Social Security and Wages

9/18/2015

Social Security sent me an email that my annual Social Security Statement was available.  The statement is relatively useless, but what it does do is show you how far you've come.

In 1966, while still in high school I earned $621.00.  I didn't earn a five digit salary until 1981.  And in 2014 I earned $27.00.

From the statement I can see my salary increase year by year and before I "retired", I was making pretty good money for a secretary.  Though the term secretary has been turned into administrative assistant, or some other title that only sounds impressive, it doesn't bring any more money to the table.

I remember how each year I would wait for my annual review and my raise.  The raise was never anything to write home about.  I'd get 2%, maybe even 3% on a very good year.  Most of a raise was eaten up by taxes, but it was always important to me to get an excellent review and a raise.

Though my career is now behind me, I know that for all the years I worked, I was a good secretary and always took very good care of my boss(es).

When I look at my wages from 1966 until 2014, I'm amazed at how little I actually made and how long it took before I made what I considered real money.  Jeff was/is the primary bread earner.  My salary allowed me to shop on Ebay, have someone do my housekeeping and have regular visits to get my nails done.

P