Today I had the opportunity to go to therapy on my own. It was different but good. Probably 6 or so weeks ago I set an appointment with Social Security Agency to talk about survivor's benefits for my kids. For those that don't know when you pay into US Social Security you have a right to claim payment when you reach 65 years old (this number has increased over the years). In every paycheck from your employer you will have taxes and social security withheld. Social Security is mandated by the US Government. The concept is that as a society we can all pitch in to allow people to retire at say 65 years old and then receive a small social security check monthly until they die. If you die prior to claiming social security benefits your dependents can withdraw it and when they do it is called "Survivor Benefits". So I go to the social security office building with an appointment. My mom and Claire are with me. We are instructed to bring my ID along with birth certificates and SSN cards for all kids, Jan and my SSN cards, Marriage Certificate, and Jan's Death Certificate. After an hour of having this information plugged into a computer we were told we didn't qualify because Jan didn't work long enough. Social Security requires a person to have worked at least 10 years or at least 1.5 years within the last 3 years before they die. The 10 years may be lessened if the person died early in life. Since Jan worked earlier on in our marriage and didn't have the amount of years needed (for sure not 10) my kids were denied benefits. It is just irritating that Jan payed into something that was redistributed to someone else. I believe Michelle Obama stated this perfectly when she said
The truth is, in order to get things like
universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is
going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can
have more.
In 2015 social security is about 6% of your gross salary but I don't know what it was for the years Jan worked. I find it interesting that the Government (i.e. you and me) believe taking the monies paid in could not be returned in full if credits were not adequate for a full benefit. I'm not saying that my kids should get more than was paid in.... I'm saying Jan paid extra taxes all those years and where did that money go? In this case my four kids get nothing for all the monies "donated" to social security. No returned funds, no mom, and extra expenses to function without her. Sounds fair. At any rate - how fun.
