I just talked to my mom and she said she hasn’t received any notification from social security for her lump sum. I told her to keep an eye out and let’s hope 
she doesn’t have to contact social security.
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Yeah, because there’s going to be nobody left working there to talk to. I’d try to resolve all Social Security issues ASAP.
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Mom got back to me, she received an email from social security on February 25. I’m glad I asked and wonder if she should be monitoring her emails a little better
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Their already jammed phones lines are going to be hellish for awhile……
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I never know SSA communicate wit recipients via email. As far as I know, they notify people by postal mail and in it, they will tell you when to call them and at what number. That’s my experience living in MA.
I definitely got an email from SSA this last fall as I was applying for part A and B asking me to call a certain number. I called and got connected with a live person immediately and it was an easy conversation resolving an issue.
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A couple of years back, I received a phone message and a followup email from SS, asking me to call her direct dial extension to answer a couple of questions that she had, which she then listed in the email.
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Good to know. My office has to deal with SSA often. We are in a big city and SS case mgrs have never emailed or called us. We have to call the main number or make an appt online. It could be that they serve too many people in the city.
When I worked in a smaller city, some of us had the phone number of a couple of supervisors at SSA. They always told us not to give it to others.
They have never emailed us.
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In the very old days (we’re talking the 70’s and early 80’s) I worked at a regional SSA processing center. The very highest priority cases were called Congressionals, placed in red folders (everything done by hand) and hand carried from step to step. Per my memory, those cases originated when a beneficiary would contact their congressional representative for help. We had only a limited number of days to get the case processed and respond to the representative. Somehow I doubt that works any more.
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Like @MADad maybe my mom received an email from her union or advocacy group, it wasn’t to me. I wasn’t concerned since it was reported that others have received emails. It sounds like social security is changing.
@Marilyn I would hope that contacting your congressional representative would still give some priority. I have heard that the new senators in Ohio where mom lives are not answering their phones. It’s been a complaint that I hope is resolved soon.
We can hope that everything goes smoothly and my mother receives her extra social security that will definitely help her pay her bills. She’s not wealthy
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For those of you who think a recession is on the horizon, particularly those of you who are retired and on a fixed income, what are you doing to prepare for this? I hope I’m wrong, but we’re preparing for a period of stagflation to come upon us (stagnant growth, high unemployment and high inflation). Please let me be wrong.
However, what we’re doing: Putting off vacation plans that we didn’t already have set. We were going to take a quick trip to Tampa for an athletic event (expensive), cancelled. I really wanted to commit on an Antarctic cruise in 2027 (super expensive, don’t want to come up with a big deposit), delaying this. Being much more careful about spending money in all respects, looking at planting fruits and vegetables instead of flowers and plants, considering a timber harvest on our forestry property if the price of Douglas-firs go up.
Investment wise, my husband moved 12% of his non-Roth 401K from equity funds into a 4.4% yield money market. I probably should have done the same, but now I feel I’m trying to catch a falling knife, maybe if the market spikes up, I’ll do the same. Looking for opportunities as they come…record car payment delinquencies have arrived, but if new car prices increase greatly, it could be difficult to find a decently priced used car. Looking at increasing our HELOC limit, in the remote possibility that there’s a housing market crash. In 2008, we bought four short sale/foreclosure properties that ended up being a fantastic deal, but I doubt those days will come back again in my neck of the woods.
Besides that, I’m finally getting around to filing for a small VA disability rating. I’ve had tinnitus for decades from my time in the military. Never got around to getting it done, but I realized that I’d better get to it. Of course, the VA website portion for filing for disability is down, just as soon as I became ready to submit. Thinking harder about whether to file for Social Security early. That’s a tough one.
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I am worried right along with you.
We have a couple of trips already planned, but are delaying other “big trip” plans, and opting for close by excursions instead. (As in we can ride our bikes for 2 days and do a one night hotel much easier than 7 nights in the Caribbean or elsewhere kind of thing). We are also thinking about the money we spend going out to dinner and things like that.
I “meant to” change the risk level in my retirement funds, because I am getting older and it’s just smart, but I failed to execute before current downturn. I do have several years worth of savings in a plain old high yield savings account, and if I need anything above my pension amount, I will tap those funds.
I am worried that my federal employee pension may not continue to get COLAs each year, but that may be a political issue, so don’t want to discuss.
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Ugh, I know what you mean about “failing to execute”. I felt very certain that I needed to get more in cash a couple of weeks ago, thought carefully about it, but got busy and just didn’t get to it. So annoyed! That’s great that you have so much in your high yield savings account, though.
The high yield thing hasn’t been great for years, but now all of the sudden it seems like a good idea :). I know I’ve posted here before about my financial advisor not seeming to do a good job for me. I finally moved to more “risky” investments late last year, just in time for market to fall.
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Hey, you have figured out my style of investing. I buy a stock, it goes down immediately. I sell something, it goes right up that day. In fact, last week when my husband sold his 12%, I bought a stock that I thought was a good deal, boom, down right away.
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just sticking to my Plan, as I have done for decades. (buy-and-hold.) Only timed the market once, and that was when Biden was elected. Sold all of my longer-term bonds and went to ultra-short Money market funds.
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I know that is generally the best strategy, buy and hold. I still fall to the fear and greed that is part of human nature. When I’m incredibly fearful and want to sell it all, I remind myself of what I did during Covid one time, I sold some stuff when the Dow was at 19K. I knew it was stupid, but the fear overwhelmed me.
I would not be cancelling dream vacation plans I had for the next couple of years. You are healthy now and can go, so I wouldn’t put it off. Do those trips while you are able!
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perhaps the solution is to change your Asset Allocation (less equities more fixed income) so you can sleep well at night and not be “incredibly fearful” that the market might drop 20% (as it did during covid).
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I’m not planning to change anything right now. But I will be asking my financial advisor some questions about strategies in our next meeting.
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