SALT LAKE CITY — Richard Haskell hasn’t always followed his own advice.
“Sadly, I might be telling you to do what I’m suggesting rather than what I did,” said Haskell, a professor of finance at Westminster University.
Sometimes, life teaches you the lesson when it’s already too late.
“Unfortunately, that’s the case for too many of us, of course,” he said.
The Social Security Administration announced proposed changes recently, including cuts to thousands of jobs and a new policy that includes identity checks that may require in-person office visits. These potential changes are worrying some people.
But Haskell said there’s no need to just yet.
“This is simply an administrative issue. It probably has limited impact on us as individuals," Haskell said.
He’s concerned about just how far those checks will go in the future.
“A greater concern that we might have is will the value of the currency in which they’re being paid be sufficient or will we have seen such inflation that the value of that check we’ve been told we’d get — will it be the same as the value we’ve expected to receive?" Haskell said.
He shared how people of all ages can prepare for the future.
“I would say, someone in their 20s, if you have an employer that offers a 401k or a 403b plan, any plan that lets you invest for your retirement and they’re willing to give some matching funds — take it,” he said.
The advice is slightly different for people beyond their 20s.
“In your 30s or 40s, I don’t think the advice changes much but I think added to that, is start to whittle down your debt,” he said. “If it’s someone in their 50s, continue to make those investments, whittle your debt down further. At that point start to think about, ‘should I be investing those monies in stock funds or stocks themselves?’”
During NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Sen. John Curtis said: “We’re not being honest when we look people in the eye and say we’re not going to touch it.”
Despite what Sen. Curtis said, Haskell said he's not concerned about actual cuts to benefits.
“The noise about possible cuts in benefits, the noise about the SSA, social security benefits not being around for people in their 20s and 30s is just noise,” Haskell said.
