Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Yeah, Chris Christies Retirement Plan is a Rip-Off

You would think he had a D next to his name with this scheme.
The higher that income rises, the less Social Security they'd get - and the more Medicare premiums they'd pay. At about $200,000, such a couple would get no Social Security and would pay 90 percent of the full cost of Medicare premiums. That's a double whammy that creates a huge disincentive to save for retirement, Lott said.

Imagine a couple with an annual income of $79,000. If they worked long enough, they might receive Social Security benefits of $40,000 annually. Meanwhile they'd pay Medicare premiums of perhaps $2,000 a year.
Now imagine the same couple has retirement income of $200,000 a year. They'd get zero Social Security and pay about $20,000 in Medicare premiums under Christie's plan. 

That's a net loss of $58,000 just because they set aside a lot of money for retirement. 
So if you were going to retire you would do everything you can to stay under the $200K "you get nothing and like it" rate. That means taking less out of a 401K or IRA because if you go over that you pay a whopping $20K for Medicare.

So like any stupid plan this is actually a disincentive to save for retirement. If you do well in your IRA or 401k you actually are penalized if you take out $200K or more in income per year. While if you don't save a penny and spend all of your income you actually pay far less for Medicare are get more than your "fair share" in Social Security benefits. Oh well, luckily there are tons of GOP candidates to support.

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