I’m Not Counting on Social Security in Retirement. Here’s What I’m Doing Instead.

There are some people who think Social Security is on the verge of disappearing completely, leaving today’s workers with no benefit to look forward to in retirement whatsoever. I’m here to tell you that that’s not the case.

Social Security may have to cut benefits in a little more than 10 years if lawmakers don’t find a way to resolve the program’s fiscal issues. But as of now, we’re talking about a roughly 20% hit to benefits. We’re not talking about zero benefits.

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I know this because I read on up Social Security constantly. And so you’d think I’d be someone to count on Social Security for retirement income purposes.

But actually, I’m not depending on Social Security to fund my retirement at all. Here’s why.

I’d rather rely on my savings

Even though I’m fully aware that Social Security is not about to go broke, I don’t want to incorporate those benefits into my retirement planning — namely because I have no idea what monthly benefit Social Security will end up paying me.

Sure, I could access my most recent Social Security earnings statement and get an estimate of my monthly benefit. But that estimate won’t account for future earnings or benefit cuts. And because of that, I don’t think any estimate I look at will be particularly useful.

As such, I’d much rather push myself to save as much money as I can for retirement and hope that my nest egg will be enough to sustain me. The good news is that I’ve been maxing out my solo 401(k) contributions for years, and I also save beyond that with investments in a taxable brokerage account. My hope is that I’ll end up with enough money in my retirement plan and brokerage account to cover my expenses.

I also plan to work in retirement for a few reasons. First, the money is apt to help. But also, I love what I do, and so for me, work isn’t really such a chore.

I’m also someone who likes to keep busy, and I feel that continuing to work is a good way to do that. But either way, I hope and plan to continue earning an income to supplement the withdrawals I take from my savings.

So where does Social Security fit into all of this if I know that I’m apt to be entitled to some sort of benefit? The way I see it, I’d like to be in a position where I can treat any money that comes in from Social Security as extra.

I might use that money to travel or pay for hobbies. I might donate it to a local animal rescue. Or maybe I’ll just sock it away for people in my life who need financial help.

The point is that I’d rather write off Social Security as a retirement income source so that my finances aren’t thrown for a loop if my future monthly benefit ends up being lower than expected. And if you want more peace of mind in the course of your retirement planning, you may want to follow my lead.

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