[chrissy2231]

The Social Security check is now (or soon will be) referred to as a "Federal Benefit Payment?" I'll be part of the one percent to forward this. I am forwarding it because it touches a nerve in me, and I hope it will in you. Please keep passing it on until everyone in our country has read it.
The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a "Federal Benefit Payment." This isn't a benefit. It is our money paid out of our earned income! Not only did we all contribute to Social Security, but our employers did too. It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.
If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.
If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both you and your employers' contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved!
This is your personal investment. Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month.
That's almost three times more than today's average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration. (Google it – it’s a fact).
And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)! I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.
Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger "Ponzi scheme" than Bernie Madoff ever did. They took our money and used it elsewhere. They forgot (oh yes, they knew) that it was OUR money they were taking. They didn't have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them. And they didn't pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently they've told us that the money won't support us for very much longer.
But is it our fault they misused our investments? And now, to add insult to injury, they're calling it a "benefit", as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.
Just because they borrowed the money doesn't mean that our investments were a charity!
Let's take a stand. We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare. Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government.
Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.
Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income.
99% of people won't SHARE this. Will you?
This Blew My Mind

https://scontent-mia3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...5Q&oe=640331E0

[rustyp]

Fact - While it is true that Social Security checks are referred to as federal benefits, this is not a recent development. In fact, Social Security payments have been called "benefits" for the entirety of their existence, with retirement payments first identified in the Social Security Act of 1935 as "Old-Age Benefit Payments." by USA Today

[Kenswing]

I don’t care what they call it as long as it’s still available when I’m ready to collect.

[Bill14564]

Some pretty bad math in there.

[rustyp]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Some pretty bad math in there.

Agreed. It is beyond bad math - it is a bad premise. In order to achieve the payment plan illustrated one needs to contribute 30 years before withdrawal starts. Social Security started paying out soon after becoming law thus the money coming in was immediately funneled back out without time (IE 30 years) to be accrued. Second point it also provides income for people who may have put no or little money in the pot such as disabled, widowed, etc. Finally like it or not it is just what the title proclaims - a SOCIAL program not an individual bank account.

[retiredguy123]

OP, if the Government sent you a bill for $98,000 for every person in your family, to pay off the National debt, would you pay it?

[Keefelane66]

Less than 40% of working individuals are invested in retirement plans like 401k’s or IRA’s. Only 21% of working people are covered by Company pension plans.
Gratification for most is purchasing the latest greatest tv than investing money or savings.

[JGibson]

What's the difference what they call it as it's still green money.

[tuccillo]

There is a lot of stuff in the original post that isn't correct. I actually took a look at this a while back. Here are some numbers to ponder:

I'll consider one of the fringe scenarios for kicks. Assume you retired today at age 70 after working for yourself for 35 years and you were at the SS max tax for the last 35 years. I'll ignore any less than max tax contributions when you were younger (that could be a non insignificant amount). This would amount to $386K in tax paid. If you computed the future value of that assuming 7.5%, you would have $1.3M. If you started taking a "safe" withdrawal of 4% from this future value pool of money you could withdraw about $54K per year. Your social security benefit would be about $55K per year. A wash. If you dropped dead tomorrow, your heirs would inherit the $1.3M but with SS the benefit stops. If you wind up collecting SS benefits for a long enough period of time then you might wind up better off with the SS benefits than the pot of money, depending on how it is invested.

I don't think anyone doubts that you could do better by investing the money yourself. However, that is not the point. SS is a "pay as you go" safety net and we all participate as part of society. Congress does need to fix SS as the trust fund will be depleted in about 11 years and the benefit will be reduced about 25%, IIRC. Fortunately, the steps needed to fix SS are clear. Unfortunately, any attempts to do what needs to be done gets labeled as wanting to eliminate SS and our less than informed electorate doesn't understand the issues.

Originally Posted by chrissy2231

The Social Security check is now (or soon will be) referred to as a "Federal Benefit Payment?" I'll be part of the one percent to forward this. I am forwarding it because it touches a nerve in me, and I hope it will in you. Please keep passing it on until everyone in our country has read it.
The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a "Federal Benefit Payment." This isn't a benefit. It is our money paid out of our earned income! Not only did we all contribute to Social Security, but our employers did too. It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.
If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.
If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both you and your employers' contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved!
This is your personal investment. Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month.
That's almost three times more than today's average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration. (Google it – it’s a fact).
And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)! I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.
Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger "Ponzi scheme" than Bernie Madoff ever did. They took our money and used it elsewhere. They forgot (oh yes, they knew) that it was OUR money they were taking. They didn't have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them. And they didn't pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently they've told us that the money won't support us for very much longer.
But is it our fault they misused our investments? And now, to add insult to injury, they're calling it a "benefit", as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.
Just because they borrowed the money doesn't mean that our investments were a charity!
Let's take a stand. We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare. Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government.
Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.
Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income.
99% of people won't SHARE this. Will you?
This Blew My Mind

https://scontent-mia3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...5Q&oe=640331E0

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

There is a lot of stuff in the original that isn't correct. I actually took a look at this a while back. Here are some numbers to ponder:

I'll consider one of the fringe scenarios for kicks. Assume you retired today at age 70 after working for yourself for 35 years and you were at the SS max tax for the last 35 years. I'll ignore any less than max tax contributions when you were younger. This would amount to $386K in tax paid. If you computed the future value of that assuming 7.5%, you would have $1.3M. If you started making a "safe" withdrawal of 4% from this future value pool of money you could withdraw about $54K per year. Your social security benefit would be about $55K per year. If you dropped dead tomorrow, your heirs would inherit the $1.3M but with SS the benefit stops.

I don't think anyone doubts that you could do better by investing the money yourself. However, that is not the point. SS is a "pay as you go" safety net and we all participate as part of society. Congress does need to fix SS as the trust fund will be depleted in about 11 years and the benefit will be reduced about 25%, IIRC. Fortunately, the steps needed to fix SS are clear. Unfortunately, any attempts to do what needs to be done gets labeled as wanting to eliminate SS and our less than informed electorate doesn't understand the issues.

If you do the same calculation using the lowest income level, you will find that the Social Security benefits would greatly exceed the investment potential for the individual. That is because the Social Security system is a wealth transfer system, and it was never designed to benefit all participants equally.

[tuccillo]

Agreed. I was trying to address the scenario that people are getting royally screwed.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If you do the same calculation using the lowest income level, you will find that the Social Security benefits would greatly exceed the investment potential for the individual. That is because the Social Security system is a wealth transfer system, and it was never designed to benefit all participants equally.

[kansasr]

Given that 99.2% of social security checks are direct deposit, what it says on the check is not of much interest.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

This "chain letter" has been going around since at least July 2012, over 10 years ago. It was untrue then, and it's untrue now.

Social Security as 'Federal Benefit Payments' | Snopes.com

[JoelJohnson]

If you do the math (I have) you get back what you put in around 5 years (or so) after you start collecting.

[Andyb]

Your exactly right. Thanks for posting. It is very insulting to honest, tax paying citizens. Not to mention it’s taxed, so it’s double taxation. I’ll never receive what I and my employer has put in, back out. Our Government, especially with our current, “out of control spending” administration is a dangerous joke.