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they get half pay for retirement too!

Posted By: they should all be fired on 2005-12-21
In Reply to: They want a retirement that they don't even contribute to, they already retire at 55. - It's the same old outdated union garbage. nm

Bus drivers are making $63,0000 and that is with no education. you can be a hs dropout or a foreigner. I hate NY and glad I left.




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I'll bring the dip and the half and half ;)

My retirement
I worked for a large multi hospital alliance in Ohio that is now under scrutiny by the attorney general and has many hospitals pulling out of their contracts and at a cost to patients and physicans....everything about it was to cut money and cheat people. Our pension which was noncontributory by us, works like Social Security. You retire early, you get reduced amount. I was forced to retire early because of the war and now I need more money. I was told when I took the reduced amount that I could not work again till I was 66 unless I kept it under $900, just like Social Security. I do not know what an independent contractor is. I didn't think I would NEED to know...I just am trying to find out how it is done, how it works, because the jobs I see that I want wnat ICs. I'm sorry I even asked. Since so many jobs say IC only, I assumed that some of you would know what an IC is and how to be one. I need to work at home because the other grandma has no computer. I was just trying to find 15-20 hours a week. Let's just drop it. I don't see what I did wrong. Thanks to those who understand I am not trying to break the law. Good grief.
Retirement Accounts

I am considering getting into a retirement account this year.  I am a sole proprietor with no employees to contribute to.  I am also looking to reduce my tax obligations for next year with this account.  I am also over age 50, so this may be a consideration.  Any suggestions from knowlegeable MT/business owners out there?  Some of this stuff is very confusing.  so any help would be appreciated.  Also include who to go through for set up, if known. 


thanks  


I'm going to be 58 in a few months, don't see retirement in my
:(
Yes. I cant take early retirement because I
x
Who wants to take early retirement if not
x
Why did you take early retirement

if you knew it wouldn't be enough? I don't mean to be rude, but it seems to me you want to have your cake and eat it too. I don't think it's right you want to cheat the gov't by putting everything in your husband's name.  I suggest you ask your clergyman what he thinks of your proposal.


I have been married to the same man for the last 13 years.  We had 3 children together after we got married.  My husband and I each had to pay for our own college educations.  We have worked for everything we have and have done it the honest way.  I would have loved to have had a child first and then went to school for free while my husband was living with me and supporting us but had a different mailbox so I could still collect welfare.  Then after school, I would have popped out 2 more and continued to receive welfare while I was looking for a job (but secretly planning our wedding) and then got married while the gov't picked up the tab, so I could sit back now and enjoy my beautiful house that I was able to afford while I was ripping off everyone else. 


It really burns me when someone tries to get ahead in life by taking from others.  I'm sorry that I don't share in your plight, but what you are doing is illegal. It is fraud, and if you chose to go that route, I hope someone finds out and reports you.  Maybe the gov't wouldn't screw us so much, if so many didn't screw it first.  Shame on you!  


They want a retirement that they don't even contribute to, they already retire at 55.
x
I think decent retirement is possible from an in-house job
s
you sound more than ready for retirement!
x
Why take early retirement if you cant afford it?
x
When you took early retirement, did you not find out
how much you could earn and other questions about retirement? If you did not, very foolish on your part. I have another year to go to have FULL retirement age- that for me is 66. I could retire now but knew AHEAD of time if I did, then for every 3$ I make, the government takes a part of that. I did not want to pay in any more than I have already. I went to social security last month, found out how much I will get at full retirement, etc. etc. If I live and take retirement money out (I plan to continue working) I will be getting almost $2,000 a month. With my salary, the full retirement money and some retirment money I get from a company I used to work for, that will be a very good sum for me. Having said that, there is no way in hades that I would ever try to pull the wool over Uncle Sam's eyes- talk about trouble- what you propose seems to be underhanded- whether it is or not I would not want to be any part of that scheme. I think where you live has a lot to do with whether you have to get tax ID number or not. Better to be on the up and up than spending some time behind bars.
When I found out about retirement money
they were so KIND to tell me I could start drawing out my money 2 months ahead of my full retirement in January- ha- they tried to make it sound nice- you would get 2 checks for January- having said that I just thought to myself- no I will just wait until FULL because 2 months ahead of time reduces then my total monthly income for as long as I might draw- thanks but no thanks- I want my full retirement money, don’t want 1 single dime to have to be paid back.
Why take early retirement before you find out
x
Government retirement program has changed.
It is now the same as Medicare, with a 401K added.
Question for you Statutory Employees about retirement?
Any of you who work as an SE, have you ever looked in to an SEP IRA or an individual 401K for funding a retirement plan?  I  was just wondering if this is allowed, since the income is considered self employment income, but I have searched on the Internet and can't find anything to tell how the laws specifically apply to SE's.  I know if I was an IC there would be no question.  I already have a Roth IRA but the limit for that or a regular IRA is $4000 a year and that is not enough IMO for retirement, would love to be able to save some of my SE income tax-deferred.  I'm going to ask my accountant about it but figured out of courtesy I would wait til after the tax filing season winds down.  Just curious if any of you could help out in the meantime??  TIA.
What kind of retirement tells you how much you can earn?
I will start drawing from a pension plan this April - I have absolutely nothing saying I can or cannot make X amount of dollars a month. How did you get a retirement that tells you what you can make? This sounds strange to me.
I had exactly the same benefits, pay, and retirement plan when I was single as I do now, married. sm
So, your post doesn't make sense. Benefits aren't withheld from singles and offered only to marrieds.
my full retirement age is 67 according to my estimated benefits paper - nm
x
my dad just retired at full retirement age, and there is a limit on income for the first 2 years tha
x
1 out of 2, 1/2 looks like one-half
what do you do in this situation?
I have it also and they don't have even half sm
when you are doing angios and MRIs.
Could you do half and half - QA/MT?
Some days I think I'd rather do QA -  I have carpal tunnel and I could sit in my recliner and QA because I wouldn't have to be pushing a foot pedal all the time and could use hot keys, and it would be a change of pace.  But then I have days at a time, if not weeks, where I have the worst dictators.  I rarely have blanks, but I do have them, and I think no way do I want to be stuck listening to every horrible dictator, although my company pays by the hour and a good rate, so it would be nice not to have to worry about working 50+ hours/week so I can pay my bills because I don't have a consistent pay check to try to budget with.  
Which half?
nm
As an IC half-time I still use believe it or not...

I loved WP5.1 from the getgo....and still love it and all my private MDs are fine with it - they merely convert the floppy diskette over to whatever program they use.  No complaints SO FAR and it's been TEN YEARS!!!!  *lol*


 


Six of one/half dozen of the other
I have had both over the years (have bought my own insurance since 1989).  Neither gave me any grief.  Blue Cross was eventually cheaper for me than Mutual of Omaha.  The downside to Blue Cross is that if you move out of the area where you bought Blue Cross, say you have Blue Cross of Illinois and want to move to Georgia, you cannot take Blue Cross of Illinois with you, and just because Blue Cross of Illinois accepted you does not mean that the Blue Cross plan in Georgia will accept you when you apply.  With Mutual of Omaha, you would not have this problem.
Already checked half.com and they don't have any at all, e-bay only had
edition one cheap, edition 2 more expensive than any other place I've seen. 
Yep..try half.com or eBay for used ones. nm
s
I write off half my DSL
I am sure I use it more like 3/4 time for work, but half to be safe. Tax Cut, from H&R Block, goes through the deductions with you and it is simple.
About an hour and a half if I sit still...

It also depends on how many screens to maneuver before you can type which takes time in between. 


I transcribed a 70 min file in an hour and a half the other night but it was one long letter. 


It all depends I guess.


half a brain...
Again... I am not trying to win any friends or make any enemies.  If you are happy and have no complaints, that is wonderful.  I was observing and making comments.  Half a brain was not meant as a cut to anyone, simply a figure of speech. 
Only 3 years away from reaching total years for retirement
but if I had to do this and raise a family, would feel exactly like you do. The pay is terrible compared to what I used to make. I work 32 hours a week, hope to be able to continue even after full retirement age. I have worked on VR now and unless places get to where they really do not care about how their reports look, think they will need MTs. I very seldom do a report and it is 100%, just cannot remember 1 like that and most take a lot more editing. Working now because want to, not have to anymore, thank goodness!!
half year mark
My small MTSO is at 22,500 and my part-time job in a clinic is $6200.  So should do well this year. 
Not sure how to type a liter and a half. Help please sm
The patient was given a liter and ½ of fluid.
Withholding half your check
I, too, think you should check with an attorney. I see no reason why wording like that would even be included in an IC contract, but if it is, you may not have a legal leg to stand on.

Give your notice, work it, problem solved.
If you bought it new go for half of what you paid or it - sm
If you bought it used then try to get back what you paid for it unless it is not in good shape. If you don't remember what you paid for it, look it up on the internet what it sells for now so you can get an idea what the value is.
Have you thought about trying Half.com or Ebay? I
started with Half.com and just cleared out a bunch of books, videos, etc.  They don't charge a listing fee - just a percentage when you sell your items.  They stay listed indefinitely, too.  From there I went to Ebay.  There's a little to learn, but I've done pretty well with that, too.  Just an idea.  It works pretty good for me.
My husband remodeled half of ...
our basement about 7-8 years ago and made it the family room.  Then it became the room that the kids used for their playstation.  After awhile, nobody used it for anything anymore.  So I cleaned it out when I started working and just this spring I painted it and added my own touches, such as the Beatle's posters that no one else wants to look at.  I also added a small TV and DVD player and bookshelf, so I basically have my OWN space, which is cool.  I am also treasurer of our church, so I have all that stuff there as well - check book, books, records, etc.  It's not a big room, but it's mine and it's my favorite room in the house.
Just half-cent thoughts...
I know this is too long, but wanted to give you a few tips. Sounds like you're one of those employees of medical offices (and many, many types of offices) that isn't set up on clear job descriptions for the workers--and then stick to it. Not all practice managers really know how to run an office efficiently. You have lots of issues here, but just for me curiously, why on earth would you invest in your own equipment (unless you really wanted it anyway) and still be considered an "employee." Do you have other work where you can write off your expenses? In our city (and in many organizations, many MTSOs) there is a hospital that has home workers, but they bring the hospital equipment to the MT's home for them to use. That's how they get to tell you how and when to work. I've worked in offices most of my adult life where people grumble out of habit all the time. You may not be that kind of person, and you may be grumbling in vain or just burned out. It's sad but true that many offices don't have the luxury of being managed properly, nor does anyone have personal knowlege of knowing how to set up a bona fide transcription department. Maybe that's where you could make some changes. Make yourself a "department" not just an employee. Take the lead and define yourself. It's called intrapreneurship--you create your own little venture as an employee but see yourself yourself a "small business owner" in your own mind. You could make up a plan to present a better work option to your employers based on research and projected outcome that this change may benefit all involved. Personally, I don't think you'll get anywhere by taking the defensive line here (though you have set a precedent). However, agression and resistance won't work either. You have to "create" your spot and show how it will profit the greater good proactively. And if you're getting insurance benefits for this home/office pattern you are requested do to keep your job, lady, count your MT blessings. Also, I'll bet many MTs working at home probably wouldn't mind having to "go into the office" on some days. Sure beats the isolation and might make you feel more connected to the real world. Best of luck to you.
500K...as in half a mill???
Geez, luckeee...I'm jealous.  Congrats though!
I don't think it would be wise to quit over half a mil
that's not gonna last you a lifetime! I think you should be reasonable. What about health insurance? Are you married? Do you have a lot of debt? There are a lot of factors inolved.
Glass half empty....

I can agree on a few points here.  If you expect to be stroked, you won't find that in healthcare at all.  I have worked in a hospital setting, have my own accounts, and also currently IC for a company online at this point.  I just love what I do, and I'm pretty good at it.  A lot of what you write is true in that this profession has evolved, but think about it this way.  If we didn't evolve, then how long would a patient wait for you to get that report off of the old typewriter?  How many people would go months and months before finding that lung mass or brain tumor?


Just like the typewriter has evolved, the technology in which we diagnose and treat patients has evolved with leaps and bounds.  I still feel I'm doing a service to the patient.  I like my job because I know it helps people.  I'm sort of behind the scenes at this point and not visible to the patient any longer unless there's one in the waiting room when I pick up my tapes (doctor won't go digital), so I see the difference I can make.


Do I need to be stroked and told I'm doing a great job?  No.  I know I do a good job, but being told that every day or two is not why I'm in it.  Money is just the means of a transfer.  No one told me I'd get rich being a transcriptionist, but no one told me how much I would learn about the human body and functionality of it either and that I could most likely take that experience into another field.   


Wow, when I type a report on a patient that has a serious illness, I think my lucky stars.  I think at this point, reading your post, I may go back to school.  My transcription skills could really help me become a coder (are they stroked/given raises every year?) or maybe I'll become a nurse (are they stroked/given raises every year?), or maybe I'll become a physician myself and pay my transcription enormous amounts of money and remember to call and thank them to express a job well done when really I should be calling my patient with the brain tumor or lung mass or any other disease.  I wonder if the maintenance guy sweeping the hall deserves a raise or the nice lady cleaning the windows, then again maybe the physician himself wouldn't mind being reimbursed for the services he renders to someone without health insurance? 


Buck up camper....  It's going to a long trip! 


 


You need to get up and walk around about every half hour.
I had this for a long, long time. It wouldn't hurt to see a vascular doc about this. The reason I say this is because I was 50 years old and saw MD about that. My calves would get so hard it sometimes felt like they were going to burst. I had problems with walking for only short distances with horrible pain going down my legs. I thought it was just deconditioning. They ran tests and found I had claudication. They did angioplasty on both inguinals, left took but the right failed instantly. The left leg angioplasty lasted for about six months and I had to have aortiobifem bypass for both legs. Don't mean to scare you but better safe than sorry.
IC - pay own SS; SE - employer pays half SS (NM)
x
I believe it is about 4 cpl for either, give or take half a cent. nm
x
I agree, faster by half, at least
My Expander has round about 6,000 entries and I add sometimes 20-30 more a day. I think I definitely type twice the amount I could without one.
$30,000 ---- YIKES! That's a year and a half's
I wish I had the money, and still had the time, to become a court reporter. Interesting work, banker's hours, great pay. And they can ask the people talking to speak up, slow down, repeat stuff, etc. I wish I'd had the foresight to pick CR back when I was 23 or so, instead of MT. I thought I'd made the right choice, but man, was I ever WRONG!
Half a brain?? You are not speaking for everyone here
I have no problem with the work I do and I certainly would not join in any walkout or the like. As far as the statement about half a brain, that was unnecessary if you want to get people on your side. You sure wont win friends that way.
I'll never understand this. I'd be UNDER the jail if I tried anything half as SM
underhanded as what they do. They could keep you working for years and say you've "not quite got it" and get all that free work!
Try buying it from Half.com to save a little money.
How familiar are you with word expanders? The book has some great tips for newbies.
Should be 4.25 cpl because it is half your line rate if you do editing.
But, then, you are only part time because you have stated before you work full time at a hospital because you make more money.