Surprise Expenses in Retirement
Mike Pride, a Concord Monitor columnist in New Hampshire, was looking forward to retirement until he actually got there. He expected normal monthly bills, property taxes, and a visit to his wife's parent's home in Belgium. But he didn't foresee record high oil prices and a 401(k) that rapidly hemorrhaged in value. He also didn't budget for home repairs, like a broken dishwasher and garbage disposal, a refrigerator and freezer that gave up cooling, cold showers when his hot water tank started leaking, and squirrel damage to his home, which all hit him seemingly at once.
"It is not so pleasant to start retirement with so many ill omens, with the national economy quaking, with our 401(k) bleeding. In the shadow of these things, it is a struggle to embrace—or even feel—our new freedom," he says in a Concord Monitor column.
Tell us, what unexpected expenses crept up on you in retirement?
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social security errors
My father planned on retiring when he turned 65 this January. However, due to an overpayment of some $20,000 (which when received my father called Social Security to inquire about - he was reassured this money was in fact owed to him); my father now had to make readjustments to his plants due to a complete and total bureaucratic nightmare. He wrote his senators, he wrote his congressman. No one could help and quite frankly, did anyone truly care? I am his daughter, so I may be biased.
To make matters quite worse, my mother has broken bones in her feet. Obviously this means her mobility is severely limited. My mother is eccentric to say the very least and not walking is very difficult for her. The person best suited to keep her from walking is my father. My father has explained to me that he may not be able to keep his standard of living, but he loves my mother. He will use his money in his 401k as he has had to continuously do because of various problems arising from social security and taxes. (Constant problems with Social Security payments!)
What I do not understand and what should be a basic principle of Social Security is some form of taxation. All of our lives, the US Government takes taxes out of every bit of income we receive and we are required to report every bit of income we receive as well, including Social Security income. Yet, taxes are never ever taken out of Social Security? All of a sudden after depending on the government for your whole life to take care of banking your taxes for you, they simply cease to do so? What about a check box system where you either elect to have the government take taxes out of your Social Security income or elect NOT to have the government take taxes out? I simply do not understand.
As to this whole overpayment issue, I believe if this agency is that incompetent that it interferes with the retirement of people and monumentally changes their lives, then the agency is completely and totally BROKEN. I want someone to give me one good reason why my father should pay the price of the error someone made. Make no bones about it, my father is paying the price and he is not the only one. He did nothing wrong, led a good, honest life and work hard. He served his country during the Cuban missile crisis in a top-security clearance position and yet, our government denies him the medical care it promised him for life as well. Now this too. I love my father. I love my country. There is something wrong.
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