A friend sent me this and I'd like to repond with cogent and accurate insights but.. It all seems too naive I'm not sure where to start? I'm taking it as politics since it uses a lot if capitalised words, discusses taking a stand and has dodgy numbers. Any takers on a take? "A woman dies at age 65 before collecting one benefit check. She and her employer paid into the system for almost 50 years and she collected NOTHING. Keep in mind all the working people that die every year who were paying into the system and got nothing. And these governmental morons mismanaged the money and stole from the system, so that it's now going broke. BEAUTIFUL! And they have the audacity to call today's seniors "vultures" in an attempt to cover their ineptitude. DISGRACEFUL! The real reason for renaming our Social Security payments is so the government can claim that all those social security recipients are receiving entitlements thus putting them in the same category as welfare, and food stamp recipients. THIS IS WORTH THE FEW MINUTES IT TAKES TO READ AND DIGEST! F.Y.I. By changing the name of SS contributions, it gives them a means to refute this program in the future. It's free money for the government to spend under this guise. 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 is NOT 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.(This should be enough for you to forward this message, If not read on.) 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 (or Lyndon Johnson). 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. (Isn't it funny that they NEVER say this about welfare payments?) 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. This is stealing! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't mean that our investments were for 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 the 92% of our population who need it. Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income . 90% of people won't forward this. PLEASE! Will you? "
I thought your spouse got it... A surviving spouse can collect 100 percent of the late spouse's benefit if the survivor has reached full retirement age, but the amount will be lower if the deceased spouse claimed benefits before he or she reached full retirement age.
Yes... while you are alive your spouse will get the greater of their own benefit or 50% of your benefit. After you pass away your spouse gets 100% of your benefit (assuming it is greater than 100% of their own). Note the above is a generalization of the situation... there are all sorts of variations based on age differences, retirement date differences (how close to full retirement date), and a host of other variables that can impact the calculation. But this is all part of the existing system for your and your spouse -- your SSN benefits do not get paid out to your children or relatives after you pass away.
Actually a child, as in under 18 child, does get some of the deceased parent benefits, up to 50%. If they pursue higher education the benefit can be extended to age 22. I know this for a fact as it happened in my family when my mother died. I was 17, two brothers age 15 and 3. Benefits were paid our father to be used for the children. This was in the sixties so I just googled it and it's still in place today.
Doing a bit of research on responses to this widely spread bit. One of these: Since 1990, self-employed workers pay 12.4% of their taxable earnings to the Social Security trust fund, and 2.9% to Medicare's Hospital Insurance trust fund, for a total of 15.3%. Self-employed workers can deduct half of their total Social Security tax from their net earnings for income tax purposes. Those who work for an employer split FICA costs with their employer, with each paying 6.2% in Social Security tax and 1.45% in Medicare tax. Individuals who make more than $200,000 annually and married couples that make more than $250,000 and file jointly must pay an additional 0.9% in Medicare taxes. In 2020, workers must pay Social Security tax for their first $137,700 in earnings — any income above that cap is exempt. Medicare tax applies to all income. Social Security and Medicare operate as two separate programs, with Medicare being managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
And another: 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." The percentage of income paid in Social Security taxes also varies depending on a person's employment situation and annual income. How do Social Security benefits work? "Benefit" is a blanket term for payments made to individuals from state or federal governments. The term is also commonly used to refer to payments from employers and insurance companies. The Social Security program uses federal income taxes to provide income to people when they retire. The program also provides income to people who cannot work because of a disability, and pays a worker's dependents in the case of their death. Workers pay Social Security taxes on their income, and that money is put into a trust fund used to pay individuals who are receiving Social Security benefits. Some workers may ultimately receive more in benefits than they paid in Social Security taxes, and some may receive less. In 2020, 85 cents of every dollar of Social Security taxes pays benefits for retired workers and their families and survivor benefits to the spouses and children of workers who have died, according to the Social Security Administration. The remaining 15 cents pays benefits to people with disabilities and their families. Because Social Security is not solely a retirement program, age doesn't necessarily determine eligibility in all circumstances, and benefits can be paid to children and other dependents. Social Security pays more benefits to children than any other government program, according to the Social Security Administration. Social Security retirement benefits are meant to replace a portion of preretirement income based on a person's highest 35 years of earnings. The amount of retirement benefits a person receives depends on several factors: How much they earn How many years they work When they choose to start receiving benefits Eligibility for a spouse's benefits The mechanics of Social Security taxes The post's claim that Social Security Insurance totals 15% of a person's income before taxes may be the result of conflating Social Security taxes with Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes. FICA taxes fund a number of programs, including Social Security's old-age, survivors and disability insurance program and the Medicare hospital insurance program. The tax amounts are set by law. Employees who work for an employer and make less than $200,000 per year would pay a total of 7.65% of their taxable income for both programs, with 6.2% going toward Social Security.
6.2% Social Security, 1.45% Medicare. Actual tax is double that 15.3% Employee pays half, Employer matches. Self employed i.e. self employment tax., pay both halves.
One would think it would be 6.2% Medicare, 1.45% Social Security really in a sane system. Well more balanced anyway. But of course there are so many working while drawing off the SS to make low wages possible for the large corporations it has to be that high.