I'll make this as brief as possible.
Recently re-financed my home. Bank asked for a copy of my S.S. "Awards" letter.
I said, "huh"?
Sure enough, at the top of the letter from S.S. advising me of how much monthly I would receive, it says "NOTICE OF AWARD".
I don't consider S.S. an award if I have been paying into it for 40+ years!
Consider this, a person could pay into SS for 50 years, die the day before he turns 67 and not receive one cent from SS aside from a small burial allowance. His estate would receive nothing if he wasn't married or had dependent children. SS is an insurance scheme, not a pension scheme. And Congress can change the benefits at any time.