work history (both time worked and salary received), for a lot of older women who were out of the formal workforce for years while raising children, their SS benefit is much lower than someone’s who worked outside the home for those years. SS is really just a supplement to other retirement income.
Too few of us still get a defined pension (xxxx$/month for the rest of your life after retiring). Some older women, if they are a widow, will get their husband’s SS benefit instead of (not in addition to) their own after he dies. That was my mom’s situation plus she got my dad’s defined pension. Her friend was divorced, not a widow, so I think she only has her own low SS benefit and no pension. So the “other retirement income” that supplements her SS is the money she makes by continuing to work.
People who are only doing gig work or working off the books are going to have a rude awakening when they are old enough to retire. I’m amazed by how many people seem to think we all get the same monthly SS payment once we reach the eligible age. Of course, a lot of young people are operating under the assumption that SS will no longer exist when they get that old. I hope they are wrong.
Seeing elderly people doing hard physical work is heartbreaking to me.
