On Thursday, I pulled the parking lot to Atria Tanglewood, a senior living facility on the southern coast of Long Island, about an hour outside Manhattan. At a basement-level room, surrounded by wide hats left from the Kentucky Derby Party of the facility the other day, I talked to four residents about social security and their savings.
Two Lifetime Democrats, an independent, and a former “very involved” Republican, none of them support President Donald Trump. Despite the existence of small costs, all of them are alarmed.
Social Security evaluates as a source of stress
In recent months, Trump and the White House Doge's office have made a major change in the Social Security Administration, such as staff reductions affecting the customer service. Some of the more than 73 million people who say social security benefits are concerned about their monthly checks, even though Trump has vowed not to touch the SSA fund.
When asked for the comment, a representative for the White House directed by the Business Insider in a recent press release about the SSA, which features “Customer Service Enhancement, Depression, fraud, and abuse, and its workers' optimization.”
All four of the residents I spoke with retired and took Social Security, and each said they would maintain SSA changes. They still receive their benefits, but some are nervous about money.
Judy Martin, 89, began receiving benefits in 1992 and said the changes that were “afraid” to her.
“Our checks have been deposited right on a checking account, and every month, I'm careful, looking to make sure they come in,” he told me. “I'm just safe.”
The same goes for Bob Katz, an 85-year-old former clinical pharmacist: “I'm worried. Every month I know what's right, so I'll check. Right now, very good.”
The ones I spoke to were that they put their money on social security towards rent, but said that checks were not made up of most of their monthly income. Martin said if his wife's checks were not delayed, they might not be able to afford their room at Atria Tanglewood.
None of those I spoke to said that they think Trump will definitely ruin the funding of Social Security – they, like many politicians, think that it would be a political nightmare.
'My 401k is a 201K'
Even more of their social security checks, those I spoke with were watching their saving accounts. When I asked if someone looked at their 401ks in the midst of recent market chaos, they all nodded.
“Oversimplify this: My 401k is a 201K,” said Benjamin Meyer, a 78-year-old former alcohol retail. “Not really. I'm not too lost, but I don't like what's going on.” However, he said he believed the money would return, as it happened after 2008.
Martin said he and his wife lost a chunk of their savings, and he watched the market.
“The last time it went down it was back, but who knows now what happens?” he said.
Judy Perlman, who told me of her age was “not listed,” she said and her husband was always conservative in their investments. Now her daughter is in charge of her money, and Perlman doesn't think it's in the stock market, even knowing that her daughter is emphasized. Both Katz and Meyer brought additional savings, but said that excess money could not last forever.
Living at a helped living facility, the residents I spoke with had no cost other than rent. Perlman said he bought gifts for his grandparents; Katz mentioned copays and prescriptions.
Perlman recently said he listened to a radio show about previous presidents and remembered how much chaos he had lived with – and forgotten.
“The McCarthy period, remember that? The war?” He asked, known to the nods. “Those of us who are older have gone through many different situations and somehow we always manage to get out of here. I'm more afraid now, though.”
