haven't left us a review yet wherever you listen, but specifically

over at Apple Podcasts, that helps tremendously. It helps others to find the show, and that's gonna hopefully help them to make smarter decisions with their money so that they can be less reliant on Social Security down the road. We'd appreciate if you did that for us, and thanks in advance for that, Joel. That's going to be a buddy until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,