I do the same thing as mentioned above. Max out my 401k Roth contributions (which is 24.5k) this year, then I make 401a after-tax contributions that are automatically converted to Roth via a one-time phone call I made to Fidelity. It’s all done automatically.

Doing a Roth conversion into an IRA is different and requires a phone call every time but you should only be doing that once a year anyways.

Our PS formula is now industry-standard, and you want to give it up? C’mon, man

Come to think of it, pretty much everything in our contract is industry-standard except trip coverage. So we have no excuse to do anything but improve.

Profit sharing is taxed as regular income. The initial tax withholding (what that takeout in Feb) is actually at a LOWER rate for most pilots than what they actually pay when it’s all said and done when you file.

SS needs to be fixed. A guy with $5 million in his 401k taking let's say $300k a year out gets his full SS payment. Now let's look at someone living on their SS check. If they take a job to try to make ends meet their SS is reduced if they make more than approximately $18k a year working. I saw this happen to my mother.

Same thing with rental income. I know a guy with 300 doors in his rental portfolio and he brags about still getting the full SS benefit.

So, yeah, if you're rich you shouldn't get SS benefits but you should still pay for it.

No. Hell no.

SS is based in what you contribute. Sorry, but my parents payed more in SS to be safe in retirement, didn’t used all their allowed tax credit just for that reason for years.

A lot of people that get little SS, decided to work under the table for Cash only their whole life. Some didn’t payed very little and use the “disability” SS. (Both of these last two examples are close family members).

While we pay 20,000k a year into SS (10k us and 10k delta), I will use my SS in retirement. If those “rich” people funded their SS, why they can’t use it?

SS is complimentary money, no one should be living out it alone. That also include my parents, but that’s what they currently have.

And please, tell me you’re not the NY320A Ca that’s saying FOs we should pay more taxes because we make a lot of money….

You are completely disconnected from the reality of many people.

BTW SS isn't "complementary" money, it's a safety net.

I feel like this is a pretty unpopular opinion.

We pay into SS our entire lives why would you be ok with not getting it back?

I’d rather have zero SS tax, keep that money to invest for myself, and not ask the government to fund my retirement. But since that’s not happening I expect to get the benefit I’ve paid into my entire working life.

You are right, it is an unpopular opinion of those who have lived privileged lives and are disconnected from reality.

SS is a safety net. Do you need a safety net?

The many drive demand for goods and services that create the economy that you benefit from.

Give us a number, the exact number, where you draw the line for a safety net. I’m retiring early, I’m going to need my SS.

So, you're not working as long as you can and want the government to take up the slack?

I think you need to go back to asking about monthly bid award timelines and simulator operating costs.

The request sounded like a return of tax dollars contributed over decades of employment minus the cost of insurance provided. Seems reasonable.

Do you have a difficult time with opinions different from your own?

Not at all. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, no matter how amusing they are.

Sounds like you don't know how insurance works.

At what point am I "too rich" to collect on the SS benefit I paid into for 50+ years.

Why should I not get SS benefits when someone who paid the same in taxes but never invested a dime and spent every dollar they made would?

Your example includes two individuals who paid into the system who now receive benefits. The benefits received are reflective of their contributions.

The third example receives SS and income from working. That's the insurance portion of the system protecting from homelessness and starvation. How much insurance should be provided? New car, used car, public transit?

SS is an insurance policy based on the premiums you paid. It's not a system for redistribution of earned income.

Yes, this is correct, except I paid into a system with the expectation I’d be paid back my own money.

Please educate me it's been a few decades since I held any licenses. You can read all about insurance below.

https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/prog...-programs.html

As expected you didn’t answer the question.

yeah and why are the few million upper middle class people (who slaved away for 10 years getting the qualifications to earn an upper middle class income) expected to fund the retirement of people who can’t or won’t take care of their own retirement. SS is an important system which saves people from destitution, but telling a big group they can’t participate in the end because they have too much already?

There are about a thousand Americans who live like absolute gods while avoiding any kind of tax using an army of accountants to shield themselves from having to contribute. Guy should be directing his ire at them not us modern day kulaks who expect to receive a benefit they’ve funded their whole life, despite maybe having a little extra money saved on the side.

Did all of the people that you sold policies to collect on them?

SS is a safety net. Do you guys think that you should be entitled to food stamps?

Means testing is going to happen. The angry masses are more important to the politicians than the few wealthy people.

Could you please address the specific points made? Literally, quote the posts made against your point and argue the specific words of those posts. That would be much more productive for you.

Close, but not quite. A safety net is included as part of the social security system. No one is arguing against the safety net, we all had that net under us while working. It's the amount paid over and above the cost of the net that we want returned in retirement.

We already have means testing. If you are collecting SS AND have earned income above a threshold, your SS benefits are reduced.

*I was never promised food stamps in exchange for 12.4% of my wages.

This isn't a topic that you can do a line-for-line debate on. It comes down to values which is of course very subjective.

no doubt joe also believes any mil pension would go away if one retires with $5 mil+. after all, you don’t need it and the poor people do. why is this any different, joe?

No, it's not a safety net, in the retirement sense. SS disability is a safety net. Welfare is a safety net. SS retirement is a mandatory collective retirement system that we ALL paid into, speficically 6.2% of my income up to $184,500 of earnings.

So, what you are saying is that I should pay $11,439 so others can benefit, but not me? (Not to mention the $11439 the company will also contribute - Self employed get the privilege of contributing BOTH halves of that.)

If only Bush's proposal to partially privatize SS had been implemented, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, as SS would be fully solvent. But, here we are.

I will have paid multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars into SS over 50 years of working. Sorry, I fully expect to get something meaningful back on that, not just 'donate it to the cause'.

You're going to be way more specific on the trip coverage thing. Most other outfits have trip coverage that would be completely unacceptable here.

Thanks for admitting the program was a Ponzi scheme from its inception. And maybe you think 5m is “rich” but plenty think 1m is rich, half a million is rich, etc. Pay for a benefit they steal from you after you paid into it your entire life. Maybe their insane “unrealized gains” taxes will help fix it too lol.

Absolutely agree. To start with, I should be able to opt out. That would be a great way to fix it. Why should I pay for others? And don't give me that garbage about "society" and "helping others". I work hard, I want my money. It's bad enough I pay 6 figures in income tax and receive very little benefit of that 6 figures EVERY year.

Because SS has never been a personal retirement plan.

Today’s payers fund today’s recipients.

I know that’s anthema to all the (R)s here, but that’s how it is.

nope. don’t plan on using it to retire, just to fund my monthly sailboat payment.

There's the left-wing buzzword we've been waiting for.

The government to pick up the slack? Did the government pay into his SS?

no. They just severely mismanaged it.

sounds awesome!

It became a Ponzi scheme as more and more people were included in it.

The original intention was to help poor elderly people. Now we have rich airline pilots who think that they are entitled to a government handout. I didn't realize that there were so many socialist on this forum.

His SS never existed.