Pay me now or pay me later.

[Jolly]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaharziv/2020/05/11/proposal-5000-stimulus-check-loan-in-exchange-for-delayed-social-security-benefits/amp/

[mark]

I'm torn on this one. While money now is sorely needed by many the devil is in the details. What interest rate are they talking about for this "loan"?

They say 3 months delay max. Do we believe them?

Interesting proposal at the very least.

I would take it. A bird in the hand after all...

[Mik]

I wouldn't. We'd lose a lot of money on that deal. Frankly I don't see the benefit to recipients for this scheme.

[mark]

@Mik Who would lose a lot of money? The recipient? What if they die before they retire? Win! lol

[Mik]

We personally.

[mark]

How? I don't see much downside to taking it now.

[Mik]

To take $5k now foregoing three months benefits would cost us nearly twice the loan amount. We get pretty hefty SS checks due to high covered earnings.

[George K]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-every-states-average-social-132355610.html

The average SS check in Illinois is $1557.

You're about $500 ahead if you take it now.

However, as Mik said YMMV. I would take a hard pass.

[mark]

Take the $5k and invest it.

[Jolly]

I'd take it. My SS is cut by about 65% due to WEP. And the wife wouldn't get a dime of my SS due to GPO.

[jon-nyc]

I think most people would take that. 3 months delay in your 60s sounds trivial to your average 20-50 year old.

[mark]

Work for cash for 3 months. lol

[jon-nyc]

Most people would think ‘I would have gone 65 years with no Social Security, what’s another 3 months?’

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

I think most people would take that. 3 months delay in your 60s sounds trivial to your average 20-50 year old.

Good point. A dollar now is probably worth a lot more than a dollar 30 years hence.

[Mik]

So this would go to people who were not yet eligible to collect, possibly for many years? I did not get that understanding.

So it results in another government program we have to administer for decades. What could go wrong? Ever see a government program that didn't grow? I can see the whole country borrowing against future SS.

[Jolly]

@George-K said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

@jon-nyc said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

I think most people would take that. 3 months delay in your 60s sounds trivial to your average 20-50 year old.

Good point. A dollar now is probably worth a lot more than a dollar 30 years hence.

Social Security is adjusted for inflation.

Supposedly.

[George K]

@Jolly said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

@George-K said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

@jon-nyc said in Pay me now or pay me later.:

I think most people would take that. 3 months delay in your 60s sounds trivial to your average 20-50 year old.

Good point. A dollar now is probably worth a lot more than a dollar 30 years hence.

Social Security is adjusted for inflation.

Supposedly.

I realize that, of course. The point Jon was making, I believe, is that $5000 is much more valuable to a 35 year old today than the equivalent inflation-adjusted amount 30 years later.

[mark]

I'm 58 (really? when the fuck...?) and it's worth more to me now, than at 65.

[Copper]

3 months of my SS is a lot more than $5K, my wife too.

[LuFins Dad]

Personally, I like the idea so long as it doesn’t open Pandora’s Box and become something that happens for every perceived emergency.

It’s better than the fed printing money and devaluing your retirement savings through inflation.