tomarctus: [quote author=grantstephens link=board=99;num=1075582480;start=20#23 date=03/04/04 at 11:36:12]Tom,
I didn't mean to offend you in your situation. I never comented on Disability, Social Security, handouts, or benefits that you are entitled to receive.
As a matter of fact, I'm somebody you might want to contact, because I have many collegues in the financial institution that might be able to assist you - I don't know your whole situation, but I do know that disability payments aren't supposed to start until 6 months after the disibility was claimed. I don't think you are recieving a "hand out". I think you deserve what you put in.[/quote]
My disability started Jan 1, 2003 but there are problems explaining self-employment income to Social Security. I made an attempt to return to work that year but couldn't manage and stopped completely in October. As it stands now, they will only recognize the start date as Nov 1, 2003. If they finish approving my claim I can go back and file for an adjustment.
The way the SSDI system works is this. The person files a claim and provides all the required paperwork. Social Security then has 2 to 9 months to review the claim. If the claim is denied the claimant can appeal the decision. Then Social Security will take 3 more months to review the appeal. The normal time it takes Social Security to complete a claim review and start sending payments to the claimant is 4 to 6 months. The money back-owed is payed at that time. Because of this income lag, I am telling everyone to make sure they have 6 months of living expenses in a savings account. Otherwise a person can risk homelessness and starvation while waiting. That is my biggest gripe with the system. Sadly I don't know a single person who has that much emergency cash available.
And, to make it all worse, once the benefits start I qualify for a whopping $1180 monthly ($14,160 annually). That ought to be really easy to live on. Not!
Yes, I realize it is supposed to supplement my other retirement savings. Guess what. I had to spend all my savings to meet expenses when I was sick last year for 4 months. All gone.
Please, people, save as much as you can spare. None of you know if you what the future holds.
I thought the UN was supposed to handle Haiti.
But Aristide still claims he and his wife were kidnapped by representatives of the US. There are US forces in Haiti. The US has always interfered with Haiti, sometimes in collusion with the French. Keep in mind that WashDC has not been letting the UN do its job lately.
I'm not in the top 1%, I made $108,000 this last year. I have 4 kids and a mom-in-law that I support. I'm very middle class in California, but I'm gonna try to get to the top 1% in the next 20 years or so through prudent investing.
Grant
Your income would just barely pay the expenses for your family. It must be rough. I also hope you are able to increase your wealth in future years.
I'm not anti wealth or profit. I stand by my comment about the economy being good only for the wealthy, though. It may be okay for some of middle income. Yet most people are going nuts making ends meet. The loss of good jobs and benefits from globalization is terrifying to many. That was all I meant.
