Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2018
Your community. Your magazine.™
®
The Premier “Shop Local” Community Magazine Directly Mailed To Over 15,000 Homes In Citrus Park, Westchase & Surrounding Areas
This Independent Community News, Business & Dining Guide Is Directly Mailed Once Each Month To: Arlington Park • Aston Villas • Bay Arbor • Berkeley Square • Calf Path Estates • Enclave At Citrus Park • Fawn Ridge Fawn Lake • Forest Lakes • Hampton Lakes • Highland Park • Lake Chase • Mandolin • The Eagles • Tree Tops Twin Branch Acres • Waterchase • West Hampton • Westchase • Westchester • Westwood Lakes • Windsor Place
Foodies Will Rejoice at Faceless Samurai The Best Sushi Restaurant in The Area!
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Thanks for your support........5 Solar Professionals of Florida...............................6-7 Tech Talk with Bob.............10 SAT/ACT Improvement..12-13 Social Security................16-17
ECRWSS
See “Faceless” on page 14.
The Community Dining & Business Guide that your neighbors READ!
Postal Customer
food has a lot to do with the wonderful reviews, but for me and my husband, the delicious food comes second to the superior customer service and treatment we get every time we stop by. Duke’s friendliness, politeness, attentiveness and overall service speaks louder than all the spicy tuna sashimi in the world. And I am not the only one who feels that way… Shannon S. says, “This is my favorite sushi place by far! The atmosphere is cozy and quiet. The sushi is always delicious and fresh. There is a wide variety of other dishes if sushi isn’t your thing. The owner Duke and the staff are always very
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 1185
“Hi Matt! Hi Carla! How are you guys doing?” says Duke Ratanakarn, owner and main Chef at Faceless Samurai, as he warmly welcomes my husband and I in, with the same big smile and charisma he greets every single person that walks through his doors. “It’s been what… 7 or 8 months since you guys got married? Congrats again!” Duke adds, as we take a seat at the bar, because we love catching up with him. I have no idea how Duke manages to remember every single detail we’ve ever shared with him, but he does. And that same attention to detail is reflected in every single piece of sushi he masterfully rolls, and his guests definitely notice. Jeremy D. says “Faceless Samurai has the best sushi around, and Duke will remember you forever after you first visit!” “I love the thai food there, and sushi chef Duke is incredible, he truly knows how to make my
tummy happy!!! His sushi skills are top notch!” says regular, Paweena K. If you live around the Westchase area and you're looking for a new place to visit not too far away from you, give Faceless Samurai a try, you will not regret it! I personally live about 35 minutes away from this place, but every trip is definitely worth it. But don't take it from me, a quick google search on this cozy Japanese restaurant will prompt you to amazing 5 star reviews from hundreds of satisfied clients. “Beautiful, very traditional Japanese looking place. Sushi was awesome. They had great lunch specials on bento boxes! Our waitress was really nice as well and service was fast. This is my new favorite sushi spot for sure!” says Jacqueline V. Local food guide Allain B. says, “Best Sushi I have ever had, hands down. Great prices and the sushi is always beautifully presented, flavorful and FRESH!” Of course, all the magnificent
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Carla Selby
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Thank you for your support and feedback! August is traditionally the time for lazy days centered around swimming pools, ice cold drinks, backyard barbecues, baseball, trips to the beautiful Florida beaches and live music under the stars. A lot of parents are thinking about back-to-school sales while the kids are daydreaming about longer summers and Justin Bieber's engagement being fake news. For me, August is a month in which I spend most of my time indoors. As someone with severe allergies to… well… everything, I tend to get sicker during this time and I am also constantly eaten alive by mosquitoes. And it seems I am not the only one. Recently, I received an email from Hillsborough County News, reporting that Hillsborough County Mosquito Management Services had been monitoring mosquito activities, and determined that mosquito populations have reached levels that threaten the public health, and there has been many incidents of mosquitotransmitted diseases reported in the area. Similar findings and an excessive
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number of complaints about mosquitoes have been reported in other counties, including Pinellas and Pasco. If it wasn't for our friend Brandon, owner of Mosquito Hunters of Tampa Bay, I couldn't spend more than 5 minutes on my own backyard without being eaten alive by those annoying little creatures. If you are having a mosquito problem, or if you want to avoid having one, please call Brandon at 813-609-8440 today! I promise you will not regret it. I want to finish off by saying thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to every person that has reached out and provided some feedback on our brand new website; tbnewsandlifestyles.com. I've received several emails from our readers congratulating us, telling us how much they love our new look, and overall showing an incredible amount of support and understanding during this transition. I highly encourage everyone reading this editorial to email me directly at carla@nnlflorida.com, and
let me know what you think about the site and what kind of stories and content you'd like to see featured on there. Everything we do is for you, our readers… and through our print and online platforms we try really hard to support our community and its local businesses, as well as non-profit organizations and charities. So if there's anything specific you'd like to read about, or a special organization that's touching people's lives and could use some support, please let me know! We also want to feature YOU… yes, you! If you're a local artist, musician, performer, actor, or if you volunteer at any non-profit organization that you'd want to see feature in any of our 7 publications, we want to hear from you. So please feel free to reach out and let us share your story with the rest of the community. I wish all of your kids a happy Back-To-School time, and as always, thank you for your support and readership!
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Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles Directly mailed once a month to 15,000 households in zip codes 33626 & 34677 220 S. Safford Ave. Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 Phone: (813) 928-6124; Fax: (727) 942-2432 Advertising E-mail: info@nnlflorida.com Editorial E-mail: editorial@nnlflorida.com © 2018 Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles is published by ADS 2 Publications, Inc. Publisher Tim Selby General Manager Matt Selby
Editor / Creative Director
Carla Selby Correspondents Julie Kanehl Katie Thomas
Advertising Sales Jim O’Reilly Mike Bird Accounting Manager Doreen Selby
Billing Assistant Tina O’Reilly
Marcy Sanford Dara Tucker Michelle Naktin Art Director Tony Sica
Nothing that appears in Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles may be reproduced, whether wholly or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed by Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles writers are their own and do not reflect the publisher’s opinion. The management of Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles is always happy to accept outside editorial submissions to the paper. Please call for outside editorial submission and advertisement deadlines. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles will consider previously non-published outside editorial submissions if they are double spaced, typed and less than 500 words. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles reserves the right to edit and/or reject all outside editorial submissions and makes no guarantees regarding publication dates. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles will not return unsolicited editorial materials. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles reserves the right to edit and/or reject any advertising. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles is not responsible for errors in advertising beyond the actual cost of the advertising space itself, not for the validity of any claims made by its advertisers. Westchase Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles is published by ADS 2 Publications, Inc.
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Save Money, Save the Planet, Go Solar Today! Act now and capitalize on the 30% Federal Tax Credit! By Matt Selby Florida is known as the “Sunshine State,” so why not take advantage of the fact you could power up your entire home with Solar Energy and highly reduce your carbon footprint, while improving your property value and cutting down those high energy costs? Solar is more affordable than ever before and people are starting to switch. The price of solar has fallen drastically over the last decade thanks to research into more efficient and cheaper ways to build solar panels. And since more people and big companies are investing in solar, (think Tesla, Amazon, Apple… just to name a few) the price comes down as the demand increases. An average family can save over $1,000 a year just by switching! And that’s not counting any extra energy their panels make that they can sell back to the power grid.
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A Stimulus Package that WILL NOT LAST For a short time, you can access and utilize federal tax credits that can save you up to 30 percent of solar installation costs. You can finance your very own solar system with a solar loan, line of credit, or cash. Solar Professionals of Florida also offers different financing options for your solar panels as well. These allow you to make an investment with $0 down and start making money right away! The downside to all of this is that it’s not going to last. The big utility companies dislike the money they’re losing to solar energy and companies like ours, and the government incentives will only last as long as their solar initiative. Traditional electric companies jack up your rates an average of 4% each year! Over time, you could end up paying double for the same amount of electric consumption by staying on their grid. By going solar, and offsetting the utility company’s
electric cost, you lock in a discounted monthly payment until the system is paid off and then never have to pay another payment for the equipment again! That’s right, you will get to own your electric producing equipment instead of just paying the electric company for power they produce and charge you for your consumption. Here’s what you need to know: If you buy the system outright without utilizing the low financing option, your Solar Energy Package will offset your electric cost to net $0 annually and you will have no payments! On average, the financed payments are less than the homeowner is paying for traditional electric in month number 1, so most homeowners finance and keep more of their liquid cash in the bank. The system still net $0’s out the traditional electric bill just like if you bought the system upfront as well.
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When financed, the system is $0 down and you don’t pay a dime until after installation. Not everyone qualifies unfortunately. A 660 minimum credit score is required. If you do not know your credit score we could do a soft check for you during our initial appointment. Why Choose Solar Professionals of Florida? Our team of professionals has over 3 decades of experience in the industry, and pride themselves of having accomplished two great things: 1. Our team provides an end-toend, seamless solution to homeowners, which includes; financing, planning, and everything else needed to get you off the ground and producing your own solar energy. 2. Solar Professionals of Florida utilizes only the highest-grade solar equipment and panels, proudly made
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in the USA, coupled with best of breed, local installers to insure quality throughout each project. Our team of experts takes your project from initial solar evaluation, to design and permitting, to install and on to energy production. The panels go up and your energy costs go down! It’s that easy! A 30% Federal tax credit of the total cost of the system is awarded to
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the homeowner for going solar this year, but this incentive may not be around long! Other incentives are also available for qualifying circumstances that add attractiveness to an already winning concept. In addition to the tax credit, your home value can easily increase by $15,000 or more by going solar!
Going Solar also helps our planet! This green, alternative energy utilizes the power of the sun to power your home. That’s it! How awesome is that? You’ll help save thousands of trees and save thousands of gallons of fuel over the course of your system life. Speaking of system life. Your panels are covered by a 25-year manufacturers warranty! With so many pros to going solar, it’s amazing we all haven’t made the switch already. Join the thousands of Florida
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homeowners who have made the switch to Solar! Call us today for your free solar energy assessment and when you switch to solar with us, we will pay you $500! Call 813-750-7770 or visit us online at myspf.org for more information. Proud partners of Solar Homes. Lic No: CV-c056667 EC No: EC-13006510
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Tech Talk with Bob..THE CALL! Did you get “the call?” Did you get the call? If so, what did you do? Did your friends get the call? If so, what did they do? Maybe neither one of you got the call… yet. What will you or your friends do when you get the call? Well I am going to help you with this situation. This information can save you hundreds of dollars! Many criminals are working their way through the internet looking for people to scam. I personally have received “the call” several times myself. My dad received one last month. These scam artists will call you and identify themselves as representatives of a large company, like Microsoft, Apple, etc. The caller will tell you that a corruption was identified to be on your computer. They will then offer you a free scan of your computer to verify the corruption. Most people will be happy to agree to do this because it is FREE. For these criminals to run this free scan they must be in control of your computer. They ask you to log onto the internet with your computer, download a file and run it. The caller starts the scan. Now they have you.
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Once you download that file, you are in trouble. You will be able to observe the scan from your computer screen. The caller will chit chat with you about the scan and then move the conversation to more personal information like your name, address, phone number and email address. When the scan is finished the caller will confirm that you have the corruption and assure you they can fix it right now. Most people get worried when they hear there is a problem with their computer so they tell the caller to fix it. However, now the caller proceeds to ask for credit card information because
they were not hired by Microsoft, Apple, etc. They want your money. Many people will pay and think everything is fine. Other people will say no because they thought that this was a free offer to find and fix the corruption. If you refuse to pay, the caller may make threats like saying your computer is going to crash or you may not be able to connect to the internet. The file they ask you to download and run to scan your system may actually sabotage your computer. So if you refuse to pay, you may have introduced the caller’s corruption into your computer. $299.00 is the typical amount they ask you to pay, however the amount will vary. Here’s the catch: The scan to confirm the existence of the “so called corruption” was FREE, to fix the corruption will cost you. Here’s the BIGGER catch: you do not have the corruption they are trying to convince you you have. This whole call is a hoax. They want to scare you into thinking you have a corruption and offer you a way to diagnose it for
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FREE. And then get you to pay for the fix. Many people become victims of this scam. It has been around for a long time because it makes these criminals a lot of money. Now that you are aware of this scam, you will not become one of their victims. So, what do you do when you get this type of call? Hang up. As long as you hang up before downloading and running the scan file the caller instructs you to download. If you have already downloaded the scan file then you will want to immediately turn off your computer and contact an IT professional to look over your system to make sure it is safe to use. Have a tech question? Email it to TechTalkTBNL@BobTheComputerGuy.NE T. Questions will be selected by the popularity of a topic and answered in this column. If you have a more urgent need or have a unique situation you may schedule an appointment with one of my Professionally Certified Technicians by calling 727-534-4000. Until next time, stay safe on the internet!
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cause of death by disease among children is cancer.
children per day are expected to be diagnosed with cancer.
of the billions of dollars spent annually on cancer research and treatments is directed towards childhood cancer.
drugs have been developed for use in children with cancer since 1980, as compared to hundreds created for adults. of childhood cancer survivors will experience significant health issues by age 45 as a result of being treated with drugs designed specifically for adults.
T H AT ’ S W H Y YO U R S U P P O R T I S S O C R I T I C A L The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding research to eliminate childhood cancer. Over the past 25 years, with your help, we’ve donated millions of dollars to research and our ground-breaking clinical trials are saving many children’s lives. • We’ve been given the highest ratings a nonprofit can receive, including a 4-star charity rating by Charity Navigator; a Gold Level rating by GuideStar and accreditation from the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. • 88% of every dollar supports our mission.
Learn more about our research & donate today at NationalPCF.org 5550 W. EXECUTIVE DRIVE, STE. 300 | TAMPA, FL 33609 | 813.269.0955 | TAX ID: 59-3097333
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SAT AND ACT IMPROVEMENT: FALL SEMESTER IS HERE! By Dr. Wayne Adams FALL EXAM DATES: SAT: October 6, November 3, December 1; ACT: September 8, October 27, December 8. Summer vacation went by too fast! Now that school has restarted (or is about to), everyone gets to refocus and get ready for the fall. For Seniors, it’s a combination of doing well academically, activities, and preparing the best college applications. From my last article, you know that more and more and more colleges are admitting up to half their classes or more with early admissions. Check out these dates and requirements on the college websites, or call the admissions office. If your SAT and/or ACT scores are not where you want, give me a call. For Juniors, it’s the middledistance lap in high school balancing academics and activities with doing well on the PSAT in October and building a resume for
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college applications. If you are aiming high, for a “top 25 school”, know that the best way to really “stand out” is to build a distinctive strength, to become outstanding in some field that you enjoy. There is a myth around that colleges are looking for “well rounded” students. Top colleges want “lopsided” students, those who have something outstanding (other than grades and SAT/ACT scores) and can change the world. They equate “well-rounded with mediocre! For Sophomores, it’s the next lap in a longer-distance run with academics, activities, and longer term planning for college applications. On occasion, schools will give an SAT or an ACT exam for “placement”, which means determining which academic level courses that student can take. If you are aiming high for colleges it is not too early to start preparing for the SAT and/or ACT exams. Last year, I had two students who
were national merit finalists (top 1% on their exam scores in the country). Last article I wrote about some new approaches in my classes to help students score well in math. I can report that these have seen good results. So now we have a new
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approach to writing the SAT and ACT Essays. Think of it as “writing by the numbers”, which in this case means following a guide to analyze the assignment, quickly spot the key requirements and elements for the essay, “fill in the blank” for each paragraph needed – especially the first one which is the most
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important – and move through with the needed substantiation paragraphs followed by a great conclusion. Already, several of my students have tried this and raised their essay scores 20-30% from their prior exam essay scores. Plus they have a new way of thinking, structuring, and writing essays for their high school classes. Would love to talk with you further about your student. Just send me an e mail at wwa0811@mykolab.com or call me at 727-253-0639. Dr. Wayne Adams is one of the leading SAT and ACT tutors in the country. His students normally improve 200 – 350 points on the Writing, Reading, Writing and Essay, and Math, and 4 – 7 points on the ACT composite. They have been admitted to eight of the top ten universities in the country, eighteen of the top twenty-five, and many schools in Florida. These schools include Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, U
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Chicago, Duke, U Penn, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Notre Dame, Emory, UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, UNC (Chapel Hill), University of Virginia, NYU, Northeastern (Boston), Boston College, Georgia Tech, Air Force and Merchant Marine Service Academies, Penn State, Purdue, Ohio State, LSU, Auburn, UF, U Miami, FSU, USF, UCF, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, FIU, New College of Florida, Stetson, and Julliard – Manhattan - New England - and Berkley Conservatories of Music. Many have received academic, athletic, or music scholarships. This year, he also tutored three juniors who scored at the national merit finalist/semi-finalist levels on the most recent PSAT. He is a former Dean of a Graduate School of Business and Full Professor, and began college teaching at the University of Maryland in 1968. He has degrees and advanced studies at Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, Columbia International, and Luther Rice.
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“Faceless” Continued from page 1 hospitable and kinds, and are a big reason as to why we keep coming back again… and again… and again!” Duke, my husband Matt and I go way back… back to the days Matt and I first started dating, and as a couple of self proclaimed foodies we were trying every single high-rated sushi restaurant in the area. After our first dinner date there I completely fell in love… with Faceless Samurai! And if you pay Duke a visit, and allow him to surprise your tastebuds with some of his incredible creations, you too will fall in love with this amazingly delicious neighborhood gem. Now that you know Duke will be one of the main reasons’ you’ll keep going back, let’s talk about the food! We started our dinner with the “Samurai Sampler,” because we like to try a little bit of everything… and if that sounds like you, I recommend this as your main starter as well. It offers a few pieces of fried tofu, gyozas, fried calamari, spring rolls and a savory curry puff, all for a very affordable price, I must say. Last time we stopped by, we had a variety of special sushi rolls and the drunken noodles, which were amazing. So this time around I wanted to try something new… and I am so glad I did! In the same spirit of “tasting a bit of everything,” I went with the Bento Dinner Box because of all the options I could choose from. This traditional bento box comes with a miso soup and a ginger salad and your 4 choices of the followings; 3 pieces sushi of the day, 4 pieces sashimi of the day,
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3 pieces chicken teriyaki, 3 pieces chicken or pork katsu, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura, 4 pieces of vegetable tempura, 6 pieces of tuna or salmon maki, tuna or salmon salad. Choosing was hard but I went with; the 3 pieces of
sushi of the day, which included fresh tuna, fresh salmon and snapper. 3 pieces of chicken katsu, which I had never had before and I couldn't get over how exquisite this was. I will make sure to order it every single time I go from now on. I also included 2 pieces of shrimp tempura, because it’s one of my
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all-time favorite things to eat, and then last but not least, 6 pieces of tuna maki, because I knew my husband was going to steal them from me since he’s a big fan of tuna. The bento dinner box was a hit and there was plenty enough food to share, even though you probably wouldn't want to! Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles
My husband ordered the volcano roll, which we had never tried before at Faceless Samurai, and it definitely did not disappoint. Nothing that Duke makes ever does. This traditional roll had spicy baked seafood on top of a california roll and it was finished off with tempura flakes. It was delicious and the perfect amount of spicy! When we were down to our last piece of tuna maki, Duke surprised us with a special roll, which he’s still coming up with a name for… but if you ask him to make you the same roll he made for "Matt and Carla when they came over," he will remember, I can promise you that! Not only he is an amazing chef, he has the best memory of anyone I know! This special roll included some of my favorite sushi ingredients; shrimp tempura, cucumber, cream cheese and it was topped with fresh tuna and fresh salmon. Yum! I am so happy this will be added to their menu. You will not want to miss this! “I will be adding a lot of new special rolls to our sushi menu really soon,” says Duke. “I always notice and pay attention to what people like, what ingredients they love, what combinations they find the tastiest, and I create new rolls based on that. I am excited to be adding some new rolls to our already extensive sushi menu." I personally cannot wait to try all these new rolls! If there are half as good as the one he let us try today, I am sure they will all become big hits! Even though we were already full, there’s mysteriously always room for dessert. So we finished this incredible meal with some Mochi Ice Cream. Which if Tampa Bay News & Lifestyles
you’ve never had, I encourage you to try it. Sochi is a confection made from Japanese dough (mochigome) with an ice cream filling. This dessert is surprisingly tasty and believe it or not… gluten free! Faceless Samurai also offers a nice wine and local beer
selection, as well as Japanese sake and imported beers. If you're looking for delicious Japanese food at affordable prices, and an unforgettable experience with a friendly Chef who will treat you like family, visit Faceless
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Samurai today! Faceless Samurai is located at 3428 Tampa Rd, Palm harbor, FL 34684. Call them directly at (727) 7725622 or log on to facelesssamurai.com for more information.
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Will Social Security Run Dry Soon? By Tom Bostock Imagine a pleasant summer day. You are having a barbeque with some of your neighbors. Between bites of hotdogs, hamburgers and grandma’s secret-recipe potato salad, the conversation is lively and animated. Your neighbors are a cross section of the population: baby boomers, millennials, retirees and kids just out of college. After commiserating about the Lightning not making the finals and the Rays losing streak, conversation turns to more serious subjects. Someone says that they heard that Social Security is going to be bankrupt within a decade. Another one says that Medicare is in trouble too. One of the younger ones suggests that it isn’t fair they are paying into a broken system that won’t even be there when they retire. That can’t be true. It’s just an unsubstantiated rumor … or is it? According to ssa.gov: “The Social Security trust funds are financial accounts in the U.S. Treasury. There are two separate Social Security trust
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funds, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund pays retirement and survivors benefits, and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund pays disability benefits. Social Security taxes and other income are deposited in these accounts, and Social Security benefits are paid from them. The only purposes for which these trust funds can be used are to pay benefits and program administrative costs. The Social Security trust funds hold money not needed in the current year to pay benefits and administrative costs and, by law, invest it in special Treasury bonds that are guaranteed by the U.S. Government. A market rate of interest is paid to the trust funds on the bonds they hold, and when those bonds reach maturity or are needed to pay benefits, the Treasury redeems them.” They started out with almost a 3 trillion-dollar trust fund. So, what happened? For the first time in multiple decades, Social Security is dipping into its trust funds, and will most likely
continue to do so for the next 16 years. The reason is that workers have been retiring at a relatively rapid pace, and we’re not getting enough replacement workers to allow the program to take in as much money as it needs to pay out. However, once those trust funds are depleted, Social Security will continue to have access to its primary income stream, which means that in a worst-case scenario, future benefits will have to be cut, not eliminated. How much of a reduction are we talking about? Based on the latest projections, come 2034, recipients might lose an outstanding 21% of their benefits if Congress doesn’t step in with a fix. And obviously, that’s a pretty harsh blow for those who depend on those benefits to provide the majority of their income. But if you’re years away from retirement, you can take steps to compensate for the potential benefits cut you might face, thereby ensuring that you don’t end up struggling financially.
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YOU NEED SAVINGS OF YOUR OWN In all honesty, seniors cannot live off their benefits alone. Even if benefits aren’t cut in the future, those payments will only replace about 40% of the typical worker’s pre-retirement income. Most seniors, however, need more like 80% of their former earnings to pay the bills in retirement. Therefore, if you’re still working, you should be taking savings matters into your own hands regardless of what happens to Social Security down the line. The sooner you start establishing your nest egg, the greater your chances of covering your expenses as a senior, regardless of what your benefits ultimately look like. If your employer offers a 401(k), that’s certainly a good place to start. At present, you can contribute up to $18,500 annually to a 401(k) if you’re under 50, or $24,500 if you’re 50 or older. This means that if you’re 50 years old and don’t have a dime at present, maxing out your 401(k) until age 67 will leave you with roughly
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$755,000 in retirement savings provided your investments generate an average annual 7% return during that time (which is more than doable with a stock-focused strategy). And that, combined with whatever Social Security ends up paying you, could make for a pretty decent retirement. Of course, not everyone has the ability to max out a 401(k), nor do all workers have access to one. But even if you’re only working with an IRA, whose current annual contribution limits are $5,500 for workers under 50 and $6,500 for those 50 and over, or a lower savings threshold due to personal circumstances, you can still amass a sizable sum if you save consistently for many years. In fact, contributing $400 a month over 17 years will leave you with $148,000, assuming that same 7% average annual return. Now, that’s not a ton of money, but it could be enough to help fill the gap where Social Security leaves off. In a recent impromptu interview in a local mall, several shoppers, a millennial, a businesswoman and a grandma offered their own views on Social Security: David S. is an intelligent, disillusioned millennial, a local college graduate with a degree in economics who lives at home with his parents and has two part-time jobs since he can’t find work in his field. He is saddled with massive college loan debt and didn’t mince words about Social Security. “It’s a joke! It’s whack! It’s broken! A bunch of greedy politicians who funded their own pet projects with other peoples’ money from an almost 3 trillion- dollar Social Security Trust Fund piggy bank that was supposed to be inviolate, with relative impunity. These are the same whiney politicians who complain that they can’t live on their measly $174k-plusperks salaries but won’t have to try to
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survive on social security like everybody else since they just vote themselves raises and ‘golden parachutes’! I won’t see the first dollar from social security!” Ms. Mary M. is a very successful business woman who had just stopped by the food court for a quick bite between appointments said, “You have to consider the logic of it,” she said, putting down her hamburger. “I understand that there used to be at least 4 people contributing to social security for each person receiving benefits from it. I recently read that that number is more like 2 people now and it wasn’t designed for the disabled originally either. People are healthier and live longer. Something has to give!” Mrs. Sylvia R. is a pleasant, matronly grandmother who was watching her granddaughters playing in the mall playground area. “What really ticks me off about social security is the politicians calling it an entitlement. My late husband paid into it for more than 40 years. He retired early at 62 and died only 3 years later from a massive heart attack. If he had invested our social security deductions in some safe stocks and bonds, I would be sitting pretty, now! He did have some insurance but don’t get me started on Social Security!” Wow! Apparently ‘them’s fightin words’. Three different generations with somewhat similarly disgruntled views.
Politicians Seem to be Procrastinating If lawmakers do nothing until 2034, they’ll have to boost payroll taxes to a total of 16.27%, split in even 8.135% parts between employees and employers. Alternatively, all benefits would need to be cut by 23%. Neither of those solutions is particularly attractive or feasible for current and future retirees, but some combination of them will be inevitable if Washington refuses to act before then. Not even a Miracle can Save Social Security Without Action Some people are inherently suspicious about the statistics that the Social Security Trustees use in their annual report. Yet the trustees themselves incorporate confidenceinterval testing to support their projections, and as time goes by, experts are getting more confident in their predictions. Specifically, the report says that
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there’s 95% confidence that the trust funds will be depleted between 2030 and 2043. Those are the same dates as predicted last year, but the confidence interval has narrowed over the past several years. As years go by, you can expect even greater confidence in a narrowing range of likely dates for final trust fund depletion. Demand action As the day of reckoning grows nearer, it’ll be increasingly incumbent on us to put pressure on Washington to address the Social Security issue head-on and find a reasonable solution sooner rather than later. It’s time to down that last bit of hamburger, scarf down one last cold one and grab a cell phone. Call your local representatives and senators and demand an accounting. If somebody has had their fingers in the cookie jar isn’t it about time that we found out while we still have a cookie jar?” Just a thought.
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