Do billionaires collect their social security pension? (bond, credit, invest)
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This. The threshold for cutting "millionaires" off of SS would have to be higher than a mere mill, which isn't as much as it used to be. A stock market downturn can cut that down to 2/3 of a mill in a snap. A few hundred thou isn't enough to retire on for 35 years, one third of someone's potential total lifespan.
The Million in assets was not my number, it was from the motley fool article linked above - that said;
Quote:
One potential way to help boost Social Security's finances would be to "means-test" benefits, which means reduced or even eliminated benefits for retirees who didn't need the money. Since more than 47,500 millionaires receive Social Security benefits totaling $1.4 billion annually, this could certainly help fix the program's long-term viability.
I was saying that that amount was too low if that was not clear - the idea of almost any level of "means testing" is counter productive because it encourages people to not save to have a better retirement if they are going to be "punished" for saving.
Nope. A GENUINELY fair and ethical tax system is a progressive one. How much should the wealthy pay in? That ought to be a function of how much they earn, not how much they earn up to an artificially low cap. ...Yes, in an ethical system, the wealthy will pay a bigger proportion than those in lower brackets.
What gave you that idea? In an ethical system, the wealthy pay more because they make more. A genuinely fair and ethical tax system is a flat tax that is strictly a function of how much they earn and get the benefits associated with that extra payment.
The SS system may be close to a flat tax but the benefits associated are very regressive. Someone that pays more into SS gets very little extra benefit because of the way the benefits are reduced for higher earners. And for Medicare, even though they paid more unto the system when working (no cap on salary), they also pay more when retired via IRMAA, So even if flat paying in, the benefits are highly skewed to those making less when doled out.
BTW - The US income tax system is considered one of the most progressive tax systems in the world. The tax system in most of the countries that many point to in Europe with free healthcare and other benefits - have a very flat tax system In some of these countries even low wage workers can end up paying about 50% of salary in tax between income and VAT.
When Trump's tax returns were released, I was surprised to see that he reported no S/S/ income.
Interesting. I downloaded Trump's tax returns because I wanted to see how he reported tax-exempt municipal bonds. Turns out The Donald does not own tax-exempt municipal bonds.
ss money has never been used for anything but ss retirement , ssdi and ss survivor …it is a political rumor it was stolen and used for other things .
Right
While every US President (since 1983) has borrowed from Social Security to pay for government expenditures - there is no evidence that any of the presidents has stolen a dime from Social Security.
You may see articles about President Biden & his SS payments. Turns out when he first ran for President tax records filed are public.
It appears President Biden first applied for SS at his FRA of 66. Now that he is 80+ gets a hefty payment. Probably has 85% subject to SS tax. With all the COLA's he is doing fine.
Well, the top 1% paid 40.1% of total taxes, whereas the bottom 90% paid 28.6% of taxes, so I would imagine their goodwill is about tapped.
As for me, both I and my wife were self employed for many years and we topped the SS contribution point....meaning we had the privilege of paying it twice, once for individual share and once for company share. I'll never get my money back, but I would at least like my share.
I'm in the same boat as you...business owner for 20+ yrs who paid 2x what others paid, so its a huge loser for me too.
I also paid Thouands into fed & state unemploment, but can NEVER file for unemployment...ever. It's unlawful for me to file as a business owner.
I'm thinking most Billionaires do file, or have their staff file on their behalf, then donate the money to charity, or gift it to family.
I don't know any Billionaires, but all the multi-millionaires I know filed....including us; when the time comes.
Right
While every US President (since 1983) has borrowed from Social Security to pay for government expenditures - there is no evidence that any of the presidents has stolen a dime from Social Security.
false ….you may want to research that claim before believing it
the only thing ever done was johnson wanted to make the total balance sheet to look better to get war funding so he combined the excess ss on to the general funds account on paper
at no point ever were ss funds ever touched or co mingled
by law they can only go for ss retirement, ss survivor , ssdi and any excess can only go into special treasuries that pay a higher rate then the ones the world buys.
this is a myth that just goes on and on and is bought in to regularly
It says: "borrow". It doesn't say: " took, spent and didn't return". I think you misunderstood the concept. Banks do the same.
Money that the federal government borrows, whether from investors or from Social Security, is used to finance the ongoing operations of the government in the same way that money deposited in a bank is used to finance spending by consumers and businesses.
The bank depositors will get their money back when needed, and so will the Social Security trust funds.
As a stop-gap measure, Congress passed legislation in 1981 to permit inter-fund borrowing among the three Trust Funds (the Old-Age and Survivors Trust Fund; the Disability Trust Fund; and the Medicare Trust Fund).
Social Security's asset reserves are required by law to be invested into special-issue bonds and, to a far lesser extent, certificates of indebtedness. I'm going to repeat that, in case you were skimming. Social Security $2.9 trillion in net-cash surpluses that have been built up over time aren't allowed to sit in a bank vault collecting dust. They're required to be invested in bonds by law.
The belief among some folks that Congress has stolen trillions of dollars from Social Security is NOT true.
But the real surprise, upon digging deeper, is that Congress hasn't stolen a dime from Social Security.
every single company and government in the world that issues bonds is allowed to do what they see fit with that money .
social security gets the principal and interest they are due just like any one else that buys bonds..
that in no way means anything goes on between the general funds and social security…
social security can’t do anything else with any excess ..the federal govt can not have ownership in companies , that’s communism ideals where the govt owns the companies.
so bonds are their only option for a return on cash
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