Posted on 10/01/2021 6:33:04 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
One reason you and I do better than the SS fund is that, by law, the only thing the SS fund managers can invest into is U.S. debt: treasuries. Imagine if all these decades (almost a century) they had been able to invest it into a broad portfolio of large-cap and small-cap stocks, some for growth and some for value, small and large corporate bonds both long term and short term, and, yes, some long term and short term U.S. treasuries. Even if they had rules like no more than 4% in any one asset class and each asset class had to be spread out across at least 5 companies.
I believe one reason the SS fund can buy only U.S. treasuries is so that Washington had an "excuse" to go into so much debt. Until the Fed Reserve started doing over a decade of QE, the SS fund was the largest U.S. debt holder in the world.
That’s what they have been doing since LBJ is my understanding. It’s a fiction that they have a separate untouchable account.
We just need more Booster Jabs
Somewhere out there Ida Mae Fuller is laughing.
I know a family that specializes in disability. They use
stress and obesity as reasons, and it works. They have several members collecting.
You don’t have to “figure”. You can easily set up your personal info on the SSA website and find out exactly what your benefit will be in different retirement years.
One thing that is certain. For lower income Americans, Social Security is the most generous financial benefit package available. The returns for lower income people are hugely generous.
For higher income people, the benefits become less generous, but still, an annuity with full CPI COLA is shockingly expensive in the real market.
The government should just admit that it was a Ponzi scheme to buy votes and call it a tax. That way, they can means test the benefits and stop paying for Warren Buffet’s retirement.
“$400/month SSDI payment”
I think they get a lot more than that.
I think there’s an SSI program for people who have never worked (40 quarters) that pays like $772/month.
I also think there’s an SSDI program for people who have worked 40 quarters that pays old age level benefits before age 62.
I also think there’s a relatively new Disabled Adult Child program that pays “disabled” children that become adults the amount of money a parent would have gotten in Social Security. This can be around $1500 to $2000 per month.
I think Medicare kicks in after 2 years on disability.
Social Security has become the biggest financial scam in history (soon to be replaced by Global Warming/Climate Change). Most people are unaware that they pay income tax on the amount that’s taxed away for SS and Medicare (double taxation), then taxed again if their income after they start drawing exceeds an arbitrary limit (triple taxation). Also, you get no credit for the employer’s portion (which you are also earning). Once again, a good idea at the start was corrupted and robbed by a bunch of greedy politicians to the extent it now teeters on the brink of insolvency. SS is the perfect example of why you can never trust politicians with access to a large pool of money.
“SSI replaced the former federal/state adult assistance programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
“As of December 2019, the number of recipients was about 8.1 million. Of this total, more than 4.6 million were between the ages of 18 and 64, 2.3 million were aged 65 or older, and 1.1 million were under age 18.”
under SSI Program:
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/chartbooks/fast_facts/2020/fast_facts20.html
“The average monthly federally administered SSI payment was $566. Payments varied by age group, ranging from an average of $670 for recipients aged under 18 to $459 for those aged 65 or older.”
It eventually bites many of them in the keister. We knew a guy who was a contractor living in an over-mortgaged house. Hope and change eventually bankrupted him. He moved to West Virginia and collected SS disability while working for cash under the table. He fell off a roof he was shingling and died 2 days later. With no insurance, his wife now lives with their daughter. Had he been on a W2, his employer would have paid life insurance to his wife. Or more likely, he would have been wearing safety equipment and still alive.
Average monthly benefit (in dollars) for Men Women
Retired 1,671 1,337
Disabled 1,384 1,128
for December 2019
You mean Al Gore was lying when he was talking about the "Lock Box"? /s
Imagine if all these decades (almost a century) they had been able to invest it into a broad portfolio of large-cap and small-cap stocks,
Dogfood? That makes grandma fat so she is harder for Republicans to throw off the cliff.
Valid point. Then they could buy mutual funds of many asset classes. That's what they do with the TSP for government workers (though not many asset classes, just a few through Blackrock).
It’s all redistribution (theft).
Benefits are calculated on what an individual paid in payroll taxes in his highest 35 years of earnings. If you lift or adjust the income level cap on payroll taxes you will be paying out more in benefits based on the lifted or uncapped income level. Self-defeating
“That’s why they want us all vaccinated so we all die off before 2034................”
BUMP!
Valid point. Then they could buy mutual funds of many asset classes. That’s what they do with the TSP for government workers (though not many asset classes, just a few through Blackrock).
SS would have been the biggest source of investment in the market. would have destroyed it.
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