60+ year old thread.

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! Ran out of steam yesterday afternoon, and a fake storm pulled up just then, so it seemed like a good time to stop, shower, and relax. A week outside in this heat takes it's toll I guess! Ready for more putz and such today though! Nothing's so urgent it couldn't wait, except watering the potted plants!

 

This sounds like the deal my sister- and brother-in-law have. They both worked as teachers in Vermont their entire careers. The Vermont teacher pay system does not contribute to SS, instead a similar paycheck deduction goes into their own old age pension plan. They didn't pay into SS, so they can't get a SS check now that they're retired.

I worked at a steel mill for 15 years, long enough to be eligible for a pension. I also paid into SS out of those paychecks. So I'm eligible for the pension and for SS payments based on those earnings.

The whole "WEP" thing got me curious. Apparently it is highly controversial. And bills are introduced into congress constantly to adjust it or eliminate it. Even the SSA finds it controversial. Here's a recent review that is very even-handed: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/98-35.pdf

I think this one's been answered very well already. I'd just like to emphasize that, once you reach your "full retirement age", you can earn as much as you like without affecting the amount your Social Security check at all. Keep in mind though that you might wind up making some of your Social Security money taxable by the feds. It involves "provisional income" which is a sticky wicket, but basically your income can reach about $25K to $30K before Social Security benefits begin to be taxed. It's a rising scale -- the more income you have, the bigger the percentage of your SS benefit that becomes subject to federal tax. https://smartasset.com/retirement/is-social-security-income-taxable

 

Already hot down here in central Fl, got some yard work done early, poured a little concrete to keep Bolt from digging under the gate. Have to get it done early in the day this time of year, as we have near daily hard afternoon rains, this is the wet season, after all. Mr Bolt is a mix of some sort, with a lot of German Sheaprd in him, but long back legs, up curved tail, and a quarter blue eye on the left side, and hugely webbed feet..... I think he's got some Husky or other northern dog in him. He's a handful, this one.

 

One of the charms of this porch is that people here don't engage in political discussion much, and the moderators are serious about enforcement. A place to get away from the unreasonable pressures of the new, normalized impolite society. Just so you know.

 

Can I agree with that, and say todays people suc.... are hard to deal with.

Hmmmmm, that's supposed to be shot's fired in my little mind.

 

Pretty sure he was mentioning “left coast” in the sense of direction and not politics lol.
Just so you know.

 

Wow, you caught me off guard; when I wrote the post my intent was for "left" to mean "left hand" or left side of the map of our country versus left/liberal political leanings.

 

I live here on the left coast and I can tell you most everyone no matter their political persuasion refers to it as the left coast

 

Afternoon all:

A former police chief of a small town just North of us was just sentenced to 16-32 yrs. for repeatably raping a child when she was between 4 and 7 yrs. old. This may not end up well for him once he's in prison, I think he will regret his actions after the so-called jailhouse justice finds out what he did, and then there's "BUBBA"!

 

What a scumbag. Being a former cop and a child molester he will have things done to him in prison that most of us can’t even imagine. All well deserved. The whole thing is so evil and disgusting it literally makes me sick.

 

You know you're old when:
Left coast means out West.
Third coast is here in the Gulf, not some organization.
And you know you had something else to say, but......

Back to work

 

In addition to my front doorbell camera I also bought a Ring floodlight camera Plus on sale for the back deck, that’s next weeks (or the week after) project to install. All in I will have a far better system than I did with ADT and in 4 months it will pay for itself for what I was paying for my ADT and the landline I had to have with it.

Can anyone tell I have an electrical/control systems background with the way I drone on and am stoked about this? lol

Two weeks to full retirement so gotta save money where I can. Otherwise like I say in the stock investment thread retiring with the market down I may have to live outta my Tacoma down by the river eating government cheese and potted meat on crackers.

 

I got a SimpliSafe package, because they were far better on sensors back then. Now, I'd get a Ring. Both are "expensive" to add on to, especially cameras. And both raised the rates this year. We have a bunch of Blink, as a supplement and entertainment. In Prime days, you can add cams cheap. And even they raised cam storage rates!

 

In researching I liked SimpliSafe and Ring and only went with ring since they offered the retrofit kit that interfaces with my existing hardwired sensors. Ring outdoor cameras are pricey! You’re right about Prime days savings, I wanted the Ring doorbell pro 2 but at $259.99 it was a no go since it didn’t go on sale, instead I got both the wired Ring doorbell cam Pro and the wired Ring floodlight cam Plus for $250 tax included during Amazon prime days$-100 off, and another $37 off for having Ring Professional Monitoring, and using my Amazon/Chase card will get another 6% back (during Prime Days) to use on future purchases. Worth waiting for the Amazon Day sales. Yes rates went up on the monitoring I think it’s $10 for multiple cam video cloud storage, but with full professional monitoring which I have I pay by the year, $200 instead of $20 monthly which works out to $16.67/month. Another advantage to having Professional monitoring is the 1 year warranty on Ring products is extended to 3 years.

 

I beg to differ. Don’t paint me with that brush.

 

Call it what ever you want, many refer to California by a lot worst terms than left coast. Many of the more derogatory terms are well deserved. I’m a California native but I personally don’t care how people refer to it, has no affect on me,

 

*San Francisco has entered the chat*

Kidding Alan, had to say that. Before we were married the wife unit lived there and loved it but that was many years ago (she also lived in Alaska and was a tour leader to Israel and the middle east.)
I’ve never thought anything of California being called the left coast by many including Californians and never took it to mean anything other than the direction on the map.

At least you don’t get called Mayberry or redneck like many in my state.
I don’t take offense to Mayberry though, loved the show and the small town good people it stood for. Still watch reruns on occasion, Barney was one funny guy lol.

 

I can appreciate an aversion to being lumped into stereotypes of any sort. There are certainly many islands of moderation wherever you go. I just wish we could find a way to connect.

 

Might help to be more focused on criticizing our own island rather than islands we are told to be critical of....