My husband and I worked hard for 40 years to build a secure retirement through IRAs and 401K plans. Our employers paid in to SS and money was taken out of our paychecks for all these years, many of which, we topped out contributions with our substantial earnings. We move to the Villages, two years later, we retire and he has a massive heart attack and dies. A healthy young person who never got to see retirement after working hard all those years. What happens, I am left in grief and despair, along with the fact that ONE HALF of our SS monthly income is now gone. After their calculations, because our earnings were so similar..... I get mine, plus, only $80 of his because his earnings were slightly higher. The rest of his monthly benefit is taken away. Money that he earned, and was forced to pay in to SS and Medicare.The government was suppose to take our hard earned dollars and invest it wisely as a forced savings plan. Upon his death, the surviving spouse should be entitled to at a minimum what HE paid in to it. They could keep the employers contributions. If we were not forced to pay in to SS, and we had invested those SS payments on our own, upon his death, it would be my money to help support me through retirement and not money that the government actually steals away when your spouse dies. Social Security was designed as a forced savings plan for retirement to protect and provide supplemental income in later life. Many, sadly, for whatever reasons, depend totally on SS income alone. One could lose their home very easily when their retirement is cut in half upon the death of their spouse. So, yes, both these items that we and our employers invested our hard earned dollars In to are very important. Common sense.
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