Retirement Benefits Information

Group Retirement Benefits: Mushfiq, Guillermo, Lucila

401K: 401K is one option of seeking for retirement benefits. This is only for private companies who are willing to contribute a certain percentage of what you want to share. Mostly companies contribute 3% of your salary. You have to withdraw your money at your retirement age because withdrawing it early, you will pay for a penalty of as much as 35% and federal will tax you 10% more.

Pensions: A pension is a retirement account that an employer maintains to give you a fixed payout when you retire. Usually tax exempt, and the employer's makes contributions toward a pool of funds set aside for an employees benefits in the future. Pensions are only given out to private companies or for the people that work in the  government they tend to not be given out to the public. If the person dies the spouse can still keep receiving his pension. The average pension in California is $29,000. Due to the high cost of living in California, many of our senior citizens can't live their retirement how they are supposed to. The average retired senior lives month to month with his pension with the prices of medicine being high sometimes they can't afford to buy all their medication. Many of them rely on government help such as living assistance, affordable senior housing or the use of their SSI. Many opt for part time jobs to afloat.

Social Security: Social Security is a benefit that most people receive and it is one of the only benefits people actually get for sure. Social Security pays disability benefits to you and certain members of your family but you have to work long enough and most people do end up working the amount they need to. Most of the people that receive social security benefits are the retired workers and they make up 63.0% of it. An average monthly benefit for social security if you are 62 years old is $1070. A lot of people only just end up living of the social security benefits but that still isn't enough for them to survive every month.

Retirement Benefits

Retirement Benefits

 

Group Members: Mushfiq, Guillermo, Lucia

 

 

There are 3 Federal Employees Retirement System:
. those are:
1) Social Security benefits - which means that if you work for 40 quarters or more, you are entitled for a social security. This benefits every citizen that works either in federal or private company.
2) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)- this where the government matches to what you contribute  with the maximum of 5%.
3) Basic Benefit plan- this is where the government put 1% of your salary to your retirement. whether you participate in TSP or not, the government is giving you 1% for your retirement pension.

 

 

Sources:
www.sharebuilder401k.com
www.schwab.com/rollover
‎https://www.opm.gov/retirement
http://federalretirement.net/introduction.htm
www.USA.gov

www. economist.com/news/united-states

www.seniorliving.org/retirement/resources-surviving-social-security/

www.money.usnews.com

www.massresources.org/social-security

 

 

The Absolutey True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Essay-Risks leads to Success

Mushfiq Islam

English 102

3/7/14

Risks Leads to Success

            Do you feel like you have a really difficult life and you just can’t seem to find any success or happiness in your life? Well if you feel like that don’t be discouraged and don’t give up on your life because you’re not the only one feeling like that. Many people in this world are faced with obstacles and challenges in their lives that are very hard to overcome. Some people are able to overcome those challenges but unfortunately others are not and end up giving up on their lives. When you’re an adult it is easier to overcome challenges since you’ve lived an longer life and you have a better understanding of how things work; but if you’re an child that has to deal with a lot of obstacles it tends to be much harder. One question many people have is that; when a child is faced with many obstacles and challenges in their lives and have no one to help them guide them in the right direction, how does that child find success in his or her life? In the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie; a fourteen year old Native American Indian boy named Arnold Spirit also known as Junior pretty much answers that question. Even though Arnold Spirit knew he was setup for failure, he was willing to take risks that led him to overcome his fears; eventually leading him to the right path and finding success in his life.  

                Junior grew up in a household just like most of the kids in the rez grew up in, a born to setup for failure type of household. Just like most of these other Indian families, Junior and his family had to struggle to; most of the times they didn’t, have food in the house, didn’t have enough money to pay the bills or pay for gas, and didn’t have a lot of everyday things to buy either. For example for Christmas Junior said that, “we didn’t have enough for presents, so Dad did what he always does when we don’t have enough money. He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk” (Alexie 150). This shows that even on Christmas, Junior and his family weren’t able to spend it in a good way because they didn’t have enough money. With the money they did have Junior’s dad decides to get drunk with it and that is not something a kid wants to see his dad do on Christmas. Junior knew that if he stays at the rez he would also become like his father and would have to struggle in the future with his life and family. His biggest fear was to tell his dad that everything was not ok, “Hey, Dad, I said. Hey kid, he said. I’m sorry about Christmas. It’s okay, I said. But it wasn’t okay. It was about as far from okay as you can get” (Alexie 151). It goes to show that Junior was probably going to be headed in the same direction as his dad. Even though he was setup for failure he knew that his life can’t be like that and he had to follow his grandmother’s footsteps.

                Then came a day when Junior had a very influential talk with one of his teachers, it was Mr. P his geometry teacher who came to talk with him at his house and that talk changed his whole life. Mr. P told Junior how, “Mary was a bright and shining star. And then she faded away year by year until you could barely see her anymore” (Alexie 40). The reason Mary his sister faded away was because she decided to stay at the rez and there was no opportunity’s for her to purse her dreams at the rez. That’s when Mr. P told Junior that he needs to leave the rez in order for him to achieve his dreams and goals because if Junior stays at the rez his dreams would have also been crushed like Mary his sister. There is a cartoon that Junior draws that shows how the rez is on one side and the hope is on the other side of the rez (Alexie 43). Finally Junior realized that even though he loved the rez ho couldn’t afford to stay at the rez and he needed to go somewhere where he can accomplish his goals.

                One of the good qualities Junior has in him that leads him to have success is that he was able to overcome his fears. There was a point where Junior and Rowdy came across one of the biggest trees in the rez and Rowdy wants him and Junior to climb it. At first they both were scared to climb it but they still did it, “Rowdy and I climbed and climbed and climbed. We made it to the top” (Alexie 226). This shows that Junior was willing to take risks to overcome his fears. He also knew that in order to overcome his big fears he had to take big risks and another big risk he took was going to school at Reardan. He knew that Reardan was a school for white rich kids with no Indians but he still decided to go there, so he can get out of the rez and be successful. He was of the very few Indians if not the only one who decided to see the world in a different perspective and not just in one way. He knew there would be a lot of people at the rez angry with him for leaving the rez like his moms said, “You’ll be the first one t ever leave the rez this way. The Indians around here are going to be angry with you” (Alexie 47).  Junior knew that his mom was right but at that point he didn’t care what others thought. He trusted himself and knew that he could do something with his life if he was given the opportunity even if that meant leaving the rez. Not only did he overcome his fears but he looked at things in different perspectives that let him to leave the rez to pursue his dreams.

                Throughout this whole process for Junior one value that he gained he didn’t have before was that he had trust in himself that led to his success in life.  In the end it really shows that he had trust in him when Rowdy challenges him to a basketball game, “You want to go one-on-one. You’ve never beaten me one-on-one. You pussy. Yeah that’s going to change” (228). This just shows that even though Rowdy used to always beat him in one-on-one challenges he was still confident that he would be able to beat him this time. One of the reasons is because his move to Reardan changed the way he looks at things now and he trusts himself a lot more than what he used to. If Junior was still  going to school in the rez his confidence level still would be a lot down then it is now. This scene shows that not only has Junior impacted himself but he has also impacted his best friend Rowdy. Before Rowdy used to be a kid who wouldn’t open his mind to things at all but now he actually reads books and decides to learn more about things as well. So even though a lot of people didn’t agree with Junior’s decision at first it gave others more hope now that, no matter whom you are or where you live any can overcome their obstacles if they believe in themselves and have trust in them.

                The most important part of this novel is that if a kid like Junior who faces so many challenges and obstacles in his life is able to overcome those challenges and be successful, anyone can do it no matter who you are. Even though at one point of life there was no hope for Junior, he still decided to pursue his dreams and goals and pushed all his problems to the side and aimed for what he knew he had to do to become successful. The main thing is that Junior opened the door for a lot of other Indian kids his age or younger to still pursue their goals even if you are an Indian and to never give up on your life. Towards the end as you can see Junior is headed for big time success and he will be happy because he knows he made the right decision even with all the odds against him. Just remember never shy away from any challenges and you will have a successful life.

                 

Resources of Obama's Speech

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/28/politics/2014-state-of-the-union/index.html?hpt=hp_t1,

State of the Union


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/28/obama-vows-to-act-on-economy-without-legislation/,
Obama vows to act without Congress in 2014, amid second-term woes

Convinving a Young Person to Read Alexie's Novel

A lot of young people in this world now a days really don't like to read books and think that it's a really boring thing to do. There used to be a time in my life where I didn't like reading books either and thought that it was boring. Later on I realized that not all books are boring and a lot of them are very interesting to read. Another thing people think is that if the book has a boring title or cover that the whole book is boring and that is not true. The book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian might not sound like the most interesting book or might not have the most interesting cover but don't be fooled by that. One of the things I learned in school was don't judge a book by it's cover and especially not this book. This book is actually one of the most interesting books I have read in a very long time. This book is really easy to read and this is one of those books were once you start reading it you don't want to stop. Even though not a lot of us are Indians anyone can relate themselves to this book because it is about a young Native American boy who goes through a lot.

This book is based on a character named Arnold Spirit, who is a young boy that goes through a lot in his life and who really does not have the best life. A lot of young boys and girls can relate to this because this is something that a lot of young people go through. Arnold is a kid who grew up in a household that wasn't a rich household. He and he's family struggle a lot to live because at times they don't have food or anything to eat. Arnold is a kid who is always left out of everything and always was the laughing stock of everything. People always picked on him because they knew he wouldn't do anything back. He goes through what a lot of high school students might go through and trust me that is probably not a fun thing to go through. Arnold was a kid who even though he knew ha had a hard life he never gave up and he knew he could do something with his life. One of the god things about Arnold is that he never gives up and is willing to take the challenge. So he decides to go to a new school with all white rich kids and no Native Americans. because he knew he had to get away in order to be successful. He actually has a better experience in his new school then you would think. Overall he actually ends up having a nice school life despite all these obstacles he has to face. So if your going through this same situation you should try reading this book because trust me this book does a nice job of grabbing the readers attention. Just remember never to give up  o matter what kind of challenges you face because if you keep trying hard you will soon have your success.

Sample Papers on Sherman Alexie

After reading all three of the essays about Sherman Alexie's novel, I would have to say that the second one was the best written essay to me. The reason this one was good is because the person wrote the essay really good from the beginning to the end. Once I read the introduction I knew this was going to be a good essay because it grabbed my attention. The person did a good job of grabbing the attention and setting the tone of the essay. One thing this person could have done better is that they could have put in some quotes or facts directly from the book. This person didn't have any quotes or evidence from the book to back his thoughts and analysis up. Overall after reading this essay I would say that it is interesting than the other two essays because this one actually grabs your attention from the introduction. I also liked the theme he used for his essay which was survival. The paper s also very understandable and it's not a very complicated essay to read. The theme is easy to understand which is survival, so you obviously have a clear understanding of what the story is about. Mostly all his paragraphs are on topic and makes sense and neither one of them are off topic they all focus on his theme. Convincing wise I don't think this essay was much convincing like that but at the same time I don't think this writer was trying to convince anyone. The essay was mostly just stating the facts of how he survived through the camp and his school life basically. The topics sentences are pretty well developed and it gets the readers attention and makes it clear what this paragraph is going to be about. They didn't necessarily have evidence to back their topic sentence off , they did back it up but not with direct quotes or evidence from the book. Overall this person did write an good essay and his essay was interesting to read.

Response to Obama's State of Union

In his State of the Union Speech Obama talked about a lot of issues and problems he intends to address in the year of 2104. One of the key things he mentioned was raising the minimum wage to $10.10, which would actually be a pretty decent jump from what it is right now. Even though that seems like a good thing and it means people will be making more money, it could also become a problem. For example a lot of odd jobs are paying around somewhere to $8-9 an hour, the jobs that are paying somewhere around $10 right now are probably like factory jobs. So if he decided to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, that means the jobs that are paying $10 an over right now also has to raise there pays as well. They obviously can't keep there pay to $10 because if they still keep there pay to $10, people are going to quite those jobs and look for easier jobs and make the same amount of money. Now basically every job is going to have to raise there pay to their employees and this could eventually mean there might be less jobs handed out to people. The reason for that is because if company's aren't doing that good they can't afford to pay all their employees that much money, so what might happen is that company's will keep less employees to work for them now. Overall, I was even happy to hear that Obama might raise the minimum pay but when I thought of it this can also become a big problem as well. The only thing to do now is just wait and see what happens, also how everything works out in the future.