After working for nearly half a century and contributing to this scam, I have just been informed that this is all I’ll get back:
Furthermore, if I retire before age 70, I can only earn $21,240 if I continue to work.
END THE SOCIAL SECURITY SCAM NOW. Refund everyone’s money back with interest and shut it down.
Many people need to rely on Social Security and worked hard to earn the benefits. You are wealthy enough Nick to never have to rely on it, so why are you bitching about it? You’ll never need it or use it…
That’s not possible unfortunately. People will not save for retirement on their own and we will end up sending them tax money anyway. At least this way those same people paid something in.
Refund all their money plus interest instead of giving them only a small portion of what they contributed.
And if it is a “benefit” that I purchased by paying into it all my life… why can’t I get my money out if I continue to work? This thing is a scam.
I agree. I’ll never live long enough to see a fraction of what I contributed.
Then it’s a scam. Refund everyone’s money with interest and shut it down.
We can’t even get people to pay off their student loan debt. How are we going to get them to save for retirement if it is not forced?
I think a good change would be to guarantee each contributor or their heirs get at least the principle they paid in back though.
I have no problem with that. But you’ll never need, while some of us do. Lump sum vs. annuity, I want to see my money back.
Is this a benefit?
Employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages up to the taxable maximum of $160,200 (in 2023), while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent.
Run the numbers (without interest) over a lifetime of work. Not only did your investment in SS not grow, the payout decreases significantly.
We gave the government our money, they spent it and now are paying us with debt money.
It was a scam. The money was not held in escrow.
The $ is not backed by gold…
It’s backed by the American people’s ability to service debt via federal income tax I would suspect.
How could the government pay you interest on money that was poorly invested and heavily borrowed against over your entire lifetime? Basically they don’t have the money. The government has never been able to handle money. The present administration has absolutely no idea how the economy works, how to invest money, or how to earn it. Good luck with any crusade you might endeavor to rectify any of that. You will need it!
Everything is held in “escrow”. Insurance companies pay claims not from our premiums, but from the interest from investments that they have made from our premiums. No different from SS and how our government works.
Weather a “scam” or not, I want the money back that they took out of my paychecks. Anyone disagree with that?
I just started taking mine at age 70 in November. Hardly covers my monthly cigar and bourbon bill. 
I didn’t know you were that old. Anyway, did it make sense to wait till 70, in your opinion?
Me too, unfortunately I’ll only get a smidgen of it.
Probably not. I should have taken it at age 66. I don’t think my breakeven is until around age 80. I followed some bad advice from my ex-accountant.
No! There was only 500 dollar difference in the monthly amount. Since I was eligible at 66 and 4 months I multiplied the time I had to wait (44 months till 70) by the monthly amount I wasn’t collecting and determined that the 500 increase I gained at 70 would take too long to make up the amount i gave up waiting (44 months). I would break even at 84 and 1/2 years old.
Congress should pass a law that allows each of us to opt for having all of our money returned with interest. They threw Bernie Madoff in prison for what the Social Security Administration is doing.
