The Windfall provision on social security to go away?

The political humps have been dangling that carrot
for years.
Joined the PD at the age of 19 mostly cash paying jobs prior
to the Police gig...so not much paid into SS.
Most extra jobs paid cash.

Caught a steady gig extra job out at Houston's medical center.
Worked it until I got my 20 years with the PD and quit all extra jobs.

After Medicare I clear $39.00 on my SS check.
 
I had a second career for 20 years after PD and paid into Social Security. Also prior in army and HS. So they took a percentage but not as bad as I had feared. I still don’t do great due to 22 years not paying into it.
 
I don't know why the Windfall provision would affect military employees, but it does affect federal civilian employees hired before 1983. Not that they should be complaining, the CSRS pension is munificently magnificent; I'm saying this as someone on the outside looking in. :-(

People reflexively hate the government, especially if it costs them a dollar, like people who get a foreign pension, eh? :-) For those who may not be familiar with the SSA Windfall provision: The SSA benefit formula is weighted to give a higher percentage of pre-retirement income to folks who didn't earn much during their working lifetime, like the host of textile workers that used to be in the South. The windfall provision is intended to prevent that advantage to folks who may have had decent wages at a place where they paid no social security taxes on those wages, and all those zero tax years would make the formula think a person was a lower paid individual. It's a sliding scale based on the number of years someone paid into the social security system. Work enough yeas under SSA, and there's no offset at all. It's that simple.

If it makes you feel better, the formula gives richer people less of a percentage of their pre-retirement income, since for some reason hating the rich seems to a popular pasttime since at least Biblical times.
 
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Bullet Bob said:
I don't know why the Windfall provision would affect military employees, but it does affect federal civilian employees hired before 1983. Not that they should be complaining, the CSRS pension is munificently magnificent; I'm saying this as someone on the outside looking in. :-(
Click to expand...

From what I have read the people that take the biggest hit work/have worked in local government with some kind of state pension plan. These vary greatly from state to state and your retirement benefit is highly dependent on the salary you were paid.

The system in Nevada is called PERS, and it is often criticized for its generous terms. Well, that's the price you pay when the state wants to expand its population to get more House seats. LE and firefighters do very well on PERS, but teachers not so much. A 75% pension based on bugger all salary is still not very much. Teachers and low-end state/county workers on these schemes often work other jobs that pay into SS, only to find they get dinged for having PERS.
 
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First of all, anytime the government tells you something is a "Windfall" it usually isn't. I had a career of over 40 years in law enforcement. For 16 years I didn't pay into SS. I wound up with 24 years of SS credit so my SS check each month is smaller than most. The 16 years I didn't pay in was with a department that allowed us to voluntarily pay into the system but neglected to tell us that. I guessing that if this bill passes, and it probably won't in my lifetime, that I might get another $5-600 a month. I ain't holding my breath waiting for it and I'm comfortable for now because I planned ahead on things.
 
My beef with WEP is that I paid into both the US and Japanese social security systems for enough time to fully qualify for both. While I receive SS benefits from both, because of WEP, and a US-Japan G-to-G "arrangement," however, I don't get full benefits from both.

I don't get the windfall — the USG and GOJ do. At my expense.
 
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Onomea said:
My beef with WEP is that I paid into both the US and Japanese social security systems for enough time to fully qualify for both. While I receive SS benefits from both, because of WEP, and a US-Japan G-to-G "arrangement," however, I don't get full benefits from both.

I don't get the windfall — the USJ and GOJ do. At my expense.
Click to expand...

I'm in a similar situation, except it involves an occupational pension from the UK. I am running out of years to put more into US SS, so the WEP is very unwelcome. Yes, I have other retirement vehicles and cash. However, I plan on either having a long retirement, and if not, leaving my wife well provided for.
 
I am fortunate to have retired at 50 as a police chief with a nice CalPers pension and I will also receive full SS benefits; just have to decide when to draw it. As a bonus, my agency also paid into SS, both mine and the city’s contribution. I never paid a dime. My ex, on the other hand, retired from the California Department of Corrections as a sergeant. She gets a nice CalPers pension, but only gets $400 a month from SS.
 
LVSteve said:
From what I have read the people that take the biggest hit work/have worked in local government with some kind of state pension plan.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Many public employees pay into both social security and a public pension system, and the windfall elimination provision doesn't affect them. But some positions, even if covered by the same public pension system, are considered exempt from social security and don't have social security taxes withheld. The windfall elimination provision does apply to those folks. But it can get very complicated.
 
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yaktamer said:
Not necessarily. Many public employees pay into both social security and a public pension system, and the windfall elimination provision doesn't affect them. But some positions, even if covered by the same public pension system, are considered exempt from social security and don't have social security taxes withheld. The windfall elimination provision does apply to those folks. But it can get very complicated.
Click to expand...

Having spent an hour or more on the SSA website tonight trying to use their estimator, I can back up that statement.:(
 
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