Most retirees might or might not know what Social Security is, depending on whether they paid attention to class in grade school when the teacher discussed it. There's nothing magic about Social Security that prevents anyone from understanding what it is, and how it works. I mean this system's been around a really long time, it hasn't ever been a secret, and was even a topic in the World Book Encyclopedia back in the day when people bought the whole set that occupied half a wall in their TV room.
Anyone who is currently retired, and doesn't understand that the money they put in isn't set aside with their name on it for retirement, has chosen to be ignorant. Any retiree who doesn't understand that Social Security is a "pay it forward" system - has chosen not to pay attention. The only fully adult English-speaking Americans who are exempt from being labeled "ignorant" on this topic are the mentally disabled.
The Social Security office can explain it to you. The Social Security website explains it to you. If you choose to ignore facts - well that makes you ignorant, by definition. This isn't rocket science, or high finance.
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