johnnymk

I just received my statement of earnings during my entire working period and expected payments at age 62 and age 66.
The statement also shows how much I paid in and how much my employers paid.

If you add both Social Security snd Medicare for the combined payments into the system, it totals over $180,000.

I am going to take the earlier benefit package at age 62, which will probably be less than the $1272 per month that they estimate, since I retired at age 56.

So let's assume $1100 per month or approximately $13,000 per year.

With all of the ailments I currently have, if I make it to age 70, I will be lucky. Assuming I make it to 70, they pay out $104,000. Even if I live till age 80, they pay $234,000. Of course, this does not count the marginal Cost of Living increases which they grant.

Being EXTREMELY conservative, that $180,000 investement could have easily doubled over the past 35 years to $360,000. And if I were just your average investor, I imagine I could have tripled the investment to over a half a million bucks.

Guess who wins? The government or me?

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“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” (Winston Churchill)