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Today workers pay 6.2 percent of the earrings up to $68,400 and employers match it. Today, the average benefit for a retired worker is about $760. For each individual, what they pay in and receive depends on their work history, age, how long they worked, whether they have dependents and how long they live in retirement.
Given the above average, the average worker would pay-in $4241 and the employer pays in $4241 for a total of $8482 per year. At $760 per month, the average SS recipient would receive $9120. The average Social Security payout period for a male is 16 years and 19 years for a female. This means that at $8482 paid-in for 30-years, a worker would pay-in $254,460 ---and get back $145,920 (male) or $173,280 (female) ... a LOSS of $81K to $109K ... with NO interest paid and the government having use of the payee's money for 30+ years.
Of course, these 'averages' will vary according to the time worked, date retired, amount earned and amount paid-in and life span. However, they provide a baseline point-of-reference. Perhaps you can come up with more reliable numbers, but these do not appear to be far off. [
The bottom line is that the notion that Social Security is a 'freebie' or 'entitlement' for seniors, versus an earned retirement investment ... is not really correct. FAQ 2. Benefits/Beneficiaries
The Urban Institute, a Washington-based Institute and Policy Center has just published a new report by Eugene Steuerle and Stephanie Rennane - Economists -- regarding the ins and outs of Social Security and Medicare.
Social Security: The study says that the average, 2-wage earner couple earning $89K, retiring in 2011 will have paid $614K in SS taxes and can expect to collect $550K in benefits (10% less than paid in, with NO interest over the years).
Medicare: It also says that the same hypothetical couple will have paid $114K in Medicare taxes during their career, yet will collect $355K (three times the amount paid in).--(There are currently 46-million seniors covered by Medicare. It is estimated that when the last of the boomers reach 65 in 20 years, there will be over 80 million people on Medicare).
While Social Security has been more than adequately funded by individuals who should rightly expect to 'at least get their money back', Medicare is in deep trouble.
I only read the first page. Some people never collect a dime of Social Security. Some people die before they can. Nothing wrong with the spouse getting what the other paid for.
I agree.
In that case it is an earned benefit.
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... Something I did not see discussed that may have been is the amount we have to pay for taxes because of getting Social Security and it taking us to a point where we have to be taxed.
My SS payments will be far below the level that gets up into the lowest tax bracket.
I do not think anymore than a tiny minority will ever receive so much from SS that they will actually have to file income taxes on it.
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... Basically all Social Security does for some of us is to be the amount we pay for taxes in the first place, therefore making what we make anyway tax free. Then they are wanting to bring back death taxes so our children will have to pay out even more money because we did not use it.
Currently an estate must be over 250k to be taxed. And even then it is assuming that there was never any form of tax-planning or trust to avoid that tax.
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... A husband and wife live conservative lives together and the husband dies and the government wants to take what the wife has left to live on when she will be getting much less money then they made together and will need more money to live because she will have to hire work done that the husband used to do. Shame on this greedy, wasteful government.
Not really.
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... I do not think Social Security is our biggest problem. It was recently pointed out to me that a lady would receive about $800 per month after paying in for years, but the government is giving about three times that amount to an illegal family on welfare who has never paid in a dime. Time to evacuate those that do not belong here.
It is a problem with SS when the illegals receive SS money.
How do illegals get SS? Best I can figure out - only way is if they work under a SS number that is not properly obtained - pay into the system when they're working - then collect from the system when they retire - and are never caught. You make it sound like they're getting something for nothing. Robyn
Illegal immigrants are working and NOT contributing to SS nor will they collect SS. The system is not benefiting from contributions by them.
The last time that I stood in a SS office, there were Mexican citizens in line, who did not have green-cards, but they did have 'sponsors' who were helping them to apply for SS benefits.
One lady whose story I overheard was supposedly born of an American father, though she had never legally lived in the U.S. she had no documentation to prove that her father was a US citizen. Her sponsors were US citizens who had been vacationing in Mexico where they had met her and they were trying to help her to get a pension based on her father's citizenship.
From their conversation with the SS clerk it sounded like the process was done routinely.
At the time I was only in the SS office assisting a couple sailors as they were revoking their SS policies.
That isn't a handout, the bank (in theory) made more money lending your the cash from your savings account to others than in paid you in interest.
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