Today I got over [to] the Monica's*, haven't seen her in a week. Apparently her "divorce" is finalized but I don't see the cause for celebration. She's been shacked up four years already. But that didn't stop her from suggesting we get married so she can get "Social Security". This is out of the question even if she were young, pretty and single.
Part of the problem here is that I think she thinks I would seriously consider it. I wonder what fascination with Social Security has for these people. I know mine will only replace 18% among income when I retire. True I've never lived in a system without Social Security, but if I did I would at least choose a place with no Social Security taxes either.
Apparently some have never grasped the direct link between long-term poverty and not investing. While my total investments are tiny, the return is doubling every year. Plus I know exactly what I got to do to change things. The most common reason I hear for not investing is, "I might die tomorrow."
Yeah, well, the way things are going your kids might just live to be 150 years old. It is generally single people who don't invest, but what, maybe they plan on waiting till they have kids before saving? Now that is dumb. Try it. To liven up this post, here is a picture of Hillary Duff back in 2003. When she was, you know, before she really got Duff.
[Author's note 2010: I came to understand that it's not the amount these people will be receiving that is important. No matter how little they get, they are planning on living on it. The fascination appears to be that for once in their lives they will have a guaranteed income that can't be taken away. What a pity, that kind of thinking in this day and age.]
[Author's note 2021: Once again, future events threw off my best planning. On this date I was still approaching my peak earning years and was socking away money for a major career change, a job that would eventually have paid me a quarter millon per year. The figure of 18% was base on that happening until my norma retirement age--I had good reasons to work as hard as I could. As you may have guessed, I did not make it, and the figure of 18% is fantastically low for how things panned out.]
*this post is redacted from a calendar entry. If I recall, Monica was the hot-dog lady. She was working here illegally and eventually got picked up for setting up the stand on some right of way. When checked out, she got deported. All rumor, but that's what I heard.
