How many pensions is too much?

Three things I've seen talked about here, President Bush, Social Security, and inflation. President Bush: - He started off better then many of us (his father was president), but in general, he made choices throughout his life which had consequences. All of those consequences add up to his multiple pensions, and many other things. If you think the president's pension is too high, tell congress. In general, I would say that being president is about 2 full time jobs and is more important than just about any other. So, getting a long pension is understandable. Social Security: - SS was a bad idea when it started. It was voted in by people that would benefit from it more than they would have to pay. Therefore to them, it sounded like a great idea. In general, though, it is not a good idea. The main concept is this: Americans are too stupid to save enough money to take care of themselves, so the government will force them to "save money". If this was all that it was, it would be bad enough, but it also is a law that says, "we have a bunch of people that were too stupid already, lets start spending what others are saving instead of investing it like we should." WHAT?!? Anyway, SS is going to go bankrupt. It will go under unless it is reformed, i.e. privitized. The only sulutions are (a) more input or (b) less output. In other words, either workers are going to have to contribute more and more and more, or the payouts are going to become less and less and less. The people this really screws are the people that have been forced to pay SS for years now but will never see a dime in return: talk about a bad deal. SS was never designed to actually live on, it was designed to help those that were having trouble making ends meet, at least that's how it was spun. (As noted above, it was really designed as a way for our forefathers to get more money and have us foot the bill.) Is SS fair? Definitely not. What would be fair is eliminating SS. Let people fund their own retirement. If they chose not to, then they can work for the rest of their lives or live with family. How do you think people have been living for thousands of years? Inflation: - Scorpio, this was not really braught up by you, but I thought I would address it. An ample retirement fund is one that can BOTH (a) supply enough income for you to live on and (b) increase in size with inflation so that the true value of that supply is the same year after year after year. Some people don't think of it this way. Also, some people will not be able to attain this. That is understandable. Let's assume a 10% rate of return and a 3% inflation rate. If you can put $10/day for 40 years, that equals ~ $1,600,000. But, if you want that to continue to grow at the rate of inflation that means you can only spend ~$9400/month, which in todays dollars would be only ~$2900. It's not a lot, but it would be enough for many people to get by. Some people don't have 40 years anymore, though. Say you feel you need to do it in 20 years. Maybe you are 45 already and want to retire at age 70. Same assumptions, putting $25/day away gets you ~$900,000 in savings, which equates to $2500/month in spending money in todays dollars. Again, not a lot, but enough to live on. Personally, I want to get a higher rate of return. Let's look at the difference. If I could get just 15% instead of 10% for my return, then compared to the second scenario, I would be able to spend over $5600/month. WOW! What a difference. I work with a company that tries to help people create that difference. We try to find ways to get you more bang for your proverbial buck. Send me a message, I'd love to talk to you about it.

There is not absolute fair things in the world.President is president,normal person is normal person.It is different at all.

well techinacally it is fair, I mean he "worked" these jobs and is entitled to the pensions. I mean it would just be like when someone that serves in the military and does like 30 years and then after that works another job till they are like 65 and gets a pension from that job. it is all fair.

No matter how much pension you think will be enough .. it won't .. when I first started working in 1968 my paypacket was £4.17s 6d a week just over $9, by the time I stopped working in 1993 my weekly wage was averaging £423 weekly or $832 .. but in just the 14 years from when I stopped working to now the job I did is commanding around £1,000 a week or $1967 .. So it's more than doubled in 14 years .. and in another 10 years that will probably have doubled again ... so whatever pension I may have thought I'd need a few years ago simply won't be keeping pace with the cost of living as it is now .. If you are looking to start a pension then unless you are very young it may already be too late to save a decent enough amount of money to live off when you retire .. pretty scary isn't it ..

No I don't think so. He is looking forward to a cushy future yet want to propose a budget that will take even more from the elderly. I am sorry about your Grandfather because then it will be left to family to help him out, yet Bush says his budget proposal is to help the young people in the future! How by making them have to rely on their young family members to help them out!!! Makes me furious.