It’s time for all of us to take an extensive look at cybersecurity and personal security. In the coming weeks and months I would like for us to crowdsource with the guidance of Adam a look into how to protect each other and the ones we love and our retirement and other finances for those of us lucky enough to have them. Social Security is going to be gutted or privatized or both.
I know this is depressing but it is going to get worse, because the Steve Miller purge and Gym Jordan HUAC are coming. And you know I do not say things to be alarmist.
*** Update ***
Fucking hell, I really need to read this website. Consider this post an addendum to Mistermix below.
Maxim
I would greatly appreciate tips on these topics.
pika
Given what Dave Troy said here, I do not think it is possible to protect our finances or retirement, liquid or otherwise. If he is right, it will be instant and catastrophic
RevRick
@Maxim: Me too. Forewarned is forearmed.
balconesfault
I turned 65 this year. Was putting off SS for a few more years since I’m still working – but I might just go ahead and kick it in asap to start getting checks while they’re still available to someone like me (ie – won’t pass means testing).
stacib
@Maxim: Me, too. I’m still so mad I can barely think.
stacib
@balconesfault: I turn 65 on Tuesday, and my plan was to work another five years. I like my job and the people I work with, but this election has really done a number on my brain, so I’m not sure what to do now. If you still work and get SS, isn’t there a limit on income before penalties are assessed?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
The only thing standing between a massive fuckup of SS will be capturing the House. If that happens, expect a repeat of how Pelosi handled it back when Dubya started his second term aiming to effectively kill SS.
Otherwise, watch the rush of people signing up for SS far earlier than expected when outlines of what they plan to do emerge. Of course signing up and getting anything after they fuckitup is another story.
B1naryS3rf
There is one way and one way only to truly secure message on a smartphone.
https://signal.org/
Example of what happens when they’re subpoenad https://www.securityweek.com/signal-provides-only-two-timestamps-response-grand-jury-subpoena/amp/
Discussion of VPNs, etc is far more complex and I’d leave to others.
Phylllis
@pika: I had the fleeting thought this morning to revert to my grandparents’ method of savings-burying cash in the backyard. Then it occurred to me that ‘legal tender’ as I know it will probably no longer be a thing soon anyway. I used to have a quite a stash of confederate monies my brother and I found digging in the woods when we were kids. Wonder where that’s gotten off too?
Jobeth
I’m terrified. I have built up a nice cushion for retirement that along with Social Security should tide me over from retirement (possibly next year) until death. Now I just don’t know what to do – what if I lose it all in a financial collapse? You work so hard to build up something and have a great plan and then half the country fucks you over.
Phylllis
@stacib: If you are at your full retirement age (which if you are 65 is probably 67), there is no earnings cap. If you are below your full retirement age, there is. For this year, it’s $24920.00.
pika
@Phylllis: I don’t know what to say, quite frankly. I don’t see a way out
UncleEbeneezer
@Jobeth: We have almost nothing built up and were relying on SS for most of our retirement. We always expected to live modestly after our working years. We are pretty terrified now.
Eunicecycle
I just have to share this anecdote about my 7-year-old granddaughter Lily. She was at her school aftercare, and one of the male teachers said he was glad Trump won because he’s in the military. Lily piped up and said, “But he makes fun of people in the military!” I guess he was left speechless. I know my grandchildren are being raised correctly! I thought this might cheer you all up a little!
Phylllis
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m nauseously optimistic that if you are already getting SS, you may be ok, since those folks for the most part are reliable, vociferous R voters*. My thoughts are if you’re eligible now or very soon, grab it with both hands.
*Anyone else remember the ‘keep your government hands of my Medicare’ contingent?
trollhattan
I’m concentrating on tightening up on the bass.
https://youtu.be/Wro3bqi4Eb8?si=E7XBKll1q965193o
You’re right, of course, John Cole. They want Social Security so hard. Remember W’s faceplant? These are different times.
Seeker
@B1naryS3rf: Concur…would be interested in Adam’s feelings on signal.
IIRC Musk and others have trashed signal in posts, promoting the Russian oligarch affiliated telegram instead. Which I I think is informative.
ArchTeryx
@B1naryS3rf: Signal is how I am making my plans for home defense and defense of my Flock, many of which are LBGTQ+ (especially T). It’s encrypted both ways.
A good overview of VPNs can be found at pcmag.com, including a rating of the best ones. pcworld.com (a German magazine translated to English) also has excellent articles on it. Get one and learn to use it.
trollhattan
@Eunicecycle: Good on her! Here’s hoping we keeps things working long enough for her to take that moxy and be a leader.
Phylllis
@pika: I don’t either. I’ve been homeless and hungry, and I survived it. Growing up in poverty gave me the skills I needed. My husband has never experienced that though, and I don’t know if I have the emotional capacity to keep both of us going.
trollhattan
@ArchTeryx: I’m lazy. Is Mozilla’s VPN considered adequate-good? Firefox is my #1 browser.
ArchTeryx
@Seeker: Yeah, I use Telegram for the Flock meetings, but only stuff safe to be discussed openly, that I don’t mind the MAGAts getting hold of. Signal’s my choice for truly *private* conversations. Email is just swiss cheese and so are most instant messaging services. Signal + VPN seems to be pretty hard to crack.
balconesfault
@Phylllis: From the SS Site:
If you get retirement benefits but want to continue to work, you can. However, depending on how much you earn
before full retirement age, we might temporarily withhold all or some of your benefit amount. When you reach full
retirement age, we will recalculate your benefit amount to give you credit for the months we reduced or withheld
benefits due to your excess earnings. Any earnings after you reach your full retirement age won’t reduce your
benefits. Learn more at ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10069.pdf.
ArchTeryx
@trollhattan: I use a paid VPN service. Don’t trust free ones – even the ones that do a legitimate job (not sure of Mozilla’s) tend to limit the data sent rather severely.
pika
@Phylllis: I appreciate and respect you
@mistermix.bsky.social
I don’t think my post touched on this stuff! It’s worthwhile.
Ohio Mom
@balconesfault: There is some SS rule about how much you can earn before your full retirement age (which Reagan moved up from 65) without penalty. After you reach full retirement age, you can earn any amount without penalty.
I wish I remembered the details for you (they are googleable). It affected Ohio Dad when he got his very sweet part-time remote job writing software for a tube bending machine. A job which he stands to lose because a tariff on the machine’s motor will price it out of the market.
On a related note, I wouldn’t like it at all but I could survive being poor again. But my autistic kid, like almost all DD (developmentally disabled) adults, depends on his SS and Medicaid Waiver. Especially when we are dead, they will the funding for his food, clothing, shelter, medical coverage, caseworker, aides, job coach, transportation,etc., etc.
ETA: I see others have already addresssed penalties for working.
NutmegAgain
@UncleEbeneezer: Yeah, pretty much ditto. I actually have a scheduled call w/SS this afternoon. I’ve been planning to draw SS at some time early in order to pay off my (small) mortgage. If I can hang onto my house, I don’t really care if I go into arrears over outstanding student loans, and medical debt. I have both. (And I have been retired for a while due to mobility stuff.) Thankfully I live in a town that has pretty good tax abatement for seniors. Pro tip for folks out there–Investigate whether you have state and/or community tax abatement of any form for seniors and disabled folk. I think there may also be veteran categories.
Being old, having a chronic illness/mobility issue, not exactly floating in money, and pretty much being on my own (late life divorce. That was fun.) feels challenging right now. I don’t see getting deported or similar fears, but part of me gets very concerned about getting rated as ‘life unworthy of life’.
I’m just trying to quell the rising anxiety about the future. I’ve begun talking to my kid about moving to Germany, where she lives. I don’t want to bigfoot her, but as I said on our recent call, if we start having marching Stormtroopers in the street, I’ll want to get gone if I can.
I’ve been reading a lot of Holocaust history recently (cheerful!) and there is that persistent question of how some people chose to stay even when the fascism was erupting out all over. So, I’m gonna try for ‘prepared but not panicked”. Or something.
Sending my best to all around these parts.
RaflW
Shit. Just catching up on some things. Bob Casey lost? Fuuuuuk.
I mean, I don’t think he’d be my median Dem senator, but that’s crazypants for Pensylvania voters to have done. Damn.
trollhattan
@Ohio Mom: It’s variable, based on birth year.
66+6 mo if born in ’57
66+8 if born in ’58
and so forth until leveling at 67 if born ’60 or later.
balconesfault
@trollhattan: Yep – Born in 59 – it’s 66+10 (13 months away)
pika
Given the Dave Troy thread I linked to above, here is his google doc explaining the situation and affirming what limited steps we can take.
RaflW
@pika: I don’t think things will get that dire, but if they do then we’ll basically be doing the financial equivalent to bombing ourselves back into the stone age.
I know this is a thread to talk about future topics, but one thought off the top of my head if we’re really heading towards a financial core breach: If anyone has both a mortgage and sizeable savings meant for retirement, it could make sense to liquidate shareholdings soon while the market is excited (barf) for Trump, and pay off the loan.
If we start to spiral, do not for one second think that banks won’t do everything they can to keep their loan being serviced (you keep paying, even if your loan is 300,000 and the ‘value’ of the home is 75,000). They’ll repossess houses just to see them sit empty and unsold.
Just an off the cuff thought. More later, gotta get to a meeting now.
Bill Arnold
@Seeker:
I trust Signal more than any of the easily-available alternatives. It has a good reputation in the computer security community; some of the FUD is from Telegram and is commercially-motivated.
Players on the USA right wing have been using Signal, and there have been no obvious breeches showing up in court cases, excepting when one or more endpoints (phones, usually) have been compromised in some way (usually seizure and maybe subsequent cracking).
Also, consider tightening up phone security, especially if you have a late-model iPhone (security is their brand). I’m paranoid, but having said that, I do not use biometrics, and use a longer-than-default passphrase. (In the USA, you can be forced to unlock a phone with biometrics; you can “forget” a passphrase.)
Also, consider getting a more secure email account. I’m uncertain whether Protonmail is secure (the Swiss really fucked their reputation with Crypto AG), but it seems a lot more trouble for the feds and other governments than e.g. gmail.
Russian services are, sadly, out as an option now; Russia is too friendly with Trump.
Anonymous social media accounts are also an option but they require 100 percent discipline.
Also, turn off location services for all apps but apps that need them (like maps), and allow only when using.
There will be full guides released in next month from informed people; read a few and follow the union of the recommendations, at least.
ETA, also, install Tor browser on machines. Tor is not perfect, but it takes effort even for nation state level entities to crack. (Tor is also a stack that can be used for other things, like on Linux.) I”m not sure about Brave :Tor window” mode. Probably OK, not sure.
ETA2: also strongly consider adding tracker blockers to whatever browser you use. (I use several.) Privacy Badger at least. There are plenty others.
.
Hoodie
@RaflW: A lot of this shit makes no sense. Casey loses in PA but Baldwin wins in WI. Dems take all of the major statewide races in NC, including an AG race I was worried they’d lose even if Harris had taken the state. We had people here who voted for Trump, Josh Stein (Gov) and Jeff Jackson (AG). This was the biggest indication to me that a lot of it was race and gender. Seven million Dems staying home kind of makes sense, even if it is mind numbingly self-defeating.
frosty
@RaflW: The Philly Inky says Casey’s race isn’t decided yet. He’s behind and has been for awhile. His campaign says that there are still outstanding ballots from Philly and that he won’t concede until all the votes are counted.
So I see there’s still a few dregs of hopium left in my stash.
hrprogressive
Is anyone aside from Dave Troy saying the dollar is about to become “worthless”?
Because if he’s right, this country is going to plunge into anarchy and violence way sooner than I would imagine.
moops
I’m guessing Speaker Johnson will want to push out some kind of porn monitoring for everyone. They’ll dress it up as some kind of protection for children and know-your-customer and stopping child porn.
Fetish websites will be under pressure to collect and archive PPP data on their users. Paving the way for federal vice laws and crackdowns with ready-made lists of offenders. People with different flavors of legal immigration will start being charged and deported.
pika
@hrprogressive: Dave Troy is simply explaining what Ron Paul, Thiel, and Musk want (which is what Russia wants, according to him). Add to that the christofascist drive to transform everything to supposedly “Biblical principles,” and I don’t think he’s exaggerating
Phylllis
This is exactly what happened in 2008-2009. I know there had to be some damn grift behind it, but still have not figured out what it was.
Seanly
@stacib:
I’m only 56 so still about 10 years from collecting, but IIRC you are limited on outside income for your 1st year on SS – I think it’s similar to the rules for income when on SSDI. After that 1st year you can earn as much extra income as you want.
I had a coworker who retired at 65 and then a year later he came back to be a part time consultant. He & his wife had saved well & he made out like a bandit when the company got bought so I don’t think he needed SS much less part time work.
Some of the changes Trump wants to do would require a bill in Congress and I hope there is still some fear of third rail combined with rear guard action by the Democrats to avoid gutting things completely.
hrprogressive
@pika:
I think if “satisfying the kleptocracy” is the goal, then destroying one of the world’s most fundamental currencies for both the poor and the rich seems…counterproductive to “enrich the wealthy even further”.
Crypto is a scam, and if the cash the marks use to buy it becomes worthless, then the underlying asset becomes worthless too.
So…
Not saying Dave is “wrong” but it just doesn’t seem to make sense to me.
p.a.
@stacib: Yes there is a limit before your full retirement age, which is determined by your DoB. But, and I cannot stress enough: check with the Social Security Admin, I believe at full retirement age the pullback from SS payments previously is returned to you as monthly bumps in your check until the takeaways are returned to you. Again, check with SS Admin. Also too, if SS is still a thing. Maybe those already in will be grandfathered. IDK.
ETA: see comment 23. It’s clear there compared to ^😉
Tony G
@Jobeth: The Republican Party has been trying to get rid Social Security since 1937 and Medicare since 1965. Now maybe they’ll have their chance.
pika
@hrprogressive: It doesn’t either to me, but as Adam would say, we’ve been through the looking glass for a long time.
Steve LaBonne
@hrprogressive: If it’s Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett against Thiel and Musk, it’s no contest. The former and the rest of the corporate elite have no juice with the Republican Party at all. Their equivalents in 1933 Germany found that out the hard way.
catclub
I worry about that as much as I worry about an asteroid hitting earth.
1. It could happen.
2. Not a lot I can do about it happening.
3.(most important) If it happens you will be in the same place as many others. So you will have much more serious other worries.
Ohio Mom
@NutmegAgain: I did some thinking about Nazi era Jews and why some chose staying and others chose leaving during the GW years.
First, not everyone who chose leaving succeeded at it — see for example, Anne Frank (whose family left Frankfurt for the Netherlands, where they ended up trapped anyway) and the passengers on that ocean liner denied entry to the U.S. Others hit different dead ends.
Second, it takes a certain level of resources to leave, and it helps to be young and healthy. My family is in no condition to sneak over a border, Ohio Dad needs a steady supply of insulin. And I don’t think any country (except Israel, hahaha, like we’d move there on a bet) would welcome an adult with DD.
I sometimes wonder if Ohio is a state where we should stay but I know I’m not leaving this country.
hrprogressive
@Steve LaBonne:
I can’t see guys like Dimon or Buffett or whoever just bending the knee if Thiel or Musk told them to.
Unless Thiel or Musk are prepared to fund every other GOPer to do their bidding.
Which I take as a non-zero possibility at least. So.
Idk.
The idea of pitting billionaires against each other is a strange thought exercise.
Steve LaBonne
@Ohio Mom: Nowhere in the world looks safe even if one would take some of us in. This time there is no equivalent of the US to be a safe haven. But people with significant vulnerability should probably think about relocation to a blue state if at all possible. For my wife and me, most of our income is Ohio public employee pensions so we sink or swim with Ohio regardless.
Steve LaBonne
@hrprogressive: They will protest but in vain.
hrprogressive
@pika:
I get that, but I certainly think there’s a vast swath of the rich elite who don’t really care about the Fascist plans of their brethren, they just want the unfettered wealth to continue.
Doesn’t mean I expect any of them to be “allies” but rather there’s a difference between a handful of truly insane people wanting to crash “regular society for reasons” and “super rich people just want regular society to continue to benefit them over everyone else”.
The second doesn’t happen if the former get their way.
And I suspect the latter are a much larger number than the former.
Ohio Mom
@trollhattan: I know about those phased-in dates but I wanted to keep my comment simple. Though keeping things simple while explaining Social Security is a challenge.
hrprogressive
@Steve LaBonne:
If their wealth is on the verge of evaporating, do you really think that’s all they’ll do?
catclub
@ArchTeryx:
It is a shame PGP/GPG never caught on.You need your intended recipient to do some work.unpossible.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@hrprogressive:
I’d pay real money to see a Thunderdome exercise along those lines except the rules are:
“All billionaires enter, none leave.”
CaseyL
I’m supposed to hear back some time today from SS advisors as to whether to apply for benefits now, rather than wait the 2 years to apply at age 70. Their chatbot tried to allay my fears by saying “ending” SS requires Congressional approval (like he won’t get that?). Besides, he doesn’t have to formally end the program: he can just starve it by not collecting SS tax.
Based on what I’m reading here, I’m leaning towards applying right away. Get what I can while I can.
And never being able to retire. That’s upsetting. It’s a good thing love my job, and the people I work with; I just wasn’t anticipating having to hold onto it for the rest of my life.
catclub
@hrprogressive:
you do know there is a famous post on just this, right?
Sane versus insane billionaires.
Steve LaBonne
@hrprogressive: They can try. Their wealth evaporating will leave them even more powerless than they are now.
JML
@RaflW: Getting my mortgage paid off before I hit retirement is one of my goals, for sure. The finance guys will tell you that you’ll be better off keeping the money in the market if your mortgage rate is low enough…and they’re not wrong, exactly. but when your home is paid for it takes a significant burden off your monthly expenses and gives you more flexibility when things take a downturn.
(This works better for frugal people and/or those with strong budgeting skills)
I had hope that SS would be there for me when I reached retirement age, and I’m depressingly much less hopeful now. As someone who doesn’t have a pension, only their 401K/503B or whatever the eff the number is…makes it much more likely to have to work much much longer…
NutmegAgain
@Ohio Mom: Yes, yes to all you’ve noted… I think if I sell off all my earthly goods (assuming everything about total national financial collapse doesn’t happen all at once) I’ll have enough to make the jump. (Assuming such a visa would be approved for me–far from assured.)
And there’s the mind-bending weirdness that moving to Germany would be a refuge of sorts.
hrprogressive
@catclub:
I’m not, no.
Citizen Alan
@pika: Okay, I am 55 yo. I have about
Somebody tell me what I should be doing right now since abolition of Social Security is on the table. I mean, I don’t know if there’s anything to be done if the dollar collapses, but I’m open to any suggestions.
TBF, I have it better than most because I have a federal job that I don’t think is going anywhere, it pays well, it’s non-physical and stress free so I could theoretically do it until I die.
hrprogressive
@Steve LaBonne:
Fair, but Thiel and Musk’s wealth is still based off the same system, so…
Ohio Mom
@moops: If your prediction of porn monitoring on the internet comes to pass I see a business opportunity in resurrecting porn shops. Buy your DVD or magazine in cash and you’re set.
It will be just one of the things that were old but are now new again, along with people metaphorically selling apples on the street.
stacib
@balconesfault: Yep, me too, and I can’t afford to start it now if the earnings limit is $24+ – even working part time I would exceed the limit, but I also can’t afford to retire considering health insurance costs. And, my mom just died last month, so I inherited our building that needs work, so there’s another probable money pit that’s about to be dug. Jeez, I’m screwed. My only consolation is that the folks that are bringing this down on our heads will probably suffer more.
Bill Arnold
@CaseyL:
Control of the House of Representatives is not yet decided. Also, it will probably be a narrow margin, one way or the other. I’ll start worrying about that if the GOP gets a solid House majority, and a worrying at least a little even if they get a small majority.
Ohio Mom
@Citizen Alan: Another plus is that you have no dependents.
I’d mentally write off that land. If you, an attorney, can’t figure out a way to get past your nutty sister, it’s a lost cause.
NutmegAgain
@NutmegAgain: Whoops I edited my reply, but it vanished.
Ship was the St.Louis.
and yeah, It’s common sense that most countries with a functioning social safety net (as in many EU states) do not want old, retired people with health or mobility challenges to be able to easily migrate in.
Citizen Alan
@trollhattan: I was born in 1969 and our HR person says I get full SS benefits at 66 and 8 months. I can retire from the feds with full benefits at 62.
pika
@Citizen Alan: I dunno, Alan. I have a call in to the person who manages my retirement funds (I’m an educator, so I’m in TIAA)
pika
@hrprogressive: They’re zealots, and zealots don’t always think rationally
stacib
@Citizen Alan: I don’t know if your HR person is correct. I was born in 1959, and my full retirement is 66 and 10 months. I’m not sure how the folks born after that year can have full benefits earlier, but I would be interested to know.
RaflW
@Phylllis: My hot take: Bankers aren’t actually any smarter than the average Trump voter. They’re also bound up in tons of paperwork as well as some things that, on the surface, look like “fiduciary responsibility” but, in a collective action problem that ran amok, meant that the cure was worse than the disease.
Anecdata, but friends of ours were under water on a condo in St. Paul during the crisis. Two college educated guys with decades of careers in business and NGOs. Smart and earnest. They tried in good faith for months and months to get a ‘work out’ agreement that would have lowered their payment and let them stay housed and not have their credit rating trashed.
It completely failed, they moved out and declared bankruptcy. It was so needlessly destructive, for them and for the bank. Why it went down like that, I can’t say. But it was probably a combo of overwhelm at the bank, bureaucracy, some lingering “we have to punish people who took out these loans,” and just general stupidity and carelessness at the bank.
I expect the Trump years to be the above, on steroids.
Citizen Alan
@Ohio Mom: Oh, we can get past it pretty easily. We’re joint tenants so I have an absolute right to force a partition and, if necessary, force a sale so that we just split the proceeds evenly. It would just mean every living family member hating me until I die because I sold land that’s been in the family since 1910.
Ohio Mom
@NutmegAgain: Over the millennium, Jews have always been a nomadic people. Germany sounds good to me. Except for having to learn German, I have no ear for language but maybe you do.
My very ahistorical joke is that if Jews were as smart as we claim we are, after the Temple fell we would not have ended our escape in Eastern Europe, we would have gone on to settle in Scandinavia.
Ohio Mom
@Citizen Alan: i’ve always gotten the feeling from your comments that there’s little love lost already.
RaflW
@Ohio Mom: I feel like I should start looking for a mimeograph machine and functioning printstock. Back in the day, it was said that samizdat helped bring down some of the Iron Curtain regimes.
catclub
@hrprogressive: enjoy!
link: https://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2012/04/quote-of-day-what-passes-for-hope-these.html
Ohio Mom
I am enjoying this morbid thread but I have lots to do today and not much time to start getting it done.
Later!
Steve LaBonne
@hrprogressive: But they’re crazy doctrinaire idiots who think they’re crypto scammers but will find out too late that they’re marks.
Citizen Alan
@Ohio Mom: I am fairly close to my sole remaining aunt (who is 87) and a couple of cousins, though I NEVER talk politics with them. I am also fairly close to my sister’s two younger children who, sadly, are both teachers and who both refuse to consider leaving Mississippi. I am cordial with my brother-in-law because we never ever talk politics. My sister is just a hyper-emotional idiot who believes every word she sees on Facebook. And her eldest boy is a useless slacker who’s been given everything in his life and now makes $12k a year working at a local newspaper and has no aspirations of ever making any more because various relatives will let him rent an entire house for $500 a month. He also gets all his information from Alex Jones and Joe Rogan and voted for Trump because he thinks the man is “funny.”
brendancalling
If I lose my social security, I’m going to lose my shit. I will literally kill someone with my bare hands if that happens.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Phylllis: SQUATTERS MOVEMENT!
I was talking to some friends today and we agreed that we were headed for stagflation (stagnation due to the huge cutbacks in government spending but inflation due to the huge tariffs) and we started to reminisce about the 80’s squatter’s movement. I’m a product of Reagan’s America, where there was lots of unoccupied urban housing.
The three problems you need to solve with any squat are: water, electricity, and security. Solar panels and internet (yes, please everyone get Signal, it’s easy to use) solve the electricity and security problems (and do you think anyone, anywhere, in the next few years won’t be able to get a gun?) so that just leaves water, and in many jurisdictions the water to an occupied multiunit building won’t be shut off, the water company just puts a lien on the property – and that’s just not your problem.
I have just so many great stories from the NYC squatters’ movement. If we are in for a repeat of the 80’s, some of us are ready!
CaseyL
Welp. If I can hold out to January, my SS benefit will only be a couple hundred less than if I waited until age 70. So I will hold out until January, since the Langoliers don’t take over until late that month.
(This isn’t advice from the SS advisors. This is me checking my benefit calculations on the SS website.)
White & Gold Purgatorian
@CaseyL: You might get an array of more informed opinions by asking your questions at a website that leans financial, instead of political. IMHO, Bogleheads.org is a good place to ask financial or retirement questions. However, they are strictly moderated and prohibit any political discussions. Which is kind of nice, actually.
Retirement planning and Social Security decisions are very important. Don’t do anything without careful consideration and collecting real information, not just what ifs.
White & Gold Purgatorian
Also, for those pondering when or if to start Social Security benefits, opensocialsecurity.com is a great website to look at different scenarios. I believe there is even an option to reduce benefits by some % in the future if you are afraid Congress will cut benefits in a few years.
Y’all , please don’t make any hasty decisions on this stuff. It is too important for your well being.
Emily B.
Mortgage rates have risen again this week, although the Fed cut its benchmark rate by another quarter point today.
“Mortgage rates typically mirror 10-year Treasury yields, which rose quickly in recent weeks as traders grew increasingly confident that former President Donald Trump would win Tuesday’s election and implement inflationary policies like tariffs.” (Yahoo Finance)
sab
@stacib: Once you reach “full retirement age” or whatever their term is, you can work without penalty. So of you work at 62 or 63 there is a penalty, but not if you are working at 68 or whatever age it is these days.
sab
@sab: Correction: their term is normal retirement age, which is 67.
prostratedragon
@pika: Thaks, I’ve already passed it on to some people who are certainly worried and, as one said, in mourning right now.
prostratedragon
@Phylllis: Land assembly is a long term play for deep pockets.
eemom
@brendancalling:
A fuckton of trump voters feel the same way, so I wonder if there’s any hope of a deterrent in that? Of course those people routinely vote to fuck themselves in the ass, but taking the money they literally need to survive is a different ball game.
pika
@prostratedragon: I wish I had been sharing something better, but here we are
snoey
@frosty: Casey is down under 32,000 at the moment. Philly has about 175,000 uncounted and is breaking over 4/1 for Casey. Pennsiltucky mostly but not completely counted either. He’s still alive.
CaseyL
@eemom:
Depends on whether their votes matter anymore.
As Trump said, if they put him back in office, they’ll never need to vote again.
We know he intends to be President for Life. Not sure if he intends the same for Congresspersons.
Ridnik Chrome
Good news for me is I have a state pension, which I can start drawing now, though there would be a significant early retirement penalty. I’d have to wait another two years to avoid the penalty. But even with the full pension I’d still need SS to make ends meet.
I’m with whichever commenter said the Republicans will need a solid majority to gut or kill SS. Five votes won’t cut it.
David Collier-Brown
@pika: [belatedly]
I have a two-part approach to dealing with threatened financial catastrophe.
Part 1, during runaway inflation in Canada, was keeping my life savings is a country where the inflation was less than the interest rate. In my case that was Switzerland, which had almost no inflation and paid a few percent interest. When inflation dropped, I could bring it back and actually have a little more than when I started.
Part 2 is something most RRSP and TFSA providers offer: you can select a fund where the money is invested in your home country, foreign countries or both. Were I in the states, I’d be investing in Canada, France and Germany right now.
Sherparick1
@stacib: You can start drawing full social security with no reduction at age 66 and 10 months if you were born in 1959.
Phylllis
@Ridnik Chrome: That’s where I am. I get a decent state retirement & SS is the icing on the cake. I could get by without it. It would mean cutting back on eating out, trips, and other little luxuries, which I could do fairly easily. And my state retirement isn’t going anywhere, because our legislature accrues those benefits as well & they’re not giving them up.
My heart goes out to folks already on the margins for whom life is going to get even harder.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Ridnik Chrome:
Also too, the Senate, even with it’s new makeup, might be a tough slog. That is until That Infected Sore on the Scrotum of American Politics, Mitch McConnell, actually does decide to carve out the filibuster so then can pass legislation to effectively kill SS.
No Nym
I am trying to understand the Social Security issue. Born in 1961, my full retirement age is 67 years (2028). What I am reading says Trump will cut the taxes people currently pay on their SS benefits, which will have the effect of eliminating funding for it by 2031. Does that mean people who take SS now will no longer have it, that it will be cut, or that it will no longer be available to people who retire around 2030? Does anyone know?
David Collier-Brown
@B1naryS3rf: [Belatedly]
If you’re at risk, use TOR as a vpn for anything sensitive. The Globe and Mail uses it for whistle-blower messaging.
The NSA created a commercial vpn in order to catch the “shadowcrew”, so be careful, regular vpn companies may be infested with spies for some country or other.
For non-sensitive things, I would use something like Mullvad and Cryptostorm … knowing that all of them be broken inexpensively with a wrench, as described in https://xkcd.com/538/
Phylllis
@No Nym: Currently SS is projected to exhaust its reserves by 2035, at which point the system would only be able to pay out approximately 83% of their full benefits.
Steve LaBonne
@No Nym: My understanding is that when the trust fund is exhausted, benefits will shrink by something like a third. Making the dubious assumption that Republicans will let it continue at all.
No Nym
@Phylllis: Lots of articles out there saying that Trump’s action will speed up its demise by several years.
@Steve LaBonne: Right, that looks like the best-case scenario.
Betsy
A subredditor suggested a reality tracker to track how bad things get on the continuum from bad to worst.
Bill Arnold
@David Collier-Brown:
That was called Rubber Hose Cryptology (or cryptography, in the era when “crypto” meant “cryptography”.)
catclub
@CaseyL:
We also strongly suspect JD Vance (or Peter Thiel) wants to make that life fairly short.
Betty
@frosty: Also my vote as an overseas absentee voter had been challenged and the challenges were dropped today. So my vote will be added and possibly that of other overseas voters who were not subjected to the onslaught of horrible tv ads that blanketed PA and know Casey is a good guy.
Ohio Mom
@No Nym: If they know, they are not sharing that information with us.
TBone
@snoey: I am so glad to hear this. Been on break all afternoon due to sudden fatigue and needed a little boost. It is unthinkable to me that Senator Casey could be bested by the likes of a hedge fund carpetbagger – we sane Pennsylvanians adore Senator Casey.
AnnaN
Now I’m scared. I (57F) live in CA and work for the Dept. of VA I have $300K in a TSP. I have a $440K mortgage on a home currently worth $620K. If life were normal, I would be set with my Govt retirement, SS and TSP. I don’t know what to do or who to turn to for financial advice? Are financial planners worth it? Help? Ad thanks for any advice.
Gloria DryGarden
Perhaps in person meetings would be best for discussions about what to do to keep each other safe, and what resources are available.
im hearing people have land, and can accept guests for camping and conversation. Others have room in their homes.
i propose we all need to use in person or snail mail for secure conversations, unless you have encrypted email or text ability
No Nym
@AnnaN: The chaos is unnerving, for sure. Try to position yourself as sensibly as you can. For me, that is more important than gaming out why this election went the way it went. Nothing we can do about that now. I think a financial advisor is a good idea in general if you are not an expert (and I sure am not!). Their fees are usually about 1% of your portfolio.
Gloria DryGarden
@Gloria DryGarden: perhaps lots of us need to set up in person meet ups for brainstorming how to help others stay safe.
Are there any Denver peeps who would like to meet soon?
Gloria DryGarden
Some of us are afraid about money and assets. And income.
others are planning how to go into hiding to stay alive. People are in different boats.
I hope we can all think together about both these situations.
Keeping resources available is pretty helpful. Staying alive and not deported or into camps is apparently urgent and vivid, and some folks are already planning in a hurry, and disappearing from the blog.
beckya57
@balconesfault: I had planned to postpone collecting SS until I turn 70 in 2 1/2 years, to maximize the monthly benefit. Yesterday I filed my application to start collecting benefits now. My husband and I agreed we should do this and keep our personal retirement accounts in reserve as much as possible. Our assessment is with this incoming administration it’s better to get what we can from SS while it’s still there. Everyone needs to evaluate their own situation, but I’d encourage those of you who are eligible to think about this.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Gloria DryGarden:
I haven’t forgotten about getting together. I’ve just been out of state, now back but only briefly, then out of state again for a week.
I’ll email you at some point over the next week or two (along with Sure Lurkalot) and see if we can’t meet and gab.
Gloria DryGarden
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: marv. I want to hear about Italy.
Betsy
@Citizen Alan:
@Ohio Mom: It’s really straightforward to bring a suit for partition if the other owner refuses to either or sell or buy you out at FMV.
The court orders a partition, the land is sold, and you get your proportion of the proceeds.
OR the other owner can offer to buy you out at FMV if they don’t want to face a partition sale.
Betsy
@Citizen Alan: Well, maybe they should buy you out, then, if it’s so important to them.
But if they refuse to do so, they are just as “culpable” as you are for not keeping it in the family.
if you can’t afford to keep it, and they can’t afford to buy it, then literally no one is “to blame” for “letting it go out of the family.”
I’d be telling them all day long: hey I would love to keep it in the family. Are you ready to buy? Okay, here’s the fair market price as appraised, let’s do it.
Gice them all the right of first refusal vs any non-family buyer and that should shut them up.
Betsy
@brendancalling: same
Betsy
@eemom: the overlords can just fix it so they are no longer afraid of voters.
Msb
@catclub:
”We also strongly suspect JD Vance (or Peter Thiel) wants to make that life fairly short.”
He’s already 78 and has looked bad in recents photos and film. He seems demented, too. Not convinced that Pres for Life would be around for long.
Gloria DryGarden
@Betsy: what a useful idea. I don’t know anything about how, but I’d sure follow it and read it